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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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While everyone enjoyed the banquet, Charlotte returned to her room, lost in thought.
She felt she no longer belonged by Ed’s side.
What could she possibly contribute?
Ed was constantly moving forward, surrounded by exceptional individuals.
Would someone like her ever catch his eye?
Charlotte let out a sigh.
A long-held sense of inferiority gnawed away at her heart.
-Knock, knock.
That’s when someone knocked on the door.
To her surprise, it was Ed’s voice.
-Jump!
Charlotte jumped up and looked around, wondering if she had imagined it.
‘Was I just hearing things?’
“Charlotte, are you in there?”
No…it was unmistakably Ed’s voice.
She rushed to the mirror, scrutinizing her appearance.
Everything felt wrong, nothing seemed satisfactory.
“Y-Yes… C-Come in…”
She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t there.
Startled by the knock, she had fumbled, sending things clattering to the floor.
-Creak.
Soon, Ed entered.
His handsome face, the same face that had captivated her at first sight. Compared to him, she felt insignificant.
“You were here after all. I didn’t see you at the banquet.”
“I… I just wanted to rest…”
Charlotte hid her face behind her curly green hair.
“I understand. It was a bit chaotic, wasn’t it? People like us prefer quiet places.”
Ed sat down on an empty chair.
But Charlotte tilted her head slightly at his words.
“People… like us…?”
“Yeah. I enjoy being alone too. I spend most of my time in the lab. I figured you might be the same.”
…He was spot on..
Charlotte, shy since childhood, preferred tending her garden to socializing.
Using her family’s inherited nature-based creation magic, she would lose herself in building her own little ecosystems, often forgetting the time until dinner.
“Charlotte?”
Ed’s voice broke through her thoughts. He was looking at her, with a gentle smile on his face.
“You were thinking about something else, weren’t you?”
“···!!”
Could he read minds?
Charlotte’s shoulders slumped.
She mumbled an apology, and Ed chuckled.
“I do that too. When I get an idea, I sometimes lose track of the conversation. I often go off on tangents and say strange things.”
He smiled, reminiscing about his time back on Earth.
During his university days, he would often make odd remarks, his mind drifting to his major whenever a related keyword popped up in conversation.
“I… I do that too… Hehe…”
Charlotte giggled, feeling a sense of camaraderie. Realizing that Ed had similarities with her made her feel closer to him.
“Charlotte, are you hungry?”
Ed rubbed his stomach. It growled audibly.
“Oh! You haven’t eaten anything?”
“No. I lose my appetite when I’m nervous. I was a bit tense discussing diplomatic matters with the king.”
Ed, determined to mend relations between humans and dwarves, hadn’t eaten anything.
“Then let’s eat! Wait here!”
Charlotte jumped up, with a determined smile on her face.
She retrieved a special sauce container from her bag.
Finally, a chance to show Ed her otherworldly hot pot, a dish she hadn’t had the opportunity to share with anyone.
-Bubble, bubble, bubble.
She quickly prepared the meal. Fresh vegetables simmered in a light, flavorful broth.
“Thanks.”
Ed tasted the broth and vegetables, giving her a thumbs-up.
Charlotte smiled happily.
“Charlotte.”
Then, Ed’s tone changed.
He had something to discuss. Charlotte sensed it too.
“There’s a meeting tomorrow about the emerald mana stones. I’d like you to attend.”
“······”
Charlotte’s smile faded. She stared at the vegetables floating in the broth.
“Even if I attend… I… I won’t be of any… help…”
All she could do was make vegetable soup.
Everyone else was making significant contributions, while she had accomplished nothing.
“…Why do you think that? Only you, with your nature-based creation magic, can preserve the emerald mana stones.”
The upcoming meeting was precisely her area of expertise.
“I… I’ve always… been like this… I stutter… I’m… ugly…”
Charlotte had a deep-seated complex about her appearance, stemming from a childhood trauma.
She still remembered it vividly.
-So, even dogs like you now?
