In fact, Noah was having a hard time right from the first question.
Considering the experience of getting tarantulas who were not interested in each other to mate by repeatedly putting them together and separating them for a long time, he thought that human courtship could be easily imitated.
That’s what he thought but…
He choked up when he was asked what made Clarisse more beautiful.
He had never looked at Clarisse with any distinction as to whether she was prettier or uglier.
Clarisse is made up of many parts, but is it possible to separate them and pick out just one as special?
“Oh my, there are so many that you can’t seem to choose. Right?”
Noah didn’t know what to answer until the moment the madam asked him this.
Then suddenly he saw Clarisse rubbing her palms on her knees.
It was clear that she was nervous that Noah wouldn’t be able to find the right answer.
‘Your fingers must have gotten cold again.’
He thought of Clarisse’s cold, nervous hands. When she was young, she had been warmed by magic several times.
It was also a return courtesy.
Because he was in debt to Clarisse’s hands.
That was when Noah revealed his face to Clarisse for the first time.
A face that everyone else would have thought was disgusting, but Clarisse thought was very cute.
The small palm that held his cheek at that moment…
He never forgot.
Because it was the first time he was completely accepted by others.
Not even his teacher could have loved his face so much.
He was glad to have found a fairly true answer to madam’s question.
It was the palm of her hand.
He said this answer quickly.
Although Clarisse, who glanced at him, seemed very frustrated for some reason.
And the next question.
How he came to like Clarisse.
The question that wasn’t a short answer was tricky.
Noah tried to figure out the test taker’s intentions and decided to come up with a plausible story.
‘If it’s a story that contains a little bit of emotion and affection, will it be enough to satisfy the madam?’
What is such a thing?
While he was pondering, Clarisse’s profile suddenly caught his eye.
The eyes followed a line from the forehead to the nose and soon settled on the pink lips that were puckered.
As he tried to figure out why he couldn’t take his eyes off of her, Clarisse turned to face him.
‘…Ah.’
He let out an exclamation in his heart.
His heart felt weird again. Without realizing it, he put a lot of strength into his tightly clenched hands.
Since when did he start having such strange reactions to Clarisse?
His memories went back in time and quickly reached a certain point.
As soon as Clarisse gets to the wizard’s castle, he stands back and watches as the gray-robed wizard expresses a terrible fondness for her.
As he walked closer, he realized that Clarisse was about to show off her amazing kick to the wizard.
Noah made a split-second decision and used magic to pull Clarisse’s body without permission.
Clarice, who was slightly flustered, struggled a little.
Is it scary? Noah quickly stretched out one arm and hugged Clarice’s waist.
It was all his magic, to let her know it was okay.
Clarisse’s weight, which had unexpectedly fallen on his arm, was lighter than he expected.
He looked back with concern and thought, “At this age, she should be a little heavier.”
Clarisse opened her eyes wide as he stroked his hand through her bright pink hair.
At that moment, he felt like his heart, which was supposed to be in the right place, fell down to the soles of his feet.
If he thinks about it now, it started from this time.
That’s why he needed herbs.
‘…Why am I suddenly reflecting on my health? I’m not here to see a doctor.’
He felt sorry that his thoughts had gone in a useless direction.
Anyway, he couldn’t waste any more time answering madam’s question, so he decided to try to answer by summarizing the thoughts that came to mind.
“The Girl is…”
As his story began, Clarisse seemed to be nervous along with him, and was seen swallowing heavily.
The sight was somehow cute, so Noah even smiled and answered.
“She showed off a threatening kick.”
“I didn’t…!”
Clarisse must have been so angry that she bit her lip tightly to stop herself from screaming.
In fact, she couldn’t even show off her kicks. Because Noah blocked it in the middle.
However, because the incident eventually threatened Noah’s health, her kick may be regarded to have hit him strongly in the face.
“It looks like you’re training your body hard, Clarisse.”
Fortunately, the Marchioness even gave a small clap.
It seems that Noah’s answer wasn’t too bad.
“Ah… yes.”
Clarisse’s voice was trembling slightly as she looked back at the madam.
“I, I think health is important. I have been training my body consistently since I was young.”
“It’s a wonderful thing. These days, it’s really cool that you can even begin to like someone in this way. Thank you for stopping by, Noah.”
“It’s nothing.”
Noah responded by bowing his head.
Now the madam looked at Valentine. Noah also looked back at him. Wondering what he might have made up.
He knows more about the physiology of nobles than Noah, so he might say something that will please the madam.
