In the end, it definitely wasn't future Yami's problem after all. One day after his wheels wedding and Yami was fed up with that unsettled feeling Charlotte left him with.

He couldn't sleep, he wasn't in the mood to take a dump, smoking didn't helped to relax, the perspective of getting up and go into the kitchen for some booze wasn't appealing and there was no way he could go in a pub and gamble his worries out in the middle of the night.

Usually he would had woken up Finral to get some of those, but that traitor was now on his honeymoon and somehow, his mother-in-law made sure on everything that no one disturbed Finrals and Finesses quality time. What a harpy Douce Calmreich was… Okay, Yami wouldn't deny that she was a more than decent woman for a noble who loved Finral, he would give her that. But that wasn't a reason to forbid the captain of the Black Bulls do use his wheels during said wheels honeymoon!

Was it?

Long story short, all of his usual comfort zones wouldn't help him right now and that just sucked. But that also meant that something definitely wasn't right. Probably since the return from Spade. At least, that was the only explanation Yami could came up with. That, and the fact that Charlotte must have something to do with it.

This far, it was pretty clear. But the reason why, how it came to this conclusion, Yami had no idea. Why was something wrong after Spade and why did it have to do with Charlotte? He talked with her during the wedding. Nothing had changed between them to make him worry this much.

He thought.

Then why didn't it felt like before the war? Why was it different? Why was he frustrated that Charlotte still acted like before? Shouldn't it have reassured him?

Well, so much for nothing having changed after Spade. Finral was now married and didn't slept at the Hideout anymore, which meant Yami couldn't get a grip on him when he needed to shit or to go gamble quickly.

Vanessa was now keeping on the squads communication device and most of the time she wouldn't let it go, except when she was asleep. For the very first time, Yami actually regretted to not have followed old Julius' advice and got two devices for the Black Bulls, one for the squad and one for himself. It probably would have been better, because now he had to care when Vanessa was calling some "handsome" people while he needed to make a call himself.

As for the other little changes… Charmy was now visiting the Aqua Deers for some reason, while Finral and Gordon made friends with a bunch of Blue Roses. Braids surprised most people by taking a bastard daughter from a noble house into the Silver Eagles, while Yami also had eyes on that girl. Noelle acted weirder than before with Asta. That jerk Fuegoleon was apparently in love or courting someone, according to his Ki, which meant he would be the only captain to be in a relationship, except for the purple grandpa with the moustache who was married, and that pissed Yami off. Everyone in the kingdom was now aware of old Julius' new childlike form. Astas rival from Goldie Guts' squad was apparently like a lost prince of Spade or something. And many other little changes.

Yami didn't hate those changes. Okay, some of them pissed him off a bit. But none of them bothered him into sleepless nights.

And yet, the only thing that really bothered him was something that seemed to haven't changed at all. The only different thing on this topic was his own reaction to it.

And Charlotte was the cause of it.

Charlotte…

Why did all of those stuff resolved around his Prickly Queen? Now, screw that, she wasn't his Prickly Queen. Charlotte didn't belong to anybody except herself, she was an independent and strong woman. Sometimes even, too independent even to Yamis liking, somehow. How many times did he told her already that it was okay to rely on others, once in a while?

Now that he thought about it, she was the only person Yami ever told that. He never said anything like that to his brats and Goldie Guts or to anyone, as far as he could remember. Why to her and no one else?

Why Charlotte of all people?

"I'm certainly overthinking that," Yami said, but he didn't sound convinced and he was lacking too much sleep already for some denial.

Wait, did he just admit that he would have denied something?

Okay, at this point, something was surely wrong with him and he had no idea how to deal with that. Especially since he had no idea what was wrong with him.

If something was wrong with him.

He couldn't possibly talk to this to anyone. Would any of his brats be able to deal with his issues? Except Nacht who was barely there even after Spade, but who wouldn't be of great help with his insulting truth. He couldn't talk to Julius either, who knows what that nerdy old kid would think and get excited about. Marx was too stressed already and Owen was a fricking doc, not a therapist.

Yami couldn't also open up to his fellow captains either. Braids would just snob him and not be of any help, the slicer beanpole would make fun of him, Sleepy Hat would either be asleep or create weird scenarios in her dreamy magic world, Fluffy Glowing Hair would just get excited and have stupid assumptions and Fuegoleon would mean well but Yami refused to get such a long motivation speech, especially since he never needed motivation to do something.

Only Goldie Guts and that boring purple moustache grandpa would probably be of any help on that matter, but…

"This is way too embarassing," Yami groaned and hid his face behind his pillow.

