185 — Sweet Things (3)

“Did you deliver all the invitations?”

I sent her on an errand, and she came back fairly quickly. I hadn’t even followed her today.

There was no need for Rurin to explain anything since everything was already written on the invitations. Plus, it seemed like the castle had grown accustomed to how to deal with her, so I figured there wouldn’t be any issues.

Rurin entered the restaurant and marched straight up to me without hesitation.

“You!”

She called out to me in a loud voice. However, I couldn’t help but notice a slight tremble in her voice.

What?

Why does her expression look so messed up?

I think I’ve seen this face maybe twice in the past.

I distinctly remember her making that exact face once during a rainy night when she realized her old lair was leaking.

In other words, it’s the expression she makes when she’s lost something precious.

Wait, what is this?

I only sent her on a simple errand, so why has she come back looking so devastated?

“Why do you look like that?”

I asked Rurin, expressing my concern.

“This is how my face always looks!”

But Rurin shouted angrily instead.

“No, it’s not. The face you normally make is one where you’re giggling, like ‘Hehe’.”

“You! I don’t need this anymore!”

Before I could even finish, Rurin suddenly began removing her earrings.

“Huh?”

In confusion, I took the earring she handed to me. Then she took off the other earring and thrust it toward me as well.

I had no idea what was happening. It felt like I was in a daze.

“What’s going on with you? Why are you doing this?”

Those were the earrings she loved so much. She always wore them!

“I don’t need this either!”

This time, she even took off her necklace and held it out to me.

“Take it. I don’t need it!”

When I didn’t immediately take it, she pouted and thrust the necklace toward me again.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she had the face of someone who was about to cry if I didn’t take it, so I reluctantly accepted the necklace as well.

And now she was taking off her bracelet.

This is driving me crazy.

“I’m giving this back too! And I don’t need any of the treasures in the lair either!”

She pouted, her face full of anger, insisting on returning everything I had given her. This felt like the way couples break up, didn’t it?

Is Rurin breaking up with me?

But the way she was looking at me, filled with resentment as if everything were my fault, made her look like she was about to burst into tears, like a dam about to overflow.

Is she about to pull another weird stunt, like when I refused her kiss?

But this expression is different from that time – she looks genuinely like she’s about to cry.

I need a clue. I have no idea what caused this. So I decided to probe her a bit.

“You’re giving everything back? Are you trying to break up with me or something?”

“You’re the one! You don’t even like me! You’re human! If you had given me nothing at all, fine, but you gave me earrings, necklaces, and bracelets! Why didn’t you give me a token of love? It means you don’t like me! It means you don’t love me! So I don’t need any of it!”

“A token of love?”

It seems like this “token of love” is at the heart of this issue.

Rurin didn’t argue but instead pouted, biting the inside of her mouth as she nodded vigorously.

Nod, nod, nod, nod, nod.

The nodding continued endlessly. An infinite loop of nodding.

The more she nodded, the more she looked like she was about to cry. A dam on the verge of breaking. A flood about to happen. It was like an imminent flood warning.

“If you give me a token of love now, I’ll forgive you! I don’t need the lair you built or the treasures in it. Just give me that! If you give me that, I’ll forgive you!”

Hmm.

A token of love.

She’s returning earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, asking for a token of love.

Suddenly, a thought struck me. If I piece together everything that’s happened, there’s really only one possibility.

A token of love… Is she talking about a ring by any chance?

I don’t know where she heard it, but it was clear that by returning all the necklaces and earrings and asking for a token of love, she meant something with a stronger connotation of love than those things.

And it turned out I was right.

Rurin flinched, and she started fidgeting with her feet in nervous anticipation.

She was clearly thinking, “What will I do if you don’t give me the token of love after all these?”

Her expression had become much easier to read than before.

Alright. I’ve figured out the problem.

I was planning to give her a ring in a special event, but it seems she found out about the meaning of rings on her own. It’s a surprising coincidence, but I’ll just have to roll with it.

Of course, she has no idea that I’ve already been preparing a ring for her.

If she knew, she wouldn’t be looking at me like her world is falling apart.

What timing…

“You knew! You knew all along!”

Rurin started shouting again, clearly growing anxious in another direction.

The fact that I hadn’t given her a ring, even though I “knew”, had convinced her that I didn’t love her. Tears started welling up in her eyes.

The dam had finally burst.

I can’t let that happen.

It’s a sudden situation, but I don’t want to make her cry, not even a little. So I immediately responded.

“You see, a ring is a token of love, yes, and even couples who aren’t married wear rings. But I wanted to give our Rurin the best ring possible, which is why it took a bit longer. It wasn’t that I didn’t know – I was just taking time to prepare it.”

As I said this, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of my hand, she seemed to take it positively and asked, her face brightening.

“Is that it? Is that really the reason?”

“Yeah, don’t jump to conclusions. Just because I knew doesn’t mean I don’t like you. I just wanted to give you the best token of love in the world.”

“But…but you said it’s a token of love! A vow of love! So I don’t want to wait anymore. Even if it’s not the best, if it’s from you, then it’s the best for me! I don’t care what it is! I just want it! Can’t I have it?”

She really, really wanted a token of love.

