“Yes, Seoho-nim! You’re amazing!”
Seoho nodded his head in delight. Yes, it had finally worked. He couldn’t hide his joy. He had been worried because he kept failing.
Worried that he might truly have no talent. Worried that he had only stolen Rosetta’s power for nothing. He had continuously worried and been anxious.
But finally, there was progress. Even if it was an insignificant success, it was such a relief. Seoho, who had been freely sharing his joy with Puti, smiled brightly and asked Aris.
“Does replication magic replicate living creatures exactly the same too?”
Earlier, when asked what real living seeds would be, he had thought living things couldn’t be replicated, but seeing sprouts bloom on all the seeds like this, it seemed that wasn’t the case.
‘Are plants and animals different? If animals are all replicated like this too, that would be kind of scary….’
But Aris shook his head.
“No. Even if you replicate something with life exactly the same, the inside is empty.”
Then what on earth was this? Seoho looked at the table, then turned his eyes to the only seed that hadn’t sprouted.
The seed set aside to one side.
“This is the one you said wasn’t yours, right? Is only this one replicated? What about the rest?”
Aris picked up the seed without sprouts and answered.
“Actually, the magic I used was magic to bring things. It’s a type of teleportation magic.”
“What?”
“Everything here was real seeds. They were in this pouch.”
Seoho looked at the empty pouch Aris showed him. Aris continued speaking.
“And this seed in my hand is the seed you had, Seoho-nim.”
“The seed I had?”
Seoho asked again in surprise.
“Then are you saying the seed I have is fake?”
“No, it’s not that, the seed is empty. Not all seeds germinate, after all.”
“Ah.”
Aris clicked his tongue and asked accusingly.
“The seed was empty. Who gave you the seed?”
Seoho, searching his memory, answered with an awkward laugh.
“Rosetta….”
“It seems His Majesty made a mistake. It worked out well, didn’t it? That’s fortunate.”
Seoho felt a little resentful toward Rosetta. But he soon let out a small laugh. The laughter that had slipped out of his mouth grew gradually louder. Seoho clutched his stomach and burst into loud laughter.
It was absurd and ridiculous and at the same time so funny. What on earth had he been doing for the past few days?
After laughing for a while, Seoho asked Aris.
“By the way, it seems Aris had suspected it? That the seed might be wrong.”
Aris nodded without denying it and answered.
“Yes, you could make flowers bloom from plants, but you hadn’t been able to germinate a seed all this time—how could I believe that?”
“…Really.”
It was absurd, but thanks to that, the problem was solved. Seoho laughed helplessly, then soon smiled gently and gave his thanks.
“Thank you for being considerate.”
Aris gestured toward Puti standing beside Seoho and said.
“Puti worried a lot about you, Seoho-nim.”
“Yes, I know. Puti. Thank you so much. I’m always only receiving help from Puti.”
Seoho knew how much Puti had been concerned about him. When Seoho gave his sincere thanks, Puti quickly shook his head.
“Not at all!”
“How should I repay you?”
At Seoho’s question, Puti’s face hardened as he said.
“I was just doing my job.”
“Not all servants are as meticulous and thoughtful as Puti.”
Puti’s face flushed red. Aris, who had been looking at Puti’s reddened face, asked.
“Since you’ve exchanged enough thanks with each other, shall we have class again? Or should we really rest today?”
Seoho shook his head. If earlier he couldn’t study because his mood had sunk, now he felt he wouldn’t be able to study because he was too happy.
“Let’s really rest today, Aris.”
Aris was genuinely delighted.
“Today’s the day I get paid for nothing.”
Seoho carefully asked Puti.
“Rosetta’s the Emperor, so he’s rich, right? So one day should be fine.”
The answer came not from Puti but from Aris.
“Yes, His Majesty the Emperor is the richest person in the Empire, so it’s fine to do this often.”
Then Puti raised his voice.
“Aris-nim! Still, doing this often is not acceptable!”
“Oh my. Puti opposes.”
As Puti started nagging while chattering, Aris tossed out words teasingly at Puti.
Seoho watched the two of them and smiled broadly.
Since the matter he’d been anxious about was resolved well, everything was fun and joyful. Seoho picked up one of the sprouts on the table and curled up the corners of his mouth.
He now had something to say when Rosetta came.
‘He’ll be happy, right?’
