Bile falls past my lips onto the floor.

As soon as it does, horror pierces my brain. I’m not sick. I can’t get sick. The only thing alcohol does to a Divine Treat eater is get them drunk with none of the harmful side effects.

“Ha, well that’s not good,” says Gai in a soft, terrified voice. "The fuck happened?" he whispers.

I immediately shoot up straight and point at him. My eyes fill with a level of fury I’ve never felt in my life.

Holy shit, what did we do?!

I can’t help it. My eyes go through the same routine a second time.

Examining both of us, I reach the same results. Naked guy. Naked girl. In bed. Night of drinking. The math is the same. Why is the math the same?! Why this conclusion?! Why did this happen?!

Oh Gods, I don’t even remember it! Did I really drink that much? Fuck, why did I drink that much?! I knocked him out and dragged his shitty ass back into the castle. I swear to the Gods that I snuck him into his room, but maybe I imagined it because I was drunk?!

What the fuck did I do?!

Dammit. Why can’t the Divine Treats cure all the negative parts of alcohol, huh? I guess since blacking out and getting drunk won’t kill me, the gifts don’t attack them. Nor does it kill pain, so I still have to get fucking hangovers. Yet chugging alcohol will never shut down my liver.

But then shit like this can still happen! The embarrassment alone feels like my flesh is being inverted and burned.

Oh Gods…

I put a hand over my mouth again.

Gai quickly grabs a pillow to shield himself. “Do not puke on me!”

I clench my jaw, forcing the bile to subside.

Master Talbert clears his throat.

My entire spine shivers. I watch the horror in Gai’s eyes return as he glances at my Master standing just over my shoulder.

“Lady Scarlet,” says Master Talbert in a cold, cool voice.

Slowly, I turn, bringing my bed sheet with me to cover my chest. Even though everyone in this room has seen my tits by now, it doesn’t mean I should give up on having any dignity!

“Yes, sir, Master Talbert, sir,” I say in a quaky voice.

“Talbert, Talbert…oh fuck,” mutters Gai. He laughs nervously. “I’m gonna die, aren’t I?” he whispers to himself.

Oh, we both probably will.

I can see it now. First, I’ll get beat up. Then Gai. Then me again for being a whore. Next, Talbert will tell my parents about this. No, he’ll probably frog-march us in front of my parents, wounded and naked, then explain what happened. Gai will get executed. I’ll probably get sold to a whore house for rich nobles if they even exist. Or they’ll decide that my role in the house is to please guests since I’m apparently a shitty little whore now. Goddammit! I don’t know! I can’t even think straight!

Fuck, I had sex, and I don’t even remember it?! What the fuck is wrong with me?!

Oh my Gods, did he use protection?!

Hahaha! Holy shit, I’m gonna have a panic attack…

Master Talbert looks at me. His gaze casts between myself and Gai.

My neck feels so tense.

After a moment, he sighs. Carefully, Talbert removes his shoes, steps away from my pile of bile on the floor, and walks towards the door.

Gai and I stare after him, confused.

Pausing in the door’s threshold, Talbert looks back at me and only me. “I’m going to eat breakfast. Get dressed and be ready for practice in an hour.” His expression remains blank. “Come with an explanation. Expect torture.”

With that, he disappears.

Gai and I stare at the doorway. Relieved, panicked breathing flow from our throats as we struggle to comprehend what just happened.

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder.

“What a relief!” says Gai.

I slap Gai’s hand away, shouting, “What the hell are you doing?! Don’t touch me!”

“Oh right. My bad."

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I remember being here this morning, but you were naked and it was all hazy...did we have sex?"

My words catch in my throat as I grapple with the gravity of his implications.

“Then—”

“Nah, I don't think we did. I swear I left...”

I blink slowly. “Then why are you in here?”

“I think I woke up still drunk wanting to apologize to you then crawled into bed. Was I being lazy or did I forget where I was and thought this was my room?” Gai pauses. “I’m not sure. I was still kind of lucid. It all felt like a dream. Guess all that did happen…” he says, his voice trailing off.

