Senior, I've Come to Visit - Chapter 72

“I drew you a picture, Auntie. I’m going to be a painter when I grow up.”

“A painter sounds great. Show me your drawing.”

So she still carried her comfort doll everywhere. I stroked the light gray rabbit doll she pulled out of the bag and hugged it once. It was worn and frayed to the point of feeling sorry for what used to be a fluffy new toy.

“Rubel, how about I buy you a brand-new rabbit doll just like this one?”

“No, I don’t want it!”

“Alright.”

Even if I bought her a new one, she refused to accept anything that wasn’t this one, so there wasn’t much I could do. From a box buried at the bottom of her bag, Rubel carefully pulled out a bundle of papers and showed me the drawing she’d made of me.

“This one!”

“Oh, you drew it really well.”

It did look like me in its own way. A round, chubby face, bright yellow hair instead of platinum-blonde, blue eyes, a stick-like body with thin arms and legs. Sparkly, colorful glitter dust was scattered around as if I was using magic with my hands.

“It looks really convincing. You’re already like a painter, Rubel. Is this glitter dust magic?”

“Yeah, show me magic, Auntie.”

“If you give me this drawing, I’ll show you.”

“Okay!”

Rubel beamed and carefully tore the page out to hand it to me.

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t because she was my niece. Rubel was objectively very cute.

I was keeping my promise and about to show her some magic when Nardi, now wearing an apron, walked into the living room.

“I’ll prepare dinner, so go ahead and play.”

“Okay.”

He rarely looked this busy, but he went straight into the kitchen to cook.

Having Iella, Rubel, and Nardi all in my house felt strange. I was familiar with each of them separately, but seeing them all gathered together like this was… odd.

“Auntie, hurry.”

Regardless of my thoughts, Rubel climbed right onto my lap and urged me.

“Alright.”

I reached out and created a silvery-white ball of light that did nothing except illuminate the area.

“Wow….”

It was nothing special, but Rubel was overjoyed, hugging me tightly as if she couldn’t contain himself.

“Green, green too.”

“Got it.”

Since Rubel liked green, I made another light. Delighted, she leapt out of my arms and tried to catch the lights with her hands. Since it wouldn’t be fun if it were too easy, I lifted the light slightly higher, and she burst into giggles. I gave a small laugh too, moving the lights here and there as Rubel hopped after them like a little rabbit.

While Nardi prepared dinner, I played with Rubel: moving lights, catching them, lying on the floor drawing with him. Iella was chatting with Nardi in the kitchen, and every now and then I heard loud laughter. What in the world were they talking about so happily? I was slightly curious and slightly anxious, but I didn’t bother going to check.

It seemed good for Iella and Nardi to become reasonably close, and besides, I was too busy rolling around with Rubel.

“Come eat!”

A delicious smell drifted out, and Nardi called for us. When we went to the kitchen, a full meal had been laid out. Iella was sitting comfortably and gestured with a cheerful face.

“Come on, sit. We were talking about the herb shop. About how you helped us open it. Eloise used the money she earned from making that epidemic cure back then to buy us a house and a shop.”

“…Unnie, I told you not to talk about that.”

“Why? It’s a good story, so of course I should! You two went to the academy together, right? I’m sure he knows even better.”

“That’s right, haha.”

“….”

Back when we were at the academy, a livestock epidemic had spread severely across the country, and I’d created the treatment potion, earning unexpected money. Since Iella had been working as an herb seller without a proper store, I’d given her a new house and an herb shop. She must’ve told that story a hundred times. Even when I told her not to, saying people might dislike hearing her brag, she still kept telling it.

“When we were little, you gathered herbs and raised me… it was just a small gift.”

“It wasn’t a ‘small’ gift. And you were an easy child to raise. I could raise ten kids like you even now.”

“I bet you were really cute when you were little, Eloise.”

“She was incredibly cute. Except for how hard it was to feed her because she barely ate anything, she was gentle, sleepy, and the best child ever.”

“So you’ve been a heavy sleeper since you were young. You’re still the same.”

Sitting beside me, Nardi looked at me as if he found me cute.

Don’t say things like that…!

Flustered, I poked his side under the table. Wanting to change the subject, I turned to Rubel, who sat across from me.

“Rubel, is it good? Eat this too.”

“Yeah. I’m sleeping at Auntie’s house today.”

“Of course. Stay over, Unnie.”

“Oh, should we? Being a heavy sleeper really doesn’t change. Anyway, Eloise was so cute back then. Even if she acted aloof outside, she’d cling to me, calling me Unnie, Unnie. You wouldn’t believe how attached she was.”

But Iella seemed to have no intention of changing the topic.

Iella, please….

As if remembering something, she looked at me. “You’re not being prickly to people at the Magic Tower, right? You need to be kind to others.”

As if I’m a child….

“I’m not prickly.”

For a moment, I thought I felt Nardi’s gaze, but I ignored it.

“I don’t know about being kind, but I behave politely.”

“Eloise is kind. She helps others a lot. Even at the academy, she always stepped up to help students who were being bullied.”

“Oh, really? That’s my Eloise!”

“….”

“Eloise has a strong sense of justice. She can’t stand seeing people in trouble because she’s softhearted.”

“Exactly! She’s softer on the inside than she looks. You really know her well.”

My wish for Iella and Nardi to get along was canceled.

The two of them chatted away excitedly about me, like they’d found a comrade.

After that face-burning meal ended, Nardi, with his endless stamina, played with Rubel physically. He lifted Rubel high again and again, played tag with her, and the house was filled with constant laughter. When it got late and the outside grew dark, he said, surprisingly, that he’d head home first.

“It was truly a pleasure meeting you today. I’ll visit Rubel’s herb shop soon.”

“You’re welcome anytime! Thanks to you, I had such a great time today. Rubel will sleep well too. Rubel, say goodbye.”

“Bye!”

“Bye, Rubel. See you next time.”

I walked him all the way to the front door to see him off. Once we were alone in the dark night, Nardi immediately looked disappointed.

“We can’t sleep together tonight. What a shame.”

Normally, he would’ve slept at my house, but he understood he couldn’t with my family visiting.

“Your house is way bigger and nicer anyway.”

“I like sleeping anywhere as long as I’m holding you.”

He hugged me tightly, as if he wanted to take me right then.

“Still, I’m glad I got to meet your family. Rubel is so cute. It makes me imagine what you were like as a child.”

“Rubel’s much cuter.”

Nardi laughed, and the vibration traveled through my body.

“A shy baby would be adorable too, I’m sure.”

He held my shoulders and put a little distance between us so he could look into my eyes.

“There are so many things I want to do with you.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s visit the herb shop together and see your family again. Now that we’re not hiding the fact that we’re dating, let’s go out without disguises. Let’s go on trips during holidays too.”

“Sure, sounds good. Let’s try them one by one starting tomorrow.”

Nardi’s face lit up with a bright smile.

“I’ll come pick you up in the morning.”

“Okay, go get some sleep.”

“You’re really going to send me off just like that?”

He leaned in, offering his cheek, clearly asking for a kiss again.

“Did you forget we almost got caught doing this earlier?”

“So what if we get caught? Everyone already knows we’re dating.”

Unbelievable.

Since a shameless Nardi would never leave quietly, I rose onto my toes. As he bent down toward me, I held his cheeks with both hands and pressed a kiss to his lips. Nardi let out a soft laugh, then kissed me deeply in return.

I started thinking that I should come up with a few ideas of my own about what we could do together.

What was certain was that whatever we did, it would be fun and it would make me happy.