The sound of laughter and enjoyment filled the air.
The girl stopped walking upon hearing those sounds. With eyes as crimson as blood, skin as white as porcelain and a face which shone with a radiance foreshadowing her potential, she turned her head to the right to look in the direction of those noises.
She was on her way back from visiting someone who was supposedly a relative of her mother's. The excursion had—to no one's surprise—turned out to be yet another assassination attempt. Needless to say, the enemy was subdued, but with her dragon carriage now destroyed she had no choice but to walk back home.
Some might say, it was careless to do such a thing right after being exposed to such danger but she found it distateful to wait even a second longer for another dragon carriage to come pick her up from that murder house. It wasn't a long walk back to her house either so she just ordered her retainers and stepped out in the dusty lanes of her domain.
The roads were clean and well-maintained, not too many bumps or holes that could ruin her walking experience. Little shrubs of various kinds bordered the roads, providing the much needed greenery and respite from the monochromatic brown that reflected into her eyes as far as she could see.
What did annoy her though, was the dirt and earth that blew in the air, sticking to her hair and luxurious clothes, making her regret her decision to walk. She kicked a tiny pebble on the road in annoyance and it skipped a few metres before it stopped. To her chagrin, everything around her remained unchanged.
She sighed in resignation. Her irritation at her situation would solve nothing now after she was already halfway down the street, so she kept walking.
It was then that those unfamiliar yet strangely familiar sounds drew her attention. In her field of vision came several children, around the same age as her, on the streets, pulling and pushing and rolling around in the dirt, playing all kinds of different games. It was a sight she would have never come across in her life had she been travelling by a dragon carriage…
One hot summer afternoon, Priscilla clicked her tongue in annoyance as she crossed her legs and snapped her red hand fan open. Clothed in a blazing red dress and seated on top of a luxurious chair in the red hall of her mansion, she turned her gaze down to her eccentric one-armed jester. With the jet black helmet covering his head, he was busy fanning himself with a newspaper. It made her question if there was even any point to his actions when he was never going to remove his helmet in the first place, but to each their own. She wasn't going to waste her breath to advise him when it was none of her business.
What her business was though—
"—Al, it is hot. You shall commence work to cool this place down."
"Princess, even if you say something like that all of a sudden, it's not like I can do anything about it. Look! Schult is sweating buckets too!"
"Priscilla-sama, I'm sorry Al-sama and I cannot do anything about the heat…"
Her gaze turned to her pink-haired butler. With a tender and adorable face, wearing a small butler uniform, Schult too was following Al's lead in fanning himself with a newspaper. Her eyes softened as she watched him. She was now even more certain that what was going on was unacceptable. Turning her blood-red gaze back to Al—
"—It is hot. You shall commence work to cool this place down. If you are unable to do so, I shall lop your head off."
"Huh!? Isn't this request too unreasonable? I can't do anything to you, do you really think I could change the weather!?" Al shouted with a muffled voice as he raised his hand to the air, defending himself. "…It's so hot that if I cracked an egg on my helmet, it would become an omelette," he grumbled absent-mindedly to himself with a sigh as he brought his hand down.
Little did he know, his subconscious mutterings had been heard by Priscilla and had managed to pique her interest.
"I want to see it then," she said, and both Al and Schult turned to look at her with surprise. Of course, she couldn't really see Al's expression with that helmet on, but the fool was as easy to read as a picture book.
"W-What do you mean, Princess…?"
The slight faltering of his voice drew a sadistic grin from her lips as she snapped her fan close and watched him squirm in fearful anticipation of what she was about to demand.
"I want to see it. I want to see an omelette being prepared on your helmet in this heat. Bring it to me by the end of this day, and I shall reward you for your efforts."
"P-Princess, I was joking! Just joking! Please don't make me stand outside in this heat with an egg in my helmet!"
"Oh no, Priscilla-sama! If we crack an egg on his face, how will Al-sama know when it's done if he can't see it? It might get burnt!"
"Your concern is cute, Schult-chan, but that's never going to-"
"I see," said Priscilla without letting Al get another word in. She stepped down from her chair, walked down to pat the worried Schult's hair and cast a sidelong glance at the helmeted man. "Addressing Schult's concerns, I shall allow you to use a pan."
Al let out a sigh in defeat and his shoulders sagged. "Yes, princess…," he said, walking away dejectedly.
Watching him leave, Priscilla covered her mouth with the fan in her hand. She had thought it would feel more satisfying, but waiting on the results till the end of the day made her feel impatient instead. It would be better to stave off her boredom with something else for the meantime.
"Schult, tell me something that will alleviate my boredom."
"Eh!? Y-Yes, I will do my best. Uhh, umm…"
Seeing as there was no one else in the room, her next target turned out to be Schult, who was holding his head, thinking as hard as he could to come up with something. Watching creases appear on his forehead as he struggled to think of something, Priscilla frowned in distaste.
"Halt. Schult, you are also to not forget that you have gained my favour because of your lovable appearance. Any creases on your face are unacceptable."
"Y-Yes, Priscilla-sama!" Schult made his declaration while clenching his fists, while Priscilla sighed. It seemed Schult didn't have any interesting story either.
She sighed. While Priscilla was fond of flames and heat, the weather that day was displeasing. Perhaps, a bath might help to divert her mind away from the heat and humidity.
Just as she was about to order Schult to prepare the bath for her—
"Ah, I just remembered!" His face brightening up, Schult spoke, raising his right hand into the air. "Yesterday, the cook told me that it's the Harvest Festival today. She told me that a lot of fruits, especially appas, have been harvested this season," he said, his appearance heartwarming as he spread his little arms out in an attempt to tell her how large the amount was.
Priscilla smiled at him and then hearing his words, her curiosity was aroused. The Harvest Festival, was it? It would certainly be an interesting sight to see. Varieties of fruits on display on the streets, maybe some she might even like.
"Schult, you have done a good job," she said, her fan pointing at her butler. "I shall head out for a while. It is your job to prepare a bath for me in the meantime. I will desire it promptly after I return. Do not make me wait."
"Yes, Priscilla-sama!"
With that, she pushed her fan back into her cleavage and stepped out to head for the Market District. And right outside the extravagant gates of her mansion—
"Princess, where are you going?" Al asked.
She took a minute to observe the helmeted man, who had cracked an egg on a pan and was holding it outstretched.
"Oh, Al! I see you're doing what I asked of you. Excellent!" She said with a grin, using the 'Great Waterfall Language' she had picked up from Al. "Did I use it correctly?" The pronunciation of the words felt strange to her tongue, but she did like the sound of it nonetheless.
"Hey hey Princess! If you like it, shouldn't I be rewarded? Why am I being forced to fry an egg in the air!?"
"Fool! Isn't the fact that a ruffian such as you being given the honour to serve under a woman as gorgeous as mineself reward enough?"
"If you keep talking like that I'll go on a strike, you know…" Al sighed.
"That is enough of your tiresome prattle. I shall head out to see the Harvest Festival. I wish to see that egg done by the time I come back," she said, before turning around and walking away.
