Fate Merveille

Chapter 16

Merlin sat back down with an annoyed and disappointed look on her face. Sabine was going to ask what happened until Marinette stopped her, Merlin wasn't the type of person who dealt with frustration well. Her constantly yelling at Arthur whenever he did something wrong was enough evidence for that. She didn't like Shirou, that was for sure, she kept her eye on him until Artur returned from the bathroom and handed her something. Her focus was back on her plate and she continued to eat.

Leticia soon approached the table to distract herself from Karna and Arjuna bickering, they were going to drive her insane and she left Minami to deal with them. Minami was hardcore, more than she was, and knew how to put the boys in their place if they started to act out. Arthur stood up and gave Leticia his chair so she could talk with Marinette as he stood on the other side of Marinette's chair.

They kept war business out of their conversation since both Tom and Sabine were there listening in. Leticia then leaned in close and said that Ruler wanted the masters to know that she was going to stay asleep for a bit longer. Ruler felt like she had no place in the war as it was and that Leticia was doing a good enough job with Karna.

"Oh, I also wanted to ask you two something." Leticia looked to Marinette's parents. "You see, my husband likes something called a Clafoutis, and I have no idea what it is or how to get it."

"Ah yes," Tom said, "I think I can make that for you."

"Really, oh thank you so much. I've been looking all over for one and found absolutely nothing."

"Leticia," Karna went up to her. He was eating a macaron and had a bowl of them in his hands, behind him was Arjuna, who kept stealing one every chance he got. "Can you make him stop?"

"I'm related to him by marriage, you're the older brother, you do something about him," Leticia said as she also took a macaroon from the bowl.

"You must be Leticia's husband," Sabine commented.

"And that's your brother behind you?" Tom asked.

"Yes," Karna caught Arjuna at the right time and smacked his hand before he grabbed another macaroon. "I said stop."

"Okay, that's it!" Merlin grabbed the bowl from Karna and raised it above her head. "You two play nice or the sweets go away!"

Merlin kept the bowl over her head and walked off with it, Karna went over to Leticia and stood next to her while Arjuna headed back to his table. Merlin smashed the bowl on Shirou's head then went back to the table. Leticia kept them entertained with her stories about Fuyuki and how she worked for the church for a while before becoming a full-time student, she was in Paris on a study break and was planned to get back to work after she returned to Fuyuki.

When Sabine and Tom asked Karna about his life, he was vague, to say the least. Leticia made up the story about them going to school together and met not long after the brothers transferred. It was believable enough that no one questioned it. She didn't mention anything about him being a superhero, so Marinette's parents assumed he was the same as Ladybug and Chat Noir, much to her chagrin.

Marinette, without thinking about it, leaned on her left hand. Something she was careful about before but forgot since Leticia was there. Leticia's command seals were on her back, making it easy to hide with a simple shirt, but Marinette's seals were in her hand and she forgot to wear her gloves. Her parents immediately saw that there was something strange in her hand. When her father asked if she got cut, she looked at her hand then buried it under the table.

Her parents were all over her and trying to get her to show them what was on her hand, Arthur got in the middle of them as Merlin clung onto his leg to get the attention on her. Both Leticia and Karna tried to calm things down to no avail. Tom and Sabine both asked if it was because of the mark on her hand that Marinette rarely kept it over the table.