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After the formal introduction as his fiancée, Liatris began to visit Noel frequently.
—-Hey, Lord Noel. Shall we go for a walk together? The aurora is incredibly beautiful today!
—-Lord Noel, I’ve made lunch! I’m quite confident about it, so please try it!
—-“Lord Noel, Lord Noel! Did you hear? The maid Jessie is in a romantic relationship with the Knight Commander! How romantic~!”
—-“Look, Lord Noel! This is a magic ring I made, and Papa praised me for it! Yay!”
If I had to describe my days with her in one word, it would be ‘noisy’.
She visits every day without fail, greeting Noel with her usual sunny smile, getting brushed off, and yet returning undeterred.
(Why does she bother with me?)
For Noel, who had lived his life cutting away all unnecessary things, her actions were incomprehensible.
The aurora, homemade lunches, someone’s romantic relationship, and being praised for a magic ring – these were all irrelevant to Noel and unnecessary for fulfilling his duty as a fiancé.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand. And that was natural. In Noel’s life up until now, there had been no room for such ‘unnecessary’ things that she brought daily.
But still, she kept bringing these ‘unnecessary’ things.
Persistently, every day. Rain or shine. Even on snowy days, which weren’t uncommon in this country.
“…Very well.”
It had become a bit annoying.
“Huh?”
“I’ll accompany you to see this aurora you speak of.”
“Really? You mean it?”
“But once we’re done, stop bothering me unnecessarily.”
Noel decided to indulge in this ‘unnecessary’ activity.
To go along with it once, and then be done with it. So that afterwards, he could be the bare minimum of a fiancé without any unnecessary involvement.
Her daily visits had become too bothersome. But Noel was also a bit surprised at himself for feeling ‘annoyed’ by her. He had never felt such an emotion before.
“Understood! It’s a promise then! Aurora viewing!”
Whether aware of Noel’s thoughts or not, her smile upon securing this promise shone brighter than anything else.
A few days later.
Noel, invited by Liatris, arrived at the center of the vast garden in the royal palace.
“Ah, Lord Noel! Over here, over here!”
“…What is this?”
Following the footprints in the fallen snow, Noel found Liatris energetically waving her arms, inviting him to what appeared to be an ice dome that had been built sometime earlier. It was about twice as tall as Noel or Liatris. Probably cramped for adults to enter, but sufficient for children. The width was spacious enough for about two people to fit inside.
This was something every child in the Kingdom of Ivelpe had made at some point. However, this one was too sturdy to have been made by a child alone. It was evident that water-attribute magic had been combined with the surrounding snow.
“Weren’t we supposed to view the aurora?”
“This is the special venue for our aurora viewing!”
Liatris puffed out her chest proudly. In contrast, Noel could only wear a dubious expression, but she seemed to have anticipated such a reaction. Liatris beckoned him, inviting Noel into the ice dome.
“Come on, come on. Just step inside for a bit, darling.”
“…”
Inwardly, Noel felt a tinge of regret, thinking this might indeed be a waste of time, but a promise was a promise. He silently entered the ice dome.
“Now, please lie down here.”
Liatris herself was already lying down, patting the spot next to her.
“…”
Noel reluctantly lay down next to her, facing upwards.
Only after lying down did he realize that the ceiling of the ice dome had been hollowed out. Thanks to this, they could see the sky.
“Hmm. The aurora isn’t out yet. It usually appears around this time… but I have a feeling it’ll come out soon. Shall we chat a bit until then?”
“Why?”
“We’re engaged, aren’t we? Let’s deepen our relationship a little.”
“All that’s required is the fact that we’re engaged. There’s no point in unnecessarily deepening our relationship.”
“Well, that’s true, but what others think is a different matter, right? If rumors of us not getting along spread and the engagement gets called off, it’ll be troublesome with all that talk about royal succession again, you know? All the effort of getting engaged to this ill-omened little girl with black hair and black eyes would be ‘wasted’. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”
Her argument was reasonable, and Noel inwardly revised his evaluation of Liatris slightly. He had thought she was just a noisy girl, but that wasn’t the case. She had countered Noel’s rejection with logic and pushed through her own wishes. She had quite a strong side to her, and perhaps that’s why his father had chosen this girl as his fiancée.
“…Fine.”
“Yay! Then… how about we take turns asking each other questions? It feels like I might end up doing all the talking otherwise.”
That possibility couldn’t be denied. Or rather, it was true that Noel had no intention of talking on his own.
“If it’s just questions, couldn’t you write them down on paper and hand them to me?”
“No way, that’s so dull. It’s definitely better if we exchange words and build up our relationship.”
“That’s inefficient. There’s too much waste.”
“That waste is what makes it good.”
“Waste is… good?”
Noel couldn’t help but ask. Liatris’s words were something he had never thought of or considered before.
“It’s like snow. It’s okay to let ‘waste’ fall abundantly and pile up. Because then, it colors what’s inside your heart.”
The scenery created by snow piling up on trees and streets is often praised as a spectacular view by other countries. Perhaps she meant it was the same with their conversation.
(I still don’t understand.)
However—it was certain that Liatris’s words had touched Noel’s heart.
“…Hmph. Fine. I’ll answer your questions.”
“Yay! Then I’ll go first. Let’s see… What’s your favorite food, Lord Noel?”
“…What a trivial question.”
“I want to know my fiancé’s preferences, you know. Plus, if I know, I can make you treats.”
