= Elysia’s POV =
Immediately after arriving at Iris’s house—no, Count Asteria’s residence.
Haku had finally fallen asleep.
We had made it through the gate movement safely, but it seemed he was not without fatigue after all.
The moment I set him down on the small cushion in the annex room, Haku blinked several times, then curled his body into a ball.
His silver-pink tail covered the tip of his nose.
His small ears twitched once, then slowly settled down.
“Haku?”
I called out softly, but there was no answer.
Normally, even his ears would have moved, but this time he truly seemed to be in a deep sleep.
I knelt beside the cushion and carefully stroked Haku’s back. His breathing was steady, and his body was warm.
Fortunately, he was not ill.
He just seemed very tired.
“You overdid it.”
I muttered softly.
He had looked fine when we practiced with the gate at the Vallerion estate, but the actual movement must have been different after all.
An unfamiliar city, unfamiliar mana, unfamiliar spirits. It must have all been a burden to Haku.
Just then, a very careful knock came from outside the door.
“Student Elysia. May I come in?”
It was Iris’s voice.
I looked down at Haku for a moment.
He was still fast asleep.
“Yes. Please come in.”
The door opened quietly.
Iris entered first, and behind her, Count Theodore, Lady Sereniel, and Noel cautiously revealed themselves.
The Asteria family naturally lowered their voices the moment they stepped into the room.
Though no one had told them to, everyone seemed intent on not waking the sleeping Haku.
That sight was a little unexpected.
I had thought the Asteria family might try to examine this and that the moment they saw Haku.
But at least at this very moment, caution came before haste in their eyes.
Iris stopped one step away from the cushion where Haku slept.
“He’s in a deep sleep.”
“Yes. He fell asleep immediately after we arrived. I think he was tired from the gate movement.”
“I had expected as much, but it seems the burden was still considerable.”
Iris’s voice was a little lower than usual.
She was not holding her record tablet.
Her hands were empty, too.
That strangely caught my eye.
Count Theodore looked at Haku, then spoke quietly to me.
“Do not worry, Lady Vallerion. There are no magical measuring devices in this room. I have only placed stabilization crystals.”
I looked at him, somewhat surprised.
“Did I look uncomfortable?”
Count Theodore smiled gently.
“We Asterias often grow so accustomed to observing that we forget how the observed party feels. I heard from Iris in advance. That even observation without permission can be a burden to Haku.”
Iris slightly lowered her gaze.
Only then did I feel a little relieved.
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Lady Sereniel lowered herself to her knees at a short distance from Haku.
Her movements were strangely quiet.
It was as if the wind in the forest were lowering itself.
“Such a small child.”
Those words did not simply sound like she was calling him cute.
Lady Sereniel’s eyes seemed to be looking not at Haku’s outward appearance, but at the flow surrounding him.
“But it is the first time I have seen the spirits grow so quiet.”
I looked toward the window.
Small spirits had been gathering into the room one by one since earlier.
Light spirits, leaf-like spirits, a very faint wind spirit.
They did not approach close to Haku.
They simply stopped at a fixed distance.
And quietly dimmed their light.
As if lowering candlelight beside a sleeping person.
I held my breath a little at that scene.
I had seen a similar reaction at the Academy’s spirit greenhouse.
But the spirits here were far more numerous, and were treating Haku far more naturally.
It was not fear.
It was not reverence.
It was as if an old guest had fallen asleep, so they would not disturb him.
Lady Sereniel whispered softly as she looked at those spirits.
“These children are observing etiquette on their own.”
Count Theodore’s gaze deepened.
“There is hardly any mana reaction, yet the spirits are the first to change the order….”
“Father.”
Iris called out in a low voice.
Count Theodore immediately stopped speaking.
And slightly bowed his head.
“I am sorry. A habit slipped out.”
At those words, I nearly smiled.
I felt as though I knew who Iris took after.
Then Noel, who had been in the back, cautiously stepped forward.
He was still pale.
But his expression looked a little more comfortable than when I had seen him in front of the gate.
Noel looked at Haku and spoke very softly.
“Can I go closer?”
Iris immediately looked at him.
“Noel, you shouldn’t overdo it.”
“I won’t overdo it. Just… a little.”
He looked at me.
It was a gaze asking for permission.
I hesitated for a moment.
If Haku had been awake, I would have asked him directly.
But he was in a deep sleep now.
Still, I did not feel any malice from Noel.
I spoke quietly.
“Only to the extent that you won’t wake Haku. Please don’t touch him.”
Noel immediately nodded.
“Yeah. I won’t touch him.”
He slowly approached and sat down at a spot slightly away from the cushion.
And looked at Haku.
At first, he simply seemed curious.
But soon Noel’s expression changed.
The tension left his shoulders, and his furrowed brow relaxed a little.
