11

“…I cannot believe it.”

When Felix woke the next day, he could not believe what was happening to his own body.

In the morning, he had woken with his body wrapped in the soft scent of flowers, feeling very peaceful and at ease.

“I cannot remember ever having such a calm morning.”

His skin, which was always feverish and oozing, was quietly maintaining a lull this morning.

Morning was always the time of day when his skin symptoms were the worst.

When he woke in the morning, Felix’s bedding, made of beautiful silk, was always in a terrible state with blood, pus, fallen hair, and skin. Even though he always felt unpleasant and miserable from the moment he woke, today, as if nothing had happened to Felix’s body at all, the bedding remained clean, and Felix’s heart felt strangely quiet.

“To think that a good scent is coming from my own body.”

A sweet floral scent came from the dried affected areas.

Felix’s eyes fell on the strong skin medicine he always used.

It was an extremely effective strong medicine made with precious medicinal herbs.

This medicine had an extremely unpleasant smell. Every morning, he rubbed it all over his body, and only then did the condition of his skin recover slightly.

From Felix’s beautiful eyes, tears suddenly spilled.

For these past several years, unable to accept his ugly, foul-smelling self, Felix’s pride had been wounded until it was utterly exhausted.

The effect of the contents of the bottle the girl had given him seemed to be weak, and as the sun rose higher, his skin gradually began to burn with heat, so Felix hurriedly rubbed the strong medicine into his skin. The harsh smell of the strong medicine filled the room, and Felix’s brow furrowed.

Felix’s daily life had returned.

But Felix did not fall into misery, and instead quietly recalled that sweet night.

A quiet night without itching, without pain, simply wrapped in the good scent of flowers.

Just one night of peaceful sleep. Just a brief, calm time.

“That girl must be a spirit of the forest or something. She must have pitied me and given me the blessing of the forest.”

Felix decided.

“I want to meet that fairy once more.”

Meanwhile, at that time.

“Ahh, Beth, today’s bath was wonderful too. I feel revived. What in the world did you put in the bathtub today?”

With the crinkled smile Beth loved so much, Noel looked very happy.

The inn’s bathroom was also full of the many varied plants Beth had gathered.

The green bathroom, which had become almost like the depths of the tropics, was unexpectedly very comfortable.

It gave one the illusion of bathing in the middle of the forest.

Large leaves and fine leaves, a refreshing green scent spreading through the room, and because Beth had carefully selected only plants that liked hot humidity, it even felt as if the bathroom plants were looking forward to Noel’s bath.

It was truly a comfortable bathroom.

On top of that, according to his physical condition and mood each day, she floated fragrant flowers or fruits in the bath for him.

It felt as if something bad was being expelled from every pore in his body, and something very good was entering him instead, which was wonderful.

“Today, you see! I put in rainwater I gathered from the petals of palma flowers. Look, it rained a little yesterday, didn’t it? I found palma blooming in the forest, so when I went to gather it, I met the turtle. Noel-sama, you were a little irritated because of work, so I gathered things that would calm your heart.”

Beth said that and smiled softly.

“I am beaten.”

As Noel melted in the fragrant bath, he ended up scratching his head hard.

Crown Prince Felix’s condition was more serious than he had thought.

After long discussions with the medical team, the decision had been made that, because of his dignity as crown prince, he would not be made to undergo surgery.

If his body and mind became able to control Felix’s mighty magic, surgery would not be necessary, but until then, Felix would have to bear his current skin disease and, in the future, the risk of internal organ disease.

Noel had strongly argued for surgery, but this country’s values placed great weight on beauty.

They said that someone with a scar on his body ascending the throne would become a terrible scandal if the scar were ever discovered after he took the throne.

Since values varied depending on culture, Noel had given priority to the medical team’s opinion, but for the crown prince to control that amount of magic without the aid of surgery, he would need long, patient treatment and training, accompanied by both pain and suffering.

On top of that, there was the problem of purifying the old magic circulating through his body.

It seemed that his adorable fiancée had seen completely through the fact that Noel’s mind had been worked up.

Noel splashed lightly as he sank his body into the bathtub.

Surrounded by walls filled with soothing green plants, the bath filled with the sweet scent of palma even had water quality gentle on the skin, and it felt as if all the prickliness in his heart was flowing away.

“This is wonderful…”

Noel loudly proclaimed in exaggerated fashion that he was the happiest man in the world, earning snickers in noble society, but according to the people of the Magic Institute who knew Beth and this space Beth created, Noel was so blessed it was almost blasphemous.

“Ahh, Beth, today’s bath really is wonderful too. By the way, may I enter this bathwater again tomorrow?”

Today’s bath was so comfortable for both heart and body that Noel thought it would be truly regrettable to drain such splendid water after using it only once.

Palma petals were not large.

Gathering the raindrops collected in palma must have been truly difficult, and Noel felt as if he would melt from Beth’s gentle heart as well.

This time, Beth brought a very sour drink over to the bathtub where Noel’s heart and body had melted into a sloppy expression.

This sour red fruit was an ordinary small fruit that grew everywhere in this village and was used for pickles.

After making pickles, Beth received the juice of this fruit from the inn’s proprietress, added sugar, and drank it after bathing.

“Uwah, it’s sour! Ahh! This drink is wonderful too. Truly, I am so blessed to have become engaged to Beth.”

To Noel’s heart and body, which had completely melted in the gentle bath, the drink, sour in a way different from lemon and enough to echo through his spine, felt as if impurities were being squeezed out of his heart and entire body, and it was truly pleasant.

The good-humored Noel reached his wet hand toward Beth and kissed her.

If anything, he wanted her to enter the bath with him, but no matter what he said or how he said it, she would not enter, so Noel was in the middle of trying all sorts of approaches to ensnare this innocent fiancée.

Beth, who knew Noel’s strategy well, turned bright red, but still smacked Noel’s hand with a slap and said.

“No. After all the grime of your heart and body has finally washed away, if you enter this water again tomorrow, the washed-away grime will return and it will become the same thing all over again. I will make tomorrow’s bath tomorrow, so please look forward to it.”