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The quiet moments between them, of hairs being brushed and munching on sticky rice balls, seemed to go on endlessly. That was until there came a request that took away his attention from smoothening silver strands.
A patient smile etched on his face as he listened.
“Leo, I’d like to borrow your straw dolls,” it was asked so by the Princess, her tone light and at ease without giving those words much consideration.
But to him, whose smile had wavered away, that temporary effect of harmony had come to a sudden halt. He stood there rigid, the brushing comb slowly slipping away from his loosened grasp…
Before long, it fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Inwardly, he screamed with thousands of thoughts running through his head all at once. But many of them were along the lines of…
‘How did she know?!’
“Honestly,” even in his state of shock, she made sure to let him hear the sigh escaping her lips. Then, with a slight turn of his head, he saw the Princess bending down on one knee.
With a stretch of her right hand (which was clean of red bean paste unlike the other one), she reached for the fallen thing. “If your hand’s all sore, tell me so I can massage it.”
But of course she didn’t put it lightly; there was a slight increase of her voice that leaned on sternness when she said it. One of the little habits she did which he picked up from their frequent interactions.
But it served no actual purpose to him once he opened his mouth and only inelegant words came out of them.
“N–No, that’s not it!” Ah, how he wished his voice wasn’t always cracking whenever he was flustered or surprised by the things she said and did. And it hardly helped that his heart gave out erratic beats, all for the same reason, “I didn’t think you’d take interest in my straw dolls…”
‘After all, I hid them as much as possible!’ Leonard quickly added, but only for himself to be aware of such a fact.
It unnerved him quite a bit that she even knew of their existence. He was certain about casting invisibility spells at them on a daily basis, just so the Princess, of all people, wouldn’t find them out.
And yet, she knew. Not to mention, from the casual tone of her voice when asking, it was almost as if she had already known for a long time now.
His face turned pale with fright at the thought of the Princess most possibly using nullification spells, no thanks to her forbidden grimoire, to cancel his own. All so she can examine his place without leaving a single detail unchecked.
‘Why does she regularly look through everything in my private quarters, anyway?’ He thought, his head bowed down in dismay, ‘there’s nothing fascinating about this place nor its owner…’
His lips pursed at this notion, merely admitting to this fact as the idea it should be.
“How come?”
Though reluctance weighed heavily down on him, Leonard willed himself to raise his head and face her. When seeing it, he blinked his lashes a couple of tries. Confused.
Confused at the kind of face the Princess was giving him.
The ends of her brows narrowed a bit and her lips turned to a firm line. Then, there were her eyes; they gleamed a curiously concern look to them. Unlike the times where they would merely last a second and vanish as if they never appeared in the first place…
This one, however. This one stayed.
He couldn’t help but think it as an unusual occurrence.
“How come?” She reiterated, her voice a tad bit too heavy for some reason.
With the way she was acting now, no matter how subtle and almost unchanging her expressions were from her usual one, it hinted strongly to him that he must’ve said something wrong…
That gaze of hers, if she kept looking at him like this…
How was he supposed to turn away?!
‘And besides,’ he bit the inside of his cheek at this, having to acknowledge this. This bitter truth he can never deny. To himself at least, ‘did she even realize as to why I keep hand-making them? That they’re borne out of my jealousy…’
The days and nights he spent, carrying this dark-filled emotion. Completely against his will and better judgement, but yet it clung to him for dear life like some bloodsucking leech. Taking advantage of his (fragile) heart…
As he looked back to those times that occurred for every single day. Of men, be it familiar or a stranger, approaching the Princess for none of the reasons his mind would suddenly jump to. Her conversing with them, laughing, and smiling…
A part of him couldn’t handle those times not being… well, with him.
And so, those same days and nights he spent. In his room, joining strips of straws together, bending them, tying them together, and repeat. Then, when he was done with that, he’d slap a name tag of the man he was jealous on a straw doll and…
Vent on it. With his bare hands, with a mallet, it hardly mattered as long as he can relieve himself of such evil feelings.
Because that was only way he can do without inflicting actual harm on anyone and himself. But still, he despised himself for it.
‘Despicable and petty, that’s what I am,’ he thought with an unsteady smile, his gaze turning all blurry and not quite seeing the Princess, ‘if only I wasn’t this kind of man–’
“Is it because you think that those straw dolls look far too simple for my tastes? Is that it?”
Upon hearing her say so, it was natural that his mind drew a blank. His pessimism and self-loathing that were starting to consume him, they ceased all at once. Confusion replaced them once more. He found no connection of his fears to her sudden assumptions, none at all.
‘Why’s she talking about aesthetics instead?’ He could only wonder. Traces of what he did and thought to himself were still there, but it was no longer an omniscient presence threatening to devour him.
