“Young Master.”
“Where on earth did you go to be coming back just now?”
The moment I returned to the room carrying the pouch I had received from Tilda, Callius asked in a tone that made no effort to conceal his annoyance.
“I had to fetch something essential.”
I replied, shaking the clinking pouch in my hand.
“And what might that be?”
“I will show you right away, but…”
I trailed off.
What if my theory was wrong?
Callius might be subjected to terrible agony.
“…It might cause you pain, Young Master.”
“What are you even talking about?”
I quietly placed the pouch onto the table.
The sound of stones knocking against one another echoed from inside.
“These are mana stones.”
Then, I proceeded to explain.
“Defective ones that leak mana, specifically. When I heard what you said earlier, a thought occurred to me. Mana is the power that fuels magic, isn’t it? While it does emit light, its very source is fundamentally different from that of sunlight or candles.”
Callius listened intently to my words.
Encouraged by his focus, I continued with greater confidence.
“So I wondered… if the light from mana stones might spare you any pain.”
From that statement alone, Callius seemed to immediately grasp my point.
“I understand what you mean. Take one out.”
“R-really?”
In contrast to his boldness, I began to waver.
Whenever the curtains were pulled back, his agonizing cries always echoed in my ears.
“Go on.”
Callius urged me to hurry.
After a brief pause, I reached into the pouch.
Callius, who had been putting on a brave front, drew in a sharp breath before swiftly steadying it again.
“Young Master, then… I am taking it out now.”
I knew that hesitation would only prolong his dread.
So I opened the pouch in one motion and pulled out a single mana stone.
Whatever sound followed would be one of two things.
Either an unbearable cry of agony, or…
Total silence.
One second passed.
Then two.
Then three…
“Ah…”
At last, Callius let out a faint groan.
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.
“Young Master! Are you all right? I’m so sorry! I’ll put it away right now!”
Turning pale, I reached frantically for the mana stone on the table.
“…Wait!”
Callius stopped me.
“I’m fine… It doesn’t hurt. It’s just so bright…”
Ah.
Only then did I realize he was not in pain; his eyes were merely dazzled by the light after so long in the dark.
“…I can see.”
A moment later, his voice trembled.
“I can see…”
He could see?
Then it worked?
Callius murmured as if caught in a dream.
“I can see everything. The table, the room, and you…”
Then he stopped.
The sound of a chair scraping against the floor followed.
Callius stood up and approached me, the faint rustle of his clothes drawing near.
Wait a minute…
Isn’t this completely unfair?
Until now, neither of us could see the other.
We were on completely equal footing.
Yet now…
He could see me.
“Young Master?”
I called out to him, but he did not answer.
What is it?
Is he staring at my ugly face right now?
“Why aren’t you saying any—”
I broke off.
A fingertip brushed against the tip of my chin.
He tilted my face up gently, before that hand widened into an open palm that cradled my cheek.
“Young Master…?”
What came over you?
Is seeing a human face after so long really that wondrous?
“Haha… Be honest now, Young Master. My face isn’t really that ugly, is it?”
I threw out a hurried joke to break the strange tension.
He replied softly.
“…Fine. I take back calling you ugly.”
Huh?
Why did he concede so easily?
Am I really that pretty?
All of a sudden, I found myself curious about what Lizzy Swan actually looked like.
“Heh.”
“…Wait. What is that look on your face?”
“What? What look?”
“You look smug enough to be irritating.”
“That’s because you were staring blankly at my face, weren’t you?”
At that, Callius suddenly let go of my face and retorted defensively.
“Who said I was staring blankly? And I never said you were pretty.”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
“I only said you weren’t ugly.”
“Ah, I see, I see.”
What a clumsy fifteen-year-old boy, completely incapable of honesty.
Regardless, this was no time for joking around.
The mana stones were still leaking their energy.
I couldn’t let it go to waste, especially after the trouble Tilda went through to bring them.
I took out the remaining four stones from the pouch and set them on the table.
Then I asked,
“Young Master, how is the brightness?”
“It’s fine.”
“Is it enough to write a report?”
“Yes.”
“The problem is that we don’t know how long this light will last.”
As I worried about it fading, Callius answered calmly.
“Then let’s begin right away.”
He stepped away for a moment, came back, and set something down on the table.
Then came the sound of stones clinking inside a glass container.
“I put the mana stones in an empty glass jar. Now it looks like a real lantern.”
His voice brimmed with enthusiasm.
It made sense that he would be thrilled; he could finally see with his own eyes after months in the dark.
Picturing him clutching the glass jar in joy gave me a twinge in my heart.
Like an impoverished scholar of old, studying by the light of fireflies because he couldn't afford lamp oil…
Ah, that really hurts my heart.
When I first entered the Duke’s estate as a maid, the very first thing I did was memorize the layouts.
To assist Callius, I needed to navigate with confidence first.
From my very first day on the job, I walked dozens of times between his bedroom, the bath, and the hallways, pushing myself to commit every corner to memory.
However, the Young Master's library had been excluded.
The Head Maid had assumed Callius would never use it again.
After all, who could have imagined that someone suffering from photophobia would find a way to read and write?
“Wow, Young Master. It smells completely like books in here!”
I spread my arms in the library and breathed deeply the scent of paper.
In this world, commoners rarely got the chance to touch a book.
People were far too busy surviving to think about reading.
Besides, no one would have imagined that a blind woman like me could read.
Yet the truth was, I had been an avid reader.
Before transmigrating, I listened to audiobooks whenever I had a spare moment.
Naturally, most of them were romance fantasy novels.
Yes, and that’s why I ended up here… Damn it.
“Why are you standing there motionless?”
Callius asked when I remained where I stood.
“Huh? I just don’t know where to go. This is my first time entering your library.”
“Ah.”
Only then did he seem to realize that I knew nothing of the room's arrangement.
He walked over to me, took my hand, and gently guided it onto his arm.
“…Is this how it goes?”
He seemed to remember that I had always asked him to hold onto my arm.
I held back a laugh and answered.
“Yes, just like that.”
“Then… shall I show you around the library?”
Uncharacteristically, he took the initiative.
Before, I had always been the one guiding him, but now the tables were turned.
I held onto his arm shyly and began to walk through the library with him.
“…Over here are the history books. How should I describe them so you can imagine them easily?”
He was seriously pondering how to explain things to someone who couldn't see.
“It’s enough if you just tell me the titles.”
“The titles? Very well… First shelf. ‘A Thousand-Year History of the Empire,’ ‘Nations Before and After the Holy War,’ ‘The Abolition of the Slave Trade and Its Conseq—’”
“Stop, stop! Skip this section!”
Just what kind of dreadfully boring books were these?
