Chapter 4: Take the house, Fiara

We entered the aristocratic district, lined with nobleman’s townhouses.

Passing through the neat and beautiful town, after a while, a beautiful mansion with vast grounds appeared in front of me. This is a castle, right?

The high metal fence that surrounds the mansion, which seems to go on forever, is meticulously crafted and attracts the eye.

The mansion’s magnificent and beautiful main gate was lavishly decorated with openwork patterns of vine roses, intertwined with birds, flowers and other plants, as well as gold and silver.

The moment the gate opened slowly and soundlessly inward and we passed through in the carriage, I noticed a sudden change in the air from there.

The moment I walked through the gate, I felt something tingling in the air. And then I realized that I was invited to a place with a cool and refreshing air, completely different from what I had felt until a moment ago, which made the air that I had thought was normal feel dull.

The mysterious gate, which opened and closed automatically by some kind of mechanism, closed again without a sound.

From there, we took the carriage and went straight to the back of the house, passing the castle-like main residence.

It’s much prettier than the main house, which is located in the most secluded area, and it’s called the detached house.

It’s hard to understand why there are fountains and forests on the way and floating objects with fairy-like wings flying around. I felt like I saw a unicorn or something.

The distance to get there was also strange. What is the depth of the mansion here? How far does this house go?

Why are we in the middle of a forest?

When we arrived at the detached house, Zak pulled my stunned hand away and walked into the detached house. It was a wooden villa in the middle of the greenery.

It was a beautiful building made of white wood. The ivy and flowers were so abundant that I felt as if I had wandered into a fairyland.

“I will give Fii this detached house. You can think of it as a small part of my gratitude for purifying my miasma.”

Zak said something outrageous.

“What? You’re giving me a house!? Why, why would you do that?”

I was astonished. How can a house be so easy to get?

You’re giving a house to a mere 13-year-old girl! How is that possible?

He sat me on the couch with his eyes looking straight, holding my shoulders as I stayed stiff, and then he sat down beside me and took my hands in his.

“Fii saved me from rotting away from the inside. She is my lifesaver, so to speak.”

“Yeah, but this is too much, don’t you think? I mean, this is…this is really not necessary!”

I’m starting to lose my ability to think things through properly, because I’m beyond my tolerance in many ways. Then I realized that his beautiful face is too close, and this time my face gets hot.

Looking at Zak’s beautiful face up close, I alternately look at the hand holding mine, and Zak’s face, and shudder at the composition which is too picturesque for me.

Absent-mindedly, I stare at his rare violet gem-like eyes for a while, and then gently remove my gaze, as it seems rude. The behavior is suspicious.

But, I’m surprisingly weak at heart in this situation? How silly I thought.

“No, not at all, I hope that you’re happy.”

After that, we argued about whether I would take the house or not.

But in the end, I lost my patience and said, “Oh well, well, since you’re going to give it to me, I’ll take it.”

I eventually gave up thinking about it.

“Well, I’ll take the house then. Thank you, Zak.”

I don’t suppose this is the best way to thank him for the house, right?

For me, it was so far from reality that I wouldn’t be surprised if I woke up tomorrow and it was a dream.

***

I spent the day exploring the detached house. Zak said I could use the whole place as I pleased.

The first thing I wanted to do was to make myself a cup of tea, as I usually did. That would help me calm down.

He took me into the kitchen, where I noticed a beautiful kitchen, with a nice heat-resistant brick kamado and an oven, with a fireplace and chimney to allow the smoke to escape.

And all the pots and pans were beautifully arranged like specimens, hanging on the brick wall in order of size. Not to mention the cooking table, rolling pin, and all sorts of small and large utensils for rolling out dough.

The water supply was plentiful when I turned on the faucet, and outside the kitchen door, there was a farm where herbs and vegetables grew. Awesome!

Apart from the kitchen, there is a dining room with a long wooden table and chair set with candlesticks lit by flames. It was perfect.

The cupboard was lined with a white tableware set and the drawers were filled with a beautiful set of cutlery. The kitchen was like a little girl’s dream condensed into one room.

Tea leaves, sweets, etc.—it seemed to have everything in this remote storage room.

There was meat and other perishables as well, and I was told that the storage room had the magic of preserving things in their normal state.

Amused, Zak seemed to follow me around, watching my reaction and making sure I was happy.

“I need to make a cup of tea, but the thing that makes the fire…”

At my words, Zak used magic to ignite a fire in just a moment.

“If Fii learns a little, she’ll be able to do this kind of thing with the magical power she has. It’s not only that, but it’s also that the magic in Fii’s body is stable afterwards, and the amount of magic in her body is quite large. I’m sure you’ll be able to use living magic and other things soon.”

