Yui was quietly crying in a secluded area deep in the garden. Suddenly, she felt someone’s presence, and she turned to look.
Her eyes widened in surprise—so did the pair staring back at her.
She stared at the sudden visitor, and then, through sobs, she asked, “Who are you?”
“Ah...umm, I’m Filiel.”
“Filiel?” Yui repeated. She had a feeling she’d heard that name somewhere before, and when she searched her memories, she remembered the name of the prince her brothers had mentioned earlier. “You’re royalty...right?”
“Yeah, I am, but anyway, what are you doing in a place like this? You look like you’re crying. Did something happen? You must be a lady from one of the families invited to the tea party. I’m going to call someone—I’ll be right back.” Filiel turned around to get help. He had absolutely no idea how to comfort a crying child, and he clearly didn’t want to get involved.
However, Yui didn’t want her father or her brothers to find out that she was crying, so she hurriedly stood up and tried to stop him. But, due to excess momentum, she crashed into Filiel, and they both toppled to the ground together.
As they were on the ground, both of them went pale, each for different reasons—Filiel, because he’d touched someone else, and Yui, because she’d remembered Carlo’s words.
“Ah...” Filiel said blankly.
“Decapitateeeed!” Yui wailed.
“Huh?” Filiel exclaimed hysterically, shocked by Yui’s sudden, nonsensical shout.
“My brother said I’d be decapitated for disrespecting royalty if I approached them! Oh... By the way, what does ‘decapitated’ mean?” She had heard the word from Carlo, but she didn’t quite understand the meaning.
“It means cutting off someone’s head, doesn’t it?”
“My head’s gonna get cut off?!”
“No, not just for approaching me.”
“Really?”
“Of course. You’ll be fine...” Filiel then recalled his initial panic. “Wait! That’s not important! Are you okay?!”
“Ah, sorry for landing on you. Thanks to you, I’m all right.” Yui figured that Filiel was worried because she’d fallen, so she apologized. However, that wasn’t what he wanted to ask.
“You touched me, but nothing happened?”
“Is something supposed to happen when I touch you?” Yui asked. She reached out and gently placed her hand atop his. He could feel her warmth, but she was perfectly all right. He wasn’t even wearing his gloves.
“How...?” Filiel mumbled, unable to come to grips with the situation.
Yui was confused as to why he was so dumbfounded, and she tilted her head. She had already stopped crying, but the tears that had collected in her eyes fell, and Filiel returned to his senses. He had been thinking of leaving as soon as possible earlier, but now, he was interested in the girl in front of him. He wanted to try talking with her a bit longer.
“Why were you crying?” he asked.
The sadness Yui had forgotten immediately returned, and her tears started flowing again, which startled Filiel.
“Wh-What?! Did I say something that hurt you?”
“No. If only I were as talented as my brothers, I... Father...” She choked up. “Waaaaah!”
“C-C’mon...” When Yui started to cry loudly, Filiel felt greatly flustered. If I’d known this was going to happen, I would’ve tried being around some kids closer to my age, he thought, feeling incredibly regretful. He had no idea how to comfort her. Then, he remembered what his grandfather had done when he had cried as a young boy. He cautiously extended a hand and patted Yui’s head. Her eyes momentarily widened, but she did nothing to push away his hand as he tried to comfort her—she just went along with it. Filiel was relieved that nothing had happened, and he felt both shaken and happy about this fresh experience. He also cradled a faint hope: Maybe she can accept me without being afraid.
After Yui cried herself out and calmed down, Filiel learned from her about what had happened.
“Your father doesn’t treat you well, so when you saw a girl and her father getting along, you were jealous...?”
Yui nodded.
“So what about it? If your father’s like that, then just ignore him.”
Yui was shocked by Filiel’s bluntness. His direct manner of speaking made tears come to her eyes again. When Filiel noticed this, he panicked. One of the ill effects of having few opportunities to talk to others was that he wasn’t very good at conversation.
“Ah, hold on, I said that wrong. I didn’t mean it like that! What I want to say is, wouldn’t you be happy, even without your father?”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t touch people because of my powerful magic energy. So, my parents have never hugged me, and I’ve never held my brother’s hand. Because of this power, everyone around me is afraid. They all stay away from me.”
As he spoke, Yui’s eyes turned to the hand that was on top of her head. “But you’re touching me now...”
“Oh, well, that’s right, but just put that aside for now. Even if you and your father are on bad terms, your mother and your brothers are different, right?”
“Yeah. They’re all nice.”
“Then isn’t that enough? Rather than feeling sad over what you don’t have, I think it’s better to be happy about what you do. I can’t touch my parents or my brother, and because I can’t completely control my magic energy, we can’t see each other often, but they really care about me, and I care about my family too. A lot of people are afraid of me and won’t come near me, but I think I’m very happy because I have people I love—and who love me back. You love your mother and your brothers, don’t you?”
Yui nodded emphatically.
“Then isn’t that all you need? Even if your father doesn’t care for you, there are others who will love you more than he ever will.”
Yui felt a comforting warmth growing inside her as she listened to him. Am I actually happy? Is there really no need to force myself to get him to like me? Those thoughts lightened the weight on her heart to a surprising degree. “Yeah...you’re right...!”
Yui’s tears fell freely, but this time, Filiel wasn’t shaken; he kindly watched over her. “Oh, right. I haven’t asked you for your name yet,” he said.
“I’m Yui.”
“Yui, huh... I get the feeling that it’s a bit late saying this now, but it’s nice to meet you.”
“Yes, it’s nice to meet you too.” With bright red eyes, Yui smiled happily.