‘If it has similar eye color to Cedar, it would be even cuter. They’ll go well together.’

As I imagined the dragon I had never seen before, my excited heart kept swelling endlessly like a balloon.

I picked up the egg with both hands.

‘I’ll have to carry it around today.’

It seems like I could fix it to my body like a baby carrier if I tie it with a wide cloth.

Thanks to a lot of fidgeting around, I was able to firmly tie the egg to my waist.

For some reason, I felt a strange sense of stability as I held the warm egg against my belly like a water bag.

‘It’s quite heavy too.’

But isn’t it a bit unsightly to walk around with an egg tied like this? Is it okay since I’m just staying inside the mansion anyway?

While I was pondering these various thoughts, there was a knock on the door.

The person who peeked in after opening the door was none other than Grisha.

“Nelly.”

“Grisha!”

It felt like I hadn’t seen him in a very long time. I scurried over to Grisha like a squirrel and greeted him with a bright smile.

“Have you been well?”

“Of course. Is there any reason I wouldn’t be?”

“It feels like we haven’t met in ages. Why haven’t you come by?”

“It’s awkward when my elder brother is around.”

“Ah.”

At his prickly answer, my face, which had been trying to smile, calmly sank.

Grisha still seemed to be wandering in the deep sea.

‘It’s not easy to cheer up after something like that. I understand how he feels.’

The problem was my position of having to tell him that it was difficult to accept his affection.

All the courage I had mustered seemed to shrink away.

I reflexively hugged the heavy egg hanging on my waist. Grisha’s blue eyes naturally turned to the egg.

“What’s that? An egg?”

“Ah, someone left it with me.”

“……?”

To others who couldn’t imagine it was a dragon egg, it probably looked like an ostrich egg.

Grisha looked at me holding the egg with a puzzled expression.

I wanted to tell him it was a dragon egg and explain everything, but rejecting Grisha’s confession came first.

I couldn’t afford to miss the main point by rambling about other things like last time.

I cleared my throat and slowly brought up what I had prepared to say.

“I was actually waiting for you. Because I have something I want to tell you……”

But my words didn’t continue to the end. Grisha cut me off with a bright voice.

“I also had something I wanted to ask Nelly. Thanks to you, I’ve become interested in magic potions too. But there are some parts I don’t understand well.”

“I, I see. If it’s something I know, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you.”

It feels like he deliberately interrupted what I was trying to say…..

Before I could wonder, Grisha took out a small glass bottle from his pocket and held it out.

Inside was a mysterious liquid that looked like stardust had been sprinkled in it. Grisha smiled with a friendly expression.

“This is the magic potion I made.”

“Ooh. What kind of potion is it?”

“It’s a secret. Try to guess what kind of potion it is.”

“Hmm?”

I observed the magic potion in my hand, completely forgetting that I had to reject his confession.

Grisha had reason to be proud. Even I, who had made several magic potions, had never seen anything like it.

‘It seems to contain quite a lot of magic power. The density and viscosity are different.’

I shook the bottle this way and that while observing it, but I couldn’t tell what kind of magic potion it was.

“Can I drink it?”

“……Yes.”

For some reason, Grisha’s voice answering was much more subdued than before. I tilted my head.

‘Could it be some kind of tonic?’

Grisha wouldn’t give me anything harmful, and that was the only thing I could think of that I could drink.

Gulp.

There wasn’t much, so one sip was enough.

After swallowing the potion, I closed my eyes. There was no other reason, it was just a habit.

Because after using magic, I somehow felt like I had to close my eyes.

And when I opened my eyes again, Grisha was facing me straight on with his blue eyes shining brightly.

He asked in an excited tone.

“How is it?”

How is it?

I tilted my head and answered.

“I don’t feel anything.”

“What?”

Grisha’s face stiffened seriously. He took the bottle from me.

Looking at the almost empty bottle, he frowned deeply.

“Did I fail in making it? That shouldn’t be possible.”

It seems he came with confidence that he had already completed it. Unfortunately, there was no change in me.

Patting the rough surface of the egg, I asked.

“What kind of potion was it supposed to be?”

“Something similar to a love potion. For women……”

“Really?”

A love potion is literally a magic potion that makes the drinker appear beautiful.

Then it might be natural that I don’t feel anything. The one judging the beauty is the person facing me, after all.

