At Laila’s words, Eustar’s eyes grew slightly larger. He seemed surprised, but just before Laila could ask “What’s wrong?”, he moved his entire face to smile.

He sometimes smiled brightly like that, and whenever Laila saw Eustar smile that way, she would feel as if the weather had suddenly become clear and bright.

Unable to take her eyes off Eustar’s smiling face, she asked.

“Why did you smile?”

Eustar spoke as if she should know.

“Why, you ask.”

His eyes and lips simultaneously drew gentle curves.

“Because I’m thrilled that you came looking for me, Laila.”

Laila quietly looked at him without saying anything. With a thoughtful expression, she focused on the soft and ticklish feeling that the word ‘thrilled’ gave. It was a very unfamiliar word to Laila, and an unfamiliar feeling.

“Shall we go?”

He held out his hand, and Laila quite naturally took Eustar’s hand. She could feel his fingers intertwining through the thin gloves.

“By the way, Eustar. Where are we going?”

Eustar’s affectionate gaze looked down at Laila for a moment.

“Is there nowhere you want to go?”

“If there was somewhere I wanted to go, were you planning to go there?”

“That would be nice too. If there’s nowhere you want to go, we’ll go where I want. So tell me, Laila. Is there somewhere you want to go?”

Laila thought for a moment but couldn’t think of any particular place. Except when carrying out Tentinella’s tasks, she was almost always cooped up in the palace.

Recently, she had only been going in and out of the library… On very cold days, sitting in front of the fireplace stuffed with firewood, watching Mel sew or listening to her stories was all that made up Laila’s daily life.

“I’m not sure.”

After answering, Laila changed her words as if to add.

“No, I don’t think there is. A place I want to go, I mean.”

At that, Eustar gently shook Laila’s hand that he was holding.

“Then let’s go where I want to go. There are a few places I’ve been thinking of taking you. You promised to be with me all day today, so even if you get bored, you can’t abandon me.”

Despite his playful tone, his expression was quite serious. Laila pretended to pout, then stroked his fingers and gripped them tightly.

“I won’t abandon you, Eustar.”

Lowering her gaze slightly, Laila whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

“No matter what happens, no matter what you say.”

The first place Eustar took Laila was, unexpectedly, the bustling square in town.

Given his taste—though she didn’t know much about his preferences—and atmosphere, she had thought they might go for a walk in the forest, but coming to a crowded place was surprising.

Making Laila walk only on the well-paved paths, Eustar looked at her with a gentle smile.

“Is this place alright, Laila?”

Laila felt as if she had heard the unspoken “now” before those words. As he said… now, she wasn’t so flustered being in a crowded place.

She suddenly remembered when she first left the tiny village of Rizicus and reached an unfamiliar neighborhood, wearing a hood because of her hair and eye color.

“It’s fine. Besides, you’re next to me now. Everyone must know who you are.”

“Oh my, we still have a long way to go,” Eustar said in a rather cheerful tone.

“A long way to go?”

“Yes. I need to take you out and about more often. That’s how you’ll get used to it.”

Laila’s lips quivered slightly.

“It’s more comfortable not getting used to it. After all…”

Eustar’s gaze shifted slightly. He seemed to be urging her to continue what she was about to say.

Laila decided to change the subject. She didn’t want to think about Marchioness Himierd. She didn’t want to think about the promise she made with her… at least not now.

“But why did we come here, Eustar? Are we going to an art gallery or something? Or are we going to look at shops?”

Eustar replied.

“Both would be nice.”

He kept his gaze fixed on Laila’s face as he slowly turned his head and grasped her hand a little more firmly.

“It would be fun to look around the shopping district. And later, I’d like to stop by the Grand Greenhouse.”

Laila asked with a puzzled expression.

“Grand Greenhouse… What’s that?”

“It’s a botanical garden. It hasn’t opened yet, but it’s scheduled to open in spring. I heard that preparations are all complete though. Through the import route that Marchioness Himierd and her subordinate officials worked hard to establish, they’ve brought in many unique plants from various countries, especially flower species.”

With this, Laila’s efforts not to think about Marchioness Himierd went up in smoke. However, she nodded calmly without showing it.

“But.”

“Yes?”

“You said it hasn’t opened yet. How are we going to visit?”

At that, Eustar placed one finger on his lips as if saying ‘it’s a secret’ and grinned.

“Laila, you said it yourself. That everyone knows who I am. This is when we use the name of the prince a little, you know.”

Then, suddenly pulling Laila’s hand, his eyes sparkled.

