Chapter 108

I replied in a cold sweat.

“Yes. In fact, it may not taste good. But it is very, very precious.”

“It’s precious! You’re giving me something like that?”

Alice blinked her eyes at the word precious, and then she gasped and breathed in and asked softly.

I nodded and answered.

“But not here. Because it’s so precious, I’m only giving it to Alice. So, let’s go out to the backyard of the kindergarten for a moment.”

“Good!”

Alice agreed positively and grabbed my arm.

***

After a while.

Standing in the backyard of the kindergarten with a sad expression on my face, I carefully opened my mouth.

“So, this is it.”

I pulled out my fist from my pocket and opened it carefully.

There were no thorns on the outside of the fruit because it was trimmed secretly last night.

However, the shape was still very ugly.

“……”

Alice was still speechless.

In the quiet stillness of only the chirping of birds passing by, I prayed to myself.

‘Alice shouldn’t see me as a weirdo.’

Just then, Alice opened her mouth.

“Miss Emir, this is the fruit of the curse.”

Alice’s eyelashes, which had sunk heavily, flickered due to disappointment after rising in anticipation.

Before I could explain anything, Alice continued her speech.

“…But Miss Emir doesn’t play pranks that bother me, so she must have given me something really precious.”

Alice trusted me firmly.

When I looked now, the pupils under the sunken eyelashes were staring at me clearly.

Then Alice asked carefully.

“Why did you give this to me?”

“Well, I wanted Alice to have power.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I answered.

Alice glared at me.

“Strength?”

“Yes. As Alice said before. She says she has no ability to summon fairies.”

“Yes.”

At my words, Alice’s face suddenly darkened.

I explained it right away without giving a break.

“Alice, if you eat this fruit, you will have strength. Not right now. But you might be able to summon a fairy soon.”

So trust me and try it just once! I was going to say that…

What?

“Because Miss Emir said so.”

What?

“I will eat it.”

Alice took the berries on my palm without further questioning.

Then she shoved it into her mouth at once and chewed it.

The sound of fruit juice popping was refreshing.

It certainly turned out as I had hoped, but I was a little embarrassed because she ate it so easily.

Anyway, I thought she would be suspicious of whether it was a lie!

‘Alice, you’re so naive… I can’t do it! I’m going to have to teach you not to get food from anyone but me!’

Suddenly, I made a promise.

And after a while, Alice said with a frown on her face.

“I ate it all. Ummm… bitter. And it tastes greasy.”

“Good job, Alice, ah. Would you like some chocolate? The bitter taste may subside a bit.”

I handed the chocolates and candy from my pocket to Alice.

Alice took on one with a flamboyant color.

“It’s delicious! It’s sweeter because I eat bitter things.”

“Is it delicious? What a relief.”

“…Well, by the way, Miss Emir, is that fruit really not poisonous? I’m kind of falling asleep right now…”

“Al, Alice?”

At that time, Alice’s smiling expression suddenly became languid, and then her body collapsed.

I was startled and ran and caught Alice before she fell.

With a bang, she fell.

“Ah, ah… it hurts.”

I pounded my buttocks properly.

But fortunately, Alice was not hurt because I held her properly.

At the loud noise, the knights ran towards me.

“What’s going on!”

“Alice has fallen…!”

How am I supposed to explain this?

If I told them I gave Alice the fairy tree fruit, everyone would look at me strangely, asking why I gave it to her.

No, rather than that, in the original story, there was no side effect of suddenly falling asleep, right?

Why did Alice fall asleep?

Was it because in the original story, she ate it as an adult, and now she ate it as a child?

“I think she fell asleep instead of collapsed?”

At that time, a knight approaching Alice said curiously.

“The breathing sound is even. I don’t know if she has narcolepsy. Did she suddenly fall asleep?”

“Ah, um…”

Let’s say that for now.

I nodded.

Then the knights exchanged glances, and after a while they spoke to me.

“First, let me tell Mrs. Edmond. And I will bring Miss Alice to the bed in the nap room, would Miss Emir like to go together?”

“……Yes!”

They say she’s asleep, but just in case I might not know, I’ll keep an eye on her.

***

After a while, the kindergarten nap area.

“Koo-Koo-”

It was a quiet space with only the two of us, so only the sound of Alice’s sleeping breath filled the space.

I sat down with a chair next to her.

The window of the room had blackout curtains so that we could sleep deeply.

In the thin ray of light coming in through the small gap between them, Alice’s bright white blonde hair shone.

“Alice, your hair is really pretty.”

I stared blankly at the scene and muttered involuntarily.

Her long eyelashes, like fluttering butterflies, were also platinum.

However, Alice’s eyelids twitched as if she had heard my words in her sleep.

“……?”

And soon after, Alice’s mouth twitched slightly.

Are you trying to sleep talk?

“Fai… ry, umm.”

Fortunately, in the dream Alice seemed to be meeting a fairy.