/
Rieta looked at the incense burner for a long time from a distance where she could almost touch her forehead to it before she moved on.
Looking at it like this, it doesn’t seem like she’ll finish seeing all of the stuff here even for a week.
‘Well, because she can come again.’
Besides, every time she comes here, Rieta will hold Noel’s hand like this and won’t let go.
‘That…. might be okay.’
Noel swears to heaven that he was not trying to hold hands in a strange way.
Lately, he has lost a lot of time with Rieta, so he was just trying to make up for it this way.
“Wow.”
As expected, it seemed that something new had appeared that interested her.
Rieta let go of Noel’s hand this time, and she ran to the painting opposite her.
It was a portrait.
Noel looked down at the empty hand, and laughed bitterly.
‘What? She was so scared a moment ago.’
When the beautiful and mysterious object caught her eye, she seemed to have forgotten all those feelings.
The thought that he could hold her hand every time they came here…… It seems wrong.
‘Tsk.’
Noel realized that somewhere in his mind, a strange feeling of disappointment welled up.
‘It’s not something to be disappointed about.’
Of course, he struggled to get rid of all his strange feelings.
What’s so special about holding hands with Rieta?
When they were young, they used to hold hands and slept together
‘…sleep.’
He was preoccupied with another thought. Perhaps it was because of the word sleep.
[…..Noel.]
Last night, Rieta fell asleep calling his name.
She parted her lips in the shape of his name.
The strange feeling returned to him, that it gave him goosebumps.
That’s why he told Rieta……
Rustle
The moment his thoughts are about to go crazy in a dangerous (?) place.
The sound of something moving came from a distance away from the two of them.
He widened his eyes and looked around the place where the sound came from, but he couldn’t see anything because the statue was blocking his view.
Noel turned his gaze to Rieta.
She seemed to have heard that sound as well, with her back to the portrait staring at Noel.
It seems that the wizard’s advice, ‘Do not look at portraits when you are alone’ came to mind.
Noel glanced at the portrait Rieta was admiring.
He knew that the magician’s ghost story was ridiculous, but as expected, the portrait’s pupils did not move around.
The pupils were always looking straight ahead.
“It looks like the princess really liked that portrait.”
“……What are you talking about?”
“You’re staring at it.”
WIth Noel’s joke, Rieta’s head flinched at the painting for a moment.
The reason she couldn’t look at it was probably because I was scared.
“Come on, don’t tease me.”
“Why would I?”
“You said earlier that it makes no sense for a painting to move.”
“But once you actually see it, you have no choice but to believe any nonsense.”
As he answered calmly, Rieta’s face began to turn black from being blue.
It was evident that she was frightened even more by the strange noises she had just heard.
The quiet time passed by only sharing glances.
Noel thought he should slowly ease Rieta’s tension.
Perhaps she’ll forget even to breathe if left it as it is.
He let out a long sigh.
To show that she doesn’t have to be unnecessarily nervous.
“You know that.”
The moment Noel brought out his words in a light tone.
Rustle.
The sound that had come earlier started again.
“…?”
Noel turned his head in the direction of the sound.
Rustle, rustle.
It was very long and clear, unlike before, which was only short.
Besides, there were several sounds mixed together this time.
Something rubbed on the floor, knocking…
At first glance, it sounded like something was walking.
Noel thought he might have to go outside again and ask the wizard to check.
“Rie…?”
He called for Rieta, who stood in front of the portrait again to say let’s go.
But he couldn’t even call her short name to the end.
It was because while he was looking at the source of the sound, Rieta, who ran right in front of him, grabbed him by the collar and started pulling it.
‘…… What are you going to do without me?’
Normally, he would have asked her this question and tapped her white forehead.
But as he watched Rieta scared, not knowing where to put her big eyes, hhe didn’t feel like making fun of her.
Rieta had a weakness for ghost stories since she was little.
On days when she heard scary stories, she couldn’t sleep alone, so much so that she went to visit Darrell with Noel.
After that, Darrell did something to the two of them.
Noel stroked Rieta’s head with both hands, then squeezed her face to make her stop looking.
And he said
“There’s nothing to be afraid of here.”
What Darrell did to her as a child. Affectionately but firmly.
Usually, when Darrell did this, Rieta would calm down and be relatively free of fear.
“…..”