"Did my time limit just decrease!?"
Al continued to complain behind her, but she paid no heed to him. Hearing the clown whine had long become boring to her.
The Market District was young and thriving. Brightly coloured fruits decorated the stalls in overwhelming amounts. An endless stream of human heads from all walks of life moved restlessly from one end of the street to the other. A concoction of music from bards could be heard in the background amidst the constant shouting and bargaining. The food on the streets smelled delicious, little ones flocking over in excitement. It was a kaleidoscope of colours, sounds and smells.
The atmosphere of the Market District almost made her forget about the heat as she browsed through the stores, looking for something she might like.
And it was as she was looking that she noticed three suspicious characters near one such store. They were stealing from a corner of the pile of appas from a store while the owner was busy with customers. Taking about three appas, one for each of them, the thieves had rushed into the nearest alleyway.
'How distateful,' she thought as she followed behind them into the alley. They had their backs turned to her as she approached them and she wondered if they were brave, stealing in broad daylight like that, or they were just that incompetent.
"Do you pigs with such ugly visages feel no shame displaying such a pathetic sight before mineself?" Priscilla put a hand over her mouth, ripping into them with a look of complete contempt.
"Huh!?" The three thieves jumped up in surprise hearing her voice and turned around. For an instant, the men did not quite understand what she had said to them as they laid their eyes on her. A moment later, they seethed with rage.
"Who do you think you are, girl? You want a punch to that pretty little face?"
One of the men shot back at her, as the three surrounded her in the narrow alley, in an attempt to cut off her avenues of escape. At least, that was what the three seemed to believe.
Her eyes glanced around the narrow path, shielded by tightly-spaced homes on either side which allowed only soft sunbeams to be reflected on the ground despite the hot golden sun, inspecting for anything that could serve as a potential impediment or maybe an advantage… not that she needed it. She could defeat the three with just a flick of her finger. But in her wisdom, she knew better than to disregard her surroundings which might come to bite her in the back later. But just as she had expected, all she found was garbage… including the three before her.
"Do not get ahead of yourself, peasant," she said looking at the men. If they thought they could even lay even a single finger on her, they were even more bereft of intelligence than she had assumed. "Those of low character enjoy appropriately lowly fates."
"Why, you little bitch!"
One of them stepped forward towards her, in an attempt to teach her a lesson, but defying their expectations, she took a step towards them instead of turning back, throwing the thief off. Using his surprise to her advantage, she slipped out her hand fan and hit him on the head, knocking him out in a clean sweep and collected the appa from his dirty hand as the other two were left dumbfounded.
When they finally came to their senses—
"Oh, you've really done it now!"
"Don't mess with me, bitch!"
The two growled at her like hunted wild animals, all bark and no bite and she looked at the two with disdain.
Taking out glinting knives from their pockets, their eyes centred at her. She narrowed her eyes. Attacking her was tantamount to death, but it seemed to her that these two had no regard for their lives. They had irritated her enough now. With the appa in one hand and her hand-fan in the other, she was prepared to relinquish their souls from the mortal plane.
—And that was when she saw him.
At the face of the alley, walking past was a boy—a teenager with swept-up messy black hair and villainous looking dark brown eyes in a butler's uniform, his arms wrapped around what seemed to be a bag of… appas, she presumed from the bright-red popping out from the top. He was humming to himself with a bright smile on his face… when he turned his head and his eyes met hers all of a sudden.
The thieves turned to look back and see what she was staring at and spotted the boy too. His smile instantly vanished and he frowned, assessing the situation in the alleyway.
Priscilla sighed. He was probably another one of those fools who would try to take advantage of the situation and interfere, seeing a beautiful damsel in distress only to fail pitifully in the end. She just hoped he wouldn't prove to be too much of a hindrance in the end.
The fool's mean-looking eyes narrowed, his face expressing a minor discontent. Her blood-red eyes widened when he turned his head forward again and… just walked away, ignoring the situation at hand and pretending he saw nothing.
"You there, commoner. Where do you think you are going, leaving mineself alone to fend for myself?" Intrigued by his behaviour, she called out to him, and he turned his head around to see her.
"Sorry, Priscilla," he said, recognising who she was, which surprised her. "But I've got no interest in having my head slammed into a wall by you again. Besides, I'm pretty sure you can handle this situation by yourself, but just in case you need help, I'll tell Al you're here if I see him. So, bye!"
With a smile on his face, he waved her goodbye and began walking away again. She straitened her eyes at the peasant who remained unmoved by her presence and addressed her without title, instead choosing to walk away even after witnessing her predicament… not that she was in one in the first place. But if he believed he could get away without consequences, surely he was mistaken.
Unheeding of the threats of the two hooligans that had surrounded her, she stepped over the fallen body of the unconscious one and rushed over to the raven-haired butler, pulling him back by his collar to a halt.
"Gah!"
"Stop right there! I don't believe I gave you permission to leave, did I?"
He clicked his tongue in exasperation. "It's a free country, isn't it? I don't think I need your permission to tell me when I have to leave. You're already out anyway so you don't need my help anymore."
"Don't think we'll let you two escape so easily!"
"That's right!"
It seemed the three thugs, including the one that had fallen to the ground had recovered from her surprise attack by now, and pointed their knives at her and the boy beside her.
"Don't include me with her! I'm just an uninvolved passerby who saw nothing and knows nothing… Although…" And then, with one arm wrapped around his bag of appas and the other holding his chin, he said, "I'll say I'm glad to see the city has thugs other than TonChinKan." Feigning happiness by wiping off a fake set of tears from his eyes he said, "For a while, I thought stealing had become a dying profession!"
"Just what nonsense are you on about!? Do you want to die?" One of the thugs shouted at him to which he shook his head vehemently.
"No, thank you! Dying hurts! So when I die, I want it to be in the long future when I'm old and can't walk to the fridge in the middle of the night anymore to eat mayonnaise. Now stop bothering me. She's the one you want, right?" He said pointing at her, leaving her annoyed. She yanked him back once again as he tried to leave.
"Commoner, you've been running your insolent mouth for a while now. Do you really think you could get away with insulting mineself so easily?"
"What's your problem? Why can't you just let me go!? I just came to get some appas to make sweets and surprise my Emilia-tan and Beako! I'm useless here anyway!"
"Do you really think-"
Before Priscilla could speak anymore, she heard three gasps arising from the thugs in the alley and both of them turned to look at the three in confusion.
"...Did he just say Emilia…?"
"Also the rare black hair and black eyes…"
"Don't tell me he is…!"
Was the strange boy before her famous somehow? Priscilla tried to recall if she'd ever heard about or seen the person before her but nothing came to mind. Turning her head to look at him for an answer, he was inclining his head in confusion, just as clueless as she was.
"Commoner, what is happening?"
"Hell if I know," he shrugged and looked at the thieves in bewilderment.
"The half-witch's knight, Natsuki Subaru!"
"I've heard he cut the White Whale in half, crushed a Sin Archbishop's skull to bits with his bare hands, and even roasted and ate the Great Rabbit!"
