𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕱𝖑𝖆𝖒𝖊𝖘 | Wanderer x Reader

10

A/n: So sorry this chapter is being posted late! I was extremely busy today and didn't get a chance to upload before now but we only have two parts left in this book now!

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"I don't like this," Arlecchino admitted seriously. You shrugged, continuing to place pins in your h/c hair as you observed your appearance in the mirror. You sat at the vanity in your room and the Knave was perched on your bed as she watched your every move. Your hair, which you'd been styling for the last twenty minutes, looked fitting of a fancy gathering or other important occasion, but that didn't stop you from continuing to add pins to ensure it would stay exactly as it was.

"It's our only option." You said nonchalantly, even though you felt anything but on the inside. Behind you, the white haired woman sighed.

"There are other options, Y/n." You had to disagree there.

"We have to salvage this somehow," You explained for what was probably the third time now, "And this is the only way to complete the mission we've already started. Like it or not, we're in too deep to give it up now." You weren't sure if the words were meant to comfort yourself or her, but you needed to hear them if you were going to go through with this.

"Yes, but to go back to the doctor?" Arlecchino asked with genuine concern in her tone, "Just like he wants you to?" You took a deep breath, already feeling yourself beginning to panic the idea, but nodded.

"That's what he expects me to do, so that's what's going to happen." You decided at last, "He orchestrated a fight between me and Wanderer so we'd break up, and now he wants me to come crawling back to him, desperate and vulnerable from the heartbreak." The idea was poetic, but not in a way you enjoyed.

It seemed that, when your ex-husband had paid a visit to Irminsul, he'd only restored his and your memories of the navy haired man. Everyone else still had no idea who he was, beyond the fact that he'd been sent from Sumeru by the Dendro Archon. Upon returning from the outing alone, you'd explained the general gist of the story to Arlecchino. He'd hurt you in the past, you'd forgotten who he was 'due to already being in a bad situation,' and he'd neglected to tell you the truth until he was forced to by the doctor. She understood the point.

Despite that, she didn't seem enthusiastic about your new plan; not that you were, either.

"That's why he hasn't come to see me since," you went on, "It's been a few days already, but he thinks he's won." The white haired woman sighed.

"I really don't like this," she repeated, but she knew you were right. After all, Wanderer had all but gone missing since your shared dispute, so like you'd said, there wasn't much of another option.

Plus, having Dottore take you back, thinking you were willing to be with him again, and then lead you to his current base of operations would allow her and the children to break in and finally put a stop to it all. He was so secretive about the place- as if he knew they were looking for it- that she really didn't see another way in which they might be able to find it.

"Exactly." You said, as if you'd just read her mind. There was no satisfaction in your tone at being right; not like there normally would have been, and it made the harbinger bite her lip in concern. You finished up your hair now and turned back to her with a sigh.

"I wish things would have turned out differently too." You admitted, allowing your back to slouch for a brief moment. Anywhere else, you wouldn't have even though to do so for fear of being seen carrying yourself so improperly, but in your own home, it felt alright.

Arlecchino seemed to drop her own air of nobility now too, leaning back on your bed. "I know." She said. Even she could tell what had been going on between you and the navy haired man, whether she approved or not. You cared for each other, and having the relationship be destroyed before it could even begin had hurt you more than you would have cared to admit.