“Even so, the beasts don’t feel emotions! This is the best way!”
At that, Kiehl stood up, shook his head, and replied. “I heard that Jenkins seduced Sir Zanbar like that!”
“Oh… I won’t hear it.”
He quickly stood up.
“Young Master, such a passive posture is not helpful at all!”
Then, Kiehl, who was about to leave the dining room, threw a word without looking back.
“You, you shouldn’t do that yet.”
“Oh my. Can’t, do, that, yet?”
He responded with a bang and he closed the dining room door.
‘Iwer is really…’
What the hell kind of beast crosses the line like that?
It was then that Kiehl sighed and was about to go back to the room…
“Kiehl, what’s wrong?”
He ran into the person he didn’t want to meet the most.
“That… what is that?”
As Bella was holding in her hands a large basket full of carrots, she opened her mouth, “Ah, this is Bwen saying that he harvested a lot of carrots on the farm.”
‘Why is that bastard’s Bwen still hanging out?’
He was worried that Bella would go to the Croel family.
Meanwhile, Bella took a carrot from her arms and pointed it to the side of Kiehl’s face.
“By the way, your face is more red than a carrot? Are you sick?”
“It’s… it’s not red.”
After that, Kiehl did not let go of the tension for a moment and kept an eye on Bella’s movements.
‘I certainly don’t think she’s going.’
It seemed that she had no intention of going to Croel, perhaps because Bella was busy with her magic practice.
It was actually because Bella couldn’t afford to go anywhere.
“Lady, what to do if you can’t do this?”
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t escape Jenkins’ nagging.
“…Explain it again.”
The magic of the human world was definitely different from that of the demon world.
As if they had the same smartphone but used different applications, the types of magic were different. It was obviously the same word, but just as it was written in another language, the language that could use magic was also different.
However, the language was…
“So, Cheol-Su runs at 4km/h, and Young-hee follows after 30 minutes at 3km/h…”
It was math.
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know, I don’t know! Just let Cheol-Su and Young-Hee meet!”
“Lady. It’s not like any other magic, and an attack magic is all over within a second or two. You have to calculate all these formulas and send the magic power appropriately.”
“Haa…”
“Listen. Look at how much magic power your opponent fires within two seconds, and adjust the appropriate defense to match that speed….”
Bella could understand why so many wizards had brains.
At that time, Kiehl took a sweet treat and swung it to her side.
“…Bella, are you having a hard time?”
As soon as Bella saw him, she was overcome with sorrow.
Kiehl’s thirteenth birthday had already passed, and winter was fast approaching. There was still a year and a half left before Kiehl goes to the Imperial Palace. Until then, she couldn’t have fun with her favourite, and that she had to study with Jenkins’ nagging as the background music she didn’t want to hear.
“Yes. It’s too hard.”
Bella clasped Kiehl arms and rubbed her head against his arms.
“Kiehl, shall we go play?”
“…Yes.”
He answered as slowly as possible.
“I definitely need a break.”
“What, how hard did you work… You are studying less than half of what the young master did.”
When it was time to eat, Bella couldn’t shake the thoughts she had during the day.
“A great way out of this cramped place… a space.”
She muttered as she cut the meat with a knife.
There was the vast sky and the expansive horizon. No, what if it was the vertical, not the horizontal?
Ever since she possessed the novel, she has never seen the vast expanse of the sea. She wanted to see the sea. Go and eat seafood.
“Jenkins, is there any area near the sea?”
“The sea? The sea… we will have to go for a week.”
A week was long, though.
“Shall we buy two carriages and split them up to see the sea?”
Then, there was a moment of silence.
“Does everyone hate it?”
However, it was the exact opposite. It seemed that they were at a loss for words because they liked it too much, and their expression quickly brightened.
For some reason, Zanbar was the first to agree.
“Great!”
“Yay!”
“Well… I have to say that the swordsmanship class is closed for about a month.”
Even Jenkins, who was most likely to object, was smiling.
Bella asked, tapping Kiehl’s arm sitting next to her.
“How about Kiehl? Does Kiehl like it too?”
At that, he gazed at Bella with gleaming eyes.
“I want to go to the sea…”
If she had known that they would like it this much, she would have gone sooner. Seeing so, Bella smiled sweetly and hit the table.
“Okay then, that’s…”
That was then—
“Am I going, too?”
Raising her hand with very clear eyes…
It was Pur.
“The bear can’t go.”
Bella replied firmly. As usual, she ignored Pur and proceeded, though the atmosphere was somehow strange this time.
“Ugh… Why can’t I go every day? I want to play, too! I want to get out of the mansion, too…!”
“If that’s the case, go back to the animal kingdom. It’s good to get out.”
“Ugh… How can I leave the Princess?”