“Right, right. Makes sense,” I say slowly as I stare at the ceiling. “Why wouldn’t you do that? It’s entirely logical. Sane, even.”

“Right?”

“Gai.”

“Yes?”

“Clarify for me, then. I just want to make sure I’ve got all this right. We went out last night and had fun for the most part. Ninety percent of the time, I had a positive opinion of you. Near the end, you treated me like shit, and I had to knock you out and you ruined it.”

“Wow...I’m sorry?”

My eyes narrow. “It really doesn’t seem like you are.”

Gai smiles uncomfortably.

“Afterward, I dragged you back to your room when I apparently should have left you in the forest. You woke up, still intoxicated, came into my room, stripped, climbed into my fucking bed. Not only that, but you embarrassed me in front of someone I deeply respect then tried to convince me we had sex so you could see if I have done it before or not.”

There’s silence.

“AM I MISSING ANYTHING?!” I shout.

Gai stares off to the side of me blankly. He mulls over my words as he gets increasingly more uncomfortable. “When you phrase it like that, it sounds bad.” He pauses. "To be completely honest, I don’t really remember last night. Just bits and pieces of blurred memories and thoughts. It sounds like something I’d do, but who knows? I've been drinking pretty heavily every day since the ball. This is a fun place to live, heh..."

“Gai?”

“Yes?”

I punch him in the nose as hard as I can.

There’s a crunching noise.

“What the fuck?!” Gai shouts immediately. He holds his nose with his hands, but blood drips through his fingers regardless and falls to the sheets below.

My jaw clenches as I close my eyes. “Get out of my fucking room.”

“Oh, come on al—”

Quickly, I sit up straight. Three tendrils come out of my back. Their ends are sharpened into defined tips. Two aim at his eyes, the third his balls hiding beneath the covers. “Maybe I’ll just kill you since you can’t take the hint? I’d have every right to.” I lie fully knowing I don’t have it in me to do that.

Gai gulps. “Right then.” He slides out of bed.

I flinch. “You weren’t naked?”

“Huh? No?” Gai looks down then up. “Guess not...I mean, that would be weird, wouldn’t it? We didn’t have sex, Scarlet. Why would I be naked?”

“Oh, my mistake!” I say in the most sarcastic voice I can muster. “That’s the dumb part! I’m dumb! You’re smart! That makes everything okay now! Thanks!”

“Hey, if that’s how you want to settle things, I’m game!” says Gai with a chipper grin.

“Leave.”

“Right,” says Gai as he heads towards the door with his pile of clothes. He pauses in the threshold. When he turns to look back at me, he recoils. “They’re still following me?!”

My three tendrils linger before him aimed at the same spots they were before.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“I won’t release them until you’ve closed the door behind you,” I say, furious.

“You know what? Totally fair. It sounds like I went way too far. I promise you I am not a bad guy.”

“Would anyone believe you if they’d watched what you did!?”

Gai thinks about it for a moment. “Probably not.” He pauses. “What are the odds I’ll get you to forgive me any time soon?”

“Less than zero.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Leave.”

“Fine. We’ll talk again once we’re engaged.” Gai sighs. “Annoying.”

“That won’t happen! You are such a slacker! If you’re really sorry, let Christopher kill you!”

“He won’t. I already know how it’ll end since I’ve decided to stick around and help you out." He taps his chest. "I can feel it in my soul even if I don't remember it. Ha! But we shall see, won’t we?” Gai smirks. His face suddenly turns serious. “I’m sorry about…well, everything I’ve done so far. I’ve always been too impulsive and do shit without thinking that hard. I’ll do better. I promise.”

I frown. “Who cares? In a few days, I’ll never have to see you again.”

Gai shrugs his shoulders. “Sure. Oh and—Hello there,” says Gai to someone just out of view of the doorway.

“He-Hello,” says a female’s voice. A head peeks around the corner.

Oh Gods, a maid.

Well…everyone’s going to know about this now for sure.

