“Wow...! Incredible! Absolutely incredible!” Charlotte said, in high spirits.
Cecily and Charlotte were in a storehouse found in the Celestial Knight Brigade dormitory.
Cyril—an author who wrote under a pseudonym that allowed him to hide his gender and his true identity—had invited them over. This was Charlotte’s first time coming to the knights’ dormitory just to hang out, and she was accompanied by Cecily.
Cecily looked around the storehouse quizzically, but Charlotte was happily going about the room. Or rather, she was peering at the stacks of manuscripts on all the shelves there.
When Charlotte had been told that these books were all the manuscripts for Cyril’s romance novels, as a great fan of his, she could barely contain her excitement.
“Is Cyril... Uh, Mr. Cee Rill really so incredible?”
“Of course he is!” Charlotte said, nodding her head enthusiastically at Cecily’s curious question. “His novels have titles that inspire your curiosity, fleshed-out characters, a variety of exciting escapades, thrilling romantic drama... Every single novel by Mr. Cee Rill is packed with excitement to the brim!”
“Thank you,” said Cyril, who was with the pair. He scratched his head shyly after this passionate praise. When he smiled like that, this youngest member of the Celestial Knight Brigade truly did seem young.
Talk about an impressive output, though...
Cyril wrote in his free time outside of his duties in the brigade, but this was still an overwhelming number of manuscripts. How long had it taken to write this much? Cecily couldn’t even imagine how much time he’d put in.
“May I read some of them?” Charlotte asked.
“Be my guest.”
Cecily simply watched over from afar as Charlotte began to read, eyes glittering. However, before long, the princess called out to Cecily.
“Cecily, you come too. You’ve got to read it yourself!”
“O-Okay,” Cecily said, responding to Charlotte’s gesticulating.
“This is a manuscript for The Princess’s Secret Love, one of my favorites! Ohh, to think that I’d get to read the original manuscript for Secret Love—one of Mr. Cee Rill’s most famous works. If this was leaked, there would be chaos among his fan base!”
“R-Right...”
Cecily didn’t really understand why Charlotte was getting so excited, but she decided to flick through the book that Charlotte had handed over. However, she soon closed the manuscript with a snap.
“Th-Th-This is...extremely passionate!”
The pages told of a world of sweetness and passion that was far removed from what Cecily knew.
“Really? You think? Where?” Charlotte said, as she peered over at Cecily.
“C-Come on, Lady Charlotte. When the knight was kissing his lover, he used his t-tongue!”
“That’s pretty normal, Cecily.”
“It is?! B-But what about the bit where he undoes her dress as he talks to her?”
“Also pretty normal.”
“F-Fine—but what about this bit?! He pushes her down onto their b-bed! That does not seem like something an upstanding gentleman would—”
“Again, that’s normal, Cecily.”
Is it really...?
“Don’t worry, Cecily. When you start reading, you’ll see the appeal. I guarantee it.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t read such a shameless novel!”
Cecily’s eyes were spinning due to the contents of what she’d read. However, Charlotte continued to argue her case.
“Mr. Cee Rill’s novels aren’t popular just because they’re passionate! Their true beauty lies in his delicate depictions of his characters’ mental states! During the scenes that show the thoughts of the two lovers as they’re drawn to one another, my own heart starts beating super fast! They know that their love is forbidden, but the knight and the princess can’t hold back their love as they desire something more sordid than just a kiss! It’s so wonderful I just want to scream!”
This was all too intense for Cecily. The stories she loved so much were all cheerful fairy tales and children’s stories that always had happy endings.
With steam practically coming off the top of her head, Cecily felt herself tumble backwards. Someone caught her before she fell over.
Without the wherewithal to thank them immediately, Cecily turned around to see Zeke.
“You okay?”
“Yeah... Thanks.”
Cecily supposed he had come during a break from work. She cozied up to him in relief. Still on cloud nine, Charlotte was chatting animatedly with Cyril, unaware that the captain had arrived.
“What made you start writing romance novels?”
“What made me start? Let’s see... I often borrowed my older sister’s novels to read. I think that had a big influence on me.” Apparently, Cyril and his sister were literature lovers. “Tales of romance that occur in a world that’s so distant from our own—these fictitious stories that are like dreams, fantasies, or miracles... Just thinking about them gets me excited.”
Had something happened to Cyril in the past? Cecily was concerned for a moment that something unfortunate had befallen him, but to her surprise, he seemed truly happy as he spoke about romance.
Charlotte was nodding her head in understanding as she looked intensely at Cyril.
“Mr. Cee Rill... This is just a proposition, but if you like, I would like to sponsor you and your future career.”
“R-Really?!”
“Of course. One of the duties of the royal family is to protect exceptional artistic talent and to preserve it for future generations.”
Cecily had never seen Charlotte as serious as she was now.
“Also, there’s some stories I’m interested in. If you wouldn’t mind, could I take a few of these manuscripts home with me? I promise I won’t lose them or get them dirty.”