‘…So, will the madam conclude that Valentine will marry Clarisse?’
Huh?
He felt a little strange when he heard such a question. This feeling of being strangely anxious and angry.
‘As expected, is it that?’
The childish stubbornness of not wanting to lose Clarisse, his only friend.
Despite being seventeen years old, he still couldn’t get rid of these childish thoughts.
‘It’s a shame.’
When he let out a small sigh, he finally heard Valentine’s answer
“Uhm… A sudden carriage accident.”
His face looked blank as he said that.
“Oh my, Miss Clarisse helped you when you had an accident?”
“Oh… yes. It’s something like that.”
Valentine answered while muttering.
Meanwhile, Noah clearly saw him muttering, ‘This kid hit me.’
What on earth is that?
Noah looked at Clarisse again.
‘Did you run over him with your carriage?’ Clarisse shook her head with a pale face as he asked her with an eyes.
Now that he thinks about it, there was no way Clarisse was driving a carriage and there was no way she could have pushed Prince Valentine away with it.
If that had been the case, it would have been quite a legal problem, and there would have been a big article in the newspaper.
Grezekaia’s former princess tried to kill the prince, who was second in line to the throne, by carriage.
“It seems like various incidents often occur around Miss Clarisse.”
Clarisse quickly replied to the woman who smiled as if it was fun, ‘It’s not like that!’
As soon as Noah and Valentine started nodding their heads together, the Marchioness started laughing out loud.
***
The Marchioness said, ‘Shall we take a short break before the last question?’ She asked for understanding from the three people and stood up for a moment.
“As expected, you noticed it too…”
Clarisse had a tearful look, but the reaction of both sides was surprising.
“That’s not impossible.”
“Wasn’t that a perfect answer?”
It wasn’t at all.
Although Clarisse knows nothing about courtship other than the fact that it is good to exchange love letters…
Anyway, she knew that the two people’s answers were extremely strange.
Clarisse stood up first.
As Noah and Valentine looked at each other at the same time, she shrugged her shoulders.
“Excuse me for a moment, too.”
After that, she carefully slipped out into the hallway. Looking around, she saw that the Marchioness was standing blankly in front of the traces where Cecilia had measured her height.
As Clarisse pondered, she carefully approached her side.
The Marchioness, who belatedly noticed this, whispered, ‘I’m sorry.’
“Are you okay?”
“It’s just… I thought about it for a moment. Do I have the right to smile?”
“…Madam.”
“I’m sorry, really. It’s been so long since I’ve had such a good time, so I guess I’m confused. Is it okay if I stay like this? My daughter’s 30th birthday…… There’s only a week left.”
Clarisse seemed to have a sense of what the heart felt like.
Because she also had concerns like this when she was young.
…Isn’t being happy a selfish act?
“That, madam.”
Clarisse began to speak, her hands neatly clasped together.
“I don’t know my mother’s face.”
She could feel Madam Curno looking at her in surprise.
“She died when she was very young. Her voice, her scent… I don’t know any of it. All I know is her name.”
“…Then.”
“But for me.”
Clarisse finally looked back at the madam. She didn’t think she was telling a sad story, so she had a very happy smile.
“I like my mother. I don’t know anything about her, but I really like her. At least she sent me into this world, didn’t she?”
“….”
“That’s why I still wish for it sometimes. I wish there had been a lot of joy in the life of the person I didn’t know about.”
Even though things turned out badly for her mother, she wished there had been a lot more good things in her real life.
“…Thank you.”
The Marchioness, who was listening intently to Clarisse’s words, lightly wiped away her tears and nodded.
“Right… Like I want my daughter’s life to be full of laughter, maybe… Ah.”
For a moment the madam was troubled and she glanced into the drawing room where Noah and Valentine were waiting.
“I was away for too long even though we had guests.”
“It’s alright. Everyone is like spent time with you.”
“Oh my, is that possible? Anyway, they were such witty gentlemen that I found myself laughing so hard that I was surprised. They both seem to like Miss Clarisse very much.”
“T, there’s no way!”
Clarisse answered like that without realizing it and quickly pressed the corners of her mouth with both hands.
“Yes?”
“No…That’s.”
Clarisse, who had been struggling, eventually confessed her whole situation to the madam.
They faked a relationship because they wanted to live up to the madam’s expectations.
“I’m sorry. But… I don’t think it’s polite to keep lying.”
Clarisse looked at her, and she didn’t look angry.
No, she actually felt like… she was more interested.
“But it’s true that gentlemen want to court Miss Clarisse, isn’t it?”
