Cedric sure has a peculiar hobby

And by peculiar, it intertwines with the words childish, sinister and immature

And by that, he is seen just hiding behind a grass bush of the garden in the nice afternoon. Hiding a scornful chuckle, he patiently awaited an upcoming maid from ahead, Cedric prepared everything according to plan.

Claire finally passes by, and suddenly… a figure of a man in robes surprised the poor lady which garnered a surprising scream from her in the process as she ran the opposite way

Now delighted, the Sorcerer was in shambles completely losing his cool over what just happened. A round of merriment completely overcame the too-happy-for-his-own-good man with his laughter echoing in the garden

After a few seconds, Cedric finally came to his senses "Ha-ha… I haven't had the time to do this recently now…" the man said as he prepped himself for another childish prank that he is gonna do

And luck has graced upon him upon seeing his next victim walking up ahead. Her blonde hair seeming to shine just by the afternoon sun with the form her usual sophisticated dress despite the distance. The sparkle of her tiara almost stunned Cedric, but he shielded his eyes with his hands before it could happen

A sinister smile rested on the man's face.

Amber, who just came from a tea party, decided to take a stroll on the garden to glance at the flowers that might give her a new idea for a dress… or perhaps for new party theme decorations

Taking the turn, Amber took a step just a few notches from her position. But as she passed by a certain nicely formed shrub, she was startled to see a sudden figure of a man out of nowhere in front of her which made her shriek loudly in shock and fear

Upon doing so, she fell to the ground with the reaction that she had. But as she had a better view of this certain troublemaker, a certain familiar tall and slender came to her sight. This sight wasn't something she wasn't fond of, in fact – it infuriated her…

"Cedric!"

The princess yelled with her face flushed from the prank as she glared at Cedric who was laughing to ends with that reaction she made. Amber, on the other, wasn't entertained, not even the slightest

"This is like… the 27th time already!" Amber nagged in a rather whining manner. She then stood up to her feet and fixed her dress up

"You are such a jerk, Cedric" Amber eyed him with an angry glance before finally walking away

"Come on… would you lighten up?" Cedric reasoned out, but the blonde girl didn't respond and went to further their distance from each other

Cedric couldn't care less. A satisfied sigh then came out of Cedric as he noticed that the afternoon was definitely taking it's time and surely, it was time to head back to the workshop and work on some random spell or something.

But as he was about to make his way inside, a certain girl from afar caught his eye…

"Why if it isn't Enchancia's youngest princess herself" Cedric rubbed his palms together and made a scornful smile "What better way to welcome our newest princess than a child-friendly prank!"

And with this, Cedric set to position and prepared for the usual. Awaiting the girl to be in front, He already imagined what kind of reaction Sofia would make

"Perhaps the usual cry of surprise… or even a screech. I can't wait to see her reaction with this!" Cedric thought to himself

He was too all up in his thoughts to notice the footsteps creeping from behind. Even the fact that he now had company crouching just behind the grass statue with him

"Are we supposed to wait here?"

"Shush, or you'll ruin the surprise" Cedric grunted, not even bothering to look

"What are we supposed to do here, Mr. Cee…"

"Quiet!" Cedric shushed in a whispering voice
"She's should be here at any second now"

"She?"

Cedric prepared himself, it would be Sofia's introduction to his tradition of pranks so he has to make it as iconic as possible.

His company… however… was completely dumbfounded over what's going on

"What are we waiting here for, Mr. Ceedric?"

"Ha-ha! You'll find out eventually, Princess Sofia" Cedric proudly stated as his smile deepens

A rush of silence soon followed, not a hint of a certain auburn haired girl passed by like he anticipated. Cedric was losing his patience, but then a realization came over him upon noticing a certain shadow of a form behind him.

And just like that, the once jovial smile on Cedric's face was completely gone upon finally making sense of everything. He swallowed his saliva as the realization hit him even more than usual

He slowly turned around, and the sight of his should-be-victim was looking back at him with a confused expression

"Mr. Ceedric…"

Cedric paused for a moment, before finally fidgeting to himself and falling on his butt to the ground as he made distance between the two of them

"P-Princess S-Sofia..!" Cedric blabbered as his eyes widened over with her presence

"What are you doing here?"

