Since that day, I started following Verdick around whenever I had a break from my research.
But that sharp nerd seemed to know I was desperately trying to find him, and cleverly avoided me every time.
Can you believe we live in the same house, and it’s still this hard to bump into him?
Sigh…
“Miss? Is something wrong?”
As I let out a deep, heavy sigh, Annie approached me with a curious look on her face, clearly dying to know what was going on.
I opened my mouth to answer, then quickly closed it. I couldn’t exactly tell her everything anyway.
“Ah… It’s just… something I’ve been thinking about.”
“…It’s not… a romance issue, is it?”
“What?!”
“Ah, I didn’t mean anything by it! It’s just that… lately, there’s a rumor going around the mansion that you’ve been chasing after Mr. Verdick…”
“Cha—! Who?! Who’s saying that kind of thing?!”
I jumped up from my seat, fuming.
They don’t even know the situation—who’s chasing who?!
“Uh… I just overheard it in passing, so I’m not totally sure…”
Annie looked away awkwardly and scratched her cheek at my outburst.
Whoever started that rumor, they better hope I don’t find them!
I slammed my foot against the desk with a loud bang.
“Ow!”
Maybe I was used to pain, but of all things, I kicked it with my injured left ankle…!
Ugh! Nothing’s going right!
“I forgot I was hurt because I didn’t feel any pain…”
Wait—forgot?
‘Come to think of it, I only know what Room 406 remembers…’
I do remember everything 406 focused on, but outside of that, I know very little.
‘So that means… something might have happened with that stupid nerd, but 406 just doesn’t remember it?!’
Ugh, this is driving me crazy.
But I was the one who needed his cooperation more than anything.
So, reluctantly, I closed my eyes and tried digging up every memory I had about that nerd.
To be honest, there was nothing too clear. But if I had to pick something that stood out…
‘It’s probably that incident, right?’
If I was right… maybe Verdick was holding a grudge over something surprisingly trivial.
***
They say sincerity moves hearts.
After days of lurking around, I finally bumped into Verdick just as he was about to head out.
‘Let’s see who wins this time.’
I smacked his back—not too hard, but loud enough to make a sound.
Verdick was just about to step into a carriage and, caught off guard, he tumbled flat onto the carriage floor.
The maids would probably scream if they saw this, but that wasn’t my concern right now.
“W-What are you doing…?!”
“You’ve been avoiding me, haven’t you? For days. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Leaning back against the carriage wall, Verdick looked up at me with wide, blue eyes filled with panic behind those black-rimmed glasses.
I jerked my thumb over my shoulder and said flatly,
“Come on. Follow me to the back garden.”
***
I dragged Verdick to the back garden where no one else was around. Now we could talk without being overheard.
I stood in front of him and looked up.
“Alright. If you have something to say, now’s the time.”
“…?”
He looked at me with wide eyes like he had no idea what I was talking about.
“You’ve had stuff bottled up against you for a while, haven’t you? That’s why you cried like that the other day, right?”
“…That’s…”
He couldn’t seem to finish his sentence.
Instead of rushing him, I thought back to when we first met.
One day, Verdick had shown up at our doorstep, begging to become Dad’s assistant.
He was supposedly the third son of Viscount Terrian.
People often came asking to be Dad’s assistant because of his fame, but Dad was always too busy to take on students.
At first, he tried to gently send the boy away. But Verdick didn’t give up.
Since he was the same age as me, Dad gradually softened as he kept showing up.
Eventually, Dad let him become his assistant.
And as a kid, I was friendly with him—mostly because we were the same age. I even played a few pranks.
Verdick had seemed uncomfortable but never outright rejected me, and for a while, things were peaceful between us.
…Until I told Dad I wanted to become his assistant, too.
“Um, Adelia… I think your father only said that because he was worried about you…”
“Easy for you to say. You’re already his assistant.”
Maybe it was just teenage sensitivity.
From then on, we started seeing each other less and less, and we drifted apart.
If we were adults, we could’ve just talked it out over a drink. But since we were teenagers, we awkwardly avoided each other and left things hanging.
Actually, I think I was the one who ignored him and just forgot about it later…
Anyway, having to apologize for my past self left a bad taste in my mouth. But I had no choice.
I was the one who needed help right now.
“…I know it’s kinda weird to bring this up now, but… I was pretty immature back then. I’m sorry.”
When I spoke calmly, Verdick flinched slightly.
I continued.
“But we live in the same house. We can’t keep acting like this forever. I really am sorry and I’ve thought about it a lot. So if you’re holding onto something, please let it go.”
Saying this kind of mushy stuff without being drunk was almost unbearable.
What was worse was how he just stared at me, stunned, not saying a word.
After a long silence, he finally spoke in a quiet voice.
“You’re going through all this trouble just to keep something from your father? Couldn’t you just be honest about how you found out?”
“There’s a reason, okay? Don’t you have things you’d rather not tell my dad? It’s like that.”
“…Hmm.”
“So anyway, are you going to help or not?”
I got impatient and pushed a bit.
Finally, Verdick nodded reluctantly.
“…Alright.”
“Whoa, really?! No take-backs!”
I gave his shoulder a light pat and smiled.
I could see his cheeks turning red.
Since we cleared up the misunderstanding and talked things through, I felt a bit lighter.
So I asked him,
“By the way, where were you headed earlier?”
“Oh, uh… running an errand for the Viscount…”
“For Dad?”
I glanced between the bundle he was carrying and his outfit.
“Where to?”
“The herb shop.”
“Oh, can I come too?”
Perfect. I’d been meaning to go buy supplies for my experiments anyway.
Verdick looked flustered at my sudden suggestion—but he didn’t say no.
“…Sure.”
Thanks to his shy approval, we ended up riding the same carriage a little while later.
As the carriage headed toward the busy part of the capital, I tried chatting with Verdick since we had finally fixed things.
But this nerd just couldn’t hold a conversation unless it was one-word answers.
So I decided to ask something that had been on my mind.
“When did you start wearing glasses?”
I was pretty sure his eyesight wasn’t this bad when we were kids… Maybe it got worse while working for Dad?
I stared at him, and suddenly got curious what his face looked like without glasses.
“Wanna try taking them off?”
“…”
“I mean… I think you’d look better without them…”
Before I even finished my sentence, Verdick grabbed the bridge of his glasses like I might snatch them away.
…That reaction told me exactly how he saw me.
“You don’t have to be so scared. I’m not gonna force you or anything.”
I let out a sigh and turned to look out the window.
Soon after, the coachman made a gruff sound and the carriage slowed down.
We’d arrived.
***
“Hello, Mr. Verdick! Oh my, Miss Adelia’s with you today too?”
As soon as we entered the shop, the clerk’s eyes widened in surprise. I guess she was used to seeing us visit separately.
Verdick slipped right back into nerd mode—just gave a small nod and walked inside without a word.
I sighed and greeted the clerk in his place.
“Ah, hello. How have you been?”
