[Bonus chapter] Madman's Gambit - Part 28

"Ha," the pest exhaled, red in the cheeks. "This pseudo-philosophy bores me, Nikolai."

Of course, it did. One grew bored and frustrated with the topics one could not comprehend. And fair enough – I was stalling, anyway, and for no particular reason other than to toy with the bastard.

"Let us… move on, shall we? This is meant to be civil, no?" He offered me a horrendously sunny smile. It turned my stomach. "Tell me, are you still too young to partake in spirits?"

"Mockery at a civil meal?" I questioned before tutting at him. "Your manners are appalling."

He bit down, the vein in his forehead pulsating.

Well, I assumed it was pulsating - I couldn't see that much detail so far away from him. I knew of his reputation. He had, without a single shred of doubt, neglected to whet the blade of his mind - if he had ever done so, at all, in the span of his pathetic life.