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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Don't Show Up in Front of Me Anymore
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Roselia reluctantly permitted my business. Displeasure was plainly written on her face, but she said nothing more.
After having lunch with her, I headed out to the street with Sierra and set up my stall.
Word of mouth had spread quite a bit by now, and customers seeking herbs began trickling in, one by one.
Even regular patrons started showing up every day.
One day, a customer loudly declared he'd buy up all the herbs.
But what he ended up holding in his hand as he left was just a single herb.
I sold only one herb per person.
That had been my personal rule ever since I'd been duped by a swindler in the past.
I worried someone might resell my herbs for profit.
Of course, one measure like this couldn't stop all resellers, but I believed it would deter them to some extent.
After wrapping up the day's business like that, I returned to the Rahel Tani family mansion.
The sky was slowly dyeing itself in red sunset hues.
"Hup…!"
I clasped my hands together in my bedroom and quietly closed my eyes.
I waited a long while, concentrating my mind, but there was no particular reaction.
"…It's no good."
I let out a long breath and slowly unclenched my hands.
When I opened one palm, a single Silver Flower Herb with small white petals cautiously bloomed atop it.
I gazed at that flower for a long time.
With complicated feelings buried deep inside.
'The Silver Flower Herb blooms so beautifully like this….'
But what I'd just tried to bloom wasn't a Silver Flower Herb—it was a rose.
This wasn't the first time.
Every day, I held a single rose in my hand and tried every method I could think of to make it bloom.
But every attempt ended in failure without exception.
What on earth was I lacking?
My curiosity was gradually turning into obsession.
The Silver Flower Herb had become a familiar herb in my hands.
I'd handled that flower for nearly two years.
Every day, plucking its petals, trimming its stem, turning it into a medicinal herb.
Probably, during that long time, the conditions had aligned just right for me to be able to bloom the Silver Flower Herb.
The problem was that I couldn't even grasp what those conditions were.
'Should I… try eating it once?'
I picked up a rose whose petals had all fallen off.
One thing I could do right now was eat this flower myself. Perhaps that held the hidden clue.
But even after racking my brains, I had no memory of ever eating a Silver Flower Herb.
More than anything, it was hard to muster the courage to put a raw flower in my mouth.
In the end, I quietly stared at the wilted rose, lost in deep thought.
Knock, knock—
A sudden knock at the door.
It was a bit softer and slower rhythm than Sierra's knock. Roselia wouldn't bother knocking and would just come right in. That left only one person who came to mind.
The door opened, revealing a girl with purple eyes.
A child who looked even younger than me. A face where the baby fat hadn't fully melted away yet. But those eyes were sunk into a deep, achromatic void, like someone who held no expectations left for the world.
"…What do you want?"
A voice far lower and more subdued than I'd expected slipped from between my lips.
Camilla stared at me wordlessly before quietly stepping into the bedroom.
"Still studying magic?"
Her voice was still hollow.
There wasn't a trace of the vitality you'd expect from a child anywhere in her eyes.
"…What does that have to do with you."
I stealthily hid the magic book lying by the bed behind my back.
I didn't particularly want to show it to her.
"Not giving up?"
There it was again. That tiresome phrase telling me to give up.
If it had been before, my emotions would have boiled over, but strangely, it didn't bother me now.
In fact, I could look at her more calmly.
"Did you come here just to say that?"
"You have no talent for magic."
At this point, I was getting curious about what she was really thinking.
She was the one who'd drawn the line first. The one who'd first shown an attitude of not wanting to get involved anymore.
So why come all the way here to say something like this?
But whatever—it didn't matter anymore.
I'd decided not to waste any more feelings on her.
"You're right. Just like you said."
Not as cold as Camilla, but my words came out in a fairly indifferent tone.
"Huh?"
Camilla's eyes trembled ever so slightly.
"I've put magic aside."
I slowly rose from the bed and walked over to her.
There was a two-year age gap, but our heights were almost the same.
