The Crown's Entrapment

Thankfully for Aurelia, nothing much happened after the play concluded. To her surprise, she actually enjoyed the story that they presented. It was equal parts intelligent enough to appeal to her, while also being flashy enough that the rest of the audience wouldn't be completely lost in the story's more intricate plot points. By the end of it, she was satisfied, and she was even in the mood to actually try and enjoy the rest of the festival.

"So, where to next?" she asked.

Beside her, Calypso hummed as she seemingly looked around for the next activity that they could do together. Not that it fooled her one bit, of course. Her mate clearly already had a plan in mind even as he faked improvising their route throughout the village.

"How about we walk around and sample a few of the street food?" Calypso suggested. "Maybe even try out some of the attractions and buy some souvenirs?"

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "I am rather hungry at the moment," she hummed in approval. "Lead the way then."

From there, she watched as her mate deftly navigated them through the crowded streets of the Lantern Festival. Surprisingly for her, she couldn't help but spy a few other women eyeing Calypso like he was some sort of prize to be had. Even as he ignored each and every single one of them that tried to get his attention, she couldn't help but feel her blood start to boil as bystanders and stall owners alike just seemed to constantly try and flirt with her mate.

[Getting possessive now?] her wolf asked. [I'd approve if I didn't know how much you hate it.]

[Don't remind me,] Aurelia grumbled. [This is grating enough as it is.]

Even as her hands were steadily being occupied by how much food and knick knacks she was making Calypso buy, the constant stream of women trying to get their hands on Calypso was both irritating and irking at her pride. Did they not see that she was with the man? Were they that blind and stupid to not see her being clearly Calypso's date for the night?

[This has got to stop some time soon,] she groaned in exasperation.

[Agreed,] her wolf scoffed. [These fools clearly have no idea what personal space even is.]

Rolling her eyes, Aurelia almost wanted to walk out as yet another gaggle of women tried their hand at getting to her mate. Having had enough, she grabbed Calypso by the wrist and pulled him with her, all while denying the fact she was indeed initiating contact with him by doing so.

"Calypso, I want to buy something," she coldly stated, her grip on his wrist tightening. "I require your pockets."

"W-Whoa, Lia. Calm down," Calypso awkwardly chuckled before he managed to keep pace with her. "What's gotten into you? I can walk just fine, you know."

"I've been eyeing a few choices knick knacks that I want to purchase," she scoffed. "And no, I need you with me at the moment."

She clicked her tongue as she made her way through the streets. She knew that she was being irrational. She knew that she would regret doing this the day after, but her irritation had reached a breaking point. If she had to watch these idiotic women throw themselves at Calypso one more time, she was going to truly walk out without even a second thought.

"Geez, if you need my pouches of silver and gold coins, I could've just given it to you," Calypso smirked.

"Isn't that exactly what I'm doing right now?" Aurelia menacingly scoffed. "You are my pocket for the evening, are you not? I did say that I'll drain you dry."

"I didn't think you'd mean it literally," he chuckled. "Although, I wouldn't mind you draining me dry in another sense of the phrase."

Aurelia bit her tongue as she forced herself to stay quiet. She very much knew exactly what he meant, and she refused to let him have the satisfaction of seeing her flustered yet again with the image of-

Nope! She wasn't going to entertain even a glimpse of her runaway imagination!

[Or maybe you can?] her wolf cheekily suggested. [As a scientific curiosity?]

She gave her wolf a mental glare at even suggesting such a thing, and thankfully, her other half knew her place to quickly keep her mouth shut. She really didn't need her own voice being the voice of the devil right now. Right now, she needed to distract herself, and what better way to do so than to take satisfaction in draining Calypso of his funds?

With her mind made up, Aurelia went ahead and flitted from stall to stall, her desires never fading as she let her impulses reign supreme. From an innocent mask to a skewer of barbecued meat, she bought anything and everything that caught her fancy. At any other time, she would've felt bad for not using her own purse to buy her own stuff, but that wasn't until today. Right now, she was being petty, and the guilt-free spending was actually starting to get to her as she kept on accumulating more and more bags for her mate to carry.

And speaking of her mate, Calypso didn't seem to mind her sudden increase in spending habits as he dutifully walked beside her. Really, he was clearly enjoying himself with all of the attention she was giving him, making it even easier for her to drain him dry as she bought yet another massive stuffed toy for him to carry.

"Here," she mischievously chuckled as she chucked yet another bag at Calypso. "Think you can carry more?"

"I'll manage, Lia," he bravely smirked despite his arms already full to bursting with bags upon bags of random items. "I'll just get some of them delivered to our inn and-"

"Do you honestly think I trust any other person here, Calypso?" she pettily scoffed. "I barely trust you as it is. So why don't you be the one to carry them back to our inn?"

She knew that she was being unfair, but it wasn't like their inn was far. It'll only take him a minute or so before he was back beside her.

"If you insist, Lia."

She rolled her eyes as Calypso gave her a sarcastic bow before leaving. It was annoying that he could see right through her, but she was at least getting a few good hits on him as she used her spite to great effect.

Taking this as her opportunity, she went into the nearest empty alleyway to try and make it hard for her mate to find her. Really, it was-

"H-Hey there, beautiful…"