房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

He gently took Miriette\'s hands and put them to his forehead.

"No matter what, I will never truly leave you. Even if you will hate me and I will be forced to keep my distance, I will assure your happiness. So yes, even after you will marry the first prince and become the queen, and after you will become a mother or even a grandmother. As long as you will want me, I will stay by your side. Protecting you, always and forever."

The black-haired boy declared in a calm voice, without even a little bit of hesitation.

"Z-Zoemi...!"

Miriette sniffled loudly.

"If you\'re lying I will shred you with my wind walls."

She sobbed openly with tears streaming down her face.

"Oh my... I shouldn\'t have helped you come up with that particular use for that spell, then, should have I?"

Zoemi giggled and let go of Miriettes hands to stand up by her side once more.

"Zoemi... My hair became a mess, I\'ll take a bath and you can brush it."

Miriette sniffled a few more times and stood up herself.

"And the supper?"

The black-haired boy asked, pointing out at the tray with food.

"It has to wait until I\'m done."

Miriette smiled weakly and went to the bathroom.

"...wheew..."

As soon as the door closed behind her, Zoemi breathed out and awkwardly scratched his head.

|I already knew that, but Miriette is a lot cuter in person than on the screen.|

He thought to himself while blushing.

|But there is a part of me who just wants her to love me back, isn\'t there... Can I really be able to protect her as I am now...?|

He gritted his teeth staring down at his feet in empty anger.

------

A few minutes later Miriette came out of the bathroom - fresh, clean, and with her attitude back.

Wearing a fluffy bathrobe she sat down by the desk and pulled the tray with food closer.

"Oh? Didn\'t a certain someone has said that the sweets weren\'t advised for the evening meal...?"

She smirked looking up from her supper right at the reflection of her dark-haired attendant.

"Maybe~ but, every once in a while, my amazing lady deserves a cheat day. Especially after hard work."

Zoemi smiled back as he already started brushing the girl\'s hair and the light returned to his eyes.

"..."

Miriette lowered her head and glanced at the cute wrapping on her desk and she sulked for a bit - but only for a moment.

Soon she raised her head proudly and picked up the cutlery.

-----

The next day the number of mana potions returned to a single one but Zoemi didn\'t mind - no matter one or ten, a free mana potion is a free mana potion.

The black-haired boy went to the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised by the sight of the short brown-haired girl already preparing food for her master.

"So this means that you girls are back in business?"

Zoemi grinned at the girl.

"Ah! Sir Zoemi!"

The short brown-haired girl smiled back and then bowed.

"Indeed, once again I am so grateful for you spending your time with me and I\'m terribly sorry for making you angry in the first place!"

The girl apologized profusely, bowing her head so low that Zoemi could only feel respect over how flexible she was.

"Come on, Teo, I told you I\'m not mad."

He ended up shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes.

"Big brother Zoemi!"

"...?"

Surprisingly, it was Patishi who came last - as soon as she saw his big brother she ran to him like a puppy, but then stopped abruptly once she saw Teo.

"O-oh...! Miss... Teo...?"

She asked slowly, glancing at Zoemi for confirmation – and the black-haired boy nodded to her encouragingly.

"Miss Teo, it\'s good to see you back."

Patishi finished her sentence though she didn\'t look all that happy.

"Indeed, I\'m back."

Confirmed Teo and the three of them started preparing the breakfast.

When everything was ready Zoemi placed a cute wrapping on the Teo\'s tray.

"...?"

The brown-haired girl looked at it and tilted her head, then she looked at Zoemi with a question.

"A present for me?"

"..."

She asked with hopeful eyes which made Zoemi sigh.

"It is a present, but it\'s from my master to your\'s"

Zoemi explained.

"!!!"

Patishi blushed and looked away as soon as she noticed the wrapping.

It was time to take the trays and deliver the food but Teo, instead of taking her tray and going, turned towards Patishi.

"Patishi, my master asks for your presence."

"Eh!?"

The young girl was shocked and didn\'t know what to do!

"Oh? Did something happen?"

Zoemi became intrigued and asked.

"N-no...! Nothing...!"

Exclaimed Patishi, with her face burning up from embarrassment.

"Indeed, sir Zoemi, yesterday my master saw how skinny Patishi was and he decided to fatten her up."

"Fatten me up!? What for!?"

"Pffft!"

Patishi was confused and hid behind her big brother but Zoemi only laughed.

"So the first prince is at it again?"

He asked with a cheerful smirk.

"Indeed, master feels the need to make a world a better place one hungry person at a time."

Teo and Zoemi exchange was made Patishi even more flabbergasted.

"I-I\'m not hungry..!"

*Grururururu*

"!!!!"

Patishi spoke up in embarrassment but the loud growl that her stomach made caused her to blush even more and hurriedly lower her head.

"Do not worry, he isn\'t doing it maliciously – truth be told I might be responsible for that quirk of his - he saw me once without my shirt when we were kids, and got actually terrified that a human can be so skinny, so from that point on he would give me half of his portion of every meal we had together. He is just that kind of compassionate soul."

Zoemi explained tousling Patishi\'s head.

"Indeed, I and my sister were the same - master would always make sure that we were eating a lot."

Teo confirmed reminiscing the first year of her attendant\'s training.

"So don\'t worry, he doesn\'t have any bad intentions – if you will feel sick or actually don\'t want to eat, he will not force you, so calm down and go eat a meal with him."

The black-haired boy added and gave Patishi a little push on the back

"Eh!?"

She called out, but the Teo bumped her forward with her butt and the girl had no other choice but to move forward.

And that\'s how Patishi started eating her meals with Horeo, and she even got to see how Horeo eats and praises the cookies that she made especially for him!