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ACCORDING to Ernest, both sets of parents were willing to play along to get the warring couple back together. Their original plan had fallen through though.
Ernest gave Leonard a special “True Love Potion” which he said was a specialty of Yuuri’s. He was supposed to use the potion at the next dinner party. Ernest was frighteningly convincing, it seemed.
Ernest invited the couple to a dinner party and it was the day after that an angry Leonard paid a visit to Yuuri’s shop. Ernest walked in behind him. Naturally he was wearing a mischievous smile, a stark contrast to Leonard’s scowl. But for once, Yuuri was the meddlesome count’s willing accomplice.
“Are you the witch? That potion you gave me didn’t work! Instead of being able to say how I really felt, I just ended up hurting her again!” Leonard bellowed, not even introducing himself.
“But the potion is working. After all, you just shared your true feelings with me.” Yuuri declared with a surprising amount of confidence.
Though Leonard was essentially a stranger, Yuuri had a role to play.
“Beguiling witch! I don’t care what I tell you! I love Riche! I’ve always thought she was beautiful from the bottom of my heart! I want to tell her! But when her beauty is before me, it’s like a curse steals the words from my lips!”
These words, the ones Yuuri and Ernest wanted to get Leonard to say, were likely the same ones he wanted to say to Riche. Ernest broke in to bring Leonard down from his impassioned speech.
“…There you have it, Lady Riche. These are Leonard’s real feelings. The witch’s potion is as potent as ever, even if it took a while to kick in.” Ernest called in to the back room of the shop.
The door opened ever so slightly. Yuuri opened it the rest of the way, revealing Riche standing there.
“…Wh-What is Riche doing here…?”
“I asked her to come,” Yuuri said, having invited Riche in anticipation of Leonard’s tirade.
The “True Love Potion” Yuuri had given Leonard was really just sugary syrup. Drinking it might warm the body, but it wouldn’t really cause someone to reveal their true feelings.
In other words, it was a placebo.
Yuuri had two hypotheses: one, that he would drink it and, believing it was real, divulge his true feelings; in other words, the placebo effect. This was the outcome Yuuri hoped for.
The other possibility was that things would go as they were now, so either way, it was all going according to Yuuri’s plan.
Ernest was also in on the whole thing, so he broke into a wide grin.
“Leonard…you really are something else.” Riche stood in front of him smiling, her eyes blurring with tears.
“No, wait, I…”
Even though she now knew how he felt, he still couldn’t say it. Leonard’s affliction was indeed serious and it would take time to cure him, perhaps a lifetime even.
“It’s all right. It’s not as if I didn’t know how you felt. It’s just that I lacked confidence, and not being able to hear it from you made me uneasy.”
“Riche.”
“Listen. I love you, all right? And I suppose if you were the sort of man who could unironically whisper sweet nothings into my ear, you wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with. And yet, isn’t all this strange?”
The one person he couldn’t express his love to was the one he loved most. But he finally let Riche know just how special she was to him. And with that, her anxieties were gone.
The case of the fumbling lovers came to a close for now.
Still blushing, Leonard turned to Yuuri.
“By the way, how much for the potion? I owe you, for that and for shouting at you earlier.”
“Uhm…you’ve probably already figured this out, but that’s just a standard vitamin tonic, so it’s only five copper coins.”
That was the same as a cup of tea at most ritzy teahouses.
“No. It was a witch’s brew, and so I insist on paying the market price for that.”
“In that case, for reward, I…”
The one who arranged this farce was that meddlesome count. So she didn’t need Leonard to pay. Just as she was about to explain, Ernest waved her off.
“Leonard, consider it an early wedding present from me. After all, I’m the one who asked for her help, so I should be the one to pay.”
The couple seemed insistent on doing something, but Ernest chased them off. He sure was an oddball, somehow anxious to offer up his “reward” to Yuuri.