“Of course. I’d be overjoyed to hear your thoughts.”
“If my thoughts would be even a little helpful, I’d be more than happy to!” Charlotte said, completely fired up.
“Then how about we hash out an agreement?”
“Let’s!”
Still engaged in conversation, the pair trotted out of the storehouse, talking all the while.
As she watched them go, Cecily came to her senses and jumped away from Zeke. She had just realized now they were alone together in this empty room.
“T-Talk about a lot of manuscripts! I couldn’t believe Cyril wrote all of these.”
“You said it. Not only that, each one is really well written. They’re enjoyable to read no matter your gender.”
“I see...”
Zeke had been reading Cyril’s work since before he’d made his debut, and had been the one to cordon off this storehouse for Cyril’s manuscripts. You could have said that he was Cyril’s number one fan.
Cyril said that Zeke has been influenced by his novels.
Zeke had once been a simple man who didn’t have a way with words, but thanks to reading Cyril’s work, he had managed to reciprocate Cecily’s love in his own way. Cecily valued not just the actions that came from his caring nature, but also the sweet words he spoke to her.
However, judging from what she had read earlier, Cyril’s works contained many scenes of passionate love. Kisses were given just by the grace of someone’s lips being free. Clothes were worn for the purpose of being taken off. It was completely normal to push one’s lover down onto the bed. If all of this was normal, as Charlotte had said, then Zeke was a gentleman among gentlemen.
This had been true of Zeke when Cecily had spent some time alone with him after his post-mission bath the other day. They had both sat upon the bed, and although a soft atmosphere had settled over the two, Zeke hadn’t done anything that had made Cecily uncomfortable.
Zeke truly is kind...
Cecily’s chest filled with a warm happiness as she confirmed to herself that Zeke really did treat her well.
Noticing that Cecily was lost in her thoughts, Zeke asked, “What’s up?”
“N-Nothing. I’m fine.”
Cecily was far too shy to tell Zeke what she was thinking, so she simply flashed him a smile, deflecting his question.
“Hey, Zeke?” she spoke again. “Which of these particularly moved you? If you have a recommendation, then I’d like to read it.”
“Hmm... I think we might have different tastes,” Zeke said cautiously. He reached down towards a shelf which was at waist height. “Let’s see... Here. This one was good.”
“Which one?”
Cecily peered over, then froze. The title was something else.
Please Kiss Me! The Witch Who Craved a Kiss from a Cool Knight.
Cecily stifled the cry of surprise that was about to come out of her mouth.
This seems... This seems awfully similar to our situation! ...No, no, I’m reading too much into it!
Cecily looked at Zeke’s face, but he didn’t seem to have any ill will. He had simply responded honestly to Cecily’s question and picked out one of his favorites.
All the same... I might actually want to read this one.
“I see. What’s it about?” Cecily asked, playing it cool. Zeke responded quickly.
“It’s a story about a witch who’s a bit obsessed with romance. She busies herself trying to find a way to get a cool knight she likes to kiss her.”
“I-Is that right? S-Sounds interesting.”
Cecily couldn’t help but smile. Although it seemed like the characters were different from her and Zeke, she couldn’t help but see her own love story in the novel. All the same, it was a bit embarrassing to think about it that way.
“Well, he hasn’t actually started writing this one yet, actually.”
“Huh?”
Zeke flicked through the pages. Each one was blank.
As she looked closer at the title, she noticed that “Please Kiss Me!” was written in different handwriting from the other books. This wasn’t one of Cyril’s manuscripts.
Which meant that Zeke had prepared this fake book himself.
“Zeke, you lia—”
Cecily’s tirade was cut off. A pair of warm lips had covered her own.
Zeke dropped the empty manuscript and drew Cecily towards him. It was a kiss that contained passion enough to swallow Cecily whole.
In her nervousness, Cecily closed her lips. Noticing this, Zeke opened an eye and kissed Cecily’s lips and mouth from all angles.
After a few seconds of this, Zeke drew away, seemingly unhappy that he had to do so.
“Sorry for lying to you, Cecily.”
Cecily’s breath wasn’t even ragged—she felt oxygen deprived. Zeke saw Cecily’s slight swaying and hung his head in shame.
“I’m sorry. You’re just so pretty, so beautiful. I couldn’t help myself. I intended to take things slowly, but...”
It seemed that Zeke wasn’t the height of gentlemanliness that Cecily had imagined.
However, he was holding himself back now for her sake. He was forcing himself to take things slowly so that his passion for her wouldn’t hurt her. As she realized this, Cecily felt warm.
Oh... You’re so kind.
Zeke was about to step back to give Cecily some space, but she drew him in without even asking. He looked at her in surprise.
Blushing, she asked of him: “...A-Again.”
“Huh?”
“But this time, can we... Can we go a bit more slowly?”
This was all the innocent Cecily could request of Zeke.
“Of course, my princess.”
The knight smiled in response to the witch’s sweet request.
And their kiss was sweeter and warmer than in any story.