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Charlotte stared at the ceiling of her bedroom and heaved a deep sigh. For once she didn’t feel motivated at all to stand up and start the day. She just wanted to lay here, buried under her blanket and wait for the time passing by, ignoring everyone and everything around her, at least until tomorrow. Thirty. It was like this age was hanging over her head like a sword of Damocles, reminding her that she had still not been able to officially confess her feelings to Yami, leaving her single at that specific day she crossed the line to be, what it was called in noble circles, an old maid.
She groaned lowly and hid her face in her hands. Of course her mother had wanted to prevent her daughter from ending up single at her 30th birthday and therefore had been very eager to bring up some potential partners who would have loved to marry Charlotte immediately. But Charlotte didn’t want to marry some random man she hardly knew and who would not respect her wishes and job as a Magic Knight captain just so her mother would be spared of the shame having a spinster for a daughter. She rather stayed single for the rest of her life than marrying a man she didn’t love. And her heart belonged to Yami for twelve years by today. What a sad anniversary, with no happy end in sight.
At least she should be grateful that her duties called for her today so she had not to visit her parents. Watching her mother cry the whole time would have made her mood even worse. Instead she would attend a meeting with the other captains and perhaps, if she felt like it, she could have a picnic in the gardens with the ladies of her brigade later on. They had all been so excited already and she had caught sight of some of them gathering in the kitchen to bake a cake for her. Charlotte found that adorable and out of love for them she would try to celebrate the day with them, even though she didn’t feel like there was anything to celebrate.
She eventually got up and dressed for the day before heading down to their dining room, ready to get some breakfast and then leaving for the meeting. She entered the room and was welcomed by joyful cheers. “Happy birthday, Captain Charlotte!” All of them beamed at her and she couldn’t help but smile. Those girls really were precious for her and apparently they put a lot of thought into that day as the table in front of her usual seat was decorated with flowers. There were also a cake and some small packages waiting for her. She always said that she didn’t want them to make gifts to her but they did so anyway and she felt embarrassed about it. At the same time, though, she appreciated their kindness very much.
She took a seat and looked at her presents. “Thank you, ladies, but you know, you don’t have to—”
“But we want to”, Puli interrupted her and the others nodded eagerly in agreement. She shoved one of the packages in Charlotte’s arms, who eventually gave in and started to unwrap the presents.
She was touched by these small, thoughtful presents. There were bath salts, a self-knitted scarf and socks, a new book, drawings and, as a highlight, they all got together and gifted her a delicate silver necklace with a beautiful rose-shaped pendant. She stared at the jewellery and felt tears coming to her eyes. “Thank you so much”, she said and smiled at them. “These are all very sweet gifts.” She took the necklace out of its case and hung it around her neck. The pendent dangled over her shirt and she softly stroked it with her fingers.
“Beautiful as always”, Puli remarked with a wide smile on her face. “We just knew it would fit you perfectly, Captain.”
“It was made for Nee-san”, Sol agreed enthusiastically.
Charlotte’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Some things would never change, but that didn’t mean she would accept them. “Please call me, Captain, Sol.”
“Alright, Nee-san!” Sol beamed at her and Charlotte sighed.
“Okay, well, I have to leave for today’s meeting soon. Maybe we can have some tea and cake in the afternoon together, it really looks delicious and I can’t wait to have a try.” She collected the gifts in her arms, took an apple for the way and stood up.
“Captain, how long do you expect the meeting to last?”, Puli wanted to know. “We actually really would like to spend the day together with you, and a little party sounds fantastic.”
“Oh, there are not many topics planned to be discussed for today, so I think about an hour. But, Puli…” She looked at her brigade member sternly. “I really don’t want much for today. No big party, no surprises. Please.”
Puli blinked at her innocently. “We just want to have some fun together.”
She couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was missing something, but just couldn’t think of what it might be. Of course it was not wrong to have some fun with her brigade, but she knew Puli for several years by now, and their definition of fun was quite differently. All she wanted was some peace and the day passing by as fast as possible.
She finally said her goodbyes to the girls and brought her presents to her room, before she left to head into town for the meeting. The day was actually very beautiful with the sun shining brightly and for the middle of September it was still warm outside. Perhaps they really could spend the afternoon together having a picnic. She liked sitting in the gardens, surrounded by her roses, their sweet scent in the air. It always calmed her down after a long day of work.
Charlotte arrived at the large building where their meetings took place. She was early, of course she was, not liking to be late, although she was not the first one to enter the meeting room. “Happy birthday, my dear”, Dorothy greeted her cheerfully and Fuegoleon, Nozel and Kaiser, who already took their seats, also wished her a happy birthday. She mumbled her thanks and sat down, fumbling with her necklace, and waited for the other captains to arrive. All of them were punctual with, to no one’s surprise, just one exception, as he was late almost every single time.
