Chapter 160

 

* * *

 

“To the library? Why? You went yesterday too.”

Ronny’s question was something Melody had been thinking as well. It seemed Loretta was going to the library excessively often.

Moreover, taking advantage of the lax atmosphere with the Duke absent, it bothered Melody that Loretta wasn’t taking any other escorts besides the coachman.

Of course, the coachman had sworn to never leave her side.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll only go often until today. Really…”

“If that’s the case, I will come with you.”

At Ronny’s suggestion, Loretta shook her head.

“No. If I go around with you, big brother, people will treat me like a little kid.”

“You are a little kid!”

“But big brother, when you were my age, you even hosted a banquet that Grandpa Matap praised. So I’m not a little kid.”

“Well, that’s because I’m a genius!”

“If big brother is just a genius, then I’m a genius too! Because I’ve always admired you, and now I’ve come to take after all your good qualities!”

“Gasp.”

Ronny immediately concurred with that flawless logic.

“W-Well, I guess it can’t be helped. For you to admire me and end up taking after me…”

He spoke in a solemn tone, but the corners of his lips were already drawing an irrepressibly large smile.

It seemed the words ‘a genius taking after her big brother’ pleased him that much.

“Be careful on your way, my sister who’s a genius for taking after me.”

“Okay, my genius big brother. Please take good care of my Melody.”

“Leave it to me.”

He tapped his chest a few times. Since the carriage Loretta would be riding soon arrived, Ronny even personally lifted his precious sister into it.

Melody watched the two of them blankly from behind with clouded eyes.

‘…Loretta’s skill at handling Ronny is evolving day by day.’

 

* * *

 

Having successfully shaken off (?) Ronny and boarded the carriage, Loretta let out a sigh of relief for now.

“Um, Miss.”

When the coachman cautiously spoke to her, she slowly nodded.

“That’s right, we’re going to the Magic Tower again today.”

“Are you sure it’s alright? I heard the Duke will be returning in a few days.”

“You know, even though I kept going to the Magic Tower these past few weeks, nothing happened to me.”

Loretta stuck her head out towards the coachman’s seat.

“In other words, it’s been proven that the ban on me entering the Magic Tower was unjust.”

“The Duke may have had other intentions. In any case, a good child should obey their parents.”

“That’s wrong.”

Loretta raised one finger as she answered.

“My respected parents’ words have the greatest influence on me, but making judgments is ultimately my responsibility.”

“Goodness. I’d really like to see the face of whoever is teaching the Young Miss such things.”

“I thought of it myself, I’m smart you know?”

The coachman shook his head.

That tenacious stubbornness like a steel tendon was indeed befitting the daughter of the Baldwins.

The carriage that had been heading towards the library as a pretense once again left the city today and headed for the crooked Magic Tower building.

 

* * *

 

As soon as the carriage stopped, Loretta opened the door herself and hopped out.

In the past, she had wandered lost in the lobby, not knowing where to go, but now things were different. Loretta advanced forward without hesitation.

The cats on the stairs, noticing her presence, approached first.

Loretta crouched down on the spot and greeted the cats one by one.

“Hi, Alpha. Have you been well too, Bravo? Charlie! Don’t bully Delta too much. Echo, looks like you just woke up.”

Afterwards, she took out some snacks she had prepared separately for the cats and distributed them little by little.

Loretta spent time petting the cute creatures and playing with them appropriately before standing up and brushing herself off.

“You know, I won’t be able to come often from now on. Since Father is returning.”

Perhaps understanding her regretful words, all the cats’ round eyes turned towards Loretta. They seemed a bit surprised too.

“But I’ll try to visit occasionally, so don’t worry too much.”

After looking at all ten cats from Alpha to Juliet, Loretta brought a finger to her lips as if recalling something.

“Ah, and keep it a secret from big brother. That I came here. Can you do that?”

Alpha’s tail swished slightly. It seemed to mean she would do so.

After thanking them, Loretta began climbing the stairs.

The cats that had been following her each returned to their favorite spots and laid down.

“The little munchkin is here again today!”

Soon, the old magician who had given Loretta trouble when they first met appeared before her.

He was preciously holding a transparent orb again today.

“Hi, Grandpa!”

Loretta greeted him brightly and casually placed her hand on the orb he was holding.

