“Cercis! Cercis! Wake up! You’re going to be late for work!”
For once in his life, Mr. Fisalis had overslept.
He’d spent the previous night drinking with his knights at some work party he’d gotten dragged into, which had kept him out until the wee hours of the morning. Even then, he was generally the sort to wake up totally refreshed the next day. Was this a sign of how stressed out he’d been lately?
The day before he’d even told me, “I have a meeting tomorrow morning, so I have to head out early.” So much for that.
Just look at me—I’m all dressed and ready to head into action! Not that I have plans to go anywhere.
“Mm...mn...”
“C’mon, Cercis, didn’t you say that you had an important meeting today?”
Another rough shake got him to turn over in his sleep, but his eyelids remained firmly shut.
“You’re gonna be late!”
Coochy-coochy-coo! If shaking him wasn’t doing the trick, it was time to resort to tickling! Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to work much better.
“Jeez. He’s a tough nut to crack this morning,” I groused, growing frustrated with how stubbornly he was clinging to sleep.
Both Rohtas and Stellaria gave a dry little laugh from behind me.
“And to think Master Fisalis is usually such an early bird.”
“This is a rare occurrence indeed. Would you like me to take over from here, Madam?” the butler offered, but I was determined to stick it out a little bit longer.
“Nah. I’m not done yet.”
For my next move... I know, I’ll pinch that pretty little nose of his! Hee hee... If he can’t breathe, he’ll have no choice but to wake up!
And yet, wouldn’t you know it—his mouth fell open instead. Another failed attempt.
That’s it! Desperate times call for desperate measures! Say goodbye to that cozy blanket of yours!
“Take that!”
“...Brrr!”
The moment I tore the covers away from him, his eyes snapped open. Oh, is he finally awake?
“Come on! It’s time for breakfast!”
“Vi...”
Dang, is it just me or does the dazed, fresh-out-of-bed look give him an extra boost in the sex appeal department? I thought to myself—only to be pulled into his embrace not a second later.
“Eek! Knock it off, Cercis!”
“Mm...”
After taking advantage of my moment of panic to steal back the blankets, he cocooned himself in the sheets and was immediately out like a light.
Seriously?! You’re going back to sleep after that?!
“I give up! This is impossible!” I relented, heaving a sigh as I peered into my husband’s doggedly slumbering face.
“Go ahead and get started on breakfast,” said Rohtas, who had been watching the scene play out from behind me. “You can leave Master Fisalis to me.”
“I don’t mind having a late breakfast—I’m not in any rush. I’m more worried that Mr. Fisalis will be late to work if he doesn’t wake up soon.”
“Believe me, you have nothing to worry about. Go wait for him in the dining room.”
Here I was freaking out like I was the one who had overslept, but Rohtas only smiled and ushered me out of the room. In a flawless show of teamwork, Stellaria stepped up to open the door and waited for me on the other side.
The implication of “get out” wasn’t exactly subtle.
“Fine, fine. I’ll wait for you guys there.”
I left the task of waking my husband to Rohtas and went ahead to the dining room.
For your sake, Mr. Fisalis, I sure hope it’s a gentle awakening!
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m not sure what to do now. I’ll feel bad if I start eating without him.”
“No need to worry, Madam,” said Dahlia, who had been waiting for me in the dining room. “I’m sure he’ll be up in no time.”
“You think so? Okay—can I ask you to start bringing out the food, then?”
“Of course.”
Just as I was about to start in on breakfast at my maid’s suggestion, there came the thud of someone bolting down the corridor.
“Oh, who could that be?”
“It’s dangerous to run in the halls. I’ll have to scold—”
No sooner had Dahlia stopped what she was doing with a frown than the door to the dining room flung open.
“Sorry I’m late!”
In came Mr. Fisalis, his shoulders heaving as he wheezed. Though he had of course taken the time to change out of his pajamas, he was looking a little disheveled, the shirt of his uniform left untucked.
Leave it to a hunk like him to make even that look good... No—focus, Viola, focus!
“It was Mr. Fisalis, I see.”
“That it was.”
My maid and I couldn’t help sharing a sardonic smile.
✦ ✦ ✦
Mr. Fisalis cleared his throat. “Ahem. Morning, Vi. Shall we get started on breakfast?” he proposed, flashing me a smile and taking his seat as though nothing had happened. Rohtas entered the room not long after him.
“Don’t you ‘morning’ me! I thought you might never wake up!”
“My bad.”
“I’m just glad you got up in time. Trust Rohtas to get the job done.”
“...Yeah.”
Mr. Fisalis’s expression took a turn for the disgruntled as he cast a glance over at Rohtas, who was hanging back with his usual poker face on.
Huh? He did get a gentle awakening, right?
“Cercis?”
“Come now, time is getting away from us! We’d better get to eating. Ha ha ha!”
Jeez, could that smile be any more forced?
It was right at that moment that our meal was carried out to the table, however, so we proceeded to eat our breakfast together, after which I saw my husband off with a smile like always.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Cercis sure had a hard time getting up this morning.”
“It was nothing more than a case of burnout, I’m sure,” Rohtas assured me. “Staying up all night drinking certainly doesn’t help, however.”
“Wow, you aren’t pulling your punches today!”
The butler only flashed me a grin. He wasn’t even bothering to deny it.
Since my morning had been a tad more frenzied than usual thanks to Mr. Fisalis, our butler was making me a new cup of tea in the parlor.
“Still, I really have to hand it to you for getting him out of bed, Rohtas. I saw how dead to the world he was! How did you manage it?”
“Oh, it wasn’t anything special.”
Here I was hoping Rohtas would bequeath the skill unto me for future reference, but the man in question only looked down at me with his trademark unruffled smile.
“Yeah, right! I mean, c’mon—he was out like a light!”
“True. All the same, he could still hear your voice.”
“Wait, really?”
“Indeed.”
If he could hear me, then why didn’t he bother to get up?
“When I reminded him about the morning meeting, he muttered, ‘Viola already told me that.’”
“I did mention that to him, yeah.”
But he didn’t show the slightest sign of stirring when I said it.
“I assume he was still half-asleep at the time.”
“Probably.”
“It took him a little while longer to come to his senses, but a few simple words got him right out of bed and rushing to the dining room.”
Now that piqued my interest. What, had our straight-faced butler told a joke or something?
“What did you say?”
“Oh, nothing too interesting. All I did was tell him, ‘If you don’t get changed soon, you’ll miss your chance to eat breakfast with the madam.’”
“That’s all?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Yeah, I could definitely imagine Mr. Fisalis’s reaction to hearing that.
“That is the most effective threat to use against Master Fisalis,” remarked Stellaria, giggling as she pictured the scene for herself.
“Your tongue might be the sharpest weapon I’ve ever seen, Rohtas. You sure know how to hit someone where it hurts.”
“You flatter me.”
“Why don’t you try using that threat against him next time, Madam?” Stellaria proposed with a titter, but that was a no thank you from me! I didn’t have a teasing bone in my body.
“Who, me? Not happening! And I won’t need to as long as Cercis gets up when he’s supposed to. I’ll just make sure he goes to bed on time from now on.”
“That might be a tall order, I’m afraid.”
“Then I’m putting you in charge of waking him up in the mornings, Rohtas!”
“Oh, he’s not going to like that one bit.”
“You’ve got that right!” the rest of the room chimed in, roaring with laughter.