Chapter 23: Making ‘Fairy Tales’ With My Young Lady

“What’s for a snack today, Mana?”

“I sprinkled a little sugar and honey on the tomatoes that you grew, Young Lady!”

“Wow! Really? That sounds delicious! Thank you, Mana!”

“Now, now, eat up, okay?”

“Ah~”

I put a tomato in the young lady’s mouth.

Munch munch, the young lady eats well.

“How is it?”

“It’s delicious! Mana, you eat too!”

“Thank you.”

Hmm… it’s definitely sweet and delicious.

Maybe it’s because the young lady grew these tomatoes, but they seem to taste even better?

“Yum.. yum…”

Seeing the young lady munching and chewing on the tomatoes makes me feel full even though I haven’t eaten.

“Mana!”

“Yes, Young Lady?”

“I love you~”

Gasp…

My heart hurts when I see the young lady suddenly making a heart shape with her arms above her head.

…Lately, the young lady has been trying to assassinate the maid.

“Young Lady, haven’t you been saying ‘I like you’ and ‘I love you’ too much lately?”

“But I really like you, love you, am grateful, and happy!”

…It seems that our young lady has become much more affectionate in the past few months.

“The clothes Mana bought me are also airy and cool! I love them!”

“The one-piece dress also suits you well.”

“Hehe… because Mana bought it for me! I’ll wear it for another 200 years!”

…If that’s the case, we’ll all be dead.

Anyway, the sight of the young lady sitting in a chair, swinging her legs, and eating tomatoes is very cute.

…To the point where I want to take a picture and keep it if I had a camera.

“What do you want to play with today, Young Lady?”

“Yes! I want to make something with Mana!”

“Make something?”

“Yes! I want to do crafts with Mana!”

Aha.

Crafts…

It would be nice to make food together.

Or… something like a work of art?

It would be nice if it could last a long time.

Hmmmm…

What would be good to make together…

Maybe it’s best to make both food and a work of art?

“Then, Young Lady, shall we make a fairy tale together?”

“A fairy tale?”

“Yes, like the books you read, we’ll write a wonderful story.”

I think the young lady has a rich imagination and is sensitive, so I’m sure a wonderful story will come out.

Then I’ll write it down and draw pictures that match it.

If we make a pretty book like that, wouldn’t it be wonderful?

“A fairy tale book..! I love it! I want to do it! I want to make a fairy tale book with Mana!”

“Okay~”

For the next few days, I’ll be working hard with the young lady to make a fairy tale book.

It’s going to be a big project!

I go to the workroom with the young lady and prepare to create a wonderful story.

“Now, then, I’ll write down what you say, Young Lady. First, we need to decide on the characters who will be the protagonists of the fairy tale.”

“Protagonists?”

“Yes! Beauty, beast, prince, princess, frog, anything is fine! Are there any characters you want, Young Lady?”

“There is!”

“What is it~~?”

The young lady speaks with expectant eyes.

“I want the maid and the young lady to be the protagonists!”

Huh?

“The maid and… the young lady?”

“Yes! There’s no fairy tale book with a maid and a young lady as the protagonists! I want to make one!”

…There certainly aren’t any fairy tale books like that?

For one, there aren’t many fairy tale books with two female characters.

Hmm.. it feels like it’s going to be a completely new attempt.

“Okay. How old is the young lady?”

“…16 years old!”

16 years old…

I start writing down the details of the character as the young lady says.

“Where does the young lady live?”

“The young lady lives alone in the forest! Trapped in that high tower!”

“Why does the young lady live alone?”

“Ummm… it’s because the young lady is very scared of other people!”

“Aha, is the young lady a scary person? Like, does she get angry a lot?”

“No! The young lady isn’t scary at all! Um… she has no arms!”

…Huh?

“Ah, Young Lady, that’s too scary, so is there anything cuter?”

“Um… she has no hands?”

…That’s even scarier.

“Something a little more..! Think about reading this fairy tale to a young child later, Young Lady!”

“Gasp, th- then that wouldn’t do… hmm… a bad witch trapped the young lady in the castle!”

“Not a tower?”

“Ah, right! Tower! It’s a tower! And the young lady is always lonely because she lives alone!”

Aha, so that’s how the story begins.

“Then when does the maid appear?”

“Now! The maid comes to see the lonely young lady living in the tower!”

“I see. Did the two know each other before?”

“No! They don’t know each other at all! The maid hears the rumors about the young lady and comes to find her! So the maid treats the young lady well!”

“That’s nice~. Ah, how old is the maid?”

“Um… I’m thinking… 16 years old?”

“Then are they the same age?”

“Yes… but I’m also thinking about making her 24 years old…”

Ahahaha… that’s exactly like us, isn’t it?

“Um.. then how about 16 years old? Wouldn’t it be better if they were the same age?”

“Do you think so, Mana?”

“Um… actually, age doesn’t matter at all.”

I don’t know why, but if the maid becomes 24 years old here, I feel like I’ll be too immersed in our situation…

“Then I’ll make the maid 16 years old too!”

Phew.

As the young lady speaks slowly, the foundation of the story is created, with a spoonful of my advice added.

A young lady living alone in a distant tower in the territory, cursed by a witch, one day a maid hears the news and visits the young lady.

– From today, I will serve you.

– I’m sorry, but I have nothing to give you. Look for a better place.

– No, I think this is where I belong.

The young lady, who was suspicious of the maid at first, gradually opens her heart as she spends time with the maid.

