“I can’t accept something this expensive,” Yui murmured.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Filiel said. “This isn’t just for your birthday; it’s also thanks for everything at the palace. It’s cheap, compared to what you’ve done for me.”
“Aaah, but...” She didn’t just want the lighter; she absolutely needed it. But everything she had done at the palace had been because she had felt like it, not out of some pure, virtuous motivation, so she was hesitant to accept it.
“Okay. If you don’t want it, then that’s that. I won’t use it, so I guess I’ll just toss it away.” Filiel took the lighter out of Yui’s hands and actually wound up his arm to throw the lighter away in a patch of grass, which startled Yui.
“Aaah! I want it, I do!” As she shouted, she safely recovered the lighter from Filiel’s grasp.
“You could’ve just said that from the start.”
Yui shot Filiel a reproachful look, then turned back to the lighter in her hands and gazed at it from various angles. It was, without a doubt, the lighter she had previously given up on. As she gently traced the flower motif on the outside with a finger, she felt joy slowly well up inside her.
She looked at Filiel again with a sincerely happy smile on her face, and said, “Thanks, El.” Yui only expressed her emotions this openly to very few people, even among those she was close to, and her friends would’ve been surprised if they could see her then.
Filiel gazed back at her and lovingly smiled in a way that he would never do around anyone else. He put his hand to her cheek, then lightly kissed her temple. This made Yui freeze, her smile still on her face. Then she blushed and raised her voice in protest.
“What are you doing?!”
“What am I doing? That was a kiss.”
“That’s not what I meant! Why did you do that?!”
“It’s because I thought you looked cute, and because I love you,” Filiel said. “Prime Minister Curtis interrupted us last time, just as we were getting to the best part.” He looked irritated when he said that, as if he were about to click his tongue in frustration. He peered closely at Yui. “You aren’t actually going to say that you forgot my confession, are you?”
Yui’s face turned an even deeper shade of red. This assertiveness made his previous wimpiness hard to believe. Filiel was dealing with her differently than he usually did, and she still felt off-balance. “But I turned you down, and you said okay, didn’t you?” she asked.
“I did say that, but I never said that I’d give up.”
It was like a cheap trick, but Yui was unable to speak, and she just blankly opened and closed her mouth.
“There’s no way I’d back down that easily,” Filiel continued. “I’ll keep going until you say yes.”
“I don’t know how to respond, except to say that I can’t...”
There was a serious look in Filiel’s eyes. “Would you be dissatisfied with me as your husband?”
Feeling awkward and embarrassed, Yui averted her eyes. “That’s not it. But...”
Her face went completely blank, like a doll’s. However, Filiel had noticed it—fear and deep sorrow were reflected in her eyes. He knew the reason too. By keeping her face expressionless, she was suppressing her feelings and trying to avoid being swallowed up by sadness. Filiel knew the emotions behind that look; he could see clearly that her expression was not one of rejection but a plea for help. Yui probably hadn’t realized it herself. She had said that she couldn’t accept him, but she’d never, not once, said that she disliked him.
Filiel could tell that she might close herself off to him if he kept pressing, so he stopped questioning her. He didn’t want to trouble her or make her suffer, and if she came to hate him, that would ruin everything. “Hey, Yui,” he said, “how were the sweets my grandfather got for you at the palace?”
With the sudden change in topic, Yui’s expression returned to normal. Puzzled, she asked, “The sweets? They were delicious. I could eat them every day.”
The corners of Filiel’s mouth ticked up, and he smiled boldly. “If we got married, you’d be able to eat the palace’s best sweets as much as you wanted.”
“As much as I wanted...” Yui was shaken to her core. This was the best reaction she had given him yet.
Though Filiel internally lamented that he had lost to sweets, not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, he instantly followed up with, “That’s right... Imagine the best confectionery chefs in the kingdom using their techniques to their fullest potential to create an endless variety of sweets! You could have what you ate at the palace every day. Not only that, but sometimes, envoys from other countries come to the palace. The chefs could make sweets using the foreign products and valuable fruits you won’t find in regular circulation!”
This was something the sweet-toothed Yui couldn’t ignore. In spite of herself, she began to think, Marriage might not be that bad after all... as she listened intently to Filiel’s words. Filiel, meanwhile, sensed that he was getting somewhere. He was about to open his mouth to press even further when a voice interrupting him echoed out around them.
“All right, that’s enough!”
Filiel glared at the interloper who had ruined his chance by suddenly appearing in the quiet garden. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing, Carlo?”
“What am I doing?! Why are you trying to entice my sister with sweets?!”
“I just needed one more push,” Filiel complained bitterly. He now seemed depressed.
Carlo was exasperated. “Don’t try to pick her up with sweets.”
“She was finally interested. I don’t care what it takes!”
As Filiel and Carlo argued, Cecil waved Yui over. She left Filiel and, spreading her arms wide, she and Cecil hugged. “The princess has been rescued,” Cecil said.
Filiel noticed that Yui’s warmth had slipped out of his arms. “Wha— Hey, Yui,” he said reproachfully.
However, with the entrance of her brothers, Yui had come to her senses, and she looked warily at Filiel.
“Gah! Just a bit more... Actually, why are you two here anyway?!” Filiel said.
“It’s lunch break,” Carlo said. “Luca and Zeke said that you were gone, and they’ve been searching all over for you. I decided to help them, and as I did, I saw a kidnapper trying to tempt my sister with sweets, so I stepped in to stop him.”
“Don’t say it like that. It was a respectable negotiation.”
“I’ll tell my dad.”
“Gah!” Filiel grunted. He was unhappy that Carlo had made him lose his opportunity, but even he could do nothing except stay silent when Layce’s name was mentioned.
“It’s lunchtime, so head back, okay, Yui?” Cecil said.
“All right, got it,” Yui replied. An image of an enraged Ivo flashed through her mind, and her and Filiel’s previous exchange disappeared from her thoughts. She hurriedly went back to the building.
As Yui was running away, Carlo said to her, “Don’t go with someone just because they say they have sweets.”
“I’m not a little kid, you know. You don’t have to warn me,” Yui said, offended. But she had been blinded by sweets just moments ago, so her words weren’t persuasive in the slightest.