“Hey, you!”
“Yes, Victori?” Drim answered calmly.
“Why are you ignoring me?! And don’t act so familiar! All the servants address me as Lady Darquees. You… may address me as Mistress Darquees.”
“I’ll pass, Victori,” Drim didn’t acquiesce at all.
“Hmph, such a mockery of respect!” the lady started to pout. “You’re supposed to be a prince, right? How could a prince act so rudely? Do you know nothing of etiquette and formality? Just wait until my father hears about this!”
“Sure, you can go ahead and call him,” Drim smirked a little.
“What?!” Victori was immediately thrown off by his suggestion.
“If there’s a problem with our arrangement, it would be best to be sorted out immediately, yes?” Drim presented his argument as logically as he could. “So go ahead and give him a call, if you like.”
Victori merely sat speechless for a moment, her threat having gotten her nowhere for what looked like the first time in her life. “Whatever, I don’t need him! What was your other name, The Slayer, right?” she quickly changed the subject. “The hell is that supposed to mean? Are you like a murderer for hire or something?”
Drim couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that sentiment.
“What’s so damn funny?!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Drim apologized as he stifled his laughter. “It’s just been so long since someone didn’t know who I was. It’s kind of refreshing, really. Honestly, I’d never heard of you until a few days ago either.” He ignored the appalled look from Victori and continued. “So why don’t we just treat each other like two people who have never heard of the other. Hello, Victori, I’m Drim.”
“Okay, Drim.” Victori had been sitting in her bed this whole time so she picked up one of her pillows and threw it at the boy sitting in a chair across the room. “I’m bored, Drim.” She threw another pillow. “Entertain me, Drim.” Her last pillow flew at him.
Drim took each pelting with grace, and the pillows slumped to the floor. “It’s not my job to entertain you,” Drim told her, straight-faced. “It is my job to maintain your safety and wellbeing for the next two days. However, in the spirit of getting along as amicably as possible, I’d be open to suggestions for how to pass the time. What would you like to do, Victori?”
“I don’t know. You’re the one who’s been ignoring me!”
Admittedly, Drim had been basically ignoring her up until now—just reading on his tablet until he got a better grasp of the situation and Victori’s behavior. He was open to making the time go by quicker, but still wasn’t going to make a fool of himself for her entertainment.
“Alright,” Drim glanced around the room. “You have a TV and a computer in here, so we could watch something if you liked. The rest of the house seemed pretty bare with everything moved, so maybe we could go for a walk if you wanted.”
“No, all that sounds boring,” Victori immediately rejected it all.
“Okay, what do you normally do with the time,” Drim tried to guide her along.
“Usually, I just give a vague idea to one of my servants and make them entertain me somehow.”
Another laugh from Drim, another glare from Victori. “Sorry, you just reminded me of my sister when she was younger. She used to do the same thing with our servants.”
“How much younger?” Victori inquired suspiciously.
“Uhh, like seven or eight.”
Victori groaned in frustration as if she was being mocked but then let it go. “Whatever, I’m getting hungry. Go make lunch.”
“Alright,” Drim set down his tablet and got up from his chair. He didn’t head for the door, however, and went over to one of the windows. After flinging it open, he hopped up onto the windowsill and was readying himself to drop down.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Victori had rushed over from her bed and was tugging on his clothes.
“Going to get food?” Drim was surprised by her surprise and stepped down from the window for now. “We checked earlier, and your kitchen is completely empty from the move—not even a crumb left. So, I was going to go hunt something.”
“What, like find and kill an animal! That’s so barbaric!” Victori was stunned. “Why not just go to, like, the store or something?! That’s where food comes from, right?” She clearly had little comprehension on how most food was made.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Uhh, you live out in the middle of nowhere,” Drim tried to reason with her. “It would genuinely be much faster for me to just go hunt something, and I wouldn’t have to go nearly as far.”
“Well, you can’t just leave me alone!” Victori protested. “There might be assassins after us, remember?!”
“I wouldn’t worry about that too much,” Drim didn’t share the same skepticism. “My sister can see literally everything here. If someone comes, she’ll know. As long as both of us don’t leave the mansion at the same time, there should be no problems.”
“But if you’re that worried about it…” Drim took a heavy step towards Victori so that they were just inches apart. “Here,” he moved his hand towards her face, and she flinched in response, but he didn’t touch her. Instead, one of his black and green roses appeared right before her eyes. She took it from him hesitantly, a little flustered and confused from the gesture.
“If anything happens, just give those petals a squeeze, and I’ll know you’re in trouble. You won’t have to worry, because I’ll be there in seconds to save you.” Drim turned around and put one foot up on the windowsill before he was stopped again.
