Chapter 161

 

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Evan hurriedly sat back and desperately shook his head.

“Th-That can’t be! For me to dare have such feelings…!”

“Oh…”

Loretta made a slightly tearful expression.

“…So you didn’t like it.”

The flustered Evan shook his head again.

“I-I liked it. I did like it.”

“But just a moment ago, you said there’s no way.”

“That… that’s.”

Evan knelt down neatly and folded his hands properly. Fidgeting his fingertips continuously as if anxious.

“F-For me to dare express liking or disliking… your comings and goings, Young Miss… is unthinkable.”

“Why?”

“For someone like m-me… to a noble person like you… how could I…”

“Well of course I’m noble.”

Loretta got off the sofa and sat facing him.

“Evan is very noble too.”

“S-Saying such things… to me…!”

“Saying such things to you?”

She pulled up Evan’s robe that had slipped down again.

Then she brushed aside his slightly long hair. To clearly see his handsome face that was usually hidden by his hair.

“Evan is the one and only apprentice of the magician Baldwin. You don’t know how much big brother loves you.”

“My master may be g-great, but…”

As he tried to voice a different opinion, Loretta pouted her lips sullenly.

“So, are you saying I’m wrong?!”

“…No.”

“That’s right. Good boy.”

Loretta patted his head.

“But why were you surprised that I came? All of a sudden.”

“Well… I thought you wouldn’t come anymore.”

“Why?”

“It seems you… hadn’t heard the news…”

“If it’s that news, about Father returning?”

He nodded at Loretta’s words.

The Duke returning to the capital also meant Jeremiah would return to the Magic Tower.

“E-Even though you received word, you still came here.”

“I came because I received word.”

“Huh?! B-But if you get caught doing this…”

When he spoke blinking his big eyes, Loretta felt a bit sad.

Of course, it would be troublesome if she got caught freely going in and out of the Magic Tower.

Being scolded was scary, but more than that, Evan who was with her every time she came might get in trouble.

Still, as soon as Loretta heard the news about her father, she thought she had to come to the Magic Tower right away.

“…Hmph.”

Loretta turned her head away.

“Oh…”

Evan flailed his hands helplessly, then hung his head.

Just then, the medicine bottles entered his view.

“Um, Young Miss.”

When he mustered the courage to speak, Loretta gave him her gaze as if having no choice.

“This…”

He held out the medicine bottles with both hands.

It seemed he didn’t have the courage to say ‘You need to get treated.’

“I don’t want to.”

Loretta turned her head away again with a ‘hmph.’

Evan restlessly held the medicine bottles in front of her eyes several more times.

“Ah, um. K-Knees are important body parts. They’re related to growth too. So…”

He even used his short knowledge to try to change Loretta’s mind.

“I’m really so worried about you, Young Miss… It’s not a request out of my unworthy concern, but still…”

At his earnest plea, Loretta let out a big sigh and answered coyly.

“I guess I have no choice. Since you’re worrying about me that much, I’ll get treated.”

“R-Really?!”

“I have no choice. If I go back like this, you.”

“I won’t be able to do anything. I won’t be able to eat, sleep, and… focus on magic too!”

As he counted on his fingers and honestly expressed his anxiety, Loretta laughed making ‘heh heh’ sounds.

“Evan, you’re too much of an exaggerator sometimes.”

“…I-It’s truuue…”

“Alright, I get it.”

Loretta stretched out both legs. In fact, her knees were perfectly fine except for turning slightly red.

Even that had mostly calmed down while they were talking like this.

But Evan’s face as he examined those knees looked as serious as if seeing a grave injury.

“I-It must… hurt a lot. I’ll apply a pain-relieving medicine right away.”

As he took out a bunch of cotton balls, Loretta shook her head.

“No, I don’t like medicine. It’s sticky and unpleasant. And it’s hot out.”

“Huh? B-But you said… you’d get treated…”

“Of course, I will.”

Loretta looked straight into Evan’s eyes and answered.

“With Evan’s magic.”

“Gasp.”

Surprised by her words, he dropped the cotton he was holding again.

“P-Please take back that order!”

“Yeah, I won’t take it back.”

“Young Miss!”

He rarely raised his voice, but it couldn’t break Loretta’s stubbornness.

“I don’t like medicine, but I like Evan’s magic.”

“M-My insignificant magic… won’t be of any help to you, Young Miss…”

“Insignificant? Your magic saved me before too, you know?”

The first time Loretta had snuck into the Magic Tower. Evan’s magic had saved her from trouble.

But after that day, Loretta hadn’t seen him use magic even once.

Sometimes she would ask him to show her, but he always refused, saying “It’s not something worthy of showing a noble person like you.”

“Have you never learned healing magic?”

“I-I learned simple ones. In case of emergencies, Master said I should be able to heal myself…”

“As expected of big brother.”

“But I’ve never tried it on anyone else except when practicing on Master… and also.”