Five minutes after they had started the meeting, the door burst open and Yami came in, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth and his hair even more messy than usual. “Sorry, the kids threw a party for me yesterday and it got pretty late, didn’t get out of bed this morning.” He yawned with exaggeration and took his seat at her side.
Her heart skipped a beat and she almost jumped up to her feet when his arm accidentally brushed hers as he moved his chair closer to the table. Calm down, Charlotte. She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on Fuegoleon’s monologue, but just couldn’t ignore his presence next to her that reminded her of her thoughts she had had after waking up today. Twelve years. She couldn’t believe she was in love with that brute of a man for twelve years. He had saved her from her curse and she still didn’t have the courage to repeat her confession to him she had made when he had fought for his life back in Spade. Instead she ran away, tried to be distant, too embarrassed by the whole situation to make a move.
Perhaps they were just not meant to be together, even though she sometimes had the silly imagination there was a deeper meaning to it that their birthdays were only one day apart. Wasn’t that a bit too much of a coincidence that she got connected to him, of all men out there? There had to be a reason she fell to that uncouth, reckless, sarcastic, strong and brave man, who just looked way too hot with all those muscles and that silky black hair and warm grey eyes. She wanted to punch and kiss him at the same time.
Nozel eventually took over from Fuegoleon, starting his own monologue about their cooperations with the Heart Kingdom and she tried her best not to get distracted again. It had always been hard to sit at Yami’s side in these meetings, but after her failed confession it got even worse, her urge to run away and hide herself from him forever getting stronger with every single time.
She already hastily got up to leave when they ended the meeting when his voice behind her made her stop abruptly. “Hey, Prickly Queen. Ya running again before I can even say happy birthday to ya?”
“Uh, thank you, Yami”, she mumbled and felt her cheeks blushing. She shot a quick glance at him, but didn’t dare to look at him longer. “For you, too. I mean, well, belated happy birthday, I guess.”
He chuckled and the sound of it gave her goosebumps. “Thanks.”
“I— uh… I have to go”, she stuttered and hurried up to get out of the room and away from him, opened the door — and froze.
“Hello, Captain Charlotte!”
Her heart sank deeply at the sight in front of her. Her whole brigade was waiting for her in the long corridor leading to their meeting room, smiling excitedly (well, except Sol who more looked like being in a huff). Puli approached her with sparkling eyes, a pretty apron with flowers on it in her hands. Selena was next to her, holding up cotton buds and a toothbrush.
Charlotte’s eyes widened and she took a step back, just to bump into a large, very muscular body behind her. “Huh, what is going on?”, she heard him saying and gulped hard. She just couldn’t believe this was actually happening. They couldn’t be serious about that.
Yami suddenly laughed loudly and gave her a slap on the back that made her stumble forward again. “Haha, Prickly Queen, I totally forgot ya turned thirty today. That means you have to clean door-handles.”
She felt like she wanted to scream. Or cry. Or run. Perhaps everything at the same time. That was exactly what she was talking about when she had said she didn’t want to have any surprises. This stupid, completely outdated tradition of unmarried women turning thirty having to clean door-handles should be forbidden. It was absolutely humiliating.
Before she could say anything or even process what was going on, Puli already put the apron around her and she had a cotton bud in her hand. And then she realized the corridor was indeed very long. With a lot of doors. And at those doors were of course door-handles — door-handles, that got prepared for her to be cleaned, smeared with different things to them. With a quick glance she could make out whipped cream, marmalade, toothpaste and mustard. Sometimes it even looked like a mix of all of it.
“Ohh, Charlotte dear, I’m a bit envious. No one organized that for me when I turned thirty this year”, Dorothy chimed excitedly. “It looks like so much fun.”
“Maybe you want to clean this up, then?”, Charlotte snapped at her and Dorothy giggled.
“That’s going to be so interesting to watch”, Jack cackled amused.
Horror-struck she detected that by now all the other captains had left the meeting room and looked at her curiously. Even Julius and Marx had joined them.
The shrunken Wizard King had a nostalgic look on his face. “Ah, I still remember the time I turned thirty. The male version of the tradition made me sweep the stairs in front of the royal palaces, of course, but I enjoyed that day a lot.”
“Yes, it indeed was a lot of fun”, Fuegoleon said with a smile.
Charlotte remembered his 30th birthday three years ago and how he had swept the stairs enthusiastically with a whole bunch of women watching him, ready to kiss him free from his task. — Wait. Kissing him free? Her eyes widened in shock. How could she have forgotten about that part of the tradition?
