13

“Beth! I found a wonderful greenhouse for you. You may take all the potted plants here to the greenhouse!”

Noel embraced and lifted Beth, who had come to greet him at the inn entrance, then held her up in the air, spun her around, and made merry.

By now, in this inn, the sight of Noel doting on her without caring who saw him was famous, and no one paid it any mind anymore.

“Kyah! Noel-sama, really?? I love you, Noel-sama!! What kind of greenhouse is it?”

Even though giving her the delicate jewelry this country was famous for, and even giving her a beautiful dress made to match Eloise’s, had not earned much of a reaction from Beth, she was overjoyed when she heard the word greenhouse.

“Ahh, the ceiling is much higher than the Magic Institute’s greenhouse, and though it is built in a rather old-fashioned style, it is a fine royal palace-style structure. I have obtained permission to apply magic to the interior. Let us go see it right away tomorrow.”

Noel, who had succeeded in making Beth happy and getting her to say she loved him, became delighted and could not stop grinning.

“Beth, I have a request. I want you to grow medicinal herbs that will become potion ingredients for the crown prince in that greenhouse. They are not medicinal herbs that are difficult to cultivate, but we will need quite a large amount. I have obtained permission that as long as the necessary medicinal herbs are grown, you may use the open space freely. My work here will last considerably longer than the stay we had planned, so it should be fine for us to be allowed that much selfishness, shouldn’t it?”

“Of course. My, then these children may be raised in the detached palace greenhouse. I am looking forward to it. When plants grow in a royal palace-style greenhouse, I feel they somehow grow in an elegant way!”

Royal palace style was a prestigious greenhouse architecture used only for greenhouses directly managed by the royal family.

There was probably no such thing as good or bad breeding in the way plants grew, but the worldview Beth saw with her eyes always gently warmed Noel’s heart.

When they returned to the room, Noel immediately laid out a large teleportation circle to move the potted plants to the greenhouse.

While Beth had been wandering around the forest, she had gathered and gathered forest plants, and their number probably easily exceeded two hundred. Just placing all of them on the teleportation circle was a considerable amount of work.

Rather than going through the trouble of carrying all those pots to the greenhouse by manpower, the Noel after meeting Beth had become someone who took laziness to the extreme by making full use of teleportation magic, which could not be deployed unless one was a magician with a considerable amount of magic even among high-ranking magicians.

Noel rather liked this new self too.

“Stand back a little. I will carry them all at once.”

Noel’s face had been smiling gently, but when it came time to activate magic, that gentle smile suddenly changed into a serious one, stealing Beth’s heart in an instant.

Noel was known for his sharp, beautiful looks.

His silver hair danced in the air while suffused with magic, and the cold, serious gaze of his dark blue eyes was truly beautiful, like a silver sculpture.

And the sight of Noel activating his magic, his entire body shining beautifully silver, turned Beth into a maiden in love no matter how many times she saw it.

“No matter when I see him, how beautiful he is. Noel-sama is just like a moon fairy.”

If she would only put that into words and tell Noel while she had the chance, this hopeless man would be overjoyed beyond measure, but being a woman of few words was Beth’s virtue, and also her flaw.

Noel, who had finished carrying the large number of potted plants all at once, did not even notice that Beth had been gazing at him in rapture, and turned toward Beth with a crinkled smile. It was Beth’s favorite face of Noel’s.

“Now then, it is all finished. Starting tomorrow, let us go to the detached palace together. His Highness the crown prince has said that while I am working at the detached palace, Beth may work in the greenhouse.”

“Then I will be able to be with Noel-sama all the time from now on. I’m happy.”

At that plain smile that looked happy from the bottom of her heart, Noel collapsed flat onto the floor and writhed in agony.

Beth only spoke the truth she thought in her heart, and only as much as was necessary.

That very Beth murmured with a smile that she was happy to be able to stay with Noel.

“I thought for sure that even without me, she was happily playing alone in the forest.”

To Noel, the occasional surprise displays of affection shown by Beth, who was quiet and did things at her own pace, were truly adorable.

Noel was writhing on the floor over Beth’s cuteness, but Beth seemed to have misunderstood and thought Noel had become tired from using magic and collapsed onto the floor.

“Ahh, Noel-sama, thank you for your hard work. I will prepare the bath right away, so please wait there just like that.”

Beth softly placed a cover over Noel’s body as he lay collapsed on the floor, and then left to prepare a bath for Noel.

Today, she had said she would try putting peach leaves and salt into the bathtub.

From far away, there was the faint, sweet, elegant scent of peach.

“Beth’s bath. And the space Beth makes for me. Beth.”

Noel’s chest was filled with the bliss of having his body and heart wrapped in a comfortable space, and he could not think of anything, as if he were drunk.

On top of that, starting tomorrow, Beth would be taking care of the greenhouse. Just imagining Beth’s greenhouse in his heart made him feel as if every part of his body were being filled with cleansing power.

That greenhouse. This bath. Beth.

Noel, who had once cursed everything in this world, was now writhing over his own good fortune and could not even stand up from the floor of the countryside inn.