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A week had gone by since Wriothesley last saw you. He had been overwhelmed with work as of late, which was something he hadn't felt in a moment. Typically when he was fairly busy, he would end the day by taking a stroll around the Fortress, just to get a reaction out of people.
As of now, he was passing by the cafeteria when someone called out to him.
"Wriothesley~!"
Wriothesley turned around to see Sigewinne waving to him. Walking over, he looked down at the blonde traveler and their floating companion enjoying a meal.
"Hey, Duke!" The floating companion, Paimon, waved to him.
"Greetings." He said. "Enjoying your time here?"
Paimon smiled. "Yeah, our last day is in three days!"
"Oh, isn't that fortunate." Wriothesley chuckled.
"Mhm! We were just talking about what was going on with the production zone and all."
Sigewinne sighed. "Most of the prisoners have recovered. Unfortunately, they're going to be sick for quite a few days."
"That's understandable." Wriothesley folded his arms. "I'll go speak to them later."
"Have you been busy?" The traveler asked.
"Here and there." He replied. "Nothing I can't manage, though."
"That's the Duke for you!" Paimon cheered. "Paimon will definitely come back to have another lucky meal... it's so good..."
Wriothesley laughed. "You can come see me before you leave."
"Oh, one more thing." Sigewinne said. "I'm going to drop by your office later to talk with you."
Wriothesley nodded and walked off. His last stop of his walk would be passing by the Pankration Ring, where he found his heart jumping in excitement to hope to see you there.
"Evening, Your Grace." Roussimoff waved as he walked in.
"To you too." Wriothesley eyed the stage. "No fights happening?"
Roussimoff shook his head. "If you're looking for Miss Y/N, you just missed her."
Wriothesley bit back his disappointment. "Who said I was looking for her?"
"Apologies." Roussimoff laughed. "I just assumed you were trying to find her, given that you normally come here asking for her."
Wriothesley didn't know he made it that obvious. "Well, I'm just wasting time. When is the next fight?"
"Hm..." Roussimoff looked down at his schedule. "Not until tomorrow."
He wanted to ask if it was your fight, but he held his tongue. "Well, since it isn't as lively here, I'll take my leave."
Roussimoff waved back to him. "Good day."
Wriothesley made his way back to his office. As soon as he stepped inside, he felt his body grow heavy from the thought of more work that needed to be done.
He slumped down in his chair, pulling his new coat off his shoulders. He picked up another report, sighing.
Tuesday 4:49AM
I heard some strange noises coming from one of the prisoner's dorms. After knocking and approaching the door, I found that a 'couple' was in the midst of sexual intercourse. However, it was a Garde with a female prisoner. I detained him and placed the female in a private cell. After further investigation, the Garde was put on probation.
Wriothesley furrowed his brows. Signing off on the report, he moved to the next one.
Saturday 9:34PM
There have been reports of an organization being banded together. Their goal is to, in their words, 'make the Fortress more entertaining'. They plan to hold dances and parties, allowing prisoners to give themselves a break from work. However, I and other Gardes agree that prisoners should not be given this freedom. We disbanded the organization promptly, and now await further instruction from Your Grace.
He signed off on that one as well, while placing it in his stack of 'to-do' papers.
Monday 12:03PM
A strange package was inspected today. It contained various amounts of materials used for building mechanics. However, the package didn't have a sender nor receiver name upon it. I left it in the mailroom under 'miscellaneous'. I request that Your Grace personally inspects the package before I return it to the surface.
Adding the report to his to-do stack, he leaned back in his chair and sipped on some cold tea. He closed his eyes and tried to ease his mind from work.
The thought of you crossed his mind. He smiled, remembering your happy expression when he last saw you.
"Your Grace?"
He heard a voice coming from his door.
"Come in." He spoke, placing his tea down.
Avice surprisingly walked in, making Wriothesley sit up.
"Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to thank you for saving Faissolle." She smiled softly.