The miasma in Zak’s body is said to be blood stagnation.

It’s so unrealistic that it’s hard to pinpoint, but according to what he explained to me directly, Zak is royalty, the brother of the king three generations ago.

Duke Frederick Zakash Vi Valmonter.

That is the title for Zak in this world.

In other words, he is someone I normally should never call by name or be around. Even I can understand that much.

I thought so, and when I said it out loud, Zak said to me conversely,

“What do you mean? I want you to be with me. I am the one who wants you to stay by my side.”

It’s a bit of a misnomer to put it this way, but…maybe because the other person is me, it may be thought that there is no misunderstanding.

“You know, if you talk to me like that, I think all women will misunderstand.”

I think it can’t be helped that I said a word.

But on the contrary, he gave me a strange look.

Then Zak told me a story about a royal secret.

The contents of the top-secret story that should not be told to anyone outside, is that if a person with royal bloodline uses a lot of magical power, something like poison will build up inside their body and cause them to die prematurely.

It’s said that this is called blood stagnation.

It was miasma that looked like black smoke rising from the body of Zak when I touched him.

The miasma is a curse of the sister goddess of the brother and sister gods who created this world.

The only story I know about the god who created the world is that the twin gods fought with each other, and the elder brother landed on the Elementia continent, while the younger sister landed on the northern continent and became the founder of their respective royal families.

In general, the northern continent is too far away to even imagine what kind of place it is.

But it seems that there is another legend of god’s story like a backstory.

In addition, it is said that Zak has such a powerful magical power that it is called ancestral regression, so his appearance has not changed much since he was in his twenties.

However, the use of his magical power gradually caused poison to accumulate in his body. He was very uncomfortable with his body. That’s why he was looking for an owner of purification eyes from the Tizar family’s purifiers, which is said to be able to remove miasma.

However, an owner of the purification eyes had not appeared for three hundred years.

It’s hard to understand why I had those eyes, but I was very happy to hear that I had a lot of magical power.

“Is that true?”

“Yeah, it’s true. You should start with magic cycling exercises first.”

“I’m glad I’m going to learn to use magic properly!”

I still can’t believe that I could use magic. Very exciting.

A glimpse of my mother came to my mind. Would my mother’s attitude towards me have been different if I’d had magical powers since I was born? But, no, that’s in the past. I don’t care how much I think about it, it doesn’t matter. Let’s not.

Then I made a cup of tea and we drank it together.

“It’s good! I knew it would make such a difference if the tea leaves were good.”

“No, if someone doesn’t know how to brew it, it’s still bad. Fii is a good brewer of tea.”

“Really? Maybe it’s because I’ve always done it at home. I’m glad to hear the compliment. Thank you.”

There’s something very calming about Zak and I doing this together. It’s like we’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s strange.

“You can do what you want in this house, Fii, but you mustn’t make your own tea outside.”

“What? Why?”

“There are some troublesome rules for the nobility. You’ll need a maid first.”

“A lady attendant? Okay, that’s not…”

“No, that is not possible. If you’re going to live with me, there are a lot of rules and regulations. Besides, Fii is destined to become a member of the Marquis of Tizar’s main family. So there are other things you have to learn now.”

“Yeah, but Zak said I could stay here.”

I suddenly felt uneasy. I felt very uncomfortable leaving Zak.

I had this incomprehensible thought of, ‘I’m finally back by your side.’

What on earth is this feeling?

“Of course, yes. You can stay here. But you’ll need the marquis family status for protection.”

I was relieved by Zak’s reply, but I knew he was thinking about me when he said it. If he said it was necessary, it must be necessary.

“Silk.”

 At Zak’s word, a blue glowing magic circle floated up beneath my feet, and a woman in a maid’s outfit appeared within it.

I had never had the opportunity to see such a sight before, so I stared with my eyes wide open.

“You wanted to see me, Master?”

“Yeah, do me a favor.”

“All right, what do you want me to do?”

“Make sure you get all the personal belongings needed for Fii, and if there is anything else she needs, you can think of something else and get it for her. I don’t quite understand what a woman needs.”

“Yes, I’ll get you everything you need, miss.”

I thought that Silk, who answered that, was a very beautiful person with straight black hair cut neatly around her back, with golden eyes, like a cat.

“I am Silk of the Cait Sith. It’s nice to meet you, Miss.”

“Oh, nice to meet you.”

Then I suddenly wondered what Cait Sith was, but I also thought it was fine.

Because whoever it was, it didn’t seem to matter much to me.

However this thought would change later in the future.

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