Actually, it was pretty easy once he found her trail.

Mario rushed through the castle at a pace that could conservatively be called a “hustle”: Not fast enough to seem as though he were in a hurry (which he was), but not exactly slow enough to be called a “walk” either. If any of the Toads saw him, they’d probably just determine that he’s moving with purpose. Any faster and the dullards would probably assume that there were some kind of emergency and move to secure the Princess. That would most definitely ruin Mario’s fun. Mario didn’t stop moving, but his mind did for a moment. Fun? Is this was constituted as fun for him, now? Using a magic sex notebook to mind control and spy on a woman as she slowly stripped herself of her garments? He really was turning into a villain. Or E. Gadd used an age-regressing machine on him as he slept, turning him into a hormone-driven teenager again. Nah, if he did that, he’d use it on himself first. After using Luigi as a guinea pig.

After mulling it over for a moment, Mario grinned. Yeah, this was fun. Also villainous as all hell. But fuck it, that pink bitch deserved it for depriving him of a real reward for so long. If that made Mario a bad guy, a villain, a tyrant then he could live with it. So long as he got to bury himself hips deep in Peach’s cake and fill it to the brim with his cream.

So enamored with his newfound purpose in life (although it was the same purpose, just approached differently, really), he almost missed the first sign of Peach’s newfound exhibitionist streak: her blue pearl hair band, sitting on a table. Some days, Princess Peach liked to put her hair up. Mario guessed this was one of those days. There were two other chambers that led off from this one other than the room Mario had just come from. Mario peeked inside the first one: it was one of the castle’s many, many guest bedrooms, but it looked like apart from the cleaning maids this room had seen no signs of habitation. There were still sheets placed upon the furniture to protect them from dust. Mario shut the door and hurried on to the next room.

Another hallway, but hanging from one of the wall lamps were Peach’s earrings. He was on her trail, now. Mario could hear the clacking of her heels on the marble floor off in the distance. Following the sound, he hurried to the end of the hallway just in time to see Peach walk out the next room. Sitting on a small plate in front of a vanity (oh boy, were there a LOT of those in this castle) was her signet ring. Important for affixing her seal to official paperwork, but not needed to maintain her modesty. Interesting, Mario thought, he figured that’d be one of the last things she took off before getting to the really big stuff. Hell, Mario even figured she’d might even leave it on until she had to choose between it and her tiara.

On a whim, Mario picked up the signet ring. If he were going to start acting like a villain, he might as well acquire the means to forge official paperwork. Tucking it into his overalls, Mario hurried out the opposite door before he lost sight of Peach again, stopping at the threshold to peek around the next room.

In the adjacent chamber, Peach appeared to be admiring herself in the mirror. Were her cheeks a little more flushed than usual? Mario couldn’t tell from this distance. What was she doing? Mario couldn’t see her hands…, and then suddenly he could! Sans gloves, even! Outside of sporting events, it was very rare to see the pale skin of her dainty arms. Dainty only in appearance, though. Mario knew that those arms were more than capable of launching a tennis ball so hard it could crack even Bowser’s skull. The Princess then neatly folded up her gloves and set them on a nearby chair. She then made a strange face, an expression that Mario had never seen before, before exhaling slightly and walking out into the next hallway, with the plumber not too far behind.

Maintaining a far enough distance in order to not be seen, but not so far away as to lose track of the Princess, Mario followed the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom as she marched down a very long hallway without ducking into as much as another room. It was frustrating him a little bit, what was she going to take off next? The curiosity burned a fierce fire in his chest and groin. The Tome worked, he was sure of that now. Whether or not it was a trap still remained to be seen. But he knew what he had written down and he wanted to see it to its final conclusion. He wanted to see it every step of the way. He’d never even seen her naked, and that was about to change forever. Mario’s dick almost leapt out of his pants at that thought.

The Princess then made a turn at T in the hallway, and Mario realized where she was headed: her personal chambers. Mario stopped at the intersection, peering around the corner. For now, he could go no further. Not unless he wanted the attention of her elite guards. Not that he’d be unable to beat them if he wanted to, but even if he’d made up his mind about being a villain, he wasn’t quite ready to burn bridges with the Mushroom Kingdom like that as of yet. Besides, with the Tome in his possession, he could rule this whole world if he wanted to.

Yup, definitely thinking like a villain now. Only villains want to take over the world for the sake of their earthly paradise. Even if that earthly paradise would result in free sex for everybody. Maybe.

But for now, Mario had to keep his eye on the prize, and that prize was Peach’s fine ass. Mario watched as she walked past her guards. If they had comments about her attire, they kept it to themselves. One of them did take notice when the Princess removed her brooch before walking into her room, but said nothing. Moments stretched into minutes into hours in Mario’s mind, impatience burning a hole in his mind, until Peach returned bearing Perry, her sentient parasol and… was that the Vibe Scepter?!

Everyone in the hall apart from Peach, including Mario, stiffened. The only thing that could have been more foreboding is if Dry Bowser himself had exited the Princess’s personal chambers. Perry was one thing, his use was mostly utilitarian in nature, becoming a parachute or a boat or similar objects at her command. But the Vibe Scepter? That was straight up a magic wand that weaponized the Princess’s emotions, which were already pretty strong and volatile to begin with. And with the charged air surrounding the Princess at the moment, all that was missing was a declaration of war.

For the first time since Mario got the Grimoire, he believed he may have made a mistake. As Princess Peach placed her brooch back on, Mario ducked into the nearest unoccupied room, locking the door. He then placed his ear to the door, keeping an eye on the light filtering in through the keyhole. Eventually, Mario heard voices approaching, one he recognized as Princess Peach and the other… might have been Perry? It had been quite some time time since Mario had heard his voice, but Mario was quite sure that was the Parasol’s tones. He couldn’t make out the words, but the conversation appeared to be pleasant. Then the voices faded away. Mario, heart in his chest, waited a beat before quietly unlocking the door and peeking his head out.

Heading the opposite way that they had came, the Princess headed around yet another corner at the far end of the hallway. Eager to follow, despite himself, Mario took off after her, bearing in mind to keep up a veneer of calm in front of the hallway leading to Princess Peach’s chambers. None of the guards stopped him.