It was a clear, sunny day and everyone felt like they were in the mood to have lunch outside the cafeteria for once. And so, bringing their lunches with them, Charlotte and the other four males went to the courtyard to sit underneath a tree.
"What a lovely day," Charlotte sighed. She was full from eating the spectacular omelette rice that the cafeteria was serving today. Everyone leaned back with a content look on their face and even Kit was struggling to keep himself from falling asleep.
"Not as lovely as you, my lady," Caspian winked at her. Charlotte merely gave him a blank look in return. As expected of the Ice Princess of Saoirse Academy!
"Do you ever stop your incessant useless flirting?" River looked at him with an annoyed expression. He's always hovering around his little sister like a bee to a flower and he had half a mind to use bug spray on him.
Caspian felt a vein bulged from his forehead.
"And YOU do ever stop stalking your sister?"
"At least I don't bother her by flapping my mouth all the time"
"As if following her every move and taking photos of her is any less creepy"
"Gigolo!"
"Stalker!"
"Ah! There they go again" Charlotte sighed inwardly. She had no idea why her older brother and Caspian were always fighting whenever they see each other.
『 Maybe it's a sign that they're good friends? I hear that only those who are close to each other will fight with one another 』
"WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!" they yelled back to Charlotte then turned back to each other to continue arguing. It was surprising that their loud voices had not awoken Kit yet.
『 Hmm? Strange. How did they know what I was going to say? 』
"Charlotte…"
Charlotte turned to her side to see that Ezekiel was standing in front of her with a somber expression.
"What's the matter, Your Highness?"
Ezekiel wore a complicated emotion on his face and stretched out his hand. Not knowing what he wanted, she merely took it and allowed Ezekiel to help her stand up. Now, they were standing face to face with each other, only a few feet apart from each other. With the wind blowing their hair gently, it almost seems like a scene straight out of a fairytale.
"Charlotte, there's something I've wanted to tell you for a while now"
"…..What is it?"
"It's like whenever I look at you, there's a feeling in my chest. Right here," Ezekiel pointed to the middle of his chest. He looked at Charlotte with his green eyes that sparkled like emeralds under the sunlight.
"There's something I want to confirm"
『 Okay? His Highness is acting stranger than usual today 』
"Charlotte, could you give me your hand?" he asked, his palm stretched out to face her.
Charlotte didn't think anything much about this situation. It wasn't as if she was in the position to deny his request anyways. He held a much higher rank than hers, not to mention, he was her named fiancé.
All of this caught the attention of the squabbling duo who stopped in mid-fight, their hands holding on to the trays that they wanted to throw at each other.
"STOP! THAT IS NOT ALLOWED!" they shouted, appearing in between Charlotte and Ezekiel.
『 Oh my! They're such in sync with one another. They really are close friends! 』
"We are NOT close friends!" they synchronized once again. Before they could speak further, Ezekiel spoke.
"You two! You aren't allowed to interfere. This is a royal order!" he looked at them sternly. River and Caspian both had an equally shocked face. This was the first time that His Highness looked more like a ruler instead of a bumbling idiot. Of course, they've never said it out loud that they think that way about their prince.
"Tch!" River clicked his tongue. He couldn't disobey a royal order no matter how much he wanted to, lest he ruined his entire family, including his precious sister. River sat back down but his eyes were still keeping a close watch at the two of them.
Caspian kept his mouth shut and sat next to River. He held even less power than the person next to him so who was he to disobey as well.
"Now, Charlotte. Put your palms here," he commanded her.
Charlotte still held a confused expression but did as she was told. Their palms came in contact with one another as he slowly intertwined their fingers. River and Caspian's face were both equally growing dark at this action. Kit …. was still obliviously sleeping in the same spot. He turned to his right side, a goofy smile spreading across his face as he dreamt.
"Hmmm… This isn't it. It's not enough," Ezekiel shook his head. He let go of her hand to which River and Caspian let out a sigh of relief. However, his next words caused the darkened expression to come back to their faces.
"Here, come hug me"
River stood up, clenching his fist.
"Sit down, River Bellarose!" Ezekiel scolded. He knew what he was thinking and he didn't want River to interrupt them.
Charlotte hesitantly did as she was told and slowly wrapped her arms around him. A small blush slowly spread across her cheeks.
『 Hmmm? H- he smells nice 』
"LADY CHARLOTTE!"
"CHARLOTTE"
The two men were starting to panic at this point. They had a deep feeling in their stomach. Like something was going to uncover itself if this was going to continue.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel looked at her, his head tilted in confusion. He ignored the dialogue bubble that appeared before him and let her go.
"Hmmm… That wasn't it either. Could you pat me on the back?" he pursed his lips.
'P- pat on the back?'
'Isn't that kind of a downgrade from the other two actions?'
River and Caspian were sure that he would have asked for a kiss by now, seeing as his actions are gradually escalating. But now, he just wanted a pat on the back?
"Mmm… Sure?"
Charlotte was still blindly following whatever Ezekiel wanted her to do. She patted his back gently.
Pat! Pat!
"Like this?"
"Hmmm. No. A bit harder please"
Charlotte raised her eyebrows and shrugged. She increased the force on her hand and patted him a little harder.
PAT! PAT!
"No! HARDER!"
SMACK! SMACK!
River and Caspian felt like their conversation was heading in a weird direction. They didn't know whether they should stop whatever they were doing right now or continue watching.
And then…
"BURP!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at the blond royal who had just released a burp. He covered his mouth and then gave a satisfying smile.
"HAHA! Yes! That's it!" he grinned, putting his hands to his hips.
"...."
"...."
"This entire time …. Your Highness …. You wanted someone to burp you?" River trailed off.
"…. L- like a baby?" Caspian continued. For two opposing individuals, River and Caspian were really in sync today.
"..."
Charlotte didn't know what to say. It wasn't like she minded burping the prince. Although, she did think he should have said so earlier instead of going in such a roundabout way.
"Aha! Now I know what that feeling was!" the prince smacked his fist to his palm.
"You reminded me of my nanny who used to burp me!"
"..."
"..."
'I should have known His Highness would be too daft to know anything about love' River and Caspian thought.
Unknown to any of them, including the prince himself, the feeling he felt was a similar warmth and affection he had towards his nanny. But of course, it would be a very long time until he realized he even held such feelings.