“Yes, mom? Was there something else you wanted to say?”
“Cecily. Did you really make a love potion?”
Cecily hesitated a moment, then nodded.
“Okay. And who did you make drink it?”
“Well, I didn’t make him drink it per se. Rather, he drank it himself.”
“If you don’t tell me straight, I’ll twist your lips until you do.”
Cecily let out a squeak of fright. As Greta’s pinching fingers approached, Cecily swiftly avoided the attack while still in Zeke’s embrace.
“Please, mother. Cecily’s lips exist for the purpose of being kissed by me!”
They do?!
Of course, they did not. At any rate, Cecily released herself from Zeke’s arms and told the truth.
“About twenty days ago, I accidentally made Zeke drink the love potion. I say I made him, but in truth, I’d wanted to throw it away. However, Zeke thought it was some kind of liquor and decided to drink it of his own accord, saying that it would be a waste to discard it. He began acting strangely after that.”
Cecily was certain everyone would berate her for what she’d done. However, the eyes of the crowd didn’t fall upon her gloomy expression but instead on Zeke.
“The captain’s loins are stupid, huh.”
“Ha ha ha. Zeke, you’re a real idiot, aren’t ya?”
“Al, head back to the dormitory and clean it from top to bottom.”
“You heard him, Princess Charlotte. Let’s make it spick-and-span.”
“Why do I have to help?!”
Wait... They’re not angry? They just think Zeke is stupid?
“Twenty days ago, you say...? In that case, even if he had drunk it, the effects would have long since worn off.”
However, Cecily could no longer focus on the scene around her. Greta had said something incredibly shocking like it was no big deal.
“Wait, mom. What did you just say?”
“It’s just as I said. If dear Zeke here had drunk a love potion, then the effects would have worn off a long time ago.”
Cecily stared at her mother without moving a muscle. Greta continued in a singsong voice.
“My dear, love potions don’t last for years on end. The love potion I worked so hard to concoct for my own darling only lasted three days.”
“Only three days?!”
“Exactly. I intended it as a three-day little bit of fun, but he ended up telling me that he’d always loved me and that he wanted to get married. Talk about a bother. But I love him more than anything now, so all’s well that ends well.”
“How passionate!” Charlotte said, flushing.
However, Cecily’s distress ran deep. She didn’t have the mental wherewithal to listen excitedly to her parents’ love story.
What’s going on?
If what Greta had said was true, then the effects of the love potion Cecily had made had long since worn off.
Cecily looked over at Zeke, who was standing behind Greta with a bewildered expression of his own. As their eyes met, Zeke gave her a little smile and tilted his head. In the gesture was a gentle question—is there something you wanted to ask?
Pushing down the tenderness she felt at this sight, Cecily forced her gaze back to her mother.
No—the effects of the love potion had to still be ongoing. There was no other explanation for why Zeke, who had been so hard and serious, now so openly bared his affections for Cecily.
“By the way, Cecily—did you create the love potion exactly as the recipe I gave you instructed?”
“Of course,” Cecily said. But as she nodded, she remembered something. “Well... If I’m being honest, I used a few substitutions for the frog’s blood and lizard’s tail and stuff...”
“Substitutions, you say?”
Cecily racked her memories. “Like tomatoes from my allotment. And burdock root...”
Greta stared at Cecily in silence with her smile frozen upon her face.
“You can’t make a love potion with things like that,” she said bluntly.
“You can’t?!”
Panic filled Cecily’s breast. She had been so happy when she’d completed her potion, but now she was being told that using tomatoes and burdock root wouldn’t work?! If that was the case, then the recipe should have said so!
“Cecily, my dear, it seems you’ve inherited your father’s stupid side. But that’s okay, because that’s what makes you adorable. My silly girl.”
Greta stroked Cecily’s head. Cecily felt a rush of happiness at this old, familiar act.
“Cecily. Can you tell me what you used, as best as you can remember?”
“O-Of course. Let’s see...”
Cecily whispered in her mother’s ear as she listed off the ingredients she’d used.
“Really? You put that in? My, oh my...”
Zeke could only look on in confusion until the explanation was over, listening all the while to Greta scolding her daughter with these little comments.
“I see,” said Greta at last. “I think I know what happened.”
“Greta,” Alphonse said. “What did Cecy end up feeding to old Zeke here, then? Burdock root and tomato juice?”
Greta looked over at the man in question, who had now moved back to Cecily’s side. The intense stare seemed to make Zeke feel rather awkward.
“Not a love potion, that’s for sure. What Cecily made,” Greta said, raising her forefinger in a seductive manner, “was a potion that will make the drinker completely and utterly honest with the person who made them drink it.”
“What?”
“In other words, a truth serum. I read that in the old days, they forced criminals to drink it. However, it ended up being banned and buried in the annals of time because those who drank it ended up with a terribly upset stomach because of its disgusting taste.”
Everyone present fell utterly silent. However, Zeke alone was nodding along, as if it all made complete sense.
Cecily, as shocked as anyone else there, plucked up the courage to speak. “But that doesn’t make sense, mom. I’d only met Zeke once in passing before, but as soon as he drank the potion he kept saying I was pretty, again and again, before asking that we date! How could it have been anything but a love potion?”