𝒲𝒾𝓃𝓉ℯ𝓇 𝒲ℴ𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹： 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓌 ℴ𝒻 𝓉𝒽ℯ ℱ𝓇ℴ𝓏ℯ𝓃 ℋℯ𝒶𝓇𝓉

𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑖𝑛𝑔： 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 14

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"Then tell me, Maria! Why I see her dancing there? Why her smoldering eyes still scorch my soul? (cogitatione)"

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Fleur City - Topsy Turvy Square

"Since you don't know, then I will tell you the tale of the Kindly Bell Ringer..."  the clown declared, stepping dramatically across the stage as the puppet raised its arms. "Our tale begins in the small city where the Righteous Judge lived. The Righteous Judge was fair and just. Everyone respected him and abided by his judgments."

"That's the personage Flamme told us about at Noble Bell College." Malleus noted, his eyes fixed on the performance, though his voice held an edge of tension as he cast a glance toward Rollo.

"Oh yeah, there was a big stone statue of him in front of the school, right?" Grim asked, tilting his head.

"So you remember. I'm surprised." Malleus replied, a slight smirk curving his lips.

"Hey, I resent that! Of course I remember somethin' I learned today! Unlike with Y/n!" Grim huffed, crossing his arms in mock offense.

"....Hmph." Y/n pouted slightly, cheeks puffed in soft annoyance. Sebek, whose lap she still sat on, gently patted her back in consolation, though his cheeks were tinged pink from the contact.

"Shut up, you annoying weasel," Isfrid hissed lowly, his tone ice-cold as his piercing gaze locked onto Grim.

Vanitas leaned forward from Noé's lap, his smirk sharp but his voice even sharper. "You know, if anyone's the weasel here, it's the one trying to freeze the entire table with his territorial sulking."

Isfrid's eyes narrowed to slits, head snapping toward Vanitas. "Say that again, parasite."

"I said," Vanitas began, his tone laced with mock sweetness as he started to rise, "that you need to let Mon Ange breathe. She's not your doll."

"She's my sister," Isfrid snapped. "I don't need some cursed outlander sniffing around her like a mutt in heat."

"Mon Cherie chose to mark me. Or did you conveniently erase that memory too?" Vanitas shot back with a sharp grin, though his eyes were far colder than usual.

"She marked you in her sleep while dreaming about strawberry soufflé," Isfrid snarled. "That doesn't make you anything more than a pastry stand-in."

Noé, still holding Vanitas in place on his lap, chuckled nervously as he tried to keep the growing tension from boiling over. "Can we not... throw dessert insults in the middle of a puppet show?"

Y/n blinked once... then slowly turned to them, voice flat but dangerously sweet. "Can you two kindly shut the f**k up? Some of us are trying to enjoy the story."

The entire table went dead silent. Trein paused mid-sip. Rollo's brows lifted. The Northern Lights students stared.

Malleus tilted his head slightly, looking stunned. "My dear... Who taught you such... colorful language?"

"I hear it all the time from Ace and the other dorms," Y/n answered flatly, shrugging. "Why?"

"...Is that so." Isfrid's smile tightened, a clear twitch forming at the corner of his mouth before he whipped his head toward Riddle and Deuce.