“Yuri?”

I tilted my head and glanced back at him. He squinted slightly and smiled.

“I was so focused on other things that I completely forgot about her.”

“That’s understandable. You’ve been busy, Yuri.”

“……”

For some reason, Yuri didn’t seem like his usual self. After tilting my head in confusion for a moment, I sighed.

People can’t be cheerful all the time.

Since it seemed he wasn’t feeling his best today, I decided to work hard for both of us.

After clearing away breakfast and setting aside the rainbow roses for today’s sales, the shop door quietly opened. A girl with braided red hair peeked in.

It was Charlotte.

“P-please take care of me from today!”

Facing both Yuri and me, Charlotte quickly clasped her hands and bowed her head. Just then, the door swung back and hit her on the rear.

“Ah!”

“……”

Just watching her made it clear what kind of person she was.

First of all, she seemed very clumsy. She also appeared quite nervous.

It’s only natural to be anxious when starting work in a new place for the first time.

I made an effort to adopt a more composed expression than usual to encourage her. Having a reliable adult around usually helped reduce nervousness by half.

“It’s your first day, so you might feel overwhelmed and make mistakes, but don’t worry. You’ll get used to it soon.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Alright then, let’s get started today. We have a reservation customer arriving soon.”

I clapped my hands together.

***

Honestly, the sales work at our flower shop wasn’t that difficult. After the rainbow roses, we completely switched to a reservation-based sales system.

The job used to involve managing the chaos of lining up customers who rushed in and counting items. Now, handing over a set quantity of items to a predetermined number of people wasn’t that hard.

The real work lay in creating the rainbow roses.

Cutting the ends into four parts was a delicate task that required attention, and if each of those four parts wasn’t dipped in a different dye, a rainbow rose wouldn’t be produced.

The challenging part when dealing with reservation customers was getting the quantity exactly right.

If a rainbow rose was made incorrectly, the reservation customers would be disappointed.

Most of the tasks I assigned to Charlotte involved making rainbow roses. Fortunately, Charlotte already knew how to make them, so I didn’t have to teach her everything.

“Th-then I’ll trim the ends of the roses.”

After assigning her tasks, I turned around and approached Yuri, who was quietly pouring dye into a bucket. He hadn’t said a word since Charlotte arrived.

No matter what, it was hard not to notice by now.

Something must have happened yesterday. As I opened a new dye container next to Yuri, I casually asked, “Yuri, where did you go yesterday?”

“Huh?”

To my surprise, Yuri turned to look at me with wide blue eyes.

His eyes, resembling pale blue seawater, were so clear up close that they looked like I was gazing into a jewel.

Pretty.

I thought absently, blushing and lowering my head. Yuri’s features were so delicate that even when I believed I was accustomed to them, I would discover new beautiful aspects up close.

“Wh-why are you so surprised?”

Perhaps Charlotte’s nervousness was contagious because my voice trembled as well.

I cleared my throat, pretending it was nothing. However, my efforts to stay calm were in vain as Yuri leaned closer, his smile as beautiful as a painting.

“It seems like it’s the first time Titi has shown interest in me.”

As the distance between us closed even more, I could see the delicate eyelashes framing his light blue eyes that I found so pretty. The pink lashes sparkled like sprinkled stars, fluttering as if they were enchanting me.

It felt like something clunked in my heart. I pushed his face away with my palm, applying a little force.

“Keep your distance.”

“What’s this? I wasn’t even touching you.”

“Still, no.”

My heart raced. This wasn’t a good sign.

This kind of fluttering wasn’t good at all.

As I bit my lower lip tightly, Yuri smirked, his usual sly expression, and teased, “Why, should I not even smile?”

Ironically, that was the advice I needed most at that moment. I nodded seriously.

“That’s a good idea. No smiling in front of me.”

“What? Really?”

“Really. Why would I joke about that?”

“Wow. You’re such a tyrant.”

***

I thought it was a bit of a stretch myself, but there was no other choice.

How could I not feel my heart flutter every time he smiled?

I had promised myself I wouldn’t do anything crazy, like getting married in this life. Wasn’t that why I had come to the capital? Yet here I was, swayed by Yuri’s charming smiles.

No way. Absolutely not.

I puffed out my cheeks, trying to steady my heart.

Just then, Yuri, who had been fiddling with his face just like me, burst into hearty laughter and said, “But telling me not to smile is too much. I’m so happy that Titi asked where I went.”

It was a pure smile, reminiscent of a child’s. It made me feel sheepish about how my heart had been fluttering.

I scratched my cheek and asked, “……Am I really that indifferent?”

“You can be quite indifferent. But of course, that’s part of Titi’s charm.”

I thought I was just normal.

But that was how Yuri saw me. It made me view things in a new light.

And calling it a charm! He said things like that so casually!

Yuri was just saying it. Just saying it, with no hidden meaning.

I mumbled to myself, trying to brainwash my thoughts when Yuri, mixing dye in the water, answered the question I had asked earlier.

“I went home. The white bread we had this morning, I brought it from home.”

“Oh, really? No wonder it tasted so good.”

I figured it wasn’t from a local bakery. Nodding, I suddenly remembered something and widened my eyes.

Wait? But isn’t home where Yujin lives? At the Esrenche estate?

Yujin had been here yesterday.

Then, Yuri…

Without realizing it, I looked up at Yuri. He wore a deep, serious expression, as if he hadn’t been smiling just moments ago.

“Nothing happened yesterday?”

I could have simply told the truth—that nothing had happened—but somehow I found myself stumbling over an excuse.

“Wh-why would anything happen?”

“There were no visitors?”

“We sell by reservation now, so why would there be visitors outside business hours?”

“But, Titi.”

“Yeah?”

Yuri’s voice was gentle, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“I’m missing a shirt. Is it in your room by any chance?”

“……!”

Of course, it wouldn’t be there. Yujin had worn it when he left, soaked from the rain.

But for some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t mention meeting Yujin.

That was my intuition—a feeling that saying something might lead to a dangerous situation.

But lying wasn’t a good option either…

I was at a loss for words, biting my lower lip, when an unexpected distraction appeared.

Hearing a small intake of breath, I turned around. Charlotte stood there, holding a bunch of roses with broken stems, looking pale.

“Charlotte?”

It seemed she had been trimming the rose stems and, in her clumsiness, had snapped the bunch she was holding.

Charlotte’s eyes brimmed with tears as she kept bowing her head.

“I’m s-sorry! I’m really sorry.”

“No, don’t panic.”

She would likely make another mistake like that.

No sooner had I thought that than Charlotte stumbled.

“Ahhh!”

“……Oh dear.”

She fell right into the pile of white roses.

***

The white roses couldn’t possibly withstand Charlotte’s weight. In the end, dozens of white roses became unsellable.

With her eyes swollen from crying too much, Charlotte kept her head down, repeating apologies for what felt like the hundredth time.

“I’m s-sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“B-but…”

No matter how much I comforted her, the same words kept coming. It would be better to quickly get more white roses. I brushed my bangs back, feeling mentally exhausted.

Yuri, who had been watching with his arms crossed, spoke in a dry tone.

“Crying like that at work is more of a nuisance.”

“Yuri!”

“Hic!”

I shot Yuri a look, urging him to stop with his blunt words. He turned his head away as if he couldn’t hear me.

Charlotte, on the verge of tears again from Yuri’s remarks, bowed her head even lower.