"...The sun's a little too hot. Can I have a glass of iced tea?"
"Mm, the sea breeze is a little noisy. I'm thirsty too."
"...Right, once we're done painting, how about we go down for a swim together?"
"No. I hate seawater. That salty, sticky feeling clinging to your body is so unpleasant."
"..."
"Will the ladies be all right?" Adeline of the Night Watchers asked.
Nancy, with enormous nightmare horns, tapped her lips with a finger and shushed her.
"It's fine. Can't you see the lady is painting Miss Han? Right, give me the iced tea. I'll bring it over to them."
She picked up the iced tea and, beneath the worried gazes of her companions, took a deep breath. Wearing a flowerlike smile that put people at ease, she walked behind Angelite, who was painting. "Um, my lady?"
Angelite turned her head slightly. Her left hand, holding the brush, paused; her right hand propped up her cheek as she tilted her head faintly to look at Nancy.
...Though she had worked for the lady for quite some time now, Nancy still found the lady's gaze hard to bear.
"Your iced tea," she said with a smile, but the smile gradually faded, becoming a somewhat cautious expression in the end.
After a moment, the lady nodded and said to Miss Han, who stood over there:
"Take a break. We'll continue painting later."
After saying that, the lady looked at Nancy with an expression that said, You're strange.
That gaze made Nancy, the nightmare Witch, tremble inwardly.
Did I do something wrong?
Did I offend the lady?
Shouldn't I have interrupted her while she was enjoying herself?
A thousand and one guesses, respectful and disrespectful alike, drifted through her mind.
Just then, the lady said lightly:
"Nancy, aren't