I won’t do it.
She clutched her bag as she came to this decision.
However, it seemed that by chance the inside of the bag was visible. Zeke tilted his head to get a better look.
“What’s that?”
“It was something I was going to give you.”
Cecily took the bottle out and laughed foolishly. Incapable of laughing sweetly, she could only let out spineless chuckles, which she did now.
“But forget about it. I decided to throw it away.”
“Throw it away? Why? That seems like a waste.”
“No, it wouldn’t be a— Huh?”
Cecily froze.
Why? Because Zeke had stood up and then gotten down on one knee in front of her.
Almost as if he were a knight swearing his fealty to her.
Cecily’s cheeks flushed red. Whether he had noticed this or not, Zeke took one of Cecily’s hands and planted a kiss upon it. Her slender shoulders shot up in surprise.
“This is the first time in my life that a woman has given me a gift. Please, don’t say you want to throw it away.”
Cecily let out a small shriek of surprise. As he looked at her with his damp hazel eyes, she could not refuse him. She wondered what had come over Zeke. He had been so logical until this moment, and yet now he was acting as if he’d lost all self-control.
As Cecily puzzled over the situation, a young waiter came rushing up the stairs.
“Sir, my deepest apologies! It seems like I brought you a glass of fruit cider, not the fruit-infused water!”
“Oh no...”
Cecily took Zeke’s glass and sniffed it.
Yes—unlike Cecily’s drink, his glass smelled of alcohol. Although it didn’t appear to be all that strong.
So, is Zeke drunk right now?
With this knowledge, she felt that although he was as expressionless as ever, his cheeks did appear to be slightly flushed. Maybe he was the type who was susceptible to a little liquid courage.
But now wasn’t the time to be calmly analyzing the situation.
“Hmm—is this perhaps some sort of fermented liquor? It has an odor—uh, a fragrance that I’ve never smelled before.”
The bottle that had been in her hand was now in Zeke’s.
“W-Wait a second, Sir Zeke!”
Cecily was panicking.
“Oh no! What do we do?”
For some reason, the waiter was also panicking.
“Now then, I’ll enjoy this gift right here and now.”
“No—you can’t, Sir Zeke! It’s dangerous, so please don’t—”
Cecily wasn’t able to finish her sentence. Zeke had taken the top off the bottle and started to drink it.
No... I don’t believe it!
His manly throat was moving as he swallowed the deadly-looking red liquid.
He’s drinking it. Zeke’s drinking the love potion. The love potion that I made.
She didn’t have the time to stop him. Cecily and the waiter looked on with mouths agape, only capable of waiting until he had finished this wild act. And while they watched, Zeke finished every last drop of the love potion.
“Urk?!”
Almost at once, something happened. Zeke let out a groan, then tumbled to the ground without breaking his fall.
“Sir Zeke!”
Cecily rushed over to Zeke, almost kicking a chair out of the way, and squatted down to check on him. It seemed that he was simply unconscious.
“Sh-Should we call for someone? Maybe?”
The waiter was practically in tears, but it was Cecily who wanted to cry.
Zeke’s eyelids fluttered.
“Sir Zeke?”
She called his name in a quivering voice.
Before long, Zeke gently opened his hazel eyes. They seemed lost for a moment, but when they settled upon Cecily, he lifted himself up, one hand supporting his head.
“A-Are you okay?”
Cecily reached out her arm and helped him up.
As he stood up, Zeke looked at Cecily with narrowed eyes, as though glaring at her. She wondered if the potion had been successful, but it seemed that Zeke didn’t harbor any feelings of love for her yet.
Was my potion a failure?
If so, then that was fine. She would apologize for making him drink that mysterious liquid, and things would all be wrapped up nicely.
However, Zeke continued to stare at Cecily. Just as she was starting to feel awkward, he reached out a hand and touched it softly to her cheek.
Her shoulders shook—she had never been touched like this by a man before.
“I...”
And then, a nervous and trembling Cecily was sure she heard these next words:
“So pretty.”
“What?!”
Cecily came back to her senses. The shock of what he’d said had caused her to black out for a moment.
Zeke was waiting patiently in front of her. With trembling lips, she asked him, “Um, wh-what did you say just now?”
It was obvious—she must have misheard him due to a desire to hear what she wanted to hear. Or so she thought, but Zeke repeated what he said without any hesitation.
“I said you looked very pretty.”
Shock number one.
“After all, you’re too pretty not to say so.”
Shock number two.
Two consecutive blows to the heart. However, Cecily couldn’t let herself be fooled.
“Wh-When you say ‘you,’ wh-who do you mean?”
No. She couldn’t yet be certain. She needed to be absolutely sure whether the potion had worked.
Zeke tilted his head in confusion at Cecily’s remark.
“By you, I mean you, Cecily. Who else is there?”
Oh...my...
