“I love her. I love her in the exact same way she loves me.”
“Huh?” she said cautiously. When she looked at his face, he merely stared at her with confusion in his eyes. She’d definitely just read his mind. What she’d heard was the unadulterated truth.
“Since when…?” she asked, her heart pounding. Her breathing sped up and her head felt like cotton wool, just like when she’d been delirious with fever.
“Wait, hang on a moment. Lille, are you seriously reading my mind?” Charles asked with a hint of panic, deflecting her question. Unlike his flustered face and voice, his thoughts calmly flowed into her mind like a gentle river.
“At first, I was simply proud of her. I enjoyed watching her grow and learn. The first time I saw her in a different light was when she cried for me after seeing my memories.”
Charles’s heart was tender and honest. His aura felt wonderful, like the surface of a still, clear lake—far from the turmoil she’d felt when she tapped into his nightmare.
“I knew for sure that I loved her when she told me to destroy the watch. I thought, with her at my side, I wouldn’t be scared of living anymore.”
Lille could never have even imagined he felt that way about her.
“But I have a certain responsibility as her mentor, plus she sees me as a parent. She’ll go on to meet many more people in life; I don’t want to hold her back. I need to keep these feelings buried, so that one day, she’ll be able to leave this house with no regrets. That’s my duty.”
Charles’s pain, loneliness, and love spilled into her heart until it was completely full. He gave her everything he could, never expecting a single thing in return. Even after his love had shifted from platonic to romantic, he hadn’t treated her any differently; his entirely selfless nature had prevailed over his own feelings.
“Master Charlie…” she said, her voice cracking. She started to sob, an unthinkable happiness overwhelming her. She had never known that crying with joy would feel so warm and encompassing.
“Lille…did you hear everything?” he asked anxiously, watching her with uncertain eyes.
“Master Charlie,” Ark said, catching his attention. “Just so you know, Lille didn’t mean to read your mind just now. It happened because you wanted her to know. She didn’t have to do anything at all.”
“I did that…?” He blinked.
Thinking back, Lille realized that she hadn’t tried to read his mind when she witnessed his nightmare, either. She’d always thought that was strange, but what if he’d been unconsciously hoping to share his pain with someone…?
“Now that that’s out of the way, you gotta say it yourself. Your feelings are mutual, right? What’re you so scared of?” Leo said, encouraging Charles. “Pull yourself together! You’re our mentor, aren’t you?”
“Leo…” Charles murmured, looking as though he’d just been slapped in the face. “…All right. I’ll tell her properly. I should face up to this, too.”
Slowly, Charles stood up.
“Lille,” he began, taking her hands and bringing her to a stand as well. His eyes swam with tears, and Lille could see herself reflected in his jade-green irises. His gaze was fixated on her. She could barely breathe, a mixture of hope and fear roiling inside her. Her pulse thrummed in her ears, and she worried that she might faint.
“I love you. Out of every single girl in the world, you are the most precious to me,” he declared.
Lille gawked at him in clear disbelief, her mouth hanging open as she struggled to find words. “Me too… I love you more than anyone else in the world!” she exclaimed, flying into Charles’s arms with a huge grin. He caught her as if it were the most natural thing ever.
“…This puts me in a weird position. I told myself this could never happen, but I’m so ecstatic right now that I don’t know if I could go back…” Charles said, his tone breathy and nervous.
Lille could hear his heartbeat through his chest. When she noticed that it was beating at the same pace as her own, tears welled in her eyes yet again. She was so overcome with love for the beautiful man in her arms that she didn’t know how to process the situation.
If only time would stand still.
“Honestly,” Ark sighed. “Those two sure are a handful.”
“You’ve got that right,” Leo agreed. “I can’t believe I even sacrificed my own heart for this.”
“You’re a good guy, Leo.”
“Yeah, well… I’ll just find an even cuter girl at school and make her my girlfriend instead. Lille’s missed her chance!” Although he was putting on a brave front, tears collected in the corners of Leo’s eyes as he spoke.
“Leo, Ark… Thank you both,” Lille said earnestly.
“Nah, you don’t need to thank us. If you two kept repressing your emotions, it would’ve created even more issues for all of us,” Ark said, grinning mischievously.
All of a sudden, Lille remembered what he’d mentioned in the past: “Familiars can sense their masters’ emotions.” It was entirely possible that Ark had known about both Charles and Lille’s feelings for a long time.
