When I awoke in the afternoon, my mind immediately flooded with Camilla's ghastly remark. I grunted in frustration, and tore myself out of bed.

“Stupid Camilla,” I muttered under my breath, stomping out of the castle. “Me? Liking Happy? Ha!”

In my line of vision was Happy himself, digging zai pits to prepare for our dry summer climate. Between each labourious step on the shovel, Happy was forced to push his bangs out of his eyes.

I hadn't noticed I stopped to stare, but Happy caught sight of me and flashed me a smile from across the field. “Hey Leo,” he said, rubbing the sweat off his forehead, leaving a streak of dirt in its place. “Do you have a spare hair clip on you?”

My legs carried me over before I could think, close enough that I caught the end of what Happy was muttering to himself, “I need a haircut.”

I took a hair clip out from my hair, and reached over to delicately brush Happy's long bangs to the side. From my touch, he jolted, and fixated his eyes on mine. It was hard to breathe, as I pinned up his hair. My hands lingered a little longer than necessary, desperate to touch him. To pull him in and...

“Um, I should get back to work,” Happy said, interupting my wandering thoughts. He turned around, and thanked me before digging again.

With my heart still beating out of my chest, I retraced my steps to the castle in a quickened pace, and barged into Camilla's room. I threw myself onto her massive bed, covering my flushed face with my hands. “Okay, maybe I like him.”

She nonchalantly turned the page of her book, “Yeah, I already knew that.”

“How is that your reaction? Aren't you like, in love with him?”

“I like him, but it's moreso like, I'm amazed by him. Like I'm a proud mama. The mom friend.” She reached over to pinch my cheek, “So don't worry, we won't be fighting over him or whatever you were worried about.”

I slapped her hand away, and sighed. “I wasn't worried about that.”

Slowly, she set her book down. “Actually, I wanted to tell you something.” Oh? I sat up and crossed my legs, waiting for her to speak. “Eva... She's confessing her feelings to Happy tonight.”

“Oh.”

“I don't know what will happen with them, but-”

“No, it-it's cool. I mean, it's not like I- you know, it's been years with Eva, and being with Happy- it's not...” I awkwardly tried to downplay my feelings, though my heart sank.

“Leo, you don't have to do that. You know, it's not impossible for three people to love each other.”

I laughed lightly to cut through the tension. “We both know Eva doesn't feel that way about me, and I don't even like Happy that much, you know? It's fine,” I lied, and stepped off the bed. “I'm gonna get some food now, I haven't eaten all day,” I explained, and fled her room to hide in mine, despite her calling after me ceaselessly.

It hurts. Like there's something sitting on my chest, with the intent of crushing my ribcage. It's stupid. It's not the end of the world, and yet... deep down, I had always held out for requited affection.

I quickly welcomed the reclusive lifestyle. I whispered food requests to Daryl through the crack of my door, refusing to expose my true form to the outside world. I'm suppose to be a prince, hardened and logical.

The day dragged into night, my bed was already covered in pastry crumbs. The bed itself was neater than my hair, but my hair matched my puffy eyes. I rolled myself into my dessert blanket, shielding my sensitive eyes from the bright light magic shining in from the windows, and allowing the darkness inside to swallow me whole. How pathetic of me, to weep over the happiness of others because I'm not in the equation.

In the morning, I will be better, I decided after my third bucket of icecream. I will push aside my feelings, and genuinely celebrate their love. I care about them too much to let this get in the way of our friendship. I will be totally fine tomorrow morning.

I woke up looking and feeling like soggy compost. Luckily I had enormous bags under my eyes to carry my heavy heart.

The gods must pity me, for they manifested my desire to remain hidden with a thick cover of fog.

For a moment, I considered hiding under my comforter for another day, but my hunger was too loud to ignore. I flopped out of bed, brushed my hair, and dragged my comforter around like it was a cape.

On my way to the dining room, I had the unfortunate luck of crossing paths with Happy. I swallowed my feelings and let them settle in my empty stomach long enough to give him a nod, and shuffle my way through the dining room doors. As they closed behind me, I gave a small sigh, already too exhausted to imagine an interaction more intimate than that.