Great.

“Great,” says Gai nervously as if reading my mind. He briefly looks at me, clothes in hand in nothing but his underwear. “I’ll see you after the duel once I win. We can talk then. I’ll let you hit me as many times as you want, promise. It’s only fair.”

Gai leaves.

The maid and I stare at each other.

“Nothing happened,” I say to her coldly.

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

•

“I’m disappointed you didn’t throw up,” says Master Talbert. “Did you use it all up this morning?”

I lay on the floor smothered with sweat. My chest violently rises up and down as I struggle to regain my stamina.

Master Talbert worked my ass. This is the worst I’ve felt after practice since I first started, and that’s saying something. He really had it out for me. Well, he said he would. And he was right, this was torture.

“Don't we need to talk about what happened this morning?” asks Master Talbert.

“Nothing…happened…” I struggle to say.

“Are you lying?”

“No…sir…” I cough, struggling to regain my breath. “We went out…drinking. When we returned, we went our separate ways. When I woke up, both of you were in the room."

"...fine, I won't pry any further," relents Talbert. "You would tell me if something happened, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, sir."

“Very well. Then we’ll keep this between ourselves.”

I let out a sigh of relief and relax back into the floor. “Oh, thank Gods.”

“If you have the time to praise Gods, you have the time to train.”

I look up at my Master in horror. “Please, no.”

Master Talbert smiles. “You threw up on my feet, Scarlet.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Prove it! Grab your swords! Up!”

•

“You are a blessing. I love you!” I tell Chef Rumsley as I devour a roasted Cornish hen with my hands.

“It’s hard to believe two men want to marry you,” Chef Rumsley scoffs as he slides a side dish of vegetables and rice beside me. “If they could see you eat, they’d run.”

“If that’s all it would take, I’d eat a raw pig in front of them. Sadly, one of them is so disgusting, he’d probably get aroused.”

“Is that so? That’s…troubling,” Chef Rumsley says with a sparkle of laughter. Exhausted, he sits across from me at the table. It’s past normal lunch hours. I sit alone at the large dining table in the room beside the kitchen. “How is it?”

“I already said I love you. It’s cause this tastes amazing.”

“Glad to hear it.” The chef smiles. “So…there are some rumors going on in the staff—”

“Lies. You know how people like to talk. They love their drama and blow the simplest things out of proportion.”

“I’ve had to reprimand my staff today.”

“It’s already made it to the kitchens, huh?”

“Mind telling me what happened?”

“Oh, Gai came to my room this morning to chat, didn’t knock, and glimpsed at me naked in bed. A maid saw us and likely inferred something else. Now she’s spreading salacious rumors out of context. I threatened her, but that clearly didn’t work,” I grumble.

Chef Rumsley sighs. “If what you’re saying is true, no one would genuinely believe her anyways. You’re not that kind of person.” He removes himself from the table. “Chin up! If you need anything, holler. I’ll leave you to eat in peace.”

“Appreciate it!”

I’m able to devour the entire chicken and most of my veggies before I’m interrupted again.

Remi comes crashing through the side door in front of me. She looks straight at me and charges my way.

“Good after—”

Remi hooks me under my arms and drags me from my chair towards the door. The spoon full of food in my hand clamors to the floor.

“Remi?!”

My friend doesn’t say a single word as she pulls me from the room. After a while, I give up trying to get her to stop and go with the flow.

We stop outside the castle in the courtyard where the crack in the wall leads to my pond.

Remi lets me go. She faces me quickly, whirling around in a huff. “I’ve stopped the rumors, but you need to tell me the truth.”

“Uhhh…what rumors?” I feign ignorance.

“Cut the shit. Did you sleep with Lord Regal?”

“Lord Regal? That sounds weird,” I say as I make a face. “I promise you he doesn’t deserve that kind of respect. He’s an asshole.”

“Oh great, it’s true.”

“How did you reach that conclusion?!”

“Your face is flushed, your voice sounds weird, you avoided the subject, and you’re using humor to deflect. Classic Scarlet signs when she’s uncomfortable about something.”

