"Mwahahahaha!"
A cackle came out of Cedric while hiding behind the door. Up ahead was Princess Amber herself looking all disgruntled and annoyed with an angry expression on her face
"James, stop it already!" the blonde princess whimpered, with her hands resting on her waist. With a final scan around the surroundings to see the culprit, she finally decided to close the door
Cedric couldn't help but let out a continuous series of laughter seeing this. What better way to spend the mid afternoon than to pull pranks on people in the castle. Ding-Dong-Ditching, a notorious tradition that he used to do back in Hexley Hall with the other Sorcerers there. He was the youngest one out of em all, so he could get away with it quite a lot too.
It was such a fun thing to do as an early teen, but quite troublesome and rambunctious. Even Greylock himself had some problems with it when he used to pull it against him back in the day. That man was ten years older than him, clearly he wouldn't understand his fun.
He was just a kid when he did this, but he is a adult now.
A grown man pulling pranks on little kids in the castle – this says a lot about Cedric's immaturity.
Seeing as though it was already getting late, Cedric pondered he might as well head back and settle down. He already had enough fun in one day…
But as he passed by a certain door, that thought was immediately erased from existence.
"Of course, the perfect princess herself" Cedric muttered to himself while rubbing his hands together like a wasp "Let's see what expressions you would make"
He checked the surroundings first, making sure there was no one nearby to see what he was about to do. And when everything was finally clear, it time to start the prank
He let out a sly chuckle before making his way to her door with the cute purple frames and floral decorations. In just one glance, he could tell this was definitely her room
All he had to do was knock… then run as fast as he can. Actually, he didn't need to run – all he had to do was hide somewhere he won't be seen. That definitely sounds like a walk-in-the-park for Cedric
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He hesitated at first, hoping nothing bad would happen this time. For some reason, pranking Sofia always leads to some stupid blunder that always ends up backfiring on him in the end.
But this time, there is no margin of error for what he's about to do. All he has to do is knock, then get the heck out of the way
As the thoughts of these motivated him, the Sorcerer finally set his hands in motion and gave a swift knock to her door, making quite a loud noise in the process
Cedric was about to ditch, when suddenly… a creaking noise was heard. Surprised, Cedric was petrified by this and slowly turned to the door's direction revealing the princess herself wearing her usual casual pajamas
"It's way too soon for her to open!"
Her eyes lit up "Why hello Mr. Ceedric!" she greeted in quite a cheerful tone "What brings you here?"
He had to think fast, or else he would be in a sticky situation for sure "I uh… wanted to say hi and visit you and all.. he-he"
The madman managed pulled a fast one.
Sofia smiled "That's wonderful, thank you very much" she stepped aside revealing more of the entrance to her room "Come in, let's have a chat and all"
"No no no!" Cedric waved his hands back and forth "I uh… have some potions to brew back at the workshop… and Wormwood needs his grapes for supper"
A frown replaced her smile "Oh… that's unfortunate"
"It's just… it's kinda rare for you to visit me and all.. so I was kinda hoping you would stay longer"
"Visit her? Why on earth would I visit this insufferable squirt?" Cedric darned in his mind, making sure he wasn't thinking out loud… or else
The man then sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder making her look up to him "Maybe some other day, Princess Sofia. For now, I am quite busy.. so I can't hang out"
"You're busy huh…" for a quick second there, Cedric felt eerie with Sofia's stare
He didn't want to stay longer.
"Eitherways, see you later, Sofia" Cedric waved before turning around "And also, watch out. There's a certain childish ding-dong-ditcher here who causes mayhem and disturbing the peace. I would be careful if I were you"
"Hmm… My, you seem to quite know a lot about this ding-dong-ditcher.. or however you say it, Mr. Ceedric" Sofia rested her finger on her lower lip
"I just know.." Cedric nodded in farewell before finally walking away. Another second in that conversation and he swore he was never gonna pass Sofia's room again
But that didn't matter no more, he was finally out of it. One day, he will eventually prank Sofia one day. And when that day comes, there will no longer be one of these backfires
For now, it's time to head back.
"Hey Mr, Ceedric?"
He felt goosebumps all over hearing this. Stopping midway, Cedric turned to her "Yes?"
In that moment, he was greeted by a rather suspicious smile from Sofia herself "You were knocking on doors and doing ding-dong-ditch, weren't you?"
Darn.