As Bella looked around, they looked at each other quite a bit and threw a word.
“Well, it would be nice if we could go together.”
“It doesn’t have to be the sea, it’s fine.”
The atmosphere that had been exciting a while ago became somber.
“How do you take the bear to the place we have to go by carriage for a week?”
“I’ll be still like a teddy bear!”
Of course, Bella was concerned because wherever they went, she was always left behind. At that moment, Kiehl pulled Bella’s clothes slightly.
“Well… Bella.”
“Huh?”
“Can’t Pur go together?”
He was looking at Bella with slightly drooping eyes. Like a puppy staring at her for a snack.
‘If you look at me that way, it’s a foul.’
When Bella couldn’t keep up with her words, Kiehl added with strength.
“We don’t have to go to the sea, we can go somewhere else.”
Since when did you guys become so close…?
She was a little jealous, but at the same time, her heart was touched.
“Aww, look at how nice you’re speaking.”
Bella’s sincerity came out unintentionally.
The beasts said, “We said so, too…” and grumbled, although Bella couldn’t hear it.
Even though Pur pretended to be a teddy bear, she never trusted it. She didn’t want to get caught up and do anything that overwhelmed the worldview of this novel.
“Come on, let’s go to the back mountain.”
“….”
“How about camping? Let’s go fishing in the lake and grill some meat!”
The camping prepared in that way went much easier than Bella thought.
For adventurers, it was no different than everyday life, so tents and bonfires could be bought at a bargain price.
‘I wanted a more luxurious getaway.’
When she saw Pur, who was excited at the thought of finally going out to play, and Kiehl, who said it was all right for him, Bella eventually put down her greed.
‘If Kiehl likes it, well…’
Kiehl was starting to look like a pretty boy. As he grew taller day by day, he became as tall as Bella’s eye level.
She spent time with him every day, so she didn’t realize it. Nevertheless, when she does run into him from time to time, she would say, “When did you grow up like that?”
‘Soon, there are not many days left to be like this.’
The mountains were covered with snow, and it was quite cold.
“Kiehl, is it very cold?”
Shivering from the cold, Kiehl shook his head as a reply.
“Pur. When will you recover if I take off your skin?”
“Lady, you’re too mean!”
“Kiehl’s cold.”
“Then, Young Master, would you like to ride on my back? It must be incredibly warm.” Pur asked, crawling on all fours.
Kiehl shook his head again and walked over to Bella’s side, pulling his clothes.
“Bella…”
“Huh…? Shall we go back? Should I bring some warmer clothes?”
He then spread his arms out to Bella.
“Hug me.”
‘This kid really drives people crazy.’
Thinning to herself, Bella hugged him tightly.
‘I think I’m going crazy because he’s so cute.’
But, she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. Since last summer’s festival, Kiehl’s number one word that made him upset was ‘cute.’ So instead, she hugged him as hard as she could.
Zanbar stared at the two of them and asked sternly.
“Are you going to walk like that?”
“Zanbar, you go to the mansion and bring some of Kiehl’s clothes.”
“Why am I…”
“Then, shall I go?”
Zanbar sighed and turned into a leopard.
“I’m reminded of my last nightmare.”
“It’ll be fine. At that time, the carriage was broken…”
As Jenkins responded to Zanbar’s words, Zanbar looked at him.
“I don’t want to hear your opinion.”
Grunting, he hurried to the mansion. They decided to wait there for a while until Zanbar returned.
“Kiehl. Zanbar will bring some clothes. Let’s wait a little bit.”
“Yes.”
That’s what he said, though Kiehl wished Zanbar wouldn’t come back. He was usually hugged by Bella, yet it was the first time she had hugged him for such a long time.
‘It’s warm.’
Since last summer’s festival, Bella’s words have been floating around in his head.
[ “Is that your little brother next to you?” ]
[ “Yes.” ]
Bella answered ‘yes’ without any hesitation. He was already an adult inside. She didn’t even know that, and he hated being treated like a child.
Kiehl didn’t like being cute, he didn’t like only being protected.
‘I don’t like being like a little brother.’
Nonetheless, ironically, when Bella hugged him or held his hand, he just didn’t want to be bigger at that moment.
‘I just want to be like this forever.’
A cold wind blew behind him, though he seemed to be drunk by the warm scent that blew through the tip of his nose.
Kiehl raised his head cautiously and gazed at Bella.
When he was a child, she was quite tall, but now the tips of her hair seem to touch his eyes.
“…Why?”
Sometimes, the village friends said, “That’s just liking a mom,” but Kiehl flatly denied it. This mind could not be mistaken.
He liked Pur and Jenkins too, though that was too different from liking Bella…
“Is it very cold?”
Kiehl hugged Bella’s a little tighter and dug into her.