Side Story 1 – Chapter 2

 

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After Loretta firmly opened Evan’s closed room door, their relationship was able to be restored.

However, secretly meeting like before never happened again.

Loretta had to pass Jeremiah’s “inspection” without fail before meeting Evan.

Having already arrived at the Magic Tower, Loretta ran straight to Jeremiah who came out to the front to greet her.

“Brother!”

The 27-year-old young man Jeremiah, despite being busy as the Tower Master, would always come out to the front to greet Loretta when she came to the Magic Tower to see Evan.

“Loretta.”

He immediately raised his hand near Loretta’s forehead to carefully check her condition.

“Anything happen at the mansion?”

Of course, he didn’t forget to ask about the family’s well-being in the meantime.

“Yes. No matter how I think about it, it seems like Melody has been tricked into marriage. She’s so busy.”

“That’s not good…”

“I knew it, right?!”

“Yeah. If my sister-in-law is tired, the winter experiment schedule might get delayed again.”

“…”

“I want to experiment quickly.”

Loretta thought Jeremiah’s experiments were also one of the things making Melody tired.

Even though Melody insists that’s not the case at all.

“Aren’t you satisfied with having a younger sister with a unique constitution?”

“Of course experimenting on you is interesting too. But there’s nothing that makes my heart race as much as experimenting on my sister-in-law and you at the same time.”

“It’s weird to use the phrase ‘makes my heart race’ in that situation!”

“It’s my freedom to decide what my heart reacts to. Your condition looks good, you can go in now.”

Loretta followed Jeremiah and entered the interior of the Magic Tower.

Even if many things in this world changed, that building hadn’t changed one bit since the first day she came as a child.

Loretta greeted the cats in alphabetical order and soon arrived in front of Evan’s room.

Jeremiah left with only the nagging words “Don’t stay too long” and went into his own room where work was piled up.

Loretta let out a big sigh and stood in front of Evan’s room door.

Meeting him had been a natural routine from childhood until now, but today she was unusually nervous.

‘It’s been… three months.’

The last time they met was at the beginning of last summer, and winter was already approaching.

‘I hope I don’t look strange.’

Loretta briefly checked her outfit here and there.

She wore a dress she had agonized over and picked out to wear on the day she met Evan after a long time, but somehow it wasn’t satisfactory.

“Miss?”

Just then, Evan’s voice was heard from beyond the corridor.

Loretta, who thought he would be in the room, was surprised and turned to look at him.

The slender little boy Evan had somehow grown taller and taller each year, and at some point it became natural for him to look down at Loretta.

Moreover, now that he had fully grown into a young man, he had a solid build that couldn’t be hidden even by a loose robe.

“You weren’t in your room, Evan?”

Loretta barely managed to ask a question while suppressing her slightly embarrassed feelings.

“Of course not.”

Evan approached her and bowed politely to greet her. With the perfect aristocratic etiquette Jeremiah had taught him.

In the meantime, Loretta examined Evan here and there. Wondering if anything had changed in the three months.

The wrinkled robe, the jet-black hair flowing down below his neck, and his large hands. Everything was just as Loretta remembered.

Perhaps embarrassed by her observing gaze, Evan cleared his throat briefly and opened his mouth.

“I thought I should properly go out to greet you when you came, Miss.”

“You came out to meet me?”

“Yes, it seems our paths crossed. I’m sorry.”

“Mm, it’s okay. I was with my brother.”

Loretta quickly smiled as she slowly stroked near her heart.

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“Of course not. I was quite nervous thinking about meeting you after a long time, Evan. But now that we’ve met, I feel at ease instead. Isn’t it the same for you?”

“What?!”

When Evan flinched, Loretta furrowed her brow and slightly raised her toes to glare at him closely.

“…What. Does this mean you weren’t excited at all about me coming to see you?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it.”

Evan turned his gaze away, covering half his face with the long hem of his robe for no reason.