Lately, it had bothered him that Rosetta was watching his mood. But now that there was finally progress, if he showed him this sprout, he would surely smile brilliantly.
Seoho’s face, imagining Rosetta smiling, brightened like never before.
***
Rosetta let out a deep sigh as he headed to his room. Thinking of Seoho’s dark face made his heart ache naturally.
‘Why on earth did you give Seoho divine power?’
He had said he didn’t like it, didn’t like it, and now he really disliked it more. It was definitely an attitude contrary to what he had thought just a few days ago—that for the first time, the god had done something pleasing.
Seoho was trying so hard, so why on earth was there no progress?
‘Could the god have done something? So Seoho….’
It wasn’t entirely impossible. Rosetta didn’t think the god had given Seoho that ability without any price.
While it was certain that this time, somehow, he had received help from the god regarding Seoho, even so, Rosetta neither believed in nor loved the god.
Rosetta was aware that this attitude of his looked bad to some believers, including Saintess Angel, but faith and love were things that couldn’t be forced.
To Rosetta, the god was merely someone who had made Rosetta’s boring but peaceful life noisy and bothersome.
‘Moreover, right now.’
In fact, what bothered Rosetta more than Seoho not being able to use that ability properly was him being dejected.
‘What’s so great about that power?’
Rosetta had slipped out of the room subtly early in the morning at the sound of Seoho sighing deeply. It was because he was afraid Seoho might get angry if he stuck by his side for no reason again.
Of course, Seoho was a kind and good person, so that wouldn’t happen, but he couldn’t be sure. Rosetta didn’t want to create a situation where he would be hated.
‘I don’t want to feel that feeling again.’
Rosetta stopped in front of the room and resolved.
‘Let’s suggest taking a little break.’
He couldn’t just keep watching Seoho struggle anymore. He would tell him that sometimes resting can help when things aren’t going well.
‘Lately, he hasn’t been paying attention to me either.’
He had been starting to feel hurt. Compared to his feelings of worrying about Seoho, it was an insignificant emotion not worth even a grain, though.
Of course, Rosetta wasn’t a fool, so he was aware that if he said these thoughts wrong, it could cause misunderstanding. Rosetta carefully opened the door, pondering how he could convey his words well so Seoho wouldn’t misunderstand.
But what greeted Rosetta as he entered the room wasn’t Seoho with the gloomy face he’d been showing these past few days.
“Look at this! Rosetta!”
Rosetta quietly looked at Seoho, who ran up to him as if he’d been waiting and started talking. Seoho continued speaking with a face full of laughter.
“The seed finally changed. Actually, it’s not just this one.”
Rosetta looked at the sprout in Seoho’s hand.
The seed had changed. Finally.
He was looking at the sprout that appeared to have just emerged from the seed when Seoho’s eyes curved as he grabbed Rosetta’s hand.
“Quickly.”
Rosetta turned to look at Seoho, then, entranced by that smile, was led to the table as if drawn by Seoho.
When Rosetta hesitated and stopped in front of the table, Seoho pointed to the table as if boasting. On it were seeds filled with moisture.
Sprouts showing similar growth to what Seoho had just shown him were piled high on the table.
“There are so many, right? Starting tomorrow, I’m going to try raising these.”
Seoho energetically shared his plan one by one about how he would raise these sprouts from now on. Rosetta couldn’t say anything and just nodded his head stupidly.
Watching that smile that chattered and couldn’t hide its joy, his hands felt itchy without him realizing it. He wanted to hug Seoho right away and kiss those chattering lips.
He tried to endure, but it wasn’t easy. The moment he was about to put strength into the hand held by Seoho, Seoho glanced back at Rosetta and said with a slight frown around his eyes.
“But Rosetta, did you know the seed you gave me was completely empty inside?”
“…What?”
Rosetta blinked. What did he mean it was empty inside?
“Thanks to Aris I realized it, but the seed was originally one that couldn’t germinate. Honestly, when I first heard that story, I was really dumbfounded.”
Rosetta asked back as if he couldn’t believe it.
“It was originally something that couldn’t grow?”
Seoho looked at Rosetta’s face as if watching his reaction and answered.
“Yes.”
But Rosetta didn’t notice Seoho doing that. Rosetta was currently in a state of shock at his own mistake.
So it meant that everything—Seoho struggling so much and being so dejected—had all been because of him.