“I have signs?”

“You’re like a goddamn open book.”

I frown. “That’s great to hear.”

“Perhaps I was being too vague with my intentions.” Remi places a hand on my shoulder while the other lays gently on her chest. “As your best friend, I’d like to know if you’ve had sex with your first guy and whether or not I need to hurt him, it was good, and all the other things you should be jumping to tell me!” Her voice gradually gets higher and angrier as her list goes on.

“Am I supposed to?”

Remi deadpans. “What kind of woman are you?”

“Fine. We can talk about it at the pond. It’s…embarrassing…”

•

“I’m gonna kill him,” says Remi. She stares furiously, unblinking, into the pond before us.

“I already broke his nose,” I mention.

“Scarlet, this is way more serious than you’re making it out to be.”

“Is it?” I try to deflect. "He was wearing underwear," I joke.

Remi stares at me. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I just don’t want to deal with it, okay?” I reply. “It’s a hassle. Nothing happened. Believe me, he’d have probably bragged if I’d let him have me while I was drunk.”

“That’s not the point, Scarlet. Your father was very explicit about neither him nor Christopher trying to do this exact thing when the challenge was set. Gai defied him, violated you, and now you’re letting him get away with it.”

“He didn’t violate me. All he did was touch me a bit at most.”

Remi’s mouth drops slightly. “You cannot actually think that way.”

I blink rapidly, though I say nothing as a realization hits my mind: this might be one of those Felix-Scarlet disconnect moments.

I didn’t appreciate what Gai did and hurt him for it, but I’m also not as offended as Remi seems to be for me. I felt more like I’d been the victim of a really fucked up prank rather than “violated” as she was assuming.

“I kind of do,” I say truthfully.

Remi continues to gawk. “Do you not value yourself at all?!”

“Ouch, harsh,” I grunt.

“That’s what it sounds like!”

“Maybe a little,” I mutter.

At that, Remi finches.

I sigh. “I’m the one it happened to. Respect how I feel. If I’m not taking it the same way you are, then there’s no need for you to worry.”

“How could I not? He’s an enemy to women,” says Remi. She bites her thumb. “I’m increasing all surveillance on him twenty-four seven. Even when he’s in the castle. This shit will not happen again.”

“I’m totally fine with that, actually. If any of your people notice him come to my room drunk again, feel free to end him.”

“Is that your line?”

“I obviously don’t want this to happen again, Remi.”

Remi eyes me for a second. “I was going to give that order regardless of what you said.”

“And I’m fine with it.”

We sit in silence for a moment.

“What if he wins?” asks Remi.

“He’s not going to win. He’s a dick that barely trains, drinks all the time, and never exercises. Christopher is going to beat the shit out of him.”

“And if you’re wrong? As soon as you’re engaged, the formalities are over. If you have a kid before the official ceremony, it only solidifies the eventual marriage. Neither his family nor yours will try to keep you apart once it’s decided Gai’s your partner, so he might even get thrown into your room. There will be no one to stop him. You understand that, right?”

I go silent for a moment. “I’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it.”

“Scarlet, just tell someone and get him kicked out of here.”

“But that won’t be what happens. If it only resulted in being exiled, I’d say something, but I…I don’t want anyone’s life on my conscious. I’m a nice person.”

“This has nothing to do with being ‘nice.’ Let me say something, then the onus is not on you.”

“Me letting you indirectly makes it my fault.”

“Then I’ll grab him in his sleep and—”

“You’ll only be doing that as a result of what happened to me, and I’ll feel the burden of it all the same. Remi. Stop. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter!” Remi kicks her foot out, splashing water everywhere. “I’m so fucking angry! I don’t understand why you aren’t at the same level as me when it happened to you!”

“Because we think very differently,” I say honestly.

“Clearly.”

I relax my head onto Remi’s shoulder. “I just want this shit to be over with already.”

Remi’s eyes stare at me; I can feel them. After a moment, she pats my head.