After returning to the Hartez mansion, Merrien immediately barged into Ariel’s room.

“Ariel!”

“Yes, Merri.”

Ariel was sitting at his desk, working on document,s when he naturally tried to embrace Merrien’s waist.

No, he tried to. Merrien slipped away before he could.

“…Why?”

He froze stiffly with both arms raised.

He still couldn’t recover from the shock at times like this.

“You’re going to the festival, right?”

“Yes.”

“The fireworks. I heard the Tower Master’s magicians are in charge. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“……Who told you?”

“That’s a secret.”

“……”

Ariel frowned while still frozen in place, causing fine wrinkles to appear on the bridge of his nose.

Merrien stood on her tiptoes and pinched his nose.

“Ouch.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to surprise you with something impressive when we got there.”

Taking advantage of their closeness, Ariel quickly wrapped his arms around Merrien. Then he planted kisses on her shoulder.

“……”

Merrien slowly lowered herself from her tiptoes.

He seemed to think she would fall for this kind of behavior… and truthfully, she had nothing to say because it was working.

“I heard the butler is taking the day off too. He’s going to the festival.”

“…Then we might run into both Charlotte and the butler.”

……She had no idea how true those words would become.

Knowing nothing, Merrien nagged Ariel from that day on.

Even before the festival day arrived, Merrien gave Ariel strict instructions about various precautions.

Still feeling anxious, she started nagging as soon as they boarded the carriage on the day of the festival.

“Ariel. Don’t transform into a child this time.”

“Okay.”

“Transforming into Whitey isn’t allowed either.”

“I understand.”

“It’s not just Whitey. No other animals or anything else, nothing is allowed.”

“……”

Ariel closed his mouth tightly and turned his head toward the carriage window. For some reason, he was rolling his eyes more slowly.

“…You were planning to transform into another animal, weren’t you?”

Merrien, who had been deliberately pointing out each item, stood up abruptly.

By now, she was perfectly capable of moving in a shaking carriage.

She had to stand up whenever Ariel acted this way!

Merrien grabbed both his cheeks and turned him to face her directly.

“Ariel. No. We’re going on a date today.”

“Mmm. It huurts…”

Ariel mumbled weakly with his cheeks captured.

He had been so eager to go to the festival.

Now he was sulking and couldn’t even make eye contact, but the tips of his ears were red.

Whether it was because of her touch or because of their sudden closeness, she wasn’t sure.

‘…We’re going on a date, so why does he keep trying to transform?’

Perhaps he was depressed because of all the nagging she’d been doing for days.

Merrien examined his face, half worried about him and half worried about what trouble he might cause.

‘Ah, whatever.’

She sat back down and looked out the window, indicating she wouldn’t say anything more.

Thanks to the Tower Master’s magicians, the restored festival streets on the outskirts of the capital held an even grander festival to make up for the previous disaster.

Although they still had some distance to go before arriving, the flower-lined paths already visible showed how much effort had been put into it.

Seeing this, Merrien’s mood began to lift.

Of course, things weren’t much different from last time.

The carriage carrying Ariel and Merrien looked like an ordinary hired carriage that commoners would ride, and their clothes were also made of plain, light materials.

Though Ariel had insisted they wear matching couple outfits, so they were dressed in yellow tones suitable for spring.

Since it was clear that everyone’s attention would be drawn to them if they showed their faces as they were, they decided to cast a “face recognition impossible” spell.

Clunk-. The carriage stopped when flower gardens became visible through the window.

“Master… I mean, customer. We’ve arrived!”

The coachman they had briefed beforehand called out awkwardly.

The two got out of the carriage without an escort, as they had agreed.

Fortunately, Ariel didn’t do anything impulsive.

Merrien led Ariel to the fountain first.

Wondering if he was still sulking, she checked his expression, but when she took his hand, he immediately grinned.

‘That’s more like it.’

It was more of a relief than anything.

Upon reaching the fountain, she eagerly peeked in first, then unconsciously muttered in a disappointed voice.

“…Looks like they couldn’t restore the coins.”

The fountain itself had been cleanly restored.

When they had thrown coins and made wishes together before, the fountain had been filled with so many coins.

Those rusty coins that had accumulated with the fountain over the years were all gone.

Still, since it was the first day of the festival, new coins were sparsely scattered on the bottom.

“Why, are you disappointed?”

“Yes. A little.”

“What wish did you make back then?”

“…Hmm.”

Merrien gazed at the transparent water pouring over the few coins and fell into thought.

Come to think of it, they had both been sulking then and hadn’t told each other what wishes they’d made.

‘Trying to find out in such an underhanded way.’

She was about to answer unconsciously when Merrien pouted her lips.

Her eyebrows twitched with unnecessary defiance.

“You tell me first.”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me, Merri.”

“I asked first.”

“No, technically I asked first.”

Both supposedly adults, they continued their childish bickering.

Eventually, they reached a dramatic compromise.

“On the count of three, we’ll say it at the same time.”

“Okay.”

One, two, three.

“I wished that I could keep being with you.”

“I wished that you would stay by my side.”

Hearing their almost identical wishes, both of them opened their eyes wide.

A brief silence fell.

The coins were just an excuse; it seemed they had been thinking the same thing all along.

Even as Ariel made his declaration, he recalled how he had been anxious about Merrien leaving until recently.

In truth, that anxiety was still eating away at him.

But to think Merrien had made the same wish as him.

His pupils trembled as he faced Merrien.

“……Haha.”

But then she burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

And quite loudly at that.

Her eyes crinkled so much that her orange irises were barely visible, and her mouth opened wide with mirth.

She was now clutching her stomach, cackling.

Only after wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes did Merrien speak through her lingering laughter.

“They’re exactly the same. We fools.”

“……”

Ariel, who had been quietly watching her until then, couldn’t resist the impulse.

His hand reached out first, grabbing Merrien’s shoulder and pulling her in.

Before her widened eyes could close, their lips met.

***

‘……That was really dangerous.’

Merrien lightly brushed her lips.

She could clearly feel how swollen they were.

Despite knowing the magic spell was in place, she hurriedly covered her lips.

‘Good thing there was a deserted alley next to the fountain.’

No, perhaps it would have been better if there had been more people around.

Caught up in the moment, she had almost done something truly reckless.

Fortunately, she had come to her senses and smacked Ariel’s forehead with a thwack!

Ariel pouted his lips in displeasure and grumbled.

“…Merri, you said you wanted to be together.”

“We are together.”

“At this distance, people would think we’re strangers.”

The current distance between them was 2 meters.

Merrien had taken extreme measures, not knowing what Ariel might do next.

She began to soften as she imagined seeing drooping ears and a tail on him.

Even though she knew it was an obvious act.

“…Not in public.”

“Okay.”

“Not even in secluded places, and not during the day either.”

“Yes.”

Judging by his increasingly quiet voice, it was clear he would find some way around her rules if she didn’t spell everything out.

Merrien put her hand to her head.

“Only when we’re alone. Got it?”

With no specific restrictions coming to mind, she decided to at least emphasize this point, glaring at him.

She intended to intimidate Ariel.

“So at night, whenever we’re alone, it’s okay?”

“…Huh?”

But something seemed to have gone wrong.