Blinking my eyes, I looked at his broad chest and sturdy shoulders for a moment before asking in a cautious tone.

“……Do you know what to use to plow the field?”

At my question, Cedar’s thick eyebrows rose slightly.

He tilted his chin up lightly and asked back in his characteristically arrogant and grumpy tone.

“You don’t know either, do you?”

The ‘either’ meant that he didn’t know either.

‘Oh my. I thought he was going to take charge again.’

Well, that makes sense.

How could the first son of the Granite ducal family and the captain of the Dragon Knight Order have learned farming somewhere?

Maybe he thinks fields are plowed with something that looks like a sword.

Maybe he’s unconsciously confident that he’s good at all physical labor.

‘He probably wants to teach me a lesson by watching me collapse while doing something he considers trivial.’

Whatever his intentions, farming was really not the answer. I shook my head.

“You know, I’m quite knowledgeable about theory on any subject. I’ve read books whenever I had free time.”

Of course, I wasn’t an expert on growing medicinal herbs either.

At the academy where I studied magic, there were separate fairy gardeners who grew the necessary herbs in the herb greenhouse.

‘But I must be better than Cedar who doesn’t even know what herbs look like.’

With that thought, I stared at Cedar, and his face wrinkled as if something displeased him.

For a moment, we had a staring contest, then Cedar turned his body abruptly and said.

“……I see. Then you can guide me from the side.”

“What?”

“I’ll do the plowing or whatever, so you just give instructions from the side. That’ll work, right?”

No, how did you come to that conclusion from what I said?

“Th-there’s no need for that. I can do it little by little myself!”

I waved my hands frantically as I strongly objected.

Cedar pressed his fingers to his brow as if he had a headache and muttered.

“Haa. If you collapse again, my heart……”

“What did you say? Is your heart hurting?”

It would be a big problem if a Sword Master had heart issues.

I found myself scanning Cedar’s body again. Contrary to his words, there seemed to be nothing wrong with his body.

“I can sense a terrifying aura of power from every part of your body. You seem perfectly normal. If you felt like your heart was hurting, could it be psychosomatic?”

To reach the level of a Sword Master, one generally needs to undergo tremendous training.

But once you reach that stage, training becomes mostly meaningless.

The body that has learned how to channel massive amounts of aura to the fingertips naturally circulates aura as easily as breathing.

That was also why his body always looked strangely distorted to my eyes.

And even at this moment as we were talking, his heart was continuously flowing magical power throughout his entire body.

‘He doesn’t seem like the type to fake illness, but should I introduce him to a renowned mage who specializes in analyzing Aura Sword users? But if they met Cedar, they’d all want to dissect him and preserve his heart.’

Since most mages were out of their minds, I couldn’t bring myself to suggest it.

I had only met one sane mage at the academy.

Grisha. The puppy-like boy who followed me around calling me ‘elder sister’.

‘Come to think of it, I need to contact Grisha too.’

Thinking of Grisha who must be worried about me, I suddenly realized another meaning to Cedar’s muttered words.

I opened my eyes wide in surprise and asked.

“Ah, did you mean your heart hurts because you’re worried about me?”

Was it a permissive expression that I didn’t understand at first?

At my question, Cedar’s handsome face instantly turned red. He loudly objected to my interpretation.

“No, no! It was just talking to myself. I didn’t mean that my heart can’t take it if you collapse or anything like that!”

“So you meant I’m just a nuisance.”

“That’s not it either, woman!”

Well, if it’s not this and not that, then what exactly do you mean?

Because of Cedar who kept getting angry, I pouted my lips.

He was the one who got angry and said incomprehensible things, yet Cedar pointed his finger at me and trembled saying “Y-you……”

Then he suddenly strode out of the dining room, shouting.

“Anyway, not today! Don’t do anything!”

Fine, fine, do as you please.

I pouted my lips and quietly put down my fork.

But that man must have eyes on the back of his head, because before my fingers had completely left the fork, he whirled around and gave a final warning.

“And I’m really going to check everything, so don’t get up until you finish eating all of that!”

“……Tch.”

