𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕: 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 (𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫)
――Valentine.
The Magic Academy is coeducational.
There was a senior from some time ago, Valentine Nova. He was a stunningly handsome man who seemed to have been aggressively pursued by students throughout the school.
One day, Valentine said,
“I will not accept gifts except on the fourteenth of February.”
Perhaps, Valentine was tired of being courted and given gifts by all sorts of people every single day. I can understand because I have a bit of a similar experience.
The gift-giving on the fourteenth of February that started because of Valentine. However, even after graduating from the Magic Academy, this custom continued, and it eventually became a major movement involving the general public. It seems that after graduating from the Magic Academy, Valentine became even more popular as a super handsome and excellent magician.
. . .Valentine Nova, could he have been able to use charm magic?
. . .Since he’s said to be super excellent, it’s different from me (who can’t control it and keeps going berserk). . .
After Valentine got involved with a certain woman, the gifts that lost their destination started to be given to the people close to the sender.
From there, it turned into. . . the fourteenth of February. This day became “the day to give gifts to the person you like,” and it has become established in the present world.
Valentine’s Day is such a day.
・・・
『”𝐀𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.𝐜𝐨𝐦” – 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝u𝐥𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 “𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 “𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬”.』
・・・
“. . .So, Your Highness! I made some chocolate too! Please accept it!!”
“What do you mean by ‘so’?”
“Ah, I was thinking about Valentine’s Day.”
His Highness, who was sitting on a nice stump behind the school building, raised his eyebrows at my mysterious enthusiasm.
Oh no, oh no. I was so empathetic to Valentine Nova that I flew into the sea of thought for a while.
Regaining my composure, I looked at His Highness’s face and offered him the small box in my hand again.
“. . .Um, I made it thinking about you, Your Highness. If you’d like, please eat it. . .”
“. . .I see. Thank you.”
His Highness’s large palm accepts the small box wrapped in wrapping paper. I look down, my heart pounding at the size of His Highness’s hand that accepted it.
“May I open it?”
“Y, Yes.”
The wrapping was done well, but I wonder if the contents are okay.
I think it turned out delicious. . . The friends from the cooking club who helped me make it also gave it their seal of approval. . .
His Highness unties the ribbon, carefully removes the wrapping paper, and finally opens the box.
“This is. . .”
His Highness gasps.
It’s nothing special, just a bite-sized rectangular shaped chocolate.
It’s also popular to make it in the shape of a heart mark, but that’s too embarrassing, and I thought a simple shape would suit His Highness, so I chose the safest shape.
Even though I chose such a safe shape, I feel embarrassed when I’m stared at closely, so what would happen to me if I gave a heart-shaped chocolate♡? I might die of embarrassment.
His Highness stared at the chocolate I made for a while, and finally hovered his hand over the chocolates in the box.
And then――
“. . .I can’t eat it!!”
“Eh, whaaat?!”
His Highness shouted with his eyebrows raised. I also shout in surprise.
“Wh, why?!”
When I questioned His Highness with tears in my eyes, he sighed and brushed back his soft golden hair.
“You see. . . it’s in there, charm magic.”
“Eh.”
――Charm magic.
“I just tried casting appraisal magic. There’s an incredibly high concentration of charm magic mixed in. . . The Evil-Banishing items repel threats from outside the body. If attacked from within. . . I might not be able to resist.”
“Whaaat?!”
Is that. . . possible?!
His Highness was looking at the chocolate I gave him with a solemn face.
“So, I can’t eat this. . . Sorry.”
I was stunned.
(At this point! Are you causing trouble?! My charm magic!)
I, who started dating His Highness just before advancing to the second year.
The reason I got involved with His Highness. . . was because of my charm magic.
If I keep losing control of my charm magic, His Highness’s search for a bride won’t progress! So, under His Highness’s guidance, I started special training to control my magic.
Well, various things happened, and as I spent time with His Highness and he helped me, we were drawn to each other. . .
――Bang!
“. . .Hey.”
“I-I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. . .”
I was reminiscing about how I fell in love with His Highness and my charm magic accidentally went off. THis Highness looked at me with half-closed eyes, holding down his slightly fluttering cloak as the Evil-Banishing Item exploded.
I put my hand on my slightly hot cheek and made a guilty face.
. . .Yes, when I think about the prince, my charm magic just leaks out.
(Because I made it while thinking about His Highness. . .! It got mixed in! Charm magic!)
A magician can make dishes with various effects by infusing their magic into the cooking. Like health enhancement, metabolism promotion.
Therefore, [Charm Magic] can also. . . be infused, that’s the idea.
I cried out “waah!” in my heart.
How sad, what have I made, I thought.
“Ugh. . . It can’t be helped. . . I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?”
His Highness tilted his head at my nasal voice, which was pathetic.
“But, I, I worked hard to make it for His Highness to eat. To think I would mix in charm magic. . .”
His Highness laughed coolly, as if to blow away my worries.
“That just means you couldn’t suppress your feelings for me, right? Charm magic is troublesome. . . but that in itself isn’t bad.”
“Y, Your Highness.”
At the prince’s gentle voice and smile, I felt a tingling sensation.
“Come here.”
Prompted by His Highness, I sat on a stump that was growing just right behind the school building. His Highness, who was right next to me, picked up a piece of chocolate from the box as soon as I sat down and held it out in front of me.
