Noooooo!!!
I cried and struggled with everything I had. Torrential tears flowed from my sheep eyes.
“Oh, Lady Evelyn, even in sheep form you’re such a tease! Oh, how exciting. I can’t take it anymore! My body is aching!!!”
Lady Europa was swaying her hips, her cheeks now the bright red of boiled lobster.
“Europa! Stop!” Prince Igna forcefully intervened. “You’re my fiancée! I cannot allow you to smooch another! Not even a sheep—no, especially not a sheep!”
Yes, Prince Igna! You tell her!
I figured with her fiancé intervening, Lady Europa might reconsider. I found myself rooting for Prince Igna for the first time ever.
But my hopes were crushed within mere seconds when she clicked her tongue and said, “What an unsightly creature you are, to be jealous of Lady Evelyn in sheep form. You’re unbearable. Go dig yourself a hole.”
“Ngh! Yes, my princess!”
Prince Igna started digging into the ground with astounding vigor. Why?
“Heeeeeeey! Rupyyy!”
Just then, a group in robes arrived from the road by the woods.
The high priest! And the other priests!
The elderly high priest would’ve struggled walking through the forest, so they’d probably judged it best to use the road.
I broke into a cold sweat. To reach the lake, one had to carefully descend a sloped path. Could they truly traverse this challenging terrain?
“Rupy, is that adorable sheep you’re holding Lady Evelyn? I can feel her magical auraaaaaaaaah!”
The high priest tripped over his own feet, his staff went flying, and he tumbled down, rolling precipitously down the slope.
I knew that would happen!
Every bad feeling I ever had seemed to come true, as I’d learned.
“It’s dangerous here, Lady Evelyn! Let us move!”
Europa and the others all scattered. It was the right move to avoid anyone else getting hurt, but I felt like they’d given up on the high priest far too quickly!
“Gaa-aaa-aaah!”
The high priest fell into the dark lake with a choppy scream. A huge splash gushed forth, and the priests, concerned, began to rush down the slope after him!
“His Eminence will drown at this rate! Come, all of you! We must help him!”
“Yes! Everyone, let’s go!”
“You got it!” they all said in unison.
Nearly thirty of them were running, but perhaps due to a sedentary lifestyle, they soon tripped spectacularly.
“Waaaaaah!”
All together they stumbled, following the same path that the high priest had, and went tumbling down the grass.
“Nice! Get into this hole! This one!” Prince Igna said.
“Brother, this is not pinball.”
Despite the prince’s request, every last priest fell into the lake.
“Dammit, they’re out. If they’d just shifted a bit to the right, we’d have scored more points!”
“Brother, this is not pinball.”
What happened next surprised a grand total of zero people.
“Baaaaaa!”
They’re all sheep!!!
All around us were sheep. Far beyond one sheep, two sheep, three sheep—a sheepidemic had taken place in the blink of an eye.
Not realizing they’d become sheep, the priests swept across the lakeside trying to find the high priest. When one moved, the rest followed, sweeping up the knights like an avalanche and dropping them into the lake one after another.
Prince Oz, Kira, and Karin fled while protecting Lady Mamaropa, but with the knights also turning into sheep, the chaos worsened. At this rate, nobody would escape.
I was half dazed, still in Lady Europa’s arms, when I heard a voice from below.
“Baaa... (Evelyn...)”
I recognized it immediately. Looking down, I was met with the figure of a sheep, his brown fur soaking wet and his expression troubled.
Lord Theodore...
Our eyes met, and for a moment, I forgot all about this situation. Forgot I needed to do something to fix it. Before I knew it, my body was already moving.
“Oh dear! Lady Evelyn!” Lady Europa called out.
I took advantage of her distraction and jumped from her arms. I landed on the ground and ran as fast as I could without looking back.
“Baaa! Baaaaaaa! (Wait! Wait, Evelyn!)”
“Baaa! (Stay away! Just leave me alone!)”
I kept kicking at the ground with my hooves, trying to ignore Lord Theodore’s bleats behind me.
But my escape attempt was short-lived. I was truly very slow. He caught up immediately and grabbed my shank as I tried to flee.
“(I couldn’t possibly leave you alone.)”
He hugged me tight, and I shook my head no, panting.
“(Lord Theodore, please don’t be kind to me anymore.)”
“(Why would you ask me that?)”
“(Because you have another woman, don’t you?)”
I thought I had it all figured out.
“(Another woman?)”
But Lord Theodore’s expression was one of pure confusion. His mouth moved as though he didn’t understand what I was saying. It seemed he was going to play dumb.
I pressed. “(Lord Theodore, you want to break off our engagement, don’t you?)”
He was silent for a moment. “(What?)”
“(Lady Mamaropa told me you looked somber and said you wanted advice about our engagement. That’s why you didn’t want to kiss me, isn’t it?)”
Tears spilled unbidden down my cheeks, tracing the round contours of my sheep face.
“(Wait, wait, Evelyn...)”
“(You’re hardly ever home, and you’re always busy, and...I should probably leave you to be happy with your new person. But I...)”
“(Evelyn!)” he shouted.
I flinched and my breath caught.
Lord Theodore scratched his wool with a hind leg. He seemed to regret having raised his voice, and said quietly, “(Sorry I spooked you. But listen, okay? Heaven and earth could turn upside down and I would never, ever break off our engagement.)”
“(B-But Lord Theodore, you—)”
“(Listen, Evelyn.)” His ears twitched. “(You’re the only one I have eyes for. How could I possibly cheat on you?)”
I gasped. The heat in his eyes and voice had me dizzy.
“(I’m sorry I behaved in a way that made you doubt my love. But you’re wrong. You’re completely wrong.)”
Lord Theodore let out a small sigh, touched the woolly side of my face, and said, “(There’s something I need to tell you, but I couldn’t.)”
“(You couldn’t...?)”
“(Our marriage petition hasn’t been accepted yet.)”
I idly grazed on the grass at my hooves as I traced my memory.
“(We took our marriage petition to the Grand Basilica last month, right?)” I asked. “(Do the proceedings take this much time?)”
“(The high priest refused to accept it.)”
“(Huh...?)”
This was total news to me! I was floored, but...my ears perked up and my tail began to wag.
“(He’s so protective of you. And Europa and the other priests wouldn’t approve it at all either.)”
“(I-I’m sorry, Lady Evelyn!)” the high priest said.
“I’m so sorry, Lady Evelyn!” Lady Europa said as well.
They’d been eavesdropping, apparently. The high priest in his decrepit old sheep form and Lady Europa (human) prostrated themselves to apologize. Behind them, the dejected priests stood sheepishly.
“(We did it all for you, Lady Evelyn. But we never thought you’d flee your home in despair over your engagement getting obstructed. Our frivolous acts have caused you such suffering!)” the high priest lamented, tears wetting his woolly beard.
“We’re truly sorry, Lady Evelyn,” Lady Europa said. “We were selfish for not wanting to approve of Theodore. As your faithful servants, we should never have acted against your wishes!”
I appreciated that, but also, I’d left the estate not in retaliation for the obstruction but because I needed some fresh air.
“I see. So that’s what happened,” Prince Oz said with a sigh. He’d been behind us, listening in.