6

“You cut your hair, didn’t you? Your atmosphere has changed quite a lot while I have not seen you.”

Beth led this noble person to the main house for the time being, hurriedly poured herbal tea into a wooden cup, and tried serving the pound cake she had just baked that morning.

(I haven’t even cleaned yet today… What should I do?)

It was a house with no deficiencies for living alone and for Amy and the others to visit from time to time, but it was nowhere near fit to welcome and entertain a noble guest.

Ignoring Beth’s worry, Naranda seemed to be enjoying a commoner’s house, curiously stroking the surface of the wooden cup her grandfather had carved and looking around with interest at the small dolls and other things displayed on the decorative shelf.

“Yes, um, it had grown quite long, so I cut it.”

When Beth had first started going in and out of the greenhouse, she had worn her hair in braids.

It was true that she had cut it because it had grown quite a lot since then, but if she left it long forever, she felt as if she would remember the promise she had made with the person she wanted to forget, so she had cut off her braids herself with scissors lying nearby.

Amy had praised Beth, whose hair now reached her shoulders, saying she had gained a slightly more mature atmosphere.

(When the elixir is completed, first, I’ll take a good nap in Beth’s greenhouse, then give that stray cat a bath, and then maybe I’ll cut Beth’s hair.)

That person had said that while gently pinching Beth’s braid, which was like a tail, with his slender fingers as if it were precious.

(Will you cut it cutely? It’s a promise.)

(Leave it to me. I’m good with my hands.)

Beth loved Noel’s smile, which crinkled up when he laughed.

Naranda smiled and took a deep breath.

“This tea is chamomile, and this is lemongrass, and then passionfruit petals. As always, it is splendid, Beth. The herbal tea you brew, the sweets you make, and the space you arrange are all truly comfortable. The finish of the plants in the greenhouse was splendid too, but I suppose your greatest talent is that everything you put your hands to becomes comfortable.”

It must have gone quite against the manners of a noble, but Naranda raised his arms high, stretched, and lay down on the sofa where the quilt Beth had sewn was spread out.

Beth gave a wry smile.

Whenever everyone from the Magic Institute came to the greenhouse, they would tell Beth to keep it a secret and relax in ways that blatantly went against noble manners.

When Eloise, despite being a woman of noble status, had started taking off her shoes in the greenhouse because the soil in the greenhouse looked cool, soft, and pleasant, even Beth had been surprised. But after a while, that had become a trend at the Magic Institute, and all the magicians who visited Beth’s greenhouse had begun taking off their shoes to test the feel of the soil with their feet.

“Everyone seems to be doing well. This morning, letters also came from Rodney-sama and Eloise-sama.”

“Ah. Everyone is well. The same as always. Oh, right, a parent and child turtle have started living in the spring Eloise opened.”

“Oh, is that so! After the autumn festival ends, before the turtles go into hibernation, I have to go once to see everyone’s faces and the turtles… when Noel-sama is not there.”

Beth said that.

“Yes. It still seems difficult.”

Tears suddenly spilled from both of Beth’s large eyes and would not stop.

If she met Noel, Beth would surely still be unable to stay calm.

Naranda raised himself from the sofa and gently wiped the tears spilling from Beth’s eyes with a handkerchief.

Naranda’s handkerchief had the same medicinal-herb scent as his laboratory, and it calmed Beth’s heart a little.

Then Naranda faced Beth and gently pressed his well-shaped forehead against hers with a soft tap.

(Naranda-sama…?)

Beth was so surprised that her tears retreated.

Seeing Naranda’s beautiful face from this close, his long eyelashes were beautiful.

Naranda gently touched Beth’s chin and said with a smile.

“Today, of course, I visited you because I wanted to see you, but there is one more thing I came here to ask of you.”

Beth wiped her tears and nodded to Naranda.

“Beth, will you lend me your strength?”