"Uhh.. what was that? I didn't hear" Cedric was trying everything to keep calm
"I know it was you." Sofia stepped closer to him "And I know what you've been up to.."
She let out a soft giggle "And you have potions to brew and no time to hang out huh… but you sure have all the time in the world to do these things"
He darned her so much for knowing too much. This was always the outcome for some reason and it was getting to him already. He got so emotional that he couldn't help but make an expression which Sofia found really interesting and funny
He was getting red in embarrassment, and Sofia couldn't help but feel in awe seeing this
"But It's okay, Mr. Ceedric. I'm not mad or anything…" She waltzed her fingers on her back "But I don't think Mom will have the same reaction once she will come to know about this"
"T-The Queen..?" he finally snapped
"Mhmm~" Sofia nodded jovially
Cedric held his hair back, now things have finally gotten out of hand. He finally made it official, he was not gonna do something like this.. ever again.
"Hey Sofia… hear me out" Cedric led her back to her door as he scanned the room for witnesses, and there were none "Look, your mom doesn't need to know about this, you see.."
"You want me to lie to Mom? I really don't like keeping secrets, Mr. Ceedric.."
"I told you already, a broken promise can never be glued back together.." she added
"It's not keeping secrets.. it's just you not telling her about something that wouldn't hurt her to not know" He was using everything he could to convince the girl
"Besides… promises are meant to be broken.." he felt proud giving her an awful advice indeed
Sofia got into deep thinking "Actually that might actually make sense" she then looked back at him as he extended his hand for a firm handshake
She looked at him rather suspiciously as she accepted her handshake. With how things have turned out, Cedric hailed himself for being the sly hustler ever. He then said "Here's to Cedric and Sofia, promising not to tell anyone about what has transpired here.."
The princess didn't seem to pay attention to whatever oath they were doing "Do you want to drink tea with me in my room?"
"..and will never tell anyon– what?"
"I said do you want to come in and drink tea with me?"
"umm no.." he responded without hesitation
"Well, alright then" she flashed him a smile that looked innocent and pure. But Cedric knew her well that there was something behind it
"See you later then, Mr. Ceedric" Sofia waved her hand as she turned to the other direction and started walking away. Cedric thought this was odd, and she didn't even bother to close the door of her room
"W-Where are you going, Princess Sofia?"
"To Mom's.."
"WHAT!" Cedric immediately ran in front of her "But I thought that was settled"
"Don't worry, I'm just gonna tell her about my project in school today!"
"You promise you wont tell about.. this.." Cedric literally pleaded
"Hmm… I don't know.." Sofia looked up in an emphasis of thinking
"After all.." she added in a slow and cold tone "Promises are meant to be broken… right Mr. Ceedric?"
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He was done for.
"Okay, you wanted to have a tea party in your room. Let's do it" he sighed in defeat which made the girl gleam in joy
"Awww… well if you insist that much.. let's do it then~" she was starting to get on his nerves, but it was needed to be done
Cedric then followed Sofia into her room. And as he made his way inside, he saw a nice table with Clover, Robin and Mia on it. There were certain tea cups and teapots on it too.
"Mr. Ceedric.."
He turned around and saw the girl herself carrying certain pink apron on her hand, and a white effeminate hat on her other hand.
He was done for.
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"I hate you, Sofia."
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Queen Miranda grew surprised of what she saw. Sofia herself having a tea party with Clover, Robin and Mia. and the introverted Sorcerer himself. Seeing this, she couldn't help but smile
It didn't take long before her daughter have finally noticed her "Hey Mom, we're having a tea party!" she then turned to her partner "Look who decided to pay us a visit.."
Cedric slowly turned to the Queen with a forced smile "Good Afternoon, Queen Miranda.."
She couldn't hold it in much longer and finally laughed to herself seeing how ridiculous Cedric looked. After what seemed like a couple of seconds, the Queen finally composed herself
"Aha-aha… now that's funny – but anyways, I heard there was a troublemaker running around the castle lately. You ought to be careful, Sofia"
"Oh I wouldn't have to worry about that, Mom" Sofia took a sip of her tea as she eyed Cedric across the table "I already caught him"
"You caught him?" Miranda was surprised
"Mhmm…" Sofia hummed in response
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"I caught him fair and square indeed~" Sofia thought to herself as she eyed Cedric with a certain smile dancing on her lips.