★Twisted Wishes★ | Genshin x Twisted Wonderland

💜Eula x Vil💜

"Have you memorized your lines?"

"Yes." Of course! What kind of beginner did he take her for? Hmph! Vengeance would be—

"Schoenheit, Lawrence, you're up!"

Vil wouldn't look at her either. Clearly, both of them were still remembering their argument from earlier. Still, he acted perfectly polite to her, even opening the door for her and taking care not to step on her skirt. "Shall we go?" he asked coolly. Eula had to remind herself that it was all for the cameras.

As Eula followed Vil, she found herself studying his outfit. With a jolt, she realized that their color schemes complemented each other perfectly: she, the heroine, wore gold and purple (Vil's usual colors) while Vil, the love interest, wore silver and blue (Eula's usual colors). From the first scene, they were meant to look like they were... well, meant for each other.

She couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. I mean, it was all for show, but still...

"CUT!" the director shouted. "Good job, everyone. Lawrence, improve the delivery of your first line—really enunciate. Make it sound like you're a desperate girl in a blizzard. And Schoenheit, you're far too cold. You may be the ice king, but you're still the love interest. Add a little softness to your tone!"

Eula grimaced. Time to run over this scene again. It had been awkward enough the first time—her collapsing into Vil's arms, the poor, snow-stricken heroine, while his grip tensed underneath her. Having to pretend to fall in love with someone you'd argued with wasn't easy.

As the cameras started rolling, she half-crawled across the snowy path that led to the palace and knocked on the icy door with a feeble fist. "Please... help..." she croaked, brushing weakly at the caked snow on her face. She hated appearing so helpless and fragile. In front of Vil, of all people!

Vil opened the door. He truly played the part of the ice-cold ruler: not a single brow twitched at the pitiful sight in front of him. "What do you want?"

"Just a place to stay until the blizzard passes," Eula deadpanned. At this rate, Vil was still going to be emotionless, and she wasn't going to be helpless enough, and they'd have to redo the whole scene again—

That was when a blessing in surprise arrived.

Unimpressed by Eula's pleading, Vil started to close the door, and Eula instinctively stuck her hand in the gap to block it. Caught off-guard, Vil accidentally closed the door too forcefully, and Eula winced in real, genuine pain. OW. OWWWWW!

She stifled a cry. Tears filling her eyes (thanks to the door), Eula stared up into Vil's face. "Please, Your Majesty... please let me in; I'm begging you. It's so c-cold outside, and..." JUST LET ME IN SO I CAN CRY IN PAIN BEHIND THE DOOR, WHERE THE CAMERAS CAN'T SEE! "...and it really hurts!"

Surprise flitted across Vil's face as he registered the real pain in Eula's expression, followed by an almost-guilty expression that could be mistaken for worry. "I—fine. I can't have you sitting on my doorstep all day. You'll attract hungry wyverns." Sternly, he added, "But don't think I won't kill you myself, for intruding upon my kingdom."

Right on cue, Eula slumped to the ground. She couldn't feel her wrist. She was supposed to get up and thank the king and enter the palace, but stars began to appear in front of her eyes. After a moment's hesitation, Vil lifted her into his arms, with the grip of a strong person who hasn't had any practice in dealing with people, only weapons, and slammed the door behind them.

"Brilliant!" declared the director, and Vil immediately let go of Eula. "That was much better than before! Lawrence, that's what I'm talking about!" He chuckled. "It almost sounded like you really were in agony there; you sounded so pained. Great work! Schoenheit, you too."