The Grand Duchess Loses Today, Too
The room was adorned with splendid, dignified ornaments of the finest kind.
It looked as though a professional interior artist had designed every inch of it — the kind of room that seemed to demand poise and refinement from anyone who set foot inside.
And yet, the only thing emanating from the two people actually using it was a taut, crackling tension.
A boy and a girl stood facing each other at a distance so close that the slightest movement would have brought them into contact.
Neither had so much as blinked as they stared one another down, and a peculiar atmosphere hung thick in the air between them.
So they stood, each locked on the other, for a long while.
Blink—
In the end, unable to hold out any longer, it was the girl who blinked first.
The instant she did, the words burst out of the boy.
"...I won."
"...Let's go again."
"I won!!"
Paying no mind to the girl's incomprehensible demand for a rematch, the boy savored his victory to the fullest. Then he beckoned the girl closer, as if to say, come here, now.
"Hurry up, please."
"..."
The girl scrunched up her face as though she truly could not bear to close the distance — and yet, resigning herself all the same, she squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her face toward him.
Once again the two of them drew near, near enough that only the smallest motion more would have set their lips against each other.
With that faint, heady tension suffusing the room—
the boy raised his hand.
Flick—
A light, crisp smack rang out, and a small bump rose up atop the girl's head.
It must have hurt quite a bit, but though her eyes welled with tears, the girl absolutely refused to make a sound.
As if crying would be the same as losing.
"...Let's go again."
Rather than sob, the girl demanded a rematch.
"I'd rather not."
"..."
Declaring, in no uncertain terms, that there would be no second round, the boy rose to his feet and strode straight out of the room.
"Albert... Zernias!!!"
The girl, too, bolted from the room after him, shouting his name as she went to give chase.
"...Heh heh."
The butler, who had watched the entire spectacle unfold, merely chuckled in evident delight and jotted something down in his memorandum.
Rebecca Valencia (0) : Albert Zernias (17)
The Grand Duchess lost today, too.