The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 360: A Handful

Chapter 360: A Handful

After babysitting Zoran, Fritz made his way to the tavern he and Laura agreed to meet up with tonight. He did his best to not let his apprehension get to him. This was the night that they were supposed to have their drinking contest, after all, and he wasn’t the type to back off even if he felt like he was going to lose.

"Such a pain," he grumbled to himself as he navigated the city streets. "I just hope I’ve done enough for this..."

If he was being honest, he sincerely hoped that his drinking buddy would just cancel out of the blue if only so that he could avoid drinking again. The last time he had too much to drink, he woke up with the worst headache he had ever had in his life, and that was with Zoran while he was practicing too.

In truth, he never really had the courage to keep practicing after that. On top of simply being too busy to do so, a part of him almost never wanted to touch a bottle of alcohol ever again if only to spare himself from the pain. Alas, that was never meant to happen. He had given Laura his word, and he couldn’t just go back at it with the excuse of never wanting to drink ever again.

Well, that, and he was sure that the woman would never let him live it down.

Letting out another sigh, Fritz stared up at the tavern where the contest would take place. Shaking his head, he made his way inside and went to one of the many private rooms that they had already reserved in advance for their little contest.

"Took you a while."

Sure enough, there sat Laura waiting for him the moment he opened the door. It would seem that the new minister of justice actually got there ahead of him, much to his surprise.

"I’m pretty sure I’m not late," Fritz raised a brow as he casually took his seat in front of her. "In fact, I’d say you’re the one that’s early. Aren’t you supposed to be busy bringing justice to this kingdom of ours?"

"I just pawned off some of the work I still had to a few of my men," Laura shrugged as she scoffed. "They’re not so important that I have to be the one to take care of them anyway. As for the other stuff, I’m pretty sure I can put them off till tomorrow."

"That sounds awfully irresponsible," Fritz teased her. "Wouldn’t it set a bad precedent for the new minister to blow off work like this?"

"Eh, they know well enough how I work," she chuckled back with a wave of her hand. "I do my best work in the mornings anyway. If I’m really feeling it, I could get all of it done before noon tomorrow."

Fritz simply raised a brow at her claims as he made himself comfortable. He could honestly see her do exactly what she said, but until he saw it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe her too quickly.

"You don’t believe me, don’t you," Laura accused him.

"What can I say? I’ll believe it when I see it," he chuckled back. "Honestly, I don’t see you doing any work tomorrow either way. You’ll be too hungover to even stand up, I’m sure."

"You’re talking like I haven’t worked through a hangover before," she smugly stated. "I’ll have you know that I’ve already done exactly that at least once during my tenure as minister."

"You’re going to just blatantly show up drunk at work then?" Fritz curiously asked.

"I have a good constitution," she proudly stated. "While I might get drunk, I’ll still be halfway lucid enough to work through it. Might not remember much, but I’ll at least still get decent work done."

He blinked at her outrageous claims. While he could believe her earlier claims, this was far too ridiculous for him to believe.

"Well, time will tell, I suppose," Fritz shrugged. "Anyway, where’s the alcohol? We’ve been chatting for a while now."

"Let’s get to ordering then," Laura faintly nodded. "I’m sure we still both have work tomorrow, so getting started earlier means recovering faster."

In agreement with one another, the two of them promptly waved for a servant to bring them a crate of wine to get started. Fritz was sure that it would only be the first of many, however, and as they started drinking, they also started chatting further and further away from mere work topics, instead talking about random philosophical jargon and other stuff that should be well beyond their capacity at their current drunkenness.

"Fritz, do you think we’re alone?" Laura absently asked, her third bottle of wine in her hand as she took a sip. "Are we really the only people out here?"

"What in the world are you talking about now?" he weakly chuckled, his own empty bottle of wine in hand before he placed it aside to grab his fourth one. "Are you that drunk that you’re no longer making sense? You should give up already."

"The hell are you talking about? I’m talking about... well, this world," she slurred out, her eyes still sharp despite her seeming lack of coherence. "Surely, this world isn’t the only one out there, right? Maybe beyond the skies, there’s more to be had..."

"What? You mean the moon and the stars?" Fritz scoffed as he took a swig of his wine. "I’m pretty sure they’re as empty as the deserts."

"But... But what if they aren’t though?" she questioned, her cheeks flushed as she leaned into him. "Maybe we’re just missing something. Maybe there’s magic that can take us beyond the skies."

Fritz could only shake his head at the nonsense Laura was spouting. Thankfully, he wasn’t completely out of it that he was thinking of such insanity like his drinking partner. Although, he couldn’t help but notice how close she was being to him right now. Her clothes were practically sliding off her shoulders, and he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander as she rambled on in front of him.

"Maybe someday, we’ll know," he vaguely replied.

"I hope that someday comes sooner then," she pouted as she took another sip of her wine. "I’d like to at least see it happen... Maybe Her Majesty can come up with something... Maybe she can fly all the way beyond what we can see?"

He did his best not to laugh even as he felt his inhibitions lowering at the woman in front of him. Somehow, he was still standing even as his partner was deep into her drunken illusions. And judging by how careless she was being now, and how... exposed she was to him without a care in the world, he knew he had to be the responsible one and try to stop her before things could get any further out of hand.

"Laura, I think you’ve had too much to drink already," Fritz began as he did his best to avoid looking at his partner’s exposed cleavage. "You’re clearly drunk already, and you did say earlier that we both still have work to do-"

"I’m far from drunk, Fritz," she slurred out as she lazily looked at him. "I’m still talking straight, aren’t I?"

"You look like you’re about to fall over," he pointed out, knowing full well that he was the same. "We should stop before things happen."

"What kind of things?" she teased. "Like what’s happening right now on your crotch?"

Fritz’s eyes widened as she began to straddle him. Grinding her hips against him, he groaned as she unapologetically teased him with a bottle of wine in hand.

"I... I honestly wouldn’t mind, to be honest," Laura admitted as she downed the entire bottle in her hand. "I... wouldn’t... think...."

Before he could even think of what was happening, Laura suddenly collapsed on top of him, her breath reeking of alcohol as she breathed softly against his ear. Somehow, he almost wanted to thank the Almighty for making her pass out before he lost control of himself. He was that close to just calling out her bluff and taking her right then and there. But with her knocked out like this, he returned to his senses enough to stand up and carry her with him out of the establishment.

"What a handful, you are," he chuckled as he carried her with him.

While he didn’t know where she lived, he supposed that he could simply deposit her in her own office in the Ministry of Justice. She might be annoyed at him for leaving her alone, but she’ll at least be safe there.

That, and he was pretty sure that she’d accuse him of cheating since she clearly went for five bottles while he only managed to do three by cleverly pacing himself.

With those thoughts in mind, Fritz carried Laura’s unconscious body with him through the alleyways of the city streets. Despite being almost drunk, he at least had enough sense to keep themselves hidden.

He really didn’t want some kind of scandal to erupt from all of this. Or at least, he hoped that would be the case. Whatever happened next would be their future selves’s problem.