CH 32

"It's unfortunate but we're out of time today."

"e?"

"Some people are still queuing outside anyway."

Has it already passed 15 minutes I wonder. Miriella took out her pocket watch and held it over the lamp on the table, and it was about 15 minutes after she entered.

Noel bends down a little and whispers in a soft, low-pitched voice.

"Come back here tomorrow at this time. I will be waiting without opening the store"

"e....... 。 Yes"

"Absolutely, Miriella."

Nostalgia and confusion rush at the same time. Miriella left the fortune teller's hall with her unorganized emotions.

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The next day was a day when thin rain fell from the sky without making a sound.

While staring at the raindrops outside the window, Miriella suddenly feels like jumping out into the rain without an umbrella. An impulse she doesn't know how to explain.

There was no lie in Noel's wet eyes and trembling lips when they met. There is no basis, but she felt that way yesterday.

(But, I never heard things like he was a boy)

She hasn't stopped sighing since yesterday and her expression is like a hundred faces.

A child around the age of ten might look like that if dressed in girl's clothes. Moreover, Noel was a dancer who danced gracefully. To suspect he is a boy is the one that is strange.

(That's right, dancing........ is he still doing it I wonder.)

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It was after school that she had been waiting for, and Miriella immediately stood up. She says goodbye to Ann, who says she will be leaving after doing her homework, and she leaves the classroom.

When she leaves the school building, she opens the umbrella and heads to the school gate in the east.

Perhaps because it's raining today, everyone is returning to the student dormitory from the west gate instead of going out. The east school gate was hardly popular.

"Good afternoon, I've been waiting."

Just like yesterday, she passed through the shopping district and arrived at the fortune teller's hall. Noel, who greeted her, took the umbrella and leaned it against the wall.

It's not too far from the school, as it's only ten minutes away. However, there were no students in the shopping district today because it was raining continuously.

"Miriella, it's a little cold here, so let's go inside."

The fortune teller's hall, which looked like a hut covered with cloth, was directly connected to the private house behind it by a door. It appears to be an improved storefront with a shed that looks like it was originally a grocery store as a stall.

The private house in the back was small, but it was a very ordinary building, and it was a two-story building with a small kitchen.

Miriella stares at the commoner's house, which she sees for the first time. Even after sitting down in the chair she was recommended and putting down her bag, her gaze were still fidgety.

"Noel, do you live here?"

"Un. Since the beginning of this year."

With his back to her, Noel was boiling water.

The height, is he as tall as Alexis. Not as tall as Leon or Edmont. Unlike yesterday, he only wore a simple brown shirt and trousers, so he looked like a normal young man from behind.

Noel puts two cups on the dining table and brings a teapot. His clothes are very simple and his tea set is not expensive. And yet, Noel's pouring of the tea was elegant and refined, and Miriella straightened her back.

"You see, Noel"

Miriella took out a small leather bag from her bag. She unbuttoned it, revealing a small silver bracelet inside.

"Waah, nostalgic! This is the one I gave at the royal palace, right?"

"That's right. Because I've been taking good care of it."

I'm glad. He remembered.

With those words, the tail of suspicion that she couldn't shake disappeared. Noel puts the bracelet on his wrist with shining eyes like a child. He tried to fit it, and smiled wryly.

"Look at this. It's too narrow to fit in."

The silver hoop is studded with small scarlet glass beads. Delicate, it was certainly too small for Noel's hand.

"Even though Noel's hands are thin despite for being a man."

"Five years, no, six years since then? 'Cause that's just how long it's been. I've grown a lot taller than Miriella anyway, and after all it's different from before."

"Was that so I wonder."

"Try putting it on, Miriella," he hands her the silver hoop. For a while after receiving it, she pulled it out and put it on whenever she remembered it, but before she knew it, she has come to stop doing that too.

When she put her hand through it for the first time in a long time, it got a little stuck, but the silver hoop adorned her wrist.