I curled up in a chair as one of the butlers brought in the head chef from the kitchen, offering to make me a quick snack before they'd serve lunch .I asked for icecream, but they thought it best I diversify my intake today.

When the room was empty and silent, the door creaked open, and a paper bird flew in. My eyes followed it as it circled around the room, and slid across the table. I hesitantly reached for it.

Come to the library after you eat.

I blinked at the empty space around the words, and flipped it over expecting more. But there was nothing but a trace of magical dust. Unsurprisingly, when I looked to the door, it was already closed, and the sender remained anonymous.

I was suspicious of the messenger, but scarfed down my light breakfast without breathing. I shed the blanket-cape before flying over to the library. Yet, when I arrived, there was no one there. Instead, there was a paper bird on the desk.

I unravelled it to reveal the next set of instructions; Find the romance novel about the blacksmith and the knight, for a prize at the end.

Camilla. She used to be obsessed with that book. And the goose chase she was sending me on? Her weird way of coaxing me out of my room, to prevent me from wallowing in my self-pity until I ate a proper meal. Fine, Camilla, I'll bite. I'll play pirate. For the prize at the end, that is.

Ih adn't realized how many books we had accumulated until now. There were thousands with similar covers, and the one I was searching for didn't stand out at all. How the hell did Camilla remember where this friggen book was? I don't think either of us has touched it in the past five years.

All hopes that my efforts would be rewarded with said prize immediately shrivelled up and died when I read the note stuffed between the pages of the romance book in question.

Find the painting of the man with the orange beard.

I stared at the note, then up to think. I know exactly which painting they're refering to, the one of our great uncle Tonio, the only ginger we know in the family. Surely Camilla would've just written down his name so... Maybe it's not Camilla, afterall.

All ideas of quitting the scavenger hunt melted away, and I persisted out of curiousity instead of seeking their mystery prize. I skipped lunch and my studies again, sniffing out clues like dog treats all over the castle. I had a coating of sweat on my skin that could evaporate into it's own little cloud by time I finally reached the last clue. In my exhaustion, I held the paper up to the sky and cackled with triumph.

Come to the flower garden for your prize.

My expression soured and I kissed my teeth. Outside? In this weather? Still, I started for the front doors, ready to curse out this sadistic sender. I threw the doors open, letting the thick fog in to become one with my sweaty body.

I was prepared to walk blindly, but there was a candelight path prepared for me.

I took a deep breathe before slowly following, half expecting this to be an ambush, but when I reached the garden I noticed a small figure behind the fog sitting underneath our tree-like rose bush.

I moved closer, finding a blanket on the floor with my eyes, along with a large clay pot sweating as much as a me. I didn't need to see their face to know the silhouette behind the fog.

“Happy?”

Gravity seemed eager to aquaint itself with me, because I tripped over my own feet at that moment.

Happy lunged forward with his arms out, but there was no saving me. “Oh my gods, Leo! Are you okay?”

I could feel the blood pooling on my face. “Yup.”

I winced as I started to get up with his help, and attempted to wipe the blood off my face before he noticed. Of course, that didn't work as planned. Nothing really did, for me. “You're bleeding!” He brushed his fingers against the side of my face while he examed the wounds, setting my heart ablaze. “I'm going to get a first aid kit, okay?”  

I found myself praying that my entire face was busted up, so Happy wouldn't think anything odd of the red on my face from a heated blush. He cleaned my wounds gently, not even applying the pressure necessary to stop the bleeding.

“I'm so sorry,” he said as he carefully pasted another bandaid on.

My eye flickered to his for a moment, but I quickly averted them when the butterflies in my chest threatened to burst out like a canon. “Why are you sorry?”

“I called you out here on such a foggy day. You got hurt because of me.”

I lightly touched his hand, and he stopped to meet my gaze. “I'm okay,” I said, but the heavy pressure on my chest lingered, like I was stuck in sleep paralysis. “Why'd you do all this anyways?” the words came out softer than I intended.

He nervously laughed as he finished with my wounds. “I wanted to make you this,” he said as he pulled the clay pot towards us, dragging the blanket beneath it. “But it's my first time making it and I wasn't sure how it'd turn out, so I needed extra time, and I figured a treasure hunt would be fun, or I don't know,” he rambled. “Um, Camilla told me it's your comfort food, and well, I figured you could use it today.”

