Chapter Text
A book tucked under her arm, the blonde makes her way through the streets, the heels of her shoes clicking on the pavement.
In her haste, she has to barely avoid a passerby, and tips her hat in a simple apology. The girl is horrendous at blending in. She's aware of this, but so is everyone else, so they just let her do. At a steady pace, she moves ahead further, heading for the library like almost every other day when she goes outside the palace walls.
There are a few headshakes and funny looks, but she barely notices out of the corner of her eye; she really sometimes does not understand how they handle the normalcy of it all. Perhaps that's just how she sees the world, though, because she does not enjoy her life within the castle either.
She flips through the pages of her notebook, quickly jotting down a few words as she goes, and almost bumps into a kid carrying a basket of bread.
She flips her hair over her shoulder so it stays out of her way, and then once again quickens her way.
Somewhat further away, a slightly yellower blond man bumps his elbow into his colleague next to him, nodding his head towards the girl, a specific shine in his eyes that he has reserved for this darling girl only.
It’s something none of the other knights can miss; he has a way of following after her like a lost puppy, and this time is no other. He quickly catches up to her.
“Miss Nicole! Fancy seeing you here, heh. Isn’t the sun too hot for you at this time of day, or do you just always shine this bright?”
There is a simply stupid grin stuck to his face, and she scoffs, ignoring him.
“Hmm, I don’t know. Perhaps I do. Don’t you have more important things to do, Sir Varka?”
He laughs, a loud laugh, one that tumbles over the pavement like cabbages falling off a carriage, and she can’t help but find it touching. Her disguise, after all, is not very good, and all this time he has pretended to not know who she is, as so many have done.
That is all the appreciation she has for him, though, because his shameless flattery is nothing short of a nuisance, and his full-teeth smile makes her take another lap around just to avoid it.
(That is a lie; sometimes, she pretends to be engulfed in her books, so he will pretend to bump into her, and then he’ll pretend to have to venture in the same direction, even though she is very aware that is not the case.)
“Anything better to do? Oh, nah, not really. You know how it is, miss, all we’re good for is rescue a cat here and there and show up when the job’s done.”
“You’ve spent too much time with Master Diluc,” she responds, ignoring that he is still walking beside her; she can’t admit she enjoys his company in a town that otherwise does not really know how to act around her.
She’ll allow it, today, she decides. Alice might tease her for it, but she supposes that’s worth it.
A bit of context should be provided. She likes providing context, even if just in her head, because imagine if someone with mind reading capabilities were to read along and fall into the middle of this story with no real idea what was happening!
Nicole and her parents had an unspoken agreement where as long as she didn’t pose herself as the literal princess of their kingdom, she would be allowed to roam wherever in the city, as long as within the sight of the knights. And thus, she would often be followed around by them, but most frequently by Varka, with whom she’d build up some strange kind of friendship.
By friendship, she meant he flirted with her and she rejected him. She wasn’t sure why he did it; after all he stood no real chance. Her status as a princess and his as a knight made him impossibly low in the social hierarchies. But she could appreciate the effort.
And Sir Varka wasn’t necessarily ugly or something. She would call him good-looking, even, but only from an objective point of view. She’d call him a possible lover if she played her role of village girl good enough.
Nicole, however, was a terrible actress, and therefore she had only pure feelings towards Varka. She intended to keep it that way. For as long as possible.
“Sooooo… What brings our dear miss Nicole out into the city on this fine day?” Varka attempted to start another conversation, saluting at another knight they passed.
“A book club meeting with a friend.” That wasn’t a lie, not really at least, since they did discuss books, but not the type her parents would approve of. Alice had dragged her into this way before she was able to say no. (She wouldn’t have said no anyways, because Nicole was way too curious. More curious than had ever been good for her.)
“A friend? You mean Alice, right? I know her daughter reaallyyy well. She mentions you a lot. She definitely mentioned me before.”
Nicole smiles, shakes her head. “Oh, no, she hasn’t actually.”
Another lie. She enjoys the way he stomps his feet a little in annoyance.
“You’re a bad liar, missy. And a very cruel one at that.”
“And you’re a very workless knight, aren’t you? Maybe Master Diluc is right after all.”
They go back-and-forth for a while; the walk is not that long, but Nicole notices herself dragging her feet to make it last a little longer. They reach the big doors eventually, because not all conversations can last forever.
She waves at Varka, turns to go inside, when suddenly she is stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, miss… Your Majesty.” He continues in a hushed tone, leaning in a little.
“Not to alert you, but I just wanted to tell you I’ll be gone for a while. They’re sending me out on an expedition – knight stuff, you know the drill – so I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with Huffman’s guidance for a while. I know, far from superior, especially with me as your set example…”
She giggles, does not brush off his hand even though she should; they both know the knight should not be touching her, and both they do nothing about it.
“Write to me, then.” Nicole finds herself saying, a smile on her face. “I’ll write you back. You’ll have something to look forward to.”
Varka nods, grinning, and she is scared she gave him a win she shouldn’t have, but that will be a problem for future Nicole. For now she basks in the moment.
“Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll be back so fast you won’t even have time to write!”
He snickers, full of confidence, and it gives her a little confidence of her own. She pushes herself onto her toes and, against all better knowledge, presses a kiss to his cheek.
“You better make sure you come back at all, my knight.”
She is giddy when she shuts the library door behind her, almost skipping her way over to Alice, who asks her if something good happened.
“Oh, not at all!”
Nicole wouldn’t be Nicole if she wouldn’t immediately start gushing, though, so that is what she does; the expedition does not seem like an obstacle, and she walks home with lighter steps.