#The prince was destined to become a great king | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

strvlveera · 1 year

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𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥.

pairing: royalty!oikawa x afab!reader

genre: royal au, angst w/happy ending, fluff

w/c: 10.7k (help me)

warnings: swearing (lmk if there should be more !)

synopsis: sick and tired of the looming castle walls, tooru decides to adventure outwards. somewhere he wasn't allowed to go. dressed as a young 'peasant' boy tooru comes across the delicious smell of fresh baked bread. considering he was starving he marched right in demanding a loaf of bread, forgetting he wasn't in normal attire. you, the daughter of the baker, found him a headache but also amusing. I mean what source of entertainment can you get when you're so poor?

"I am your prince!"

"...then why are you dressed like that?"

(lowercase intended)

slightly based on 'ceilings' by lizzy mcalpine

a/n: this isn't proofread so there may be careless mistakes! the synopsis doesn't comprehend how much angst there will be... I made this fic as an excuse to not sleep...got this idea at 2 am so T_T honestly since hq is coming back(?) soon I just want my home boy back...

I also apologise for not getting this done sooner i don't know why it took me so long.. anyways enjoy!

btw can you spot a manwha reference too?

NOT PROOF READ!

taglist: @tooruchiiscribs @qualitygiantshoepsychic @sillykawa @rukia-uchiha-98 @softcd @misfit-megumi @suzizanne

"sit here and reminisce about your actions. I have a lot of things to do today," the king calmly demanded tooru as he whined and grumbled, dragging him by the arm to his room.

"I just wanted to play, you're always so busy and nee-san is always holding tea parties with her friends!" tooru exclaimed, crossing arms.

"you'll understand in the future. when you’re king, you'll always be busy."

"what if I don't want to be king? I want to be a knight! I want to be free and keep my friends safe, as well as you and nee-san," tooru proudly said to his father, as if convincing him that taking the throne was what he wasn't destined for.

the king mockingly laughed, not taking tooru's words seriously.

"keep an eye on him, don't let him leave this room until I come back," stated the king to the guard outside who gave a quick nod.

"of course, your highness."

"i'll be off then tooru, behave."

with the creak of the closing door tooru sprawled his arms across the bed as he flumped down, a sour look on his face staring into the ceiling.

"behave tooru! oh, look at me being too busy being a king that I don't even have time for my son!" mocks tooru, reminiscing about his father's stern words rather than his own actions.

i mean, it wasn't his fault that he 'accidentally' hit his great-grandfather's statue. it wasn’t as if he was trying to catch anyone's attention. it wasn't his fault he was alone most of the day, except when the royal tutor came. it wasn’t his fault that the dreams of becoming a knight got disregarded as soon as he even said the word 'knight', as if it wasn’t an option.

tooru had to practically beg his father for swordsmanship lessons, even though he was so young, desperately clinging to his dream of becoming a knight. why? to be free from his fate, his destiny and yet his father still said no.

"king this, king that, why not knight this, knight that?" questioned tooru, still huffing from his father's words.

he doesn't even want to be king anyway. the responsibility of it seemed trapping as if he'd be a bird in a cage with everyone watching his every move.

silently staring at the ceiling with a blank face, tooru decides on an escape plan. except this time he'll escape to the city. the place where his father told him to never go.

"you'll catch a deadly disease! how will you train to be a knight?"

the memory passed through his mind.

"how am I supposed to be a knight anyway whenever I'm always confined in this boring palace?" tooru thought out loud.

knights are daring and dashing and most importantly loved by all. if tooru wanted to be a knight, he'd have to be a little adventurous and brave.

"if mother was here she'd let me go," says tooru, quietly reassuring himself that his decision was beneficial and ethical.

finding old clothes from the back of his wardrobe, he tried his best to make himself an unroyal attire. with a bit of tearing in certain parts tooru proudly stood in front of his mirror with his disguise, ready for operation: escape to town.

"soo original tooru.."

..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.

tooru's ears perked up to the sound of the bustling streets of the city, his eyes lighting up with excitement as crowds of people strolled up and down the street. some frantically buying groceries from the local market, some sitting outside having a beverage of choice whilst talking with the person opposite, laughing at each other's comments.

this is way more fun than the palace thought tooru, as he gazed around.

alas, with the growl of his stomach, tooru then realised how he barely had any food that day as he was having too much fun causing chaos at the palace.

"i should've brought money for food, why am i so dumb?!," tooru whines, whilst ruffling his hair out of frustration.

the feeling of his empty stomach made tooru more impatient until he smelt a whiff of something delicious. following the scent like a delirious zombie, tooru came to a halt when he came across a bakery. as he opened the door a ding came from a bell and his eyes landed upon a girl, which he assumed to be his age, putting some sort of pastry in an oven until she realised the presence of tooru and quickly wiped her floury hands, rushing towards him.

"hello, sir, welcome to shokupan. unfortunately, you're visiting during our closing hours, would you like to leave in an order for tomorrow?" she asks with a click of a pen, smiling at tooru as he processes what she just asked.

"i need that loaf of bread," demanded tooru pointing to the freshly baked milk bread on the counter, ignoring the girl’s question.

following tooru's finger, the girl realised what he was asking for and nervously chuckled.

"o-oh! i'm sorry but that isn't to be bought by anyone except the man that ordered it earlier. may i ask again if you want to order anything for tomorrow?" she asks again.

by now tooru's patience was wearing thin. with an awful combination of an empty stomach and tired legs, he started to grow irritated but so were you. yes, you. the baker's daughter.

with your father off for deliveries, you had to look after the bakery; taking orders everyday, making the dough and baking most of the bread yourself. with a job like this, it can get very tiring easily. especially with ignorant customers but that was rare. until today, where you had the 'fortunate' opportunity to stumble across a hungry and grumpy tooru.

"i don't want or need anything for tomorrow. what i need is that bread - so would you just give it to me?" demanded tooru once again.

you sighed, putting a hand to your forehead being physically and mentally exhausted from the hard work and now him.

"as i've said before, sir, i can't just give you a loaf of bread. if you don't want to order anything i'll have to ask you to leave so that i can close up the bakery," and with that you began to head back to the kitchen.

"you don't understand, i need that bread now! i'm dying of hunger, don't you pity me?" pleaded tooru with furrowed eyebrows, desperate for a bite of that delicious looking bread.

"look, there are many people who wander in and out of the bakery looking for pastries but unfortunately i can't give you it without permission from my boss. it's just how business runs around here," you shrugged, used to the situation.

normally, you'd give him a loaf of free bread, however word got out that you gave out free bread to those who couldn't afford it and an upburst happened causing the bakery to be shut down for a whole week. your father was certainly not happy about what happened but was glad that you were charitable and sympathetic to the people.

of course tooru had no idea this happened, he never read the newspapers anyway as they were too boring to him. he'd rather run around the palace causing chaos.

with tooru in desperate need of food he decided to play his trump card.

he cleared his throat and proudly stated, "although i may not look like it, i am actually prince tooru of the oikawa family, ruler of this city and province. as of now i may not look like the part, because i am on a very special mission, but i can reassure you that this is your dear prince."

with a small hair flip and a smug smile tooru awaited an apology but instead found you laughing hysterically like a hyena.

offended, tooru immediately questions, "w-what's wrong? you should be cowering before me and asking for my forgiveness, why are you laughing like a maniac?"

obviously you couldn't reply, still holding your stomach as you try to catch your breath from laughing too much.

"b-because…." you began but immediately started laughing again.

tooru scoffed, flabbergasted at your behaviour and disrespect to him as a royal. you were just a commoner and he was royalty, how dare you mock him like this?

"i don't know why you think this is hilarious but i am not lying. i am your prince!" proclaimed tooru, tired of your actions.

calming yourself down with a shaky breath out, you look at (a very annoyed) tooru up and down.

"if you really are the prince, which is very unlikely considering that this is the west side of the city, then why are you dressed like that?" you questioned, suspicious of his manner and clothes.

confused, tooru stops glaring at you and begins to analyse his outfit and quickly realises what you meant.

"oh…."

you chuckle in disbelief and maybe even pity, thinking he's gone mad already as a teenager.

"yeah, oh."

embarrassingly, tooru took off the smug look off his face and cleared his throat.

"you're not doing a very good job at convincing me prince tooru," you mocked, cheekily smiling at him.

"maybe i need more time to enhance my skills," tooru replies with an eye roll.

what a pity you thought, he was really entertaining. you wondered if he did acting as a job.

“well, i guess this is the part where i go,” tooru awkwardly began as he slowly turned to walk out the door, mostly out of embarrassment and the need to get home. his father would be furious if he found him dressed like this.

"wait just a second," you frantically said, trying to catch up with him, after grabbing something from the counter.

he anxiously turns, not wanting to be humiliated even more. however, to his delight you handed him a paper bag filled with a loaf of milk bread. you could immediately see how his demeanour changed and how his eyes lit up, almost as if there were stars in them.

"c-can i really have this?" asked tooru, with saliva already threatening to drip from his mouth.

"of course, i'm not that cruel. plus, i saw you eyeing up the milk bread from earlier. you looked like you really couldn't live without it. i’ll just make another batch for the old man," you replied with a small smile, mentally reminding yourself to not tell your father about this. who knows what would happen.

relief spread across tooru's face.

"thank you…?"

"ah - i'm y/n."

