When Mark finally finished getting dressed he headed toward the door and put his hand on the doorknob.
’I hope the others haven’t arrived yet...’
Mark closed the door to his bedroom carefully, turning the knob slowly so the door wouldn’t make a sound as it shut.
When the door was fully closed, he released the knob and stood there for a second, smoothing his robe and running a hand through his hair to make it at least minimally presentable.
’Good, with any luck they just arrived and haven’t been waiting long.’
Mark walked the short distance between his bedroom and the throne room, barely a few ters separating the bedroom door from the main area where his seat was.
And when he got there, he saw them.
Alice was standing to the left of the throne, arms crossed and an expression on her face that was difficult to define precisely.
Rose was to the right, weight shifted onto one leg and arms crossed as well, but unlike Alice she had a smile on her face.
A very amused smile.
And Yuki was a little further back, standing as always, arms at her sides and her usual serious gaze fixed directly on him.
Noticing quickly how all three were looking at him at the sa ti, Mark decided to speak to break the strange atmosphere in the hall.
"Sorry for the delay," Mark said in a tone that tried to sound natural as he walked toward the throne. "Have you been waiting long?"
Rose opened her mouth to respond.
But before she could say a single word, a voice ca through the wall directly behind Mark’s throne.
The wall separating the throne room from his bedroom.
"GET UP, YOU LAZY BUM!" Ely’s voice rang out with complete clarity. "You heard the Master, we have to go et the others!"
Mark froze at hearing Ely’s voice coming through the wall with overwhelming clarity.
Then ca the sound of sothing hitting sothing, followed by sothing falling to the floor.
"OW!" Aria’s voice resonated with the sa clarity as Ely’s. "That hurt, you idiot! Why did you throw out of bed?!"
"Because you’ve been lying there without moving for five minutes! Now shut up and hurry up and get dressed!"
"I’m going, I’m going! And don’t shout, you’ll wake Cali!"
"THEN MOVE IT ALREADY!"
Mark had turned around slowly to look at the wall the voices of Ely and Aria were still coming through with a clarity that made it very clear that wall was nowhere near as thick as Mark had believed for all the ti he had been living there.
’Damn...’ Mark thought, taking in the full weight of the situation.
Then the voices finally faded and the throne room fell silent.
A heavy silence.
And slowly, Mark turned back toward his subordinates.
"...Please tell you didn’t hear all of that," Mark said in a voice that ca out a little weaker than he intended.
Yuki gave a slight nod without saying anything more.
Alice bit her lower lip and also nodded, shifting her gaze to one side.
Mark closed his eyes for a second, and when he finally opened them, he heard Rose no longer holding back her laugh.
"Being honest, Master," Rose said in a tone that made no effort whatsoever to hide how much she was enjoying the situation, "at one point I seriously considered joining you all."
"..."
"Unfortunately Alice wouldn’t let ..." Rose added, pointing at the nun with her thumb.
Hearing that, Alice turned her head toward Rose so fast her dark blue hair slapped her shoulder.
"I didn’t stop you from doing anything!" Alice said, eyes wide open.
"Sure, of course," the vampire replied in a mocking tone.
Mark was about to say sothing , anything, that might redirect the conversation toward a topic other than the fact that all three had been standing there listening to everything that had happened on the other side of the wall.
But he didn’t get a word in.
Because at that mont, the door to his bedroom opened and Ely walked out with her usual firm stride, white hair already tidied and clothes properly on, followed closely by Aria who was still finishing fixing one of her blonde pigtails as she walked.
"We’re here, Master!" Ely announced with a radiant smile as she entered the throne room. "Sorry for the wait."
Behind her, Aria finished adjusting her pigtail and looked up with an equally radiant smile.
"We’re ready for the eting!" Aria said with a grin from ear to ear.
Both stopped beside Mark and looked toward the others.
Then Ely imdiately noticed how each of the other won present in the room was looking at them with a different expression.
Rose was watching them while laughing under her breath. Alice wore an expression that was a mix of discomfort and irritation.
And Yuki was simply looking at them with no interest in her eyes whatsoever, which sohow was worse than any expression.
"What’s going on?" Ely said with confusion in her voice. "Why is everyone looking at us like that?"
Hearing that, Rose was the first to crack.
She started as a contained laugh, her shoulders trembling slightly with one hand over her mouth, but it lasted barely a couple of seconds before the restraint went completely out the window.
"Pfff— HAHAHA."
Ely and Aria exchanged a look of total confusion.
"What is she laughing at?" Ely asked, turning toward Mark with a frown.
Aria also turned toward him.
"What the hell is she laughing at?!" Aria repeated in a higher tone.
But then both of them noticed Mark was covering his face slightly with one hand.
"...Master?" Aria said in a lower tone.
Mark let out a long sigh and then slowly lowered his hand.
He looked directly at Yuki, then at Rose who was still laughing, and finally at Alice who had her eyes fixed on anywhere that wasn’t him.
"We’re going to pretend none of this happened... ¿ok?"
Yuki nodded once, Alice nodded without looking at him, and Rose straightened up, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye with a finger.
"As you wish, Master," Rose said with a smile.
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