Gilbert von Obsidian - PRETEND LOVER Event - Yet Another Terribly Summary
(Yes, I enjoy putting their shocked pikachu faces as headers)
Here is my absolutely irreverent and chock full of hyperbole, only nominally-guaranteed-accurate rendition of Gilbert’s event story.
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Please always bear in mind that 1) I claim to be no expert in JP and there are and will be mistakes in this so show mercy on this amateur - if you see any obvious mistakes, kindly let me know so I can improve 2) Cybird will come up with whatever they want for 子兎さん, I have arbitrarily picked Miss Bunny because it amuses me. Do not come for me with pitchforks please.
Aaaaaand 3) I made this so effing long. Again. FML.
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So this round, the man that ‘saves’ her from the creepy aristocrat by pulling her into a hug is none other than Gilbert - a fact which frankly chills her almost more than dealing with the nobleman does. Gilbert starts to tell the man that Emma is his - but gets no further before the dude just nopes out without even a single word, clearly pissing himself.
Gilbert’s all amused that the guy left before he could even finish saying she was ‘his friend’, wondering what the man was imagining he meant. (Clearly you know sir you’re just messing with him kjflslkfd) Emma’s not about to let her guard down around Gilbert though, she’s still wary and on edge as she thanks him.
“Do you think I was helping you out?” Gilbert counters, seemingly amused, and she’s left to ask what he was doing, if not that. Gilbert explains he just had some business with her and drove away the pests interfering.
He takes out an invitation and offers it to her, saying how he’s been invited to a party by one of the Rhodolite nobles. It doesn’t seem to quite add up to Emma that Gilbert, the prince of Obsidian, to be invited to some social gathering by a Rhodolite noble - it seems suspicious to her, but she keeps that to herself. Asking him instead why he’s giving it to her.
“Do I have to put it into words?” Gilbert asks, and she says what she suspects - that he wants her to go with him. An inference that has Gilbert chuckling, stating he’s glad she’s not so hopeless that he’s gotta spell it out for her.
He’s saying how he can’t very well go to a party alone, that’d be lonely and strange.
She’s desperately trying to come up with ways to refuse him because going to a party with the enemy prince is just going to draw all kinds of unwarranted attention to herself. And attention = more people watching her = bad for her Belle SEKRIT. Not to mention more chances for her to mess up her noblewoman act.
She asks if she can consult with Sariel, and on the surface he agrees but says he’ll do the talking. She tries to wave that off as not necessary but Gilbert calls her out shrewdly. “Because you’re going to ask him how you can decline, aren’t you?”
She’s aghast that he’s caught on, as Gilbert’s sighing over how very sad that is…and she realizes she wont be able to wiggle out of this. So she tries to fake that she’s pleased, only to have Gilbert immediately and flatly call her out as a liar.
Her blood runs cold as he pins her with a single sharp eye, a chill of terror making its way down her spine. Gilbert observes that lying isn’t the strongest suit of the ‘purest heart in the land’ and she’s quaking now at the unsubtle reminder that he suspects her Belle status…but she can’t afford to confirm that.
“I don’t like liars,” Gilbert warns her. “It won’t happen again, right? So then, let us go.”
Crisis averted for the moment, she can breathe…but then she thinks his words through and decides if he doesn’t like lying than maybe she’s got free rein to say exactly what’s on her mind. So as he takes her hand and tries to lead her away, she digs in her heels and says no - she doesn’t want to do this.
“Oh?” Gilbert poses, smiling.
She thinks that maybe if she’s honest, he’ll change his mind - it’s a chance she’s willing to take at least.
Only to be thrown for a loop when he seemingly easily agrees that if that’s how it is that’s how it is, he’ll back off. But THAT’S EVEN MORE UNSETTLING that he’d agree so easily, or smile so kindly as he does. Gilbert asks why she looks so surprised, given that she doesn’t like the idea, and he says he’ll just find some other noblewoman to go with him.
