Chapter Text
"reading the paper again, mr. duke?"
sigewinne's higher pitched voice takes wriothesley's attention off of the steambird that he read at his desk. he sees the head nurse standing at the front of his desk, looking at him with a patient smile.
"it's nice to see you too, nurse," he nods as to acknowledge her presence before he folded the paper and putting it to the side. "you weren't waiting too long for my attention, i hope."
"not at all. i just got here," she smiles before she raises her eyebrows and gives him a smug smile. "were you reading miss charlotte's article again?"
the duke sighs and shakes his head with an exasperated smile. "you make it sound like this is something i do often."
"is it not?" she asks while tilting her head to the side. "usually the copies that you get of the steambird have her name as the headline. i know her entries are interesting, especially the ones that cover some of the individuals in the fortress, but it seems like there's more beside that."
"that's merely a coincidence," he says as an excuse. he would never be the type to admit parts of him that made he seem... vulnerable. even to someone who has worked with him for years, practically. "it's not my fault that majority of the papers I get have her name on it. she is one of the journalists that contributes the most to the paper and is also the one who gets the most attention out of the rest of their staff."
"will you ever admit that you have an interest in her?"
he rolls his eyes.
"and yet, whenever i suggest you working with her, even for a photoshoot, you always reject me and tell me there's no need."
"because there really is not," he sighs as he puts the paper to the side of his desk, placing his hands on his desk to look at the melusine with more focus. it's mainly to support his argument on her assumption that he's infatuated with the pink-haired woman from the overworld. "miss nurse, if you aren't going to get to the point of why you are in my office now, i'd like to ask you to return back to the clinic to resume your duties... or to just simply leave me alone."
"you may be blunt, but you certainly do not want to be honest about some things," she giggles. "on the topic of why i'm here, we do have a guest here at the fortress today. a new inmate who i think you will find very interesting in being here."
he raises his eyebrows. "an interesting inmate, you say?" he asks. "who could be more interesting than the traveller and paimon? or childe?"
"would you like me to introduce you to them?" sigewinne asks. "i can assure you that they'll be very honored to be welcomed to the fortress by the great duke himself."
as the girl leaves wriothesley at his desk to go down the stairs, the man stands up from his chair and goes through a list of the people of fontaine who could possibly end up down at the fortress. what did they get down here for? and why is sigewinne being so secretive about it?
the more he thinks about this, the clearer the answer to sigewinne's little riddle becomes.
he should've expected this. if anything, the sight of her bright red attire and pink bob does not surprise him. he's always been told that the reporter was daring and he can even tell that from some of her works, pictures and articles, in which she goes the extra mile to make sure she gets specific details of a story. but to see her carefree self down at the fortress smiling back at him with her little camera in and, he only lets out a sigh as the nurse by his side lets out a giggle that she does not even try to stifle.
"miss charlotte, may i ask what brings you down to the fortress of meropide?"
her cheerful and enthusiastic face at seeing the duke changes into a more bashful and embarrassed look. "i... ate just ketchup in public at a restaurant."
lord... when is the iudex going to change such childish laws? he was sure that the moment lady furina stepped down, he would immediately make changes to the legal text. even though he personally thought it was odd for anyone to eat ketchup on its own, he wouldn't send someone to court because of it.
"i heard that miss charlotte fully admitted to the crime at court. even the iudex was surprised that she'd do something like that and own up to it," sigewinne comments.
charlotte's face gets more pinker in shade. "miss sigewinne, you don't have to mention that to the duke. it was a very embarrassing trial date. i'm pretty sure monsieur neuvilette thinks i'm very peculiar now... if he didn't already."
he sighs and shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose while doing so. he looks at the girl and looks at her with exasperation. "how long is your sentence for? realistically, i could ask if you could immediately take it back so that you can go back to the court and not have to serve your sentence any longer. but knowing you, you would not go along with that."
"wow! the great duke knows me so well!" she says excitedly, the switch from her bashful look to her much brighter smile makes the duke's chest feel warm, but he tries not to think of that feeling too much. he had to be responsible in this situation.
"miss charlotte, what exactly is your purpose for being here so i make sure to stay out of your way?" he asks her. "and i will say now that if it has anything personal to do with me, i will be the first to say that you'd be wasting your time here."
"what a shame," she says with a small pout, looking defeated before smiling again. "that isn't the main reason as to why i'm here, though. i'm mainly here to get more information on what i could get about the underground prison. i'm pretty sure there's not many news covering the greatness of the place! there's more to discover about the fortress of meropide besides the..." her face slightly falls, probably because that's all the duke ever talks about when it comes to the fortress. "the credit coupons."
"well, it's very nice to have you here," sigewinne says with a cheery voice. "i can assure that the duke and i will make sure that you have a very wonderful time here during your sentence... which is..."
