After we finished our lunch, we looked around the botanical garden that was on park property. It felt like the day passed by in the blink of an eye.
Time really flies when you’re having fun.
“Thank you for today. I had a great time.”
“I enjoyed myself today as well,” Phil replied. “Thank you.”
“No, no, I should be thanking you for taking me here.”
We headed back to the carriage conversing like that when we heard a sudden scream.
“S-Someone catch that thief!”
“Huh?”
We looked up and saw a man running toward us, a woman’s purse in his arms. Everyone, including me, froze up in shock. Phil, who had been standing next to me, was the only one who leapt into action.
“Dammit! Let me go, you little—” the thief yelled.
“Stay still,” Phil ordered.
To our shock, Phil caught the man and had him in a hold in a matter of seconds. He moved so efficiently and everything happened so quickly that I found myself staring at him in awe.
“Um, Phil, are you all right?”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem like he has any knives or other weapons, but this is still very dangerous. Please step back.”
“I understand.”
He calmly pinned the man to the ground, which caused the audience around us to ooh and ahh. The guard eventually made his way over to us and after he thanked Phil, he took the thief away.
“That man was so cool!”
“Wasn’t he? What a lovely gentleman.”
A parent and child near us were talking to each other about Phil.
They’re right. Phil earlier was really amazing. He was like an entirely different person from the man who was just blushing while nibbling on cabbage.
The new side to him that I’d never seen before made my heart beat faster, and I hurried over to his side.
“Phil, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m not. Sorry to keep you waiting. All that’s left to do is to return this to its rightful owner.”
After he said that, he handed the stolen bag back to the victim.
“Thank you so much! I don’t even know how I can begin to repay you!” she exclaimed.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
The woman hugged the purse close to her chest as if it was a treasured item and offered us such a relieved smile, I felt it as if it was my own emotion. A soft smile played on Phil’s lips as well. After a little bit, Phil said he wanted to wash his hands and get the sand off of his clothes. Meanwhile, I sat down on a bench with the woman. She looked like she was around my grandmother’s age, and I could tell from her clothes and her mannerisms that she was a noble.
“It’s been so long since I went on a walk by myself, so it’s hard to believe things turned out like this... There’s a protective charm in this purse that my grandchild gave me, so I’m truly glad that I got it back.”
“Oh, is that so? I’m happy that nothing was damaged.”
It looked like the woman was unharmed as well. I let out a small sigh of relief.
“Are the two of you lovers?” the woman asked.
“Yes... Yes, we are.”
Phil was my fiancé so it was a little hard to decide if he still counted as my “lover.” Even so, I nodded confidently and as I did so, I felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest that was impossible to calm.
“Not many people can move so quickly and decisively in such dangerous situations,” the woman said. “It’s because there’s no benefit to them. In fact, I’d say that the cons far outweigh the pros.”
She was right. Only a handful of people in this world would’ve instantly jumped into action like that.
“That’s why I think your beloved is a very brave and wonderful person,” the woman concluded.
The words reaffirmed for me just how amazing Phil was, and I savored how wondrous my life was right now, to be treasured by someone that great.
“Viola.”
Once Phil returned, the woman and I stood up.
“Thank you very much,” she said with a polite and elegant bow. “I hope you two have a very happy rest of your lives.”
“Thank you. Have a safe trip home.”
After she walked off, we once again started our journey back to the carriages. When we got there, Phil escorted me into it and we sat down next to each other. As if it was the natural state of our being, our hands were still connected.
“Phil, you were so cool earlier.”
“Thank you. I’d learned a wide variety of self-defense techniques since I was a child, and I was finally able to put it to use.”
I’d been with Phil for so many years now, but this was the first time I heard about that. There were probably lots of other things I didn’t know about Phil.
“Phil... You’re really amazing. I have to do my best as well.”
Phil could do anything he set his mind to, and I knew that I could never match up to him. But I wanted to work hard in my own way. As that determination burned in my chest, he suddenly tightened his grip on my hand. I looked up at him and met his eyes, which were so close to mine. Before I could even consciously realize it, I’d completely forgotten to even breathe, so enraptured by his beautiful amber gaze.
“Thank you,” he said.
“What?”
“You’ve been working really hard lately for me, right?”
He must’ve been talking about how I was assertively making appearances at high society gatherings. This was a responsibility that all noble daughters had to deal with, so it wasn’t something so grand that it required gratitude like this. Even so, I was extremely happy that Phil acknowledged my work.
“I’m not anything special at all. But I’ll continue to put in effort so that I can live up to you, Phil.”
I smiled after I said that and, to my surprise, Phil pulled me against him in an embrace. My heart started to beat faster as I soaked up his gentle warmth and sweet scent.
“Thank you,” he said. “And I’d like to say that earlier, I was really happy.”
“You were happy?”
“Yes. I was overjoyed when you said that I was your lover.”
It seemed that he’d overheard the conversation I had with the old woman. I felt my cheeks heat up at how I’d taken the initiative and called him my lover in my response to her. But if Phil was happy with my answer, and he agreed with me, then that was all that mattered. We continued to sit in the carriage and converse about this and that, but then Phil suddenly stopped responding.
I tried to take a peek at his face, which he’d lowered, but it looked like he’d fallen asleep. I wasn’t sure when that happened. Even though he was exhausted from constant work, he still took me out to have fun. His stamina might’ve been at its limit.
Phil was snoring softly, and his body swayed with the movements of the carriage. I figured that he would hurt his neck if he continued to sleep in that position, so I gently tugged on him until he fell toward me. He ended up resting his head on my lap and I started to run my fingers through his soft dark blue hair, hoping that this was more comfortable for him.
“Thank you for everything. Truly,” I said.
He always did his absolute best for my sake, so I hoped that I was able to return something to him, even if it was only a little bit.
Eventually, Phil opened his eyes, and was so shocked and confused at how he was resting his head on my knees that he fell onto the ground. But that’s a story for another day.