Her heart freezes as he goes on. “Of course the lady being escorted by the prince of Obsidian will have to bear the brunt of the censure. Hopefully just her, but there’s a chance it could cause trouble for her entire family.” He muses that they might be accused of being traitors, or their lives put under a microscope. “Granted, you’re well-protected by the princes, so you’d probably be shielded from most of that…but you ‘don’t want to’, do you?”
She tries to counter that that’s not what she’s saying, but he turns it back around on her and says it is - and who will be sacrificed? He doesn’t blame her though and she shouldn’t be ashamed, since humans are inherently creatures that put their own self-preservation above all else.
She feels backed into a corner, as if Gilbert’s already figured out how to manipulate her after only a brief time of knowing her. Clearly confident that she’d never be able to say no to him after putting it like this. And in resignation, she agrees to accompany him, knowing she won’t win here…much to his smiling delight.
After Gilbert discusses things with Sariel, she finds herself on edge but accompanying him into a mansion on the outskirts of the city. The moment Gilbert steps through the door, all the conversation dies, and everyone stops to stare at the man the same way they all had at the diplomatic party that first night they’d met.
She can’t help feeling like she stands out even more than Gilbert does though - the mysterious lady being escorted by the Obsidian prince.
“You’re looking a bit pale again aren’t you, Miss Bunny?” Gilbert observes, and she doesn’t contest it, causing him to chuckle again. “Are you nervous? Hold my hand.”
She tries to turn him down, but before she can he takes it anyways, as if she has no grounds to deny him. Pep talking herself to not worry about the stares so much anymore, when something strikes her. “Prince Gilbert, your hands are cold.”
She’d thought as much before (he’d touched her cheeks when he stopped the stalker) and she’d sort of just chalked it up to his gloves or whatnot, but he literally feels so cold it’s like there’s no body warmth whatsoever - it’s rather alarming, tbh.
“Cold hands, warm heart,” he quotes the saying back at her, and asks why she’s refusing to look at him - it’s not like he’s done anything terrible to her right?
Internally she’s thinking YES THIS WHOLE THING COUNTS AS TERRIBLE but she doesn’t give it voice - and he scolds her not to look so glum as he twines their fingers together. Intimately, like a couple, she’s thinking, when…
“You are my lover right now, are you not?” Gilbert poses, sotto voce.
She’s so gobsmacked she can’t even find words to respond to that for a good few seconds. “...Didn’t you say you can’t stand lies?”
“It’s not a lie,” he counters. “If I say you are my lover, then it’s true. At least here and now.”
She’s forcing herself to think about this rationally, realizing that maybe his insisting she’s his lover may have something to do with this party…and warily she asks what kind of party this is.
On a smile, he tells her she’ll just have to see to find out. Still holding her hand as he takes in the party around them.
She does notice that there seems to be more women than men here, looking even more extravagant than they had at the welcome ball, wearing brightly colored gowns. They’re approached by the nobleman who seems to be the host, who thanks Gilbert for attending and Gilbert says he must have quite the spectacle prepared if he’s invited him.
The host agrees, saying it’s been some time since they’ve had anything to do with Obsidian - all the people gathered here are interested in forging better bonds with his country etc etc…
But Gilbert cuts him off to say he’s not exactly a fan of beating around the bush - and as the nobleman breaks off it hits Emma then exactly what’s going on here. The party seems to be a place to introduce plenty of eligible ladies to Gilbert.
Gilbert poses to her the question of why women would be interested in something like that, and Emma hazards a guess that it’d be a way to form a bridge of diplomacy. Gilbert seems a little more cynical though, pointing out how they’d be in a position of power and a place to negotiate with other countries as well…it’d be a sort of double edged sword but if that person could advance peace they’d be considered a hero, right?
She’s not sure that it’s as cut and dry as that, and Gilbert seems to pick up on her thoughts.
“It’s not that simple,” he agrees to her unspoken assessment. “Seeing as how the nobility will use any means necessary to gain power. Regardless of whether that means falling into league with the enemy. That’s why I like you.”