"oh! right! i forgot to answer your question. i'm very sorry, sir." she turns to the taller man and gives a little smile, probably as a form of apology. he really shouldn't find every action of hers endearing, but really couldn't help it when it came to her. "a month long!"
"we're very lucky to have you here for a month. the duke and i will make sure it'll be a very pleasant month that you have here." the nurse looks up at him. "right, mister wriothesley?"
it's frustrating that sigewinne was continuing to tease him about his interest in the journalist so much, but with the fact that she was here right now, he knew that he would be subject to a lot more of her teasing in the future. the fact that she was down here alone was puzzling for his head. he wasn't sure how she was going to handle life down here with the workload and also with the other prisoners. he most certainly needed to keep his eyes on the girl while she was down here... just to make sure she was safe and that she would not get herself into sticky situations. including his own.
"of course," he says, tone sounding as though he's reluctant about his response, let alone continuing this conversation. "in fact, to welcome such a renowned and well known person such as yourself to the fortress of meropide, would you like to have a welfare meal with the both of us from the coupon cafeteria? it'll be on the house and i'll make sure it's to the highest of its standards."
charlotte's turquoise eyes light up brightly and she nods her head eagerly. "it'd be an honor to have a meal with the duke and the nurse of the fortress of meropide. i've heard from the traveller that you guys don't usually do that often!"
"right then," he gives a short nod. "follow me, then. i'm interested to hear about what you've heard on this place as well as how some people in the overworld are doing."
the man begins to walk off to his destination, the two ladies falling behind him.
"wow! this food is delicious! i was told many things about the first one being delicious and the later ones being questionable, but this is delicious!" charlotte exclaims. "i'll be sure to extend my gratitude to wolsey for the delightful meal."
"i'm sure he'll appreciate it!" sigewinne giggles. "sometimes cuistot, who you'll probably meet during your stay here, and i help out with the meals there. so be sure to ask him whoever made the meals too. i really do hope you get to eat something i've made in the future."
there were many points during this conversation, that was mainly between sigewinne and charlotte, where the other wanted to chime in and make a comment during their discussion. especially here, he wanted to warn charlotte ahead of time on how sigewinne's cooking was not exactly the most popular in the coupon cafeteria. but he decides to hold back and instead say something else.
"unfortunately, the food isn't always going to be the same for you. so whatever the traveller said about the food is most likely accurate." he wonders if the sound of his voice startles anyone at all. with the both of them looking in unison to him so quickly, it was clearly obvious that they didn't expect him to speak at all. but the looks on their faces didn't look like they were troubled by it.
"but you always get the best meals, don't you, duke?" sigewinne asks him.
charlotte's eyes light up. "are you possibly talking about your life from back then? before you took charge of the fortress?" she smiles. "oh! i need to remember to write this down later once i get to my room... cell? is it a room or a cell?" good lord, she talks a lot. it's something that wriothesley himself wishes he was capable of doing more of. if only he wasn't so heavily guarded...
"i guess you could say the cells are kind of like a little room," wriothesley answers her. "it's certainly not like the luxurious rooms that are up there, but i do hope that you are still able to enjoy yourself somehow if you're going to force yourself to stay here, miss charlotte."
he really couldn't wrap his head around why she was here. she's absolutely insane if it was solely just for him. then again, he wouldn't be lying if it didn't at least make him feel a little impressed.
"if the traveller told you anything about how i roll, then you should know that this treatment will only be for a day. tomorrow, the welfare meals will be randomly given, so i can't control whether or not you get something you like. you'll only be able to get anything with credit coupons and also you'll get that through doing some work." as he's explaining all this, he's looking her way to see if she has any interesting reactions to it... the fact that she's looking at him with such enthusiasm is certain'y bewildering. he's never met anyone who looked excited to have to live a standard life at the fortress. but perhaps she's not really letting it settle in that she's going to have to do all this work. maybe it'll take a while before she eventually does decide to surrender... but also, he's not sure if that'd be possible if it's her.
"he's just exaggerating, miss charlotte," sigewinne says with her usual joyful tone. "he's just trying to scare you out of here because he doesn't think it's right for you to be down here.
he stops himself from clearing his throat out of embarrassment. he knew that if were to react right after she said that, his emotions would be perceived differently. instead, he just lets out a sigh.
"no worries, your grace!" wriothesley is sure he saw a twinkle in her eye just now. "i can assure you that i will do my duties as any inmate would! by the time my sentence is over, i will have become an entirely different person than i was when i first came here! i promise you that i will not cause you any problems by relying on you!"
he knows that she's dedicated. he knows that she's the kind of reporter who will make sure that the truth will be unveiled no matter what. and as much as he admires her in his own way, he's determined to make sure she will not be able to get through him. sure, he's a little afraid of how far she'd be willing to go, but he's went through this many years of dealing with people at the fortress trying to pry into his business. he won't open up to her that easily...
...whether or not she tries to get him to or not.