Despite the title name, I’m only using one definition for present. (Think: the past, the present, the future. The present meaning the current timeline, not the present meaning the gift—this would be a god-awful gift to give.)
Some time past 7:30 pm, and the Palace Ruler is agitated for numerous reasons. For starters, she just finished cleaning the stove after reading the annual health and safety inspection report from her room. Apparently, they failed due to not one, but few reasons:
•The dirty stove
-“Alright, that was partially my fault for neglecting to clean it last night,” the Palace Ruler its to the Order of Heroes during a meeting.
OR
-“Alright, who was in charge of cleaning the stove last night?!” the Palace Ruler roars across the hallways as she walks quickly with no destination in mind except to get all the Heroes’ attention.
•The pile of dishes
-“Ok, we have people for that, PLUS the handful of Heroes who are kind enough to help out in the kitchen,” the Palace Ruler says as she pinches the bridge of her nose out of agitation, “Even with me around, we should NOT have failed that part at all! So how?!”
•Messy bedrooms
-“We also have people for that.” Again, the Palace Ruler pinches the bridge of her nose out of agitation. “For real, y’all are not Usagi, dammit! How the hell can you guys make your rooms that messy shortly afterwards?!”
PLUS
-“So the policy violation has to do with raising the beds off the floor,” the Palace Ruler looks at the report. She had just spoken with one of the inspectors, who explained why they failed the inspection. “I get that Askr is literally a Palace, but keep in mind that while we are part of the Order of Heroes, lineage does not matter. Here, we’re all soldiers, so nobles, start acting like everyone else here! Villains, save the evil schemes for the enemies on the battlefield!”
“Ugh—aw, great! I’m bleeding!” The Palace Ruler says out loud as she looks at her right hand, “Damn this cold weather and cleaning stuff—my hands are so dry again that they cracked and bled.” Meanwhile, she can clearly hear a couple of Heroes having a conversation with each other—and it especially doesn’t help when her door is wide open.
She goes out the door to the nearby couple and shouts at them, “Would you two take your damn conversation elsewhere?! I really don’t want to hear you two getting so damn intimate—take that shit to your own rooms!”
The couple, startled by her tone, start to walk away, “…let’s go, Love.” Once they were out of sight, she returns to her room, door still left wide open.
As she sits on her bed still agitated, she thinks of her earlier conversation with her classmates. She had just vented to them about what happened last night.
“Ok, think, you Summoner of a tactician. How do I get to know more about my friend without bringing up the past? How do I do it without making it seem like an interrogation of sorts?
“How the hell does someone get to know someone better without bringing up the past?! It’s literally impossible! The only way to get to know people better like that is through…ahem. Not everyone has that carnal desire to live fast and die young like that!” She stands up from her bed and throws her hands up in the air out of frustration, screaming immediately afterwards.
“Maaron.”
“What?!” she snaps as she turns around to see the newest recruit to the Order of Heroes—a masked knight of sorts.
“Ugh, don’t tell me what I already know,” she says while she pinches the bridge of her nose. Right before she speaks, the knight gestures to her hand, “Your hand is bleeding. You should get that treated before it gets infected.”
She sighs, “Don’t worry about me—“
An alert on her phone shifts her focus to a comment: “Nope, just a random poem.”
The Palace Ruler smiles angrily at this, “That little—I am SO close to pulling a Kamijou on them…! ‘What the hell do they think literature is, a joke?!’”
A silence stretches between the two of them for a while before she speaks, “…fine, I yield. Let me take a bath first so that I can treat it properly.” She then walks over to the necessary supplies and takes them with her to the hot springs. Perhaps all she needs is to calm down from all the ridiculousness from today and last night. Besides, she still has other priorities to deal with before the day is over.
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