"Run!"
The three thugs' faces became pale in fear as they dropped their appas and ran for their lives, tucking their tails behind their backs while the two watched them in surprise.
The black-haired fool watched dumbstruck, his mouth gaping in disbelief at the fleeing thieves. Processing if he'd heard the thieves' words correctly, "THOSE RUMOURS HAVE BEEN BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "If I'd done all that, I'd have been as strong as Reinhard!"
Priscilla couldn't care less if the person beside her was famous or strong. She picked up the two appas fallen on the ground as he protested his innocence to the three running thieves. Once the appas were in her possession, wrapped between her left arm and chest, Priscilla directed a pity-filled glance at the boy, the one they called Natsuki Subaru and he turned his head away in irritation.
"They're gone now…," he said with a sigh. "I guess I'll be leaving."
To his misfortune, he was yanked back a third time by Priscilla as he tried to leave, making him turn around and glare at her.
"What do you want now!?"
"Commoner, I shall allow you the honour to accompany me as I go to return these appas."
Despite his attitude, her intuition told her it would be amusing to keep him by her side for a while longer.
"And why the hell should I-" He stopped abruptly. His eyes turned to the appas she had wrapped by her left hand and then looked at her in confusion. Adjusting the bag of appas in his hand, he asked her, "Return…?"
"Those hoodlums had stolen it from that shop over there." Her finger pointed to the left of the alley in the direction of the shop she'd seen earlier. "Accompany mineself as I return these."
Upon hearing her words, his eyes widened. He looked confounded by her words and she raised her brows, wondering what was wrong. After a while, she watched his eyes soften as he looked at her with a more gentle expression.
"Priscilla, that's…" He stopped and then began to smile at her. "That's… unexpectedly nice of you…"
That was obvious, for her generosity was comparable to a compassionate mother, but he was a naive idiot for certain too, if something as insignificant as this was capable of changing his mind and convincing him to go along with her.
"Let's go!" He said, his words sounding strangely familiar to the 'Great Waterfall Language' that Al used on some occasions. She eyed him in curiosity, wondering if he's from the same place as Al. In addition, he seemed to recognise both her and Al, making her wonder if she'd ever met him before.
As he walked forward, she ran to his side as they walked to the fruit store together.
Once they had returned the appas, the shopkeeper had thanked them profusely for their help and even offered the appas as a reward, but she decided to take just one. There was still a lot more to explore in the Market, so she was satisfied with a single appa for the time being.
Savouring the sweet appa as the two walked together side by side, he directed a confused glance at her.
"Uhhh… Priscilla-san… why are you still following me?"
"Bold of you to assume I am following you. Are you sure it is not the other way around and it is not you who is following me?"
"Ah, sorry. It's just the hotel I'm staying at is this way, but…" he said, surprising her. She had not expected him to apologise. Not even bothering to argue with her anymore and looking around the Market District, he said, "…Maybe there's a detour I can take. The alleyways might be a bit dangerous, but I think…"
Taking a deep breath and clenching his fists, with a determined look in his eyes, he muttered, "...even if things get too bad, I think I can take a stabbing or two. Beako is there in the room so she can heal me and if things are really bad I can even go see Ferris. Once I tell them I walked through the alleyways to avoid you, I'm sure they would understand." He nodded his head, prepared himself.
Priscilla scowled instantly upon hearing his words. He must have been the first person she knew who treated her with such overwhelming disrespect without fear, despite being aware of who she was. She had overlooked it until now because she had found him amusing, but even she had her limits.
"Wait, commoner," she called out to him and he directed his brown eyes towards her.
"What is it now?" He asked with a mischievous grin. "What? Are you starting to get worried about me after hearing I might get hurt?"
"Don't be foolish! If it is your desire to be stabbed, so be it. I do not wish to stop you. I am merely worried the appas that you hold might go to waste, should you die in there. I suggest you leave those with me before you leave."
"My life is worth less than the appas!?" Subaru groaned. "…There's just no winning against you, is there?"
"I'm impressed. It seems you have a more decent head on your shoulders than I believed," she replied with words of obvious sarcasm as Subaru gave a defeated sigh. With her arms crossed, a satisfied smile arose on her face in victory.
"Hey Priscilla…" He called out to her and her eyes wandered to her hands. He took out an appa from his bag and held it out towards her. "…here, have this."
Her red eyes widened in surprise as she stretched her hand out to take the appa he had offered.
"You like appas, right? Consider this a bribe and we'll part ways here. That should be fine enough with you, right?"
Upon hearing his words, Priscilla inclined her head and gazed squarely at him with her crimson eyes. "Commoner, from the way you speak…" Placing a finger on her chin, she looked at him in curiosity. "Have I met you before?"
Shocked by her question, he blinked twice in disbelief. He watched her in a dazed silence, perhaps waiting for her to refute herself. If that was the case, it was a futile hope. If she had any memory of this plebeian, she would have remembered him by now.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW!?" He shouted angrily at her as she continued to stare at him in cluelessness, while she shrugged. There was no sarcasm or ridicule in her voice, she genuinely had no idea who this person was, even if he was acting all familiar with her.
"What the hell!? You don't remember who I am?"
"There is nothing remotely remarkable about you that would leave a mark on my memory."
"That is horrible even by your standards!" The realisation made him slump his shoulders in dejection. "Then why are you even following me!? If I'm so uninteresting, shouldn't you find someone else to annoy? Where is Al in the first place? Why isn't he with you?"
"He was doing some errand…" Priscilla paused. Pulling her fan out she placed it on her lips, and inclined her head. "It must have been an uninteresting errand for I seem to have forgotten."
"YOU FORGOT THAT TOO!?"
"Commoner, did you not hear me? Cease your nonsense chirping and answer my question. Where had I made your acquaintance earlier? And do not make me repeat myself. My noble lips do not need the labour."
"…"
"—"
Subaru sighed. "…We met in an alleyway around the time the Royal Selection began…"
Subaru waited for her to react while Priscilla tried to recollect. But she could not remember meeting any shady-looking butlers in a back alley.
"There were three thugs trying to rob you…"
Still nothing. Nothing he said had made her memory stir up.
"You had never seen an unpeeled appa before and you tried to take mine…"
"…"
Her eyes widened. The moment he mentioned it, something in her mind just clicked. Ah yes, now she remembered. "Oh, you're the appa boy! Why didn't you say so from the beginning?" She answered in recognition.
"Is that how you're going to remember me every time you see me!? You call me the appa boy, but from my perspective, you're the appa girl too!"
"—Tsk! How noisy. I allow you to accompany me, not once but twice and yet, you still repay me with flippant remarks instead of touching your head to the floor and thanking me with deeply moved tears."
"That sentence alone could put the most arrogant kings to shame! A scene like that would only happen in a dictatorship…" He sighed in hopelessness as he muttered to himself, his shoulders slumped as he wrapped both his arms around the bag of appas he was holding.
"…So umm… since introductions are done now and hostess gifts exchanged, how about we break this up?"
