‘That would be a bit rough.’
Aris asked worriedly.
“What does His Majesty say?”
“He is worried, but he doesn’t show it in front of Seoho-nim.”
Still, it seemed the Emperor wasn’t the type to pressure or get frustrated. Aris felt relieved.
‘If their relationship becomes distant for no reason, it’s the subordinates who suffer.’
Aris was nodding, thinking it was fortunate, when his eyes widened at a sudden thought. Then Puti asked.
“What is it?”
“Well, you see.”
“Yes?”
After hesitating for a moment, Aris soon shook his head. If this assumption was wrong, it might cause a stir.
“That seed… No, never mind.”
Puti pressed Aris.
“Why are you stopping mid-sentence?”
At that expression full of insistence to speak up, Aris pondered and then opened his mouth.
“No, I was just wondering if there might be a problem with the seed itself.”
“What?”
When Puti’s eyes widened, his already gentle impression looked even more dazed. Seeing that face, a slight smile emerged, but Aris hid his smile with effort and continued speaking.
“He blooms flowers well, and works so hard, yet still can’t make a seed sprout. Isn’t that a bit strange?”
He had heard that since sprouting seeds wasn’t going well, they had tried blooming flowers several more times. And all those attempts had succeeded.
But the seed was still impossible—something seemed off.
At Aris’s point, Puti looked startled.
“Just in case, shall we check? Try getting another seed.”
When Puti fell into contemplation at Aris’s suggestion, Aris added as if to say not to worry.
“I’ll suggest it naturally.”
Even if it failed, he thought he could create a situation where Seoho wouldn’t feel bad.
“Would you do that?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you, Aris-nim. Then I’ll go quickly and come back.”
“Alright.”
Aris checked the time while watching Puti’s retreating figure.
Before he knew it, Puti, who had come to show tremendous loyalty to Seoho just as he did to Rosetta, seemed excited, perhaps thanks to the assumption that Seoho’s mood might improve. Aris chuckled as he watched Puti’s figure disappearing with quick steps.
‘He’s really not scary after all.’
No matter how much he heard the public’s assessment of ‘the Emperor’s only direct attendant,’ ‘the next head attendant,’ and ‘a scary person,’ to Aris, Puti was just a somewhat frivolous and loyal attendant.
‘And he seems a bit cute too.’
Aris’s small laughter echoed through the corridor.
***
Seoho, who had been glaring at the seed with all his might in his eyes, turned his head at the gaze watching him. Perhaps because he turned his eyes while still tensing them, he saw Puti flinch in surprise when their eyes met.
Seoho quickly rubbed between his brows and said.
“Sorry. But what is it?”
Then Puti carefully opened his mouth.
“Seoho-nim, Aris-nim has arrived. Shall we start the lesson?”
“Ah.”
Seoho checked the time. He had completely forgotten, but today was the day he received lessons from Aris. Seoho felt sorry for Puti, who was reading his mood.
He had tried not to show it outwardly, but it hadn’t worked as well as he’d hoped. This room where Seoho stayed was a room he shared with Rosetta, so Puti was also stationed in this room most of the time.
As a result, both Rosetta and Puti must have felt the anxiety that Seoho couldn’t quite hide.
He found himself sighing several times a day and kept practicing continuously, putting all other tasks aside. Despite that, there was no progress, so in truth, Seoho was gradually becoming exhausted.
‘I really must have no talent.’
He was working hard enough that anyone could say he was trying his best, but since it wasn’t going well, it was now hard to deny that he had no talent.
‘Or maybe the direction of my effort is wrong?’
A sigh was about to burst out, but Seoho swallowed it and smiled. With Puti here, his thoughts had leaked in that direction again.
Seoho quickly arranged his expression and answered Puti’s question.
“Yes, let’s start the lesson.”
He didn’t want Puti to read his mood either, and he wanted to change his mood by doing something else for a while.
Puti immediately went to call Aris. Seoho apologized to Aris as he entered the room.
“I’m sorry, did you wait long?”
It was already well past the promised time. Aris answered with a good-natured smile.
“No. I was a bit late today myself.”
He knew it was a lie, but he also knew it was said out of consideration for him, so Seoho neither affirmed nor denied it and asked.
