As the days passed, the gap between visits to the workshop—once two or so times a week—kept growing shorter.“Angela, is this the right way to do it?”“Look, Eddy. Just like I can’t cook, you can have things you’re not good at too.”“…I’ll try again.”These days, Edgar was learning from Angela how to make dolls. The trouble was he wasn’t nearly as good as he thought he would be.“Did I get the proportions right?”“Yeah. I think you just missed the timing when you poured into the mold. The smell is strong when you mix the solution, so make sure to cover your mouth and nose. It can’t be good for your health.”Seeing Angela’s worried face, Edgar smiled that he understood and carefully put on the mask. Then, beside Angela as she worked, he mixed the solution with a serious expression.“Eddy, what do you think the fairy would like?”“Hm?”“I feel like they’re overly generous with me. They grant what I wish for so well that I feel like I should do something in return.”Edgar kept his mouth from curling and asked evenly at her earnest words.“What did you wish for?”“I can’t say…”Whether «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» because she had lived out of the light or by nature, Angela’s skin was unusually pale and translucent compared to others. So when she was even a little embarrassed, that white skin flushed visibly pink.“I think I know.”“H-how?”“Who can say why?”When her heart was this transparent, how could he not know?Edgar hid the thought and spoke guilelessly.“You wished to see me more often.”Her face—like a child caught with candy hidden from her mother—was adorably startled.She never deviated an inch from expectation. One even wondered if it was right to attach the word woman to someone this childlike.“But Angela, why did you turn someone away again today? Why won’t you meet them?”Even after he started posing as the doll, Edgar steadily tried to approach Angela in his true appearance. If he wanted to conclude the bet successfully, getting close by imitating a doll would be useless, wouldn’t it?Unfortunately, even when he asked—and asked well—if she would just meet him once, Angela still refused to meet Edgar.In the end, he decided to stop urging her to meet Edgar. Partly because her resolve was so firm, and partly because pressing further might arouse suspicion.That didn’t mean he intended to give up or stop. He had simply found another way to reach his goal.There was ample time until the New Year’s gala, so he planned to settle the Oricto Mine matter first. This kindhearted dollmaker would surely make one doll if “Eddy” wanted it.“I just… realized it last time. He and I should stay like this—unable to touch.”To Edgar, it made no sense. If you liked someone, wasn’t it normal to want to be closer, to touch?“Eddy, you’re a doll, so you don’t know—but people’s feelings are more complicated than you think. I like things the way they are now. Even more so because you’re here.”“You said you liked Edgar, and you were going to go to his birthday party for that. So why is now, when you can’t even meet him, better?”Faced with Eddy’s persistent incomprehension, Angela sighed softly, unsure how to explain in a way he could understand.“I guess… I came to know for sure the difference between him and me. If I really met Edgar, I’m afraid my feelings toward him would change.”“What does that mean?”“I mean…”To Angela, Edgar de Grace was an idol—an object of blind reverence, of longing.It stood to reason that Edgar kept trying to approach her to commission a doll. If not for that, why would someone so noble try to meet Angela, who was rumored to be a witch?As a rule, Angela never met clients in person, but indirect exchange—through Mark or by letter—was necessary. Detailed discussion was essential to make the doll the client wanted.After meeting Eddy, she had realized she was greedier than she had thought.Just look at her now. The wish that Eddy might gain life like in a fairy tale had swelled into a wish that he would never leave her side.So what if she accepted Edgar’s commission? Her “exchange through Mark” would grow into a greedy desire to trade letters—and that would soon turn into a desire to meet him directly.An idol is best kept as an idol. If she got closer than necessary, the disappointment of seeing a side that differed from her hopes, or the sense of loss if he suddenly drifted away—all of it would be hers to bear alone.Better not to meet him at all and keep her feelings as they were. She had gone without so much to begin with; she had no wish to suffer by possessing something beyond her lot. It was her defense.“Eddy, I like things as they are now. Really. I’m doing this to live within my means, so I hope you’ll understand.”At Angela’s resolute words, Edgar couldn’t add anything more; he simply gathered her into his arms.This pitiable woman had learned to give up before she learned to covet, and so even when opportunity came, she flinched first and refused. If only she could be a little kinder to herself.“Y-you’re… stifling me, Eddy…”Perhaps held too tightly, Angela gave a small, feeble squirm as if resisting. Even that movement provoked Edgar. How could she be so frail, so untutored.“Angela.”“Mmh… mm?”“Do you like me?”“Huh?”“Even if I’m a doll—do you like me?”He didn’t know why, but he liked hearing words of affection from her. He was the sort who had always disliked overt displays of affection—so different from the women he used to meet—and yet.Strangely, only from Angela did he want to hear unhidden affection—her true feeling.“Mm. I like you.”As if merely saying it embarrassed her, Angela averted her eyes and mumbled softly.“I’m not the real Edgar, though. I have no rank, no money, nothing.”“I—I didn’t like Edgar because of things like that!”For the first time, Angela raised her voice at his words, reacting strongly—though she settled down right after.“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell… I wasn’t trying to.”Even though it was barely louder than usual, she apologized for it, and it pained him. If she had ever seen women clawing at each other’s hair over Edgar, this delicate lady would have trembled.“Don’t apologize for that.”“But…”“Apologizing when you did nothing wrong is servile. I don’t want you to be servile, Angela—whether to me or to anyone else.”“Okay, I won’t.”Edgar stroked her black hair as she answered glumly, then resumed the conversation he had cut off, to draw out the dispirited Angela.“If it wasn’t for those things, what did you like about Edgar?”“Th-that’s…”“If you decided to go to the party, your feelings weren’t ordinary. I’m curious how you came to hold him in your heart.”In truth, there was only a single cause. That day he had meddled—unlike himself.Beyond that, they had never been entangled at all; there could be no other reason.He knew that perfectly well, and yet he asked—simply because he wanted to hear the details from her own mouth.“…Because he was kind.”“Edgar was?”Edgar wondered what on earth about him had earned such generous praise.All he had done that day was step into a mess, make the boy cry, and pressure the boy’s father to apologize. If he had wiped the egg from her or insisted on escorting her home, that would be different; but he’d done nothing kind. So her words puzzled him.“He helped me the day he was hit by the egg in the village square.”“That’s all?”“Hm?”“You’re calling him kind for that?”Edgar maintained only the minimum courtesy one should show another; he wasn’t someone who went out of his way to be kinder or more tender to anyone.If anything, he was so uninterested in others’ affairs that people said he was unexpectedly cool and cold. No wonder her words didn’t land.“It’s not just. He had nothing to gain by helping me, and yet he did—readily. It was the first time anyone had done that. And more than anything, he called me a lady, not a witch.”He had expected as much, so he wasn’t surprised. What did surprise him was that she had never received even a proper bit of help until then.“There was a rash of things like that around that time. When I came into the street, people whispered or avoided me; some even said awful things to my face. That was the first time I was attacked directly, but…”Edgar’s clenched teeth ground audibly as he listened to Angela relate it in a matter-of-fact tone.“Eddy?”“It’s nothing. Keep going.”He pulled Angela tighter against him, forcing down a flare of nameless anger.It was strange. None of it had anything to do with him—yet hearing what she had suffered sent a feeling like fire roaring up inside him.“Mmm…”Maybe uncomfortable in his arms, Angela shifted weakly. But Edgar, knowing this, pretended not to and tugged her waist closer still.Her startlement—the way she stiffened—was awfully cute.

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