CH 255

Chapter 255 : Determination

While wondering why Ester is behaving so strangely today, we arrived at Ester’s house before I realized it.

Right after, Ester let go of my hand and rushed inside toward the kitchen without saying anything.

Nicola immediately followed her to the kitchen and started working.

My job here is to carry the firewood from the small warehouse in the backyard to the kitchen, but when I was about to go to the backyard, Stina-san stuck her head out the door and called out to me.

「Mark-kun, Mark-kun~」(Stina)

「What’s wrong, Stina-san? Don’t you have to look after Rumilu-chan?」(Mark)

「Fufu~ She’s sleeping right now. I just want to have a little chat with you~」(Stina)

Stina-san grabbed my arm and grinned at me.

I don’t know what she wants to talk about with me but since she is acting kinda suspiciously, I don’t think it will be a good conversation.

She pulled my arm and guided me to the living room where there was no one but us.

「Mark-kun, last night, Ester came to me and asked about seー… I mean… about men and women.」(Stina)

「Men and women?」(Mark)

Is she talking about sex education or something like that?

「Well, I can teach you about that kind of thing if you want, but let’s do that another time. For now, I want to talk about Ester. Anyway, she had never listened to me when I talked about that kind of thing. She would blush and immediately run away, so I was surprised when she asked me about that kind of thing last night. And you know what? Her blushing face when she asked me looked so cuuute~!」(Stina)

Stina-san crossed her arms and put her hands on her shoulders as if she was hugging herself.

「Ahh~! I was so happy at that moment! I thought that my lovely daughter had finally grown up! I couldn’t help but tell my husband! He didn’t look so happy, but his red face after listening to me looked kinda funny. Fufu!」(Stina)

Ahh… I bet Miguel-san was mad back then. He didn’t want Ester to marry yet after all.

I wonder why Ester asked her mother such a sensitive topic… She could have just asked Celine, right? Or me, maybe?

Is it something that she couldn’t ask me or Celine?

「Now that Ester, who was always behaving like a little child, has shown her interest in that sort of thing, you have a big chance to win her heart! Mark-kun, the rest is up to you. Good luck!」(Stina)

While saying that, Stina-san tapped my back. She then returned to her room with a big smile on her face.

I don’t know what exactly happened to Ester but the fact that she asked her mom about such a sensitive thing definitely has something to do with her weird behavior today.

Ester will soon reach maturity, so it won’t be strange for her to become interested in that kind of thing.

If that’s the case, she may soon reach the point where she begins to think of me as more than a male friend.

It reminds me of when I reached puberty in my previous life, I began to think that the girls around me were cute and attractive.

Now that I’ve finally learned what caused Ester to act weirdly today, I feel relieved, but… I feel kind of worried at the same time.

――――――

About a week has passed since then.

The long-awaited bright green fluffy blanket for Rumilu has finally been completed.

In this village, green is known as the color that can bring luck to children, so children, especially babies, in this village often wear green clothes and sleep on green blankets in hopes of good health and avoiding illness.

In that sense, Deel, who always wears green clothes even after becoming an adult, is kinda weird. He said it was a traditional costume of this village, but I began to doubt that…

Leaving aside that guy for now, anyway, when Ester handed the blanket to her little sister, Stina-san and Miguel-san were surprised.

They knew that we went hunting Green Foxes a week ago, but they didn’t know that we did that to make Rumilu a blanket.

They seemed to be very happy about it.

――――――

As the days went by, the number of times Ester behaved awkwardly toward me decreased. It seemed that she began to get used to it.

However, she rarely grabs my hand to hold hands with me nowadays. I have to be the one to grab her hand first.

To be honest, I feel lonely—just a little bit.

It seems that we have to build our relationship while keeping our distance.

One day, after I helped Celine refine her Crystal Branch as usual, I returned home and saw Ester standing in front of the bouldering wall.

It seemed that she was waiting for me.

「Yo, Ester. Are you waiting for me?」(Mark)

Ester took a step forward and glanced at me with a bright red face.

「Y, yeah… Umm… Mark, there’s something that has been bugging my mind…」(Ester)

「Hm…?」(Mark)

「Mark… Are you… dating Celine…?」(Ester)

「Eh? …No? We’re just like a master and a disciple.」(Mark)

「I, I see…」(Ester)

Ester looked away and smiled in relief for some reason.

「Umm, Mark, would you do what you usually did to Celine at the Portal Crystal to me…?」(Ester)

「Ahh… You want me to do ‘that’ to you?」(Mark)

「Y, yeah. I want you to do… th, ‘that’ to me… Honestly, I’ve been curious about ‘that’ kind of thing lately… It’s been bugging me…」(Ester)

While saying that, Ester closed her eyes tightly. Her face turned even bright red and her voice was shaking for some reason.