"thank you y/n," tooru replies with a wide smile, grateful for the milk bread.

with a bright smile, you waved goodbye to tooru as the bell of the door rang once again, indicating he was leaving to your dismay.

"come back soon!" you called out to tooru, secretly wishing to see him again tomorrow.

happily chewing on the milk bread, tooru smiled to himself filled with content, glad of the encounter and his courage to adventure off.

his father certainly wouldn't be pleased if he found out.

..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.

it was the following day and you couldn't help but secretly wait for a certain someone to come through the door. most of your customers were regulars so it was usually the same people saying the same things that you already knew about even when you'd make conversation asking,"anything new happen?" and with them replying with,"it's always the same old y/n."

it was pretty boring in the west end, except for all the crime that's been lurking around. the ring of the bell came and you turned around, only to be met by the same boy from yesterday. you were ecstatic to see the brown haired boy again. swiftly walking over to him you greet him with another milk bread you made just for him.

"well if it isn't the prince tooru, gracing me with his presence again," you sarcastically say, with a little courtesy.

it wasn't until you got a proper look at him that you realised how he was panting, trying to catch his breath and the plum bruise on his face.

tooru saw how fast your reaction to the bruise was, as your eyes started to fill with worry and concern. with furrowed eyebrows you hesitantly touched his face and he backed away.

"i'm so sorry tooru I didn't mean to-"

"no-no it's fine y/n don't worry, I don't know why I backed up in the first place," he reassuringly said.

although, in reality he backed away because he got nervous when you touched him. it felt comforting, which was a foreign emotion to tooru ever since his mother passed away.

"are you okay? how'd you get the bruise? did something happen?" you asked, bombarding him with questions, wondering how he ended up like this.

tooru found it really heart-warming how you only knew him for less than twenty-four hours and yet you showed so much concern for him. most of the maids in the palace only cared about his safety so that they wouldn't get fired by the king. to have someone genuinely worry about him made him feel as if he was valued as a human being, instead of "the king's son" or "the heir to the throne".

he actually got the bruise by accidently bumping into a gang that didn't look very pleased with him. he ran as fast as he could, screaming his lungs out.

"not very knightly of you tooru," he thought.

he made sure to not tell you about this.

he softly smiled at you as he said, "nothing, don't worry about it,"

not wanting to pry anymore, you let it go although you were still sceptical about the ordeal.

"well, if you say so. how about we enjoy the milk bread i prepared for you? it's a slow day today so we can sit down and have a chat outside," you insisted, leading tooru outside.

..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.

throughout the next few months you both continued to meet each other. with tooru sneaking out the palace more often and you already having freshly baked milk bread just for him. your father would get suspicious, catching you smiling to yourself at random times of the day whenever he was at the bakery but brushed it off as he was glad to see you happy rather than tired from all the work he gave you.

with your father starting to help more at the bakery than doing deliveries, you decided to pick a new meetup spot with tooru so that you two could talk with as much freedom as possible. without your father glaring at tooru as he did with his first encounter with him.

you showed him your hidden gem, a place where you would run to when the world would overwhelm you. your safe haven. urging tooru to go in first, his eyes were blessed with a charming peaceful meadow, secluded from society which was a good thing, as its beauty was preserved for you to see and now tooru. surprisingly you haven't even shown your father this heaven but you willingly led tooru here.

there was something about this milk bread obsessed boy that made you feel as if you could trust him. you've had male friends before but they would always tease you that you were a one trick pony as you could only bake but barely cook to save your life.

“ugh! I keep burning the bacon….” you grumbled, looking over to the pile of burnt bacon on the counter.

"just stick to baking y/n, it's the only thing you're good at," matsukawa slyly said, with the classic smirk of his which resulted in a loud smack to his head. he deserved it.

they never took you seriously. until tooru came along and changed your perspective. yes, he would be very arrogant at some points but alas that was just how he was and without it he wouldn't be as charming. it also brought out a new side of you, where you would make snarky remarks to him which would end in the both of you hugging your stomachs from laughing or tooru pouting.

relaxing down on a light patch of grass, you began talking about the future, a common topic in your conversations to tooru's dismay but it ended up helping him release his bottled up problems.

"i feel bad," you began, in a soft tone.

"why? you've done nothing except give me happiness," he questioned, confused by your sudden statement.

flustered by the choice of words that he used, you averted your eyes. clearing your throat you continued,”i always complain about my life and talk about my problems and yet you never get the chance to talk sometimes, when we talk about the future or anything serious in general.”

realising how insensitive you sound, your eyes widen and turn to tooru to apologise.

“i didn’t mean that-i mean I did but not in that context. of course you don’t have to talk about touchy subjects in your life if you don’t want to,” you paused for a second, trying not to panic and calmly collect your thoughts.

“I guess what i'm trying to say is, you can talk to me. you can talk about anything, other than your love for the milk bread i give you,” that earned a chuckle from tooru.

You grin, pleased that you received a positive reaction from him.

“i know we’ve only been friends for quite a while and i whole-heartedly understand if you feel a bit uncomfortable with all of this. just know I’ll always be here tooru,” you concluded, slightly embarrassed by what you said.

"aww….y/n, you care so much about me huh?" teased tooru, although he secretly soaked up all your words.

you sulked, embarrassed at your actions and mostly how tooru reacted to what you said but also not very surprised by his antics. tooru was busy laughing at your demeanour.

"sorry y/n, i didn't want to ruin the moment by laughing but i am really touched I swear!" tooru explained.

"i poured my heart and soul into that and you're here making fun of me!" you grumbled, purposely exaggerating your words so that he'd apologise soon.

tooru's laugh rang in your ears and he quickly apologised for teasing you.

"don't worry y/n, i listened very carefully. you have no idea how much I appreciate you."

just as you were about to say "thank you", tooru continued.

"mostly because of the milk bread you bake for me but don't worry i also appreciate the company just not as much as the bread," he cheekily said, earning a smack in the back of his head from you.

"ouch! what was that for?" he whined.

"i’m not give you milk bread anymore," you replied with a stone face.

tooru gasped and started pleading for your mercy, trying to flatter you with compliments as you got up from the dented grass and started walking away from him.

"y/n you're an angel, you know that right?"

"yes tooru i know i am. now stop clinging onto my cardigan or else I'll feed you raw dough instead."

you only gave into his pleas when he started bowing down to you in the middle of the street when you were trying to ignore him.

"almighty y/n, i am a sinful man begging for your forgiveness. please give me a loaf of milk bread."

"tooru people are starting to look, please get up," you hurryingly pleaded.

he gave you one last glance and in return you gave him a dirty look, already fed up with his act.

"almighty y/n, please listen to my prayer-"

"fine, fine! i'll give you free milk bread again…"

"oh thank you! almighty-"

"i'm seriously going to punch you."

--- ⁠✧

the day ended with tooru beaming with happiness as he ate his milk bread, and you sat across from him once again with your hand resting against your chin gazing upon his figure. you never understood why your milk bread was so special to him but you were glad that you could make him happy in some sort of way.

"maybe I should start charging you, we might just go bankrupt from all the free bread we've given you," you teased, already knowing what he'd say.

"well it isn't my fault that they taste so good!" tooru whined.

you giggled and went back to staring at him, appreciating his beauty. the way his smooth skin glistened against the withering glows of the sun, the way his lips parted to take a bite of the bread, the way his brown eyes would melt into golden rays as the sunlight hit his face. how on earth could this boy in front of you be a commoner when his looks alone could help him get a job easily?

"you know you're really pretty tooru, even when you have a lot of crumbs on your face," you randomly said as you focused on specific parts of his face.

tooru almost choked on the milk bread, surprised at your sudden statement.

"of course i'm pretty. i am a prince after all," he nervously chuckled trying to cover up his flustered expression.

"are you still acting as if you're a prince?" you questioned, amused that he’s still keeping up the act.

with a smug face, tooru replied,"when the time comes and you see that i am a prince, you will be so shocked and i'd laugh right in your face."

you rolled your eyes as you thought,"yeah right. as if a prince would be sitting right in front me, stuffing his face with the milk bread that i baked. tooru is seriously unbelievable."

it wasn't until a year later that it became believable. specifically, on his eighteenth birthday.

..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.

"be careful with those plates!"

"which colour would you like your highness? celeste or baby blue?"

"would you like chocolate or vanilla frosting on the cake, your highness?"

the palace was clearly bustling with noise and excitement. why? because it’s tooru’s special eighteenth birthday tomorrow.

tooru hadn't realised it until a while ago but his heart started to soften more and more at every encounter you two had.

maybe it was because of the countless amounts of milk bread you would prepare for him which made tooru question if you were making it with the intent of seeing him (probably not). sure, all the chefs and maids in the palace prepared the most luxurious food for him but it just felt the same with every meal but it was somehow different with you.

maybe it was because of the uplifting conversations you would have, where you both could voice your thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects with no worries of being judged. tooru swore at himself, wondering what he'd gotten himself into and yet he still consciously ventured further, wanting to learn more about you, other than you being a baker's daughter. you didn't know his true identity and yet you were so thoughtful towards him.

although, it felt selfish as he couldn't truthfully tell you his identity, he continued to pursue a growing friendship whilst walking home with a guilty heart each time he saw you. he was addicted. now that he was turning eighteen, tooru couldn’t hide it any longer. he had to tell you, one way or another. before it was too late and before he’d have to go back to the life he had without you. a boring, uneventful life.