"You gave up?"
Camilla's eyes seemed wider than usual.
Maybe she was inwardly pleased that my stubbornness had finally broken.
"Yeah. So go back now. You don't have to worry—I won't pull any magic stunts in front of you anymore."
Her eyes shook again.
For a brief moment, I could clearly sense a flicker in her expression.
Sudden silence fell. An inexplicable tension hung in the air.
"Why?"
Breaking the silence, Camilla asked.
She peered steadily into my face.
Her flustered gaze only made me more puzzled.
"Why what?"
"Are you… really quitting magic?"
Camilla asked again.
With a faintly shaken expression, as if she couldn't believe my words.
"I'm just… saying I won't stubbornly insist on doing magic anymore."
"...."
"In the end, you were right."
There was still no response.
She'd always been hard to read, but with her lips sealed tight as she stared, it was frustrating for no reason.
"Ma, magic is boundless."
Camilla finally spoke first. Her words came out faster than usual, causing her to stumble once.
"I know. That's why you're lucky. You have talent for magic."
"…You're right. I'm good at magic."
"Yeah."
With my short reply, silence flowed again. Camilla seemed to swallow whatever she wanted to say, her lips twitching.
"Isn't this good for you?"
I broke the silence this time.
"Huh?"
"Me giving up on magic—that's what you wanted, right? So… you can be happy about it."
"…I'm not particularly happy."
Repetition of words utterly devoid of substance.
I unwittingly furrowed my brow at the ongoing stifling conversation.
Camilla was the one who'd wanted me to quit magic more than anyone. But now that I'd said I was quitting, she looked the most uncomfortable of all.
Was this just a child's whim, perhaps?
'…Whatever.'
I couldn't understand Camilla's sudden change.
But I didn't particularly want to know, either.
"Camilla."
"Yeah?"
"From now on, I won't interfere in your life anymore."
I smiled quietly.
There was no joy or reconciliation in that smile.
It held only the intent of a clean farewell, free of lingering attachments.
"I'll act like sisters in front of the countess, but otherwise… I won't bother you."
I carefully extended my hand toward her.
Camilla stared blankly at my fingertips before taking a step back.
"Camilla?"
"…So, we're saying we won't get on each other's nerves anymore?"
"Yeah."
I thought Camilla would welcome such a proposal.
Even if her face didn't show delight, I figured she'd grasp my hand without hesitation.
But all that came back was a single phrase.
"Got it."
Her expression, a step away, was shrouded in shadow and hard to see.
Yet those purple eyes alone quietly gleamed.
"Don't show up in front of me anymore."
A short, sharp remark.
The first time we'd met, Camilla had left me with the same words.
"Yeah, sorry."
"...."
I gave her a faint smile.
Camilla looked at my face for a moment before silently turning away. She left the room without a sound, and soon the door closed.
Left alone in the bedroom, I let out a long sigh.
With my relationship with Camilla settled, my heart felt relieved yet somehow uncomfortable.
I wondered if, after all the bickering, I'd grown attached without realizing it.
"Anyway, this should be the end of it."
I lay my weary body down on the bed.
As I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing for a moment, Roselia's words suddenly came to mind.
[Camilla's a child with a dark past like yours.]
I buried my face in the pillow.
I didn't know what past Camilla had, but judging by Roselia's words, it was surely no warm memory.
But Camilla, you have power.
You have overwhelming magical talent that lets you brush off any past and charge forward. Talent so great that even arrogant mages hide in their towers, fearing you.
You can do anything with that power, even without anyone's help. If you set your mind to it, everyone will look up to you.
But I'm different.
I don't have intellect as perceptive as yours, nor Roselia's immense divine power. Without someone's hand to guide me, I can't even fend for myself properly.
"…Let's make some herbs."
Gloomy emotions welled up. I quickly got up and threw off the covers.
Still dreaming of the day I'd join the Hero Party.
I huddled down and began plucking the petals of a Silver Flower Herb one by one.
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