“Ah, if you want to drink herb tea again, just call me!!!”
“…”
Unable to make eye contact, she lowered her head and shouted.
Charlotte immediately turned around and left the office.
As soon as the door slammed shut, Charlotte slumped against the wall, almost collapsing.
“Haah… Haah… Haahhh…”
Her heart raced, and she could hardly breathe.
Why did I do that?
Charlotte couldn’t understand herself at all.
Doesn’t he like me too much?
It was a question with a bit of a joke mixed in, a perfectly normal question.
Answering it surely wouldn’t have been hard.
If it were before, without the slightest hesitation,
I would have answered immediately without filtering, saying I liked him.
There wouldn’t have been a single shred of hesitation in saying such words.
But why, why just now…
Why couldn’t I say that I liked him, as if it was stuck in my throat?
Embarrassment rose to the top of my head, and my whole body became warm.
“Aahhh…”
It wasn’t something I’d never said before.
Saying that I liked him was something I said almost every day, as part of my routine.
I should have just said it naturally, just like any other day.
So why is it so difficult today?
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand this strange phenomenon, so Charlotte tilted her head.
“I need to ask!!!”
She ran out to release her frustration.
.
.
.
“So, so I was going to answer that I like him a lot right away, but suddenly my face got hot, and I couldn’t make eye contact with him, and I started worrying about how he sees me, and I stumbled over my words, and nothing came out! Why is this happening? Tell me, Yuri!”
“Cough…”
Yuri choked as she tried to swallow the cookie she was chewing.
What did she just say…?
Did I hear that wrong?
“What… what do you mean?”
“I mean, before, I would easily say I like him, but today when I tried, I couldn’t say it. Why is this happening…!? Ah! Did I change to be like Julia because I’ve known her for so long?”
“…”
Charlotte, who had come up with an absurd possibility, muttered to herself.
Seeing Charlotte like this, Yuri had to work hard to hide her despair.
Because, based on what Charlotte had said, there was only one conclusion.
‘Charlotte likes Aslan…’
Yuri bit her lip without realizing it.
She had expected this, and had even prepared herself mentally for it.
But when faced with the reality of it, Yuri felt like she might burst into tears.
She wasn’t prepared at all.
It was a shock of a kind she couldn’t have prepared for.
Her dearest friend, the only one, was falling for that insidious nobleman…
And to make matters worse, she had openly and happily confessed it.
Yuri’s mind went blank, and she stared into space for a while.
“Yuri? Yuri? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Ah, um… I’m fine…”
“If you’re not feeling well, should I make some vegetable juice for you too?”
“I absolutely hate it.”
That’s something Aslan Vermont drinks.
I don’t want to drink the same thing as him…
Yuri glanced at Charlotte, in a bit of a petulant mood.
‘She really has no idea…’
She had the face of a girl in love, but she didn’t seem to realize it herself.
She genuinely didn’t understand why she couldn’t say “I like you” to Aslan Vermont so easily.
The reason was simple.
The “I like you” she used to say and the “I like you” she wanted to say now were different.
Even though it was the same phrase, its meaning had changed.
Before, she had admired him as a good person.
But now, she admired him as Aslan Vermont, as a man, as someone she was infatuated with.
Yuri immediately understood this, but Charlotte seemed unaware of it, which made Yuri feel frustrated.
Charlotte, being so innocent and naive, was slow to realize it…
“C-Charlotte.”
“Yes!”
“Aslan… no, Count Vermont, the reason you can’t say that to him…”
“Yes, yes!”
Charlotte eagerly listened, her ears perked up, getting closer to Yuri.
Yuri’s lips involuntarily pursed.
‘What should I do? I really don’t want to tell her this…!’
It was even more unbearable than dying to tell her that she liked Aslan Vermont.
If she still didn’t know it, it was even worse.
‘Maybe, if I never tell her, it might be okay.’
Maybe Charlotte would never realize it.
If I never tell her, maybe Charlotte will never end up with Aslan Vermont.
For a moment, she entertained that thought.
‘No… this is no different than lying…’
Realizing what she was thinking, Yuri clenched her teeth.
Even though she hated the idea of Charlotte or Julia marrying Aslan Vermont, this kind of interference couldn’t be allowed.
Interfering with Charlotte’s realization of her feelings was essentially deceiving and misleading her.
Even if she succeeded in stopping the marriage, would she feel relieved?
Would Charlotte feel heartbroken and resent her?
Just thinking about it made Yuri’s stomach churn.
She couldn’t stay silent any longer.
“It’s because…”
“Why are you hesitating?”
“Ugh! Charlotte, it means you like Count Aslan Vermont as a man!”
“…”
She blurted it out.
She had just told the innocent and cheerful girl, who had no idea of her feelings, the truth.
Was this the right thing to do?
From now on, watching Charlotte realize her feelings and get closer to Aslan Vermont, could Yuri really endure it?
Tears welled up in her eyes as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
“Ah, really? So the reason I couldn’t tell him that I like him is that I was afraid to express my feelings honestly? Ugh! Did I really do something like Julia…!”
“Uh…?”
Yuri tilted her head in confusion at Charlotte’s unexpected response.
She had expected Charlotte to be shocked, her face turning red, saying “I like Aslan as a man!?” in disbelief.
But Charlotte seemed surprised for a slightly different reason.
“What? You already knew?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“That you admire Count Aslan Vermont…”
“Huh? Yuri, what are you saying? How could I not know my own feelings? Of course, I already knew that I like Aslan as a man!”
Charlotte puffed up her chest proudly.
In fact, she had only realized her feelings just the day before.
But she decided to pretend that she had known all along for Yuri’s sake.
‘She knew all along…!’
Meanwhile, Yuri was left speechless, utterly shocked.
She had always thought Charlotte had no interest in love, let alone realized her feelings, yet she already knew?
Was the end of the world really coming?
No, the end of the world wasn’t here.
It was the end of the Charlotte x Julia combination.
Yuri, feeling as if the entire sky had fallen, could only feel helpless.
“Anyway, Yuri!”
“Ah, yes?”
“Please help me!”
“Ughhh…!”
Charlotte, getting even closer, asked for Yuri’s help, and Yuri shut her eyes tight and let out a groan.
She knew exactly what was coming next.
Of course, Charlotte was going to ask her to help her get Aslan Vermont to like her so they could get married!
This was the last thing Yuri wanted to hear!
It was one of the worst nightmares she had imagined, ranking in the top 5!
She wished with all her might that time would stop right then and there.
She didn’t want to hear what Charlotte was going to ask next.
“Let’s help Julia marry Aslan!”
“That’s not possible…! Wait, what did you say?”
Yuri reflexively tried to refuse, but then froze.
Her eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected request.
What had she just heard?
Julia?
Why is her name coming up…?
“Ah, Yuri, you still don’t know.”
“…?”
“Julia also likes Aslan. In fact, she liked him before I did! So I thought Julia should be with him instead of me…”
“…”
Charlotte, smiling bitterly, twirled her hair around her finger.
Yuri was frozen, her mind struggling to process this.
It wasn’t just Charlotte who liked Aslan Vermont…
Julia liked him too…?
‘This can’t be true…!’
It felt like Yuri’s world was collapsing.
And in that moment, Yuri made a firm resolution once again.
She would become Aslan Vermont’s wife first, and forbid a second marriage at all costs.