房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Although it was questionable where a commoner girl would get the money for the expensive potions from - but, truth be told the black-haired boy just shrugged it off as a case of a flaw in the game logic – or simply a plothole.

Zoemi would not find it all that surprising if the heroine simply conveniently stumbled upon a whole crate of such potions on the side of the road.

Or maybe she got them from the second prince since his route was so accelerated that it became all jumbled and unclear what will he do next...

But hey - mana potions that could help Zoemi with protecting his master were the exact same mana potions no matter how or from who did the black-haired attendant attained them from!

Therefore, Zoemi happily accepted the gift – whomever it might have come from - and pocketed it just in case something happen, and thanks to the constant supply he started to always - at any given time - carry two vials of the blue liquid on him, just in case.

..and then, just like that, the day of the examination results have finally come...

---

Since Zoemi couldn\'t fall asleep at all because of the anxiety he ended up waking up a whole hour later than usual.

He started panicking and hurriedly washed his face and, with his clothes only half on, he opened the door...

The vial filled with the blue mana potion was waiting for him already.

Zoemi looked around and saw the back of his most disliked person in the academy, the red-haired Grazio.

"Ugh...!"

The black-haired attendant flinched and backed off with a disgusted face before he could stop himself, getting the capture\'s target attention.

Grazio as the son of the general of the kingdom would take pride in his magical skills and after suffering a humiliating defeat in a duel against the scarred attendant he started frantically training to get his physical prowess up to speed too and began training his body in the morning.

The risk of running into him was the reason why Zoemi changed his whole training routine from the morning to the evening one – which met with complaints from the students he was practicing together with – but seeing the red-haired boy returning from the practice session solidified the black-haired attendant\'s conviction that he made the right choice.

|But... maybe he saw who left the potion here?|

Zoemi thought as the curiosity momentarily outweighed the animosity he felt towards the young Victureo.

"Sir Grazio...!"

Zoemi called out to the red-haired youth before he could disappear behind the hallway\'s corner.

"Ha...?"

Grazio stopped and turned his head - and was already emanating hostility.

His face was red after the training and made him look furious.

Or maybe he just was furious...

He glared at the vial in Zoemi\'s hand and squinted his eyes.

"I\'m not interested in anything you want to sell me, Espine\'s servant."

Grazio declared proudly and started walking off, back to his room.

"That\'s not it...!"

Zoemi got angry because of the belittling tone in Grazio\'s voice and hurriedly put the vial in his pocket.

"I just wanted to ask you if you saw the blond commoner girl around here!"

He gritted his teeth and asked, forcing himself to sound remotely polite even though it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"...commoner girl...?

Grazio turned around and crossed his arms irritated.

"Yes, I did see her. What about it? What\'s your business with her?"

"Tsk..!"

Zoemi clicked his tongue in annoyance – in his mind he confirmed that it was the heroine who has been leaving the potions for him, but he also learned that she might be advancing Grazio\'s route - judging from Grazio\'s reaction, at least.

"Nothing, it\'s just that lady Espine is feeling a bit under the weather and I wanted to ask the commoner girl if her magic could help."

The scarred attendant shrugged his shoulders and came up with a random excuse.

"..."

Grazio frowned and stared at the Zoemi as if he was judging whether his words were true or not.

"Don\'t talk to me without an actual reason again, Espine\'s attendant. Hmph!"

Then he scoffed and went on his way.

"Well, screw you too, asshole...!"

Zoemi made a vulgar gesture with his fingers and waved it at Grazio\'s back.

That appeased his anger just a little bit and he hastened to the kitchen.

"Big brother Zoemi! You were late, so I...! What happened to you...!?"

Patishi ran towards the scared attendant like a puppy that saw their owner after a long separation, but stopped in place and exclaimed in terror when they saw Zoemi\'s disheveled clothes.

Since Zoemi was in a hurry - he didn\'t button up his shirt so the differently colored spots of skin on his torso that eere csused by to the flames during the accident staring Grazio, were exposed - sparking the youth\'s shocked reaction.

"Those? Don\'t worry, old stuff - it\'s nothing. As for my looks... well... I overslept and didn\'t have time to dress up properly."

The attendant shrugged his shoulders and started fixing the sleeves of his shirt.

"But your body..!"

Patishi clenched their hands and gasped with a worried voice.

"Those? Nah, like I said, those are just some old burn-marks, it\'s nothing new, I\'ve got them when this happened."

Zoemi waved his hand dismissively and poked his right cheek disfigured by the ugly scar.

"Kyaah~!"

Hearing the voices of Patishi and Zoemi, Teo also showed up from behind the brown-haired youth - but her reaction to Zoemi\'s looks was quite a bit different than Patishi\'s.

At first the short brown-haired girl covered her eyes with her hands, but almost instantly she spread her fingers so she could see through them, exclaiming in a rather happy tone while her eyes were darting back and forth from the carried youth\'s chest muscles to his abs.

"Hello there, Teo. How are you?"

Zoemi smirked at the girl\'s reaction and turn to her while continuing to fix his clothes.

"Whoa...!"

Teo then removed her hands from her eyes and – since the black-haired boy didn\'t back away - she put one hand to her mouth, and with sparkling eyes, she reached her other hand towards the exposed chest of the scarred youth.

"No!"

"...?"

Zoemi who was already in the middle of buttoning up his shirt raised his brow when Patishi stepped in front of him, spreading their hands, protecting their big brother from the attempted groping.

"Naww...!"

"...pervert...!"

Teo groaned in disappointment, lowering her hand while Patishi was glaring at her with reproach.

"Big brother Zoemi, you were a bit late so I started preparing the food without you!"

After confirming that their big brother was indeed safe and properly clothed, Patishi led him towards the spot that was reserved for them and proudly showed the effects of their works – making sure to stay between the brown-haired girl in the butler\'s uniform and the scarred boy separating them from each other.

"Good job, Patishi! You\'re a great help!"

Well, what to say, the meal was a properly balanced breakfast and there was nothing to critique so Zoemi put his hand on Patishi\'s head and affectionately tousled their hair.

"Ehehe~!"

Patishi blushed from the praise and fidgeted all happily.

"I helped to make those too, you know...?"

Teo, trying to keep an expressionless face, pointed at one dish amongst the set and started leaning towards Zoemi, presenting her head, prime for patting.

"...pfft... sure, sure. You are a good girl too~"

Zoemi couldn\'t hold down his laughter and snort, but nonetheless, he did give some head-pats to the needy girl.

Thanks to those two he wouldn\'t run behind the schedule so the black-haired attendant with the ugly burn-scar on his cheek breathed a sigh of relief.

After putting some finishing touches on the meal, Zoemi waved to Patishi and Teo before picking up the tray and leaving the kitchen.

|I hope that my plan to lift Miriette\'s mood after she sees the list will work!|

He gulped down his saliva and went to his master\'s room with breakfast.