26

“Kyaaaaah!!”

Noel, who had let out an unseemly scream like a maiden for the umpteenth time today, realized from the pain running through his back that he had landed somewhere.

“Gyaaah! Dangerous!”

“Gueeeeh!!!”

Beth landed magnificently on top of Noel, who had arrived first, and Noel was twitching in agony beneath Beth.

It seemed Beth was unharmed.

“Where is this… Um, the Magic Institute greenhouse…? It has changed quite a bit, though…”

While dizzy, Beth asked Noel.

Though Noel was dizzy as well, he somehow managed to recover his posture.

“Ah, apparently so. Since Oberon emerged from Nana-chan in this greenhouse, the path between this greenhouse and the forest of spirits must have connected. But why was the forest’s space-time distorted to such an extent…?”

Noel vaguely recalled the figures of his father and mother, whom he had met in the forest of spirits.

(Was that an illusion?)

The warm something that filled his heart was still filling Noel’s chest.

“I was in the garden of Ezra-sama’s mansion, and I was sucked into a hole in the sky together with the float.”

Beth said that briefly.

“I see… The forest of spirits created by illusion magic inside Ezra-sama’s float and the actual forest of spirits must have overlapped through space-time, turning into a dissonance and distorting space-time. Moreover, that float was densely decorated with nightglow bird feathers. Nightglow bird feathers are beautiful, and they have magical power that doubles the power of illusions. Good grief, we barely escaped with our lives.”

Gazing at the beautiful black feathers clinging to his body, Noel sighed and looked up at the sky.

The sky of the greenhouse was shining brilliantly, tinged with golden magical light like lightning from Eugenia’s magical power.

On the roof of the palace, not the red royal flag, but a golden marigold flag was fluttering.

(Which means, Her Highness Eugenia succeeded in taking over the king’s magical power that protects the Royal Capital… To think she would cause a coup in such a short time after awakening.)

Noel predicted what on earth was happening inside the palace and shuddered.

Coups had only happened a few times in this kingdom.

There had only been one queen in history.

The birth of a queen through a coup was the first since the founding of the kingdom.

Noel felt deep respect for the woman who had once been his fiancée.

Eugenia had certainly declared at the autumn festival that she would set Noel free.

(But to think she would free me from everything in this way.)

How many things had she thought about, pondered, and used to spur herself on while her body alone was asleep?

When he thought of Eugenia’s three years, Noel felt faint.

“…Oberon… That is right, Oberon!!”

As if remembering, Noel looked around. There was not even a single fairy, let alone Oberon.

The familiar plants of the peaceful greenhouse welcomed Noel back.

“Wow, it has changed quite a lot.”

Beth’s relaxed voice could be heard from behind him.

“Oh, you turned that side into a flower garden. Huh, this was where the tomatoes were planted, was it not?”

Beth seemed to be enjoying herself as she slowly walked around and looked through the greenhouse.

To Noel, the events in the forest of spirits had been an experience so shocking that heaven and earth had literally been turned upside down, but apparently, it was not like that for Beth. Beth’s calm, relaxed voice, the same as always, brought Noel back to the everyday world.

(As I thought, Beth is irreplaceable.)

Even though Noel had been facing the Fairy King in the spirit world until moments ago, simply being beside Beth brought his quiet heart back.

“Ah, you drew water inside too. Oh, there is a little boat! How interesting!”

Beth laughed merrily.

(Beth… Beth has returned here.)

Noel felt his chest grow hot with joy welling up like a spring from deep within his heart.

Beth opened a window a little.

A single stream of air passed through the greenhouse.

She changed the angle of a crystal slightly, and a small rainbow began dancing inside the greenhouse.

She removed just a few withered leaves from the medicinal herb before her.

She moved a stone lying at her feet to the side, letting a small flower beneath it peek out.

Beth was there.

Just by that alone, this small heaven called a greenhouse suddenly bubbled and danced with the joy of life.

