An employee from the Ferelmen Guild, who was guarding the greenhouse, recognized and greeted me.
“Oh, Miss Lise.”
Aaron stood up, looking up at me with bright eyes.
“Long time no see.”
It was the tone of someone who’s on edge to some extent. And I also felt the dissatisfied complaint that I didn’t even stop by after making him do a lot of things.
‘I’ll make sure to stop by even less from now on.’
I looked at the sprouts with my arms folded. As Aaron grew thinner and more emaciated, there were a lot more sprouts that bloomed.
He had already bloomed 28 of them, since he doesn’t like hardships, he was desperate to finish the task quickly and become my assistant.
“I’ve been working on some research lately.”
I crossed my arms and suddenly said my business.
“To do that, I need a well-groomed Kerfon grass root.”
“…What?”
“Do you see that bag in the right corner over there? That’s all Kerfon.”
There were many thorns in the roots of Kerfon. And removing its thorns was of course an essential step for root care.
“Make sure you get 100 trimmed a day. Diel will get them every day for you.”
“Mi-Miss Lise.”
Aaron stuttered in embarrassment.
“What I’m doing right now is already too difficult. Bercalias take a lot of time to grow, but if I cut my hands after trimming the roots of Kerfon….”
“My hands have gotten a little rough these days, too.”
I stretched out my white and smooth hands and said softly.
“I’m going to use it as a moisturizing cream material for my hands, so trim it well.”
I remembered his attitude of ordering me to make a beauty agent in my last life, and I folded my arms proudly.
“Why, can’t do it?”
“Well, I can, but….”
“I’ve been living well without an assistant.”
I spoke coldly.
“If you don’t think you can, get out. I don’t need an incompetent assistant.”
“······.”
Aaron looked genuinely conflicted, but in the end, he hid his anger and muttered.
“…Yes, Miss.”
I thought I was kind of merciful. Before the regression, Aaron didn’t even let me go. Now I was even giving him a choice.
I sat in the chair contentedly as I watched him pull out the roots of the Kerfons with his drooping shoulders. I didn’t want to miss this good view.
I finally sent the other Ferelmen staff back.
In the greenhouse, I watched with excitement as he was stabbed by a Kerfon root thorn, dozed off, and woke up surprised to water the Bercalia flowers in a hurry.
Considering the fact that he constantly pushed all kinds of sick people into my clinic and told me to save them somehow because I was a genius doctor, I couldn’t help but have my revenge on him.
“Aaron.”
I said teasingly, smoothing the decoration of my dress.
“It’s easy to be a genius, but it’s hard to be the assistant of one.”
He doesn’t know what it means anyway, but I felt good inside. I don’t feel sorry for him because I could see that he wanted to get rid of me anyway.
’Let’s see if you can get rid of me this time.’
I whistled and smiled.
‘Because you didn’t come in just to kill me.’
Time quickly went by as I watched him suffer, and I didn’t get up until the next Ferelmen’s watchman came.
Seeing that the outside was not as noisy as before, it seemed that the ceremony was slowly ending. Of course, most of them will be served dinner today and leave after tea time tomorrow.
Until then, the quiet castle would be crowded with guests. I thought I should just come to the greenhouse and bother Aaron once more if I get bored after staying in the lab tomorrow.
“Then, work hard.”
As I left the greenhouse, I didn’t forget to ‘step on a Bercalia sprout by mistake.’
Aaron groaned in pain behind me.
⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰
Most of my days end in my lab.
What is the ingredient of the snack that Wederick fed Erhan?
I was always busy searching all kinds of books and mixing herbs endlessly.
‘Is Baron Ishid really a genius? That’s ridiculous.’
I got angry by myself, squeezing my brain.
Ferelmen was the only person who was as smart as I, or smarter than me, I admit that. Other than him, there wasn’t another person in my past life or even in my present life.
But I couldn’t find the ingredients, so my pride was hurt and I felt like I was going to die.
‘If I could just figure this out, it’s all over.’
I only had to take one more step, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t go there. Then, someone knocked on the door of the lab.
“Yes, come on in.”
Only Diel comes into the lab in the middle of the night, so I answered halfheartedly, but surprisingly, a red-haired knight was standing outside.
“Oh…. Hi, you are Sir Zickel, right?”
Since I go to the morning training sessions of the knights these days, I’ve already memorized quite a few knights, if not all. I didn’t mean to memorize it, but it just stuck in my head.
Even among them, I couldn’t forget Zickel.
It was because he was Erhan’s first sword teacher, and also the guy who taught him about flirting, grown-up matters, and all such things.
“Yes, you recognized right.”
Zickel replied coolly.
“It’s nothing much…. But my lord summons the lady.”
I exclaimed unknowingly.
Now Erhan was finally the Duke, so I had to call him ‘My Lord.’
“Oh, is he sick?”
“No.”
He shook his head at once.
“Just…. The young lady is being called.”
“Why?”
Zickel shrugged as I frowned.
“I think you have to go and ask him yourself.”
“All right, I got it. Where should I go?”
“I’ll escort you.”
“…What?”
“He sent me in person, saying it was in the middle of the night, and he couldn’t just let you wander around the castle alone.”
“But I’ve been on my own all this time?”
“Since there are a lot of outsiders today, he won’t let you move alone.”
“Very well.”
I nodded vaguely because I didn’t have a reason to refuse.
“Let’s go.” (lise)
I thought I’d go to his usual room, but Zickel guided me to a remote retreat. We went to a private garden which was quite far from the lab, so we had to walk for a long time.
“The Duke seemed quite upset that you weren’t there at the ceremony.”
“Why would I go there?”
“Thanks to that, he has been in a bad mood since earlier. He had a hard expression and he didn’t smile even once.”
“I guess he was very nervous because it’s his succession ceremony there’s a lot of people.”
I thought that I should have given him some medicine to relax if I knew that this would happen, but Zickel shook his head.
“What are you talking about? He’s not nervous at all.”
“If so, then why didn’t he smile? He has been a person who likes to smile a lot since he was young. Oh, but then, he could’ve also thought of the previous duke and got sad.”
Zickel stared blankly at me, then turned his eyes and muttered.
“I expected it, but….”
He touched his forehead for a moment and spoke seriously.
“It’s slightly my fault that he grew up like this, so with a sense of guilt, I’m going to tell you in advance.”
“What?”
“You think you’re very smart yourself, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why there are things you can’t see. People are different from medicine, they keep changing depending on the situation.”
“Medicine also changes with the times.”
He shook his head as if he were frustrated and made a serious face.
“Do you know how the monsters from the South raise their young spouses? Even if they bare their fangs in front of others, they purr like the sweetest veins in the world in front of their partners.”
“Hmm.”
“And if a well-bred spouse tries to run away, he or she will reveal a tremendous sense of ownership….”
The way Zickel explained with a scary look was so funny that I laughed.
“You also know it very well, Lord Zickel. I’m the one who raised the Little Duke. And I grew up alone. Who’s raising whom?”
“…I clearly gave you a warning.”
He sighed and I shrugged.
“With this, my shallow conscience is considered cleared for the rest of my life.”