This was so unlike him! He, Yami Sukehiro, badass captain of the fearless Black Bulls! Embarrassed!

No, no, no!

If he let any word slip, there would be teasing and Yami refused to be teased! He teased others, it wasn't the other way around!

He shouldn't tell anyone, really. Those who would tease wouldn't let any occasion slip and since not every teaser was one of his brats, Yami couldn't put every one of them back in their place. And there would be also those who would tease accidentally, without meaning to do so, which was almost worse.

Well, knowing Goldie Guts and the purple grandpa, Fuegoleon as well, to be fair, they wouldn't tell anyone. But this was the Magic Knights of Clover, with a Wizard King who was always snooping around and many knights who loved gossip. One way or another, that stupid secret that was a secret to even himself, would get known and he wouldn't know any peace.

And Yami refused also to be the person who got teased.

In the end, he couldn't tell anyone for now.

Which didn't help with his problem at all, but that was just a detail. Yami couldn't deal with a problem in a way that would lead to other problems. He already had many problems to work on, kinda, that was enough. He possibly couldn't deal with problems that were even bond to each other.

Yami groaned, throwing his pillow against the wall. This was so frustrating, so much more than he thought.

"Come on, Prickly Queen… why would you do this to me?"

Charlotte was basically haunting him at this point, since the wedding. Which wasn't too long ago, granted, just a day or so. But again, just details. It didn't change the fact that whatever he was doing, Yami couldn't help but think about Charlotte.

He remembered so clearly how beautiful he found her, when they faced each other at the wedding. Another thing that he couldn't explain. After all, Yami already knew that Charlotte was a beautiful woman, he would be really blind to not realize that. And that didn't meant anything, there were beauties anywhere, in his homeland, in Clover, Spade maybe too, probably in the other countries as well.

And still, somehow, in his eyes, no other women could compete with Charlotte when it came to beauty… Those blonde hair with the cute little braid on the said, the silky skin and those unique blue eyes. Even better, she had more for her than just her outstanding prettiness. Her Ki was the most unique on Yami ever read, even though he didn't understood anything about it. She was brave and strong and independent, harsh maybe and way too serious, but those flaws she had were certainly part of her charm, so it didn't mind them too much.

He never even realized that he didn't mind them as much as he showed Charlotte, in order to tease her.

Wait…

Why didn't he mind and why did he never realized it before?

Geez, this was getting too complicated for his liking.

Yami reached for his pillow, in order to hide his face. Only that there was no pillow.

Come on, really? It wasn't like he hadn't enough stupid stuff to deal with, he didn't need to deal with disappearing pillows on top of that. Which was a new thing, but given his own squads hideout, nothing else should surprise him at this point.

But as he turned his head to the side, he saw his pillow, against the opposite wall. How did it get there?

Yami just groaned in frustration. He actually forgot how he throw it away, his heads full of Charlotte and thousands of question marks.

Did he really needed to get up and get his pillow back? He usually used Finral for this kind of shit, but Finral wasn't there.

Yami didn't want to get up, but he had no other choice, he needed a pillow to sleep. You couldn't have some quality sleep without a pillow. But he didn't want to get up.

"Geez, that is so childish… And I can't throw that on future Yami's back."

But just as he was about to get up, his eyes fell on the Black Bulls communication device, laying on his night table. In a rare occasion, he'd been able to sneak it away from Vanessa. Which means that he would be able to…

To actually call Charlotte and talk to her!

Why didn't he thought about that sooner! He knew that he wouldn't get teased, Charlotte was not that kind of person and even if she was, she was involved in this matter, so she would be embarrassed too! Yami knew that it was the middle of the night, but he also didn't care anymore. Charlotte made him sleepless tonight, it was only fair to give her something similar back as well.

And he really wanted to talk to her.

Extremely motivated, like he rarely was when it wasn't in battle, Yami took the Black Bull's device.

What was wrong with him?

What was wrong with him?

Flipping to each side of his giant bed every passing minute, those words turned in Nozels mind as if they were on a carousel. And if it wasn't those words driving him insane turning back and forth like that, then it was Vanessas face.

The royal wedding had just been a day ago, but Nozel was starting to believe that the timespan had to be longer. Just because he couldn't stop thinking about his youngest sisters squadmate all day long. More intensely than during those past three months after Spade.

Spade… it all started in Spade, the moment she talked to him. He shouldn't had talked back. He should have ignored her, not opening to her at all and everything would have been just fine.