“Oh my, a baby gecko. How cute.”

It seemed she had immediately found the parent and child geckos that had made a nest beneath the iris leaves. Several eggs had hatched recently, and small baby geckos were wandering around.

“Oh my, there is such a big spider here. How lovely.”

She happily greeted the large spider she was meeting for the first time with a hello.

The spider came a little closer to Beth, then perhaps satisfied, hid away.

Beth walked through Noel’s greenhouse as though lovingly admiring it.

Before they knew it, the stray cat had returned, and with a sweet meow, it wound itself around Beth’s feet.

“Dora-chan. Have you been well?”

Just as Noel had predicted that simple Beth would likely name it that, it seemed Beth had called this cat Dora-chan.

Dora-chan told Beth welcome back in a sweet voice it had absolutely never let Noel hear.

(She is dazzling.)

Noel could not take his eyes off Beth as she walked happily through the greenhouse with a smile on her face.

“Noel-sama’s greenhouse has changed so much. Somehow, it seems very fun and exciting.”

Pointing at the children’s toys Rodney had left behind, Beth said that.

“…For the first time since I was born, I tried making a greenhouse according to my own heart. The things I like, the things I want to treasure, in my own way. I could not care for it as well as Beth did, but look. This is me as I truly am. A calm magician was the role expected of me. Childish, effeminate, and lacking patience—that is my true self.”

Noel gently caught a rhinoceros beetle and placed it on Beth’s hand.

And just as Noel had said, likely because he had lacked the patience to wait until it ripened, a still rather green strawberry fruit, with a half-bitten mark left on it, was being blown by the wind.

Several pictures that had blown in from somewhere fluttered away on the wind. Each picture was of cute flowers, carefully drawn with clumsy strokes.

“…After you disappeared, I thought about many things.”

Noel murmured quietly.

“I believed that as long as the elixir was completed, all the suffering in this world would end.”

Beth silently waited for Noel’s next words.

“But even after the elixir was completed, I was not happy. The elixir was completed, Eugenia-sama awakened, and all the problems that had been tormenting me were solved. But I was not happy.”

“I shut myself away in this greenhouse and thought carefully. When on earth was it that I felt happy? What should I do to become happy?”

Noel slowly faced Beth and carefully took her small hand.

“And so, I thought about when I had been the happiest. Around the time Beth began coming to the greenhouse, I was suffering from insomnia, and those were terrible days when I was forced to remain tense. But without a doubt, those days were the happiest of my life. Because Beth was beside me, I was truly happy every day.”

“In the greenhouse Beth had tended, I could fall into a gentle sleep and wake up at ease beneath the morning light. Just by seeing Beth’s face, something strained in my heart would unravel, and every day, my heart was filled simply with the joy of Beth being there. When you smiled, my heart trembled with the joy of having been born, and just by having you turn toward me, I felt as though this body were filled with light and my whole body went numb. I know what this emotion is called.”

Noel slowly placed one knee on the ground and carefully kissed Beth’s fingernail.

“N-Noel-sama!!! I heard that you were engaged to Eugenia-sama! Yes! That is what I heard!!”

Beth was shaken by Noel’s serious expression.

On Noel’s face, there was none of the playful smile with which he had teased Beth that night. Noel slowly raised his face and smiled.

“Beth.”

“Her Highness, that great person, will reign at the pinnacle of this country as the first queen regnant in this country’s history. She said that she would dissolve her political engagement with me at this autumn festival. She told me to make sure I become happy.”

Then he pointed at the marigold flower fluttering at the top of the palace.

Even Beth, who was detached from worldly matters, understood what it meant that the flag was no longer the red one of the current royal family.

—The transfer of royal authority—

With his eyes full of tears, Noel spoke to Beth as though clinging to her, as though begging her.

“Beth, I want to be happy. I cannot be happy unless you are beside me. I hate it when you are not here. I want to be with you…”

“I want you to marry me.”

(Noel-sama…!!!!)