"Sorry about making you listen to that... I know it was long... I have a keen interest in history... The more interesting side of it, specifically." Reph let out a yawn, holding his palm over his mouth.
Lillian waved her hand dismissively, "Nah, it's fine. The story of interesting. But could I ask you one thing?"
"Hm? Sure... I don't see why not... Shoot."
"You said that a large portion of the ocean that they fought in caused a large portion of it to become evaporated. Was it ever... y'know. Fixed?"
Reph gave a brief nod, "Soon after. Although, it was a several year project, they were eventually able to fill the sea back up with water, while dumping in tons of salt and restoring the sea life. We are, after all, tasked with Earth's preservation."
"Eh? By who?"
Reph raised an eyebrow, "By the God of Earth, the Black Turtle."
Lillian tilted her head, "I thought you worshipped the Vermillion Bird. Not the Black Turtle."
Reph sighed, "I worship the Vermilion Bird. But that still doesn't mean that we humans are Earth's preserver." He stood up from the ground, dusting his clothes off, "Now then... I think I admired this place long enough to where I got bored."
He then turned to Lillian.
"By the way..."
"Yes?"
"Did you know that Millis was spying on us?" He pointed back with his thumb.
Lillian raised an eyebrow, turning towards the direction he was pointing — the forest — and saw Millis was there, hiding behind a tree.
What was the Heroine doing spying on them?
She then watched her sigh and pointed towards the ground. Lillian furrowed her brows, staring at the spot she was pointing at and finding nothing there. However, when she stared down at the ground beneath her own feet.
Boing...
She was immediately met with a face full of something soft. She felt something wrap around her head, pulling in further into this... wall.
"Ah... It seems Miss Roselle was here, as well." The Prince commented, watching as Marionette buried Lillian's face into her chest. He then noticed a somewhat urging look from her, almost as though she were quietly asking him to leave.
He sighed and raised his arms before turning around.
"Alright, I better get going now."
Lillian finally popped her face out from Marionette's suffocating chest, huffing deeply. She watched as the Prince waved back without looking back, then smiled wryly as he grabbed the scruff of Millis's neck and dragged her back into the forest.
The Heroine didn't seem too happy about this, considering she had just been released from one.
She gave a teasing wave at them, "Ya guys better not do anything inappropriate over there, while ya guys are alone." She emphasised a particular word to mock the Assassin, "Oh! And try not to get another hickey, Lil'!"
Lillian chuckled self-deprecatingly at her words, waving back.
Once the two had disappeared into the forest, both she and Marionette were now left alone.
The Assassin stared down at the Rabbit with a... complex expression.
"You were speaking with the Prince for an awfully long while."
Lillian raised an eyebrow, "Was I? I was kinda just listening to him speak. But anyway! Why does that matter?" She tilted her head.
"..."
Marionette's brows furrowed. The arm around Lillian's waist pulled her in further. The hand stroking the back of her white hair paused. The Assassin then turned her face away, muttering in an apathetic tone:
"Nothing. Its... nothing."
This left Lillian slightly confused, but she ignored the woman's strange behaviour. She pulled herself out of Marionette's embrace and took a step away from her.
Marionette watched her do this, perplexed.
"So... Mari..." Lillian placed her arms behind her back, smiling at her dangerously. She then pointed at the hickey on her neck, "What's this about?"
"... I don't know what you are referring to." Marionette casually shrugged, feigning ignorance.
"Oh, come on! You know exactly what you did! I can't believe you left a hickey on my neck!" Lillian turned around and walked around in a circle. She then paused and rubbed the gap between her brows.
Marionette watched as Lillian turned to her with a scolding look.
"And worse of all, you didn't even tell me you did it. When did you even get the chance to, anyway!?"
"Back in the tent." Marionette answered in a stoic voice.
"You know what you did was extremely wrong, right?" Lillian facepalmed, staring at her through the gaps between her fingers, "You really just can't go around giving people random hickeys..."
Lillian stared at Marionette's nonchalant expression, finding that she didn't look even the slightest bit ashamed. The Assassin, in response to her words, tilted her head.
"I'm only willing to give those to you, though, Lilly... Only you can have these sorts of things from me." She said, then added, "I still don't find what I did wrong. What I did was merely a show of ownership and affection to my belongings."
Lillian's face flashed red at her last sentence.
"W-wha!? T-that's still—!"
Marionette interrupted her.
"It's kind of like how a cat leave their scent on their favourite human. Is it wrong for them to mark you as theirs with their scent?"
"B-bu—! You're not a cat!" Lillian yelled in a high-pitched voice.
Marionette folded her arms and tapped her chin with her index finger, pondering on Lillian's words. She then smiled and tilted her upper body to the side with a playful look.
"But I am... Your pet. Aren't I~?" She said, shamelessly, "Shouldn't you allow me to act like one?"
Lillian, flustered, watched as Marionette approached her. Watched as she felt her wrap her fingers around her chin and tilted it up. Watched as Marionette leaned her face in closer and cooed:
"Or... Do you perhaps want to be the one..." She leaned her head to the side, revealing her bare neck to her, "... To mark me~... Instead?" Her smile turned into a teasing grin.
Lillian widened her eyes and yelled...