--- ⁠✧

“why didn't i sleep early last night?” you questioned yourself, yawning for what felt like the hundredth time.

honestly, you stayed up last night because you knew it was tooru's birthday tomorrow and you were crocheting a scarf for the first time, even though it was the middle of summer. you couldn’t just bring him to the meadow and eat ice cream and milk bread all day like all the other years you spent celebrating his birthday. no, it had to be something different, something that no one else could give him and something that you've never done before especially since he was now getting to the age of marriage.

you were in the middle of putting the classic milk bread that you’d make for tooru in the oven when you heard the ring of the doorbell as it opened. you didn’t recognise the person making his way towards you but he looked oddly familiar.

with another yawn you groggily said,”hello welcome to shokupan, what can i get for you?”

“uh- y/n?” he spoke, as if he was confused.

you lazily smiled and looked up to the man, “yup that’s me, what can i-,” it was only then that you realised that this stranger knew your name and only then you realised who exactly it was.

your tired eyes quickly shot open, as if you got electrocuted. it was tooru, but he was dressed so magnificently. a bright, shining suit adorned his figure; gold shoulder pads showing off his broad shoulders; perfectly combed hair that would usually be messy and unkempt.

"t-tooru?" you whispered, wondering if you were still dreaming. was this really your tooru?

he chuckled,"yes n/n, it's really me," whilst sarcastically posing for you. however, you couldn't respond. you were speechless.

"y/n? are you okay?" tooru asked, concerned but also amused at your unresponsive state.

as tooru's words went in one ear and out the other you got out of your tranced state and started firing questions at tooru, "why are you dressed like that? where'd you get the money? did you loan the money? tooru you can't use all your savings on a suit, what about food?"

tooru couldn't contain his laughter any longer and bursted out laughing.

"what's so funny about spending all your money on something you don't even need?!" you exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed as you tried to make sense of tooru's actions.

as tooru's laugh died down, he gazed at you with a smug smile.

"i told you before that one day i'd show you that i'm a prince and that you'd never believe me. so here i am y/n, prince tooru of the oikawa family, inviting you to attend a ball tomorrow to celebrate my birthday," he gracefully bowed down whilst holding out an envelope towards you which you hesitantly took from him.

carefully, you observed the envelope, wondering if tooru was actually a prince or if he was just playing one of his silly games on you again. you knew your answer as soon as you flipt the envelope to shockingly fix your eyes on the royal seal, a four leaf clover crest. anybody could recognise as the city was adorned with the symbol. in disbelief, you lifted your head to tooru with wide eyes.

“you…” you started, trying to comprehend everything with your already jumbled mind.

“i’m?” tooru replied, anxious to see your reaction.

“you’re a prince,” you whispered, not believing your own words.

slowly, the cogs were starting to work in your brain, the pieces of the puzzle were connecting. why haven't you noticed? tooru always implied it even in your first encounter. there were many other reasons too on why he’d be a prince; he always had to leave early or he was late; the amount of times you’ve patched him up without you knowing that it was because of his swordsmanship lessons last year; the way he was able to read sophisticated words and write with very neat handwriting, which commoners couldn't do simply because they didn't have the money for the education; the way he never showed you where he lived or where he was from; the way he never talked about himself during your conversations. it all made sense and yet you were too dense to even realise it. you were angry and disappointed with yourself.

“why didn’t you tell me sooner?” you questioned, wondering if he thought of you as a person who couldn't be trusted.

“well, i guess i just…” he paused and took a breath in.

“i was scared, y/n. maybe even terrified, that you wouldn't want to talk to me anymore or that you’d hate me, and i completely understand if you do now because i just basically lied to you throughout our whole friendship which is so stupid and idiotic of me and i’m so, so sorry y/n. i cherish you so much and i don't want to lose you, so please don't ever think that i never trusted you because i do, wholeheartedly.”

tooru finished and waited for you to talk or say anything, but you just stared at him in disbelief.

"y/n, please say something," tooru pleaded, his fist tightening against his chest as he grew more anxious.

"does your father know?" you asked.

"what? of course not he'd go crazy if he did-"

"oh my god tooru, you're unbelievable," you muttered, with your fingers pressing on your temple.

"what? y/n i just told you why i didn't want to reveal my identity, you know my father would go crazy if he found out i was sneaking away," tooru reasoned, trying to calm down the situation by reaching out for your hand but you slapped it away, still not comprehending the situation.

"yes tooru, and i understand that, if you weren't a prince. this completely changes everything, you know that right? what if someone saw us and reported it to your father? you'd be in great trouble and don't even get me started on how i'd probably be the talk of the city. a laughing stock. i mean, a commoner being friends with a prince? ha! how ridiculous," you rambled, looking away and staring down at your feet.

"y/n, look at me," tooru softly asked, gently lifting your chin up so you could meet his eyes. your breath hitched as he stared right at you, as if he could read your every thought.

"it doesn't matter if i'm a prince or if you're a commoner. even if my father finds out, I won't let any harm come to you. i'll do everything in my power to make sure you're safe."

"tooru-"

"i'm not done. just because you're a 'commoner' doesn't mean you aren’t worth anything less. you're y/n, my y/n and that's all that matters. i don't care about titles. fuck being a prince, it doesn't matter as long as i'm with you. as long as you're here."

you both became silent as tooru awaited a response and you were still processing what he just confessed to you. tooru sighed and let go of you, turning away and hiding his face from you, embarrassed at himself.

"tooru," you started, still finding the right words to say to him.

"if i have to be honest, i'm disappointed not only in you but for myself. it feels as if you just used me as a way to escape from your own life. i really, really enjoy your company tooru and you made my life so much more exciting and enjoyable, and even thinking about what we’d have in plan to do helped me get out of bed in the morning but now, i do not know what to think anymore. not only that, but the fact that you’ve hinted at it all this time and yet i was too dumb to even realise it. was this all a joke to you?" you questioned, your chest tightening at your own words, hoping he’d contradict with you.

“y/n…none of this was ever a joke and i can’t even truly express my gratitude to your very own existence with just simple minded words. from our first encounter to even now, the only person i’ve wanted to see was you. you’ve never once left my mind,” his eyes softened before his mouth came to a fine line, you could physically see his lips quiver as he awaited your response.

you finally let go of the breath you’ve unconsciously been holding and came face to face with the boy who made you feel an array of emotions that you couldn’t comprehend and simply gave him a gentle hug, with your head resting on his chest hearing his quickened heartbeat drumming in your ear.

with an awkward smile you looked up to him,”you really are scared huh?”

“god y/n, you have no idea how many times i was planning on telling you, but i would just end up getting lost in the moment and keep putting it off, until now, i really thought i screwed things up,” tooru frantically explained, letting out a sigh of relief.

although, to his horror you pierced his ears, saying, "you kind of did."

the atmosphere shifted to a chilling silence, with tooru’s bug eyed expression processing the words that you just announced and you fidgeting nervously with your hands.

“what?” tooru meekly asked, needing affirmation.

”look tooru, even if we remain as friends and keep meeting up, we’ll never go back to normal. you have to understand that. even if titles don't matter to you, they matter to everyone else. in their eyes, i’ll always be a ‘lowly’ commoner and you will always be a prince, hell maybe even king!”

“don’t you dare say that about me, i will never be king nor will i ever want to,” tooru defended, slightly raising his voice over the sensitive subject but that didn’t stop you from continuing.

“come to terms with reality tooru, this isn’t some fairy tale where i randomly get gifted a fairy godmother for christ sake. sure, it was okay when you were younger but now, really? you’re turning eighteen tomorrow, you can’t just keep skipping out on your duties as a prince,” you continued, pleading with him to see your point of view.

tooru scoffed, ”what do you know about being a prince? you’d never understand how shit i felt every time i get told off for every little mistake i made and how i know everyone secretly wished my mother survived instead of me.”

you stood still with a withering expression, your mouth parted and heart clenched with tears pricking your eyes. he never talked about this before.

“tooru, i didn’t know-”

“i was suffocating in there y/n, and you were the only one that made me feel like i wasn’t drowning with responsibilities and yet now i’m getting reminded of it again by the only person i could rely on,” he painfully expressed, solemnly looking at you, catching your watered eyes.

alas you stood your ground,

“well, as the person that you can rely on, i'm only telling you this for your own sake tooru, and yes i’m not a prince and i’m sure as hell not educated enough to understand what a prince does. however, i do know that you’ll have to get married soon now that you’re turning eighteen and i can’t keep distracting you tooru and you can’t keep running away. you’re going to have many people wanting to speak with you and important meetings to attend and you won’t have time to see me. we both know that,” your heart breaks at your own words.

tooru stood still with a pained expression. he couldn't argue with you, knowing that everything you said was true.

“wake up tooru. we aren’t fifteen anymore.”

silently, tooru sets down a wrapped box on an empty table and walks to the door without a word. all you could do was watch his doleful figure. before he stepped out into the street he stared at you without his warm brown eyes with a disappointed smile and said, ”you’re still invited you know? i already booked a carriage for you, so please come.”

