If Fiona had to name the most complicated relationship she had ever known, it would definitely be the one between Marshall Lee and Gumball. Although she had feelings for Gumball, she couldn't deny that there was something between Lee and Gumball that neither of them could put into words. According to Gumball, the two of them didn't even like each other. Yet, in reality, their relationship was filled with all kinds of ambiguity.

In the Grand Candy Kingdom

"Thank you, Fiona." — Gumball

Gumball was dressed differently than usual. This time, he was wearing a pinkish-beige sweater and elastic-waist pants. He needed a few ingredients to finish his science project.

"It's nothing." — Fiona shyly held onto the ear of her hood.

"Do you have time to hang out?" Cake noticed Fiona's expression and, understanding what her best friend was trying to do, spoke up for her.

"Oh, sorry, you guys. Today I need to bring some ingredients to the neighboring kingdom because I'm working with their royal family." — Gumball explained.

"N-no, it's okay." — Fiona said, though the disappointment in her voice was unmistakable.

"Butler, prepare the carriage. We're going to the Food Kingdom." — Gumball ordered Butterscotch.

"Yes, Your Highness." — Butterscotch bowed before leaving to carry out the prince's orders.

"Do you need us to come along and protect you? I heard the prince of that country is arrogant and really unpleasant." — Cake asked, then lowered her voice into a dangerous whisper.

"Haha, thanks. In that case, please wait a moment." — Gumball said, leaving the two girls in another room while he changed into something more appropriate for the journey. He carefully wrapped the item like a gift so he could present it to the prince as a breakfast offering.

The carriage set off smoothly. On the way to the kingdom, the three of them chatted happily, though Cake kept trying to warn Gumball about the prince they were about to meet.

"I heard he's been approached for political marriages by many other royal families, but he rejected every single one because he wasn't impressed by anyone." — Cake

"Hmm... That makes him sound really handsome." — Fiona said curiously, wondering about the prince they were about to meet.

"Haha, sounds interesting, doesn't it?" — Gumball giggled at Cake's story, completely unaware that he was about to get himself into trouble.

Less than an hour later, they arrived at the kingdom's gates. The guards came out to confirm their identities before inviting the carriage inside.

"Wow, it's magnificent." — Fiona exclaimed as she looked around at the kingdom and its extravagant surroundings.

"Let's go." — When they arrived in front of the castle, Gumball stepped out, so the two girls followed him.

As they were looking around, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Welcome to my kingdom." — ??

The group was startled and turned toward the source of the voice. When they looked back, standing before them was the prince they had been talking about throughout the entire journey.

"He's really handsome." — Fiona exclaimed.

"But his personality is awful." — Cake argued.

Gumball stepped forward to greet him and hand over the item he had requested.

"Hello. I'm the prince of the Candy Kingdom. I've come to deliver the item you requested." — Gumball said as he handed it over.

The other prince accepted it, but his hand tightly clasped Gumball's.

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness." — The prince smiled.

Finding the contact a little too much, Gumball quickly pulled his hand away.

"All right. I've delivered what you needed, so we'll be taking our leave now." — Gumball felt uncomfortable around this person and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"Wait. Knowing that you've traveled such a long way, I've prepared a small meal for you. I hope you'll stay and have dinner before you leave." — The prince quickly grabbed Gumball's hand when he saw him about to walk away.

Butterscotch frowned when she saw him holding the prince's hand. She didn't hate anyone, but she knew exactly how unpleasant this man was, so seeing him touch Gumball made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Your Highness, I'm afraid we won't be able to stay for a meal since it's already quite late. Thank you for the invitation." — Butterscotch quickly walked over, took Gumball's hand, and pulled it free.

"Oh, I don't think your adorable prince would refuse." — The other prince replied arrogantly.

"What did he mean by 'adorable'?" — Fiona whispered irritably to Cake.

"I told you. There's something wrong with this guy." — Cake frowned.