– You know, I think that if I’m in this tower, a prince will come to save me.

– A prince?

– Yes, wouldn’t a wonderful prince come to save me? I’d be so happy if that happened. He’d break the curse the witch put on me too.

– How do you break the curse?

– With a kiss full of love, of course!

The two people who were living a good life, one day someone appears in front of them.

– Who are you to come and take care of the child I locked up!

It was the evil witch..!

– If you don’t leave right away, I’ll make you live in this tower for the rest of your life!

– Do as you please! I can’t leave without the young lady!

The witch and the maid, who were arguing, go outside the tower and start fighting in earnest…

“But Young Lady. Why does the witch use magic?”

“Huh? Doesn’t the witch use magic?”

What witches use is not magic, but sorcery…

I’ll have to tell her later.

“Hmm.. then shall we say a bad mage?”

“Yes! That’s fine too!”

The mage, who became a bad mage from a witch, and the maid fight for three days and nights…

“In the process, the young lady falls in love with the maid!”

“Aha~ That’s good too~”

“But then the witch and the maid both collapse and die at the same time!”

“…Huh?”

Young Lady?

Suddenly, what a cruel fairy tale.

The witch dies!”

“So! The curse is broken and the young lady comes out of the tower! And she cries while holding the dead maid!”

“…Th, then?”

“The young lady wipes away her tears and says this! I! I killed you, I’m sorry.. like this!”

And then

The story that somehow flows into a cruel fairy tale.

The young lady is also excited about it and her eyes sparkle.

“So do you know what the young lady does?”

“Um, what does she do?”

“She learns magic and becomes a witch!”

“And then?”

So the young lady who became a witch, in order to revive the dead maid, does all sorts of research, and eventually…

“…Eventually?”

“She creates a magic to turn back time!”

“…Wow.”

“And after turning back time, she loses all her strength and is trapped in the tower in a much weaker state than before! She has no arms!”

…The young lady is really fixated on the fact that she has no arms.

I’ll make sure to throw away all those strange pirate fairy tales later.

“So the young lady who regretted it, after becoming weak, lives a devastated life, and one day she becomes obsessed with the maid who came back to her and confesses! And the maid accepts it and they make a pure love love love story…!”

“What about the witch who turned back time?”

“The witch is gone in the middle.”

“Um…”

“Why?”

“Because she knows that love won’t come true! The young lady became so weak that she became terminally ill!”

Oh, my god.

Young Lady, where did you learn all those things?

From today, I’ll read all the many books in that study and burn all the blasphemous ones.

“But the maid doesn’t know why the young lady loves her there, right? Why does she accept it?”

“Um… if she doesn’t accept it, the young lady said she’ll jump off the tower and kill herself!”

“The kind-hearted maid accepts it!”

‘…I would never accept it.”

“Why??”

“Hmm… even if she says she loves her, that’s not pure love, is it?”

“It’s blackmail.”

“Is that so?”

“But she loves her!”

“Even if you love someone, you have to know how to be considerate of them.”

“Otherwise, it’s just pushing my own greed and desires onto the other person’s kindness, um… relying on it.”

“Then do this!”

“The young lady later tells the maid that she lied about loving her until now!”

“Hmm..”

“…So?”

“Um… and then the maid leaves the tower!”

So the maid who left the tower lives a normal life for a while, and then one day, she wonders how the young lady is doing and visits the tower again.

– Ah, Young Lady!

….Why did you come.. you idiot.. I told you not to come… cough cough…! Cough..!

– St, stay awake! Young Lady! Wake up!!

– …Still, in the end… I… see… you…

– Young Lady,

The young lady tells the maid the stories that happened in her past life as she dies.

Thank you… now go… live happily…

-…I love you.

When the young lady takes her last breath, the maid confesses that she loves the young lady.

– …What?

You’re going to be satisfied with the ending of dying after making me worry like this!

I’m absolutely not satisfied!

Don’t die.

Young Lady!!

Live with me!

“And the young lady smiles happily and then..! She dies!”

This is too sad…

Sniff… poor young lady…

“But the witch is moved by that and brings her back to life!”

“Huh?”

“The witch?”

“Yes, do you know why?”

“Why??”

“Because, the witch was actually the older sister who had a crush on the young lady!”

?????

“The witch who loved the young lady so much that she trapped her, actually knew that time had turned back!”

“But even knowing everything, she saw true love and decided to support the two-way love of the two people!”

…This fairy tale is a huge mess, but it’s fun.

“So the two live happily ever after! And the witch says this while watching it!”

“What does she say?”

“This yuri is delicious!”

???

“Young Lady, where did you see the word yuri by any chance?”

“Yes!”

“I saw it in a book in the study where two women were kissing!”

“I saw it a long time ago, so I didn’t know the word, but Mana taught me!”

Bang!

I kick the door open and quickly classify the books in the study.

There are probably at least 10,000 books.

But.

I don’t think I can sleep tonight unless I censor all of these.

“Mana!”

“What about our fairy tale book!!”

“Just wait a moment, Young Lady!!”

What on earth!

What did you do to our young lady, you books!!!

Who is the person who collected these books!!!

The young lady comes to my side and watches my actions.

“Wow… I can’t see Mana… she’s so fast…”

“I’m in elite maid mode right now!”

“Awesome..!”

While checking the books, I ask the young lady a question.

“Ah, but Young Lady.”

“Huh?”

“Why?”

“But why did the maid go to that castle in the first place?”

‘…I wonder?”

The young lady smiles vaguely.

“I don’t know!”