The next day.
I woke up with a blank face. I couldn’t sleep well because I was thinking all night. My head was stuffy as if it was foggy.
“Sister, I’m going to train!”
Blan, who woke up early in the morning, diligently ate breakfast, washed up, and ran out to the training center with a sword.
I stared blankly at his figure and thought again.
‘The power of the Black Dragon…’
A lazy nine-year-old boy has been reborn as a diligent human being with only one virtue.
‘Hm, I’m sure it must have been the same for Roziel.’
He probably changed after meeting me. Even the way I didn’t mean…
“Ahhhhh.”
I returned to my room screaming internally. Then I fell back on the bed. This time, I covered myself with a blanket.
‘No, how did this happen?’
Why didn’t I think of this happening?
No matter how single you are, you read so many novels!
I hit my pillow hard and kicked the blanket hard.
“Miss, are you awake? You have to eat. As expected, breakfast with Master Evelian…What are you doing?”
Bella frowned when she found me kicking the blanket recklessly.
“Wo, work out…”
“You have to go out and exercise.”
She forced me up and took me to the bathroom. Almost lying in the bathtub, I quietly whispered.
“I’m going to do it alone this morning…”
I’m not ready to see Roziel yet. It was the same as usual, but I didn’t think I could treat him the same way.
“Why? The Young Lord will be waiting.”
“T, tell him I’m not feeling well.”
“Miss has never been sick.”
“I don’t know. I’m sick.”
Bella looked at me suspiciously for my absurdity. The servants of the nobility were all quick-witted. So for no reason, I didn’t look her in the eye and avoided her.
“You were playing well until yesterday…”
“It really hurts. I feel like my head is heating up.”
“You don’t have a fever.”
“I’m dizzy. I can’t walk straight.”
“You kicked the blanket so excitedly earlier.”
“It was because it was so hot.”
“Okay, I’ll tell him so.”
She said as if she had given up.
“Thank you…”
“Hmm?”
The way she looked at me was as if she were watching “an adolescent young girl who couldn’t even control her emotions properly.”
…Oh, it’s not like that
I glared, but Bella didn’t lose. Rather, she smiled at me with the unique ease of an adult woman. It was a very kind and benevolent smile.
“It’s a time like that.”
“What?”
Bella did not answer.
* * *
After I washed up, I asked Bella to bring me breakfast. I was sitting when I heard someone knocking. I quickly went under the covers and answered in a weak voice.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
As expected, it was Roziel.
“Come on in.”
I purposely turned my face in the opposite direction and lay down.
“Yuria, does it hurt a lot?”
“Huh? No. It’s not that bad.”
“I guess we shouldn’t have gone to the beach yesterday.”
“No… This just happens sometimes.”
Roziel’s voice was somehow sullen. He looked at me for a long time to see if he had anything to say. The back of my head stung.
I thought I’d just stand up pretending I couldn’t win, but I didn’t think I could keep my composure even after seeing his clear sky-blue eyes.
“…Do you want me to rub your belly?”
“…”
He thinks rubbing my stomach will cure me.
“No, my head is the one that is sick.”
Then Roziel’s hand touched my forehead. His hands were bigger than his peers, so they were like an adult man’s. Though his bones were much thinner.
“I don’t think you have a fever.”
“I, I’m just dizzy.”
I shriveled up because I felt strange. I had often touched Roziel’s face, but this was the first time he had touched my face. It was warm.
His hand crept down from my forehead. The touch of his hand going down the bridge of my nose tickled.
I felt like I shouldn’t move, so I was stiffening myself. The back of his hand that came down like that touched my cheek.
“You really don’t have a fever. That’s a relief. Did you take your medicine?”
I couldn’t answer because the back of his hand lay in the middle, between my cheeks and my lips.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Instead of talking, I gave a big nod.
“Yuria, it’s strange that you’re so quiet.”
As he said that he swept away my hair and it felt strange. It was really weird.
“I, I, I think I’ll be fine after a little sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll be out.”
He left the room as quietly as he had entered. It was not until the door clicked shut that I could breathe out loud.
“…”
We can’t do that. Roziel.
I whispered in a low voice.
And I thought about how old Roziel was, but when I remembered that he was 12, I punched the pillow.
No, isn’t this a crime?
* * *
Maybe it was because I couldn’t sleep last night, but I fell asleep while lying down and creating a current dark history.
I felt someone coming into my room in my sleep. I thought to open my eyes and ask who it was, but I stopped because I was so sleepy.
It was either Blandis or Bella. Maybe it’s lunchtime so they came to wake me up to eat.
“I… Rice… Gopchang… Pork and rice soup…”
I was reciting the food of my previous life that I wanted to eat without realizing it, and someone put something on my head.