Gumball was now caught in an awkward position. Even he didn't want to get involved with this man, but it was difficult to refuse because the two kingdoms were working together for the sake of development and peace, with the Candy Kingdom providing many of the necessary resources.

"I think we'll stay for a little dinner and then leave right afterward." — Gumball reluctantly gave his answer.

"WHAT?!?" — Cake shouted.

"Oh, Cake, I don't have a choice." — Gumball whispered helplessly.

"Wonderful. Please come inside. Dinner will be prepared immediately." — The prince happily invited them in and ordered the servants to prepare the feast.

Throughout the entire dinner, the prince kept staring at Gumball, making him uncomfortable as he tried to avoid his gaze. Fiona was just as irritated seeing the man constantly look at the person she secretly had feelings for.

The prince repeatedly brought up political marriages and their benefits, while also showering Gumball with compliments. This made not only Fiona but Gumball uncomfortable as well, leaving him with nothing to say except forcing an awkward smile.

"How does it taste, Prince Gumball?" — The prince smiled as he asked.

"Oh, it's wonderful." — Gumball

Unable to endure the constant staring any longer, Gumball decided to end the dinner himself.

"Thank you for the meal, but I'm afraid we have to leave early. We still have quite a lot of work to do." — Gumball put down his chopsticks and stood up.

Fiona and Cake quickly stood as well, and the other prince followed suit.

They were escorted to the door.

"It's such a shame we didn't have more time to talk. Thank you for attending the dinner. I hope we'll meet again soon." — The prince held onto Gumball's hand, seemingly reluctant to let go.

Seeing that, Fiona quickly grabbed Gumball's other hand, said goodbye to the prince, and led him away. On the way back, she kept complaining.

"Why did you agree to have dinner there?! Everything that guy did was so over the top!" — Fiona

"Oh, Fiona, I didn't want to either, but for the sake of peace and cooperation between the two kingdoms, I guess one meal wasn't such a big deal." — Gumball reassured her.

"Didn't you see it?! That guy kept staring at you like the two of you were on a date!" — Fiona

"It's okay, Fiona. It was just this once." — Gumball

"I think that guy likes you." — Cake boldly announced.

Hearing that, Fiona was startled, while Gumball was even more shocked—and his face turned red.

"Cake!! Don't say things like that!" — Fiona protested, annoyed by the suggestion.

"I'm just saying. From the way he talked to Gumball and looked at him, I think he's already fallen for Gumball's charms." — Cake teased, nudging Fiona with her elbow.

"No way. T-that's just his hospitality." — Gumball tried to defend himself and reassure both girls, as well as himself. He didn't want to meet that prince again at all, and... he didn't even dare imagine what would happen if he and that prince ever got married. Marshall Lee would probably go completely insane.

Because even though Gumball and Marshall Lee didn't like each other—or at least that was what they showed on the outside—that was only the surface. Deep down, although neither of them had ever said the words "I love you," they had both given the other an important place in their hearts.

That was why Gumball didn't dare imagine what Lee would do if he saw that other man holding his hand. Just thinking about it was enough to make Gumball's skin crawl.

From that day onward, Gumball kept receiving letters from the prince. The prince constantly mentioned wanting to meet him again and asked him out, but Gumball only responded politely. Even Butterscotch was becoming annoyed by how many letters were coming from that man.

"I don't think you should keep responding to that man anymore, Your Highness." — Butterscotch tried to convince Gumball to give up on him.

"That would be very rude, Butler. I don't think things will go that far." — Gumball reassured her.

But he had underestimated that prince.

One cool afternoon, Gumball was in his laboratory.

He was carefully adding drops of a substance into a solution when—

"Fwoooosh."

A small gust of wind blew against his ear, startling him and making his face turn red. He screamed, causing him to spill too much of the solution, which resulted in a small explosion.

"Hahahahaha!" — Marshall Lee burst into laughter.