I thought it was a good chance to leave the vegetables since he stormed out angrily.

‘Why does the Granite family have such troublesome family traditions? How do they manage to have family meals together?’

I picked up my fork again, pouting my lips.

But the mound of green in my plate just made me lose my appetite.

‘Aah, I don’t want to eat this.’

Some might call it a privileged concern, but there’s no helping it when you lose your appetite.

When I had emptied about half the plate, nibbling with my fork, a welcome voice sounded behind me.

“Ah! You’re awake, my lady!”

“Sir Hail.”

Cedar’s adjutant, whom he told me to think of as a butler, had entered. I greeted Hail with a bright smile.

‘I hope Sir Hail takes Cedar away quickly. Then Cedar would have no choice but to leave without checking my meal.’

I welcomed him with that calculation, but I saw another unfamiliar person behind him.

It was a very tall man, a head taller than Hail, with a slender willow branch-like figure.

His light brown hair, almost beige, was tied back in a ponytail that reached down to his shoulder blades.

His gently curved eyes were a pale green.

Though he was tall and handsome, there wasn’t anything particularly special about him, but he looked a bit unique to my eyes.

Especially around his ears, it looked distorted as if magic was concentrated there.

Since ordinary people don’t usually cast spells on their ears, in this person’s case, it must be magic to conceal his ears.

And if it’s magic to conceal ears, then…

“……Could it be an elf?”

At my question, the man’s downturned eyes widened before curving gently again.

“As expected of the Empire’s great mage, you have a keen eye.”

I scratched my cheek at his praise.

As he said, the magic altering his ears would only be noticeable to a few mages even at the academy, so I didn’t offer any false modesty.

As I smiled awkwardly, he nodded lightly and greeted me.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Jack, a healer belonging to the Dragon Knight Order. As you noticed, I am an elf.”

So he works as a healer for the knight order.

Elves have an affinity for water and wind spirits, making them very suitable as healers.

Of course, this is also something I’ve only read in literature, so I can’t be certain.

‘The literature said the last interaction with humans was a hundred years ago, but to think one was so close by!’

Now an almost legendary race, most people don’t know about elves even if they hear of them.

As proof, Hail was just blinking in confusion even though the word ‘elf’ was being exchanged right in front of him.

‘I must be lucky.’

Being able to encounter another race is something any curious mage would welcome.

I placed my hand on my chest and greeted him in the elven way, extremely pleased.

“Reverence to the guardian of the ancient forest. As you’ve recognized, I am Nelly Periway, the great mage.”

At my greeting, Jack’s thin, long eyebrows twitched slightly.

“You know such an archaic greeting. You must have come across records of our race.”

“Yes, I read about elven greetings and customs in a text called ‘Humans are Not the Center of the World’ written by Sir Elliot, a specialist in other races, about 100 years ago.”

“Elliot was a good friend. He had quite unique dietary habits, enjoying chewing tree bark.”

His tone of speaking about a person from 100 years ago as if they were a friend he met yesterday truly highlighted the fact that he was of a different race than humans.

I stared at him with sparkling eyes.

Although other races weren’t my main area of research, my heart raced at the thought of encountering an elf that no one had met in the last 100 years.

“I heard elves were a race that didn’t leave the forest, so it seems the information in the texts isn’t accurate after all! I had wondered how they could know their characteristics if they never left the forest.”

“Most truly don’t leave. I’m staying outside because I have no choice due to my unusual constitution.”

“Unusual constitution?”

“I’m very sensitive to cold.”

“Ah.”

I couldn’t help but let out a soft exclamation at his words.

His eyebrows furrowed, not at the slight raising of my voice, but at the way I seemed to drag it out.

“Ah?”

I quickly waved my hand. I didn’t intend to displease him.

It was just that there was something ‘visible’ to my eyes.

“I was wondering why the area around your chest looked hazily distorted. It seems ice-attribute magic is bound to your heart. It looks almost like a curse?”

“……You can see even that?”

He looked genuinely surprised at my answer.

I shrugged, as it wasn’t really anything special.

“I have good eyes.”

“Then perhaps you could remove it?”