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“How do I get Cardia to fall in love with me?”
The question, pronounced in slurred words, came out of nowhere, making both Saint-Germain and Guinevere spill the tea that was in their throats.
It was a warm fall day in London. The cloudy sky provided some shelter from the sun, making Saint-Germain’s mansion look a bit darker in the day. On days like these, Saint-Germain took great pleasure in brewing tea and inviting his friends over to his house to share tea time, a new habit he found himself immersing in lately. Several months ago, the Code:Realize takedown mission finally ended with Isaac’s children living together and peacefully in Wales. Saint-Germain and Hansel were in charge of the surveillance of the siblings by order of Omnibus, which resulted in the two Apostles visiting them regularly and deepening their bonds with the Beckfords.
While Hansel was mostly fond of Finis, Saint-Germain remained neutral to both Finis and Cardia… or so he tried to appear.
Hansel noticed that something changed in Saint-Germain since the siblings shattered Omnibus’s prediction. His fellow Apostle was now openly sharing his thoughts and doing more facial expressions; even his tone of voice descended a note, which gave the impression of Saint-Germain speaking more spontaneously. The Count even started inviting Hansel and Guinevere over to his mansion to share tea from time to time, claiming he wanted to spend more time with them… a weird concept for any Apostle of Idea, unbound by time.
There were those changes, and the glances Saint-Germain stole at Cardia every time they went to Wales. And his slightly awkward behavior whenever the Count and the Horologium girl were close. And the presents he always took great care to elaborate and bring to her. Hansel took notice of this curious behavior in his comrade in arms.
“H-Hansel, what the…?! I mean, why do you ask?”. Guinevere stuttered, slightly blushed.
Saint-Germain regained his composure and could talk again, after coughing for a while and cleaning his mouth with a serviette.
“Isn’t this the kind of question you should bring to Omnibus?”, he said.
“I asked her, but…”
After hearing the question, Omnibus started to cough uncontrollably over her cup of tea, her cheeks reddened.
“Oh! Oh, I see… This is… Are you in this phase already…? Oh my, time flies by! Well, uhm… About relationships between men and women, uhm… W-Why don’t you ask Guinevere? She surely knows a thing or two about romance… Right, Lilith?”
The big dog whined, lowering its ears in awkwardness.
“...That’s what she said”, Hansel finished. He picked a cookie from a plate and started to munch it.
Guinevere’s face got all red.
“Th-that’s not…! Why did she…?!”, she stuttered, clearly mortified.
Saint-Germain chuckled. He would be laughing at heart, if the matter at hand wouldn’t concern him.
“Saint-Germain, help me out here! You two are men. I think Hansel is in time to have… Y-You know…”, she trailed off that last part, averting her gaze to her feet in shame.
“To have what?”, asked Hansel. “More pastries?”
“Dear Guinevere, I don’t understand you. What is that Hansel is ‘in time’ for?”, asked Saint-Germain, clearly amused by the situation.
“The… You know…”, Guinevere started, gathering courage to pronounce the words. She sighed tiredly. “I can’t believe you are making me say this… Thetalk”.
“The- What?”
“Could you come again, please?”
“THE TALK! There, I said it. Are you happy now?!”. Guinevere shouted, looking angrily at the puzzled expression in Hansel’s face and comparing it to the insufferable mischievous smile of Saint-Germain. Her face acquired a new shade of red.
Hansel stopped munching his 4th cookie of the evening and suddenly his gaze lightened, as if realizing something was missing.
“Oh… The Talk? I know what that means”, he commented.
“...You do?!”. Both Saint-Germain and Guinevere asked in unison, their eyes wide open.
“Yes. It means you want to scold me for something I did. What did I do this time? Is it because I ate the muffins from Cardia’s kitchen? I already apologized…”
Saint-Germain and Guinevere both exhaled in relief.
“No, Hansel, it’s not that”, Saint-Germain assured him. “It’s about something Guinevere is going to explain. We are listening”, he finished, directing his amused gaze at the knight while sipping from his cup of tea.
The female Apostle glared daggers at the Count. Suddenly, though, she grinned as a good counterattack occurred to her.
“Ah, but Hansel? I think Saint is the best suited to help. You asked how to get Cardia to love you, right?”
Saint-Germain choked with the hot liquid and started to cough again. His marbled white facial skin reddened all of a sudden.
“Oh… Why is that, Guinevere?”, asked Hansel, now curious and ignoring Saint-Germain, who started to recover from his cough attack.
“Because he–”
“Don’t”
“-likes–”
“Say”
“-her–”
“That’s it!”, Saint-Germain exclaimed, red as a tomato and a bit angry. “Y-You two don’t know what you are talking about!”
“Oooh… Is that true, Saint? So that’s why you always take such a long time when you kiss Cardia’s hand…”, Hansel pointed out.
“Really? It’s hard to imagine Saint being romantic…”, Guinevere wondered, ignoring Saint-Germain’s retorts.
“That’s n-not–”
“And it isn’t the only suspicious thing he does”, continued Hansel. “Lately he brings her books of someone called ‘Goethe’ and reads to her for a while”.
“Now that you mention it, I’ve seen him carrying a bouquet of roses before entering the Forest of Fog”, Guinevere said, holding her chin with a hand. She couldn’t deny she was enjoying teasing his colleague.
“I-It’s just because she ask–”
“Oh, and Finis gets furious every time Saint offers his arm to Cardia before going for a walk around the village”, added Hansel. “I don’t understand why”.
“That’s because he’s jealous, Hansel”, explained Guinevere.
“Jealous? What for?”. Hansel tilted his head in puzzlement.
“Hansel, it’s not–”
“Because he knows how Saint feels, and if Cardia loves him back, then they would–”
The grandfather clock of the dinner room started to ring its bells, indicating it was 6 pm and interrupting Guinevere.
“O-Oh, look at the hour!”, the Count nervously pointed out. “I have to tend to my garden and tidy the mansion up. Why don’t we meet another day? It was a pleasure to spend time with you both. I’ll take care of everything here, don’t worry”.
He stood up from his seat and quickly started to clear the table, between the amused gaze of Guinevere and the puzzlement of Hansel. When he disappeared behind the kitchen access, they both shrugged and stood up as well, and walked out of the mansion through the gate and into the nearby forest.
“So he does like her, then”, started Hansel, walking alongside Guinevere.
“I think it's pretty obvious, but this plan of yours asking for advice worked miracles to get confirmation. Well done, Hansel”. Guinevere patted him on the shoulder. “Just don’t put me on the spot next time. I’ll see you around”.
With that, the female knight disappeared into thin air, leaving Hansel to his thoughts. He didn’t understand why Guinevere was so mortified when she mentioned “The Talk”. In the end it pretty much consisted of embarrassing Saint-Germain for his relationship with Cardia. Why would it cause blushed cheeks and spilled tea, he couldn’t find out.
Also…
“Wait, what plan?”