‘…I was just planning to eat and sleep in the workshop.’

Serena mechanically moved her hands as she looked at the glass greenhouse she had quickly put together.

Taking care of herbs is now something she can do sufficiently just by glancing over them.

She was told the greenhouse was not large. It’s just modest compared to Lemerun’s greenhouse, but in fact, it was as spacious as a small mansion.

‘This side is growing well, but that side seems to lack some nutrients.’

After watering and fertilizing the necessary herbs and moving busily, Serena finally straightened her back, which had been crouched for a long time, and stood up.

‘…What could it be.’

After wiping her soil-covered hands and dabbing the sweat off with a handkerchief, she felt quite annoyed at Nyx, who was sleeping soundly with its bulging belly exposed, and lightly kicked it before turning away.

Flap!

Startled awake, Nyx rubbed its eyes with its front paws, then soon yawned and gathered the notebook and pencil it had been using as a bed and hugging as a cushion while sleeping.

With the pencil tied to its back with a string and one arm hugging the notebook, Nyx followed, pitter-pattering to Serena’s side.

“I’ll just check the prosthetic arm design and then maybe take the rest of the day off.”

The thought of rolling around in bed all day greatly improved her mood.

Serena walked leisurely towards the office.

The reddish sunlight was shining into the office, not too hot.

“The sunset is pretty.”

Just as she was about to take out the design while sitting in the office chair, admiring the beautifully setting sun…

‘What… what is this?’

Everything felt as natural as breathing.

But it was strange because everything felt as natural as breathing.

‘This is odd…’

Even though Serena thought something was strange, she slowly examined the design she had taken out.

It’s the design for making Drukan’s prosthetic arm.

She calculates the magic circuits and uses alchemy to process and insert the magic stones.

The processed magic stones will be in liquid form and will need periodic charging, but that’s unavoidable.

Knock knock.

When Serena was thinking deeply and modifying parts of the design,

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

As Serena took her eyes off the design and put down her pen, Pamel entered carrying something.

“Excuse me, Madam.”

“What is it?”

Despite Serena’s brusque words, Pamel just approached with a gentle laugh.

“A telegram and some box have arrived from the Hessler Ironworks that you inspected the other day.”

“Ah, give it to me and you can go.”

“Yes, and dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes, so please don’t be late.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

She waved her hand as if annoyed.

Pamel, who had always been seen frowning slightly, just smiled gently and bowed.

‘…What’s this.’

It was from that day.

The day she openly fought with Magnus at the bottom of the mansion stairs.

Since that day, the attitude of the servants has somehow changed dramatically.

No matter how sharp she gets, they just say, “You seem to be in a bad mood today~” and give her sweet snacks before leaving.

That day, they really didn’t bother her much.

If she accepts the food willingly, they say, “You seem to be in a good mood today~ The weather seems nice too.” and bring out sweet snacks as well.

On a rainy day, after hearing such words, she reached the point of wondering if they were all sick somewhere.

Of course, it seems they weren’t sick.

That’s an even bigger problem.

When she opened the telegram, the content was visible.

It said they had made a prototype of the desired feel and asked for feedback after inspection.

She pushed the third pile of work to the left.

It seemed better to look at it in detail outside during the day and give feedback after processing each one, as it would be much better to see it in daylight.

“I’ll have to work on the design later.”

Looking at the time, it was almost the 30 minutes Pamel had mentioned.

She picked up the pharmacology books and medical texts she had gathered for the treatment of Marchioness Lavernia, turned off the lights in the office, and left work.

She planned to read the books before going to bed.

“Serena, you’re a bit late.”

“Ah, I was working. You should have started eating.”

“A meal without you doesn’t taste good.”

Serena’s fingertips paused briefly at Magnus’s words.

“Still, next time if I’m late, just eat. What if I had been even later?”

“If you were later, I would have come to get you.”

Magnus inwardly swallowed a laugh as he watched Serena sit down in her seat, striding over with an indifferent face.

Because he was expressing his honest thoughts every time he saw her, although she didn’t turn bright red like before, her earlobes and the corners of her eyes were still flushed pink.

And her pretending not to be affected was one of the things that had been quite amusing to him lately.

Magnus liked this dishonest side of Serena.

“You really do eat well.”

“…What, am I not supposed to eat?”

“No, I’m saying it’s good that you eat well.”

“When I use my brain… I get hungry.”

Serena mumbled in response while eating the cut steak quite heartily.

Magnus liked this rough side of her.

It’s not that she doesn’t dress up like other women, but he liked that she doesn’t try to hide herself unnecessarily.

It felt like, somehow, she had accepted him.

“How’s the greenhouse?”

“It’s smaller than I expected, but I like it overall, thanks.”

“…You say that’s small? I thought I made it quite large, even including a rest area…”

“Rest area? Was there such a thing?”

Serena looks at him with an expression of hearing this for the first time.

“…Ah, there should have been a deck there.”

“Ah… I didn’t need that, so I pushed it away and planted a vegetable garden…”

Serena said, seeming a bit flustered.

Her cautious way of speaking somehow showed that she hadn’t expected this at all.

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine if you didn’t need it.”

Serena is different from other nobles.

She honestly expresses gratitude and honestly apologizes. She doesn’t use flowery words.

She says thank you with reasons when she’s grateful, and doesn’t add reasons to her apologies.

In some ways, she’s diligent, and in other ways, she’s a bit frustrating.

But Magnus liked this honesty of Serena.

“Next time, tell me in advance…”

She makes a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“If I had asked, you would have refused.”

“…Well, I thought it would be troublesome.”

“……”

As Magnus spent more time conversing with her, he liked her more and more.

At the same time, the points he disliked about her almost disappeared.

But there were still clearly some unsatisfactory points.

Serena endures everything alone.

She doesn’t ask anyone and doesn’t expect help from others.

Now everyone in the mansion knows this to the extent that they understand.

Things he hadn’t seen before due to prejudice started to become visible one by one.

Of course, Magnus’s thoughts were just his own.

There was no prejudice.

He just thought as he saw.

Anyway, he realized that Serena was more self-destructive, self-sacrificing, and at the same time self-loathing than he had thought.

She seemed to be broken somewhere without even knowing it herself.

In a noble household, even when two people eat, the portions usually far exceed what ten people would eat.

Usually, leaving food is the norm.

However, when dining with Serena, there’s almost nothing left.

Although Magnus ate a considerable amount, Serena often ate even more than Magnus.

“Shall we go to the room now?”

“Ah, sure.”

“What’s that book?”

“I’m planning to read it before bed. Marchioness Lavernia is sick, you know. I’m learning a bit about pharmacology to look into it.”

She spoke casually as she naturally stood up.

‘Marchioness Lavernia.’

Her peculiar point is, yes.

She treats those she classified as others truly as others.

She doesn’t give them her proximity.

Right now, the only one she’s comfortable giving her proximity to is Magnus.

‘Well, actually, I like that.’

Magnus skillfully hid his inner thoughts and followed behind her, recalling what had happened recently.