It's The First Time For Both Of Us

Translator and Editor: Bunny and Wyvern

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Chapter 23

A shallow wound appeared when the bandage was removed. He also wiped off some of its blood, and now it was only a little reddish.

“This must’ve been painful.”

I could clearly see Hilla’s lips twitching as my nose felt runny. It really hurt when I fell. I looked at him, pouting.

“Your knee injury has been well taken care of, so I have nothing more to look at. I’ll apply the medicine one more time, so be careful until it dries.”

“Hmm.”

“Then, I’ll go down.” Hilla grabbed his bag and stood up from his position.

“Goodbye, Hilla.”

I reluctantly decided to look for the next opportunity and waved goodbye. Today, I only washed my hair and my face, then changed my clothes.

‘This is also short on me.’

It was short enough that my wrist bones were showing at the end of my sleeves. It was actually already like this even before I came to the mansion, but it wasn’t showing that much.

‘Why do I keep growing taller?’

Sure I wanted to grow up quickly, but I wanted to stop my height from growing at times like this.

“…”

Now, I was really thinking if I should stop being stubborn and wear new clothes, but Pihne had called for me.

“Miss.”

I hid my hands behind me and looked at Pihne.

“Hmm?”

“If Young Lady is okay with it….”

“Huh?”

Pihne held out the black cloth she had placed beside me. Upon closer inspection, it was closer to a hand-woven lace dress rather than a cloth.

“The sleeves of the dress you are wearing have grown shorter for you because the young lady is growing up.”

“Ah.”

I got caught eventually. There was no way she couldn’t have seen it. There was also no way she couldn’t know that I wore it every morning and evening. It was kinda hard for me to say that I wanted to wear another set of clothes…..

However, I hated that thought as it seemed like I would cut off all of my memories with my mother, one by one, the more I replaced my things with newer ones. If I had known it would be like this, I would’ve asked my mother to make me a bunch of bigger clothes.

While I was struggling, Pihne held out the lace.

“I made it as similar as possible, but it isn’t the same, right? Miss Yurie was so good at it and I will probably never be able to do it.”

“…” I didn’t fully understand what she meant, but I listened intently to what Pihne had to say.

“Now that the dress is a little longer, you can wear it a little more after I sew on this lace at the end. I think you can still wear this dress for another year if you let me sew on the lace without damaging it.”

I stared blankly at Pihne. I also thought that she would ask me to throw the clothes away.

“Oh, I’m sorry… You don’t want your clothes to be damaged, right? I guess I was too presumptuous.”

I was about to shed tears. To be honest, I still hated to think that needles would make holes in the clothes my mother made for me, but I also couldn’t keep wearing them like this.

I held out my shortened sleeves to Pihne. “No.”

“Yes?”

“Put it on me, Pihne.”

“Really? You don’t have to force it. Slightly shorter sleeves should still be fine, right?”

“If Pihne retouches it then I can wear it more.”

Her face brightened slowly. “Yes, you’re right. It won’t show much if I sew it meticulously.”

“Then do it.”

If this was the case, then my mother would be proud of me even if I grew up to the sky.

It didn’t take for the sleeves to be laced. I watched Pihne as she lengthened my sleeves.

“Wonderful.”

“Is that so? This was in fact, my first time doing this.”

“This is your first time?”

She nodded. “Yes. I usually just do simple stitching.”

“I see.”

Pihne’s hand continued uninterrupted. The short sleeves became longer and fuller as the lace was added layer by layer. None of the clothes my mother made me were damaged, but rather, they became prettier.

“This way, the sleeves will be long and the clothes will not be damaged.”

“Hmm, thank you, Pihne.”

Pihne raised her head, then smiled brightly. “No, I am even more grateful that you are willing to accept it.”

Thinking about it, she mentioned my mother by her name. Maybe she knew my mother?

“Does Pihne know my mother?”

“Miss Yurie?”

I nodded.

“I know of her, though I don’t know her personally. I saw her when I just entered the mansion, and she was very kind to us.”

“Really?”

It was in the original story. But still, hearing about my mother from other people who had been with her made me feel special.

“Yes, that was before you were born.”

“My mother is very pretty. Was my mom pretty before?”

I was happy to know that there was another person who knew my mother. Pihne knew my mother and was good to me. It felt like the vacancy of Dahlia was being filled subtly.

“Yes, she was a very beautiful person. Her heart was more beautiful.”

“That’s right, my mother is the nicest and most beautiful woman in the world.”

Pihne covered her mouth and smiled. “Young Lady looks a lot like Miss Yurie and Master, so it really looks like the two of them were put together.”

“Really? I resemble both of them?”

“Yes, really. You will become even more beautiful as you grow in the future.”

Having said that, I wanted to see my mother. If I didn’t say it out loud, this longing was just as unbearable.

“It would have been nice if you were here together…” Pihne muttered as if lost in thought.

“I miss Mom.”

I couldn’t help the words that came out of my mouth. I felt nauseous all of a sudden and started shaking. Pihne put down the lace on my sleeve and hugged me for a long time to comfort me.

* * *

Hilla, fortunately, didn’t go out too far again. I could see him passing by from time to time while I was playing at the mansion. I would pretend to play, hovering and waiting.

Kuhn planned on getting the herbs for me to eat again. He also said that he would conduct a further investigation about the mysterious space we discovered.

I followed Hilla from time to time. I wanted to reveal his identity, but I also wanted to learn how to make potions from him if it was true that he had something to do with the witches as well. My ability awakening practice didn’t go that well, so I was worried that I would be unable to awaken my ability at all.

‘If I can’t use my abilities like this forever, I’ll have to learn from Hilla.’

That was exactly what I was aiming for. As Hilla went out, I followed after him from a distance.

“He goes around a lot. Physicians are busy too.” I passed the garden and turned a corner when I encountered a dark shadow.

“…?”

Hilla was looking down at me.

‘You were just walking in front of me a while ago…?’

“Miss.”

“H-huh?”

Hilla, who was expressionless, narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Why do you keep following me?”

Hiccup.

I was startled and covered my mouth with both hands to hide the hiccups. He bent his knees and made eye contact.“Are you feeling pain somewhere? Is that why you came looking for me?”

I blinked and shook my head. “Hmm, hiccup. You’re just amazing…”

“I am?”

Thump, thump.

“Hiccup. No, I-I m-mean, Hilla makes medicine that heal the sick so I thought you were amazing—just like a wizard.” I spread my arms wide for dramatic effect.

“Ah.”

“I also wanted to make something like that, so if my dad gets hurt, I can fix him. It sounds cool.”

Then, as if realizing something, Hilla touched his glasses. “Your words.”

‘Did it work…?’

“Are you saying you want to be my apprentice?”

“Yes? Apprentice?”

Hilla’s shoulders moved, and his eyes twinkled. “Is that why you were chasing me like this?”

“H-huh?”

‘Is that what it looked like? Err, I don’t know anymore.’

I nodded my head vigorously. “Hmm, I want to be like Hilla.”

‘I just need to be able to stay by your side.’

I went into flattery mode.

“Hmm.” Hilla scrutinized me.

“Hehe.” I smiled harmlessly.

“Great.”

“Huh?”

“The lady herself said she wants to be my disciple, so I’ll allow it.”

“Yes?”

“Would you like to follow me?”

And Hilla started to take the lead. I looked at Hilla, who was going ahead, bewildered.

‘…This is too easy, though?’

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