“That’s actually perfect. It would genuinely make someone furious.”
“Exactly. Let’s commit to it fully. Better to do things decisively.”
And so, Emily and I purchased everything we needed for what would essentially be the last operation before the wedding — the useless gift plan.
The box was too large to carry ourselves, so we arranged for it to be delivered to the estate directly.
We had just stepped out of the general shop when—
“Oh? Princess Reina?”
Reina was standing in the middle of the street, looking around with a slightly lost expression. Two men who appeared to be palace knights stood at her side.
“Ivelina!”
She gathered her skirts and came running.
“I missed you! Have you been well?”
“Very well, thank you. And you, Your Highness?”
“I have been wonderful as well. Do you happen to have a moment? Will you have tea with me?”
“I’d love to! May my friend come too? My maid — we’re close.”
“Of course. My treat. Father gave me money.”
‘Ahaha. Perfect.’
I made a circle with my fingers in approval.
* * *
“A gift?”
“Yes. I have received a great deal of help from His Highness. I want to give something in return.”
“Oh — I’m looking for a gift too, as it happens.”
“Really? For whom? For the Duke?”
Reina’s face lit up immediately.
I gave a firm nod.
“That’s right. It’s the Duke’s birthday in two days, and I have no idea what to get. I’m completely at a loss.”
‘Hmm.’ I rested my chin in my hand, thinking — and Reina mirrored me, doing the same. Then she smiled, bright and fresh.
“You are so charming. I like you very much, Ivelina. I understand now why the Duke likes you.”
‘You’re the one who was supposed to like him.’
‘It’s quite something, isn’t it.’
“Oh! Ivelina, are you an expert in romance? I have a question for you.”
“What sort of question?”
“What kind of woman do men like? I have no experience in love at all.”
“Now there, I happen to have recently acquired quite extensive knowledge. First of all — men absolutely lose their minds over a woman who speaks in the third person.”
“Third person? I have never heard of this. What does it mean?”
I reenacted the lines I had once tried without understanding, and had suffered quite thoroughly for.
Reina’s eyes went wide with shock.
“Truly? Men like that?”
“They go absolutely wild for it. And sulking — they love that too.”
“Sulking? Like a child?”
“Exactly. Whining as well — they seem to adore it. Oh, and clinginess! They love that enormously.”
“…Clinginess? As in trying to strangle the other person’s breathing room?”
“Yes. I had assumed men disliked being clung to, but apparently they find it irresistible. They seem to lose their minds over it.”
I listed everything I had gathered from hard personal experience — every trait that seemed to reduce a man to helplessness — without leaving out a single detail.
At which point Emily gave my side a pointed nudge.
“My lady. This might vary from person to person.”
“Oh, please. If it worked on Kael, it ought to work on any man. It worked on that block of ice, after all.”
Reina, who had been listening, clapped her hands together.
“If it worked on him, then it is certain. He is a cousin, after all!”
“A cousin?!”
“A cousin?”
Emily and I spoke at exactly the same moment. Kael’s only cousin was the Crown Prince.
We both turned to look at Reina in silence.
Reina immediately began waving her hands in a fluster.
“It is still unrequited. He may not feel the same way about me at all…”
“Your ideal type is His Highness the Crown Prince?”
Reina’s cheeks went the color of flames.
“Y-yes. I fell for him recently.”
“Goodness — how did it happen?”
“He suggested we compare hand sizes. He said my hand was very small. The moment our hands touched, my heart was pounding!”
‘Well. Even I can see what that was — a classic move, and not a particularly subtle one.’
But Reina, thoroughly flustered and flushed like a roasted sweet potato, was impossibly endearing.
“Have you been on a date?” I asked with a teasing smile.
Reina fidgeted and then honestly confessed.
“O-once. He asked me to help him choose a gift for a friend.”
“A hairpin, perhaps?”
“H-how did you know?! That is exactly right!”
‘Straight out of the original novel’s playbook.’
‘Although it’s interesting that the feelings seem to be mutual from the start.’
“I had a feeling it would be something like that.”
I kept to myself the fact that the hairpin was meant for Reina herself. It might spoil the Crown Prince’s surprise — and besides, Reina looked like she would be a terrible actress.
Reina was still fluttering when Emily suddenly snapped her fingers.
“The hairpin actually reminds me of something. May I suggest a gift?”
“What is it?”
“A tie pin. Couples often exchange them. The symbolism is very nice.”
Reina leaned forward with keen interest.
“May I ask what the meaning is? I am very curious.”
“It means ‘May you flourish and succeed.'”
“…That is a lovely meaning. A very auspicious thing to wish for someone.”
Well, it was a good sentiment by any measure.
“I should go and buy one immediately. It seems like exactly the right gift for His Highness.”
“Then I’ll get one too.”
We quickly finished the last of our desserts and made our way back to the row of shops. We found one that carried finer goods.
“I’ll take this one.”
I chose a red one — the color of Kael’s eyes.
“I will take this.”
Reina chose a blue one — the color of the Crown Prince’s.
* * *
Two days later.
Kael’s birthday arrived.
As expected, a family dinner had been arranged for the evening.
I pretended, with perfect composure, that I had prepared absolutely nothing.
The evening felt too late for gift-giving, so I had been up since early morning getting everything ready.
I waited for the moment he went in for his bath.
“Hugo, I need your help!”
I made the same appeal to Hugo as before — sneak me into Kael’s bedroom while he was bathing, without him noticing.
‘Good. The box is ready.’
“My lady, shall I carry it in for you?”
“No, thank you. Hugo, I have a request.”
“Anything, my lady!”
“Could you clear this floor of everyone? Including yourself.”
Surely no one would dare enter the Duke’s chambers uninvited — but if someone happened to catch me, the humiliation would be unsurvivable.
Hugo’s cheeks went inexplicably red.
“W-well…”
His ears matched, and he began stumbling over his words.
“Hugo — you can manage that, can’t you?”
“I — yes, of course. Please do take care of yourself, my lady.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“…There is the dinner this evening, and your constitution has always been delicate. I would hate for you to exhaust yourself before the day is out.”
“Oh, don’t worry! I’m quite robust these days!”
Hugo departed with the expression of a man looking at some small, pitiable creature. She couldn’t imagine why.
Once inside the bedroom, the sound of water was loud and vigorous.
‘Good. He’s still well into it.’
Not a gentle trickle — a full, steady rush.
I set the wooden box in the center of the room and wound the oversized lace-trimmed ribbon around my face in a circle. I tied the dangling end into a neat bow beneath my chin.
Then I folded myself into the waiting wooden box and pulled the lid shut over my head.
‘Ready.’
The wedding was next week. This was, in every real sense, the last operation.
My heart was hammering.
About ten minutes passed.
The water stopped. A door opened.
‘Thud. Thud.’ Heavy footsteps crossed the room.
The footsteps halted right beside her.
‘Click.’ The lid of the box opened.
I arranged the flower-frame pose I had been rehearsing.
“‘Ta-da!’ I — I’m your present!”
* * *
