“Yes. Still, one thing was very odd… It’s spring now. If it is a nap, I think you would prefer to nap in the garden, but you didn’t? I asked Nainiae why you weren’t napping in the garden and she said you seemed to have an allergy.”
Sera said she thought it was odd that her Young Master, who liked taking a leisurely nap in the garden around spring time, was napping in the library instead.
“Young Master, you don’t actually have allergy, right?”
“Um? Ahah…”
Riley figured out why Nainiae ended up mentioning ‘allergy.’ Riley rubbed his nose with his knuckles and said with a voice that sounded like he might sneeze any moment.
“Until now, I lived while never noticing anything like that, but I suddenly got a really runny nose… It is so difficult to have this happen.”
“Runny nose?”
“Yes. Maybe it is not an allergy but a cold? The season is changing right now. The change in the temperature is quite extreme. My body feels a bit off, so perhaps I was careless…”
“Well. You had an extreme fever during the last winter when you were hibernating. In the end, Nainiae managed to fix it somehow, but still…”
It seemed Sera wanted to go scold Nainiae for not even properly identifying if Riley had a cold or an allergy. The look on her face changed. She looked stern.
“I cannot let this pass. I should have a word with her…”
“Ah, wait. It’s all right. I’ll do it.”
Sera was about to quickly head to the library. Riley hurriedly blocked her path and said he would do it instead. However, in Sera’s eyes, she was burning with desire as the senior maid to go and give advice. The look in her eyes was not about to calm down.
“No. I really cannot let this pass. You are not in a good condition, yet she let you wander around in the corridor by yourself. Instead of nursing you, just where is she and what is she doing? I should go find out and bring this up to her for sure.”
Having heard her stern voice, Riley was now certain that he had just stepped on a landmine. Sera was about to walk away again. Riley went to block her path again and started to try to convince her otherwise.
“In that case, let’s go together.”
“Together?”
“That’s right. I have been looking for Nainiae as well.”
Sera held her chin and pondered on this. She nodded as if she found the idea to be acceptable.
“All right. I would be able to scold her properly with you present, Young Master.”
She was even snorting as she vowed a hard scolding. Watching this… Riley apologized to Nainiae inside and walked.
“First, should we go check out the library?”
Based on what Sera had said, Riley wondered if they should visit the library first, so he muttered. Sera tilted her head to the side.
“The library? Didn’t you just come from the library?”
Having heard the question, Riley thought about the doll that Nainiae had made to look just like him. Riley flinched a little and responded as if he didn’t know much about it.
“Ah, I think maybe we just missed each other along the way… I was thinking about the possibility that Nainiae may have come back just after I left.”
“Hm. Really?”
“…”
As expected, although Riley couldn’t quite figure it out, he felt like he could understand why Nainiae was so concerned about Sera’s senses. Riley sighed inside in secret and asked Sera,
“In that case, what about you, Sera? Can you guess where Nainiae is?”
“… Huhu.”
She smiled confidently as if she was waiting for this question. She raised her index finger and waved it a few times as if she was trying to say that Riley should wait for a moment. She closed her eyes.
Sniff, sniff sniff… 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
It looked like she was trying to utilize her sense of smell. Watching her sniff with her eyes closed, Riley thought she would be able to find where Nainiae was right away.
“Um?”
“Did you find her?”
It seemed that Sera had found a strange smell. She cringed and tilted her head to the side. Riley also tilted his head to the side, wondering why she was being like this.
“I found her, but… Something is…”
“Why? What is it?”
Sniff Sniff…
“Um? It is strange?”
Now, Sera tilted her head to the other side and brought her face up close to Riley. She started to smell him.
“Young Master, you are definitely here?”
She looked puzzled. Sera explained why she was thinking like this.
“There are two.”
.bg-ssp-10081{margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;display:flex;justify-content:center;} “Two?”
“Your smell… There are two sources?”
Sera looked confused. Riley realized this was because of the doll that Nainiae had made. He flinched inside.
‘Should I just tell her what really happened?’
It was not going to be possible to hide it forever… Riley wondered if it would be better to just tell her what happened now instead of being found out later and getting scolded. Leaving him behind, Sera started to walk first.