Chapter 17 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Side Story 2 – Part 2

It was right after that that Arche received a request from the royal palace’s head wizard. A request to be in charge of looking after his garden.

——It was him.

She realized it right away. She didn’t even have to think about it. In fact, there had to be something wrong with Arche if she did not realize it then in the first place.

There was no one that didn’t know who the current head wizard was.

Agedilus Von Lancent. The extraordinary wizard with unimaginable jet black hair and beauty.

There were many rumors about him, far more bad ones than good. But good or bad, fear was attached to all the rumors, and there were even ones that suggested he did things that couldn’t be the work of man. As a result, there was even a rumor that Agedilus’s existence itself wasn’t real.

Arche was also one of the people that believed in the rumors like this. But he certainly did exist, and the short time she spent with him was more than enough for Arche to understand: he really was the kind of person that was worth all the rumors, that made you believe all the rumors.

She couldn’t understand why that man – no, he was a being that ought to be called ‘that gentleman’ – had chosen her.

She was just a novice gardener. And he’d even politely added a note that said, 「If you want to decline, no problem.」

Her father and colleagues went pale, all saying, 「Decline it.」 With great trouble, they finally said, 「We’re not forcing you to decline it.」 She herself thought she should. She should decline it. She knew that.

Arche traced the sentences with her finger, skillfully written on high-quality paper she’d never even seen before. The salary he’d suggested was double Arche’s current personal income.

Although she did think, ‘I’ll regret this if I let it go,’ there was something that occupied her mind more.

Which was, his mysterious sunrise-colored eyes gazing upon her as she stood alone in the medicinal plants garden. The beauty of his eyes’ wavering, shaking light was etched into her eyelids and it wouldn’t go away.

‘I want to see those eyes one more time,’ that’s what she ended up thinking.

That must be why Arche’s mouth said the exact opposite of what her internal voice was telling her, 「You have to decline」. Instead, she said, 「I accept.」

And then, she was introduced to Agedilus in an arbor in that medicinal plants garden. She was captivated for the second time by that jet black hair.

As she watched his beautiful face in fascination, he snorted and said,

「What, you didn’t decline?」

……Even though she’d come all the way here resolving herself, she still thought his way of speaking was too much. And who could blame her?

Anyway, that was when Arche’s battle began.

Agedilus’s medicinal plants garden certainly wasn’t vast. But the variety of plants that spread across it weren’t just popular common plants, like the one he was cutting when they met. There were also technical plants difficult to handle.

Thankfully, there were many plants she’d learned the basics about from her father, but she had to fumble around with the ones she didn’t know how to handle, asking her senior colleagues and looking them up in books.

Agedilus didn’t say anything to her as she did all that. Not in the sense that he never warned or scolded her, but he literally did not say anything at all to her.

All he said was the most straightforward, necessary things that had to be said. For instance, 「Collect this necessary number of these plants,」 or 「Raise these herbs now.」

His uninterested voice evoked no feelings at all, and his beauty was once again just like a doll’s. ‘If this is how it’s going to be, the day we first met was much better,’ she thought. Even though he’d plainly been disagreeable in his manner and speech that day. She felt herself strange for thinking that.

Sometimes he would read books in the arbor. When Arche noticed, she’d peek through the gaps between the herbs and medicinal plants to look at him.

She couldn’t help but feel afraid of that black hair, but for some reason, she couldn’t help but still feel captivated by it.

It was a day like that when it happened.

「What is this?」

No matter how indifferent that beautiful voice was, it was still pleasing to the ear. But no matter how many times she heard it, she really couldn’t get used to it.

Agedilus was checking Arche’s harvest as usual when he said that. He looked at Arche, just a slight question in his voice that usually didn’t even show the slightest emotion.

Frightened by those sunrise-colored eyes looking down upon her, Arche replied to her employer’s question.

「It’s a fruit called Delia.」

「Delia?」

「Y-yes. It’s popular with girls lately, we grow it in our house too. I just thought maybe if it was alright with you…」

Even amidst the basket full of familiar medicinal plants and herbs, that small red berry vividly stood out, asserting its own existence. That Delia fruit was not one Arche been ordered to grow by Agedilus. It was just something she’d mixed into the harvest by her own judgment.

Arche’s family possessed a vast plot of land, unusual for commoners. They grew several vegetables and fruits there. Delias were one of them.

Until now, Delias weren’t noticed that much. But recently, they’d gained a reputation for their nutritional value being good for one’s beauty.

Not to mention they tasted sweet like honey, so it was certainly killing two birds with one stone. That was why as mentioned before, this red fruit was the latest craze among young girls.

That berry was so popular it became difficult to get even for nobles. Arche, meanwhile, was eating as much of it as she pleased in her home when she suddenly thought of her employer’s good looks.

What face would that gentleman make when he ate something so sweet and delicious? Before long, that small question grew large inside Arche. As she brought another berry to her mouth, she gazed once again at the Delias in a container on the table. The hand going to her mouth stopped. And then by the time she realized it, she’d carefully put the berries in a small basket so they wouldn’t go bad, and presented them like this to him.

She’d brought them in case he wanted to try some, but maybe he didn’t like sweet things. Maybe members of the distinguished Lancent family always ate food even more delicious than Delias in the first place. She would’ve realized all this if she’d just thought about it, but she didn’t. Her thoughtlessness felt shameful.