What? Isn’t it rice?
After that, they seemed to stare at me for a while, then quietly left the room.
What is it?
My thoughts were all over the place and I fell asleep again.
And when I woke up after lunch there was something shiny at the end of my pillow, right next to me.
“A shell?”
This was the shell Roziel picked up himself when he went to the sea yesterday. He put it in his pocket because the color was like a dragon scale.
Why did you do this for me?
It wasn’t worth coming into my room to give it, was it?
By the time I thought that, I noticed a small piece of paper with the shell.
〈My wish: For Yuria not to get sick and to be healthy.〉
“…”
The handwriting was definitely Roziel’s.
“Roziel. Your wish is not supposed to be so trivial.”
I wasn’t even sick. Nevertheless, he wrote down each word as if he wanted me to be really healthy.
What is the limit of his cuteness?
And why do I think differently about his childlike innocence?
What if Roziel really likes me? I couldn’t accept him. From my previous life to now, I was thirty-nine years old.
No matter how used to a child’s life I was and lived according to their age, even a lover cannot be 12 years old.
“It might have been better if we met as adults.”
No, the best man in the world as an adult wouldn’t even look at a lower noble like me.
I touched the shell he gave me for a long time. It was really a dragon-scale like shell.
Looking at the reflection of the light, I also made my wish.
“Please don’t let Roziel get hurt.”
I’d have to hurt him in the future, but I hope I don’t really hurt his heart. Even though I know it’s contradictory.
I called Bella and brought a bunch of desserts from the warehouse.
“Take this to Roziel.”
“You won’t give it to him yourself?”
“I don’t think my head is all better yet.”
“…”
Bella looked at me as if it were funny and raised her lips.
“He’s leaving tomorrow anyway even if you don’t want to face him, you’ll see him.”
“…It really hurts!”
“Alright.”
Bella folded the corners of her eyes wickedly and put the dessert in the basket herself. She then attached a string to the handle, turned it around, and decorated it with a ribbon.
“What are you doing?”
“You don’t know romance.”
“…”
I couldn’t stop Bella. I was afraid of her skill, but in fact… Well, I think it’s pretty. Bella put some extra flowers from the pot into it.
“Bella.”
“Oh, it’s no use stopping me. Miss.”
“No, I thought pink would look better on it.”
“…Yes.”
Bella gave me a heart-shaped piece of paper, decorating it to my taste.
“What?”
“You should write a letter.”
“Haa.”
I hit my forehead.
Huh, he was in the room next door.
Bella seemed to be having fun over this. It seemed as if she became a medium of love.
“Ah, it’s good to have fun.”
When would I ever do this?
Roziel was sure to like it if he knew that I had sent this with a letter. I put the shells Roziel gave me back into the basket.
“My wish. May Roziel always be happy.”
It was an obvious phrase, but I sincerely hoped for it. Roziel must’ve felt it, too.
“Really… when did you grow up like this…”
“Don’t say anything more and greet him.”
“Alright.”
Bella hurriedly grabbed the basket of desserts and disappeared.
“Phew.”
I lay back in bed and enjoyed a peaceful day. And not long after, Bella reappeared.
“How’d he react?”
“He loved it so much. He was blushing, how beautiful he was. I’m sure he’ll become a very handsome man when he becomes an adult. You’ve already caught such a handsome guy. Your ability is really…”
“Enough. That’s enough.”
I thought I would have a headache if I listened to Bella more.
“But will it be okay? Young Lord Evelian was about to finish all the desserts.”
“He’s a kid who likes sweet things.”
“Then it would have been the best gift.”
Bella held out the box to me with a shy face as if the gift was for her.
“And this, the Young Lord told me to give it to you.”
“Huh? Another?”
Were we really having a gift exchange?
I received the box that Roziel gave me. And inside was a new gem.
“He said you liked this kind of thing.”
Bella glanced at the contents of the box and continued.
“Somehow, Miss is a snob… no, Miss knows exactly how greedy you are.”
“I know…”
The button with the red ruby attached to the box was not an accessory, but an emergency fund to me. And another letter.
“My wish. So that I can be a part of Yuria’s life.”
“Argh!”
I screamed when I read his letter. Aaaaaaaaaa. I struggled at the unmistakable symbol of love.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
I quickly crumpled the letter into my pocket. Bella made a strange face again.
“What is your response?”
I wanted to end it here. However, because of Roziel’s personality, he would surely be waiting. I couldn’t let him down.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t know what to give. Dessert? Or a letter?
Bella looked at me with an excited face as I was contemplating. It was like seeing a daughter who just entered puberty.
Neverland Translations 