I tilted my head to the other side and asked Grisha.

“Do I look any different to you?”

“……No.”

Grisha answered with great disappointment.

His drooping shoulders looked pitiful.

I had never made love potions separately for women and men, but it was a potion I could help with.

I readily held out my hand to Grisha.

“Tell me the recipe for how you made it. I’ll point out the parts that I suspect caused errors.”

“No. I’ll try to solve it on my own.”

Whether his pride was hurt or he had developed stubbornness as a scholar, Grisha rejected my help, contrary to his initial purpose for visiting me.

I shrugged.

‘He doesn’t really need my help in the first place. Grisha is a skilled magician after all.’

I just happened to get lucky with my research results, but if Grisha had stayed at the academy and steadily researched his field, he would have been talented enough to receive the title of Grand Magician.

‘He’ll do well on his own.’

Rather than being mired in despair, the fact that he was researching magic potions like this seemed positive.

Realizing that Grisha hadn’t just been languishing, I smiled warmly, finding him admirable.

But that smile had to stiffen quickly. The conversation we needed to have was not one that could be had with laughter and smiles.

I carefully began.

“Um, Grisha. I actually had something I wanted to talk about……”

Grisha’s eyes flashed for a moment like cold ice. He cut off my words again in a hard voice.

“Does it have to be now?”

“Huh?”

At the scary and cold voice I hadn’t expected to hear from Grisha, I looked up at him with wide eyes.

As if nothing had happened, Grisha said with a soft eye smile.

“It’s nothing. Please go on.”

“Well……”

My throat choked up.

A warning not to speak rang out with a beep somewhere in my mind.

Nevertheless, I opened my lips. I didn’t want to drag out the answer while deceiving Cedar by listening to Grisha’s confession.

“……I’m sorry. I’m grateful for your feelings, but I can’t accept your confession.”

Unable to meet Grisha’s eyes, I lowered my head and just fiddled with the dragon egg.

After a moment of silence, Grisha surprisingly gave a light response.

“I see.”

At those words, I raised my head again. I wondered if it wasn’t as big a shock to Grisha as I had thought.

But I couldn’t help but realize that wasn’t the case when I faced Grisha’s completely stiffened expression.

‘He’s hurt because of me.’

It was the opposite. The hurt left by my rejection was so great that it was clearly visible in his eyes that he couldn’t process it and didn’t know what to do.

This was the cruelty of choice.

Because it was me who abandoned one side and chose the other, it was also a weight that I had to bear entirely.

Just because I understood didn’t mean the pain in my heart lessened.

Strength unconsciously entered my fingertips.

After facing me silently for a moment, Grisha slowly opened his mouth.

“……What if my elder brother betrays you?”

“Cedar?”

“My elder brother could betray you too. Like falling in love with another woman, or putting you on the back burner because of his own circumstances.”

That was not a helpful question at all.

I smiled bitterly and replied.

“You know better than I do that Cedar isn’t that kind of person.”

“You never know with people.”

Cedar was too upright a person to doubt with such vague words.

In the first place, if he was someone who moved according to his own desires, he wouldn’t have said he would hand over the title of Duke Granite to Grisha.

Even if he had just stayed still, the title would have rolled into his mouth, and if he had just pretended not to know, he wouldn’t have been called a bad person.

So I defended Cedar once again with emphasis.

“Cedar is not that kind of person.”

And Grisha also knew Cedar’s character.

The flaw in Cedar that he had tried so hard to find was just a prediction of an uncertain future.

Grisha’s face, knowing his own cowardice, twisted miserably.

He said in a small voice, as if sobbing.

“Don’t completely take away even a shred of possibility from me like that.”

“Grisha.”

His sadness made me sad too.

I grabbed Grisha’s arm. And said in a kind voice.

“Even after I marry Cedar, it won’t change that you’re an important person to me.”

Even if he didn’t have the same meaning to me as Cedar, it didn’t change that he was a meaningful existence to me.

But this comfort of mine didn’t make any sense to Grisha at all.

Grisha asked me in a strong tone, as if arguing.

“Does it have to be Cedar Granite? Can’t it be me? If I’m such a precious existence to you, it could be me, right?”

At those words, I smiled weakly.

If I had been asked this question right after opening my eyes, I might have understood and said, “Oh, is that so?” Back then, I didn’t know what romantic love was.