Chapter Text
“Haaaaa….oh pantalone is sooo dreamy!”
Anya curled her hair into a coil and was getting lost in her fantasies again.
“You saw him…like once Anya.” You stared at her incredulously. He's got a good face, no one can deny it. But he manages to make a one-word answer into a paragraph of nonsense.
“Once was enough! He's incredibly handsome and sooo tall…and he's rich!! Not just any kinda rich, THE richest man in teyvat!”
“Anything else from last night? Did he say anything about a wife?” which you only shook your head at.
“No he didn't, but I ended up talking to II Dottore.” Anya turned around with a confused look, making sure she heard toh right
“You mean that weird recluse? Ugh, how boring! I heard he's no fun and that he's super uptight. Totally not my type of person at all.” At least one person was completely mortified about you two conversing.
“Ah but before it slips my mind, you brother and sister are coming home today! They wish to go into town or her highness's garden.” Your eyes noticeably lit up, you'll rarely be able to spend a night with your siblings, even more so since you're all adults now. If your teenage self heard this they'd scoff and wave you off, willingly spend time with your insufferable siblings? You'd find the notion ridiculous.
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You all agreed going into town would be a pain. There was a festival and it'd be extremely packed. Your sister would immediately get overstimulated and become a massive pain in the ass. So it was her highness's gardens.
“Soooo any luck on finding a partner?” Your insufferable brother just had to speak about an insufferable topic.
“We’re not going to be talking about that, I already have dad breathing down my neck.”
“Boo you're no fun…the Akademiya sucked out all your energy.” Irinei grumbled.
“I am not going to pick a fight in her highness's garden. It’s the one place I don’t want to be banned at.”
It suddenly came to you that these two were absent from the ball.
“Speaking of her highness you guys didn’t attend the ball, how come?”
“Haaa…our anniversary just happened to fall on the same day. I’d rather celebrate that than deal with the noisy chatter of nobles.”
Your brother gave your older sister a look.
“Oh please you love the gossip! The only reason you hate going is that you get irritated fast. I couldn’t go because I had an exam I was cramming for and dad wouldn’t let me attend.” Your brother was clearly irked that he actually had to care about his future not just socializing with friends.
“Ugh, you guys left me to fend for myself. Thank god Eleanor was there otherwise I’d be stuck talking to people who haven’t seen me in years.”
Irinei followed up.
“You coulda hung out with my friends! They're pretty fun to hang with!”
Both you and your older sister looked at him with a blank face.
“Your friends are extremely irresponsible.” Liudmilla stared at him and you soon shot him with your favorite reply when he'd say something stupid. “I hope you're joking. Your friends are so loud and obnoxious I'm sure hanging around them would tarnish our family's name.”
You guys kept talking while walking laps around the Tsaritas garden when you had to use the bathroom.
From where you were, getting to the bathrooms would be easy right? So you tell your siblings to keep going without you. As you break off, you soon realize you have no idea where you were. One second the extravagant garden and ornate statues that surrounded you were gone. The bathrooms were inside the palace but standing there you had no idea where to go.
The best course of action was to turn around. Any further and you could risk being caught by a guard who'd grill you and ask why you were this far inside. You turn back around and retrace your steps inside the massive palace walls.
“Fuck….” Not a single thing looked familiar, you couldn't find the vase filled with flowers you passed earlier. Neither the portrait of the tsaritsa that caught your eye earlier.
As you proceed further, you’re stopped by a voice. It’s not a stranger's voice either. As if your already sticky situation wasn’t irritating you enough. The man who caught you just had to be II Dottore. Being caught by a guard would've been so much easier.
Reluctantly you turn your head to see him standing with his arms crossed.
“You’ve wandered quite far from the gardens. What’s your explanation for straying this deep in the palace?”He tilted his head just slightly, sizing you up.
“I uh..got lost trying to find the bathroom.”
You cringed internally, it sounded like such a lie. Your behavior was making you seem guilty as hell.
“You got lost.” He repeated your words back to you. “You got lost and just so happened to wander into the Fatuis branch?”
He definitely saw the way your expression fell. The Fatuis wing? There's no way you didn't see a single agent in their uniform— not a single emblem or—
“If you truly got lost why didn't you—” You suddenly cut him off which didn't faze him.
“I swear it was a mistake! Could you just point me to the exit? I don't want to be here either.” Heavens above hopefully Dottore had an ounce of humanity and would let me slip out of here (intact).
He stared at you for a long time, an annoyingly long time. He lets out a sigh of suffering, since helping you seemed like such an inconvenience to him.
“Turn back and take a left. Don't take any additional turns after.”
He walked toward you and stopped directly in front of you. Dropping his head a bit so only you could hear his words.
“Being a noble doesn't excuse you from the regulations set by her highness.” Silence engulfed you both.
“Don't stray from the paths of the garden.”
You swallowed thickly and it did nothing to help your dry mouth.
“Sorry I'll be on my way out.” You began to make your way back.
When you found your siblings again you could finally breathe.
“Wow you eat something bad? You’ve been gone for some time now.”Irinei snickered
“Ha ha very funny. Do you talk this transparently toward everyone or just us?” You nudged your brother and he kept laughing at you.
“Calm down it was a joke! Milla even found it funny. For your information, I only take this uncouth to you two.” Liudmilla tried to hide her smirk but wasn't very good at it.
As you guys continue your walk you begin to wonder. How did Dottore know you were in the gardens? It's not like you saw him anywhere. You're sure you would've noticed his hair or something…maybe he just assumed so. It's not like the public has easy access to the palace besides certain areas.
“Freaky….” Don’t dwell on it, you rarely get to spend time with your favorite freaks siblings.
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Dottore stood overlooking the garden, watching as countless people walked around. But he was staring at the person that had irked him earlier. It's the second time he's seen you and spoken to you. The gods must have been toying with him.
“How bothersome.”