The ring of the doorbell came at last, indicating his presence was gone and with that you burst out in tears with you crouching down against the counter recalling the argument between you two. were you too harsh? did you even consider tooru’s side? were you being insensitive? all these questions left your mind swirling like a spinning wheel to the point where you just laid lifeless with stinging eyes from all the salty tears.

finally finding the strength to get up, you dust yourself off the floor and spotted the clean and elegant box tooru left for you. carefully, you raised the lid upwards and you gasped surprised. sitting in the box before you was the most luxurious dress you’ve ever laid your eyes upon. sophisticated patterns adorned the purple gown with numerous delicate jewels stitched on, where if one was sold you’d no longer be a baker but instead living more comfortably.

“i’ve never seen a gown this shade before,” you astonishingly admitted, surveying the gown in your hand gently touching the rich fabric. unbeknownst to you the shade was specifically tyrian purple, a shade only the royal family wore.

peering inside you see a little rectangle note. you delicately placed the gown down on the table and opened the note.

“you’re royalty too.”

slightly grinning at the sentence you let out a light hearted sigh, letting it convince your tender heart.

“i guess i’ll be going to a ball tomorrow.”

..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.

it was the day that everyone anticipated for and yet tooru wasn’t excited at all. he lost sight of all hope as of yesterday, after the argument he had with you. even his best friend iwaizumi hajime tried comforting him, in his own unique way.

“oi, it’s your own birthday try to lighten up. you look like a rotting zombie,” he pointed out.

tooru gave iwaizumi a sour look at him and miserably said, ”she isn't coming so what’s the point?”

“she? oh, you mean y/n?” iwaizumi asked, tooru gave a small nod.

“she’ll have to come, you prepared a gown and a carriage for her. how could she refuse? won’t most girls like that?”

“maybe the fact that i screwed everything over plays a major part,” tooru explained.

iwaizumi gave a puzzled look to tooru, clearly not informed of the events that happened yesterday morning. with a heavy sigh, tooru began to catch up with iwa on the unfortunate argument that occurred.

“oh i see now.”

“yeah, you’d think she’d still come?”

“after what you did? no way. i reckon it’ll take a miracle for her to attend,” iwaizumi blatantly replied, making tooru hopeless as he let out another heavy sigh with a blank stare at the floor.

“but, you’ll never know tooru. miracles can happen,” with that iwaizumi stood up from the cold cobblestone step and gave tooru a pat in the back, his steps echoing behind tooru as he continued to remain alone with his thoughts.

don’t lose hope, he thought.

it was definitely easier said than done.

--- ⁠✧

thankfully, you weren’t alone while you were getting dolled up. your trusted friend yachi was here to help. you were fortunate enough for her to stumble upon your bakery as a middle class girl visiting the city and you both instantly connected, although you both barely saw each other as she lived outside the city but you both kept in contact with letters. as of now you both were struggling on putting on the corset.

“y/n you have to breathe in just a little bit more so i can tighten the corset fully!” yachi exclaimed, while tugging the strings to the best of her ability.

“i know yachi i’m trying my hardest!” you cried out, in pain from holding your breath in for so long.

“and…done!” yachi cheered, clapping her hands.

“how can girls wear these things everyday? i’m about to pass out,” you said, exhausted already trying to reach for a chair.

“wait y/n we aren’t done yet, you have to put the petticoat on and then the actual gown,” yachi explained, encouraging you to keep standing.

with a groan you got up and yachi assembled the gown with a blink of an eye.

“oh my god y/n you look so pretty!” yachi praised, admiring you with stars in her eyes.

you bashfully smiled at her and asked,”you really think so?”

“you’ve always been pretty y/n, oh i’ve got something for you,” she said, going into her purse to fetch an object of some sort.

“what is it?” you aksed, curious of what she prepared.

yachi hid the object with both her hands behind her back sneakily and began by saying,”well, in the letter you said that you had been given a purple gown…”

“so..?” you questioned, urging her to continue.

“so i thought i’d glamour you even more,” she explained before showing you a white sapphire necklace with a wide smile. you stared at it, mesmerised by the sheer shine it gave.

“what do you think?” yachi asked, lifting up the necklace.

“i-it’s gorgeous yachi. are you sure i’m allowed to wear it? where did you get it in the first place?” you said in disbelief while yachi laughed at you with your gaze transfixed on the necklace.

“of course you can wear it, that’s the whole reason why i brought it anyway and don’t worry about where i got it from, just be excited to wear it,” she said with a mischievous giggle that worried you, and before you could even reject her offer she was already putting it on you.

thinking you were finished you went to sit down but to your dismay yachi was in front of you holding hair pins and a comb with an ecstatic expression.

“we’re only getting started y/n!”

you nervously gulped, getting ready for the amount of pain you were about to go through.

--- ⁠✧

chatter filled the ballroom as it continued to fill up with hundreds of guests from around the nation. tooru was trying his best to answer all the questions from all of the women surrounding him in a polite manner. although, they all were obviously there for two main reasons: status and power, as they wave their fans at him with a leering expression. however, he was solely looking for a certain someone to walk through the grand doors and for a certain someone to apologise to.

“do you have someone already in mind prince tooru?” one of the ladies asked which made the rest of them quiet, anticipating tooru’s answer.

he knew he couldn’t say yes without upsetting them all and causing a scene so he chuckled and declared, ”no, i don’t. not yet,” which caused them to erupt in ‘oohs’ and giggles, clearly glad with tooru’s response and the chance they all had to court him. although he knew in his mind that he definitely had someone he wanted to court himself.

unfortunately, that certain someone was running late. the carriage was already patiently waiting outside the bakery when you were trying to find the invitation tooru gave you yesterday but you somehow lost it. if it wasn’t for yachi’s help you probably wouldn’t have made it out the front door.

“have fun y/n! don’t forget to say yes when the prince asks for your hand in marriage!” yachi shouted to you in a cheery tone.

“oh be quiet yachi,” you jokingly said, your face heating up at her joke, embarrassed.

“i’m so sorry i’m late, i just couldn’t seem to find the invitation,” you explained to the coachman who gave you a small nod whilst helping you into the carriage.

you’ve never been in a carriage before but you’ve seen many travel back and forth from the palace at the city centre. you’ve always been in awe of them and dreamt of being in one someday and here you are now, admiring it in all its beauty. in contrast to the outside it was much smaller than you’d imagine but the seats were very comfortable for your already sore feet as they weren’t used to high-heeled shoes you were wearing.

i wonder what tooru would think.

--- ⁠✧

it was getting further into the night and there was still no sight of you. tooru looked over to iwaizumi who was trying to communicate to tooru.

“is she here yet?” mouthed iwaizumi, as he stared at tooru still being bombarded with women.

tooru gave him a frown and shook his head. were you ever going to show up?

it was time for the first dance as the string orchestra began playing a waltz for the guests and tooru to dance to. he immediately had a line of ladies encouraging him to dance with them until one troublesome women decided to ‘accidentally’ trip into tooru’s arm into a dramatic pose that wasn’t impressive, but before he could ask if she was alright the orchestra suddenly stopped playing at the sound of the grand doors abruptly opening and everyone’s attention was averted.

“y/n, from the l/n family!” declared the attendee.

as you slowly emerged and came into everyone’s view. they all gasped and started murmuring to each other at the site of the colour of your gown.

“does this girl not have any idea what crime she’s committing?”

“she’s clearly mocking the royal family, how disrespectful!”

“who does she think she is?”

“i’ve never seen her before.”

fortunately, you couldn’t hear them as you were trying your best not to trip as you descended down the flight of steps, holding onto the railing for dear life, but you could feel all the judgemental stares they were giving you in the corner of your eye.

tooru’s heart began pounding in his chest as he saw your descending figure. muttering a quick,”i’m sorry,” to the woman he caught and helped her onto her feet and swiftly began to approach you with haste. he couldn’t let this chance slip from his fingers. not when he has a million things on his mind to say to you.

finally, you stepped down onto the polished marble floor and let out a sigh of relief and glanced up to find a pair of familiar brown eyes with a million hues, belonging to the man of the night, growing larger until they were right in front of you. not once did your eyes break contact with his.

“you made it,” he gawked, astonished at your arivial.

“i wouldn’t miss it for the world,” you beamed at him, forgetting how much you’ve wanted to see him again.

he bowed down. “would you grant me the greatest honour of joining me for my first dance of the night? only if you can handle it,” he teases, thrilled to be in the presence of you.

“you may, only if you can handle having your toes stepped on,” you tease back whilst curtseying, causing the both of you to erupt in laughter.

as tooru led you to the dance floor, all eyes were on you both as the orchestra began to play a waltz again. realising how nervous you must be, tooru gently placed his hand on your waist and held your hard reassuringly.

“just focus on me y/n. let me lead you.” you nodded, trusting in tooru to guide your inexperienced self.

tooru was true to his word as you both glided gracefully around the dance floor. he led you effortlessly, not even flinching when you would accidentally step on his foot for a brief moment. he just kept smiling at you with his gaze transfixed on your face. you couldn’t help but feel bashful.

“you look breathtaking,” tooru began, causing your face to heat up from his compliment.

“oh stop it tooru, you don’t have to say things you don’t mean,” you said, smiling down, still grateful for the compliment.

“it’s true y/n,” tooru affirmed, looking at you with a caring gaze that sent your stomach into a whirlwind.

“well, thank you. you don’t look bad yourself,” you admitted, wanting to compliment him too.

“of course, i am a prince after all,” he jokingly said, making you chuckle.