In fact, Noah was having a hard time right from the first question.
Considering the experience of getting tarantulas who were not interested in each other to mate by repeatedly putting them together and separating them for a long time, he thought that human courtship could be easily imitated.
That’s what he thought but…
He choked up when he was asked what made Clarisse more beautiful.
He had never looked at Clarisse with any distinction as to whether she was prettier or uglier.
Clarisse is made up of many parts, but is it possible to separate them and pick out just one as special?
“Oh my, there are so many that you can’t seem to choose. Right?”
Noah didn’t know what to answer until the moment the madam asked him this.
Then suddenly he saw Clarisse rubbing her palms on her knees.
It was clear that she was nervous that Noah wouldn’t be able to find the right answer.
‘Your fingers must have gotten cold again.’
He thought of Clarisse’s cold, nervous hands. When she was young, she had been warmed by magic several times.
It was also a return courtesy.
Because he was in debt to Clarisse’s hands.
That was when Noah revealed his face to Clarisse for the first time.
A face that everyone else would have thought was disgusting, but Clarisse thought was very cute.
The small palm that held his cheek at that moment…
He never forgot.
Because it was the first time he was completely accepted by others.
Not even his teacher could have loved his face so much.
He was glad to have found a fairly true answer to madam’s question.
It was the palm of her hand.
He said this answer quickly.
Although Clarisse, who glanced at him, seemed very frustrated for some reason.
And the next question.
How he came to like Clarisse.
The question that wasn’t a short answer was tricky.
Noah tried to figure out the test taker’s intentions and decided to come up with a plausible story.
‘If it’s a story that contains a little bit of emotion and affection, will it be enough to satisfy the madam?’
What is such a thing?
While he was pondering, Clarisse’s profile suddenly caught his eye.
The eyes followed a line from the forehead to the nose and soon settled on the pink lips that were puckered.
As he tried to figure out why he couldn’t take his eyes off of her, Clarisse turned to face him.
‘…Ah.’
He let out an exclamation in his heart.
His heart felt weird again. Without realizing it, he put a lot of strength into his tightly clenched hands.
Since when did he start having such strange reactions to Clarisse?
His memories went back in time and quickly reached a certain point.
As soon as Clarisse gets to the wizard’s castle, he stands back and watches as the gray-robed wizard expresses a terrible fondness for her.
As he walked closer, he realized that Clarisse was about to show off her amazing kick to the wizard.
Noah made a split-second decision and used magic to pull Clarisse’s body without permission.
Clarice, who was slightly flustered, struggled a little.
Is it scary? Noah quickly stretched out one arm and hugged Clarice’s waist.
It was all his magic, to let her know it was okay.
Clarisse’s weight, which had unexpectedly fallen on his arm, was lighter than he expected.
He looked back with concern and thought, “At this age, she should be a little heavier.”
Clarisse opened her eyes wide as he stroked his hand through her bright pink hair.
At that moment, he felt like his heart, which was supposed to be in the right place, fell down to the soles of his feet.
If he thinks about it now, it started from this time.
That’s why he needed herbs.
‘…Why am I suddenly reflecting on my health? I’m not here to see a doctor.’
He felt sorry that his thoughts had gone in a useless direction.
Anyway, he couldn’t waste any more time answering madam’s question, so he decided to try to answer by summarizing the thoughts that came to mind.
“The Girl is…”
As his story began, Clarisse seemed to be nervous along with him, and was seen swallowing heavily.
The sight was somehow cute, so Noah even smiled and answered.
“She showed off a threatening kick.”
“I didn’t…!”
Clarisse must have been so angry that she bit her lip tightly to stop herself from screaming.
In fact, she couldn’t even show off her kicks. Because Noah blocked it in the middle.
However, because the incident eventually threatened Noah’s health, her kick may be regarded to have hit him strongly in the face.
“It looks like you’re training your body hard, Clarisse.”
Fortunately, the Marchioness even gave a small clap.
It seems that Noah’s answer wasn’t too bad.
“Ah… yes.”
Clarisse’s voice was trembling slightly as she looked back at the madam.
“I, I think health is important. I have been training my body consistently since I was young.”
“It’s a wonderful thing. These days, it’s really cool that you can even begin to like someone in this way. Thank you for stopping by, Noah.”
“It’s nothing.”
Noah responded by bowing his head.
Now the madam looked at Valentine. Noah also looked back at him. Wondering what he might have made up.
He knows more about the physiology of nobles than Noah, so he might say something that will please the madam.