"I see." Priscilla nodded her head. "That is fine with me."
"Alright then! I'll be going. It was great catching up with you! See you later!" He flashed her a toothy grin and waved her goodbye and she stood there watching him leave.
She sighed. Despite his audacity to talk back to her, he had managed to amuse her. Therefore, when it came to departing with her companion, she was dispassionate to the bitter end. Her steps were hesitant, finding the day as unamusing as it was earlier.
"Hmm…" Priscilla sank into thought as her teeth sank into the appa she held. She nibbled on it, relishing the sweet taste which provided her only temporary happiness. Once it was over, she was bored once again.
"Ah!" A soft sound erupted from both of their lips as they looked at each other in surprise.
It was the centre of the Market District, and coincidentally, both Priscilla and Subaru had decided to stop by the water fountain on their way back to cool themselves down from the heat. And it seemed they weren't the only ones. A large crowd had built up around the fountain, with children frolicking around, playing all kinds of games with each other.
It reminded her of a distant memory from her childhood. It was after an assassination attempt that she was returning home on foot, when she had noticed children playing on the streets.
"How funny is it, running into each other right after we had departed a few minutes ago?" Subaru said, breaking her out of her thoughts, and shifted to the side, patting the place beside him, giving her space to sit by the fountain's edge.
"Of course. The world operates to work in my favour," she responded as she took her place beside him, the little sprays of water droplets as the water splashed down feeling cool and pleasant to the skin. "I was bored so the world presented me with a clown to entertain me."
"It hasn't even been fifteen minutes since we separated though! Maybe try to put more of an effort to not complain about everything you see!"
"A mediocre man such as you will obviously find the mundane special because it is what is in your capabilities. After all, you lack the discerning eyes I possess to appreciate quality."
"You seriously cannot go even a minute without insulting someone, can you?" He sighed. With the bag of appas on his lap, he turned around to dip his hand into the cool water, clear enough for the rocks at the bottom of the pool to be visible, and as he did, the tiny fishes inside scurried to the opposite end as fast as possible. "Look, even this is nice, isn't it?"
"A futile concern. Rather than that, are you not forgetting something?" She said, stretching out her palm before him.
Subaru tilted his head in confusion. Looking at her offered hand he took it in his and began shaking it. Her forehead scrunched up.
"Fool, what do you think you are doing?" Her eye twitched.
"What did you expect!? For me to read your mind!?" He retorted as he slid a bit away from her.
"I am gracing you with my presence again, aren't I? As such, common courtesy dictates that you hand them over, does it not?"
"…Huh!?" He looked at her and then at the finger pointing at the bag of appas he was holding. His lips curved down as he shifted the bag away from her gaze protectively. "I gave you one, didn't I?"
"Oh, did you not wish to leave earlier and did I not allow you to do so? Moreover, for a second time today, I'm allowing you to sit by my divine self. With your head still attached to your body, no less. This is the least you could do to thank me."
"Isn't this daylight robbery!?" He retorted and Priscilla clicked her tongue.
"Enough prattle. How about this?" Priscilla pointed at the bag, her lips cracking into a wry smile. "Let us wager for them."
"—hk!" Subaru gasped. "I'm having a severe case of deja vu here…" He muttered to himself and Priscilla wondered what those could mean. But before she could ask him, "And why would I agree to that? There's nothing in it for me," he said with a sigh.
"I see. In that case… let's see…" As she was trying to think of a suitable reward, the memory of their last wager floated into her mind. She licked her lips and gave him a sly smile. Her bewitching eyes drifted towards him and she crossed her arms, lifting up her bountiful bosom.
Immediately realising what she meant, "Absolutely not," he said, although she could see his eyes taking a quick peek at her chest before looking away. She smirked, taking it as a victory.
"How about this then?" Lifting his hand and stroking his chin with his fingers, he said, "If I win, you have to say one bad thing about yourself." He gestured one with his right index finger. "And I mean in a humble way. Something like how you're so beautiful that you leave a trail of broken hearts behind you doesn't count!" He said with an evil smirk.
"One bad thing…?"
Her crimson eyes flared at him for a while, but he didn't back down from his ridiculous proposal. A bad thing about herself? Such a thing did not exist? A part of her wanted to behead him then and there, but when she thought about it, she would win anyway. In the end, she sighed and relented.
"A humble Priscilla…" He smiled, rubbing his hands together in glee. "Hell yeah! Now I'm motivated!"
In the beginning, she was furious at his condition, but now… seeing the joy on his face, she felt sorry for him. Even if he won, something like what he had asked of her was not possible. And there was a very good reason for it.
—She simply could not think of a single negative quality about herself.
"How about a simple wager? Something easy like flipping a coin and guessing whether it is heads or tails should suffice," she proposed the contest, and Subaru nodded in agreement.
Taking out a coin from his wallet, Subaru flipped it, and they watched it spin in the air for a few seconds before he caught it in the back of his hand, and covered the upper face of the coin.
"Now then, commoner. Take your pick."
"Alright then!" He closed his eyes to think for sometime. Ultimately, it mattered not what he took, because she would be the one who would emerge victorious.
When he finally opened his eyes, "Heads, I win, Tails, you lose. Is that fine enough for you?" he asked, with confidence sparkling in his eyes. She nodded her head.
When Subaru removed his hand from the coin, the upper face was revealed to be—
"TAILS! YOU LOSE!" Subaru screamed in joy, while Priscilla looked at him in shock at her loss.
She tried to think of what had gone wrong. Thinking back to his words prior to revealing the coin… Her eyes widened.
"You tricked me!" She glared at him.
"Don't give me any of that! You agreed to my conditions, didn't you? Do you know how hard it was, trying to keep a straight face, hoping you wouldn't catch—owowowowow!"
Pinching his cheek, she twisted it as he cried out, "I'm sowwy! I'm sowwy!" When she released him, there was a red mark on his cheek and the teary-eyed clown rubbed it with his fingers, waiting for the pain to subside.
"Another round! Now!"
"No!"
"What did you just say?" Grabbing the collar of the shirt of his butler's uniform, she stared daggers into his eyes as he flinched back in fear.
"Waitwaitwaitwait! That's not what I meant!"
Releasing her hold on him, he fixed his shirt up and took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is—a contest of luck wouldn't work! You'll always win, so a coin toss and rock-paper-scissors is out of the question. What we need is a contest where either one of us has a chance of winning. Or else, it wouldn't be fair."
Pulling her fan out of her cleavage, she snapped it open, covering her face behind it as she took his words into consideration. What he said was certainly true. And if she were to refuse him, there was a chance he would refuse to partake in the contest, finding the odds stacked against him.
His brown eyes gazed at her in silence waiting for her decision, and the bag of appas on his lap wobbled as his legs shook in restlessness.
She sighed. "Go on. What do you have in mind?"
His happiness knew no bounds when she agreed to his proposal, and she would be lying if she said if it didn't make her smile too. While it was true that he was quite a vexing and tiresome individual, his antics—including his cheating, were quite adorable in its own right. It had been a while since she had been so thoroughly entertained this way.