Wriothesley shook his head. "It's no problem."
"He's recovering. Thankfully, Miss Sigewinne says he won't suffer any long-term injuries." Avice placed a hand on her heart, the gold ring catching the reflection of the lighting in the office.
Wriothesley peeked at it, clearing his throat. "That's good. I see your wedding bands came in."
Avice nodded. "It's a perfect fit. Turns out Faissolle designed them himself..."
Wriothesley found a thought ringing into his head. "...How long have the two of you known each other?"
Avice looked confused for a moment, but she still answered. "A few months, now. I know our marriage may have seemed sudden, but it really brought the two of us together... I feel like I can never part from him."
Wriothesley's muscles shifted for a moment. "...Ah, I see. I'll pay a visit to the infirmary soon."
Avice smiled. "Alright. I won't take up anymore of your time. Have a good day."
With that, she walked off and left his office. Wriothesley looked down on his desk, staring at a blank piece of paper.
Another knock came about.
"Come in."
"Hi~!"
Sigewinne pounced up, holding a purple milkshake in her hand.
Wriothesley's stomach turned at the sight of it.
"You had something you wanted to talk about?" Wriothesley watched her place the milkshake next to his tea while looking up at him.
"Just to inform you about my patients. All of them are doing well! Thankfully, most of them are dealing with rashes and fatigue, but it's nothing a few days of rest and medicine can't fix." She smiled.
"...That's good, but the way you spoke to me earlier made it sound like it was something urgent." Wriothesley hovered his hand over the milkshake, but then picked up his tea.
Sigewinne huffed. "Just drink it! I promise it's good!"
Wriothesley closed his eyes and sipped at the tea.
Sigewinne squinted at him. "Come on, just taste it! Even Y/N likes it!"
Wriothesley grinned. "Then she can have it."
Sigewinne put her hands on her hips angrily. "She won't be around long enough to drink all the shakes I make!"
Suddenly, Wriothesley frowned. "...What does that mean?"
She tilted her head. "I thought you agreed to let her go early?"
Placing his cup down, he stared off at his desk. "...I did say that."
"Well, she told me about the situation." Sigewinne started. "She seemed happy about it."
He folded his arms across his chest. "...I didn't actually mean it, though."
"So... you lied?" She asked.
He took a deep breath. "Yes... and no."
"I don't understand..." She said. "...Why lie to her?"
Wriothesley closed his eyes. "I only said that so she would agree to helping me out."
"But that's wrong!" Sitting down, Sigewinne grabbed the milkshake and started sipping on it. "You can't say you're going to let her go early and then go back on your word."
"I'm not going back on it." He protested. "It'll be impossible for her to get all the names I need."
"But you can't keep her here forever." She said.
"Says who?"
Wriothesley bit his tongue as Sigewinne looked at him. That sentence had escaped his mouth faster than he could think.
"...Um..." Sigewinne looked down at his desk. "...I know you feel a certain way towards her, but isn't it morally wrong to keep someone against their will?"
Wriothesley sighed. "...I know."
"I don't necessarily know how humans think, but maybe you should talk to her." She took another sip of her milkshake. "I'm sure she just plans to go back to Sumeru after her time here."
He swallowed. "...I know."
"I've read about long distance relationships. Wait, is that something you're interested in?"
"...I don't know."
Sigewinne pouted. "I don't know any advice I could give, then."
He shook his head. "It's fine. For now, I'll just leave it alone."
"And wait until the last minute?" She said. "Is that the best idea?"
"I have no other options." He replied.
She sighed. "...Well, at least talk to her about it."
"I will." He said, knowing he probably won't.
"Good." Sigewinne jumped off her chair and started walking off. "I'll check up on you later!"
With that, he was left alone again. He found himself zoning out, just endlessly thinking about the next month to come.
Do I ask her out? Tell her that I don't want her to leave? Try to keep her here?
He closed his eyes again, breathing heavily.
I don't want her to go.