"I was asking you that since earlier, Mr. Ceedric" Sofia chimed in, with her usual kind gaze and warm smile "You seemed to be enjoying yourself too much that I wanted to join in too"

"I was just uhh…" Cedric's activated his skill to scramble out of every situation with his usual excuses and banters.

His gaze landed on a certain cat who was sitting there and watched the entire thing since earlier. And just like that, a creative idea came to him

"I was tending to the animals, you see… He-he" Cedric then slowly lifted the cat from the ground to face Sofia "This cat right here is my friend, you see.."

"Oh!" Sofia was quite surprised over his answer "Is that so?"

Sofia then leaned over the cat "So you're a friend of Mr. Ceedric huh…"

Sofia smiled, and the cat responded with a meow. But as she heard it, her smile was replaced with a rather intrigued expression. The cat continued meowing and Sofia was listening to it rather attentively

"really…" Sofia nodded, listening to the sounds the cat was making. Seeing this made Cedric uncomfortable for some reason, he couldn't make sense of what was happening, he just wanted to be elsewhere at the moment

"Is that so…" Sofia now turned to Cedric with a leer and a suspicious stare, as Cedric himself was looking away from her gaze

"Anyways, I really have to go now, Princess" Cedric put the cat down and prepared for his departure

"Catch you later" He started to walk away

"Hey Mr. Ceedric" Sofia called out to him before he could make another step

"Are you lying to me…"

Cedric froze on the spot with a disgruntled expression. His legs were shaking and knees have gotten heavy for some reason. He didn't want to face Sofia, that would surely make it even more difficult for him to bluff

"err… I'm not lying" Cedric said, a bead of sweat now forming on his right cheek

"hmmm…" Sofia hummed as she walked in front of him, in which he reacted by looking elsewhere

"Are you sure you didn't spend the whole afternoon pulling pranks on everyone?"

"What the… how did you come to know that!?" Cedric completely thought out loud accidentally which Sofia completely heard in each word

Realizing this, Cedric slowly turned to Sofia who has a rather casual smile on her face. Just from this alone is enough for Cedric to know that he had been completely busted.

And so, he didn't speak a word…

"Mr. Ceedric…?"

"I uh… have to go brew some potions now" Cedric stated in a very defeated tone "And also… please don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Hmmm… I don't know… you lied to me after all…" Sofia held her fingers on her lower lip indicating deep thought "I've never lied to you, you know…"

With her distracted, Cedric took this chance to sneak out and waltz right back to his safe workshop where he could just shut himself in without her in it.

Sofia sure can be dangerous despite her adorable and innocent features and her bubbly personality

"Where do you think you're going?" Just as he was about to make a distance, Sofia's cut him off before he could do so

"Back inside to the workshop?" Cedric responded slowly

"But you're gonna join me for my tea party right?" Sofia chimed in as she quickly covers up the distance between them, leaning close to his face in the process

"A tea party? When did I agree to that?" Cedric reasoned out in a defiant tone "Besides, I'll be out of place there"

"Hmmm… perhaps Mom… would like this story I have for her…" Sofia insinuated with her rather adorable voice yet devilish intent "About this certain Royal Sorcerer who spends afternoons pranking others…"

"A tea party!" Cedric cut in just as immediately "Now that sounds absolutely lovely, Princess Sofia!"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner. I like tea parties he-he…"

"Wonderful!" Sofia gave him a smile as she held her arms close to her, keeping him close to her in case he tries to pull a fast one on her again

"Shall we go?" Sofia smiled at him with delight, radiating a wonderful friendly aura despite her hold over him growing tighter and tighter every time he moves even a little bit

Finishing the last jest of his awfully forced laugh, Cedric now fell to his gloom with how his afternoon ended up. What he thought would be fun and entertaining break time turned out to be a disaster in the end

With Sofia holding him hostage close to her that he literally can't shake her off, there's no point in attempting to escape anymore. He just accepted his fate to be Sofia's hostage for the afternoon. Perhaps it was just karma for him and his childish pranks on everyone, finally the conniving prick got what he deserved

Either ways, it was a total bummer for Cedric with how his afternoon ended on a sad note "Aww… Merlyn's Mushrooms…"

.

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…But certainly not for Sofia~