The next day I accompanied her Highness and her maid of honor to the tree. The princess wished to drink tea at the great tree.

Before doing so, I went and stirred all the barrels, in order to distribute the wild yeast throughout the mash, and to expel from it the excess carbon dioxide which arises during fermentation. Stirring also promotes a more even fermentation process, which is important for making wine by asking my sister to come stir periodically.

Positioned not far from the tree, we had a beautiful view of the seeded fields in front of us.

- You have a beautiful and peaceful place here.

- That is until the harvest season begins. 

- Oh, just about the harvest. I tasted the juice and berries you gave Isabella yesterday. I've never tasted anything like it. Don't you call them grapes?  

- I'm glad you liked it.

- It's not the word for it! I was amazed. You can make a splash in the market and get rich quick if you start selling these berries and juice.

- Thank you for the praise. Maybe in the future. Right now, I need all my harvest for my project.

- Project? Isabella told me about it, but I never understood what you do with the berries... 

- It's complicated, but when my project works. You'll be surprised when you taste the wine. 

- As I know you'll be home for a couple months and then traveling back. Plus a month round trip, I think I'll have my drink ready by then.

- Yeah, that's right, I'll be passing through on the day of your older sister's wedding. I've just been invited to the wedding. Anyway, we'll look forward to tasting your wine. But still think about my offer when I arrive.

- I will certainly consider your offer.

All this time Bella sat next to the princess and listened attentively to our conversation, sipping tea from a porcelain bowl.

From my observations, any utensils here were either wooden or clay, but I didn't see any utensils made of transparent or translucent glass, even though glass is used in this world. 

"So... We need to write a letter to the dwarf..." - I thought. 

Isabella said something to the princess, stood up and and walked along the tree roots that towered and created the effect of a wall.

- Are you going to sit like that? I can see that you want to keep Isabella company.

- Forgive me, but I must accompany you.

- I have many guards, in case you haven't noticed. Nothing untoward will happen in your absence.

- But...

- No, but it's an order. Keep Isabella company.

- All right, I hear you.

Standing up, I followed Bella. The girl was walking along the roots, running her hands along them and humming a tune I didn't know.

- Am I disturbing you?

Bella turned sharply, her face was surprised and her cheeks were slightly red.

- Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. 

- You didn't, I just didn't expect you to keep me company.

- I'll walk with you.

She smiled and we walked further along the roots of the tree. I walked beside her sometimes turning in her direction. She was smiling, but she wasn't humming that tune anymore. Eh, I should have watched her longer without giving away my presence.

Her smile gave off a warmth that made me feel so peaceful. I closed my eyes for a moment and for some reason imagined an ordinary daisy. And at the same moment I saw a flower very similar to a daisy growing in this world. I must have accidentally activated my ability. 

- Will, are you all right, Will......? 

I opened my eyes Bella was standing in front of me with a frightened face.

- Oh, I'm sorry...

- You scared me. You abruptly, froze and any emotion was gone from your face and you didn't respond to my questions for a while. At first I thought I'd done something to offend you, but then I was afraid something had happened to you. I was told you were found unconscious near this tree. 

- Again, I apologize, but I was thinking very hard, and I lost contact with the world for a moment.

- What were you thinking about? 

- A beautiful thing, but it's a secret. Don't worry, I'll try not to do it again. 

- You puzzle me more and more every time.

- I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose. 

- I forgive you, and stop apologizing all the time.

- Pros...... , oh...I'll try, but no promises.

- I see you even turned down the princess herself. I'm getting more and more curious about what kind of drink this wine of yours is.....

- I understand," I said scratching the back of my head.

- Well, since we'll be making the return trip by road too and we're invited to your older sister's wedding, I hope we'll sample your wine.

- I'll save the best for you. 

- We'll be very grateful.

- But I wasn't talking about the princess and Frolean, I was talking for you, Bella. 

- You were, weren't you? - Bella said, blushing. 

- Oh, I'm sorry. Just because you were helping me yesterday when we were preparing the pulp for the future wine, I decided that I would leave the best part to you. 

Oh, that was a close one. 

- Oh so that's what you mean, thank you ...... - for some reason Bella's voice had a note of sadness in it.

- ..... Let's go back, we've come a long way.

- Yeah, I guess you're right.  I wanted to ask you... Do you always accompany the princess on any trips and travels? 

- As long as I've known her, we've been together since we were kids. We're really more friends than princess and subordinate.

Tilin came along a little later.

- Tilin? 

- That's the second maid of honor who accompanies the princess.

