26 [Ch. 26] An Unwilling Pillow (Past)

(Author's note: The following part is not from anyone's point of view.)

Mona was the first one to wake up.

Her head, which had been resting on the table all night, was now stiff from not budging from the uncomfortable position. When she tried to move her head, she felt something heavy on her back preventing her. She tried to move out from under the heavy object but had difficulty. She turned her head and saw that the heavy object was actually Amanda leaning on her.

Mona felt herself blush and glanced around anxiously to see if anyone was watching. Noticing that everyone else was asleep, she moved her shoulder to wake Amanda up. However, Amanda didn't even budge.

Mona paused and found herself admiring Amanda's sleeping face. She suddenly felt as if she was doing something immoral and hesitantly cleared her throat in an attempt to wake up Amanda. Seeing that Amanda didn't seem to hear her, she cleared her throat louder.

Amanda's eyebrows pinched together from the noise. Her eyes blinked open slowly while she groggily rubbed her eyes. She looked around in confusion and stopped when she noticed she had been laying on Mona's back. She jumped off so quickly, she tripped over her own feet and landed on the ground with a loud thud. She scrambled to her feet while blushing, "I-I am terribly sorry."

Mona looked away while hiding her own flustered expression, "No... T-That's alright."

Amanda rubbed her head trying to change the subject to distract from her embarrassment, "That alcohol is stronger than I thought it would be. I even have a slight headache."

Mona sat up and stretched. She looked around the table and noticed Raylon and Moao missing. Korph was still laying at the table with his head turned away from her. She rubbed her eyes pretending as if she had not been used as a bed all night, "Where did Raylon and Moao go? Did they go back to the dorms?"

Amanda shook her head, "I'm not sure. I don't remember much after Moao convinced me to drink. But I doubt she would return to the dorms without me."

She decided to take the initiative to walk around. She didn't get far before she let out a horrified squeal at the sight of everyone with drawings painted on their foreheads with black ink.

Mona stood up defensively, "What is it?"

Amanda's finger shook as she pointed to the individuals passed out, "T-Their forehead..."

Mona stood up and let out a gasp when she noticed they had drawings on them. She spun around to Amanda, "Do I have something written on me?"

Amanda shook her head, "No. Do I?"

"No... Who did this?" She looked away from the obscene drawings in embarrassment, "I-I don't think Raylon would have done this. He's too serious."

Amanda looked at the drawings and realized that Korph had the most obscene drawings out of everyone. Everyone else just seemed to have fake facial hair or were made to look like pirates. Noticing that Korph had been targeted so blatantly and recognizing the familiar handwriting, she sighed. "No, it definitely wasn't Raylon. Although I've never seen my lady do this before, somehow I know it was her."

Korph stirred from all the noise and looked around still half asleep. He noticed the table had bowls strewn across it as well as a brush with ink spilled all over. The table was destroyed from all of the alcohol and inkblots covering it. He sat up and stretched. He looked over at Mona and mouthed something.

Mona looked at him in confusion, "I can't hear you. Can you speak up?"

Korph tried to shout, but no words came from his open mouth. He grabbed his throat and tried to scream before making a painful expression.

Mona looked at him pitifully, "I am terribly sorry Prince Korph, but I believe lady Moao won the bet. But look on the bright side, at least you broke your record."

Korph began to stomp and smack the table, screaming internally. The other group stirred at the sound of his tantrum. One of the men from the Phoenix nation moaned, "Korph. Stop making so much noise. You're hurting my head."

He looked up at Korph as Korph began to make laughing gestures without noise. Korph pointed at his forehead while slapping his knee. Everyone began to stir and looked at each other in confusion. They all began to laugh and point only to have their face fall when they realized they also had similar drawings on their face.

Seeing Korph laugh so hard voicelessly, one person shot him a dirty glare. "Hey, I wouldn't laugh so hard if I was you! The drawings on you are much worse than the ones we have."