Actually, Evan was just as nervous about meeting Loretta after 3 months.

To the point where he couldn’t sleep properly yesterday despite being quite tired from a long business trip.

‘…It feels like I’ll go even crazier now that we’ve actually met.’

Evan smiled calmly after pressing down the thoughts he couldn’t bring himself to say.

Loretta pouted her lips slightly.

“Hmph, even if you say you weren’t excited, I don’t care. Since I’m the only one who likes you anyway.”

I like you too, Miss!

Evan had to hold back from answering like that this time too.

Loretta had no hesitation at all in showing her interest and affection to Evan as it was.

Evan thought he shouldn’t reveal his honest feelings in this situation.

He was worried that if he did, their relationship might flow in an uncontrollable direction.

“Thank you… for liking me, Miss. It’s truly an honor.”

He raised his hand near his chest and bowed lightly.

“…”

“And I’ve prepared tea in the reception room.”

“The reception room again? Not Evan’s room?”

“I told you last time. My room is too messy to be a place for someone precious like you to come, Miss.”

“But if we go to the reception room…”

Loretta slightly furrowed her brow.

No matter what, Evan never created a situation where he was alone with Loretta in his room.

He would take her to the reception room without fail and have another magician present.

“…I want to be alone with Evan.”

“That’s out of the question!”

As Evan stepped back in surprise, Loretta approached him so close that she almost touched his chest, not backing down.

“Why in the world can’t we?”

Evan quickly hid his hands behind his back at the sweet scent he felt for a moment.

“When Evan doesn’t even like me.”

“…You, you like me, Miss.”

“So you mean I might do something indecent to Evan?”

“That’s not it.”

Evan shook his head with an almost crying face.

“If that’s not it, then why? Why can’t we be alone together? Why? Why?”

“Because I!”

‘…If I’m alone with you, Miss, my mind will be in such a state that I’ll end up saying all my honest feelings.’

“You what? What?”

He stared down at Loretta’s face still right in front of him.

His heart sank with a thud at the dizzying lovely sight, regardless of the situation.

Anyone would fall for a young lady like this, and Evan, an ordinary man, was no exception.

“I… didn’t clean my room today either. So I’m embarrassed to show it to you, Miss…”

Although Loretta glared at him with a sulky face, she soon let out a deep sigh as if giving up.

“Okay, it can’t be helped. I can’t enter your personal space without permission… Okay, let’s go to the reception room.”

“Thank you for forgiving me, Miss.”

“Then I’ll come here next time to watch a meteor shower with you, so I’d like you to clean up your room by then, Evan.”

“Ahem.”

Evan choked for a moment and let out a big cough.

Watching a meteor shower together.

Doesn’t that mean she’ll come to Evan’s room late at night?

He quickly shook his head. He had no confidence in maintaining his reason in that environment.

“Wa-watching a meteor shower is a difficult thing to do. Even if you stare at the night sky endlessly, there are many times you miss it.”

“It’s okay, I’m a bit immune to staring endlessly and failing.”

“Mo-moreover, meteors falling is late at night… That’s really not possible, Miss.”

As Evan firmly refused, shaking his head, Loretta couldn’t insist any further either.

‘Actually, I expected it to turn out like this too.’

She let out a short sigh, saying “It can’t be helped.”

“Then instead of watching a meteor shower together and going to the reception room, hold my hand, you can at least do that, right? Evan.”

“Your… hand, Miss.”

“Yeah. Hold it.”

As Loretta started shooting him an expectant gaze, Evan quickly lowered his eyes to the back of her hand.

‘What should I do… Even Miss’s hands are cute.’

Thinking that she holds a sword and writes with these small hands, Evan’s breath became uncomfortable with the feeling of his heart being pressed.

The desire to grasp that hand tightly right away welled up, but he quickly suppressed his feelings.

If he held these pretty hands, Evan would surely be unable to sleep or eat for three days trying to calm his pounding heart.