Side Story 1 – Chapter 4

 

* * *

 

Evan shouted in shock, but soon realized Magician Pierce was sleeping nearby and hurriedly covered his mouth with both hands.

“I can’t put on the new gloves without taking these off.”

“W-well, that’s true.”

“…Ah, outside I have to… take them off myself.”

Evan resented his mind for coming up with slightly indecent thoughts.

There’s no way a noble young lady would take off her own gloves normally.

Since there would be several maids at the mansion to act as her hands and feet, it was perfectly natural for her to make such a request.

Evan knelt on one knee below Loretta’s sofa and politely held out both hands.

“I, I’ll t-take them off. Miss.”

“Okay.”

Loretta held out her hands with a calm face.

Evan somehow controlled the mana that kept trying to surge to his fingertips and grasped and pulled the tips of Loretta’s fingers.

But the thin lace gloves that were made to completely stick to her hands wouldn’t come off easily.

“You probably have to pull them off little by little starting from the wrist.”

“F-from the wrist?”

Evan asked with a beet-red face, and Loretta nodded, saying, “If you pull like that, the gloves might rip. They’re a gift from Melody.”

“Gloves given by Mrs. Baldwin…!”

Evan knew how important Melody was to Loretta.

If Evan accidentally ruined these gloves, Loretta would surely be very upset.

‘I absolutely can’t make a mistake.’

He moved his trembling hands little by little towards her white wrists, tensing up.

“…Shall I?”

“Yeah.”

Unlike Loretta who answered calmly, he felt like his heart would jump out of his mouth.

He carefully pushed his fingertips inside Loretta’s gloves with his eyes barely open.

As he gently stroked the soft skin on the inside of her wrist, the thin gloves started to be pushed up little by little following his hand.

“You know, you don’t have to be that careful.”

Perhaps bothered by how overly cautious he was being, Loretta quietly spoke.

“No, I can’t let you feel any pain, Miss.”

“Do I look like I’ll be in pain from just taking off gloves?”

Evan gently nodded his head.

“Your skin is too… soft. I’m scared I might hurt you.”

“There’s no way you would hurt me, Evan.”

“…”

Betraying Loretta’s trust was a painful thing, but Evan couldn’t help but be someone who hurt her.

As long as he was a magician who expressed himself with mana.

And as long as she was a physis easily dominated by mana.

He could only be like poison to her.

“…Evan?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Evan removed both of Loretta’s gloves a bit hastily.

“Thanks.”

Loretta quickly tried on the warm gloves Evan had bought.

It felt a bit early to wear them in the fall, but Loretta didn’t want to take them off.

“I’ll have to keep wearing these until I get home today.”

At Loretta’s words as she smiled brightly, Evan found himself smiling along with her before he knew it.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Loretta returned from the Magic Tower, she went to find Melody.

Since Melody was suffering from stiff shoulders due to hard work, Loretta quickly took out the “Miracle Rubber Mallet Version 3”.

It was an eternal hit product of the Briggs store that refreshed you just by tapping any tired part of your body.

“Phew… Thanks so much, Loretta.”

Melody gladly enjoyed Loretta’s kind service while lying face down on the bed.

“It’s nothing. It’s not even that tiring.”

Melody closely observed Loretta’s somewhat gloomy face.

“Did something happen at the Magic Tower?”

“Mm, no. It’s always the same. I like Evan, and kind Evan only gets troubled.”

“…It might not be that Evan is only troubled.”

Melody carefully answered, fully understanding Loretta and Evan’s situation.

“Thanks for comforting me, Melody. But I don’t hate having a one-sided crush either. If it’s Evan… Ah, right.”

Loretta suddenly started giggling to herself as if she remembered something.

“You know, Evan thinks a grateful stork brings babies.”

“No way.”

“It’s true. It’s so cute I could die! I wanted to hug him tight.”

Melody sighed deeply and rested her forehead on the pillow.

‘There’s no way Evan really thinks that, Loretta…’

Although it was true that Evan was a few years younger than Loretta, he was now a healthy adult male.

That meant there was no way he would seriously talk about storks.

“And Evan bought winter gloves as a gift during his business trip.”

“For someone who said it’s always the same, a lot of good things happened at the Magic Tower.”

“That’s exactly why I like Evan. Only good things happen when I’m with him.”

“So when did you decide to meet next?”