Korph stopped laughing immediately and ran over to a jar of water to see his reflection. Noticing what was on his face, he turned bright red. He couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed, but either way, he felt like breaking something. He tried to shout, but the more he tried the more painful his throat felt. He looked at Amanda as if demanding to know where Moao was.

Amanda saw his gaze and sighed with a shrug, "I really have no idea where she went. She may have gone back to her room."

Meanwhile, Raylon was laying in the canopy bed being clutched so tightly he thought he would suffocate. Moao held him in her arms as if he was a body pillow she couldn't sleep without. He had woken up from his forced sleep as soon as the sun rose. He tried to quietly wake up Moao, but had no success.

He soon realized that his body had been frozen by the effects of magic. He couldn't even move a muscle despite his many attempts at trying. Now his body felt numb and uncomfortable. The worst part of his predicament was that he absolutely didn't want someone to find him being held by Moao. Not only was he already embarrassed by the situation, he really didn't want any unnecessary rumors to start.

Plus... His heart thumped in excitement from the contact. He didn't want this moment to be over despite how uncomfortable his body was.

While he was agonizing over his situation, he noticed a small head pop over the canopy staring at him. It was the girl from the dragon clan. She had dark brown hair in a messy braid matching her dark tanned skin. Her almond-colored eyes look down at him with a knowing grin. At first, he was distracted by the doodles on her face before quickly realizing he had been caught red-handed.

He gave a forced smile and whispered, "Please don't say anything."

"They're up here!" She bellowed without another thought.

His face fell immediately, but she either didn't notice or didn't care. She beckoned the others to them. He watched in horror as everyone who had been on the ground quickly climbed up the canopy to look at him.

Horror and anger flashed through Amanda's eyes. Before he could explain himself, she shouted. "You-you! How dare you take advantage of my lady! You- you dirty man!"

Mona shook her head in disappointment, "Brother. How could you? Lady Moao will be heartbroken when she wakes up and realizes you stole her first night from her."

"W-wait! It's not what it looks like!" He hurriedly explained, "Y-You see, she was drunk and wanted to use me as a pillow! I didn't do anything!"

"That doesn't sound much better." Mona looked down at him accusingly, "Why didn't you just get up or turn her down?"

He chuckled nervously, "S-She may have knocked me unconscious and then paralyzed my body with magic..." His smile turned tense, "I still can't move an inch."

"Then why didn't you just wake her up?" A man from the Phoenix nation looked down at him with an eyebrow raised.

He spoke defensively, "I tried! She didn't even move!"

"He might not be lying." Amanda crossed her arms, angry to have to take his side. "Although I'd hate to believe him, I know firsthand it's almost impossible to wake her up."

Korph looked as if he was going to explode. First, he couldn't talk. Now, this? He grabbed at Moao's hand trying to rip them off of Raylon and drag her out of the bed. She resisted even while sleeping. In a fluid motion, she kicked him.

Korph was hit so hard he flew away and landed on the ground, causing an indent. He let out a gasp and felt as if the wind was knocked out of him. The others watched in horror as Moao, who was still asleep, grabbed onto Raylon even tighter. Raylon's face turned red as he struggled to keep breathing.

Korph painfully sat up, rubbed his butt, and had an evil idea.

Grabbing a broom, he rushed back up the canopy and began to hit Moao with the broom. He wanted to shout, but no one could hear what he was saying.

However, they all knew he was calling her a bird.

Moao moved away from the broom still refusing to wake up or to remove her prisoner. She grabbed the broom, and in a fluid motion, she snapped it and threw it at Korph causing him to fall once again.

Amanda groaned in irritation and began to pull and shout, "Lady Moao! If you don't wake up now, I will die from embarrassment! How could you do this to me? Everyone here has seen you shamelessly sleep with a man. The Baron will have my head if he finds out I let you be deflowered!"

The rest of the group blushed at her words and pretended not to hear. As she continued to shout and try to drag her out, only then did Moao finally stir.