“Unnecessary.”
“Don’t say that. So, what’s your favorite food?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Eh? You don’t have a favorite food!?”
“I’ve never paid attention to taste.”
“Is that so? Well, then we can find out from now on.”
Liatris said this with a carefree smile.
Now that she mentioned it, it was true, but it was something Noel would never have thought of on his own.
(She’s a strange one.)
Noisy and loud. But capable of ideas he couldn’t come up with himself.
He became aware that he was, albeit slightly, interested in Liatris.
“It’s your turn now, Lord Noel.”
“…”
Usually, he would have refused or declined here. But strangely, he felt like asking something.
“…Then, what do you like?”
“Me? What do you mean…?”
“About food. From earlier.”
“Oh, I see. Well, I love melons! The ones I ate at the royal party were so delicious! They’ve been my favorite ever since!”
“I didn’t ask for that much detail.”
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After this, the two continued to exchange words bit by bit while lying on their backs inside the ice dome.
Liatris offered more words than necessary, while Noel returned only the bare minimum.
Like falling snow, each word may have been small, but they accumulated, gradually closing the distance between the two.
(This is nothing but a waste of time. It should be. And yet, why am I…)
Strangely, Noel clearly understood that an unfamiliar sensation he had never felt before was growing in his chest.
This unknown feeling was like a small bud at first.
Small, fleeting, and weak. Compared to the white darkness raging in Noel’s heart, it was far too fragile. But it was undeniably there.
(Has my heart become this calm?)
Before he could ponder this question,
“Ah! Look, Lord Noel!”
Liatris pointed to a band of light spreading across the sky, visible through the hollowed-out ceiling of the ice dome.
“It’s the aurora!”
“—…!”
The radiance laid out in the sky was emitting a dazzling golden color.
“A golden aurora…?”
“Hehe. Surprised?”
In the Kingdom of Ivelpe, auroras weren’t particularly rare.
But Noel had never seen such a beautiful golden aurora before.
“To reveal the trick, I actually embedded the magic rings I made into the walls of this ice dome. By controlling the wavelength of light visible from here using the magic particles released from them as a filter, I made it appear golden.”
“I see… So that’s why you invited me here.”
He could only be impressed by her technique. Even though she was the daughter of a goldsmith, she was still young, not much different in age from Noel, yet she had created something like this.
Moreover.
“—…”
It was beautiful.
Without thinking, he simply thought it was beautiful.
“So… what do you think? I mean, I’d be in trouble if you just said ‘So what if it’s golden?’…”
“…Hmph. So what if the aurora looks golden? We’ve wasted time.”
“Ahaha. I guess so.”
“…But it’s not bad.”
“Huh?”
“I’m saying that even wasted time isn’t bad. Though I don’t know why.”
A golden aurora has no meaning. It’s nothing but a waste.
But it was an undeniable fact that Noel’s heart had been captivated by such a ‘wasteful thing’.
He had thought there was no way he could have a heart that found something beautiful.
He had believed he was nothing but an ice doll.
However, at this moment—the golden shower before his eyes illuminated Noel’s heart like the sun, dispelling the white darkness named blizzard that had been raging endlessly within his heart.
“…Now it’s my turn to ask a question.”
Suddenly, he thought of the mutual questioning they had been engaged in until just now.
“Why do you try so hard to be involved with me?”
He was aware that he wasn’t particularly outstanding as a fiancé.
He had never whispered words of love. He hadn’t even paid her a compliment.
So while he could understand if she avoided getting involved with him, he couldn’t comprehend why she would go to such lengths to be involved.
“…Because you said it was ‘nonsense’.”
After a short pause, the words that came back weren’t in her usual cheerful voice.
“Even when you learned that I was a ‘cursed child’ with black hair and black eyes, only you, Noel-sama, said such things were ‘nonsense’.”
“For something so trivial?”
“It may be ‘trivial’ to you, Noel-sama, but for me, it was something that made me very happy. That’s why I wanted to make you happy too. But… haha. I guess I might have been a bit annoying.”
Black hair and black eyes in this country… no, in this world still bearing the scars of the Night Witch, are symbols of ill omen. But for Noel, it was something he couldn’t care less about. He didn’t remember doing anything to be thanked for. Being thanked excessively would only trouble him.
Rather, the one who should be thankful is—
“…It wasn’t just a bit.”
“Huh?”
“It was quite irritating.”
“Ugh…”
“I’d rather not go through such an annoying experience again. It interferes with my daily life.”
“Y-you’re merciless, aren’t you…”
“I’m just stating facts. Besides, it’s troublesome to be excessively thanked for something I don’t care about.”
“…Yes.”
After a breath, white mist escapes from his mouth.
“…From now on, visit me normally. Not out of gratitude, or desire to please me, but—as my fiancée.”
He couldn’t tell what expression Liatris was making at that moment.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed and shy, he couldn’t look her in the face properly.
“…You probably… no, you’re not fond of formalities, are you? Feel free to speak casually.”
“Is that okay? I thought I should mind my language even if I’m your fiancée.”
“…And you thought that was being mindful? It’s quite questionable.”
“Really?… Oh, like this?”
“If you’re going to force yourself, it’s better to just be your usual self.”
“Mm. Got it. Then, can I… call you Noel from now on?”
“…Do as you like.”
On this day, the ice shell was broken.
And Noel, once a member of royalty, became a human being.
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