- Ah I see, but she's always silent and emotionless.

- That's right, even in our company, she's silent. But Tilin is our maid of honor, guard, and martial arts teacher. 

- A martial arts teacher? 

- She comes from the country of Tsing. The martial arts are very advanced there. Many of the guards of the high nobles are from that country. I heard a legend that because there is a small island between that country and the demon continent, people had to learn martial arts to survive because of the frequent fighting on the island.

- I didn't realize that it was a big island since it was drawn small on the maps. 

- It is, on the maps the mainland is drawn small, but in reality it can have a whole country on it and it's an area of constant skirmishes.

- Well, this country must have serious martial arts training at this age. 

Tilin already knows martial arts. 

- Oh, so she's in her early eighties.

- What, over 80? She looks like she's the same age as us!

- Her father is human and her mom is an elf. Elves live to be 400 years old, that's why she looks so young. 

- I've heard that elves live a long time, but that long... But if they live that long, why are they so rare?

- Well, elves live a long time, but they can only have one or two children in a lifetime. Plus, they lead a cloistered life. There are outcasts who go to other races, but they are very few, and those who make relationships with other races and even less.

Apparently, the nature has taken care that with such a long life elves do not fill the whole planet.

During the conversation we did not notice how we came back to the place where the princess was drinking tea. 

- How was your walk? ...... - with her head tilted slightly to the side and a wry smile, the princess asked.

Bella sat down next to the princess and elbowed her in the side.

- ...... Ai, I was just curious.

I turned my gaze to the maid of honor sitting next to me, Tilin, as always, sat silently watching the princess and Bella. Only now I noticed that the sharp tips of her elven ears were peeking out of her long hair. I sat silently across from her and watched Bella and the princess talk to each other.

That's how my day went.

*******

After seeing them off and saying goodnight, I headed not home, but to the place where the daisy-like flower grew in my vision. After spending about an hour walking from the village, I reached a large field. 

In front of me was a white carpet with a tinge of yellow and it felt like it was endless. But if I looked closely, I could see the edge of a forest in the distance. For as long as I've lived here, I didn't even realize there was such beauty nearby. 

Trying not to trample, I picked a beautiful bouquet and headed back to the village. It was getting dark when I got home, but that was good for me. 

The room where Bella slept was on the second floor, next to the princess' room. 

I waited until nightfall, and because I'm a gentleman, and knowing the bounds of propriety... well, to put it simply, so as not to get slapped, I magically placed a jar of flowers on the window. I will call them daisies, because I had no information about the name of these flowers in this world.

- I hope I didn't wake her up," I muttered and went to bed.

****

I woke up early and went to the vineyards to stir the pulp and see how the fermentation process was going. Thankfully, the average temperature in these latitudes did not change much, and varied between 15-25 degrees, which was convenient for making wine.

Of course, if it suddenly got too hot or too cold, I could adjust the temperature with magic. 

The aroma of the must reminded me of the smell of cherries with hints of strawberries. This was good, as there were no extraneous odors of sulfur or acetone. After checking and mixing all the barrels, I headed back to the manor. Outside the house stood my mother, my younger sister, and my father and Bella talking about something. 

In Bella's hands were the flowers I had picked yesterday and placed on the window. When Bella saw me, she waved at me and headed towards me. To be honest, for some reason I wanted to fall through the ground at that moment as my family looked at me with a smirk. 

- Good morning. 

- Good morning to you, too. 

- I woke up this morning and saw an 11-leaf ....... on my window.

As I found out later it is called 11-leafleaf because this flower always has the same number of leaves on the stem.

- ....... Did you put them on the window? And how did you know it was my favorite flower? 

Not even the princess knows that.... 

- I was walking around the neighborhood last night and saw these flowers, so I thought you might like them. And it's a way of partially thanking you for your help.

"Hit me with something! I'm making excuses again!" 

- Thank you, it's my pleasure," Bella thanked me, blushing again and bowing her head slightly. 

- Oh, I'm sorry, the princess is waiting for me. - And in the blink of an eye, Bella ran through the doors of the house.

I headed in the direction of my family.

- You never gave me flowers! - with a disgruntled look on her face, mom said those words to daddy.

Daddy stood there with a confused face, looking at me and his wife.

- I'm sorry, daddy, I didn't mean to. 

"Eh, when I make cognac, the very first bottle will be yours!"

Sis with a serious face came up to me and tapped me, with pouty cheeks going into the house. 

All day long neither daddy nor little sister spoke to me.