It seemed that every time Noah joked about her own eyes, Kuro would be unhappy.
To be honest, Noah herself felt it didn't matter.
However, in Kuro's eyes, no one could joke about Noah's eyes, not even Noah herself.
Perhaps this was part of Kuro's desire to protect Noah, but Noah's heart wasn't that fragile.
Just like that time she received the glasses as a gift, Noah wasn't angry, but Kuro was so furious that she almost crushed the glasses.
Noah never thought it was excessive for someone to joke about her eyes; in her opinion, as long as she didn't care, it was fine.
However, putting herself in others' shoes, if someone mocked Zofia's left hand, Noah would also be angry.
Noah couldn't help but reflect on herself once more; after all, she understood the principle of 'do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.'
At most, next time... I won't tell such jokes...
But one must still be optimistic.
Next time, Noah needed to think of jokes that wouldn't make Kuro angry.
Kuro rarely smiled normally and acted like an ascetic.
Noah just wanted her to smile more often.
After breakfast, Noah had just sat back down at her desk when she heard footsteps approaching from a distance.
The steps were heavy, indicating that the person was tall.
Noah, already familiar with the footsteps of those around her, started to greet the person before they even opened the door.
"Uncle Manner, good morning."
"...Morning."
Well, this one was also a legendary quiet type...
Noah couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
Why were all the people around her so quiet?
Or did experts just not like to talk much?
Manner glanced at Kuro, who was standing behind Noah.
For some reason, Kuro felt a bit strange to him today.
Although Kuro only looked at him once, there was a certain emotion in that gaze.
This was clearly odd for Kuro, whose emotional fluctuations weren't usually so obvious, but he didn't think much of it.
Perhaps Kuro was just in a bad mood today?
He sat down at his usual desk, intending to deal with the documents left over from last night, but suddenly discovered that all those documents had already been processed.
Judging by the signatures and official seals, Noah had handled all of them herself.
Manner was first stunned, then looked at Noah, his expression suddenly becoming somewhat subtle.
"Hmm?"
Noah, sensing Manner's gaze, turned her head and tilted it slightly.
"Is something wrong, Uncle Manner?"
"No... nothing."
Manner suddenly understood why Kuro had acted that way towards him.
It seemed his work had been completed overnight by his boss.
Noah had truly gone to great lengths to give him time to deal with family matters.
Manner, silently noting this, did not offer any words of thanks, but instead immersed himself back into his work, just with greater diligence.
—
"Alright, that's about it for the morning."
After some time, Manner and Noah had each handled their respective duties.
Noah also heard the alarm she had set—today she was going to the opera with Viviana.
Or rather, for Noah, it was going to listen to the opera.
To prevent herself from getting too engrossed in work and forgetting the time, she had set an alarm early.
"Then I'll be going out this afternoon... Uncle Manner, I'll have to trouble you with the afternoon's work. I'll catch up on the progress when I get back."
Noah said in a consulting tone, although in reality, she didn't need to consult Manner at all.
A personal assistant was supposed to handle work that Noah couldn't personally attend to temporarily.
However, since the person in front of her was an elder, Noah still maintained a respectful attitude.
"Leave it to me."
Manner nodded.
"Have a safe trip."
"There's no need to push yourself. Just leave when it's time to go home."
Noah instructed again.
"Absolutely no overtime!"
"...Okay."
Manner nodded, indicating he agreed.
However, Noah still felt a bit uneasy, and only after repeated instructions did she and Kuro leave the company.
On the way, Noah said to Kuro with some frustration, "I always feel that Uncle Manner isn't putting his heart into it... Surely time with family is more precious, right?
I wouldn't dock his pay..."
"...Mm."
"Kuro, you think so too, right? Uncle Manner interacts too little with Maria and the others normally. This definitely won't do."
"...Yes."
"I'm just worried that when I go back, Uncle Manner will still be working. It's fine if work is done a little later."
Noah complained.
In her heart, the repair of the relationship between Manner, Maria, and Zofia was far more important than work.
"...Manner has his own ideas.
Perhaps you're too eager."
Kuro spoke, but did not agree with Noah's thoughts, instead offering her own perspective.
"Adults have their own ideas; just because you think it's good doesn't necessarily make it good."
"You're not wrong, but..."
Noah paused.
"I just... felt that there were some things Margaret couldn't do back then."
"Those are their matters."
Kuro's words were a decisive blow.
"And with you... in fact, it doesn't have that much to do with you, right?"
"..."
Noah fell silent.
Logically speaking, it was true; this was their family affair.
Although she was as close as sisters with Maria and a trusted friend with Margaret, meddling in other people's family affairs was not a good thing.
One could even say that simply creating an opportunity was already doing her utmost.
However, she still wanted to do more, or rather, to somewhat ease the atmosphere in the Nearl Family family before Margaret returned.
It wasn't like this originally... The original Nearl Family family had a warm family that Noah envied...
But when she returned from treatment at Rhodes Island, everything had changed.
Margaret had left, the Nearl Family family's grandfather Cyril had passed away, and even Snitz and Yolanta had disappeared.
She hadn't been gone for long, but the moment she returned, everything had changed.
She still remembered when she saw Maria again, the way Maria cried and threw herself into her arms.
For Maria at that time, Noah was the first person who had left her and then returned to her side.
But Noah at that time could only helplessly hold Maria, who had thrown herself into her arms, unable to even say words of comfort.
It was probably from this time that Noah had always had a knot in her heart.
She didn't want to be powerless like this forever, didn't want to be unable to resist when her surroundings changed, and wanted to reclaim some things...
She just wished for such strength.
This was also her original intention.