Digital Bonus: A Candle Within the Heart
ON a certain evening, in the office of the Second Financial Audit Division, Cesia had just reached a stopping point in the materials she had been organizing and was rolling her stiff shoulders, trying to relax them. The division’s other employees had already finished and gone home for the day, and she was thinking of locking up and returning to her accommodations when she finished what she was working on. The overtime she had taken had paid off, and the precisely sorted documents were neatly lined up in a row in front of her.
“Well then… This is looking good, right? I’ll have to get Layne to check this one and that one before I file them,” she muttered, nodding as she reconfirmed what she still had left. As she scribbled a note on a piece of paper and continued sorting, the door to the office opened, and Marcus poked his head in.
“Good job!” He looked around the room. “Wait, Cesia, are you the only one here?”
With his red hair like a burning flame and his sparkling, jade-green eyes, his expression was as lively as always. It was already evening, but his face betrayed no sign of fatigue.
Cesia blinked her purple eyes and answered, “Your Royal Highness! Yes, everyone has already gone home for the day. Did you have some business here?”
Her boss’s visit was sudden, but then again, his behavior always was.
“I thought I’d invite everyone to go drinking for the first time in a while, but…”
The prince is saying strange things again. Cesia looked at him suspiciously. What’s the prince of a kingdom doing, saying that he’ll go drinking with his subordinates?
Although Cesia frequently went out to eat in town with Maria, she still thought of her and Marcus as separate people.
“All right, we’ll go, just me and you, then,” Marcus said.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“With Your Royal Highness?”
“Yeah!”
Cesia hesitated, then said, “Not with Maria?”
Marcus gave her a satisfied, mischievous grin, then nodded. “Yeah, with me!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“UH, this is too scary. Why did it have to happen like this?”
“Memory loss, Sarah?” the young man with pale blond hair and dark brown eyes sitting in front of Cesia—Marcus, with magically altered hair and eye color—laughed loudly and cheerfully.
At first, Cesia had been nervous that someone would instantly notice that he was Marcus, just with different hair and eye color, but it didn’t look like he’d be found out. In addition to commoners holding the assumption that the prince had red hair and green eyes, they had also never had the chance to see his face up close. Sitting across from him, Cesia had altered her hair to be shoulder length and the same color as Marcus’s. From just the color of their hair, they might have looked like siblings.
Additionally, they had taken the thorough step of using false names, just as they did while on an undercover investigation. This was just like Marcus; he had gone to the Royal Academy in disguise for two years, after all. Cesia herself had done the same thing, but ignoring that, she was amazed by Marcus’s boldness.
“Marc— Marvin, do you often visit places like this?” she asked. She had just learned Marcus’s male alias that day. It still felt unfamiliar, and she couldn’t help but mumble when she said it.
“Me? Yeah, once in a while.” He gave a lighthearted smile. There was no doubt that he came much more often than that.
Is that really fine, Prince Marcus?
They were seated at a table in a bar in the more working-class part of the city. The noisy, rustic atmosphere, the savory smell of food, and the buzzing voices coming from every which way were all unfamiliar to Cesia. She was a commoner herself, but she had always worked in nobles’ houses, so she had only seldom come to this part of the city. On top of that, her pay had always been poor, so she hardly ever had a chance to shop at popular stores. And, though Chris often accompanied them when she got something to eat with Maria, as two women, the places they went to were a bit more refined.
Seeing Cesia looking curiously all around the bar, Marcus smiled carefreely.
“Everything here is good, but you like salty-sweet soy sauce, right? The chicken kebab here is great,” he happily told Cesia, pointing at a yellowed piece of paper on the wall.
A wonderful scent permeated the air, and the food on the tables around them all looked delicious.
“Then… I’ll take what you suggest, Marvin.”
“Great choice,” he said, smiling wider. He stopped a waiter and unhesitatingly ordered a long list of food and alcohol, rattling them off one by one.
That side of him is just like Maria, Cesia thought, feeling the tension in her shoulders ease somewhat. I’m already here, so I might as well eat plenty of good food.
