𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝐼𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢...

1. A Chaotic morning.

"Sigewinne!!"

Wriothesley had found himself in quite a predicament. When he originally agreed to let Sigewinne attempt to make dinner for her cooking practice, he didn't anticipate the fact that she would load his food with mint leaves.

He hated mint.

Loathed it even.

Offer him anything mint? He wouldn't speak to you.

Feed him it? Immediate funeral.

However, despite her antics, Sigewinne was his daughter, so he couldn't exactly retort. Although he would get his revenge someway or another, whether it be a small prank or confiscating her sweets for a week or so, either would most likely be effective.

Currently, he could hear her not so subtle giggling coming from the other room as he was aggressively drinking water, trying to get the ice cold flavor off his tongue, and to be honest the water wasn't helping.

"This brat.."

He mumbled under his breath, finally managing to make the taste milder, he decided to make the karma more instant that his lovely daughter would think it would arrive. Grabbing an ice cold cup of water and silently walking to the living room, slowly walking up behind the couch, where sigewinne was sat watching TV. He made sure that she had nothing valuable around her on or on her person before pouring the water straight on her head.

She froze.

Wriothesley got worried.

"DAD!!!"

"You brought that upon yourself sweetheart," He chuckled,

"That's not fair, it's the middle of winter and now I'm soaked!"

"Come on, you needed a shower anyway, it's Monday tomorrow,"

To which Sigewinne responded with a groan... "I don't wanna go to school...."

"Come on, you're not skipping again," He picked her up, as she nestled into his hold and peacefully allowed him to take her upstairs,

"Can I at least skip the shower?"

"It'll warm you up, go on,"

"Fine fine." She closed the door to the bathroom, and Wriothesley heard the shower head being turned on. Shaking his head fondly at his daughters actions, heading down stairs to begin drying the couch with a towel.

Not only did Sigewinne not want to go to school, but Wriothesley seriously did NOT want to go into work tomorrow. He had received an email a few days prior that there would be a large meeting addressing any new assignments or missions, and he dreaded the things that his name would appear in.

Why is he always put on cases and missions?

Why him!?

Isn't Clorinde a better fit for some of the things he gets put on!?

It seriously feels like he gets targetted sometimes, maybe he should consider retiring early.

On second thought, many people would send him death threats if he decided to do that. So it wouldn't be the best option.

He got snapped out of his thoughts by Sigewinne tugging on his shirt, dressed in her pajamas and her hair dry, in a small ponytail.

"Night old man."

"...you couldn't be the slightest bit more respectful to your father?"

She was silent, going up the stairs before stopping at the top and looking back down at him, taking a bow.

"I bid thee a fair night, my dearest parent." Her voice was overflowing with a mocking tone, before going into her room. Clearly annoyed at Wriothesley for making her go to school the next day.

"Night Winne," Wriothesley called up, a smile could clearly be heard in his voice as he himself went into his room located down stairs, closing the door behind him. However he had no intention of sleeping, sitting behind the desk in his room and his whole demaneor changing.

The fall of night meant he could seriously get to work. Knowing Sigewinne was asleep, he didn't have to worry about any events she had on or whether she just wanted his company, which of course he would never refuse to give her, he loved her more than life itself, but he did also need the peace and quiet in order to put his full attention into his job.

Of course, his daughter would never know what he truly did, no one apart from the trusted and carefully selected people that worked with him knew. He picked up his pen, and began doing his assigned pieces of research, as well as learning about many previous events that had occurred. He didn't plan on getting much sleep tonight, but that wasn't a problem, he had grown used to living off 2-3 hours of sleep, perhaps the odd nap if he had finished all his work and wasn't called for. Sigewinne may have scolded him once or twice for looking tired, therefore he learnt how to conceal it, and eventually just stopped being tired.

Of course he knew that wasn't how it worked, and given the chance, he would fall asleep in an instant. The problem was that he never fell into a deep sleep, it was always a light, restless mood. His guard could never be put down no matter how hard he tried, that's how he was raised. One of the many things he vowed when he adopted Sigewinne was to make sure she never had to struggle with his bad habits.

He was very thankful for his daughter, despite her young age of 8, her mental age was quite a bit higher. She had matured young, but this didn't stop her from being a child at heart, that was what mattered to Wriothesley. Having a childhood stripped from you is one of the most painful things to him, those years of innocence and ignorance are a bliss compared to the reality of the world, and he'd protect Sigewinnes as long as he could.

Seconds turned into minutes.

Minutes turned into hours.

Hours turned into the whole night.

As Wriothesley signed his name off on the last piece of paper he had been given, he could hear a certain child grumbling about the kitchen not so quietly, complaining about something or other. The clock read 7:03. He didn't get any sleep, but it didn't bother him, as getting all the paperwork out of the way lifted a burden he didn't even know he held.

Quickly splashing his face with cold water and taking a shot of lemon juice he kept in his room for this scenario, any fatigue he held was quickly disposed of, exiting his room to find Sigewinne struggling to reach a cup. He smiled at her, as she threw out mild insults at the cup at being so high, it was clear she wasn't exactly a morning person....

Wriothesley went over and grabbed the cup, handing it to her as she muttered a slurred "Thank you.."

"Did you get your bag packed last night Winne?"

"Mhm." Was her response, not wanting to give full sentences as she had a mouthful of cereal.

"That's good, I'm gonna have to drop you off about 10 minutes earlier today, that alright? I have somewhere that I need to be this morning,"

She nodded, putting her bowl in the sink as she handed him a hairbrush to do her hair. When he first adopted her, Wriothesley had no clue on how to do any sort of styles, but over time he learnt how to achieve different ones. He opted for a small braid today, before sorting out her uneven uniform and handing the bag to her.

"Come on, you don't want to be late now, do you?"

"Okay okay, I get it, can we gooo?" She whined, opening the front door, and walking out to the car.

Wriothesley locked the door behind them, strapping Sigewinnes seatbelt for her before getting in the drivers seat and turning the engine on, proceeding to drive her to school, she quickly said goodbye as she spotted her friends, letting a quick "I love you!" slip as she hurriedly ran over.

Wriothesley got back in the car and began to drive to work, dreading ever passing second.

Today was going to be a long day.

✧

Thank you all for giving this fic a shot! If you can tolerate my writing style and want a story that's not modern au, feel free to check out my other wriolette fic Cooperation, which is more of a murder mystery :)))) <3