“Well, normally it would have to be next month, but…”

Loretta stopped tapping the rubber mallet for a moment and gave a secretive smile.

Melody thought Loretta must have used some trick before coming back.

Whatever it was, a brilliant move that would allow her to meet Evan in the near future.

 

* * *

 

Evan was agonizing while looking at the gloves neatly laid out on the desk.

It was the lace gloves Loretta had been wearing until a moment ago, which she had accidentally left behind at the Magic Tower in the process of changing into the new gloves he had bought her.

‘I found the gloves and belatedly chased after the ducal carriage, but…’

The carriage Loretta was riding in was fiercely driving away at a speed he couldn’t catch up to.

(Of course, it was because Loretta, worried about getting the gloves back right away, had ordered the coachman “Eyes forward! Maximum speed! Go!”, but Evan had no way of knowing.)

“What… should I do?”

He looked around the empty room for a moment, then blankly stared at Loretta’s gloves.

‘They’re really small.’

How cute must the young lady be for these cute gloves to fit her perfectly?

As he started thinking about her, mana even condensed on Evan’s fingertips.

Since he had been enduring it the whole time he was with Loretta, he didn’t even realize he was emitting light.

“Evan.”

Just then, with Jeremiah’s call, Evan’s door opened wide without a knock.

“Eek!”

Evan was startled and quickly turned around.

“T-Teacher!”

“Sorry, it seems you were really focused on something.”

At his comment, Evan’s face turned bright red.

He was so embarrassed that he had been devoting all his attention to the gloves the young lady had left behind.

“Ah, no.”

“Really?”

As Jeremiah approached while closing the door, Evan quickly hid the gloves, tensing up.

‘Wh-why hide them… If I give them to Teacher, he’ll deliver them right to Miss.’

“Evan?”

“Yes, yes?!”

As he lifted his head with a start, Jeremiah, who had come right in front of him, grasped both his cheeks.

“Your complexion doesn’t look good. Is the fatigue not gone?”

“N-no. That’s not it. Teacher.”

“Then Loretta must have tired you out.”

“Of course not. Miss is very… kind to me. To the point of trouble.”

As Evan slightly averted his gaze, Jeremiah held his cheeks again and made him look at him properly.

“I’ve said it several times, Evan.”

“Yes.”

“I believe you know what the right path is.”

“I… will never act against your expectations, Teacher.”

“I didn’t mean for you to meet my expectations, Evan.”

Jeremiah let out a deep sigh and let go of Evan’s face.

Somehow, when he looked at Evan, he felt he could newly understand the feelings of his teacher, Owen.

Because Owen had also treated Jeremiah like a child all along.

Back then, it had been painful that he was a disciple who couldn’t gain trust, but thinking about it now, it didn’t seem to be quite like that.

It seemed a teacher was someone who worried about their disciple as naturally as breathing.

“…Um, Teacher.”

“Hm?”

“Could it be that you came because you have something you want me to do?”

“That was the case, but you seem tired so I’ll tell you later.”

“No! I’m fine. Please tell me.”

Although Jeremiah still seemed to hesitate a bit, he honestly conveyed his business since it was true he needed his disciple’s help.

 

* * *

 

Claude briefly grabbed the arm of a servant passing by in front of Melody’s office.

“If there are any ugly parts to my appearance, I’d like you to tell me.”

The servant narrowed his eyes for a moment and blankly stared at his master’s appearance.

Even after entering his thirties, Claude Baldwin was still always counted as one of the beautiful men the capital boasted about.

How could there be any ugly parts to him?

“Seeing you trying to look good for the young madam, it seems you’re going to get scolded again.”

Claude smiled proudly.

“Yes, as always.”

“You should be careful. Recently, Miss Loretta has been watching you two with very sharp eyes.”

“Oh my, my youngest sister is still doing such cute things? How adorable.”

The servant sighed at his incurable sister-loving side.

“Well… anyway, there are no ugly parts to Master Claude’s appearance, so now you can go receive agony from the madam.”

“Agony? I’m enjoying the privilege of being a married man.”

He spoke in a somewhat boastful tone and carefully knocked on Melody’s office door.

When there was no answer, he knocked on the door again, and just then, the door swung open.

As he expected, Melody was glaring at him with a face that looked like she wanted to yell right away.

Claude calmly tried to give the prettiest smile he could for now.

Because Melody had always given a favorable evaluation of at least his face.

“Hello, Miss Melody.”