That’s why?? She doesn’t have time to ponder that before Gilbert lifts her hand to his lips - but not to kiss it, the way one of the princes from her stories would. She lets out a small pained cry as he bites her index finger, drawing it back to find he’s literally left a small toothmarks in her skin.
Poor girl is just WTF HE BIT ME?!?!
A totally unrepentant Gilbert says she doesn’t seem interested in power whatsoever - which is why he likes her. “I’m the sort who wants to leave my mark on a girl I like.” It feels like the air around her has frozen even more when he finally smiles and goes on. “But my apologies. It hurt, didn’t it?”
He’s stroking the sore spot with his cold fingers, and she’s getting the impression that was really happened here was a warning - a threat, to all the women gathered here. It’d be a rare woman who would be interested in a man that hurts what they love.
Clearly Gilbert knew what this party was, long before he set foot here, but his goal isn’t to simply avoid the situation or use her to deflect unwanted attention. He could have simply chosen NOT to come if that’s what he wanted. Clearly his intention in coming was to make a gesture that sent a message to everyone.
He quips that she must like him so much she can’t even look away, and she realizes she’s been staring at him lost in thought as he puts an arm around her and draws her close. Pronouncing that the position of his ‘Rhodolite lover’ has been filled, so he’s not interested in anyone else.
Then he laughs, and poses the question - just what is the true identity of this mystery woman who’s captivated him??
His casual comment has her blood draining, everyone’s gaze fixed on her - and they’re far from nice looks being angled her way. Gilbert says that at this rate, her family will be the one to come out on top. “Oh, right…which family is it our little bunny hails from?”
Now she’s sweating bullets, because even though she’s gotten her cover story all in place, she doesn’t want to inconvenience or make a target of the baron who’s agreed to go along with Sariel’s fib. And it’s occurring to her that this was probably part of Gilbert’s plan in inviting her to this party too, to strongarm her into revealing her identity.
He’s clearly convinced she’s Belle. He merely wants irrefutable proof.
Scrambling, she finally sees no other recourse - she tells him that she’s kept them a secret from her father, so while she’s here she’s a ‘nobody’...and she begs him not to push this.
She knows he hates lies, and he’s just looking down at her for long moments before he seems to relent, offering a smile that horrifyingly reaches nowhere near his eyes as he says he just came today to show her off anyways so it doesn’t matter if she gives her name or not.
This feels like WAY too easy of a victory, before she realizes no…he’s probably not giving up. He’s probably got some other angle entirely still, ones she can’t even see, and she’s suddenly desperate to get away. She’s too on edge to be able to look at the big picture and try and see if she can figure out just what he’s up to, so she makes her excuses about needing fresh air and he graciously lets her go.
She leaves the hall as if running from him, following a servant that’s guiding her to a break room set up by the host. She’s about to enter as the servant is leaving, trying desperately to organize her thoughts about Gilbert’s real purpose here, when she sees someone else reflected behind her….
Premium End
It’s Gilbert, saying aloud how he’s caught up to her - and she notices the servant sort of slinking off.
Gilbert laughs a little. “A good thing, no?” Baffled, she wonders what is, but he waves it off as nothing to worry about if she hadn’t noticed. Ignoring her confusion he grabs her hand. “More importantly, I’m tired of this party. Let’s leave?”
In a short while, they’re sitting in a carriage, and she starts to speak up when he finishes for her - observing that she seems to want to know what the point of all this was.
“Yes. Can you tell me?” she asks.
“I’d rather not,” he replies. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
His words take her by surprise - but not as much as the way the carriage shakes violently in the next moment, the horses whinnying in alarm. She’s thrown from her seat, only to be caught by Gilbert, and she thanks him for steadying her.
“You’re welcome. Why don’t you take a peek out the window?” he suggests. His tone is kind but there’s no choice really in it - he forcibly takes her to the window where it’s too dark to see much of anything other than torchlight. She can hear the sounds of fighting, and looking closer she can see the knights from the court that were escorting their carriage had drawn their swords and are engaged with someone.
The carriage is under attack!
Realizing that, she turns to Gilbert but he’s wearing the same pleasant smile as always. “Well, Miss Bunny….what do you think they want?”
