Standing before the library, Marie couldn't help but sigh:
"Because I have been going here for so long, the smell of ink and paper feels relieving to me now." She couldn't accept how she felt each time she got near here.
Entering the building, Marie said hi to the librarian on the first floor before moving up to the second floor. In her hand, a tiny lunchbox is set ready to give to Nine.
Entering the second floor, she found Nine sitting at the furthest back of the table, with multiple books surrounding him, slowly she made her way towards him and said:
"Did you even eat today?" Putting the lunchbox on the table and putting away the books from their position.
"The sun is about to set and here you are, alone in this place," Marie said, opening the lunchbox and scooping a spoon of rice mix with meat sauce, and feeding it to Nine.
"Here!" Marie said, waiting for Nine to open his mouth. For a second, Nine did not react to her. Seeing this, she placed the spoon back on the box and slightly tapped Nine's shoulder.
"..... Huh? Marie... What are you doing here?" Nine muttered, seeing her sitting beside him.
Seeing his reaction, Marie quietly muttered: "This guy is so engrossed with his book, he didn't even realize I was here! This is why I'm doing this."
When the two of them were still in a teacher-student relationship, Nine would bring all kinds of new foods during lessons and share them with her.
With the newfound dishes, Marie wondered what kind of foods she had missed during those four days when she wasn't helping him with his studies.
Wanting to know more about these new foods, she's missing out, so she decided to sneak into the library before Nine would be there and wait to see what he'll have for lunch when he's alone.
On the first day she did this, Nine didn't eat that day. At that time, Marie thought to herself:
"Maybe he forgot to bring them?" Since at that time, their next lesson was the very next day.
And just like before, Nine would bring new dishes each time in those three days of them being together.
But each time she wasn't with him, Nine in those four days of being alone would not take anything with him into the library, letting himself starve the entire day.
Of course, she didn't trust what she was seeing at first. So she decided to ask the inn where he was staying what he ate for breakfast so that he could skip lunch.
But the Inn girl said: "He doesn't eat breakfast here and only has dinner in the Inn."
Confirming that he starves himself all day when he's all alone. Since then, Marie would join him for the rest of the week bringing food for him to eat.
And it's the reason for her being here today, since she knew Nine still hadn't eaten anything today.
Due to her successful business, she was unable to find the time to leave her newly established tavern to her worker, leading to her being late today.
"Thanks." Nine said his thanks to her as he ate the food she was feeding him. "Are you sure, you should be here? Isn't your tavern busy at this time?"
"Don't worry about that. I have enough people working there. And if there's a problem happening, the other customers would kick those people out of their own." Marie replied.
After having the recipe and instructions on how to make the dishes Nine shared with her, Marie opened a small stall on the street selling those.
At first, her business didn't have anyone due to the reputation of her former work, but after some foodie adventurers tasted her food, rumors spread that the things she was selling tasted amazing.
Because of those adventurers' reputations with the guild and people, the townspeople decided to try what she was selling.
Just like a domino effect, her business kept rising, and at the end of the summer season, she had enough savings that she was able to buy an old building, opening her own tavern.
She's selling all kinds of dishes and sweets that the people of this town haven't tasted before. Making her newly founded tavern popular for both genders and for both civilians and adventurers in the town.
"Hey." Nine called out. "I know this is rude... But, why are you doing this? The deal we made back then is already done. So there's no reason for you to do this."
"Why—" Marie tried to say her reason, but was cut off.
"And if you're gonna say you feel indebted to me because of your current situation now. Don't be, your success is not because of me but yourself."
"Without your help, I wouldn't be able—" just like again, she was cut off.
"My help? Haha. Come on, you really believe that your success right now is because of me? I didn't do anything at all to help you. The only thing I did, was give you the recipe and instructions on how to make those dishes and sweets. Do you really think that if I gave those instructions and recipes to another person, they'll be the same as you right now?"
"YES!" She answered. "I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you." In Marie's mind, everything she has right now is because of Nine. In her heart, if she hadn't met him back then, she was sure she would still be doing her old job.
"Stop belittling yourself." Nine said, putting his book down.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked Nine.
Turning to her, Nine looked at her eye to eye, making Marie's quirky face calm, slowly he opened his mouth and said:
"Look. You are successful right now, because you are you. It's not because I helped you back then, and not because of that recipe and instructions I gave you, or the things I have given to you. If I gave the same thing I gave to you to another person, would that person do the things you do? No, the answer is NO."
"If others received the amount of money you got, they would surely spend it the moment they got it. Instead of wasting them, you decided to open a stall. Also, did you really think that having the recipe and instructions would make you a good cook?"
"No, that's bullshit!! If having a guide makes you a great cook, everyone will be a professional then, I simply gave you what I know and remembered. The instructions I gave you back then were missing many parts of it, the recipes I wrote might now even be the actual recipe, but somehow you successfully recreated them."
"That's not normal. To me, you're a culinary genius. You're not only a genius cook, but a good businesswoman. That tavern of yours is literally having multiple merchants all over the continent bringing the ingredients needed to make those dishes."
"Look at me!"
"The reason why you are in your situation right now is not because of what you received from me or because you met me. You are here right now, because you are yourself. And I can give you multiple reasons for it. "
"One, you successfully recreated all the dishes and sweets you have eaten with me, along with making those dishes I wrote in that book back then."
"Two, you opened a stall without me telling you to do it. I didn't tell you to do that, you did that on your own."
"Three, you're a great businesswoman. You made a great deal with so many merchants that every week, there's a carriage carrying all kinds of ingredients needed for those dishes, all over the continent."
Hearing all of these, Marie wondered if he was right? All this time, she felt indebted to him and always told herself, she wouldn't be here if it weren't for him.
But after this long talk of Nine, Marie, finally understood that he was right. He didn't do anything to change her fate, he was simply there.
If back then, she didn't reveal his nationality, surely Nine would have left her alone.
If she didn't convince him about her ability, Nine would ignore her.
If she hadn't made that deal back then, nothing would have changed.
If she hadn't annoyed him to get the recipe and instructions out of him, she wouldn't have opened that stall.
If it weren't for her good cooking, those foodie adventurers wouldn't have spread rumors about her stall.
Finally, if she hadn't made all those deals with the merchants to import her goods, her business wouldn't be alive right now.
Taking all of this in, Marie realized how hard she was working all this time. Finally realizing all of this, she couldn't help... but..... Cry her eyes out.
There, in that quiet library.
The two of them were holding each other in their arms, her crying into his body, while Nine cares her head, letting her acknowledge how much she's been working on changing her fate.
*****
End of chapter 18.