While Allen made his assumptions, Charlotte eagerly opened the book. And when they saw the first page, they turned into stone.
A heavy silence settled on the room.
It wasn’t because they were shocked by crude writing, or because a hypnosis spell was activated when they opened the book—nothing silly like that. What startled them, in fact, was the large illustration that met their eyes on the very first page, in which a man and a woman were kissing. It was a very romantic scene, and the lovers were surrounded by flowers. It didn’t matter how cozy they’d been feeling just a moment ago; they couldn’t help freezing over at the sight.
Th-That damn elf!!! What does she think she’s doing, giving her a present like this?! And...why do the characters look like us?!
The man had black-and-white hair, and was clad in a wizard’s robe; the young girl was a delicate beauty with blonde hair. No matter how they looked at it, the pair was meant to be Allen and Charlotte. The drawing looked exactly like them—so much so that should one of their acquaintances see it, they would immediately connect the dots. Allen had a feeling that if he sued Dorothea, he could win.
Th-This is way too awkward...! We haven’t done anything like this yet! Allen thought. It had been two months since they started their relationship. Since both of them were so new to romance, they hadn’t mustered the courage to take a step in that direction yet. He did think they would get there someday...but he hadn’t expected something like this would bring it to the forefront. He swallowed hard and cast a sideways glance at Charlotte.
Charlotte was staring at the page too, her face bright red. But she slowly turned to look at him. With a slight tremor in her lips, she asked in a whisper, “I-Is this...something naughty...too...?”
“Huh...?” Kissing a young noble lady (who had been previously engaged) before marriage was certainly an immoral and dishonorable act. Compared to the “naughty pleasures” that Allen usually talked about, it crossed over the line into a different genre of “naughty” altogether. “W-Well...yes, it’s a naughty thing...the sort of thing that grown-ups do...” he stammered.
“I-I see...” Charlotte nodded thoughtfully. She looked down at the page again and fell quiet for a little while. Then she looked at Allen. A soft blush coloring her cheeks, she said, “I-I’ll be eighteen tomorrow... I’m going to be a grown-up...”
“T-True...”
“So...um...” she paused, then looked up shyly at him. “Will you...teach...me...the grown-up kind of naughty things...too...?”
Allen was speechless. Later, when he looked back at how he’d felt in that moment, he would mumble to himself, “That’s probably what people mean when they talk about enlightenment...” Utter emptiness came to his mind, and he couldn’t think about anything at all. His heart, along with all kinds of organs inside his body, stopped working. He became as rigid as a stone statue.
Charlotte’s face burned red, heating up with a little poof. “Oh, um, p-please forget what I just said!” she blurted out. “That was very improper of me—”
“Charlotte.” Allen placed his hands on her shoulders. As he looked straight into her eyes, her face was as red as a boiled octopus, but he knew his own face was just as red. But he still willed himself to speak, his voice trembling, “Would you mind...if I teach you now?”
A barrage of criticisms came from the calmer part of himself. It was far too impulsive, and it would’ve been smarter to find a more romantic setting, and besides, who did he think he was, talking about “teaching” her when he’d never kissed anyone himself? Regardless, he couldn’t back down now.
For a few moments, Charlotte sat very still, looking back at him with wide-open eyes. But she seemed to sense his determination and whispered, “Yes...” With that one word, she squeezed her eyes shut.
At her earnest response, a self-mocking smile flitted across his face. The first kiss for a birthday present...talk about pretentious... All the same, it was a gift that only he could give her. When he glanced at the clock, he saw that they were less than a minute away from her birthday.
Allen braced himself. He closed his eyes like Charlotte, and slowly leaned in. Their breathing brushed each other’s cheeks as the distance between them grew less and less. She was as painfully nervous as he was. His heart was pounding in his ears. Only a hair’s breadth closer, and their lips would touch.
Just as they were about to touch, the clock started striking midnight.
“Know your place, you insolent rogue!!!”
“Huh?! Whoa?!”
Charlotte grabbed the scruff of his neck and threw him to the floor in a perfect arch. The attack came so suddenly that Allen couldn’t even prepare himself for the blow, and he fell flat on his back. Even as the impact knocked the wind out of him, Allen’s head was full of questions.
What the hell was that?! Did I do something wrong?! He didn’t know a thing about how to kiss a girl. So he thought he’d made a blunder—but he realized at once that that wasn’t the case. Charlotte was glaring at him as he groaned in agony. Standing tall with her arms crossed, she oozed with confidence and dignity. Who...is this?!
She looked exactly like Charlotte, but she couldn’t have been the same person. Allen knew this by intuition. The mysterious figure pointed her index finger straight at the baffled Allen.
“What impudence! How dare you—oh?” She paused and looked around, as if she just realized where she was. Then, nodding in understanding, quasi-Charlotte stroked her chin. “Whoops, not good. It appears I slipped out unawares. Perhaps it was prompted by Charlotte turning a year older.”
“S-Slipped out...?! Wh-What does that mean?! What’s happening, Charlotte?!”
“I’m afraid this isn’t Charlotte you are addressing.” Quasi-Charlotte put a hand to her chest and announced in an overly brisk voice, “My name is Lydilia Evans. I am a saint who lived three hundred years ago...and this girl’s past-life whatchamacallit!”