"Sure, sure!" Drawn to the new punishment, Trillian asked, "Does that mean we can take these ugly notes off now?"
Several stickers were already stuck to her face; they fluttered in the wind, obstructing her vision and causing itching, which was very annoying.
"Yes," Draco readily agreed.
"Whoosh!" Trillian cheered, eagerly tearing the paper strip off her face, wishing she could immediately regain her freshness.
Hermione also tore off a piece of paper, but instead of throwing it away, she pinched it, moistened it with saliva, and stuck it face down on Draco's face.
"!" Draco was startled by Hermione's attack and tilted his head to block, but the note was already stuck. He looked helplessly at Hermione, whose eyes were gleaming with cunning, and chuckled:
"Wife, is this... retaliation?"
"Look at your bare face, there's no 'game experience' at all, how can that be acceptable?" Hermione would never admit that she just didn't like the way this guy's face was so clean.
"Yes, yes!" Trillian reacted and immediately joined in the attack, shoving the slips of paper in her hand at Draco's face. "Young Master, you can't be different! This one's on the left, this one's on the right, and another symmetrical one between his eyebrows!"
At first, Draco made a token attempt to block them, but later he simply gave up, letting the two girls laugh as they transferred all the defeat medals that originally belonged to them onto their own faces.
Seeing the mischievous look on Hermione's face, Draco actually thought... his little wife had become "bad," but it didn't seem so bad.
This interaction made Hermione much more lively.
"Satisfied now, ladies who are the 'winners'?" Draco, with a note covering his face, looked at the two girls who were laughing together.
The two couldn't help but laugh, Draco then used Scouring Charm, instantly removing the note from his face and restoring his clean appearance.
"Alright," Draco tapped the table, steer the conversation back on track, "Enough of this nonsense, let's decide on a new punishment."
"The loser... barks like a puppy! And crawls around the table!" Trillian was the first to propose a new punishment.
"No!" Hermione immediately rejected the suggestion. "That's too insulting, it's inappropriate." She then gave her own idea.
"The loser must choose ten poems from the poetry collection and recite them aloud with expression and emotion, according to the standards of a recitation competition. Pronunciation must be standard, emotion must be full, and laughter is not allowed."
"No way!" Trillian waved her hands immediately upon hearing this. "I hate this kind of pretentious stuff! It makes my tongue twist and it's even worse than losing! This punishment is too torturous!"
The two rejected each other's suggestions, then turned to Draco, hoping he could come up with a compromise that was also interesting. Draco had already thought of a solution and said, "I don't think your suggestions are exciting enough. How about this..."
"The loser... take off a piece of clothing?"
"This is great! This is great!" Trillian's eyes lit up.
" Malfoy, do you have a death wish?!" Hermione's face flushed red, and she grabbed a pillow from the side, ready to throw it at him.
"Just kidding, just kidding," Draco leaned back to avoid it, quickly adding a suggestion, "How about this, the loser has to confess their love with cheesy words for two minutes?"
"Young Master, what a terrible idea! But I like this punishment! It's quite wicked!" Trillian thought it was alright.
"Is this a proposal aimed at me? You two shameless bastards teamed up to swindle me? You can say such things, but I can't!" Hermione said through gritted teeth.
"Consider it a chance to practice your social skills," Draco said.
"No way!" Hermione refused decisively, arms crossed, making it clear there was no room for negotiation. "Find another one!"
"Alright, alright," Draco shrugged, not insisting, "Let's think about it together some more. We still have plenty of time; we'll find a punishment that satisfies all three of us."
Finally, after discussion among the three, the new punishment was decided: the loser would have to massage the shoulders of the winner for 3 minutes and tell a story about their most embarrassing moment.
This punishment is relatively mild, but telling someone your most embarrassing or shameful secret might be harder to do than giving them a massage.
A new round begins, with Hermione as the landlord and Draco and Trillian as the peasants teaming up to fight her.
Hermione had a good starting hand. With a smirk, she played a single card. When it was Trillian's turn, she hesitated for a long time, torn between breaking up a pair or not. In the end, she played a random small card, completely ruining the rhythm that Draco had worked so hard to build.
Draco's eye twitched as he watched the card Trillian played, and Hermione, noticing this, smirked even more.
After several rounds, Trillian's performance was nothing short of disastrous.
He failed to follow when he should have, and recklessly grabbed things when he shouldn't have, repeatedly thwarting Draco's carefully laid traps.
Draco's expression grew increasingly subtle. His lips moved several times, but he forcibly held back. Finally, when he saw Trillian once again use a major card to protect Hermione's crucial card, Draco could no longer contain himself and was about to offer his guidance...
Hermione stopped her, tapping on the table. "Hey, no outside coaching! Farmers can't collude!"
Hermione's tone was full of schadenfreude; she was happier to see Draco's frustrated and helpless expression than to have won the game.
Draco was speechless and could only watch as Trillian continued her reckless descent down the wrong path, the outcome of which was entirely predictable.
The farmers suffered a crushing defeat.
"I've already said that if the farmers don't cooperate well, the landlords have a much higher chance of winning. You guys still need to work on your teamwork," Hermione said smugly.
"Young Master, I've held you back..." Trillian looked ashamed, her head drooping, her voice full of apology.
"It's alright," Draco waved his hand reassuringly. "You can practice your card skills, and you can wait for luck. Your luck just wasn't on this hand."
He glanced at Hermione's smug expression and said, "It's good to let someone win a round, so they won't throw a tantrum after losing."
"Who's throwing a tantrum? Malfoy, don't make baseless accusations!" Hermione glared back, then snorted, too lazy to argue with him. In a good mood after winning the game, she turned to look at Trillian.
He said with a hint of victorious arrogance,
"Hurry up, are you trying to renege on your debt after losing? Massage! Embarrassing moments! We can't leave out either of them! Which of you two wants to go first?"
" Trillian, you go first." Hermione assigned the task before the two could decide, leaving Draco to be tormented later.
Trillian was quite decisive, accepting her loss without a word, and walked behind Hermione, putting her arm around her shoulder and starting to massage her.
"Hmm... a little to the left... yes, right there... a little more force..." Hermione ordered without any hesitation.
He acted like a big shot.