“did you plan this? us wearing matching colours,” you asked, realising the way he had the exact same shade of purple on his suit as your gown.

“and what if i did? it’s all part of my master plan,” he replied.

“your master plan of what?” you wondered, curious on what he was planning.

“you’ll see~” he retorted, causing you to sarcastically roll your eyes.

you both continued to dance in a comfortable silence until tooru abruptly broke it when he cleared his throat, getting ready to speak.

“i’m sorry y/n, for everything. i’m sorry for the lies i’ve told you about why i was always late to our meetups and why i was always getting bruises and cuts. i’m sorry for not opening up about my life sooner like you did, that wasn’t fair for you and i’m truly sorry for being the reason you cried,” he apologised.

“you saw me?” you asked, surprised that he knew.

he smiled and gazed at you,”how could i leave without taking one last glance at you,”

his words had a way of lifting an invisible weight off your chest. it felt surreal. the way he was able to enchant you with a few meek words that anyone could say, but he had his own unique charm that made you euphoric.

with a pause, tooru closed his eyes for a second, getting ready to say something.

“y/n…i-“

“tooru.”

a sudden rough, deep voice caused both of you to stop dancing and turn to see what you assumed to be tooru’s father. his demeanour sent chills down your spine as he looked at you with a stone cold expression. tooru looked irritated and turned around to face the king with a serious face as if he just switched personalities.

“father,” tooru said, in an expectant tone.

“come with me,” he demanded, turning around with his royal cloak following as it fluttered in the air.

tooru gave his father a small nod, his palms starting to become mildly sweaty. before he followed his father, he promptly turned around and held both of your shoulders and whispered,”there’s a side door near the back of the hall, exit from there and you’ll see a small stone shelter. go there and wait for me. i’ll try to be quick.”

the smell of a faint rosemary scent grew stronger as he leaned closer, his breath tickling your skin and an unexpected warmth resided on your cheek. with that he left, with you looking at his figure slowly fading away. you placed a hand to your left cheek where he laid his soft lips and rigidly exhaled. you’re full of surprises tooru, you thought.

you made haste, trying to ignore all the eyes that were on you. to your demise the same girl that tooru caught stood in your way, not moving an inch.

“excuse me ma’am, i have to get through,” you politely asked, starting to become impatient.

"you're not royalty," she accused, looking at you up and down.

"what?" you asked confused, just wanting to get out of the hall.

"you're clearly not royalty. your manners are ridiculous and you certainly don't know when to be on time, you attention seeker," she taunted, causing the crowd around you to gasp and snicker at her accusation.

to say you were peeved was an understatement. she irked you in a way no one has before. her voice was like a nagging child throwing a tantrum. it made your ears bleed. you wanted to grab her fake hair and strangle it around her neck. you would’ve if you had the chance. alas you sadly had to remain calm and collected.

“you’re just being hypocritical, miss. i’m sure everyone here saw the way you desperately threw yourself at the prince,” you retorted with a smile. the woman’s cocky expression quickly dropped to a glare.

“you lowly bitc-”

“i think that’s enough lady ayame,” iwaizumi cut in, his words silencing the crowd as he stepped out into the open.

you turned around to see the owner of the unfamiliar voice walking towards the two of you. he stopped and looked down upon the ayame with cold eyes.

“l-lieutenant iwaizumi,” she cowardly said in fear, curtseying while avoiding his gaze.

he then turned to you. you slightly jumped, scared that he’d glare at you too for causing a commotion. you were frozen in place.

“see lieutenant, she isn’t even showing her manners towards you!” ayame pointed out, trying to justify her actions.

iwaizumi didn’t bother wasting his time by talking to her. instead he raised his hand in a way to silence her in which she immediately stopped talking as he kept his eyes on you. at this point you were sweating bricks, trying to not move an inch. this isn’t what i was signing up for.

“go,” he sternly said, nudging his head to the direction of the door.

all you could reply with was a nod then you grabbed a handful of your gown and ran out, not daring to look back. i’ll have to thank him later, i almost got into a cat fight.

you were amazed at the scenery in front of you when you frantically left the hall. you suspected it to be the royal garden. you stepped down onto the footpath, hearing the therapeutic sound of flowing water from the fountain surrounded by an abundance of radiant flowers. from the dim street lights illuminating the garden, to the warm summer breeze brushing against your skin you felt ethereal and nostalgic at the same time. finally, you entered the stone shelter, still admiring the scenery in front of you as you patiently waited for tooru to arrive.

--- ⁠✧

it must've been more than five minutes now and slowly the rain droplets began pattering against the cobblestone paths and yet it wasn’t cold at all. the summer night prevented it. you hated the humid air as it clung onto your skin, feeling sticky.

you speculated on what kept tooru so back. did his father need to talk to him about an important matter that they had to speak about in private? a thousand questions began to swirl in your mind as you started to worry.

in deep thought, you saw a tall figure approaching through the heavy rain. you stood up, squinting to make out who it was. it was tooru. you immediately started shouting his name whilst waving your hand, encouraging him to run faster. you couldn’t help but beam at his presence, excited to what he was going to tell you. he stood in front of you panting, his hair covering half his face as water dripped from his hair and clothes. he shook his hair like a dog, trying to dry himself. you screamed as you tried to backed away from the water droplets attacking you while tooru evilly laughed trying to get closer to you.

“ugh, tooru get away from me!” you shouted with a light hearted laugh, running around in circles from the small space of the shelter.

tooru laughed in response, catching you from behind with a hug. immediately, your gown started getting wet. you tried hitting his arms so he would let go but he didn’t budge.

“come on tooru, let go of me!” you whined, attempting to pry his arms open.

“hmm, i don’t think i will,” he teased, resting his head on your shoulder.

you huffed and roughly turned yourself around so you could see him, and lifted his damp hair up trying to clearly see his face until you saw a harsh red mark on his cheek. your lips parted at the realisation of why he took so long and cupped his face. this time he didn't flinch or back away.

“tooru…” you painfully started. how could he just stand there and smile at you?

“yes y/n?” he asked, gazing at you with a warm smile, not bothering to hide what you saw.

not finding any words to reply with, you just gave him a warm embrace to which he accepted. you cried deeply inside. why did you always have to see him bruised and battered?

“you don’t deserve this tooru,” you sighed.

“don’t worry about it y/n,” tooru reassuringly replied, stroking your hair.

“ it’s all my fault,” you began.

“if i hadn’t showed up none of this would’ve happened. you would still be in the hall celebrating your birthday, having the time of your life with everyone. but instead you’re stuck with me and now your reputation is most likely ruined. i mean, did you see everyone ogling us? they definitely didn’t enjoy seeing me dance with you,” you concluded with a heavy heart.

“if the world were to suddenly end in the next minute, i wouldn’t regret being stuck with you,” he professed. you couldn’t help but let out a breath of unbelief, marvelled at his statement.

“well tooru, as the next heir wouldn’t you think that you should be spending your time wisely?” you sarcastically asked, eyebrows dramatically raised trying to make him laugh.

“well y/n, i’d be glad to tell you that i’m not the heir to the throne anymore,” he retorted, mocking the same face you made to him.

“yeah sure tooru, nice joke,” you rolled your eyes at him smirking but he kept a straight face.

“that wasn’t a joke y/n,” he claimed, causing you to furrow your eyebrows.

“you’re pulling my leg,” you said dumbfounded.

tooru hysterically laughed at your expression while you stood there wide eyed.

“tooru, please tell me i heard that correctly,” you asked, wanting affirmation on the words you processed.

“what do you think i said?” he teased smirking at you.

“i think you’re lying,” you retorted.

“and why would i ever lie about that?” he asked, enjoying your flabbergasted state.

“y-you’re really not lying?” you questioned, not wanting to fall for another joke. tooru gave you an honest smile. you knew he wasn’t lying anymore.

“holy shit,” you swore out of disbelief. tooru laughed at your reaction.

“is that how you got that?” you pointing to his cheek, looking at him with empathy.

“maybe,” he teased.

“I’m being serious tooru,” you sternly said, having enough with his antics.

he sighed,”well, father called me out to talk about you first and foremost. he scolded me about inviting you and giving you that gown but i didn’t care. that wasn’t the reason why he did this though. i said that i didn’t want to be king and that i was going to leave the palace to join the army like iwaizumi and was the result,” he bashfully said scratching the back of his head.

“does this mean you’re no longer a prince?” you wondered.

“i still am by blood. i'm just not going to be king. i never intended to stay anyway,” he explained.

"then who's going to step up in your place?"

"that's where my sister came in and explained how she's already prepared to be a queen since she's older than me and smarter too. father just never shown her favour because of mother. he wanted her to live a calm and peaceful life. it's quite a twist of events that all came out to my fortune," he smiled to himself, thankful his sister stepped in for him.

"i wish i met your sister," you said, thinking of her as a role model already.

"you really wouldn't. she gets mad at me all the time for the littlest things," he grumbled, remembering all the times he got scolded by her.

"i can understand why, you are like an annoying little pest," you teased with a giggl, to which tooru pouted and whined.

as the two of you died down, a comfortable silence took over as you two listened to the pitter patters of the ongoing rain. i've missed this. what a coincidence that you both thought it at the same time. tooru looked over to your calm figure as you gazed out onto the garden.

"y/n?" tooru called, seeking your attention.

"mhm?" you responded, turning around to face him. he was closer than before.