“Money?” she ventures, figuring they’re in the mountains and it’s not uncommon for carriages to be held up as they travel.
But Gilbert shakes his head, and sets her straight. “Revenge, on me.”
She echoes that blankly and he reminds her that she’s a citizen of Rhodolite - surely she must remember what happened to her country ten years ago? His words remind her of Obsidian’s bloody invasion of Rhodolite ten years prior. Even though the princes and armies of Rhodolite had managed to repel them, plenty of people still hold grudges surrounding that event.
‘But you weren’t there ten years ago…” she begins.
“No. If I had been, Rhodolite would be no more,” Gilbert assures her, explaining that he can’t stand losing battles and if he can’t be assured of a victory that delivers the most results with the least losses, he won’t launch any attack. “But that doesn’t matter to the people of Rhodolite, does it? I’m a member of the royal family. Being resented is part and parcel of being a prince.”
As she’s still wondering if something like that can just be dismissed so casually, Gilbert says he’s got something else to show her and he kicks the door of the carriage open, taking her outside. Right into the fray, where the fighting is so fierce the dirt is kicked up in dusty clouds around them.
He laughs a little before asking if she’s frightened, to which she replies OF COURSE…but he tells her not to worry. “As long as you are my lover, I will protect you.”
She’s thinking PROTECT?? When he seems to be the cause of all this??? But she doesn’t have the stones to say that out loud, and as she’s silent she sees a figure come up behind Gilbert and slash at his back from the darkness. “Behind you!”
But at the same moment she shouts, Gilbert turns and slams his cane into the man’s stomach - stomping on his head as he collapses and jabbing him. All so fast she can hardly keep up, but it’s clear even to her untrained eye that he’s on an entirely different level.
Gilbert says to the man it’s obvious he’s just a common thug, so someone must have given him information on the whereabouts of Gilbert - who’s his boss? The man refuses to answer anything, but it doesn’t matter…a moment later Gilbert seems to have figured it out. “I see. The Viscount Garman, hm?”
That seems to get a startled reaction out of the man (and Emma too at how he’d clearly guessed right without the man saying anything). Gilbert muses aloud that he was the guy who had lost family on the day of that bloody invasion, and that if he hates Gilbert that much, he should have taken up a sword and attacked him himself…yet, he’s not here.
“Is he waiting for a report from you, glass of wine in hand, as we speak?” Gilbert wonders aloud. “It’s clear from your appearance you don’t live a life of luxury. I’m guessing he’s paid you. Paid for you to risk your life, while he sits back and watches from somewhere safe. Do you think that’s truly ‘noble’?”
The thug doesn’t seem to have any reply to that, and she can’t see Gilbert’s expression clearly from where she stands. But she doesn’t hear anything like a smile in his dry tone.
She jumps when Gilbert turns to address her, and he points out to her that the people of Rhodolite that concern themselves with him fall into two camps - those who want to use him, like those in attendance at the party earlier…and those who want to kill him for revenge.
“But they all have one thing in common,” he finishes.
One thing…she’s pondering what he means by that, and what he’s trying to say, turning all that over in her head before she speaks. “None of them are willing to use their own hands to achieve their goals?”
“You’re pretty sharp, aren’t you, Miss Bunny?”
She can finally see Gilbert’s face in the dark. How he’s smiling, but his crimson eye isn’t laughing at all as he poses her a question - does this revenge seem like a justified cause to her? She says no, and he presses further, asking if she thinks the party was? She’s silent at that, and he says that this is what he wanted to show her.
“How does this dirty world look to your pure heart?”
She takes a moment to ponder his words, and how she’d considered him a terrifying person but perhaps the truly terrifying people are those who would use others for their own gain. Offer up their daughters in exchange for power, use other’s lives for their own revenge. Even if that’s the way the world truly is, she can’t fathom it.
“You must have realized by now - that there are plenty of people far scarier than I am. Are you still frightened of me?” Gilbert asks her.
She can’t find the words to answer him.