“. . .Here.”
“Here. . . huh?”
I stared at it, blinking rapidly.
When I looked up at the prince’s face, he narrowed his eyes and said.
“I can’t eat it. So, you eat it instead.”
“. . .Eh?”
“You’ve been saying “eh?” since a while ago.”
The prince raised one eyebrow as if he was amazed.
As I bit my lip lightly so as not to let out a “eh,” the prince looked at me with a faint smile.
“You made it while thinking about me, right? Eat it and tell me what it tastes like.”
“Eh, t, that’s. . .”
His Highness had a slightly teasing look on his face. Since we started dating, His Highness often teased me with this kind of face, doing slightly mean things.
“Here, ah.”
His Highness’s long fingers picked up a piece of chocolate and brought it to my mouth.
(T, This is really embarrassing?!)
While concentrating all my nerves to prevent the charm magic from leaking out, I hesitantly opened my mouth as prompted by His Highness.
“. . .It’s, It’s sweet.”
“Is that so. . . Anything else?”
His Highness picked up another piece of chocolate and brought it to my mouth.
Honestly, I was too overwhelmed by the situation to understand the taste. With my almost blank mind, I was just desperately trying to suppress my charm magic.
“Um, it’s. . .melty.”
“I see, anything else?”
It’s a “semi-raw” type of chocolate that I learned how to make from a member of the cooking club. When you put it in your mouth, it melts with the heat. I’ve tasted it, so I know the taste and texture.
As I hesitated, His Highness nudged my lips with the edge of the chocolate, urging me to open my mouth.
. . .I still feel like this is really embarrassing.
Prompted, I opened my mouth and His Highness’s fingertips pushed the chocolate into my mouth.
“. . .It’s delicious. . .”
“Is that so, it’s good.”
His Highness repeated my clumsy words in a soft voice.
His voice and expression seemed very happy, and I felt increasingly uncomfortable.
“. . .”
“What’s wrong? Sweet, melty, delicious. . . is that all?”
“. . .Ugh.”
His Highness looks really happy.
Even though he’s such a kind person, why is he a little mean at times like this?
His blue eyes are narrowed, but they sparkle brightly from behind his eyelids. They’re lively.
Because I get nervous when I look into his eyes, I quickly looked away.
“T, That’s enough, I can eat the rest myself.”
“No way. You gave it to me, right? Then let me do as I please.”
“Oh, how rude!”
When I inadvertently turned to look at him because of his arrogant remark, he immediately shoved chocolate towards my lips.
“. . .Come on, open your mouth. Claudia.”
“. . .”
Unable to resist, I obediently opened my mouth and took the chocolate.
The chocolate was, as expected, sweet, melty, and delicious.
That’s all I could understand.
“. . .I added a little salt as a secret ingredient. Just a little.”
“Oh, really?”
“It’s supposed to enhance the sweetness! . . .But.”
“But?”
“. . .I can’t taste the salt. It’s too sweet.”
“What’s that about?”
He gives a small bitter smile.
It’s a way of laughing that he doesn’t usually do.
“It’s sweet, melty, and delicious, isn’t it?”
“. . .Yes.”
“You made it while thinking about me, and that’s how it turned out. . . I see.”
He murmurs with narrowed eyes.
“W, What a way to say it!”
“I’m not wrong, am I?”
I turned bright red with embarrassment, but he, on the other hand, snorted proudly for some reason.
Why is he looking so pleased?
“Here.”
“. . .”
“Is it good?”
“. . .It’s delicious. . .”
I continued to feed him the unbearably sweet chocolate, even though I couldn’t really taste it.
It seemed like he was watching me the whole time I had the chocolate in my mouth, until it completely melted. His gaze was unbearably embarrassing.
“Here, one more.”
His index finger and thumb picking up the chocolate.
His hands are incredibly large for a man, but they are long and supple, with beautiful fingers. His nails are probably carefully filed, and they are long and beautiful.
Why does he have such beautiful hands, when his face is already so handsome? It’s somehow unfair.
Once I noticed how long and beautiful his fingers were, I couldn’t help but feel more and more nervous as I watched him pick up the chocolate with his fingertips―――
“. . .I, I can’t take it anymore! I’ve reached my limit!”
As I stood up and started to run, his Evil-Banishing Items burst all at once with a “pop!”
I had been trying hard to suppress the charm magic, but I had really reached my limit.
I had done well to hold out this long.
I had tried so hard that my head was spinning.
“――You idiot! Thank you for the meal!!”
With tears in my eyes, I ran away from the usual spot behind the second school building. As soon as I arrived at my dorm room, I jumped into bed without even taking off my shoes, buried my face in the pillow, and thrashed about while literally wailing.
“I’ll definitely. . . definitely make normal sweets that he can eat next year. . .!”
I swore to myself that I had had enough of this humiliation.
・・・
『”𝘼𝙬𝙚𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨.𝙘𝙤𝙢” – 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 “𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨” 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 “𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨”.』
・・・
“. . .Next year, make sure you feed me properly, Claudia.”
A low, raspy voice whispered behind the second school building, accompanied by a small smile.
―𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕰𝖓𝖉―
𝐀𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞! 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞!
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