🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 4
The Meaning of Orange Roses
“What do you mean we should do something?”
“Get married.”
At the blunt word, Leon’s upper body stiffened completely.
In contrast, Lowell’s expression—the one who had spoken—was perfectly calm. Because of that, Leon had to doubt his own ears, wondering if he had heard correctly.
“Have you forgotten that today—no, just now—was the first time we met?”
“I know. But still, we spent the night together. I thought it was a pretty decent time.”
Lowell spoke nonchalantly, her gaze drifting toward the window, where the sky was already beginning to brighten. To her, tonight had been the time to conclude a very satisfactory contract.
“You… what are you talking about…?”
“Hm?”
Facing Leon, who couldn’t hide his confusion, Lowell shifted her gaze back and asked innocently.
“Spending the night together or not, we made a contract about magical power. We didn’t talk about marriage.”
At Leon’s blunt stare, he slowly inhaled, barely regaining his composure, and spoke firmly.
“I know. But a young woman can’t keep coming and going from an unrelated man’s house.”
As she spoke, Lowell leaned forward, her upper body already inches from Leon’s face. Was this table always this narrow? the thought flashed through Leon’s mind.
“Well… that’s true, but…”
“And don’t you need physical contact to absorb magical power? Then wouldn’t it be most ideal to get married and stay together all the time?”
Now Lowell had even placed her hand on the table, leaning further toward Leon. From her raised dark brows, an expression of genuine incomprehension could be read.
“……”
Caught between her confidence and shamelessness, Leon’s mouth forgot its function for a moment.
Then, as if to prove her point, Lowell placed her palm on the back of Leon’s hand. A blue light flickered, and a very small amount of magical power began to transfer.
Leon shuddered at the intense sensation that arose from such light contact. Amid that thrill, he barely managed to speak.
“Even so, I’m the son of a marquis family. How could I marry a maid like you…?”
“Weren’t you the son of a marquis family?” Lowell replied calmly. “Right now, you’ve been cast out of your house, haven’t you?”
“……”
The light swirling around their hands, the magic flowing through his skin, and above all, Lowell’s surprisingly sound logic—this time, Leon truly had nothing to say.
In the silence that followed, Lowell wondered if she had pushed him too hard and added in a soothing tone.
“You’re going to absorb my magic and earn merit, right, Sir Leon? Then you’ll return to the House of Rifman—no, wouldn’t you even be granted a higher title than that of a mere marquis’s family member?”
Leon studied Lowell’s face, now even closer than before. His own reflection was clearly visible in her violet eyes.
Perhaps it was because of that earnest gaze. Fortunately for Lowell, Leon’s deliberation did not last long.
For Leon, who was currently burning with a desire for revenge, nothing mattered more than gaining powerful magic and taking revenge on those who had dragged him into the mud.
“…When you put it that way, you’re not wrong.”
After a long pause, Leon leaned back and nodded in agreement. His gaze drifted awkwardly to the bookshelf beside him as he spoke, but it was a fairly natural response.
“Oh! Then we’re getting married!”
Lowell cried out loudly, pulling her hand away. Her excited voice rang out.
What kind of person is she…?
Watching Lowell hop over to the window, Leon thought that despite only having spent a few hours together, she was completely impossible to read. Of course, the fact that he himself was being dragged along by this strange woman was just as absurd.
Miss Aria, this time I will definitely save you.
Meanwhile, unconcerned, Lowell continued her own thoughts as she gazed at the sun peeking over the horizon.
In this situation, marriage is the most rational option.
As a servant of the Heinstein estate, there were too many restrictions to conduct a proper investigation. First, she needed to leave that house. More importantly, the interval before returning to the point of regression was getting shorter and shorter. To prepare for that, she needed to act quickly.
“Oh! Come to think of it, we’re about to get married, but we haven’t even introduced ourselves.”
Lowell suddenly turned around and said.
“What…?”
Leon slowly removed the hand he had been pressing to his forehead to suppress his dizziness.
“Introductions! I’ll go first!”
With exaggerated movements, Lowell straightened her clothes. She even carefully brushed dust from the hem of her skirt before speaking again.
“Hello, my name is Lowell. I currently work as a maid at the Duke of Heinstein’s residence. I’m twenty-two years old this year, and… um, I don’t really have any family. Also, my closest friend is Miss Aria.”