“Oh, by the way… I forgot to say this before, but apparently, I don’t actually have to stay in the school dorms,” Leo added offhandedly.
“What?” Lille and Charles reacted at the same time, taken aback by Leo’s casual revelation. Ark rested his chin on his hands and smirked.
Don’t tell me—was he just pretending to be sad this whole time?
“You only have to stay at school for the beginning of the term. After that, so long as you know how to teleport, you can stay wherever you want. It’s a new rule,” he explained. “So, I’ll learn teleportation faster than anyone ever has, and come back home as soon as I can. Wait for me, okay?”
“But, what about your family?” Charles wondered.
“I mean… I think you guys would be worse off without me than they are. You wouldn’t get anything done without me, so I’ll come back out of the kindness of my heart,” he said, puffing his chest out.
“Leo…” Lille beamed, touched. “That means a lot to us. You’ll come back soon, won’t you? We’ll be waiting for you.”
The thought that her family wouldn’t be separated sent a rush of joy through her, relief blossoming in her chest like a flower in springtime.
…Wait a moment…
The answer she had been searching for suddenly presented itself.
“Master Charlie? There’s one more thing I want to say,” she said, steeling herself.
“Sure. What is it?”
“For a long time, I’ve been wondering…how can I fall in love with you, but still be family to you?” she admitted. Ever since the seamstress at The Three Needles had alluded to the possibility, the question had been weighing on her mind. “But I think I know what the answer is now.”
I’m sure this is what she meant.
She knelt down on one knee in front of Charles. She put her left hand to her heart and took his hand with her right. When she read fairy tales, that was what the prince always did when he asked a similar question.
“Master Charlie… Please make me your bride!”
There it was: how to fall in love and be a family. How to stay at each other’s sides forever. After all—married couples weren’t family until they made that decision. Lille couldn’t believe she’d forgotten something so obvious.
“Wha—?” Charles gaped, utterly lost for words. His body was completely rigid.
“Master Charlie? H-Hello…?” she said anxiously.
After a tense moment of silence, Ark burst into peals of laughter. Leo was trying his hardest to suppress a laugh, too, his cheeks ballooning with air.
“L-Lille…” Ark said, gasping in between laughs. “Usually the guy’s the one to pop the question…”
“Plus, where did you even learn to do that…?” Leo spluttered.
“Oh, really?” Lille blinked. Nothing she’d read ever said that a woman couldn’t ask for a man’s hand in marriage. Was it some sort of unspoken rule? Though, quite frankly, she didn’t care either way.
“What’s your answer, Master Charlie?” she asked, ignoring the chuckles in the background.
“M-My answer? Oh, uh…” he stuttered, shuffling backward a little as Lille cornered him.
“Anyway, we’ll get out of the way and leave you two to yourselves. Make sure you think of a proper answer, all right, Master Charlie?” Ark grinned. “You can’t leave Lille to make all the effort by herself.”
“Yeah! Not to put any pressure on you, Master Charlie, but I’m sure you remember how people usually express their affection when they reply to a proposal,” Leo giggled, trailing after Ark as they both left the living room with mischievous grins on their faces.
Thus, the two of them were alone. A sense of déjà vu lingered in the awkward silence.
“Lille…”
“Y-Yes?” she answered, her breath failing her when she heard him say her name. His gaze was so serious that she wasn’t entirely certain he wasn’t angry with her.
“You always catch me off guard. You come up with ideas I could never even imagine, suggesting things like it’s nothing.”
“…I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
Did I go too far?
It was only natural that he thought it too early to consider marriage. Her shoulders drooped despondently, only to find herself in Charles’s arms the very next moment.
“And that’s how I know life will never be boring with you at my side. With so much to look forward to, I might even forget my past.”
Her head snapped up, and she peered into his eyes. “Master Charlie… Does that mean you’ll…?” she hinted, watching a gentle smile form on his face.
“I’ll buy you a ring as soon as I can. Normally, we’d have one beforehand, but…that doesn’t matter,” he said, still smiling. “Lille, will you marry me? Will you stay with me forever?”
“…Of course I will,” she replied tearily. Charles responded with a heart-meltingly tender gaze, and Lille knew what she had to do next. Timidly, she raised her chin toward him, and he pulled her closer as he leaned in.