"We're going to play Tag!"
At the abrupt strange proposal he made, Priscilla, who had zero idea about what he was talking about, knitted her brows. Her gaze lingered fixedly at Subaru, full of doubt. From the previous contest, she had a sneaking suspicion that he was upto no good again.
"What is Tag?" She asked, inclining her head in unawareness. He gaped at her in shock.
"…Wait, seriously!?"
Priscilla shrugged. Subaru held his forehead with a sigh and then raised his hands to hold her head. Her eyes widened at the sudden contact and she wondered what he was trying to achieve. He then turned her head in the direction of the children she saw playing earlier.
"That is Tag," he explained, letting go of her. "One person is 'It' and has to chase the others to catch them. If all the players get caught, the player who is 'It' wins."
Oh! Priscilla nodded her head, and her right fist tapped her left palm, finally understanding what the kids were doing. And from the looks of it, this was probably what the kids in Vollachia were playing too.
"So you want us to play this purposeless game?" While she agreed that children should be children, whatever they did should have some value so that they wouldn't remain ignorant and helpless in the world. It was why she encouraged Schult to read or play Shatranj. Running around like fools simply for the sake of fun wouldn't help anyone in any way.
"Hey come on! Don't be like that! You're only saying that because you've never played it before, but it's really fun! Plus, this game isn't as straightforward as you think. This is a game of strategy and underhandedness." He gave a salesman speech, trying to sell her on the idea of playing it.
"A game of strategy… and underhandedness…" She parroted him, her curiosity piqued. Although she was still suspicious, she said no words of refusal.
"There are several variants of this game and we are going to play one such variant. Let's call it… 'Appa Tag'!" Placing the bag of appas at his side, he stood up and pointed his finger to the sky, as if he'd had an epiphany. "You'll be 'It' and you'll try to catch me while I try to run throughout the Market District. But that's not all. This bag of appas will be placed here on the fountain and my challenge is to try to get to this bag. If you catch me before I reach these appas, I'll lose. And if I manage to reach this before you catch me, I'll win. So what do you say?"
Listening to the rules, Priscilla nodded her head. The game sounded interesting enough and the smarter player would win, so she could see no issues with it… as of yet.
"Alright. Fine, I'll play this contest of yours, commoner."
Her forehead scrunched up as she immediately regretted agreeing to it when a smile as innocent as a child ripping off a butterfly's wings flashed across Subaru's face.
"…Fourteen… fifteen…" Priscilla counted near the fountain where the bag of appas were placed, giving him enough time to get as far away from her as possible and give him a fighting chance.
"Sixteen… Seventeen… Eighteen…"
According to him, since the Market District was a huge arena for a game of Tag, it was fine for her to count till twenty and stop.
"Nineteen… Twenty!" She opened her eyes, preparing herself to catch him.
What she had not expected was—
"I win!"
A bold proclamation of victory came from beside her as she turned her head around to see Subaru take a single step forward and grab the bag of appas placed beside her, all while she was too flabbergasted to act.
"Fool, just what are you doing!? Is this… even allowed?"
"I did say, I was allowed to go anywhere within the Market District as long as I didn't leave it. This place is also the Market District, isn't it? Whether I started further down the road, or right here is my own choice!"
Hearing his absurd logic, Priscilla sighed deeply. This was the second time she had been duped by his borderline cheating. Accepting the outcome, "I see. I have lost," she said. "I must admit, I am amused at how my expectations have been surpassed."
The moment she said those words, Subaru's eyes widened and his happiness had been replaced with guilt.
Truly a fool, she thought. First he cheated and then he regretted cheating. He was probably the only person in the world who she had seen behave that way. If it were Al instead of him, Al would have held his head high, proud of his cheating even.
"I'm sorry you couldn't get the appas," he apologised.
"Fear not, commoner. Did you already forget—the world operates such that it works in my favour." She declared with such confidence that Subaru was left confused as to why she felt no anger.
"'Tis simple," she began her explanation. "If I was unable to acquire those appas, it meant the world wouldn't want me to taste them. The only conclusion left is that those appas… they are probably sour."
"…"
Subaru's jaw dropped hearing her explanation. Not even a second later, he burst into laughter, holding his stomach.
She knitted her brows, watching him. "What is so funny?" She asked, and he shook his hand in dismissal.
"No, it's just…" He took a deep breath to stop his laughter and faced her, although the smile residing on his face did not seem to be leaving anytime soon. "You reminded me of a story from my hometown. That's all."
Her eyes widened. Curious to know what this story was that had made him laugh so hard and how it related to herself, "Let's hear it then," she ordered, inviting him to sit beside her at the fountain's edge while he narrated.
He looked at her in surprise. "You want to hear it?"
"Of course. However, if the story is not to my liking, off with your head."
"Over a children's story!?" He exclaimed as he put the bag down beside him and sat down.
Children's story or not, if a story wasn't a decent one—it wasn't worth telling.
"How long do you intend to make me wait? Get on with it." She crossed her legs and gestured to him to begin.
Bringing his hand to his mouth, Subaru cleared his throat and began narrating.
"Once upon a time, there was a fox that was searching for food. He reached a beautiful garden-" He had not even gone past two lines when Priscilla interrupted him.
"A fox demihuman?" She asked, tilting her head.
"No, just a fox."
"So a wild animal?" Priscilla cringed. "That itself is inaccurate. How is a fox capable of rational thought?"
"It's just a story. I don't know why the author decided to make stories using animals," he shrugged. "But it shouldn't matter, right? It's just a story. Don't you have stories with animals behaving like humans?"
"Not that I am aware of. Even if there were, I wouldn't read such nonsense."
"Calling it nonsense just because it's an animal is a bit…" He trailed off and directed a bitter smile her way.
"Commoner, why did you stop narrating? I do not remember giving you permission to stop."
"You were the one who interrupted me though!"
"Cease your nonsense yammering and continue with the story."
"Fine!" He groaned in dismay. "The fox reached a beautiful garden where he found a bunch of grapes hanging. The grapes looked very ripe and sweet. The fox's mouth watered as he looked at them longingly."
"I was mistaken. The fox is not capable of rational thought after all."
"Huh!?"
"Berries are poisonous to foxes. Including grapes. Instead of eating meat and fruits like appas to satiate its hunger, it decides to poison itself. Could you call this anything but stupidity?" Priscilla imparted her wisdom to the foolish commoner, who narrowed his brown eyes when he heard her.
"You're awfully knowledgeable about foxes…"
"Foxes aren't the only thing I know. You would too if you studied, but… I suppose…" She paused, her eyes filled with pity for Subaru. "It wouldn't make much of a difference with your lack of common sense."
"How did this turn into an insult directed at me!? Appas, then! How about if it was appas instead of grapes?"
Priscilla waved her hand, simply gesturing to him to continue. At this point, it mattered not what the fruit was, after having already heard this much senselessness. She might as well listen to the rest of the story.
"So where was I? Right, the fox found a beautiful garden, the garden had an appa tree and there was a sweet and ripe appa hanging from the tree. The fox's mouth watered as it saw the appa. But the appa was too high up for the fox to reach."