The butterflies withered. “So, I guess Camilla told you how I feel about...” you, was all I couldn't bring myself to say. I hurriedly tried to covered the expression on my face and wound up smacking myself and wincing from the pain of touching my fresh wounds. 

Happy gently placed his right hand on my shoulder. “No, but I could tell that you liked Eva.”

I wanted to rip my own hair out. He's known this whole time! I wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole to save me from this embarassment!

I dropped my hands and looked at him beyond the fog despite my burning cheeks. I want to be happy for him and Eva, I want them to be happy together, but putting this effort in to comfort me... how is the longing ever going to cease?

I could feel my eyes beginning to water.

“I-I didn't mean to upset you,” he said, with his hand sliding down my arm. "I know she's engaged now, but-”

“You two got engaged?!”

The worry on his face instantly changed into confusion. “What?”

“Y-you just said Eva's engaged, so y-you proposed or-?”

“Leo, what in the name of magic are you talking about?”

The heat on my face returned. “Didn't Eva... with you... and you two...?”

He shook his head slowly in confusion. “Wait, so you didn't know Eva accepted the proposal she got from the Festival of Mages? Then why have you been upset?”

“B- Because,” I looked away and hugged myself. “I knew she got together with someone, but I... I-”

“Didn't know she was going to marry them?”

Well, that's certainly a part of it. I sighed and lowered my head. “Yeah.”

Happy hesitantly reached out for my shoulder again, but recoiled and fidgetted with his fingers. “I know it doesn't fix anything, but I hope the ice cream helps, even a little.” He pulled off the lid to the clay pot, revealing an even smaller pot within, like a zeer pot. The space between was filled with icy water and saltpeter instead of sand, keeping the thick liquid in the smaller pot cool.

Although it looked more like yogurt than the frosty dessert I love, my stomach roared with hunger at the sight of it. 

Happy scratched the back of his head in embarassment. “It didn't turn out well since I didn't have snow.” He reached into his pocket and unravelled a napkin holding a spoon.

"No, it looks great." I took the spoon from him, and took a bite. The fog started to dissipate, and the aching seemed to melt away. “Thank you for doing this for me. Thank you... for being here for me.”

The serenity I felt with Happy at the picnic floated away with the fog by time I entered the castle. The moment I laid eyes on Camilla was the moment the lion within me roared with anger. I charged at her and dragged her back to my room, slamming the door behind us and squinting at the trickster deity before me. “Why did you feed me false information about Eva and Happy?”

She was immune to my fury. “What false information?” she seemed to ask with genuine confusion, before seating herself on my bed.

“That she was going to confess to him! She's engaged to someone else, Camilla!”

Camilla stood up, redirecting my fury back onto me as her demonic enveloped me. “She did confess to him! She wanted to confess to Happy before responding to her pending proposal! But Happy rejected her, so she accepted it. You didn't let me explain the situation, you just stormed out and locked yourself in your room, dumbass!”

I squinted my eyes at her again, with my lips pursed as if her words were sour lies. “You couldn't write me a note and slide it under the door or something to clear that up?”

She crossed her arms. “Would you have read it?”

“Yes. Maybe. I don't know.”

Camilla let out a heavy sigh, plopping back down onto the bed. “I'm sorry for the confusion, I know these past few days have been hard on you. Happy and I wanted to cheer you up, but finding out about the engagement doesn't make things easier on you, huh?”

I moved towards the bed, and sat beside her. “Yeah.” Engaged. It was finally starting to set in. 

"Did you enjoy your date with Happy at least?" she light-heartedly tried to joke. 

But I wasn't in the mood and ignored her comment. "Who's she engaged to?"

Camilla patted my back like our mother used to do when we were sick or injured as kids. "How about we talk about that after dinner, okay?" 

My stomach growled at the thought of a savoury meal after all these sweets. I nodded weakly.

"Okay," Camilla said gently, then released the gentle soul she had possessing her for the past few moments. She slapped my back and hopped off the bed. "Now let's go, you haven't had a proper meal in like two days.”