“You see, traditions should be cherished, Captain”, Puli told her and gently pushed her in front of the first door. “And while cleaning all of this mess, maybe you can also start thinking about where to find a virgin man to kiss you free.”
While staring at the door-handle and the chocolate cream on it, she slowly started to panic. She didn’t want to be kissed against her will. And to be realistic, finding a virgin man at her age would be pretty much impossible. Actually she didn’t even want to think much about it. All she wanted was going home, without any cleaning or being laughed at.
She felt a tingling from the expectant gazes of her girls and the captains on her neck. This would be no fun at all in her opinion. Only humiliating. From the corner of her eyes she saw the look on the faces of the ladies, though. They were so excited, and again they seemed to have put a lot of thought into the whole preparation. She didn’t have the heart to disappoint them, so she sighed defeated and started to scratch the chocolate from the door-handle.
The girls cheered her on and her face burned in embarrassment, but after some time she got most of the cream wiped away with her cotton buds.
“There’s still some cream left, Prickly Queen. Perhaps you could use that toothbrush”, Yami remarked and she gritted her teeth in anger.
“Why don’t you come here and show how to do it, if you know it so much better?” She knew she was taking it out on him, but her nerves were very much strained at this moment and she really couldn’t handle his teasing right now.
He laughed at her. “Not my task for today. If you know how to do it, you can skip that tradition completely. I showed how it worked last year.”
“You just scared the shit out of your squad so they wouldn’t dare to prepare something for you.” Jack grinned widely. “Well, I did the same with my shitheads.”
She glared at both, Yami and Jack. “That’s not helpful at all!”
“Jeez, Prickly Queen. You’re never going to find a guy who’ll marry you with that attitude, I already told ya so. Look, you’re still single at thirty, making you end up here with that old tradition.” He had a puff of his cigarette. “Good luck in finding a poor guy who will kiss ya today.”
His words hit the mark right away, even though she would never admit it out loud. She knew she always tended on snapping at him, but she was so bad in handling her feelings for him that she just couldn’t behave otherwise. Of course he would never be interested in her like that, making her staying single forever. And again: She didn’t want to be kissed by some random guy against her will. The only man she wanted to kiss was Yami. Who obviously wouldn’t want to do that. “My partner is the battlefield, how often should I tell you that until you understand?”, she yelled at him and immediately regretted being harsh once more.
She turned around and pulled the toothbrush out of Selena’s hand and started to remove the remaining chocolate cream from the door-handle before continuing with the next one. This time she had to wipe toothpaste away.
“Charlotte is doing her job very good, don’t you think?”, Rill said with a genuine smile.
From the corner of her eyes she noticed how Yami scrutinized him. “Hey, Glowy Hair, maybe you want to kiss her free”, he suggested then.
Charlotte blushed deeply and already wanted to protest, but Rill blushed even more than her, staring at the tips of his shoes in embarrassment. “Well, uh, you know I’m with Charmy, sooo…” He didn’t say more, but Yami glared at him, obviously being a bit overprotective about his brigade member.
She sighed quietly and went back to work, now cleaning a door-handle with mustard on it. That was not how she had imagined her birthday, perhaps she should have stayed in bed after all, reading a book and wait until it was all over. Maybe she could clean some more door-handles, then thank her brigade for their efforts and just leave. Who said that she had to stay true to the rules and had to wait for a man to kiss her free? Those ladies should know by now whom her heart belonged to and that she would not accept any other man in her life.
Yami, in the meantime, came up with another idea that left all of them completely speechless. “Julius, getting younger like this, does it also make ya a virgin again?”
Charlotte still couldn’t believe this was happening to her. The man she loved just tried to throw other men at her to kiss her. Somehow this really hurt her feelings.
Nozel stared at him with a deadpan expression. “You can’t just ask people something like that, Yami.”
Yami shrugged unimpressed. “It is a comprehensible question and Prickly Queen seems to need all the help she can get. Or she will still stand there and clean door-handles forever.”
Julius scratched his cheek, looking at him flustered. “Well, I don’t think it works like that.”
Selena handed another bunch of cotton buds over to her. “You’re doing fantastic, Captain. When we are getting outside for the cleaning, maybe we can find a cute little baby boy nearby to kiss you free, what do you think?”
Charlotte blinked at her, suddenly hopeful. Of course, babies were yet-to-grow men and she would love to get a slobbery kiss from a cute baby if it meant she was free without hurting anyone’s feelings. More motivated than before she cleaned the next two door-handles.