I could guess her state of mind from the fact that she said she didn’t need any of the other treasures.

It’s not exactly a romantic situation, but I have no choice.

If I ignore this, it’ll turn into a disaster.

“Alright, just wait a moment.”

“Okay!”

As soon as I said I’d give her something, she wiped away her tears with determination.

Her black eyes started to sparkle. Maybe it was because they were still slightly wet with tears.

I went to the kitchen and then came back to her, taking her hand.

“Huh?”

Rurin reacted, but I ignored it and pulled her hand toward me like a noble about to kiss the queen’s hand.

“Here! A ring.”

And I placed something that looked like a silver ring – something I grabbed from the kitchen – on her finger.

Rurin’s fingers were slim, so the silver ring-like object I put on fit perfectly.

“This… This is a ring?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s a token of love!”

“Yeah, since it’s true that I like you, it’s a token of love.”

As I patted the back of Rurin’s head and acknowledged her, she immediately began to smile.

“Really? Hehe! Then that’s fine. Since you gave it to me now, I forgive everything!”

The look of resentment and all the feelings of disappointment vanished from her face.

“Forgiveness, huh.”

But soon after, Rurin looked closely at the silver object on her finger and tilted her head slightly in confusion.

“But you.”

“Hmm?”

“This thing… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

Did she figure it out?

It was bound to be discovered, but she figured it out pretty quickly.

“Maybe you’re mistaken? You just learned about rings today, so when could you have seen one?”

“Is that so? But I’m sure I saw something like this earlier.”

“Earlier? Did you, by any chance, drink beer earlier?”

“Eek! How did you know?”

Rurin took a startled step back. The expression on her face said, ‘How could you have known? I thought I covered it up so well!’

I’ve warned her more than a few times that drinking alcohol before the restaurant closes is prohibited. Beer is for after work!

But now’s not the time to nitpick that. Enough with the jokes; it’s time for the main event.

“Actually, that thing is…”

“What thing?”

This is actually a piece from a beer can. I brought out a beer can and showed her the truth.

She’ll probably make a fuss again, but this was a hastily thrown-together event.

I’m lowering her expectations as much as possible before giving her the real ring.

“When you open a beer can like this, that’s what comes out.”

“What? A ring is made from beer?”

Rurin shouted, her face full of shock.

“Maybe?”

“Youuuuuu! I’m not stupid!”

Rurin charged at me in a rush, aiming a headbutt at my stomach.

Her face was on the verge of tears again. It wasn’t surprising – it was exactly as I expected.

Laughing one moment and crying the next – her mood swings really are something.

“Rurin, in poor households, they used things like that as rings until they could afford real ones. It’s true.”

“A-are we that poor?”

“Yeah, well, recently a lot of money has been going out. The upkeep on the lair and everything.”

“Didn’t I already say I don’t need the lair or any of this stuff? If it means a token of love, then this is fine too!”

“Idiot. Do you really think that? We’re rich, you know?”

When I said that, Rurin’s face twisted into a whirlpool of confusion.

Before she could throw a tantrum again, I intertwined our fingers and led her back to the lair, guiding the bewildered Rurin along.

The destination is the bedroom.

“You? What are you…?”

Rurin’s voice, filled with curiosity, echoed behind me, but I didn’t answer. Soon, we arrived at the bedroom.

The Hibiren flower was in full bloom in the bedroom.

Every now and then, it would emit a faint glow, as if Selly’s will resided in it.

That’s why I wanted to make this important vow in front of the Hibiren flower.

I sat on the bed and pulled Rurin to sit in front of me, wrapping her in a back hug with her sitting in front and me behind.

Then I gently removed the ridiculous beer can ring from her hand.

“You? Why…?”

Rurin didn’t seem happy about me taking the ring, but before she could wriggle free, I tightened my hug.

Rurin’s warm back pressed against my chest. It wasn’t a face-to-face embrace, but this was still a hug. Actually, I had the feeling Rurin liked this kind of hug a little more.

“You! What about the token of love? Was that a lie from earlier?”

Now’s the moment.

I lifted Rurin’s hand from behind and brought out the real ring – a Pink Diamond that had been crafted by a dwarf into a beautiful ring. I placed it on her hand.

It fit perfectly on Rurin’s finger, like it had always been a part of her.

I was satisfied. It had been worth secretly measuring her finger for the perfect fit.

“This… What is this?”

Rurin was flustered, but there was a hint of excitement in her voice.

“What do you mean “what is this”? It’s a real ring filled with love, made from one of the rarest Pink Diamonds in the world.”

“You? This…! The color is so beautiful!”

Rurin jumped up, twirling her body around in excitement.

“I’m glad you think so.”

“It’s really beautiful! Is this a ring? A real ring?”

“Yeah. The one from earlier wasn’t a ring. This is the real one.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll never take it off until I die! Hehehe!”

Rurin caressed the ring, her face lit up with the happiest expression in the world as she yelled out.

Yeah, the sweet kiss will have to wait for next time.

You can’t get everything in the world all at once.

I left Rurin, who couldn’t take her eyes off the ring, and headed back up to the restaurant.

I had given her the ring faster than I had planned.

It was one of those rare days when things didn’t go as I had expected.