“Ooh.”

He made a very moved expression, and soon a dark blue color began flowing from the orb beneath.

“Oh my, the blue of night.”

When the magician spoke in surprise, Loretta removed her hand and asked.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re very sad about something. Seems like something happened?”

After writing ‘blue of night’ in his notebook, he waited for her answer.

“Nothing major.”

Loretta hid both hands behind her back and smiled brightly.

“Just that I won’t be able to come here anymore.”

“Oh no.”

At that, the magician ended up dropping both the orb and notebook he had been holding.

Those were the things he always said were more precious to him than his life.

“Y-You can’t come here anymore?!”

“Yeah. Father doesn’t like me coming to the Magic Tower. So for the time being, it’ll be difficult… Grandpa, are you crying?”

Loretta was startled to see the old magician suddenly burying his face in his sleeve and grabbed his clothes.

“Sniffle, I’m not crying. I’m not.”

Though he said that, he was already crying enough to sniffle.

“Don’t cry. I’ll give you a hug.”

Loretta opened her arms and patted the old magician to comfort him.

After he calmed down a bit, Loretta picked up the orb and notebook he had dropped and handed them to him.

The orb that touched her hand turned blue again. But there was a strange pink tint around the edges.

After a difficult parting with the old magician, Loretta arrived in front of Jeremiah’s room with quick steps.

She gripped the doorknob in front of the tightly closed door.

But almost simultaneously, the door flung open, causing her to lose balance and fall forward.

“Ow!”

It hurt when her knees struck the hard floor with a thud. But there were no other painful spots.

It was thanks to Evan, who had opened the door, catching her body while falling on his bottom.

Loretta, barely raising her head from on top of him, asked worriedly.

“Evan, are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine.”

But Evan’s thin and small face looked very pained.

“Evan’s bottom must have bruised. Should I take a look?”

At Loretta’s concerned question, his face turned pale.

“M-My bottom is fine! More importantly, Young Miss… you hurt your knees.”

He made a tearful expression and quickly stood up, starting to take out medicine bottles one by one from the shelves to examine them.

It seemed he was looking for a medicine to apply on her knees.

“I’m okay though.”

Loretta moved to sit on the old sofa.

“No, absolutely not.”

But Evan was uncompromising when it came to things like this.

Left with no choice, Loretta hugged a cushion and waited for him to return.

After a long while, he came back holding five different medicine bottles.

Loretta alternated between looking at her knees that had only turned slightly red and those huge amounts of medicine.

“Evan.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Have you ever heard the term ‘overtreatment’ by any chance?”

“I-I haven’t heard of it, but I think I know what it means.”

“Yeah, it seems like that’s what you’re trying to do.”

“…I-I’m sorry. I lack medical knowledge. Ah, I’ll work hard on that too from now on…”

He sat on the carpet in front of Loretta and carefully examined the medicine bottles again. It seemed he was pondering which ones would be good to exclude.

Loretta vacantly watched Evan like that while resting her chin on the cushion.

The boy was slender. Even though Jeremiah had made him the smallest robe, sometimes the robe would slip below one shoulder like this.

“This always happens when you concentrate.”

Loretta muttered in a small voice and pulled the robe up over the slightly exposed gray shirt.

“Ah.”

Noticing her touch, Evan blankly lifted his head. When their gazes met, Loretta smiled brightly enough to show her white teeth.

“…Ah.”

The boy quickly lowered his head. That caused his robe to slip down again.

“You know, Evan.”

“Y-Yes… Young Miss.”

“Were you trying to come out just now because you heard I arrived?”

When Loretta had gripped the doorknob, Evan had pulled the door with much greater force than usual.

Enough to knock Loretta over beyond the door.

“…Y-Yes, I-I’m sorry.”

Loretta quickly shook her head. She didn’t intend to scold him.

“Did Echo let you know again today?”

The cat Echo tended to take good care of Evan, whose name started with the same letter.

Starting one day, whenever Loretta arrived, Echo would relay the news to him first.

“Y-Yes… So I was surprised…”

It seemed he had ruthlessly grabbed the door in his haste to run out.

Loretta hugged the cushion a bit tighter and abruptly stuck her head out towards him.

“Were you that happy about me coming? Enough to run out with all your might in surprise?”