As Leonard moved to look at her properly…
He tried masking his confusion with the same smile from before, but there was nothing to be done with the twitching of his brows. A large fold had emerged between them. Still, this was good enough of a face to have.
“Um, Princess, what do you mean?” As gentle as a breeze of a voice, he inquired.
And when he did, Leonard was met with a light scoff and a roll of her eyes. With her hands swinging about, she answered him plainly, “since you just told me, ‘I didn’t think you’d take interest in my straw dolls,’ clearly, you must mean the quality of your work!”
“Ah…”
“And to that, I say,” he did his best not to flinch as one of her fingers was suddenly aimed at his face, her nail dangerously close to the bridge of his nose. And with a loud voice that was almost so atypical of her, she exclaimed, “you’re not the only one to be the judge of it!”
…Um, where exactly was this conversation leading him to? But alas, he kept his mouth shut and let her continue on.
“Yes, it’s true that they look simple due to your lack of sense for aesthetics,” though she stated that so coolly, it still hurt a bit to have her pick at his personal preferences, “but have you even touched and examined them from there?”
Instead of her finger moments ago, it was now her face drawing close to his. At that, he mustered the will to not turn red as he stared right back at her. “Ah… not exactly,” was his somewhat decent answer.
“Pity,” a click of her tongue was heard loud and clear before she shifted her face away, much to his relief. “they’re soft and light, Leo.”
His eyes blinked at her comment. Soft and light…?
“They’re made to fit perfectly to one’s comfort. To think, you had those in mind when making the straw dolls,” for a brief moment, she had a faraway look to her eyes. Wandering, reflecting, whatever it may be. As if she then reminded of the recipient of her words, she returned to staring at him. A slight smile tugged at her lips as her next words came out, “it’s just like you, Leo.”
He wasn’t sure how to react when hearing this. Her words rang like the Demon Church’s bells, so vibrant yet calm and sweet-sounding. It was almost like she was delighted with the efforts that he didn’t consider before…
No good, this was no good for his heart as he felt it race from the weight of her words, her voice, and her eyes...
“Y–Yeah…”
Unable to handle the intensity of such a gaze, he let his gaze shift to the side. His breath caught in his throat and a hand reaching to scratch the back of his neck. This was all too much for him to take in, without collapsing. A moment to reflect and collect himself, that he did.
A second later, he dared to glimpse at her. And from the corner of his eyes, there he saw…
Her beaming at him with those bright violet eyes of hers. With a thumbs up in her left hand, she uttered these very words, “so take pride in your work, Leo.”
Leonard set his eyes yet again, the overpowering feelings had subsided by another thought and emotion. There was this lightness of his chest from not just from the flattery he received, but also because he had to fight the urge to laugh at her face.
Hopefully, she won’t take notice of the fact she used her paste-coated hand for such an inspiring speech. It’d surely ruin the moment and get her hopping mad instead.
‘But still,’ a certain notion, that remained at the back of his mind all throughout this time, finally surfaced. He let it flow freely while struggling to compose himself, ‘but just in case she doesn’t know, I need to tell her about why I keep making them.’
It would be better for her to be aware of the truth behind those straw dolls. It was the right thing to do and he mustn’t neglect that. But for now, he’d like to cherish this moment between them.
A little longer, he wanted so.
‘It’s more than what I could ask for…’
.
.
.
The next day, Leonard sighed.
And then, he muttered to himself, “I honestly don’t get her,” with a sense of dismay and confusion lingering in his voice.
It hardly made sense that she took his confession about the straw dolls without so much of her eyes raising nor her face giving him a skeptical look.
Anything to confirm his initial expectations, even impending fears, about the matter.
But in the end, she acknowledged them with a nod to her head and with ease at that. Well, the Princess had always been a rather odd lady. That much he knew.
Perhaps she must’ve felt some sort of camaraderie with those straw dolls he made to her break-ins to his place. A peculiar notion that he’d rather not dwell on, so he merely shrugged it away. Anyhow, moving on…
‘But since this is the Princess we’re talking about,’ he thought with a sigh, but with a giggle resounding in his voice, ‘she’ll definitely know what to do with me if I ever attempt to act so foolishly.’
And the mere thought of this brought him relief and bliss.
Even if right now the Demon King, Great Red, and Poseidon were sending him strange looks throughout this entire meeting…
Almost as if saying, ‘why’s the Princess letting the Teddy Demons play with straw dolls that have our names in it, huh?!’
Though their stares were almost making him sweat in panic and that he had a hunch that this will send his reputation further down into the ashes…
The Princess was happy; that mattered the most to him.