Chapter 11: Now I can’t even stop working!

Julius slightly lowered his head, hesitating for a moment before carefully raising his hand:

“Al-although I’m not a Saint Knight yet…”

The boy’s voice was a bit softer than usual. “But since it’s your order, I will of course accept it.”

He lifted his head, a flicker of confusion passing through his dark eyes:

“It’s just… wouldn’t it be more effective if you did this yourself?”

Eleanor suddenly crossed her arms over her chest, causing the snow-white sleeves of her dress to crease in several places.

She cleared her throat lightly, and the silver ornaments in her golden hair swayed gently with the movement:

“Ahem… You don’t understand.”

The girl’s voice suddenly dropped, her gaze drifting toward the window as her fingertips unconsciously twirled a strand of her cascading golden hair. “Some things are beyond one’s control, you know?”

“Anyway!”

Eleanor abruptly turned around, raising her index finger almost to Julius’s nose. “You’re going to secretly help Helos!”

Her hands suddenly crossed in front of her, forming an X. “And, absolutely do not say I ordered you to do this!”

“If you dare let it slip—”

Eleanor pulled out an Examination Form from somewhere, making a crossing-out gesture on it. “I’ll make sure your Knight’s Trial stays stuck at the ‘Apprentice’ stage forever!”

“That’s so underhanded…”

Julius muttered quietly.

“Hm?”

Eleanor narrowed her eyes, waving the Feather Pen in her hand as if about to mark it down. “What did you say?”

The boy immediately straightened his back:

“Nothing! I will definitely complete the mission!”

“Hmm~ That’s more like it~”

Eleanor’s expression instantly relaxed, a smile spreading across her face like the melting snow of early spring.

“Go! My brave Saint Knight~”

She clasped her hands together under her chin, the threatening Feather Pen still pinched between her fingertips.

“Go fulfill your glorious mission!”

***

Julius gently closed Eleanor’s room door, the heavy door emitting a dull thud.

He stood silently in the hallway outside, sighing softly.

These two sisters really are…

Eleanor had just seemed so mature and composed moments ago, but now she was as childish as a kid snatching candy.

The boy seemed to have forgotten that he was just a child himself.

His steps faltered slightly at the corner, Helos’s pale purple eyes sparkling under the sunlight flashing through his mind.

Help Helos, huh?

It shouldn’t…… be more troublesome than dealing with Eleanor’s task, right?

“Achoo—”

Helos curled up in the hammock outside the workshop and suddenly let out a loud sneeze, causing the hammock to sway gently.

She rubbed her reddened nose, pouting in displeasure. “Who keeps bothering me? Are you eating oil cake or not!!”

The girl angrily flipped over, looking toward the distant, magnificent spires of the Duke’s Mansion. A trace of loneliness flashed in her pale purple eyes.

Because of that damn “curse,” she had no magical power, unable to use even the most basic magic.

And whenever she got close to a Magic Array, the corresponding Magic Array in the entire mansion would shut down.

Though magic was highly advanced in this world, precisely because magic was as natural to people as breathing, many things could be described as backward.

Gold, huh!

Especially when it came to entertainment.

Don’t even mention high-tech stuff like phones and computers!

According to Helos, it was basically still stuck in the stage of cockfighting and cricket fighting!

“This is really enough…”

She muttered softly, lightly kicking the toolbox by the side of the hammock.

In summer, not even an air conditioner to cool down—what kind of noble is this?

***

In the distance, the gardener was directing a pair of floating scissors, trimming the bushes into perfect shapes under his command.

Helos rested her cheek on her palm, watching the scene with a wry twist of her lips.

“Rarely reincarnated into a world with magic… but I’m the only one in the whole world who can’t use magic.”

Even the gardener could use magic to trim plants, while she, a duke’s daughter, had to rely on handmade substitutes.

And most of those substitutes were practically useless.

In her previous life, she was just an ordinary sophomore student, barely passing advanced mathematics.

She wasn’t even given a Magic System or anything when she crossed over.

Being able to put together some industrial scraps was already a miracle!

The girl shook her head self-mockingly.

At first, she had ambitious plans to shock this magic-loving crowd with a bit of science.

But reality soon slapped her hard.

What good is knowing friction produces electricity? A novice mage just waves a hand and summons lightning.

Remember electromagnetic induction? So what if you do? She couldn’t even build a simple generator.

Therefore, recently, her research direction had completely shifted.

Since she couldn’t replace magic with science, she’d find a way to make herself, this “insulator,” at least graze the edge of magic.

She watched the gardener’s magic emit its last faint glow in the distance, determination flickering in her pale purple eyes.

As the saying goes, “With enough effort, an iron rod can be ground down to a needle.”

Helos stretched, the hammock swaying gently with her movement.

The evening breeze brushed past, bringing a touch of coolness.

She closed her eyes contentedly, curling up in the hammock like a wholesome whole-grain, no-sugar bread.

Someday! She would create an invention that would shock everyone!

With that thought in mind, Helos slowly slipped into dreams.

After an unknown length of sleep, Helos was startled awake by a burst of dazzling sunlight.

She blinked drowsily, and suddenly a handsome face upside-down appeared in her vision—Julius was already standing beside the hammock, leaning over to look at her.

His black uniform was so crisp under the morning light it was almost blinding.

At this moment, the girl still had suspiciously glistening traces on the corners of her mouth.

“Ugh… ah…”

She instinctively wiped the corner of her mouth with her arm, then seemed to realize how unbecoming the action was, hastily turning to sit up.

The hammock rocked violently, nearly throwing them into each other’s arms.

Julius quickly stepped back half a pace, but still got his chin brushed by her silver hair flicking about.

Only then did Helos realize how uninhibited her sleeping posture had been—the hem of her skirt was bunched above her knees, and one sock had somehow been kicked next to the toolbox.

“Julius?! What are you doing here!”

As she scrambled to fix her clothes, she suddenly spotted a delicate food box at Julius’s feet. “What’s this?”

“Breakfast.”

The black-haired boy awkwardly averted his gaze. “I thought you might not have eaten, so I brought it for you.”

“Why?”

Liana blinked in confusion, as if she didn’t quite understand his behavior. “How can you assume I didn’t eat?”

They’d only known each other for less than a day, if she counted properly.

Never mind how he found her…

Bringing breakfast?

Is this really what a Saint Knight Squire is supposed to do?

“If you had eaten, why would you have had to sneak into the kitchen yesterday to steal food?”

The boy shook the food box in his hand:

“Are you going to eat it or not?”

“If you don’t, I’m taking it back!”