"remember before i left, I wanted to say something to you?" he asked nervously.

"hmm, oh yeah, you were about to say something to me. what was it?" you recalled, curious onto what he was going to say.

"well, the sole reason i wanted to be a knight was because i couldn't protect my mum. of course no one was able to save her, but the burden and guilt that was left held me accountable from my perspective. it has always been my goal to protect everyone i love," he stopped, catching his breath. you gave him a nod, motioning him to continue.

"y/n, my heart aches everytime we depart. every goodbye you say to me makes me want to come running back to you. every lingering touch made me yearn more from you. i only experience the goodness of life through every second i get with you. truth be told when i say i live now to serve you," he expressed, pouring his heart and soul into every word he said.

"w-what are you getting at tooru?" you hesitantly ask, your heart racing for an answer.

"i love you, y/n. i'm not trying to force you to love me. i just…" he momentarily paused gathering his thoughts before continuing, "i won't ask you to love me, so please just give me permission to love you."

you had the utmost authority right now. he was pleading to you. he loves you. with all these realisations, you stood there, opposite a lovesick tooth, filled to the max with mixed emotions. good ones, where one of which swayed you to leaped into tooru's arms as you held him tightly close.

"is this a yes?" tooru asked with a grin as he gazed at you longingly.

what followed, your weren't entirely too sure. your brain fogged as the proximity between the two of you came to a close. tooru's soft, puckered lips collided gently against yours. you both could exhaled at the contact, releasing all your tensions as the world came to a stop for both of you. sparks of joy leaped from tooru's chest as he cherished the moment. this was his reward for waiting so patiently for you. the strong scent of rosemary intoxicated your lungs as you breathed him in. your hands found its way to his hair, your fingers carding through his locks. you were each others addiction, craving for more, not letting go until you were both satisfied. pulling away, you both took deep breaths whilst gazing at each other fondly. tooru still holding you close.

"that was…" tooru began between small breaths.

"amazing," you finished, a wide smile forming on your heated face.

"of course it was, aren't i a great kisser?" tooru praised, returning back to his charming self.

"oh stop it," you rolled your eyes as you tried to turn away from him.

"look at you becoming shy because of me," he teased, grabbing you by the hand and pulling you towards the rain. you decided to just let him take you, knowing you wouldn't have enough strength to defy him.

"i've always wanted to do this with you," he shouted through the booming sound of rain.

"do what?" you shouted back, trying to block the rain from your view with your hand.

he took your hand and placed it on his shoulder, intertwining his remaining hand with yours. a familiar scene playing out again. instead, this time you both looked ridiculous. clothes soaking wet that whenever tooru would twirl you around your gown would project droplets of water like an umbrella. but you both didn't care. laughing carefree, acting childish, knowing you'd be sick the next day and yet you both had no regrets. the rain began to disperse and you both came to stop, finally tired from all the dancing.

smiling up at him you greeted, "happy birthday tooru," before pulling on his collar and giving him one final peck on his soft pillowy lips, as the summer breeze flowed by and the cicadas buzzed in the trees.

it didn't feel real. it felt heavenly.

#haikyuu oikawa #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #oikawa torū #oikawa toru x reader #oikawa tooru #oikawa fluff #oikawa angst #haikyuu x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa tooru x you #oikawa tooru x y/n #oikawa #tooru #royal au #*⁠.⁠✧ " it's not real

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merlinemrys · 10 months

Note

hi, I hope I'm not bothering you😅😅but I was wondering if you have any Arthur centered fic recs?? whether it be angsty, fluffy, gen or shippy, just anything arthur centered is fine tbh

it's totally fine if not though, hope you have a good day/night 💕💕

hiiii ur not bothering me at all i love giving recs 💙 and i ALWAYS love arthur-centric fics so here r some i've read recently. hope u like them!

When I Didn't Know The Answer, I Found It In Your Eyes by ironfamjam (rated t, merthur, 36k)

Summary: “It was never supposed to end like this. You were both meant for such happier things.” “I was always meant to be a tragedy.” Arthur disagrees. “Dearest darling, you are the king of kings, this will not be your end.” With Arthur's death comes a single chance to go back to the beginning and save everyone he's ever loved. Seeing home in Merlin's eyes and a hope for a better world in Morgana's, Arthur knows what he must do. Only bringing magic back to Camelot will prevent the future he knows is coming from happening, but in his way is the only mountain he's never been able to climb; his father won't change for anyone, not even for his son.

Born of Magic by KingPrat (rated t, merthur, 77k)

Summary: Set after 1x13. When Arthur learns he is of magic, he decides it's time to grow out of Uther's shadows. Secrets are revealed, and Arthur comes to learn just how far his father is willing to go in his war against magic. With Merlin on his side, can Arthur build the kingdom he was destined to create?

How Arthur Got His Groove Back by thegeminisage (rated t, merthur, 134k)

Summary: Arthur Pendragon is at an all-time low: he's still suffering from the day he nearly dueled his father to the death, his sword arm has been wounded so grievously he may never fight again, and, worst of all, every last soul in Camelot and the kingdoms beyond have had magic forced on them overnight. Now Arthur must contend with the chaos of magic run rampant, his father's dangerous instability, Morgana's increasing distance, catching Merlin in more lies than he can count, and the magic that is now threatening to consume him—all while searching for a way to break the curse before it consumes them all. It's not going to be easy: Arthur grapples with a destiny he's not sure he can handle, and a past he'd rather forget—and if he wants to save his people, he must be prepared to confront hard truths and harder choices. It's a trial by fire, one that risks destroying everything Arthur has left to hold dear should he fail. But with enough courage, enough understanding, and maybe just a touch of magic, there's nothing he can't face.

I suppose that I look different (without the robes and crown) by WingedWolf121 (not rated, merthur, 18k)

Summary: When Arthur blows the horn of Cathbdhah for the second time, the horn doesn’t just send Uther to the other world. It sends Arthur away as well – to a world where Ygraine never died, the Great Purge never happened, and magic lives freely at court. As do those who practice it.

Wærcsár Tācnunge by Glon_Morski (rated t, gen fic, WIP, 190k)

Summary: When Arthur is born, Ygraine dies and Uther vows vengeance against all magic. When Arthur is four, Nimueh decides to take matters into her own hands and casts an enchantment on the prince as penance for his father. One which can only be removed by a magic user willing to undo the enchantment for the sake of helping Arthur, and no other reason. When Arthur is seven, the truth of the spell's nature comes to light. When Arthur is fifteen, the rumours of the worsening enchantment spread among the kingdoms until news it has been removed take their place and his father tells Arthur he must never let anyone know the truth of the matter. When Arthur is twenty, he lives with the firm belief the enchantment will never be lifted. When Arthur is twenty, a boy named Merlin arrives in Camelot and, by a streak of luck, becomes the enchanted prince's manservant...

Only Friend by CaptainOzone (rated gen, gen fic, 60k)

Summary: What if Arthur went after Merlin in the tunnels outside of Ealdor earlier? What would he think of the confrontation between him and Agravaine? And how will he deal with the revelation as they retake Camelot? 4x13 AU.

Beg, Borrow, Steal by s0mmerspr0ssen (rated t, gen fic, 23k)

Summary: Merlin has access to everything relating to the Prince, including the keys to Arthur’s coffer. And why shouldn’t he? If there’s one thing Arthur is certain of, it’s that Merlin can be trusted completely. Then, one afternoon, Arthur walks in on Merlin about to steal money from his strongbox. The incident leaves Arthur with one burning question: Why, after two years of loyal service, would Merlin (almost) turn into a thief?

↳ s0mmerspr0ssen has so many good fics, not just this one. not all of them are arthur-centric but the characterisation is so delicious. see also: unfit for another arthur-centric fic!

What I'd Have Done by Flight_of_Fantasy (rated gen, merthur, 119k)

Summary: "I'm not sure what I'd have done." "And I didn't want to put you in that position.” For better or for worse, Arthur knows Merlin's secret. The problem? Merlin doesn't know Arthur knows. This leaves Arthur with a predicament... and an opportunity. A test. Three trials and three opportunities for Merlin to prove he doesn't deserve death. Arthur hopes he will pass them. Maybe then the image of Merlin's golden eyes will stop haunting him. AKA an in-depth character study of Arthur. I do not endorse Arthur's actions, but this is what I think he'd do in canon. This was my season 3 prediction!

The Homecoming of Arthur Pendragon by TheSeasonOfWinter (rated t, gen fic, 91k, part 1 of an incomplete series)

Summary: The dragon leaned forward. "Your destiny is to protect Uther Pendragon's heir, the one who will be the Once and Future King and unite all of Albion." Merlin blinked. "But . . . Uther doesn't have an heir." . . . In many Arthurian texts, Arthur is raised as a peasant by Sir Ector with no knowledge of his royal lineage. Let's bring that back, shall we?