“I have a distant cousin who is only about fifteen months old. He loves to share his toddler kisses, especially with the ladies around him who won’t get tired of telling him how adorable he is. His family lives nearby, perhaps they can come over”, Fuegoleon said thoughtfully and Charlotte found this a brilliant idea. At least one of her fellow comrades tried to be actually helpful.
“Gosh, that takes too much time. I’m starting to get bored”, Yami said and rolled his eyes. “I got another idea.”
He took his cigarette from his mouth and suddenly approached her with long strides. Charlotte looked at him in surprise and gasped loudly when he grabbed her face with both hands and pulled her towards him, just to press his mouth to her lips a moment later. Her eyes widened in shock and in the distance she could hear the girls around her squeal in delight. The kiss lasted only for seconds, seconds that somehow felt like an eternity, a gentle brush of his soft lips, but it was enough for her heart to explode in pure bliss.
When he released her and stepped back with a confident grin on his face, her legs were shaky, her cheeks burned in embarrassment and she still could feel his lips on her. He had kissed her. Without any warning. He didn’t even ask her. He just went for it, not giving her the chance to process his act quickly enough to run away from him. “You should be grateful, Prickly Queen, I just kissed ya free.”
Jack cackled loudly. “No one here believes you’re still a virgin, Yami.”
Yami didn’t even feel ashamed at this remark, he only laughed. “Well, I’m a Virgo, this should count as well, right?”
Charlotte couldn’t help to be astonished by his logic. He used his zodiac sign as an excuse to kiss her free. She had to admit that she would never have thought about that, but… he was right. That would kind of make him a virgin.
“Oh, I’d say that definitely counts”, Puli exclaimed and beamed at him. “I think you just saved her day, Captain Yami.”
Yami looked at Charlotte and there was something glowing in his eyes that made her become weak all over again. A cheeky smile came to his face and she wanted to throw herself at him to kiss him. “I guess my job here is done, then. See ya all.” Before she even had the chance to say something he waved at them and then headed towards the exit.
Dorothy chuckled amused. “Who would have known it ended up like this? I wonder if he kissed me as well if I would have cleaned the door-handles. Something tells me he wouldn’t.” She winked at Charlotte who blushed even deeper at her comment.
“Very well, then we all should leave now”, Fuegoleon said. “I hope you will have a great birthday, Charlotte.” With that, he and the other captains left, as well as Julius and Marx.
Charlotte stayed behind with her excited brigade and even helped them cleaning up the mess. They all beamed at her, obviously very satisfied with the outcome of their surprise. And secretly she had to admit that this morning she would never have expected to end this day being kissed by Yami. That was so much better than a slobbery kiss of a baby or toddler.
She still was not able to form any coherent words, but by now there was a smile plastered to her lips that would not vanish for days. The girls around her giggled and when they eventually left the building there was one more surprise waiting for Charlotte.
“Yo, Prickly Queen.” Yami was leaning against a wall, looking at her expectantly.
“Go, Captain. Now it will be easy to get him”, Puli murmured into her ear and gave her a little push into his direction.
Charlotte stumbled forward and came to a halt in front of him. A glance over her shoulder told her that the ladies hurried up to leave the two of them alone, giving them some privacy, but being alone with him made her completely nervous.
“Those ladies of yours really got ya today, didn’t they? Didn’t look like you had much fun”, he started.
She took a deep breath. “It was no fun for me, but as they put so much effort into it I didn’t want to disappoint them.”
He smiled at that, a soft look on his face. “Look at that, you really can be nice if you want to.”
She blushed at that and stared at her feet, not knowing what to say.
“So, you can see my kiss of freedom as your birthday present”, he continued. “Perhaps you want to treat me to dinner tonight to thank me. Or as a belated birthday present for me.” Her head shot up and she stared at him surprised. There it was again, his damn confidence, so he really was serious about it. And he wasn’t even finished yet, as he now slowly came closer to her until he was standing in front of her with just a few inches between them. He took her small braid between his fingers and her heart skipped a beat. “After dinner I could walk ya home. And maybe that time you could do it right and kiss me back.”
She gasped and tried to catch her breath. He—He intended to kiss her again? After having dinner together? That definitely meant something, right? Or was she just caught in one of her dreams? That would be too bad indeed.
He leaned forward and his hot breath at her ear gave her goosebumps all over her body. “I will pick you up at 7, but nothing too fancy for dinner then, okay?” He stepped back, giving her once more that look that sent a quiver of excitement through her. “See ya later, Prickly Queen.”
He then went off, leaving behind a nervous wrack that was his date for tonight. And that was the day Charlotte got the best birthday gift of her life.