“Also?”

“I’m afraid my lowly mana might directly touch your vessel, Young Miss…”

“My vessel?”

He nodded at Loretta’s question.

“Yes. The vessel holds and stores mana inside the body. It’s together with the heart.”

Loretta clutched her hand over her heart. Come to think of it, she vaguely remembered hearing about such a thing before.

But since she rarely had the opportunity to learn about magic, she had forgotten.

“I see.”

Loretta slowly nodded.

“What happens if I hold Evan’s mana inside me?”

“N-Nothing in particular happens, but…”

Evan gently touched his slightly reddened cheeks.

“I thought… you might find it unpleasant, Young Miss.”

“Why?”

“…Well. The mana flowing from me… is no different from myself.”

“Then it becomes like Evan is by my side forever?”

He shook his head. His voice as he explained kept getting softer.

“As time passes… it will gradually disappear through breathing. Slowly, but…”

“Ah.”

At his explanation, Loretta made a slightly regretful expression.

“That’s a bit disappointing.”

“Huh?”

“I would have been happy if you said we could be together all the time.”

Evan was so surprised by those words that he couldn’t answer anything.

If his mana were to exist inside Loretta’s body forever, he thought he would be too embarrassed to even look at his own mana properly.

“I really enjoy playing with Evan. What about you? Do you like playing with me?”

“S-Someone like you spending time with someone like me… n-no one… would dislike that.”

“That means you like me. Right?”

At that clear conclusion, Evan couldn’t dare say yes or no.

He thought someone like him couldn’t presume to have likes or dislikes regarding the land’s princess and his master’s precious younger sister.

“Of course I like you a lot too, Evan.”

“Huh?!”

“So if you clearly tell me you like me, I’ll be really happy.”

The poor Evan buried his face in his hands.

He only realized now that his heart was beating so fast it was hard to breathe.

Loretta kept saying things he couldn’t handle at all.

“…You won’t make me happy?”

But when she asked in a gloomy voice, he had no choice but to quickly lift his head.

Of course, he wanted to make Loretta happy too.

So whenever Loretta came to the Magic Tower, he would serve her fresh milk and the star candies he had been saving without eating.

Each time, she would smile brightly, and Evan considered that smile the most sparkling and precious in this world.

‘For someone like me to say I like her… could that make the Young Miss happy like milk or star candies?’

He wiped his sweaty hands on his robe without realizing it.

‘The Young Miss might actually find it unpleasant to hear such a thing.’

So he thought he should say it in the smallest voice possible.

At least to not make her too displeased.

“Um.”

He raised his knees and approached Loretta’s ear.

Putting his cupped hands near his mouth, he whispered into her ear.

“I-I… r-really… l-like you, Young Miss.”

After finally mustering the courage to say it, his expression rapidly darkened. Worrying so much about what Loretta would think.

Moreover, the usually lively Loretta was sitting still without a word, making him even more concerned.

‘I-I guess it was no good after all…!’

He thought he should apologize to her quickly.

But at that moment.

“Really?!”

Loretta turned to him. With the most adorable smile he had ever seen.

“I’m so happy to hear Evan say that. I’m truly happy.”

“…?!”

Evan was just dumbfounded by her enthusiastic reaction.

‘It’s like I became… more amazing than fresh milk or star candies.’

If she was this delighted when he conveyed it in a small voice, what if he had said it in his usual voice?

Thinking that, he somehow wanted to say those words again.

That he really liked Miss Loretta.

But his cowardly lips refused to move at all.

Moreover, if Loretta showed even more joy here, he might end up crying and weeping from being too happy.

“Well, I like Evan, and Evan likes me too.”

Having reached a perfect conclusion, Loretta clapped her hands and smiled radiantly.

“So you can use healing magic on me. Right?”

When she asked sticking her face out slightly, Evan quickly nodded.

In fact, he was so dazed that even if Loretta had said ‘Take out your heart and show it to me for a bit,’ he would have readily nodded.

“My mana… might remain in your body, Young Miss.”

But he was still worried about that fact.

“Yeah, leave a whole lot.”

“Huh?!”

“If that happens.”

Loretta briefly closed her eyes and listened to the sound of her pounding heart.

“Even if we can’t see each other for a while, it’ll be no different from playing together.”

“…Young Miss.”

“Whenever I hear the sound of my heart beating, I’ll think of the fact that Evan’s mana is inside me. And that.”

Loretta opened her eyes again and smiled at Evan.

“Will surely feel really wonderful.”

Soon, a green light flowed from Evan’s fingertips.

His mana must have flowed out unconsciously. From being so happy at her words…

“Pretty green, I really like it.”

Suddenly, Loretta complimented his mana.

He lowered his head and mumbled in his heart, ‘The pretty one is you, Young Miss. I really like you.’

This time too, his cowardly lips did not move at all.

But the strong mana containing those feelings flowed from his fingertips and slowly seeped into her body.