Priscilla opened her mouth again to nitpick again, but before she could say anything, Subaru glared at her with a look that seemed to say, "If you want to hear the rest, just shut up."
Such insolence, she thought and pulled her fan out, placing the closed tip on her lips. If she wasn't curious to know what the fox would do to get the appa, she would have hit him.
"The fox jumped to reach the appa, but he missed by a long way. So he walked back a short distance and then took a running leap at it… only to fall short again. Again and again, he kept trying but in vain as he came up short every time."
As Priscilla listened to the story, she felt disappointed at the fox. Knowing when to give up was a virtue, rather than continue a fool's errand.
"After failing several times, the fox sat down and looked at the appa in disgust. "I'm a fool," he said. "Wearing myself out to get it. It is probably sour anyway." He turned around and walked away from the garden."
After the story ends, they sit in silence for a few minutes. She cast a sidelong glance at him as he waited to see what she thought of the story. In case it wasn't obvious enough from the scowl on her face, she was angry.
"Commoner," she said, controlling her anger and he nodded her head. "What was the point of the story?"
"You already know, don't you?"
Of course, she did. She wasn't an idiot. She just wanted him to voice it out loud so she had a good reason to hit him and wouldn't have to hear him whine.
"It's easy to despise what you can't have—ow!"
No sooner than he'd said it, Priscilla hit him in the head with her hand fan and pointed its tip at him.
"Once more," she demanded. "We'll play one more contest and you are forbidden from starting this contest any closer than ten steps from this bag of appas."
"That's not-"
She allowed him to speak no further, shutting him up by placing her fan over his mouth as he watched her in exasperation.
"I would have allowed this victory. However, you opened your big mouth after your flagrant cheating and insulted mineself. As such I shall not allow this victory."
Subaru shivered under her burning gaze as she pushed him away from the fountain and from the bag of appas.
"Mark my words, commoner. By the end of this round, those appas will be mine, and you will be left with nothing, destroyed by my hands."
He gulped. "A-Actually, Priscilla, I don't think I want to play anymore. I'm getting late and Emilia-tan and Beako would get worried…"
"You should have thought of that before," was her cold response as she returned to her position beside the bag of appas and watched him leave, his head down and shoulders slumped.
She closed her eyes and began counting to twenty, just as the last time. Whatever the results that came out from this contest would be fair and she would have no trouble accepting it. She was sure there were no more loopholes he could utilise to trick her again. And she was right. They were no more tricks he could use because when she opened her eyes—
—The bag of appas beside her was gone.
And in its place was a note—
"Sorry, Priscilla. It's getting late, so I'm leaving. Let's play a contest next time."
Priscilla wandered through the streets searching for the fool who had the audacity to ditch her and run away. She was fuming, steam arising from her face. Once she got a hold of him, he would not live to see the next day.
It would have been hard to spot someone in the crowd, but fortunately for her, his black hair stood out. And a few metres ahead, he was there—talking to that fox woman, Anastasia Hoshin. As soon as she caught sight of him, she rushed to him like the wind and before either of them could spot her—
"—NATSUKI SUBARU! HOW DARE YOU RUN AWAY FROM ME!"
"Wha…?" Before both Subaru and Anastasia could react, Priscilla landed a kick, right to his face, knocking him out cold. He fell to the ground and the bag of appas slipped from his hands with the bright-red fruits spilling out.
"Natsuki-kun!" Anastasia exclaimed, bending down to check if he was alright, but Priscilla blocked her with her hands.
"There is no need for your concern. Your job is to simply pick up the appas, keep them back in the bag, hand them over to me and leave."
"That's quite unfair of ya, don't ya think? Natsuki-kun and I were having a pleasant conversation and ya attacked him all of a sudden. I should know what happened, no?" With a bitter smile on her face, Anastasia demanded. "Besides, I'm curious to know what he did to piss ya off so much. So, how about it?"
"It is none of your business. Now hand those appas at me."
"Ah, I see." A shrewd smile came upon Anastasia's face. She gathered up the appas and put them in the bag. She then stretched out her hands offering her the bag, but just as she reached out, Anastasia pulled her hands back, not allowing Priscilla to take the appas.
"Priscilla-san, I would say honesty is a virtue, but don't make it so obvious that other people can exploit it to their advantage. I'm tellin' ya, your pride and rashness is gonna cost ya someday," Anastasia taunted her, flaunting the appas before her face.
Priscilla grit her teeth and grumbled to herself in annoyance about how much she wished to skin the fox woman alive. With not much of an option left, she lifted the unconscious Subaru into a princess carry and ordered, "Follow me, fox."
"Gladly!" Anastasia smiled, adjusting the bag of appas in her hands. "Although, I don't think Natsuki-kun will be too happy to see himself in your arms, right now. He's lucky he's out right now." She giggled, much to Priscilla's chagrin.
"So that's what happened." Anastasia nodded her head in understanding as she placed the bag of appas beside her on the fountain's edge. "It was quite a mean-spirited thing for Natsuki-kun to do, but then again…" She paused for a second and her cerulean eyes drifted to Priscilla. "He was dealing with ya."
"What is that supposed to mean?" She glared at Anastasia. She would have stood up and hit Anastasia, who had seated herself quite a distance away, but with Subaru's head resting peacefully on her lap, she was unable to move.
"These appas are his and ya were the one trying to take them. So it was obvious he would resort to something like that to get away without aggravatin' ya. If the contest really mattered to him, he'd have asked ya for his reward, right?"
Priscilla clicked her tongue. The reasoning of the commoner did not matter to her. She was even fine with his cheating… but then he had to tell her that story and then run away from her when she was trying to prove him wrong. The infuriating person in her lap must be the luckiest man alive to be receiving such treatment from her despite his actions. His only saving grace was his face that seemed to look like a child's as he slept, making her decide to wait until after he was awake to kill him.
It was then as she was contemplating on how to kill him, Subaru stirred on her lap. Perhaps he felt the softness of the pillow under his head, his eyes still closed and in a sleepy voice, "…lap pillow…," he said. "Emilia-tan… I had a bad dream… that an orange-haired devil was chasing after me… to steal my appas…"
Priscilla's veins pulsed on her temples. He had some nerve to think about someone else while in her lap and then complain about herself.
"I don't think that was a dream, Natsuki-kun," Anastasia said, and his eyes shot wide open, realising where it was his head was resting on. But before he could lift himself up from her, she pushed him down making him land face first against the hard floor.
"What was that for!?" He shouted as he got up and dusted himself off.
"Any last words, commoner?" She asked, without hesitation in her eyes and he shrunk back, terrified for his life. That was until—
"He's been punished enough, don't ya think? I don't think there's any need to kill him any further than that, is there?" Anastasia interfered.
"…what does that mean?" He glanced back and forth between Anastasia and Priscilla in confusion. Priscilla herself seemed unsure of what she was talking about.