Requiem of a Forgotten Prince by queerofthedagger (writer), kairennart (artist) (rated m, merthur, 86k)

Summary: 'You will forget all that you hold dear,' the sorcerer had vowed before he attacked Arthur, leaving his patrol dead and Arthur achingly thankful that for once, Merlin hadn’t been with him. Well, and he is quite certain that he hasn’t forgotten anything. As it turns out, everyone else has; specifically about him, and that Camelot is supposed to have a crown prince. When Merlin stumbles across him by chance, Arthur should be relieved. And he would be, really—if he hadn’t just been stabbed, and found out that Merlin has magic while he was at it. That Merlin does not remember who he is, either. It all gets a lot more complicated from there on out as Arthur tries to keep his own secrets, deal with the revelations about Merlin, and find a way not only to restore Camelot's memories, but protect it against the threats gathering on the horizon, too. When it rains, it pours; sometimes, the aftermath might just be worth it.

aaaaannnddddd not to self-rec but here's a liddle oneshot

living legend by me (rated gen, gen fic/background arwen, 3k)

Summary: The birth of the young Arthur Pendragon marks a great change in the very heart of Albion. His name will stand the test of time. But, as you well know, accuracy is not a lauded trait. Gossipmongers, the lot of them. Or: Arthur Pendragon, as seen through the eyes of the people of Camelot.

#shows #bbc merlin #bbcm #arthur pendragon #arthur #merlin #merlin fic recs #fic recs #je réponds #la poste #ask #anonymous #sorry i was gna put this under a read more but it's too late #long post #tais toi lys #*#*frs

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two-white-butterflies · 2 years

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yellow rose: one

Chapter One: Highgarden Description: Queen Alicent strikes a match between her cousin, and her son. Believing that The Tyrells were nothing but roses, completely disregarding the Thorns in their sigil. In where, Delancey Tyrell rises and becomes The Mistress of Whispers. masterlist

DELANCEY TYRELL WAS BORN IN THE LONGEST SUMMER. And with her birth, came a bountiful harvest. She was the oldest child. Oftentimes, she scorns having been born as a woman — for now, she couldn't inherit her father's seat in Highgarden.

Instead, her worth could only be measured by the man she was supposed to marry. She was destined to only become as an extension of him. What was a wife, but a mere shadow of her husband?

Cordelia Hightower finishes combing her daughter's delicate hair, watching as she zoomed out from the mirror. She inherited her mother's beauty, and had no stains of Tyrell in her face.

Other's called her the replica of Queen Alicent, for they had the same hair-color and face. There was no doubt that there was kinship between them. But Delancey was the opposite of Alicent, for her eyes held youth and she always smelt of roses.

"Is the Capital to your liking?" Cordelia questions hoping to turn this kingdom into her daughter's second home. She shakes her head, "The gardens suck — and it smells bad." she complained, resting her head in her mother's chest.

Cordelia glowers, not liking her daughter's opinion. "It's because you spend too much time in your room. You are unable to see its beauty." she reasoned as she began braiding Delancey's hair.

She hums in return, her eyes closing in sleepiness. "Everyone's too vicious." she mutters as her head dances along with the movement's of her mother's hand. "It does not matter. This is the capital, child. If you do not learn its ropes, then you'll be taken advantage of." she taught as Delancey's eyes open.

A sigh escapes from her lips, as the candle behind her flickers. "Must we attend the dinner?" she queried only wishing to be in the company of her books. "It is not up for discussion, Delancey." the woman scolds as she finishes braiding her hair.

She grumbles impolitely, finding the company of her extended family infuriating. They were strange, especially with the marriage between Prince Aegon and Princess Helaena. Her mother found it disgusting and an impure sight in front of The Seven.

SHE WORE THE COLORS OF HER HOUSE WITH PRIDE. She sat beside her father and Prince Aemond. She looks at her side, only to see him staring at her.

She looks away and turns her attention towards the Queen. As a small child, she was always told that she was destined for greatness. As the scion of two great-families, it was expected of her to ascend with power. Sometimes, she imagines being Queen.

"It's been far too long since I've visited Highgarden. The last time I was there, Lady Delancey was but a child." Queen Alicent smiles falsely, a polite chuckle escaping from Delancey's lips.

"Highgarden is always open for you, my queen." she answered benevolently, remembering the times in which her mother would teach her about speaking to noble-members.

Delancey was an impressionable young girl, and everyone in the room knew that she was destined for greatness. "We could visit there sometime, right my king?" Alicent turns towards her husband who nods weakly and takes a sip of his wine.

"I've never been to Highgarden before, how is it?" Prince Aegon turns towards the lady as she smiles once more. "It is welcoming, my prince. It's gardens are heavenly although our castle is nothing compared to The Red Keep." she replies already finding their attention comfortable.

She was an ingenue, a young influential lady who comes to Kingslanding to be courted. Sure, spending time with her mother taught her about the laws of court and how to smile at young powerful lords. But she wasn't expecting this to be so easy.

It was like, she was trained for court.

"Of course, I wouldn't assume that Highgarden had enough money." Prince Aegon snorts as Aemond's jaw clenches. He turns towards his brother and gives him a glare, "Bare respect for our guests, Aegon." he said through gritted teeth as Alicent smiles threateningly at her boys.

They were both unruly, and Alicent didn't want to embarrass herself at the sights of her aunt, Cordelia. "It's alright my prince." Delancey settles as she takes a bite of her food, its delicious taste seeping through her tongue.

Alicent turns towards Cordelia and Mace. "Aunt and Lord Mace, you come here to find a match for Delancey. And I have a wonderful offer." she smiles at her husband, holding his cold hand lightly.

He suggested a marriage between Delancey and Aemond. Alicent didn't wish to agree at first, but seeing as her cousin was a perfect lady. She couldn't help but agree.

Cordelia raises her eyebrows, finding her niece to be a rival at court. After all, Cordelia was supposed to marry the King — not Alicent. "We propose a marriage, between Prince Aemond and dearest Delancey." she smiles as Lord Mace beams silently with joy.

His daughter marrying a Targaryen Prince, was more than enough for his house to flourish. He raises his cup, and nods his head. "We accept your generous offer, my queen." he accepts.

next chapter>>

taglist: @23victoria @kaitieskidmore1 @sandronebabyy @thenoblenomad @lilostif16 @choisannyreads @teddys-delivery-service @i-yam-awesome @qhuedie21 @girls-just-only-wanna-have-fun @xcharlottemikaelsonx @1-800-isabellapotter @bluebellsn @anaisbambia

#aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen x reader

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theresattrpgforthat · 1 year

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THEME: Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli films have captured our imagination ever since they’ve reached our screens, and for good reason. The lovingly designed landscapes, the dedication to complicated (but relatable) characters, and the gentle balance of fantasy and everyday life have enchanted many of creator, including those of the games below!

Hearts and Ravens, by Martian Machinery.

Flying towers cross the land at the whim of wizards who prey on the souls of the wayward or uncareful. The King Underground trades in the mortal lives of the wished-away and the unwanted. A stolen prince daydreams of faraway. All the while there are apprenticeships to fulfill, hats to make, carpets to weave, and the thousand things that prevent an adventure from taking place. Until one day, luck or a dream or magic intervenes and nothing is ever the same again.

You'll go on an adventure. You'll be confronted with challenges and fears. You'll come face-to-face with magic and magical creatures. You'll make difficult decisions. And if you're lucky, and if you look hard enough, you might find yourself.

This is a game about people escaping their mundane lives and becoming adventurers and wizards in a fantasy world. This is a world where contracts are binding and magic is powerful and personal. We create characters with obligations and play to find out how they discover the world, fight against adversity, and explore truths about themselves.

Hearts & Ravens combines the mechanics of PbtA games with the storytelling tools of Good Society. It draws inspiration specifically from Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, as well as media such as the 1985 Labyrinth, so expect to meet characters who have to keep themselves hidden, fairytale magic, and obligations that you can’t simply run away from. I’m very excited about this game!

Singles & Returns, by Groundhoggoth.

Singles & Returns is a way to tell stories that mix nostalgia and fairytale, centred around the passengers on a bus that serves anyone who can pay the fare, and even several who can’t. You’ll meet some fascinating people onboard, talk to them and then get off again. Inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli, there’s no pressure or urgency in this game, no great threat to overcome, just simple, everyday, minor panics: will she like me? Will I get the job? Will I be late? As the bus takes them each toward their destination, they have time to share what’s on their mind, listen and give advice, and maybe lend a helping hand on the way.

This game reminds me of the train Chihiro takes to visit Zeniba in Spirited Away, as well as the Cat Bus in My Neighbour Totoro. The Bus is there to take you from one place to another, and it guarantees to get you there on time. It takes no responsibility for epiphanies, changes of heart, or a meeting of fate (which is one of my favourite little additions in the book!)

There’s very little rolling other than determining who you are and where you’re going, so this game is probably more suitable for players who really like diving into role-play and conversation. A single session can be over pretty quick, so there’s also suggestions about ways to extend the game, or change it up for future play-throughs.

Spirit Line, by Floofi.

“All Aboard the Spirit Line! An inter-dimensional train that travels through the different realms and realities. You are a conductor of the Spirit Line and you must solve the various Troubles that the train will go through! Work with your fellow Conductors to keep the Spirit Line safe and maintain it’s five star status! Good luck Conductors!”

Spirit Line is a TTRPG that focuses on you fixing problems around the Spirit Line through the power of friendship and cooperation! To play this game you will need 2-5 players, a d12, a deck of cards, and a few pieces of paper to keep track of your Conductor! You will not need a GM for this and all you need to do is read the instruction and you will be good to go!

This is a quick, fast-paced game of Train Conductors doing their best to keep their train running as easily as possible: it could also easily be re-skinned to fit a different genre or slotted into a larger game such as Hearts & Ravens or Spiritbound to make travel interesting for the players. There’s both a win and a fail state for this game - the Conductors could have Troubles pile up until they're at risk of losing their jobs, or they could fix all of the problems before they hit the end of the line. This is a small, easy-to-learn game with a plentitude of possibilities!

