The Hidden Knave, Arlecchino In Who Made Me A Princess

°Who's The Wolf?°

Lucas passed to the first page, speed reading without worrying whether or not Arlecchino could follow along. Of course, her mind worked fast enough to match the writing with his words.

"There was once a young shepherd that got very bored. Mindless days of guarding sheep got to his head, and he came up with a devious plan."

His tone was drawn out, like he found it a bother to read something so simple. Lucas turned the page, showing the watercolor drawing of the shepherd dying a small, white sheep black with a twisted grin on his face.

"A wolf broke in! He would shout for the villagers to hear, and once they saw the small sheep, their fear would twist to anger along with their expressions. The shepherd laughed just imagining the change."

Lucas hummed before looking at her with a raised brow.

"You better not be getting any odd ideas."

What ideas would she get from such a poor story? If anything, she was sure Freminet would've enjoyed this more. Now that she thought about it, when was the last time she had read him a book? When he was seven, and still wary of her?

Lucas turned the page, the shepherd was now pointing at the small sheep whose wool he had dyed. His face twisted into a grin.

"He shouted with all his might, 'Wolf! Someone help! Please!' The villagers heard his call, grabbed their pitchforks, and hurried up the hill. But once they arrived, the shepherd laughed in their faces while holding onto the small 'wolf.' He grinned, and said- 'Hah! Help me from this fearsome wolf!'"

Lucas scoffed before turning the page, it depicted the villagers scowling as they returned to their village. Angry frowns on their faces, while the next page had them staring at the shepherd's house in shock.

"The villagers scolded the young shepherd, and went down home. But the next day, the shepherd screamed about a wolf once more."

The next page had the villagers going up the mountain to the shepherd's house, their worry changing to shock, then anger as the shepherd laughed at them once more.

Lucas read it with a mocking tone, as he finally started getting into character.

"You fell for it!' The shepherd yelled while laughing."

Lucas smiled and leaned down, closer to Arlecchino before whispering.

"Arle, you're a smart child. Tell me, will the villagers trust the shepherd, if he shouts 'wolf'... Once more?"

The real question, was whether or not she should answer him. So far, it would be more beneficial to continue gaining Lucas's interest. Even if she hates to admit it, he's the sole reason she's managed to live this far as an infant.

She shook her head, Lucas grinned at her reaction and roughly ruffled her head.

"Good. That's exactly right. They don't trust him, because he abused their worry out of boredom."

Arlecchino stared at him until he moved his hand away. His grin grew upon seeing the fuzzy mess he had left her hair in.

"Remember that."

He went back to the book while Arlecchino huffed. He does know that babies aren't supposed to remember these memories, right?

"Now, the shepherd wasn't smart like us."

The next page depicted an actual wolf, yellow teeth, drool leaking as it growled at the shepherd who slept on a boulder. The sheep's noticed their predator first, and quickly scrattered. The shepherd woke up, and screamed upon seeing the wolf.