"I mean, wasn't you, carrying Natsuki-kun in your arms like a girl in the middle of the street, enough to kill him on the inside a bit?"
"I don't have time for nonsense-"
"Priscilla…" With the most serious voice he had mustered until that point, Subaru looked at her. She had to admit, she was quite taken aback to see it. His next words were even more unexpected. "Please kill me…"
Priscilla walked closer to the sighing Anastasia and pinched her arm.
"Hey! What was that for!?" She complained.
"I just wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming."
"So ya pinch me instead of yourself!?"
"Silence, fool! Your voice annoys me!"
Anastasia grumbled in anger as she stroked the scarf around her neck all while, "Ahhh, I was carried by a girl in front of everyone!" Subaru whined covering his face with his hands. "Please just kill me now and spare me the embarrassment!"
Seeing both of them in a bad mood pleased her immensely, after they had been annoying her all this time. As a matter of fact, it was more satisfying to leave him be, after he was begging her for death. Instead, she walked over to the appas and picked them up in her hands.
"Since you forfeited, I will be taking those appas," she said, snapping him out of his embarrassment.
"No, those are mine! Give them back!" He rushed forward and grabbed the bag too. They were pulling and pushing the bag, arguing like little children, when—
"Alright! That's it, both of ya! What you two need is a moderator… someone to make sure you don't cheat," she said, her finger pointing at Subaru, "and you don't threaten him into submission," now her finger pointing at Priscilla.
"A moderator?" Subaru asked, both him and Priscilla tilting their heads in confusion. "Where do we find someone like that?" Priscilla nodded her head at Subaru's question.
Anastasia pouted and crossed her arms. "What am I invisible to both of ya!?"
"No offence to you, Anastasia-san, but…" With a bitter expression, Subaru began.
"As if a fox such as you can be a fair judge." And Priscilla put forward her blunt opinion.
Anastasia glared at the two of them before sighing. "I'm just as curious as ya two are to see who wins. I won't do anything suspicious."
Priscilla narrowed her eyes, not willing to trust Anastasia even a single bit, but Subaru on the other hand, seemed to have let his guard down.
"…I guess… it's no harm…," he said, but he himself seemed unsure. But before either of them could completely make up their minds, Anastasia snatched the bag from their hands, and kept it with herself, as she seated herself down at the water's edge.
"Now hurry up and begin. Time is money, people!" She clapped her hands, signalling them the start of their contest, and they had no choice but to comply.
…The children played without a care in the world, unaware of her gaze lingering on them. They neither noticed nor approached her, too happy and busy in their own games.
"Princess?"
The voice that called out to her belonged to her bodyguard, Arakiya, looking over at her in concern, as the girl continued to carefully observe the children playing in the background.
"Are they disturbing you, Princess? Shall I make them stop?"
"No," she ordered, turning around. The hem of her blood-red dress swung as she began walking forward once again.
"Then what were you looking at Princess?" Her dog-eared attendant asked.
"I pity those fools," she answered, looking at the children with revulsion. "Fooling around and living in ignorance only to live in regrets when they grew up."
In the future, they would certainly regret having wasted their time this way. She was glad she had never been exposed to such foolishness in her life. The responsibilities she had were far greater than they could imagine and she would make sure she would never end up like that.
She turned around and walked away, her head down in bitterness.
Priscilla sighed. What would the twelve year old Prisca think of the nineteen year old Priscilla if she were to see her now, she wondered, holding her heels in her hands, lifting the hem of her skirt and running around in this heat, doing the same thing she had once deemed foolishness.
"You two there!" She called out to the Sword Saint and the Knight of Knights as she spotted them patrolling the area. They two looked at her in shock and wondered if something was wrong, witnessing her in her dishevelled state.
"Priscilla-sama, did you get robbed?" Julius asked, and she grit her teeth at him.
"I see you are as infuriating as your master. No. Now answer me, where did the fool go?"
Both Julius and Reinhard looked at her and then at each other in confusion. "Fool?"
"Natsuki Subaru! Where did he go?"
With each second they were delaying and she was losing sight of him and the greater his chances of victory. Without warning, Reinhard jumped into the air and looked around, the burst of wind causing both Julius and Priscilla's hair to get ruffled up. Priscilla clicked her tongue as she fixed her hair.
"Priscilla-sama, did Subaru do something to warrant your anger?" Julius asked, concern filling his face. "He does things without thinking sometimes and it does anger a lot of people, but I don't believe he has any ill-intentions-"
"Shut up!" Priscilla ordered him and he froze. She didn't want to waste her time hearing him defending the fool.
"Priscilla-sama, he has gone that way," Reinhard came down and pointed in the general direction of the fountain.
Priscilla chuckled. Subaru was truly a simple-minded fool. With no more tricks to use, he was simply scampering for the fountain with all his might. Now it was her turn to trap him.
"Priscilla-sama, might I ask what is going on?"
"We are having a contest. A game he calls Tag," she answered and she watched the two knights break into smiles.
"In that case, I wish both of you the best of luck," Reinhard said, to which Priscilla sneered.
"I need no luck, commoner, for it is I who will win."
Ignoring the two, she ran back along the way she came. As she was running, she had paid close attention to all the alleys and dead ends along the way. By now, she had perfectly memorised the layout of the area. All that was left for her was to lure the idiot into a trap.
She rushed into the nearest alleyway, and took two rights to reach—
"You've nowhere left to go, commoner!" She declared, her hands on her hips, with her heels dangling from her left hand and a sly smile embroidering her face.
Behind her was the opening that led to the fountain and in front of her—
"—hk!"
Subaru was clenching his fist and looking around for a way to run. He looked just as terrible as she did, his clean butler uniform now dirtied and he was sweating buckets, running around in the heat.
She had blocked his only exit to the fountain and he had the choice to either turn back, in which case she would have no trouble catching up to him again, with him being slower than her. Or he could just run into the nearest turning just behind him. And considering the simple-minded fool, she was certain this was the choice he would make. And that was exactly what he did.
"Checkmate!" Priscilla exclaimed with a sly smile on her face, running after him into what was a dead end and her victory.
From the very beginning, she had laid down traps to lure him down this way. Just as she had asked Reinhard and Julius earlier to figure out his location, she was sure he would ask the others to verify her location and avoid being caught too. She had made sure to talk to the people around and have them see which direction she was heading off in only to backtrack a few minutes later when they were no longer paying attention or use the back alleys to change direction.
At the face of the exit, she looked at him making a mad dash for the wall. She looked at him in pity at his desperate attempt to cross the dead end. The wall was over his jumping height. What happened next left her shocked down to her very core.
His left foot made contact with the wall at around five feet from the ground, and he used the momentum to push himself off the ground and jump into the air. His hands reached the top of the wall and he somersaulted over the wall and out of her sight.
What was that!? She had underestimated him quite a lot and she must admit, his act had impressed her.
From the other side of the wall, she could hear him cheering himself.
"All my parkour training had led to this moment! Great job, me!" With that he began to dash for the exit on the other side.