Cecily glanced over at the waiter.
He must have heard what Zeke said. He nodded fiercely at her.
However, even with this third party’s assurance, the deeply untrusting Cecily still couldn’t believe it.
She lifted a finger as she asked again.
“C-C-Could you say that once more?”
“Cecily?”
“Again!”
Maybe Cecily’s intensity was odd, but Zeke merely smiled.
This was the first time she’d seen him smile, his hazel eyes crinkling at the edges. Under his stare, her heart raced ever faster.
“Of course. I’ll say it as many times as you like.”
Zeke’s large hand held Cecily’s cheek as he drew her closer. And then, as if appeasing a needy lover, he whispered into Cecily’s ear playfully.
“Cecily, you’re pretty.”
This was the first time this had ever happened in Cecily Ramps’s entire existence. The first time a man other than her father had called her name without any formalities at all.
The first time a man other than her father had called her pretty.
It went without saying that it was also the first time someone had whispered in her ear so sensually.
“A-Am I really pretty?”
“Yes, you are.”
Cecily let out a sigh as she felt her strength leave her. Zeke pulled her close. Meanwhile, nervously watching this scene, the waiter plucked up the courage to call out.
“Um, should I call a doctor?”
“A doctor? And why would we need a doctor?”
Faced with a glare that could kill, the waiter shrunk back in fear.
“Do you have an objection to the fact that my Cecily is the most beautiful woman in the world?”
“S-S-So sorry, sir, I had no intention of suggesting that! I was merely wondering whether you should see a doctor, since you hit your head.”
It was a logical conclusion. However, it wasn’t due to hitting his head that Zeke was suffering from a temporary bout of strangeness—rather, he had become like this due to the love potion.
However, Zeke didn’t seem impressed with the waiter’s remark. Cecily couldn’t sit idly by and so called out to him.
“Sir Zeke, please stop this!”
“Sir Zeke?” he repeated, a puzzled look on his face.
Had Cecily said something to offend him? She grew uneasy, but in the next moment Zeke’s expression softened.
“I thought we agreed you could call me Zeke.”
We did?! That was news to her. However, Zeke’s expression indicated that he wouldn’t be happy unless she agreed.
Cecily pooled together all her courage as she forced her mouth to move.
“Ze... Ze... Ze-Zeke.”
“Very good.”
She didn’t manage to say his name very clearly, but it seemed that Zeke was appeased nonetheless.
“Ze... Zeke? It’s fine now. You don’t need to worry anymore.”
“So pretty.”
“Like I said...!”
“Pretty. Beautiful. Wonderful. My one and only Cecily.”
“O-Oh my goodness...”
“I’m sorry, I can’t say it enough. I want to keep telling you that you’re so pretty.”
Cecily could only mumble in response.
“Cecily,” Zeke said. “Would you care to date me?”
As Zeke said these magic words with such care, Cecily felt the last remaining energy drain out of her body.
“D-D-D...”
Dating a man? Me?
And not only that—the person that she liked?
Cecily’s emotions didn’t feel real. Her brain was going strange from lack of oxygen; her facial muscles weren’t working.
It was then that she reached her limit. Her reply fell from her lips.
“I-I-I will d-date you.”
“You will, Cecily?”
Oh... His dimple.
A dimple had formed on the cheek of Zeke’s smiling face.
As she reached out to touch it, he nuzzled his cheek into her hand. Everything he did seemed so sweet she could barely contain it. At that moment, Cecily was so happy she probably looked like she was about to cry. Zeke laughed.
“Cecily, are you okay? Your eyes are watering and you’re sniffling. Your lovely lips are quivering.”
“I, um, I’m fi—”
Cecily tried to answer Zeke who was peering closely into her face. He grinned fiercely at her. He leaned in close enough to touch Cecily’s ear with his lips, and spoke in a quiet voice that only she could hear.
“Will you be able to keep up, Cecily? Our deep love for one another is about to accelerate.”
His announcement made her tremble.
“I-It’s going to get even better than this?”
“Of course. This is nothing compared to what’s to come.”
Cecily’s whole body was filled with the anticipation of a sweet future. Being called pretty had been enough to set her heart racing enough to burst through her chest, but Zeke said there was more to come.
Yes, Cecily was utterly and truly happy.
Happy that the person she liked only had eyes for her. Happy that Zeke was obsessed with her. Incredibly happy that his strong arms and his sweet whisperings were directed at her, and her alone.
What do I do? I’m so happy that I feel like I could die...
Who would have thought that the effects of the love potion would have been this great? No wonder the witches in the stories were so intent on making them. If you had a taste of happiness like this, you would never be able to go back.
And Cecily was the same. She was being tossed between her conflicting desire and sense of reason.
“Cecily? You okay? Hey, Cecily!”
With a sigh, Cecily’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted.