Chapter 22: Let’s Take Care Of The ‘Garden’ And Give You A Lap Pillow

“Good morning, Young Lady.”

“Yes, good morning, Mana!”

– Smooch……

Today, too, I give the young lady a good morning kiss as I watch her wake up from a peaceful sleep.

A little longer than usual.

The young lady, startled at first, naturally smiles bashfully and then closes her eyes.

I can feel the young lady’s heart beating faster and faster.

Roughly… 15 seconds?

I pull away when I see the young lady’s face turning red.

“Phew! Hwaaa…”

“You can breathe while kissing, Young Lady.”

“But then it tickles!”

“Is it much better than you running out of breath, Young Lady?”

“Hmm… Mana doesn’t seem out of breath at all.”

“Because I’m a maid, you know?”

I place my hand on the young lady’s chest and feel her heart pounding!

“Are you pounding today too?”

“Yes! I’m very happy!”

It seems so, seeing the young lady smile brightly.

“Then shall we go wash up?”

“Yes!”

Today, too, I spend a peaceful day with the young lady.

Washing together, eating together, reading together…

“By the way, Young Lady.”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you use magic on me again?”

“Magic?”

“Yes, the magic that makes me 8 years old.”

I thought you’d use it as soon as I got back, but you didn’t, you know?

“Hmm… I like big Mana! And I like small Mana!”

“Aha?”

“But there’s only one Mana! I want to play with big Mana and small Mana!”

“But before you use magic, you have to tell me, okay? It’ll be a big problem if my clothes get torn like last time, you know?”

“Yes!”

Peaceful and precious times with the young lady…

These days, you study hard and study magic hard.

And sometimes we play fun games together, cook together, wash together, and sleep together.

In those small and precious moments, I feel like the memories of the young lady and me are piling up one by one.

It’s completely different from when I first saw you.

It’s much, much better now.

You know how to be spoiled, you know how to be cute, and sometimes you even ask me to do something for you.

That’s natural for an 8-year-old.

“Mana!”

“Yes, Young Lady?”

“Kiss me on the cheek!”

“Yes~”

Smooch.. slurp..

Munch…

The young lady’s soft cheek.

Sometimes when she asks for a kiss, I lightly suck on it, and the young lady laughs and runs away.

“It tickles!”

“But your cheeks looked delicious, Young Lady.”

“You shouldn’t just suck on them because they look delicious!”

“I’m sorry~”

I spend a relaxed time with the young lady, as relaxed as it can be, and so we passed the spring.

And so we reached June.

“It’s hot, Young Lady…”

“Yes… it’s hot…”

The young lady and I welcomed summer.

The evening of June 3rd.

“Mana! The sun is too long today!”

“That’s right. The sun doesn’t seem to set.”

Compared to March when I first came here, the sun doesn’t set easily.

It used to set around 6:30 pm, but these days it’s past 7 pm and it’s barely starting to set.

“I want to eat something cold, sweet, and delicious! Ice cream!”

“Here you go?”

“Thank you! I love you!”

These days, the young lady really likes the ice cream I make.

Last time, when it was very hot, I made it for her once.

She ate it so well, saying, “Hwaaa…!”

Since then, fruit sorbet and ice cream made with milk are always waiting in the freezer.

Of course, I’m holding back because if she eats it often, her taste might change completely.

“Chuu.. chuup.. slurp..”

Seeing the young lady eating so deliciously is healing, so I can’t help but want to give it to her.

“Is it delicious?”

“Yes! It’s very sweet! It’s cool!”

“I’m glad~”

“Hehe, thank you!”

Playing and teaching the young lady for 3 months…

Now the young lady can read well by herself, and she can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

I’ve taught her basic etiquette too.

I have nothing more to teach her about magic.

She’s good at drawing, she has excellent spatial awareness, and when I taught her nursery rhymes, she sang them cutely with a nightingale-like voice…

Isn’t our young lady really a genius?

Seeing the young lady, who is smart and capable yet has the innocence and purity of an 8-year-old, I always feel grateful that she has grown up well.

“Mana! Mana!”

“Yes, Young Lady?”

“Hug me!”

“Come here~”

The young lady stretches out her arms and I lift her up!

She hugs my neck tightly with both arms, which is one of the happinesses that I’ve become too familiar with.

“Hehe… Mana~ Mana~ I love you~”

“Yes, yes, I love you too, Young Lady?”