Priscilla too turned back and ran gushing for the exit as fast as she could. When she walked out into the opening, he was already ahead of her and gunning for the bag of appas Anastasia had kept on the ground beside her. Because of the crowd, it was hard avoiding themselves from colliding into others and further slowing themselves down, when all of sudden, the entire area had cleared up. Both Subaru and Priscilla looked around to see what had happened. That was when she noticed a few people, keeping coins in their pocket and a smirk on Anastasia's face.
—That woman had bribed them to clear up the area.
Before her, Subaru had begun running again and Priscilla had almost closed the distance to him. He jumped, sliding along the ground, his hands stretching to the maximum to reach out for the bag of appas and Priscilla did the same, jumping over him and grabbed hold of him.
"I won, commoner!" Priscilla declared as he struggled under her, allowing her to feel his muscles through his clothes.
"No, I won! Look!"
Looking up, his fingertip was grazing the bag of appas.
"It's barely touching, fool! I'm sure I caught you before-"
"You jumped on me after I had touched the appas-"
The two argued like children over who when, "Ahem…" The two looked up, their attention drawn to Anastasia towering over them as she sat at the fountain's edge.
"From what I have observed," Anastasia spoke out with a smile, her index finger pointing up as the two sat up, anticipating the results of their match. "I'm pretty sure Natsuki-kun managed to reach this place before Priscilla-san caught him. So, Natsuki-kun won!" She declared.
"I WON!" Subaru threw his hands into the air, jumping up and down relishing his victory. "The appas are mine!"
Watching him celebrate like a child, she sighed. It was her loss and she accepted it. "Very well, you have won," she said, as the beaming Subaru turned to look at her. For surpassing her expectations and amusing her with his antics, he might as well have the appas. "And I suppose I was wrong. Perhaps not everything that I'm unable to achieve has to be sour appas."
Subaru blinked twice, trying to comprehend what she just said. A negative quality about herself was what he had asked and that was her answer.
"That was your reward, commoner." It was what he deserved, because she had never had more fun in her life. Even if she had run around purposelessly for the sake of fun, it wasn't as foolish as she had believed.
"I'll take it then!" Subaru said, his face lighting up in joy.
"Ya two seem to have misunderstood somethin'."
"Huh?" Both Priscilla and Subaru turned to the merchant in surprise. Priscilla had almost forgotten about the fox woman's presence in that place. What was she still doing here? Her job was done.
"It's strange, isn't it? The only thing I said was that Natsuki-kun won. I don't remember sayin' anythin' about the bag of appas." Bringing her finger to her chin, Anastasia inclined her head, feigning cluelessness.
"Wha…?" Subaru looked at Anastasia in perplexity, while Priscilla narrowed her eyes at her. What was this woman up to?
"As much as I loved watchin' this heartwarmin' game of tag between friends-"
"Let me correct you there," Subaru stopped her all of a sudden and began speaking, pointing his thumb at Priscilla. "This pain-in-the-ass woman and I aren't friends—ow!"
Priscilla flicked his forehead in annoyance. "Truly, you are a vexing man. I'll advise you to fix your attitude as soon as possible if you wish to have friends."
"I don't want to hear that from you!"
"Yes yes, I understand." Clapping her hands, Anastasia said, bringing their attention back to her. "As much as I loved watchin' this heartwarmin' game of tag between two not-friends, I should be given some sort of compensation for takin' out the time and money for officiating this match, don't ya think? Especially after the two of ya seemed to think I wouldn't be a fair judge." She pouted.
With an innocent yet cruel smile, she got up from the edge of the fountain she was sitting on. Neither Priscilla nor Subaru liked where this was going. Anastasia bent down to pick the bag of appas on the ground and began counting them, the other two too dumbfounded to be able to react in time.
"Alright then! If there's nothin' else, I'll be goin' now." Waving her hands and bidding them goodbye, she wrapped her hands around the bag of appas and began walking away.
All of a sudden, she turned back to look at them and said, "Let me give ya two a piece of advice. Whenever ya do somethin', whether it's negotiating or trading or even just fightin' amongst yourselves, make sure to not let a third party benefit from it, alright?" With a smile and a wink, she turned away once again.
"I'LL KILL THAT WOMAN!" Priscilla shouted, veins bulging on her forehead. She even summoned her Yang Sword, determined to make Anastasia suffer a fate worse than death. But before she could do anything—
"Priscilla, stop! Stop! Time out!" Subaru rushed in front of her, shielding Anastasia and grabbed her hands in a desperate attempt to hold her back. "It's just a bag of appas! I'll buy you ten more if you want!"
Hearing his words, Priscilla's eyes began glaring at him instead.
"Eep!" He yelped in fear, but defying his expectations, Priscilla sighed deeply and let her sword vanish into the air.
"—As I had thought, the arbitrator was indeed an aggravating individual," she said and the two of them grit their teeth and glared angrily at Anastasia, who had a victorious smile on her face as she walked away with the prize in her hands.
"Ah, forget it!" He turned away from that infuriating fox as he lifted his hand and waved his hand in dismissal of the previous events. "Let her have the appas…"
"Indeed," she said, nodding her head in agreement. "I pity her."
She drew out her fan from her cleavage and covered her mouth with it. Her eyes turned to look at him and he, at her. He looked just as annoyed as she did.
As a fox had once said, the two of them grumbled out bitterly in unison, "—The appas are probably sour anyways."
Bonus scene 1:
As Priscilla happily walked back home with a bag of appas that Subaru had tearfully bought after taking money out his wallet, she noticed a strange figure standing outside her mansion. Believing it to be a thief, she walked towards the idiot trying to teach him a lesson.
"Ah, Princess, you're back?"
Instead, what she found was Al holding an outstretched pan with a raw cracked egg on it.
"Al, what are you doing?" She asked angrily. "Did you waste your entire day doing nothing?"
"But this is what you asked me to do, Princess…" The grown man in the helmet whined. And then noticing her messy appearance, he asked, "Princess, what have you been upto?"
Priscilla gave him a smile that could replace the radiant sun that had set for the day.
"I was playing a game of Tag with a fool for a bag of sour appas," she replied, leaving her one-armed jester dazed and confused as she walked back inside.
Bonus scene 2:
"Barusu, where have you been all day?" Ram asked angrily as she and Beatrice were waiting for him to come back outside their hotel.
"And Subaru, what happened to your clothes, I suppose."
Subaru sighed as he looked at the bag of appas in his hand. He remembered the look of pity Cadomom had given him, when he had bought two new bags of appas, one for himself and one for Priscilla.
As he was about to pay, he had found extra change in his wallet with a note that said, "This is for making me watch Priscilla being defeated. If ya buy more than this, I'm sorry I can't help ya."
Just when had she slipped this in, he wondered. Or had she paid someone to do it during the chaos? In any case, she had left enough money for the bag she took, but for the second bag of appas, he had to pay out of his own pocket.
'Today was just not my day,' he sighed.
"Subaru?"
"I was playing a game of Tag with the devil for a bag of sour appas," he replied as the two watched him in confusion.
Thanks a lot to Reactionist for beta reading this fic.