“Looking at it now, it looks really cheap isn't it. Back then, I thought it would suit Miriella though.”

"Well. Doesn't it look good on me now I wonder?"

"That's not it you see. It means that, as a noble princess, accessories using real gemstones are more appropriate."

With both elbows on the table, Noel responded with a faint smile.

Noel has become an adult. It was also the same with herself; they both have also grown taller since then and have actually gotten older too.

However, Noel's expression and gestures make him look more adult than herself. More than, for example, a male classmate or a young man of his age, such as Alexis.

"Somehow, I feel like Noel has ended up becoming much older. Why I wonder?"

"It's because I'm already working, and living alone maybe."

I see. Miriella thinks he makes a good point.

When she met Noel, he was also working as a dancer, but that was as a member of a circus troupe and under the protection of an adult.

"Did you quit the circus? And, also dance"

Noel shook his head, shaking his black hair.

"Dancing becomes no longer my job, but I keep moving my body so I don't forget. If you tell me to dance now, I could dance even here."

"Well"

Noel winks at her in a playful manner, and Miriella puffs out.

"The circus troupe always takes in children like me without relatives and raises them, but there aren't many who become members of the circus. I also learned about fortune-telling from a fortune-teller who is a member of the group, and I just started my own business last year."

"Come to think of it, I saw a fortune teller using a crystal at the time of the circus."

"Right right. It's that person."

Whether at a stall near the circus hut or at an event at the royal palace, a fortune teller with a large crystal on the table was very popular. Fortune teller seems to be one of the jobs that can be easily opened in urban areas and make a living.

"And that child dancer too, see. He was actually half a boy, you know?"

"eh?!"

Yesterday's shock, the second time.

To Miriella who opened her eyes wide at every single thing, Noel seemed to be really enjoying himself.

"I see, so you didn't notice that too huh. That's a job that can only be done when you're a child, so men and women are all dancers when they're children."

"Since yesterday, It's been full of surprises."

"When I noticed Miriella too, I was very surprised though see."

As she listened to him talk, she sipped the lukewarm tea, and the sweet aroma wafted through her nostrils.

Miriella's tone was quite frank at Noel's easy-going demeanor, which hadn't changed in the past. There was still much to talk about, but suddenly the sound of rain caught her ears.

Outside the window, it was originally dim because of the rain, but gradually it became darker as if night was approaching.

"I have to go back before long. Nee Noel, is it fine if I come and play with you again I wonder?"

"Is it already that time huh"

Seeing Noel stand up, Miriella also stood up. It's been raining, but if it's now she should be able to go back before it gets dark.

When she raised her head to say thank you, Noel was unexpectedly standing close by.

She feels like she'll be sucked into the dark eyes that look down on her.

After a moment of staring at each other, Noel's hand suddenly gripped Miriella's wrist.

"Oww"

"Miriella"

In all her life, she has never been gripped so strongly. She tried to pull her arm involuntarily from the pain, but Noel's hand didn't budge.

After several attempts to pull back, Miriella gave up and withdrew her strength. However, Noel's gripping hand never weakened.

"Noel......。 Let go."

"I don't want to do terrible things to Miriella. If you would quietly listen to me, I won't do anything violent."

So sit down.

Noel muttered, his eyes silently enduring the pain.

TL: Maza Miya

Editor: Maza Miya

[Tl note: I didn't notice bracelet and ring are two different things. I have fixed chapter 7, changed from 'ring' to 'hoop', I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience.]

[Welp I noticed with this chapter, with my arm feeling like I wanted to smash the table, that I am pretty much weak, so weak to this sort of stuff. Oh well. With this kind of thing, the best advice I got from the internet was to just give up, quietly accept it, and endure the pain. Awesome. Now then I said in the previous chapter 'next time schedule', I actually wasn't particularly feeling good about doing it one chapter per week thingy, so I figure to just do it slowly by saving up translated texts bit by bit just like my other series in the teaser. So there you go.]