Why Would a Holy Knight Be Afflicted with Such a Curse? - Chapter 38

“I’m not flattering you. I really received great help. So I wanted to express my gratitude… Have you eaten, Roarna? I heard there’s a good place nearby.”

“So that’s why you came?”

Roarna asked in a cool voice.

“You kept knocking persistently, so I set aside important work to come out and open the door. If this is all you wanted…”

The man let out an awkward laugh, flustered. He seemed to have only just realized that Roarna’s smile had been a negative one.

“Ah, well…”

The man smiled, trying to salvage the situation somehow.

But Roarna cut him off immediately.

“Hearing that I helped with your thesis reminds me who you are. That one where you recorded the experimental results incorrectly, right?”

Roarna said with an irritated face. Her expression was quite fierce, belying her demure face that resembled a doll made of soft wool.

“Your thesis was sloppy in the most important part. I guess you’re like that in general too? I’m sure no one here is unaware why I can’t get support from that prestigious family and have to live attached to my lab in a townhouse.”

Having silenced the man, Roarna headed toward the door.

The door, still unlocked, swung wide open. Roarna gestured with her chin toward the corridor.

“Stop wasting your time on unnecessary things and go properly organize the feedback you got at the conference, won’t you? Next time, I won’t be reviewing it for you.”

Whether her sharply gleaming eyes made him realize his situation, the man shuffled out into the corridor.

Roarna slammed the door shut before he had even fully left. The man, struck by the unusually sturdy door, tumbled to the floor, but Roarna didn’t spare a glance, locking the door.

And then.

Bang!

Roarna kicked the door. So much force was behind it that the thud vibrated through the floor.

A stifling silence filled the lab until the sound of retreating footsteps disappeared down the corridor.

“Is he out of his mind?”

Roarna muttered in a fierce voice.

“These days, even the fact that I was forced to sign a renunciation of inheritance is common gossip, and he’s talking about a prestigious family? Does he think intelligence follows bloodlines too?”

Starting with that, Roarna fumed for quite a while.

For some reason, Celesto found that reaction pleasing. The sight of Roarna, going so far as to curse under her breath after having already rebuffed the man pestering her—it made him inexplicably happy.

Celesto slowly emerged from between the shelves of books. Roarna was still venting her irritation, even picking apart the contents of the man’s thesis in ways Celesto couldn’t follow.

So when Roarna picked up the flower pot, Celesto was certain she was about to throw it out the door.

Considering her personality had mellowed a bit compared to when they were younger, maybe she’d just dump it in the trash.

But Roarna’s actions defied his expectations.

As he drew closer, Roarna was just staring silently at that damn pot of greenery. She even began gently touching the petals with her fingertips.

Then Roarna bent down to observe the pot. Her soft black hair cascaded down along the hem of her shirt.

“…What’s this? I don’t think this is just a common hellebore?”

Her long, slender fingers carefully brushed over a leaf.

Celesto involuntarily furrowed his brow.

He knew what that calm yet oddly excited voice meant. It was Roarna’s characteristic reaction when she was talking about something only she understood.

“Wow, this is Black Hellebore. I didn’t recognize it because the sepals are a different color. How did they grow this? Did they expose only part of it to less sunlight?”

Muttering to herself, Roarna suddenly lifted the flower pot.

Roarna immediately took the flower pot over to the window. Then she chose the spot that caught the most sunlight and placed the pot there. She even stood on tiptoe to adjust the angle for optimal sunlight.

Watching her, Celesto asked.

“…What are you doing?”

“Ah, it’s rare to see a Black Hellebore outside of natural colonies. Its nickname is the ‘Rose of Curses’—people associate it with misfortune, death, and madness. And it actually does have some effects.”

Roarna had a faint smile at the corner of her lips, looking satisfied.