“Come here.”

Laila had to follow him, clutching her skirt, as Eustar was in such a hurry.

“Hurry, Laila.”

“What is it?”

Laila asked. As soon as she finished speaking, she could smell a strong, sweet scent of sugar hitting her nose.

The place Eustar took her was in front of a small street stall.

With awnings made of red and green cloth, it had a lively atmosphere like a festival day. The sugar smell was coming from that very stall. Laila was instantly drawn in, her eyes wide open at the sight she had never seen before.

Something was bubbling up in a large tin pot. The female owner, with what looked like flour dough smeared all over her face, had a forehead red from the heat, but she was smiling with a joyful expression.

Next to her stood a young boy, perhaps her son or nephew, who was repeatedly throwing three small apples into the air and catching them again, attracting the attention of customers.

“Can I have two?”

Eustar took out a coin and handed it to the woman. She opened her eyes wide, looked at the pattern on the coin, and burst into laughter.

“It’s not that expensive, sir!”

“It’s fine, give me two.”

“My goodness, did you have a good dream last night? I won’t give you change.”

Then, faster than anyone, she put the coin into her apron pocket and dipped a long skewer with various fruit pieces into the tin pot.

Laila watched intently, as if witnessing magic, as the fruit was submerged in the sticky golden liquid and then pulled out.

The woman said,

“Now, something amazing is going to happen. Watch carefully. Understood?”

She took out a long rectangular silver container from under the stall, dipped the fruit skewer, which was still dripping with liquid, into it and then pulled it out.

The liquid that had been coating the fruit solidified cleanly, giving off a transparent glass-like shine.

As Laila frowned with an expression of incomprehension, the woman burst into laughter again and handed a skewer each to her and Eustar.

“See that! You can’t take your eyes off it, can you? This is our family secret, so I can’t tell you even if you’re curious. Now, be careful when you take it, it might shatter if you’re not careful!”

As people started to gather, Laila and Eustar stepped away from the stall.

Laila, who had been looking at the crystal-like fruit pieces, glanced back at the lively chattering stall owner, then turned her gaze to Eustar and said,

“This is magic, isn’t it, Eustar? Right?”

Eustar gently pulled out the orange piece stuck at the very top and bit it between his teeth. There was a faint crackling sound, like thin ice breaking.

“That’s right, it’s magic. That box is a kind of magical tool… This stall doesn’t always come out. I happened to see it when I came out with you, so I wanted to show you.”

“How does she have something like that?”

“Well. When I asked casually before, she said she inherited it. Maybe there was a decent magician among her relatives, or maybe someone picked it up and passed it on to her. Or she might have been a magician herself. I don’t know which is true, but anyway, this is delicious.”

Laila blinked, looking at the skewer that was almost as long as her arm.

“It looks like glass decoration. It’s so pretty, it’s a shame to eat it.”

“Right? But this outer part is sugar, so if you drop it, it will be covered in dust.”

“This was sugar?”

Eustar nodded as if to say yes.

At the top of the skewer Laila received was an apple piece.

Below that was orange, and then grape… It was also questionable how they had preserved the fruit in this season. Maybe the stall owner was a magician, as Eustar said.

‘I heard that magic dealing with ice and cold is difficult to master. If magicians knew it was being used to make and sell things like this, quite a few would be shocked.’

For example, Myuge. Laila suddenly recalled Myuge’s angry face and lightly bit into the apple piece at the top.

She thought it would be as hard as stone, but it wasn’t. The sugar was very thin and easily crumbled between her teeth, and the apple inside, though not very fresh, still had a fairly sour taste.

“Do you like it?”

Laila, chewing the apple in her mouth, tilted her head before answering.

“It tastes like… eating sugar and apple at the same time.”

At that, Eustar burst into loud laughter.

“That’s accurate.”

“I thought it would be sweeter.”

“Sometimes you get ones like that. Fruits that are very sweet, I mean… But you’re right. It does feel like eating sugar and fruit together. But it’s pretty to look at, isn’t it? Don’t you think? It’s suitable for couples to eat while holding hands. At least it’s better than noodles in meat broth, right?”

Laila, who was about to nod in agreement, paused and looked at his face. Eustar was wearing that subtle smile again, with unreadable intentions.

What should I say, Eustar thought. Will she say ‘We’re not a couple’ as usual? She probably will. She probably…

However, Laila gave an answer completely different from what Eustar had thought.

“You’re right.”

Laila nodded and bit off the orange piece stuck below the apple.

“This would be better for couples to eat while holding hands. Just as you said.”