He tried to believe that, so hard. But it didn't convinced Nozel at all. If that statement was really true, why would he even still try to convince himself of it?

Besides… it didn't felt right. Vanessa just had been nice to him. Teasy and flirty, for sure, a bit harsh sometimes, as expected from Black Bulls, but always so nice and caring.

Basically everything he didn't deserved. Especially after all of his mistakes concerning Noelle. Vanessa was her squadmate and it was fair to assume that she knew. And still, she was nice to him and Nozel just couldn't understand why.

He shouldn't had accepted her kindness, her care at all. He should have ignored her completely. But he didn't.

Of course, Nozel argued first that he could have been rude to ignore her, while she was so nice to him. But that argument didn't sit right with him, given the cold mask he used to wear for over a decade. And also…

For some reason, Nozel didn't want for Vanessa to think of him in a negative light.

Nozel groaned as he sat up on his bed, running a hand down his face.

Nothing seemed to make any sense when it came to Vanessa. Why would he care about what she thought of him? He never cared what others would think of him. About the house of Silva, yes, about his squad and his knights, his siblings, the memory of his mother… He cared what other people would think about those topics.

But never did Nozel cared how other people view him.

Except that Vanessa wasn't any other people. She was one of Noelle's squadmates and definitely one of her best friends, she was one of the rare witches that actually left the Witches Forest and she was so kind, caring.

Like a breath of fresh air in his suffocating dark and cold world.

Nozel opened his eyes, looking at his bedroom as if he saw it for the first time in his life.

So big and so empty at the same time.

Except his bed, there was only a desk and the chair going with it, with only two quills, some documents and an ink bottle on it. One single armchair at the window. Two bookcases, the bigger one with professional books, helping him with squad affairs and house matters, the smaller one with books and novels, he would only read on rare respite occasions, which he didn't have often. He had so much to do as a squad captain and as a house head. Dark grey curtains on the windows. One big carpet of the same colour. His walk-in closet, always perfectly tidied. His own private bathroom, always perfectly cleaned.

His room was like this basically since his mother died. So big and empty, basically screaming loneliness, almost a cage. It never bothered Nozel much or at least, he always successfully

worked to ignore that painful emptiness. He worked so hard to kept himself in check, to carry on what his mother left behind, to assure a future for his siblings, to the last Silvas. He thought that with time, he'll be fine eventually.

But now… He couldn't ignore it anymore. He hadn't been fine for seventeen years. That room was just a perfect symbol of his own loneliness. Nozel knew that he couldn't live like this anymore. Seventeen years and he was on the verge of breaking. Maybe he always had been on the edge since his mother died, it just became clear after he had to face Vanica and Megicula again.

After Vanessa talked to him, making a crack in his mask without even realizing it…

Is that way he couldn't stop thinking about her? All her calls, her teasing and flirts, how she always tried to talk him… It was a warmth he had no idea existed anymore. She pierced the fog of his soul with her light, faster than his mending relationships with Noelle, Nebra and Solid.

Nozel knew he didn't deserve that kindness, he just didn't… But not having it in his life again? That scared him, more than he even imagined it.

His feelings felt so contradictory, it was unsettling. He knew he didn't deserve the kindness Vanessa was showing him. But at the same time, he came to a point that he couldn't imagine her out of his life ever again.

It was such a strange occurrence. He barely even know her, but she came into his life with a simple talk and didn't left it at all. What was she to him? A friend? He couldn't possibly call her that, right? Not that he didn't want to, but… was it enough to be friends when you just got one deep talk and teasy calls?

Did he even need a friend? Nozel didn't have many. To be honest, the only people he could somehow call friends were Fuegoleon and Dorothy. And just somehow, because both were still getting on his nerves from time to time with their attitudes towards him. And he didn't confide everything to them. Fuegoleon was his rival and Dorothy a former protégé of his mother. And like Vanessa, one of the rare witches having left the Witches Forest.

Could Vanessa become his friend to? Maybe?

Did she even wanted to? She was calling him a lot and tried to make contact every time she could, but that wouldn't meant she actually wanted to be friends with him. She never asked if she could and people usually asked directly if they wanted to be friends.

Right?

Nozel had no idea. Another proof about how lonely he was. Closing his eyes again, he let out a deep sigh.

Their dance also never left his mind. In fact, he wished that the dance would have been longer. Or that he could dance with her again. Somehow. Maybe. He still remembered how shocked he had been to practically stumble upon her at the royal wedding. The audacity he had as he asked her to dance with him in the middle of a crowd full of vulture-like nobles. The dance itself, how much of a moment of peace it was. His second audacity to give her a proper hand kiss, as if she was a lady from a house of high nobility. That intense feeling that had filled his entire body afterwards.

