/10/
"Who?" The smile suddenly felt stuck, as if his muscles couldn't work right to release the pressure collecting around his mouth, into his cheeks, travelling right up to a part of his brain that was starting to ache.
"Kiki!" The knight exclaimed and Mitsuhide flinched – it really was the name he had heard amidst loud drunken laughter. "Fit for the court! She be the girl, the perfect bride!"
Mitsuhide clamped a hand over his brow, a strange twitching in his temple matching the pangs resounding within his head. The men were capricious tonight, toasting to the barmaids, sloshing more ale over themselves and into their companions' mouths than their own. He could easily pass over the statements as empty promises like the bard in the corner was dolefully, and unsuccessfully, trying to sing about over the din.
"She might not accept," Mitsuhide started, but the man chuckled.
"'Course she will! She loves none-"
"She can't love anyone!" A man snorted beside them. The knight elbowed him and he yelped as he toppled off his stool.
"No!" The knight roared. "She will love me!"
Mitsuhide gritted his teeth and smiled back at the man's triumphant beaming.
"'Sides, she got no challenger!"
"She might," the attempt at subterfuge was half-hearted.
"She does? Show yourself!" The knight raised his tankard, drink spilling onto the tiles and the wooden counter.
Mitsuhide sighed and stood, facing the astounded knight.
"I didn't think I'd have to do this so often. Let's just get this over with."