15

That day as well, Felix was training as usual by dropping lightning into lightning stones.

It was miserable, painful, and sad.

The only salvation was that the potions Noel formulated were truly effective, and due in part to the results of his training showing, his skin had become somewhat easier to bear, even if only a little.

To Felix, who had thrown himself into suffering with no exit in sight, that was hope.

“You have finally become able to fill two of them.”

Rakka touched the surface of the lightning stones, showed a gentle smile, then walked unsteadily to Felix with unreliable steps, opened his arms, embraced his shoulders, and gently patted his head in appreciation as one would a child.

“…Thank you very much.”

Felix nearly cried at the warmth of Rakka’s gentle hand.

Since Felix had developed his skin disease, this was the first time he had touched another person’s skin, or had someone touch him.

He had been ashamed of his own appearance, and he had hesitated both to touch people with this ugly skin and to be touched by people.

Before this blind old magician, Felix was free from the curse of his skin.

In Felix’s life until now, he honestly had never thought about blind people.

And he had never thought about those who had illnesses either.

—Simply be perfect, without a single scar.—

As the future king, Felix had aimed single-mindedly for nothing but that, and if there was one thing he had learned from this accursed illness, it was that.

To think that this large hand of a blind magician, far from being a perfect person and having lost his place at the royal palace, would save Felix’s heart this much.

And while Rakka’s pleasant, large hand was roughly stroking his head, Felix noticed something strange.

“Um, Rakka-dono. Forgive me for asking, but are you wearing some kind of perfume?”

Felix remembered this scent.

It was the scent of the water in that bottle given to him by the mysterious girl, whom he had entered the forest many times afterward but never met again.

It was the scent that had given Felix peaceful sleep and a comfortable bath time, even if only for one night.

Rakka looked puzzled, then thought for a moment and seemed to notice something with an “Ahh.”

“Ahh, this scent, you mean? This is the scent of Noel-sama’s bath. Yesterday, I accidentally drank too much at Noel-sama’s inn, you see. I even borrowed the bath and was allowed to stay the night.”

When Felix looked at Noel, who was waiting behind him, a handsome man stood there, smiling slightly bashfully.

Apparently, these two had unexpectedly become quite close without Felix noticing.

According to Felix’s way of thinking until now, he would never have imagined that an elderly blind magician and a young, beautiful magician like Noel, who boasted brilliant achievements, could become close enough that Noel would invite him to the inn he was using as his home and even let him use the bath.

Felix felt ashamed when he realized the narrow and foolish way of thinking he had unknowingly held.

Unaware of Felix’s busy thoughts, Rakka spoke happily.

“Noel-sama’s fiancée is truly skilled at arranging comfortable baths, you see. I know I am being a nuisance, but I cannot help visiting frequently. Yesterday’s bath had the scent of flowers.”

“The drink she serves after the bath is also wonderful,” Rakka added, laughing bashfully with a “wahaha.”

The magician Noel from the neighboring country, whom Felix only knew as someone who always observed him with a stern face, cast healing magic, and handed him potions, smiled just as happily and spoke to Felix.

“That is true. Felix-sama. My fiancée is truly skilled at arranging environments to suit a person’s heart and body, so I cannot help wanting to boast about my fiancée, and I often have Rakka-sama come to the inn. Felix-sama’s steward, Mason-dono, and Olivia, the maid here, also often come to take baths.”

“Huh?”

Felix felt as though his jaw would drop.

Apparently, both the maid wrapped from head to toe in medical clothing, who always grew frightened when she saw Felix, and Mason, who always watched Felix’s complexion and wept bitterly, were, in places where Felix was not present, getting along at this noble magician’s inn while taking good baths prepared by the fiancée.

“I did not know.”

What he had not known was that the maids and the steward also had names, lives, and personalities, and that everything they did while caring for Felix was not the entirety of those people’s lives.

And the fact that people, regardless of sex, age, or status, could spend time together in harmony.

Felix had been raised as the next king.

He had unconsciously and arrogantly thought that all the people surrounding Felix lived lives where they merely cared for Felix, lived solemnly, and died.

Felix felt ashamed of the arrogance he had unconsciously held.

“Yesterday, Olivia said she had quarreled with her lover and was so frustrated she could not sleep, so my fiancée Beth prepared a bath for Olivia by putting rainwater collected inside a special flower into the bathtub. That flower apparently has the effect of removing the prickliness from the heart and body, or something like that. Thanks to that, Olivia’s mood has recovered today, and now Olivia’s lover is helping with work in the greenhouse as thanks.”

“If one entered that bath, of course their mood would recover.”

The two of them spoke with smiles, but there was too much information in various ways, and Felix could not keep up.

“Greenhouse? Work?”

For the time being, Noel answered the words that came from Felix’s mouth and seemed to be a question.

“Yes. Beth is my fiancée, my subordinate, and a gardener. In Felix-sama’s greenhouse, she is cultivating medicinal herbs for Felix-sama. Beth is a genius at baths too, but with greenhouses, she is even more of a genius.”

“Please come visit the greenhouse once. I am sure Beth will be happy too.”