Laboratory of the Kanista Kingdom 5 (Ashren's POV)
When I saw her at the evening banquet, I intuitively thought
that she was the one who made the new medicine.
Eyes trying to find the truth, an unwavering figure. It was
already something akin to intuition. People doing the same job can somehow just
tell. I let my gaze run to her fingertips just like that, and I was convinced
that my intuition was correct.
In that case, I thought, and looked at the man standing next
to her. Is he her co-researcher? No, that's not it; he doesn't have the scent
of a researcher.
As I strained my ears, the conversation went in an
unexpected direction, and she left the venue. I hurriedly chased after her, and
after hesitating on how to call out to her, the words that came out were,
「Um, excuse me. Could you spare a
little time for me?」
What is this light tone. Isn't this just picking up a girl.
To think the price of avoiding young ladies up until now would come around like
this.
As expected, she looked at me with a puzzled expression, and
I forcefully led her to the corner of the hallway, saying, 「Please give me just five minutes.」 This is bad; this will just make
her even more cautious.
Trying to make even a slightly good impression, I smiled
with a somewhat confident face, but she already only directed deeply suspicious
eyes at me. On top of that, she even called me two-faced.
Thinking it was desperation at this point, I brought my face
close and told her, 「The
research results are yours, aren't they?」 and she finally changed her expression. After that, when I
got to the main topic and told her my purpose for calling out to her, she
widened her large eyes even further and blinked as if in surprise.
Just as I thought I could wrap up the conversation like
this, an interruption came in.
The man who stole Layla's research results despised
and made a fool of her. I flared up at that tone, and before I knew it, I had
twisted his arm up.
However, you never know what will work out.
It seems she judged me worthy of trust, and Layla ultimately
agreed to come to the Kanista Kingdom.
Since we started working together, I have been nothing but
amazed by her talent. Honestly, as a fellow researcher, there are times when I
feel envious and have a sense of inferiority, but seeing her earnestly devote
herself to research blew such thoughts away. I honestly began to feel that I
wanted to help her talent grow.
But, what I was looking at was only the very superficial
part of her.
When leaving the Jilgista Kingdom, and even on the
ship, she was calm and composed. Layla, who wasn't timid even at a new
workplace, spilled large drops of tears.
「Hic...」
She raised her voice like a small child and shed tears in
large drops from her big eyes.
「Th-Thank you very much. Because no
one has ever said such a thing to me until now.」
Seeing her wipe her tears with the back of her hand and
tremble her slender shoulders, I realized the magnitude of the wounds in her
heart, even though it was too late.
There's no way she wasn't hurt. I don't even have to think
about how much time and effort is needed to produce research results of that
magnitude. Even though there must have been blood-curdling effort there, she
was never acknowledged by anyone for it. Just how sad and painful must that be.
I am pathetic for only paying attention to how indifferently
she spoke and not even realizing such a thing.
Before I knew it, I was hugging her slender shoulders. I
stroked her fine, soft hair as gently as I could.
「You've done well working so hard up
until now.」
No clever words came out. I just wanted to say that much.
That Layla is a splendid researcher.
「Ugh, sob...」
Layla's slender
fingers clung to my back. When I put even more strength into my arms, she began
to cry as if a dam had burst.
How long were we like that? The people from the Medicinal
Herb Department were considerate and gave us the room. Seeing them all
leave the room together made me a little embarrassed, but the thought of
letting go of the trembling body in my arms never even crossed my mind, and I
just kept holding her.
Layla, who is
reliable and has the disposition of a genius, seems like just a helpless woman.
Although there have been times when I felt women who follow me around and cling
to my arm were annoying, I have never wanted to hold them.
I want to protect her; it was the first time I felt that
way.
When I brought her to this country, I promised that I would
do anything I could for Layla. I said it from the bottom of my heart
back then too, but now I truly mean it from the depths of my soul.
「...I am so sorry.」
Sniffling sniff, sniff, Layla loosened the
arms she had wrapped around my back and separated from me. Her downward-facing
face was red to the ears, and I somehow suppressed the urge to pull her into an
embrace again.
「Do not worry about it, you had
bottled up quite a lot until now. Crying can be refreshing sometimes, right?」
「Yes, thanks to you, I feel
refreshed.」
With red eyes that still had traces of tears, but with a
radiant smile, Layla showed her face. I'm glad, I thought, and as
I gently scooped away the tear tracks with the back of my finger, she shyly let
her gaze wander. What is with that cute reaction.
「Oh, where is everyone?」
「It seems they were being considerate
of us.」
「Oh, my goodness! I have caused
trouble for the people of another department.」
Layla stood up
in a fluster with her hands on her cheeks, and I calmed her down and made her
sit back down.
「It is fine. This is a warehouse, so
everyone is continuing their work elsewhere. They probably aren't particularly
troubled.」
「Is that really true?」
「Yeah.」
Well, there are probably some guys who are feeling troubled,
wanting to go to the warehouse to get medicinal herbs but unable to do so, but
they'll just have to endure it. Since we brought an unbelievable document over,
this much is just small change in return.
「Ashren-sama, I am alright now, so shall we head back soon?」
「Right.」
「Also, thank you very much.」
Being told that, I looked at Layla, and she smiled
softly like a flower blooming while looking up at me with moist, copper-colored
eyes.
「Thank you for calling me a
researcher and praising me for working hard. I felt as though everything I have
done up until now was rewarded.」
「...I only said what I thought.」
「But, those words saved the past me.」
If I was able to save her. If she would be happy with such a thing. I will say it as many times as it takes: Layla is a magnificent researcher. I'm glad I brought her back with me; I felt that from the bottom of my heart.
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