Ball of Nothing

The bustling townsfolk in the square quickly hushed and bowed in respect when they saw their queen. Queen Leah's presence and authority could not be overlooked. Just by standing in the carriage, she commanded attention.

As the great water sprite looked around, she found the reason for the crowd gathering unplanned in her date itinerary Priscilla submitted.

The pufferfish head maid paled when she understood where she messed up. The date that Queen Leah wanted was a low-key tour for Zero to kick back and enjoy himself. Why was this crowd blocking their path and making ridiculous plays about the royal couple? Her queen didn't want to weird Zero out. She didn't want to move things too quickly and scare him away like all her previous lovers. Priscilla trembled at her failure and was ready to take responsibilities for her actions when Queen Leah smiled.

"I see, it is an interesting play. Won't you perform it again for us?" she asked.

Not expecting this reaction from Queen Leah, a known perfectionist, Priscilla snapped her head to the queen in shock. However, she understood why Queen Leah had a change in attitude. In front of Zero, she wanted to appear a tolerant, flexible and generous queen. If he wasn't around, the one in charge of arranging this date would be punished at once.

Then again, she was a talented actress. Priscilla steeled herself for punishment when they returned. As Queen Leah's longest-serving head maid, this was unacceptable. As a pufferfish mermaid, Priscilla always became the target of bullying among the servants for her spiky appearance and inflatable face. It was Queen Leah who brought her out of that horrible circ.u.mstances with her eye for detail. She praised how Priscilla did her job very well as a mere chambermaid, and from that day onwards, Priscilla dedicated her whole life to serving this lady.

It didn't matter if her queen wanted her to evict some citizens, gather seagrass, braid her hair or prepare the banquet list. Priscilla would do it all without complaints. She would do them with pride and ensure not a single strand of hair was out of place. Priscilla failed her assigned tasks only a handful of times, but this had to be the worst by far. She should have arranged for royal guards to patrol the area before the carriage reaches to take care of these matters, but she overlooked it.

As Queen Leah and Zero got down from the carriage, the crowd parted for them until they reached the front row where the actors were. The actors bowed lowly, not knowing if their queen was serious about wanting to watch a commoner's play. Shouldn't they be calling for the royal theatre to perform? Was this really alright?

Chairs were taken from nearby establishments, and Priscilla was determined not to disappoint her queen again. If they wanted to watch the play, she would give them a comfortable experience. Hopefully, a commoner's play wasn't too disgraceful for their royal eyes.

Even experienced actors and performers will get nervous if they have to perform for important guests without notice. The crowd no longer cheered rowdily as they did before and maintained a respectful distance from the royal guests. The performers quickly touched up their shabby clothes and makeup to prepare a good performance for the queen.

Queen Leah was a lover of the arts, and Indra Seagloo knew her as the connoisseur of it. Anything she wore, watched or ate would become trending very quickly. For the commoners who had never seen anything apart from plays like this on the streets, they were slightly worried that Queen Leah would find it severely lacking.

Truen was watching from a roof nearby and frowned. He observed a little of what the actors were doing earlier, and he couldn't allow Zero to watch those groping and kissing scenes. It was inappropriate and prude! To save the play, Truen disguised himself as a minor actor at the side who was carrying the stage props before pulling the man and knocking him out in an alley. He cast a strong illusion spell and returned to the stage, eyeing Zero from the corner of his eye.

Zero's eyes widened slightly when he looked over at Truen, who was disguised. What was his best friend going to do? He did not expect the tour to go like this. Why was he here watching some play in the middle of the street? Weren't they obstructing the merchants' path? This couldn't be good for business.

Queen Leah didn't notice anything at first. It took a while for the actors to get ready and start the show, but she didn't mind waiting. It wasn't as if she didn't know how commoner plays worked. It simply wasn't in her to see people acting so lovey-dovey more than she ever managed to with her lover. Thankfully, Zero wasn't her actual lover. They were simply business partners.

Zero didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to see the actors playing the roles of him and Queen Leah. The trademark elf ears fashioned from clay was probably the only thing they made accurate about his current appearance. Queen Leah didn't look offended at the fake tiara and haughty attitude, represented by the actress's continuous hair flips and shrill voice.

The crowd applauded when the actor who played the prince consort tripped and fell. Queen Leah's actress quickly caught him suavely, but she tossed him away before the actor could react.

"How dare you let me filthy my fins?! A true man must be able to catch himself before he falls."

That line had Zero chuckling a little, but he quickly stifled it and cast a worried side glance at Queen Leah, who only smiled slightly, her eyes still trained on the play. That was too close! He almost let his guard down, and the image of a very icy but arrogant lover he was putting up to the public would have gone down the drain. Watching a play was a risky idea.

Zero wondered if he could safely make it till the play ended without damaging his hard-earned image as the handsome elf prince consort. He gave Truen a pleading look, and the wood elf swallowed.

For all the killing he did, Truen never imagined him to have crippling stage fright. However, for Zero, he would try. All he had to do was time to destroy the kiss scenes, and everything would be fine.