The sight of Noxie’s infuriating face made heat rise in me instinctively. Making a person want to throw something within one second of meeting was a talent, if nothing else.
Left with his mouth covered, Noxie blinked at me and then patted my hand in a clear request to be released. I fixed him with the most suspicious look I could manage.
“I’ll let go if you promise not to do anything strange.”
Noxie nodded, obedient as a well-behaved cat. I didn’t trust that for a single second, but after a brief hesitation, I slowly withdrew my hand.
“Hey.”
The peaceable greeting reignited the heat in me. I opened my mouth to say something — and immediately gave up.
Whatever I said, there would be no damage dealt to Noxie. That much I knew. And today, I needed him on my side.
Just get through today.
I sat down with a quiet exhale.
“…Hello.”
“Long time. What are you having?”
I scanned the menu and ordered a simple tea set. Then I studied Noxie across the table.
How do I even begin to bring this up…
I was internally sorting through possible approaches when Noxie opened his mouth first.
“So what did you need? It’s not about the film, I take it. Is there something you want to ask of me?”
The sharpness of it made my eyes widen slightly.
How did he know?
As if answering the unspoken question, Noxie smiled lightly.
“The timing isn’t right for you to be picking up the film yet. So there’s a request. What is it? You mentioned you’d made up with the Grand Duke, so it’s not that.”
I set down my tea cup carefully, and opened with measured care.
“You’re right. I do have something to ask you…”
“Go on.”
He nodded for me to continue.
“There’s a child I know personally — he’s just manifested magical ability. Quite a significant level, apparently. I really want him to have a proper education, but mages themselves are so rare that getting quality instruction is difficult…”
“So what I was hoping was — could you take him on and teach him?”
“Me?”
I nodded at him, wide and firm.
“You were the first one who came to mind — practically like fate!”
“Like fate?”
“I know I haven’t shown it on the outside, but I — I think of you as a genuinely extraordinary mage, and I respect you greatly.”
“Really? I didn’t realize you held me in that kind of regard.”
“Of course! Completely remarkable.”
I hadn’t exactly intended to lie, but that was what came out — and I was stumbling over it. Noxie, meanwhile, looked thoroughly entertained, the corner of his mouth lifting as he asked:
“So I was the first one who came to mind?”
“Naturally! Who else would I think of? You’re the only mage I know.”
“That’s true. I am the only one you’ve got.”
His face seemed to take on an extra quality of brightness that was hard to place. He didn’t look displeased.
So did it work…?
I looked at him with hopeful eyes, hands clasped.
“So — will you do it?”
“I can. It’s not too difficult a request.”
My eyes lit up — and then immediately dimmed as the next sentence arrived.
“But, as you’ve described me. Since I am such an extraordinary and remarkable mage—”
“You’ll have prepared something in proportion to that, right? Fair warning — I’m not going to be satisfied with anything ordinary.”
“M-money is fine, I can give you as much as you want!”
The panicked declaration made Noxie shake his head.
“That’s not what I need and you know it.”
And with that, he smiled.
It had arrived. The greatest obstacle had finally appeared.
I took a deep breath, composed my face into something resolute, and looked at him squarely.
“What do you want? Tell me — I’ll prepare whatever it is.”
“Hmm… what do I want…”
He drew the end of the thought out, as though genuinely weighing it, then turned to look at me. The look in his eyes was unmistakably ominous.
After a long consideration, Noxie’s eyes curved gently as he opened his mouth.
“You?”
What?
My face contorted immediately. At the sight of it, Noxie burst out laughing — a full, bright sound.
I should have known.
A joke, as always.
“Stop playing around. Just tell me what you actually want.”
“Not a joke.”
When I glared at him, he let the amusement settle and looked at me with a roll of his eyes.
“Then — make me your most beloved.”
“Make your most beloved me.”
“I’ve told you before. That’s not how it works.”
“Why not? Why can’t it be me?”
“…Because it’s something your heart decides. You can’t just go around switching it like that.”
I blinked in bewilderment, then spoke as firmly as I could manage. Noxie raised an eyebrow. My answer clearly hadn’t landed well with him.
He looked vaguely put out.
“Funny, because I don’t have anything else I want.”
Why does it have to be that, of all things—
He seemed to have latched onto this particular idea.
“…And if I say no? What happens then?”
“If you say no, negotiations are off.”
Noxie said it with such a clean, unconcerned face, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. My own face crumpled.
“This is off the table and that’s off the table — what’s even left to offer? I said I’d give you anything.”
If anything, Noxie exhaled like someone whose energy had been drained — as though I was the problem.
I couldn’t have predicted he’d ask for something like that—
I had my own grievances, but I swallowed them.
Apparently willing to allow one act of clemency, Noxie shook his head and continued. Just hearing him speak now made me anxious.
“Then how about this.”
“…What?”
“Break up with the Grand Duke, and then make me your most beloved.”
“…What? What does that even mean?”
“Exactly what I said. If you break up with the Grand Duke, change your most beloved to me. Even if he’s your most beloved right now, there’s no point in clinging to someone you’ve parted with.”
There was something barbed about the phrasing.
He seemed to already be treating a breakup as a foregone conclusion.
And by his logic — if we broke up, the Grand Duke would no longer be my most beloved.
I said with a mildly puzzled tone:
“That won’t happen.”
But the premise of a breakup was entirely absent from my mind. Noxie looked surprised.
“It won’t happen?”
“Obviously.”
Things between us right now were very good.
For something like that to happen, it would take a staggering accumulation of misunderstandings and disasters. The probability, generously estimated, was around five percent.
I nodded without the slightest hesitation.
At the absolute certainty in my response, Noxie’s expression went unusually still.
“If you’re that confident, you’re accepting my proposal.”
“…Well.”
I thought for a moment, then answered:
“Fine. If that’s the condition, I can accept it. It’s never going to happen anyway.”
Compared to the first two demands, this one was at least grounded in reality.
Just as I accepted his terms, the café seemed to stir around us.
My gaze turned toward the source of the commotion — and my eyes went wide.
“Oh?”
I let out a startled sound.
Because the person whose eyes I had just locked with was none other than Axel. He was walking straight toward us, as though he had been watching this very table all along.
“Your Highness? Why are you here—”
“Why so surprised? I simply happened to be passing by. Unless I’ve walked into somewhere I shouldn’t be?”
His voice had an odd sideways edge to it today. I shook my head quickly.
“No, not at all—”
And then Noxie cut in smoothly.
“You are interrupting, actually. You’ve clearly inserted yourself into the middle of something.”
I stared at him with wide eyes.
What is he saying right now—
But Noxie sat there entirely unruffled, wearing his characteristic easy smile as he looked up at Axel.
This was not a slip made out of not knowing who he was. Not a chance.
Axel let out a short, cold laugh.
“…Ha. Inserted myself. Me.”