Their food came out with surprising speed and was neatly lined up on the table. In addition to what Marcus had suggested, there were grilled vegetables, some dishes with eggs, and a fluffy loaf of bread. Marcus, holding a bottle of fruit wine, poured a glass for Cesia.
“Thank you, you shouldn’t have,” Cesia said.
“Why thank me? I just did what I normally do.” Marcus winked.
She felt guilty for having her boss pour her drink for her, but for friends eating out together, it was a perfectly normal thing. Marcus seemed like he was having fun.
“Yeah…you’re right.” Cesia smiled, and Marcus smiled, too.
“Well then, good work today! A toast!”
“You too.”
There was a dull clink as they toasted with their thick glasses. The fruit wine was refreshingly sweet and easy to drink, but when Cesia finished taking a sip, she felt momentarily dizzy. Contrary to how easily it went down, it was a strong drink. I’ll have to be careful. And now, she thought, filling her plate with food.
At a time like this, I should make his plate, too, right? Wait, he’s a prince; do I have to taste his food for poison first? What did Chris always do again? Cesia fell into deep thought, trying to remember what to do, when Marcus promptly grabbed a piece of bread, put some meat and vegetables on it, and stuffed the whole thing into his cheeks with a big bite.
“Marvin, you’re very…uninhibited…”
Marcus licked the sauce off of his lips. “It tastes best when you eat it like this. I won’t force you, but you should try it,” he said, gesturing at her plate.
Even though he’s eating like that, it doesn’t feel rude. I guess that’s what you get with a prince, she thought, taking a small piece of bread and following his example.
Nibbling the edge of the bread, the overlapping flavors of the sweet and salty meat sauce, and the tender, steaming hot, fragrant vegetables were delicious; it was much better than if she had eaten everything separately.
“This is delicious!”
“Right? I don’t normally eat like this, but… There are things I can only eat here. It’s a luxury that the castle doesn’t have,” he said happily, then drained his glass of wine.
This time, Cesia refilled his glass. She was impressed by his unwavering attitude. She could tell that Marcus wanted to protect everyday moments like this one. Because he was born as a prince, he wanted to do as much as he could in that position, just as commoners did in theirs.
Nobles and commoners had a sense of happiness that suited their respective ways of life. Marcus had created that strangely-named department—the Second Financial Audit Division—to protect that happiness.
✦ ✦ ✦
“SHOULD we call it a night?” Marcus asked, checking the time.
Cesia felt disappointed. Before she knew it, she had begun to enjoy herself immensely. Apparently, that showed on her face; Marcus looked at her and smiled. He really smiles often.
“If you make a face like that, it’ll make me reluctant to leave, too.”
“I didn’t mean…!” Cesia hurriedly put both hands to her cheeks, trying to hide her awkwardness. If anything, it just made him look happier, and his eyes softened.
“Let’s do this again soon. There are plenty of other great places I want to take you to,” Marcus said.
“What’s the point of you knowing so much about the town?”
Feeling embarrassed by her feelings so blatantly showing, she disparaged Marcus despite herself, but he just smiled even wider.
When the bill came, Cesia insisted on paying for her share, but Marcus reminded her that he had invited her and told her not to embarrass him as her boss. In the end, she relented, and Marcus paid for everything. She was used to Maria treating her, but this was the first time Marcus had done it. She knew they were the same person, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t connect the two together in her head.
Standing behind Marcus as he carried on a lively conversation with the owner as he paid, Cesia sighed softly. It was dangerous for her to feel closer to him.
He was always approachable and friendly with everyone, but his attitude had no hidden meaning. He would’ve behaved the same had Layne, Keith, or Felix been at the bar with him; she absolutely shouldn’t think of herself as special.
Still, spending time with the person she cared about was fun, and a sense of happiness filled her. There was a twinge of sadness in her chest, but she decided to cherish the delicious food, good drinks, and the moments she could share with him.
Like stoking a small candle flame, she decided to preserve that warm feeling within herself, making sure nobody else could sense it.
As she stared at Marcus’s back, she told herself that again and again.