‘…So, will the madam conclude that Valentine will marry Clarisse?’
Huh?
He felt a little strange when he heard such a question. This feeling of being strangely anxious and angry.
‘As expected, is it that?’
The childish stubbornness of not wanting to lose Clarisse, his only friend.
Despite being seventeen years old, he still couldn’t get rid of these childish thoughts.
‘It’s a shame.’
When he let out a small sigh, he finally heard Valentine’s answer
“Uhm… A sudden carriage accident.”
His face looked blank as he said that.
“Oh my, Miss Clarisse helped you when you had an accident?”
“Oh… yes. It’s something like that.”
Valentine answered while muttering.
Meanwhile, Noah clearly saw him muttering, ‘This kid hit me.’
What on earth is that?
Noah looked at Clarisse again.
‘Did you run over him with your carriage?’ Clarisse shook her head with a pale face as he asked her with an eyes.
Now that he thinks about it, there was no way Clarisse was driving a carriage and there was no way she could have pushed Prince Valentine away with it.
If that had been the case, it would have been quite a legal problem, and there would have been a big article in the newspaper.
Grezekaia’s former princess tried to kill the prince, who was second in line to the throne, by carriage.
“It seems like various incidents often occur around Miss Clarisse.”
Clarisse quickly replied to the woman who smiled as if it was fun, ‘It’s not like that!’
As soon as Noah and Valentine started nodding their heads together, the Marchioness started laughing out loud.
***
The Marchioness said, ‘Shall we take a short break before the last question?’ She asked for understanding from the three people and stood up for a moment.
“As expected, you noticed it too…”
Clarisse had a tearful look, but the reaction of both sides was surprising.
“That’s not impossible.”
“Wasn’t that a perfect answer?”
It wasn’t at all.
Although Clarisse knows nothing about courtship other than the fact that it is good to exchange love letters…
Anyway, she knew that the two people’s answers were extremely strange.
Clarisse stood up first.
As Noah and Valentine looked at each other at the same time, she shrugged her shoulders.
“Excuse me for a moment, too.”
After that, she carefully slipped out into the hallway. Looking around, she saw that the Marchioness was standing blankly in front of the traces where Cecilia had measured her height.
As Clarisse pondered, she carefully approached her side.
The Marchioness, who belatedly noticed this, whispered, ‘I’m sorry.’
“Are you okay?”
“It’s just… I thought about it for a moment. Do I have the right to smile?”
“…Madam.”
“I’m sorry, really. It’s been so long since I’ve had such a good time, so I guess I’m confused. Is it okay if I stay like this? My daughter’s 30th birthday…… There’s only a week left.”
Clarisse seemed to have a sense of what the heart felt like.
Because she also had concerns like this when she was young.
…Isn’t being happy a selfish act?
“That, madam.”
Clarisse began to speak, her hands neatly clasped together.
“I don’t know my mother’s face.”
She could feel Madam Curno looking at her in surprise.
“She died when she was very young. Her voice, her scent… I don’t know any of it. All I know is her name.”
“…Then.”
“But for me.”
Clarisse finally looked back at the madam. She didn’t think she was telling a sad story, so she had a very happy smile.
“I like my mother. I don’t know anything about her, but I really like her. At least she sent me into this world, didn’t she?”
“….”
“That’s why I still wish for it sometimes. I wish there had been a lot of joy in the life of the person I didn’t know about.”
Even though things turned out badly for her mother, she wished there had been a lot more good things in her real life.
“…Thank you.”
The Marchioness, who was listening intently to Clarisse’s words, lightly wiped away her tears and nodded.
“Right… Like I want my daughter’s life to be full of laughter, maybe… Ah.”
For a moment the madam was troubled and she glanced into the drawing room where Noah and Valentine were waiting.
“I was away for too long even though we had guests.”
“It’s alright. Everyone is like spent time with you.”
“Oh my, is that possible? Anyway, they were such witty gentlemen that I found myself laughing so hard that I was surprised. They both seem to like Miss Clarisse very much.”
“T, there’s no way!”
Clarisse answered like that without realizing it and quickly pressed the corners of her mouth with both hands.
“Yes?”
“No…That’s.”
Clarisse, who had been struggling, eventually confessed her whole situation to the madam.
They faked a relationship because they wanted to live up to the madam’s expectations.
“I’m sorry. But… I don’t think it’s polite to keep lying.”
Clarisse looked at her, and she didn’t look angry.
No, she actually felt like… she was more interested.
“But it’s true that gentlemen want to court Miss Clarisse, isn’t it?”