After finishing her free-spirited introduction, Lowell grinned broadly and then stared straight at Leon, as if to say it was his turn.
Of course, Leon had no desire to introduce himself in the midst of this chaotic situation, so he kept his mouth shut.
But Lowell’s gaze grew increasingly persistent. In the end, Leon had no choice but to play along with this strange situation.
“…I’m Leon Rifman. I’m twenty-six years old, the youngest of two sons and one daughter. As for family… I did have one, but as you said, I’ve been cast out, so it’s probably right to say I don’t have one now. The person I’m closest to is…”
Leon stopped there, suddenly feeling foolish for doing exactly as he was told.
At the hastily ended introduction, Lowell shrugged lightly and soon shifted her attention to another topic.
“Well then, now that we know each other and have promised to get married…”
Fearing she might say something even stranger, Leon unconsciously stared at Lowell’s lips.
“I’ll give you my magic now. Contract Article One—let’s carry it out immediately.”
As she spoke, Lowell extended one hand forward.
“Hah.”
Leon let out a hollow laugh at the utterly unpredictable flow of her thoughts.
What on earth…
Clicking his tongue in disbelief at Lowell’s arbitrary behavior, Leon nevertheless stood up properly.
Flash!
Moments later, Leon’s right hand overlapped Lowell’s left, and a brilliant light flared—so bright it was hard to keep one’s eyes open.
“Ah…!”
After a few seconds passed, Lowell was finally able to open her tightly shut eyes. That was when she noticed Leon’s trembling pupils.
In truth, Leon felt as though every nerve ending in his body had been sharpened.
I expected it, but this is incredible. I’ve never seen anyone with this much magical power, even when I was in the knight order.
Leon’s pulse raced violently as the magic was absorbed. A strong wave of dizziness even washed over him.
And of course, Lowell—who had her fingers on his wrist—was well aware of his condition.
Just as she began to worry whether it was really okay for his pulse to be beating this hard, Leon spoke.
“You really never felt the need to use magic, even with power like this?”
“Huh? Oh, I’ve used it a few times to grab things that were up high, but I’ve never really tried to use it seriously.”
Unlike Leon, who was struggling to catch his breath, Lowell answered with perfectly calm breathing.
“…If the guys from our knight order heard that, they’d cry.”
“Haha, really?”
A small laugh escaped Lowell’s lips. To be honest, she suspected that God had given her this magic as a perk for a reincarnator, to compensate for her unjust death in her previous life—but adding something that strange on top of everything else seemed unnecessary, so she kept it to herself.
“Take this with you.”
By the time the morning sun had fully risen, Lowell was preparing to leave after finishing the transfer of magic, when something was suddenly pressed against her shoulder.
“Roses?”
Turning her head, Lowell saw a bouquet of orange flowers resting there.
“You said earlier you told your master you were going on a date.”
“Oh, right.”
She had mentioned it offhandedly earlier, just to avoid the awkwardness of not talking about anything other than magic. Apparently, Leon had remembered.
I thought he wasn’t listening at all, since he barely reacted.
Slightly surprised by Leon’s unexpected thoughtfulness, Lowell accepted the flowers.
“They’re enchanted, so they won’t wither.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Lowell brought the bouquet to her nose and inhaled. A pleasant fragrance filled her lungs.
“If you’re going to thank someone, thank the village women who gave them to me.”
“Huh?”
At those words, Lowell immediately pulled the bouquet away from her face.
“I used to get them almost every day when I was in the knight order. It was awkward to just throw them away, so this works out well. Take them again next time you come, too.”
At his nonchalant remark, Lowell’s eyes instinctively narrowed.
“Is it really okay to just give away gifts you received like this?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? Weren’t they given so I could do what I wanted with them?”
Leon countered in a flat voice.
“Still, there’s the sincerity of the people who gave them…”
“What use is sincerity I’ve already decided not to accept?”
Leon spoke as if he truly couldn’t understand what the problem was. His almost languid tone clearly conveyed that he genuinely saw no reason why it would be wrong.
“So, are you not taking them?”
As Lowell stood there, holding the bouquet at a distance with a bewildered expression, Leon asked, raising one eyebrow.
“…No, I’ll take them.”
For a moment, Lowell thought his thick eyebrows looked particularly arrogant, but she pressed her lips together and properly accepted the bouquet.
After all, she really did need proof that she’d been on a date.