“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Victori declared. She almost sounded decisive, but there was clear hesitance in her voice.
Maybe Drim could still dissuade her. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” he insisted. “Like I said, we’re pretty far away from everything, deep in the woods. The walls around here are high and keep you safe, but it’s a different story outside. I imagine your guards do a decent job fending off monsters, but there’s still a good chance I’ll run into some where I’m heading.”
“Well, then you’ll just have to actually do your job and protect me! It should be nothing to you, right?” Victori had sudden confidence in his abilities. “I said, I’m bored! And I’ll just be more bored if you leave me here by myself. So, I’m coming! Even if you say no, I’ll just walk out on my own and then you’ll have to follow me.”
“Fine…” Drim relented with a shrug.
For the first time, Victori had a genuine smile on her face—more likely from the fact that she’d won the argument than from what she actually just brought upon herself. She walked to the middle of the room and held out her arms to her sides. Drim only looked in confusion as she didn’t move for several moments.
“Well, come on then!” Victori ordered him to do whatever the hell she was expecting.
“I, uhh, have really no idea what you’re doing,” Drim was genuinely baffled.
“Come help me get changed!” Drim wasn’t sure she really understood what she was asking of a man. “You don’t expect me to go out into the woods in a dress like this, do you? I have an adventuring outfit in my wardrobe, so help me get changed.”
“You do?” Drim was more surprised that she owned anything for the outdoors than at her brazen behavior.
“Yes, it looks really cute!” Victori assured him. “I saw it in a magazine so I just had to have it.”
In order to delay the absurdity for as long as possible, Drim moved over to the wardrobe and sifted through it. It didn’t take him long to find the outfit, since it was the only piece of clothing not adorned with frills, puffs, or lace.
He retrieved it and then laid it out on the bed to get a better look. It would do, but it was clearly fashion over function—for someone who wanted to dress up as an adventurer for an event or party, rather than actually rough it in the woods. The shorts were very short, and the button-up blouse had the sleeves pre-rolled.
Both were in khaki in color so they wouldn’t get hideously dirty at least. And there were actual pockets, too many pockets honestly. Clearly whoever made it thought that pockets were the most important part of preparing for the outdoors. Unfortunately, the material wasn’t the best, but it wouldn’t rip and tear in a single day.
The boots that seemed to come with it were actually durable and would be comfortable. So there was that at least.
“Yup, that’s the one,” Victori confirmed. “Hurry up,” she wiggled her arms again impatiently.
“Do you not know how to dress yourself?” Drim asked genuinely.
“Of-of course I do!” Victori acted offended at the accusation. “These clothes are just hard to get in and out of, is all. Now, undo my zipper already.”
Drim finally relented and did as his client asked. He did his best to stand as far away as he could while he slid the zipper along her back. The dress dropped to the floor the next moment. Thankfully, Victori was at least wearing undergarments. They may not have been quite what Drim expected, but he wasn’t going to stare long enough to really study them—picking a nice spot on the wall to glue his eyes.
As if Victori finally understood the gravity of the situation, she let out a quiet scream as she bent down and grabbed her dress. “Get out! I’ll do it myself!” she whimpered as she held the dress back up over her body.
“Are you sure you can manage?” Drim asked, not to tease her, but because he had such little faith.
“Yes, I’ll be fine,” she insisted, though Drim didn’t believe her capability for a second. “Just go wait outside. Outside the door! Not the window, you freak!” she yelled a moment later before Drim could commit to his action.
The door to Victori’s room finally opened after an absurd amount of time later. “What are you doing?” She asked the boy absorbed in his tablet.
“Just texting my sister and letting her know that we’ll be heading out.” Drim finally looked up and found an attempt at being dressed. He walked over and immediately reached for her chest.
“Your buttons are misaligned,” Drim elaborated before she could complain. He grabbed the placket of her blouse to pull her a bit closer and then redid each button properly. Thankfully, she was dressed enough that he could redo them without getting an eyeful.
Then, he moved on to her belt which had missed almost every loop. Finally, he had to completely relace her boots that she’d manage to tie into several different knots on each. Drim wasn’t going to bother with her hair since it was well enough out of the way. She’d tried it back into a rough ponytail, all of her various drill-like curls now forming into one giant spike.
Victori took the alterations like a champ at least, not complaining the entire time. He couldn’t tell if the red on her face was her blushing or fuming, or just general embarrassment. “Alight, Mistress Darquees,” Drim couldn’t help but tease her a little now. “Let’s go get your hands dirty.”