-Yeah, it’s easy. Ugly bitches are quick.
The memory made her breathless.
An overwhelming sense of betrayal washed over her, her shoulders shaking and tears welled up.
He had been her first love.
Someone she thought shared a deep connection with her, who always said she was pretty.
-Keh. You gonna date her now?
-Maybe. It’s a fallen family anyway. Even if I use her and throw her away afterward, it’s no big deal.
Her first love had shown his true colors, flipping a switch like it was nothing.
That day, overhearing him by chance, was when her stutter began.
“Charlotte.”
Ed’s voice brought her back to the present. She quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve, her voice barely a whisper.
“S-Sorry… I said something… strange…”
Ed looked at her with concern.
“You’re not ugly.”
“······”
“You’re just hidden. Why don’t you try taking off your glasses?”
Ed looked at her and said.
Charlotte hesitated but slowly took off her glasses, glancing at Ed.
He grinned.
“See? I wasn’t mistaken. Your eyes are beautiful.”
Her doe-like eyes, framed by subtle double eyelids, perfectly complemented her gentle features.
Her best feature had been hidden behind thick lenses.
“M-me…?”
No one had ever said that to her before.
“Yeah. No one noticed because they were hidden behind your glasses. You’ve never shown anyone your face without glasses, right?”
Charlotte thought for a moment.
Indeed, she had never shown her face without glasses to anyone.
She always believed she was ugly and tried to cover up as much as possible.
“And your facial structure is actually quite striking. The problem is that your curly hair hides it, making you look puffy.”
Her unruly green curls, like hundreds of tiny twists, framed her face like a lion’s mane, obscuring her features.
She had chosen the worst possible hairstyle.
“This won’t do. Wait here.”
Ed disappeared for a moment.
About ten minutes later, he returned to Charlotte’s room.
“Sit down. I’ll style your hair.”
“W-What?”
He held a strange object in his hand. It was a hair straightener.
But Charlotte had no idea what it was.
“A change of hairstyle can make all the difference.”
He sat her down and began straightening her hair.
With every touch, Charlotte blushed, and her heart pounded.
“Alright, how’s this? Totally different, right?”
He finished straightening her hair and placed a mirror on the table.
Charlotte looked at her reflection with a stunned expression and murmured,
“Wh-who… is this person…?”
The beautiful girl in the mirror.
Surprisingly, the girl mimicked her every move exactly.
That was because the girl in the mirror was herself.
“I told you. You were always beautiful.”
“······”
She couldn’t believe it.
Just removing her glasses and straightening her hair had made such a difference.
“Charlotte, do you see this?”
Just then, Ed pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to her.
It was a stone.
“A stone…?”
“Haha. It looks like a stone, doesn’t it? It’s a rough diamond.”
“!”
Charlotte looked at the stone again.
No matter how she looked at it from this angle or that, it still looked like an ordinary pebble… but this was going to become a diamond?
“Well, unless you’ve worked with these before, it’s hard to tell at a glance. But it’s a diamond. I can tell.”
He handed her the stone.
She stared blankly at it, and Ed gently placed it into her hand, saying:
“It suits you. It’s a gift.”
Charlotte stared at the rough diamond, its unpolished exterior hiding its true brilliance.
It looked no different from a rock on the outside.
But once refined, it would shine as a dazzling diamond.
She understood what Ed was trying to tell her.
“…Thank you.”
Tears welled up, but she held them back.
Because now she knew, she could shine too.
She smiled instead of crying.
“I’ll… I’ll do my best tomorrow…! I’ll try to be helpful!”
She still had a long way to go, but she was ready to try.
Just like the meaning behind Ed’s gift, she needed to polish herself, to face the world and discover her own brilliance.
“Good. Now, shall we finish our meal? The rice and egg mixed in the broth is really delicious.”
They continued their meal, chatting about various things.
With every conversation, Charlotte felt her past wounds healing.
The night deepened.
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It’s always the nerdy girl who turns out to be hot.