Questions About The Heart System In Sugar Sugar Rune Episode 2

In episode 2 of the Sugar Sugar Rune anime and manga series by Moyoco Anno, we get more information about the heart system. Here are some things to wonder about this:

Apparently, the hearts are worth something called ecure which appears to be like the currency in the magical world, kind of like the galleons and stuff in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

But, I still don’t get it though. I mean, apparently, they collect hearts and then they have the hearts exchanged for ecure.

The question is why? Why do they need to do that? Why not just get the ecure in the first place and forget about the hearts?

Why bother with such a convoluted process? I mean, first, you have to get a heart and that can’t be easy for everyone and it’s only after you get a heart that you can exchange it for ecure.

Also, I can understand why Blanca, the mouse familiar of Vanilla Mieux / Ice, has to tell us, the audience/viewers, about the heart system and ecure.

But what I find strange is why Vanilla and Chocolat Meilleure / Kato don’t know anything about this. I mean, seriously, how could they not know? Weren’t they briefed before being sent to the human world?

Also, since hearts appear to be really important in the magical world, well, shouldn’t that mean that they should already know about these hearts? What’s up with that? What do you think?

*Notes:
- Pics are from Amazon.com; links shown above