"That's not funny!" — Gumball snapped angrily as he grabbed a cloth and wiped the soot off his face.

"Oh, come on. Cheer up, my gummy." — Marshall Lee floated above him, laughing as he poked Gumball's cheek.

"Get out, Lee!" — Gumball yelled, trying to push the vampire above him away. But all it did was make him look even more pathetic as Marshall Lee kept flying from one side to the other.

Angry and helpless, Gumball went into his bedroom, so Marshall Lee followed behind him, continuing to tease him even though Gumball completely ignored him.

While waiting for Gumball to change clothes, Lee noticed the letters scattered across the table. There were far too many of them, which immediately caught his attention. He picked one up and started reading.

That was when he became irritated.

"Who are these from?" — Marshall Lee asked seriously.

"It's nothing important." — Gumball tried to brush it off.

But the letters were filled with flowery, flirtatious words, which only made Lee angrier.

"Tell me! Who are these from?" — Marshall Lee's anger began to boil over.

"I told you..." — Before Gumball could finish his sentence, Lee flew toward him and grabbed his chin, preventing him from turning away as he stared directly into Lee's blazing red eyes.

"I'm asking you again! Who the hell are these letters from?!" — Marshall Lee

Knowing that he could be in danger if he refused to answer, Gumball reluctantly chose his words carefully.

"They're from the prince of the Breakfast Kingdom. There's nothing between us. They're just ordinary letters." — Gumball tried to explain while being pressed against the wall.

At that moment, there was a knock on the window.

Marshall Lee reluctantly let go of Gumball so he could go and open it.

"Oh, heyyy, Gumball." — It was Marshall Lee.

"Oh, hello, Fiona." — Gumball said, trying to catch his breath.

"Why is your face..." — Fiona was wondering why Gumball's face was so red when she looked behind him and saw Marshall Lee there as well.

"Marshall Lee is here too?" — Fiona was surprised, since those two usually didn't get along very well.

"Everything's fine, Fiona. And what are you holding?" — Gumball tried to act casual and asked about the letter she was holding.

"Oh, while I was on my way here, the royal guards asked me to deliver this letter to—"

Before Fiona could finish, Marshall Lee quickly flew over and snatched the letter from her.

"Hey!" — Fiona shouted as Marshall Lee roughly grabbed it from her.

After quickly reading through the letter, Marshall Lee's anger reached its peak. He crumpled the paper in his hand and threw it away, his blood-red eyes staring at Gumball so intensely that a chill ran down Gumball's spine.

"Well, well, Gummy. So you've actually been getting involved with that damn prince."

He flew closer to Gumball.

"I'm warning you. If you dare get involved with that guy one more time, I'll kill him and destroy that stupid kingdom of his!!"

Before Gumball could even process what was happening, Lee continued.

"And don't let me see a damn engagement ring. Otherwise, that bastard better be ready for a miserable end!"

With that, Marshall Lee transformed into a bat and flew past Gumball, leaving him standing there in complete confusion. Fiona was just as bewildered.

"What just happened?" — Fiona asked worriedly as she stepped closer.

"I have no idea." — Gumball walked over to where Lee had crumpled the letter and unfolded it to read.

At that moment, he froze, unable to tell whether he was dreaming or this was actually happening.

"What?! The prince from that day is proposing to you now?!" — The letter was filled with poetic words, longing, and, along with all of that, a proposal for a political marriage.

"Fiona! Don't let anyone hear about this. I don't want my subjects to panic." — Gumball said shakily, because even he couldn't believe things had gone this far.

"I understand. But I don't think Marshall Lee is going to leave you alone after this." — Fiona said worriedly.

Just thinking about what had happened moments ago was enough to leave Gumball terrified. He had no idea what Marshall Lee would do, because he knew one thing about Lee:

Marshall Lee never said something he didn't intend to do.

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Thank you all for reading. I hope you will kindly overlook any errors, and I look forward to seeing you in the next chapter ❤️❤️

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