—---
The attack suppressed by the knights, she and Gilbert finally arrive safely back at the castle. All of the servants give them a wide berth as they pass and she can feel their discomfort - usually they would all offer her a smile and a greeting.
Gilbert seems amused as he notes that, judging by their reactions there’s a rumor going around that she is his lover indeed, and she can practically feel herself pale at his words. “Did that nobleman who was hassling you say something? Knowing it would ostracize you.”
She’s still reeling from the days events and now this, and Gilbert takes her hand as if to comfort her, and tells her not to worry - he’ll take responsibility for her and take care of her while he’s at court.
“....No, that’s quite alright, thank you,” she tells him.
But he just smiles and says she doesn’t have any grounds to tell him no…and as she’s silent, he laughs and notes that he’s glad to have some company.
His phrasing confuses her for a moment until she realizes what he’s implying. That the position she’s in and the intrigues she’s been exposed to is the world that Gilbert sees day in and day out. The whole party and attack may have been some unusual events for her, but for him it’s just the same old.
This man lives in such a cold world…and she flashes back to how he’d said it would be lonely going to a party alone. Gilbert claims he doesn’t lie, so…was being ‘lonely’ his real motivation all along? That thought has her absolutely shooketh.
And Gilbert seems to take advantage of that, turning her face his way as he calls out to her. “I’d like to get to know you better.”
And this time, for once, it’s not fear that causes her heart to skip a beat but the sad tone of his voice. A bit spooked by this she tries to shake him off and put some space between them but he just laughs and says too bad - she caught onto him.
He was just trying to get her to let her guard down, wasn’t he? Everything from the start was all a part of his plan - right down to predicting just how she’d be affected and vulnerable after hearing and seeing everything she had. Manipulate her feelings and have her play right into his hand.
“You gave me the slip, right at the end. You’re no pushover, are you?” Gilbert grins, now that his jig is up, and she holds her tongue. “Haha, don’t be so wary. I did mean what I said about wanting to get to know you. I don’t lie.”
Maybe he doesn’t lie, per se, but he keeps anything important obscured behind smoke and mirrors. That’s just who he is. But at the end of the day he’s the prince of an enemy country, that’s trying to run roughshod over Rhodolite - she can’t afford to get close to him. But she also can’t just keep him at arms length without trying to learn anything about him - that would make her no different than those nobles who don’t see people as people.
And whatever else he is, Gilbert is still a person, just like her.
“I don’t want to be friends,” she warns him, and he starts to interject.
“But I will treat you the same as I would anyone else.” That seems to pique his interest, and she goes on to say that regardless of whether he’s an enemy beast, some rampaging beast, or whatever - she wants to face him, just one person to another.
He seems genuinely shocked for a moment.
And she thinks that she was chosen to be the next Belle because she was expected to choose the next king without bias - how can she claim to do that when she’s viewed Gilbert with prejudice from the start? The last thing she wants is to be anything like those aristocrats.
Gilbert recovers and lets out a little huff, still seeming a bit stunned. “Approaching me one person to another doesn’t change who or what I am, does it? But I’m glad. I’ve been wanting to face you too.” He closes the space between them and takes up her hand again. “What happens when someone pure like you gets sullied?”
She stammers a confused reply, but he cuts her off with a laugh and says he’s looking forward to finding out. He lifts her fingers and she hastily tells him she has NO interest in being bitten again - but utterly nonplussed and ignoring how much she hates the idea, he takes her finger between his teeth and bites down again, as hard as he can.
It hurts far more than it did at the party.
“I said as much already, didn’t I? I like to leave a mark on those things I like. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Miss Bunny.”
He runs his tongue over her smarting fingertip, and then releases her hand. Turning away in a seemingly good mood with a flourish of his cape…leaving her behind, very bemused. She has no idea if this whole ‘seeing eye to eye’ thing might ever work out, but as she clutches her abused hand and wipes away the pained tears in her eyes, most of the way her heart pounds is out of fear.
But mixed in amongst the fear are some other emotions that she just can’t quite place yet.
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