“…Quiet.”
Noel muttered softly.
Lady Sereniel’s eyes trembled.
Iris seemed to hold her breath, unable to say anything.
Count Theodore also quietly looked at Noel.
I asked Noel.
“What do you mean by quiet?”
Noel gently grasped his own chest.
“Normally, I constantly hear the sound of mana.
Like people breathing, like wind, like glass scraping…
It all mixes together and hurts. But now it’s faded a little.”
His gaze lowered to Haku.
“Even though Haku is sleeping.”
At those words, the room fell silent.
I looked at the sleeping Haku.
Haku slept with his tail covering the tip of his nose, knowing nothing.
That small body, simply lying still in sleep, was slightly easing Noel’s pain.
My chest felt strangely tight.
Haku always tries to think of himself as unremarkable.
He says it’s just coincidence, that he doesn’t know either, and covers his ears saying he hates troublesome things.
But simply by being there, Haku brings someone stability.
I was the same.
When my aura tangled and I felt I couldn’t breathe, when Haku was by my side, it slowly unraveled.
And now, Noel was feeling something similar.
Iris spoke quietly.
“Noel’s stabilization barrier level has dropped lower than usual.”
Count Theodore looked at Iris.
“Did you measure it?”
“No. I can see it with my eyes. The trembling has decreased.”
At those words, Count Theodore looked at Noel again.
On his face, a scholar’s astonishment and a father’s earnestness rose simultaneously.
But he did not approach Haku.
Instead, he spoke quietly.
“We must not burden Haku.”
Those words seemed directed at himself as well.
Lady Sereniel placed her hand on Noel’s shoulder.
“Noel, if you stay too long, you may tire first.”
“Can’t I stay just a little longer?”
Noel’s voice was small.
At those words, no one could refuse immediately.
I looked down at Haku.
Haku was still sleeping peacefully.
His breathing was steady, and his ears were resting comfortably.
So I spoke softly.
“Only until Haku wakes up. And if you feel even a little uncomfortable, please step back immediately.”
Noel nodded seriously.
“Yeah. I promise.”
Iris looked at me.
There was clear gratitude in that gaze.
“Thank you, Elysia.”
“Since Haku hasn’t given permission, it can’t be for long.”
“I know.”
Iris looked at the sleeping Haku.
The usual her would have been constructing countless hypotheses in her head by now.
The relationship between Haku’s spiritual power and Noel’s mana hypersensitivity.
The spirits’ reactions.
The changes in the stabilization barrier’s vibrations.
She would have wanted to analyze all of it.
But right now, Iris was not writing anything down.
She was simply watching her younger brother look a little more comfortable.
Looking at that face, I felt, for the first time, a little more certain.
The reason Iris had approached Haku was not only curiosity.
Inside it, there was Noel.
The hope that her ailing younger brother might be comfortable, even if only a little.
She had tried not to show that hope, but now she could not hide it.
Lady Sereniel spoke quietly to me.
“Lady Vallerion.”
“Yes.”
“Haku trusts you very much.”
I looked at her, a little surprised.
“Does it look that way?”
Lady Sereniel smiled gently.
“You can tell from his sleeping form.
To sleep so deeply even in an unfamiliar house, among unfamiliar spirits, in unfamiliar mana—
it is because there is someone he trusts by his side.”
I looked at Haku.
Haku was sleeping with his body slightly inclined toward me.
It must be unconscious.
But as Lady Sereniel said, Haku might not even know that he had fallen asleep because I was beside him even in an unfamiliar place.
Thinking so, a corner of my heart grew warm.
“I trust Haku, too.”
Those words came naturally from my mouth.
Count Theodore quietly nodded.
“It is exactly as Iris said.”
“Lady Iris did?”
Iris looked at her father, seeming slightly flustered.
“Father.”
Count Theodore spoke with a face holding back laughter.
“Iris wrote in her letter.
She said Haku reacts based on Elysia von Vallerion.
When Student Elysia is anxious, he is wary; when Student Elysia is stable, Haku is stable as well.”
My face grew a little hot.
Iris averted her gaze.
“It is an observed fact.”
“If you wrote that much in a letter, it was not simple observation.”
At Count Theodore’s words, Lady Sereniel smiled softly.
Iris wore a rare expression, one at a loss for words.
I found that appearance a little fascinating.
Even Iris, who was always calm and composed at the Academy, showed a slightly different face before her family.
Then Haku stirred slightly in his sleep.
Everyone in the room stopped moving at the same time.
Even the spirits lowered their light.
Haku stretched out his small front paw and swiped at the air once.
Then soon buried his face back inside his tail.
“Mmrph….”
It was a very small, sleep-mumbling sound.
Noel spoke, holding his breath.
“So cute….”
Those words were too honest.
A laugh escaped me before I knew it.