“What did we say we were doing today?”
In fact, he hadn’t been able to study diligently this time either. There were many things to be sorry about. Aris examined Seoho’s face and answered.
“Shall we rest a bit today?”
“What?”
As Seoho looked at Aris in surprise, he smiled and spoke casually.
“You look tired. How about instead of studying today, we talk a bit about this world?”
At the continued consideration, Seoho blinked. Normally, he would have refused such consideration. But Seoho accepted Aris’s consideration.
Even if he insisted on studying, it seemed like the content wouldn’t enter his head today. Nothing made a teacher more irritated than a student who couldn’t concentrate on the lesson.
‘Is it similar to not being able to follow the lesson?’
For a moment, Rosetta’s troubled face came to mind, but Seoho quickly erased that thought and answered.
“Shall we?”
At Seoho’s affirmation, Aris immediately began talking.
“You said there’s no magic in your world, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then today, let’s talk about magic.”
“Okay.”
Fortunately, the topic Aris brought up was one Seoho was very interested in. Since gaining divine power, he had gotten a bit closer to such unrealistic things, but still, what was fascinating was fascinating.
Of course, it might be because Seoho still couldn’t handle divine power well, but anyway, thanks to the topic Aris brought up being one of interest, Seoho could naturally concentrate on his words.
Aris began systematically explaining about the mana needed to use magic, how mages studied, and what kinds of magic there were.
While Seoho was nodding as he listened to the explanation about types of magic, Aris, who had been looking around, pointed to a seed placed on one side of the table and asked.
“May I borrow this seed for a moment?”
“The seed?”
It was the seed Seoho had been carrying around for the past few days. The seed that had shown no reaction for the past several days.
Aris picked up the seed immediately without giving Seoho a chance to respond. When Seoho looked at Aris with wide eyes, he grinned and used magic.
“Huh?”
Aris pointed at the seeds that had filled the table and said.
“It’s duplication magic. Among these, only I can tell which is the real seed.”
Since there was no way Aris wouldn’t return the seed, Seoho asked what he was curious about without saying much.
“How can you tell?”
At least to the naked eye, they all looked exactly the same.
“Because I can feel my mana. Seoho-nim, would you like to try guessing? If you can figure out which is real, you might be good at learning magic.”
Learning magic—when he had no talent for divine power, would he have talent for magic? Seoho asked with a bitter smile.
“Didn’t you just say that those who can sense mana are very rare?”
“Yes, it’s an extremely rare probability. But handling divine power is even harder than becoming a mage.”
Aris gestured at the table.
“Now, since we’re just doing this for fun. Try guessing.”
At that attitude of not expecting much, Seoho looked at the seeds on the table with a comfortable mind.
“Hmm…”
Aris said playfully.
“Feel it. Which seed is real? Which seed has life and is the real one?”
“They all look similar.”
At Seoho’s words, Aris picked up a seed and said.
“You may hold them in your hand.”
Seoho touched the seeds one by one, starting with the seed Aris handed him. And he picked out one of them.
“At least this one doesn’t seem to be it.”
At Seoho’s answer, Aris asked with an interested face.
“Why do you think so?”
At that face full of interest, he felt more at ease. It really was like a game. Seoho answered roughly.
“Just, this one doesn’t seem to be it.”
There wasn’t really a particular reason either. It just didn’t seem to be the real one. At Seoho’s answer, Aris nodded and asked.
“What about the others?”
Seoho shrugged his shoulders.
“Like I said before, they’re all similar. They all seem like real seeds. Like grass blades could sprout at any moment…”
As he was saying that, Seoho suddenly closed his mouth. Something that started from his heart suddenly began to leap outside his body.
And that power headed toward the seeds on the table.
In the place where the light disappeared, there were seeds with sprouts emerging. As Seoho stared at it blankly, Puti was the first to raise his voice.
“Wow, Seoho-nim!”
At Puti’s call, Seoho looked at Puti and muttered.
“…I succeeded.”
Aris clapped his hands and said.
“Congratulations.”
Puti approached the table with a bright smile. Seoho, who had been in a daze, came to his senses and grabbed Puti while exclaiming.
“I succeeded!”