He made a lot of things with Vanessa that were pretty much audacious of him. That hand kiss alone was a true reach to etiquette, given her status. But Vanessa had also more kindness and personality than many women of high nobility.

She was… truly a unique person.

Looking at his pocket watch on his night table, Nozel couldn't help but groan. Not very royal, he'll admit, but he was alone and he had reasons to.

Given the time, it was way too late to get a decent amount of sleep, which means he needed to drink more coffee than usual the next morning. Nozel already wasn't that much of a sleeper. Leading a complicated squad like the Silver Eagles and running a royal house all by himself since he's fifteen didn't allow much time to sleep and relax.

Besides, Nozel highly doubted he would be able to fall asleep soon at this point. Not with his mind full of questions and doubts, full of selfish wishes and fights to hold them back. Full of dealing with his own issues, full of thoughts he couldn't silence, full of Vanessa, her tease and smirks, her kindness, her rosewood curls and bright amethysts eyes, her gorgeous smile, her laugh that sounded like a melody no music instruments could ever play…

Nozel froze immediately as that specific thought left echoes in his mind. Really, what was wrong with him?

Vanessa was beautiful, he knew that. After all, he wasn't blind. But… He knew a bunch of different beautiful women in his life and no one ever stand out to him like Vanessa did.

Goodness, was he somehow attracted to her?

Nozel inhaled deeply, trying to calm down. He couldn't be attracted to her! Their circles were practically different worlds! He had duties and she was free! He was gloomy and she was like a spring day full of colours.

Stop this right now, you're overthinking everything.

Nozel took a deep breath, in and out. It was probably the lack of sleep and with him overthinking, he risked to jumped to conclusions. Which was never good, he knew that from experience.

He needed a clear head to properly think about why he reacted like he did to Vanessa. It wouldn't be easy, because it never had been like that before, with anyone. But as he was right now, he was unable to work on this matter logically and objectively. There was something though, it would be stupid to deny that.

The most sane thing to do now would be to gather some sleep still. It wouldn't be enough for tomorrow, but it was better than no sleep at all.

On the other hand, he wanted to talk to Vanessa.

"How pathetic am I?" Nozel groaned.

He was, really was. A pathetic fool, sleep deprived, overthinking and torturing himself with a woman he had no idea what he felt to.

She wouldn't call him in the middle of the night, that's for sure. Surely, she called him often late at night and he was used to stay at work pretty late as well. It had shocked Vanessa a lot and she somehow scolded him for spending his evenings at work. Her concern for him, again. She shouldn't be, but she still was.

But even Vanessa had to sleep at some point and if she wasn't, calling him wasn't the only thing she did in her life. Not at two or three o'clock in the morning. Haven't she told him once how she would sometimes drink wine during the whole night only to fall asleep at dawn?

Maybe she wasn't asleep. Maybe she was awake and drinking. Well, it wasn't a reassuring thought, as it was pretty much unhealthy. Nozel already told her two or three times that she should cut the drinking. Vanessa had just been in awe for his concern.

But on the other hand, it would also mean that she was still awake at this ungodly hour and that he would be able to talk to her, that he wouldn't wait until her next call.

Still, Nozel hesitated to take his communication device. It always had been Vanessa to reach out, never the other way around. Wouldn't it be better to wait for her to call him again, like she always did? But he really wanted to talk to her so much right now.

Actually, maybe it would be better for him to start to reach out to her as well. Whatever there was that made him react in such a bizarre way towards Vanessa, he still wanted for her to be a part of his life, whatever that might be. Besides, it would be polite to make the first step from time to time instead of letting her doing it all the time.

But it was still in the middle of the night.

Well, he was already pathetic enough and since no one but Vanessa would witness it, he could exceptionally allow himself to be a bit more pathetic. Nozel called the Black Bulls hideout.

"Who the hell is calling me in the fucking middle of the night, do you… Wait, please tell me it's you, Prickly Queen? Will you finally tell me what the hell going on with-"

Nozel cut the communication, put the device back on his night table and hid his head under the blanket. How magnificent. For the first time he was actually motivated to call Vanessa and he had to fall on the foreigner. Really it should have been better to have waited for Vanessa to call him again.

But… Hold on a minute. Yami thought that Charlotte was calling him.

Foreigner… don't tell me that you finally realized that Charlotte is in love with you!