What should I do with this small and cute creature!

Anyway, the young lady has developed three new hobbies these days.

“Young Lady, I think it’s about time we went out.”

“Yes! Thank you! Let’s go out together!”

One of them is gardening in the garden that we go out to when the sun is about to set.

It hasn’t been long since we started.

About a week now?

– Mana! Why do tomatoes have seeds?

– Because seeds are needed for tomatoes to grow again next time.

– …? Tomatoes grow if there are seeds?

I thought I had taught her a lot of things, but just like a child raised in the city doesn’t know the countryside, farming is a completely new experience for the young lady who has lived in the mansion until now.

I decided to cultivate a garden with the young lady, thinking that it could be a very important experience.

I just planted roughly in the empty land inside the mansion fence, thinking that at least sprouts would grow…

“Tomatoes! Eggplants! Cucumbers! Watermelons!”

One thing I didn’t predict was that the young lady’s magic was greater than I thought?

The young lady, who was playing diligently digging the soil, planting seeds, and watering, used magic once, and soon, pop! Sprouts grew, and eventually, the land inside the fence became a wonderful garden.

It takes at least a few months to grow a crop… but with one magic from the young lady, it takes a week at most.

Even that was because the young lady said, ‘I have a feeling! If I make it grow faster here, the watermelon will be ouch!’ and used only the appropriate amount of magic, and I’m experiencing this miracle.

“Let’s eat watermelon for a late-night snack today!”

“Yes, Young Lady~”

It’s also fun to see the young lady playing with her hands and feet covered in dirt.

And I’m proud that the young lady enjoys growing something.

Well, it’s not like there are many crops, and it feels like she’s growing what she wants to eat that day, so I guess this is okay?

“I want to eat a lot of fruit too!”

“Hmm… Next time, I’ll buy a lot of fruits that aren’t grown in the village. Among them, how about growing the ones you eat and like?”

“Okay! Thank you, Mana!”

Anyway, after cultivating the garden for a long time, she cleans her hands and feet, which are covered in dirt, with magic, and then enjoys a walk.

“Mana! Hurry up and come up!”

“Yes, yes, Young Lady. Go carefully. It’s dark even with the moon, you know?”

“I’m fine! I can see well even when it’s dark!”

Now, the young lady runs around all over the forest, enjoying me following her.

I wonder what’s so good…

Of course, every time I see the young lady running like that, I’m very happy.

“Mana~ I like you~~”

“Yes~ I like you too, Young Lady~”

So after a long walk, we come home and take a bath.

After that, I sit on the bed and give the young lady a knee pillow, which she’s been enjoying lately.

When I kneel and sit, the young lady pillows her head on my lap and I pat her, which is time.

“Hehe… I like it. Mana…”

“Do you like it here?”

“Yes.. a little more..”

…Sometimes I lose my reason and feel like I want to pat the young lady, not being able to get enough, and love her.

Every time I pat her head, she doesn’t rub her head in my hand.

When I pat her bangs, she doesn’t hold back her laughter.

When my hand touches her cheek, she brings her cheek to me like a cat and rubs against it.

When I pat her chin, she laughs, ‘Hehe…’, and deliberately lifts her head.

And when I pat her stomach, she murmurs, ‘It’s warm…’ and falls asleep, and watching that process makes me smile.

Of course, while I’m patting her, I also fan

her gently, in case she gets hot, so I’m quite busy, but seeing the young lady’s cute features is very enjoyable…

This job, the satisfaction is too high.

“Young Lady, shall we sleep now?”

“No… I’m not sleepy…”

“You’re not sleepy yet, are you?”

“Mmm…”

..But you’re gradually moving into my lap, Young Lady?

I carefully pick up the cute young lady and lie down on the bed, hugging her tightly, and the young lady opens her eyes, half-drenched in sleep.

“Hehe… I’m happy..”

“I’m happy every day because of you, Young Lady.”

“I like Mana.. Thank you.. I love you..”

“Me too.”

Smooch…

Now I naturally give a long kiss.

Of course, the young lady is still not used to it, so her face turns red.

“…Hehe. I love you.”

“Yes, yes, I like you too, Young Lady.”

I hug such a young lady tightly and try to sleep.

As we passed spring and summer, the young lady developed three new hobbies.

One is gardening.

Two is the knee pillow.

Three is saying thank you, I like you, I love you, I’m happy.

I think they’re all cute hobbies.