Spirited Cafe, by A Couple of Drakes.

Take on the exciting role of part of a family indentured to the witch Baba, bound by ineffable obligation to run her restaurant in the Crossroads until you can repay your family’s debts. It exists at the eternal nexus where the Human World and the Spirit World overlap. Your job is to protect the Human World by satisfying any guest that arrives from the Spirit World to this strange little place in space and time. If these spirits are fed and contented, they will return home with the sunrise. If they are not, then there is no telling what strange aims they will pursue among the Human World.

You're all that stands between the Human World and all manner of things from outside. On your side, you've got a finnicky stove, a creepy cookbook, and a little bit of magic. Ghosts, goblins, trolls, and tengu file into your little cafe, hungry for mischief. You and your family better cook for your lives!

This game takes heavy inspiration from both Spirited Away and the video game Overcooked. Using the fast-paced, ticking-clock mechanics of Forged in the Dark, you’ll work together to create a family and a restaurant while the GM will design hungry (and impatient) customers to demand more and more from your little family business. When your customers are magical, the stakes are much higher! This is great for fans of Studio Ghibli who still like to experience a challenge.

Golden Sky Stories, by Star Line Publishing.

Golden Sky Stories is a heartwarming, non-violent role-playing game from Japan, by Ryo Kamiya. In this game, players take on the role of henge, animals that have just a little bit of magical power, including the ability to temporarily take on human form. You can be a fox, raccoon dog, cat, dog, rabbit, or bird, and each kind has their own special magical powers. Players will then attempt to solve problems around a small enchanted town with ingenuity, co-operation and friendship.

Golden Sky Stories requires one Narrator, 2-4 players, pencils and paper, and tokens to keep track of Dreams. Your characters have powers and vulnerabilities that operate off of a token economy, with the goal of helping out people in a nearby town. You’ll be rolling dice alongside the mechanic of token expenditure, with different tokens and stats assigned for different kinds of things - the process of operating a telephone or fixing a flashlight is going to be different from sneaking along fences or reading a person’s emotions.

This is an all-ages kind of game, with peaceful art and a big emphasis on the kinds of stories common in Studio Ghibli movies. If you want to add more character options and some scenarios to get you started, you can also check out Twilight Tales, a supplement for Golden Sky Stories.

Cloud Empress, by Watts.

"The battle between rampaging forest gods and humanity cannot end well; there can be no happy ending. Yet, even amid the hatred and slaughter, there are things worthy of life." -- Hayao Miyazaki

Cloud Empress is an ecological science fantasy setting for the science horror tabletop roleplaying game Mothership. Cloud Empress in the land of ten thousand cicadas will be a full-color zine and PDF and is currently in development. In Cloud Empress: in the land of ten thousand cicadas, players will explore a land governed by the patterns of giant psychic cicadas. When deadly soldiers from royal lands high above the clouds threaten the balance, the Breadbasket's wheat fields will burn without the players' help.

This game involves a world that has changed dramatically, similar to the strange world of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It’s a game about learning to live and survive in a world that is full of the trash and poison of the people who left the world behind; a post apocalypse in a world ruined by others, and by our ancestors. If you like the idea of speculative futures with world-building that is intended to be quickly picked up and understood by the players, this is absolutely worth checking out.

The link above is a playtest for a game that will have a full version for sale down the road, now that their Kickstarter campaign has finished up.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Spiritbound, by Marc Strocks.

Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, by Jay Dragon.

Questlandia, by Turtlebun,

#tabletop games #game recommendations #indie ttrpgs #studio ghibli #dnd

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freewilllife · 3 months

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Xie Lian´s reason for choosing his two "friends"- Xie Lian´s living conditions

I. Xie Lian is a peerlessly impressive person

One of the more interesting points in Xie Lian´s previous life is that the Crown Prince of Xianle was extraordinary in the best sense possible.

Xie Lian was extraordinarily beautiful, intelligent, gifted in material arts, and apparently also the "best person one could be"...

"The State Preceptor laughed." It´s nothing, it´s nothing. His Higness the Crown Prince, darling of the heavens, is divinely gifted, marvelously talented, and graciously brilliant. It is fortune accumulated from three lifetimes that gave this lowly subject the chance to become his teacher. I have a feeling that with His Highness the Crown Prince´s presence, today will go down in history."

"Yet when they gazed upon his face, their breathing hitched. That young man had long brows and charming eyes, exceptionally handsome, radiating nobility, so dazzling it forced down the eyes of those looking."

But there is one crux with this...A person like this hardly finds other people he can relate to...

II. The Crown Prince of Xianle was a lonely figure

Xie Lian grinned."Feng Xing, did you know-there are so many people in this world that are nothing but rocks in my eyes."

A very good question: Had Xie Lian any other friends in the past beside those two? Well, you won´t find any.

Even among the other disciples, we didn´t hear of even one disciples that Xie Lian fancied in every way. Even though he was quite popular. There seemed to be quite many people who would have given I don´t-know-what for his company. Yet Xie Lian was not close with many people.

Even when he was - nearly- at the height of his popularity as Crown Prince - there was a clear distance between him and the other people besides his parents - even with them the relationship had become quite rocky.

I just want to make clear, that it was unbelievable hard to be chosen as Xie Lian´s friend in the past. He tended to not give people he perceived as not that important too much attention.

Xie Lian has hardly ever been a completely open person that was able to instantly connect with people. Even as Crown Prince, he kept mostly two people around: Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

III. The relationship with his parents

Xie Lian was a teenager of 17 years and he started to become independent from his parents, trying to go his own way.

And the relationship with his father had grown quite tense, as his son - who was still clueless about the difficulties to rule a country, judged his father quite negatively.

It was well-known fact that the crown prince was obsessed with cultivation, and ever since he entered the Royal Holy Temple, he visited his parents less and less. The king didn´t comment much on the matter, but the queen was always reluctant to see him go.

IV. The choice of his "comrades"

"There are rocks everywhere, but precious jades are hard to come by. When it comes to martial arts, I´ve only ever seen two people who could be called jades. one is you. The other is him." He stopped and turned, eyes bright. "I genuinely think that Mu Qing is extremely gifted. How could I let such a precious jade be left to collect dust, denied from showing ist beauty simply because of its background and temper?“ Xie Lian looked determined.“No I think that´s wrong. You ask why I think so highly of him? It´s the same reason I think so highly of you. Those who are destined to shine, I must let them shine. Besides I don´t believe that goodwill brings bad returns.“

Believe it or not...Xie Lian - the martial arts fanatic- chose his friends based on their abilities in martial arts.

Or at least...it seemed like this...but please don´t let yourself be fooled by words...This was surely a very important reason for Xie Lian´s choice, but not the only reason...

Both Feng Xin and Mu Qing share some similarities with Xie LIan besides being great at martial arts...

Both of them keep to themselves, just like Xie Lian.

Both of them shared similar values with Xie Lian.

And Xie Lian was aware of it, since he did not need to explain to them in some instances how to act.

and it was thanks only to Feng Xin and Mu Qing - who sat at the front and grabbed the reins to guide the horse - that this berserk journey did not cost at least twenty lives.

guess that Xie Lian could have observed them both...or he just had a hunch that they could fit him...I don´t know...but for example Xie Lian pretty sure realized it in Mu Qing, when he helped him during the festival...and then there is the thing with their mothers...

All three have some strong bonds with either their mother (Mu Qing, Xie Lian) or other mothers (Feng Xin)

Xie Lian is a momma boy...First thing he did after he comes back to the palace, he was meeting his mother, the queen.

Xie Lian went to meet with the queen straightaway.

It is really easy to realize how much Xie Lian loved his mother. He can easily compliment her...and even in one of his darkest hours, when he tried very hard to not let it crumble, he desperately wished to cling to his mother like a young child again. Apparently he also produces vernom in the kitchen, due to his mother being bad at cooking.

I guess it is apparent that Mu Qing loved his mother with how often this had been previously mentioned. Even the gold leaf he took, would have been a present to her.

And Feng Xin? He broke his arm for the queen...

#xie lian #tgcf #mu qing #feng xin

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royaltysimblr · 11 months

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The Princess Mary’s Love Life - Update #1

The Princess Mary has had a chaotic love life since we last saw her. At her debutante ball she was heartbroken over the end of her three month relationship with Crown Prince Maximillian of Monaca. Princess Mary was not seen publicly with anyone until she was 20 when she was seen with a mystery man many have believed to be Brandon Shellstrop, a wealthy business mogul who was 27 at the time. It wasn’t until Princess Mary was 22 when she started dating again, her first boyfriend since the Crown Prince being Neal Hays, a famous singer who has won numerous awards and has achieved worldwide acclaim. Princess Mary was spotted at his concert in October and a month later they were seen walking in San Myshuno together. The relationship caused quite a scandal as Neal was 33 years old while the Princess was 22. The relationship ended after only 4 months together, there has been much speculation about why their relationship ended but a rockstar and a future queen would not make a great match!

Princess Mary stayed single for the next year but was often seen in the company of Oliver Montgomery, her ex-boyfriend, the Crown Prince of Monaca’s cousin. It seemed as if the two were friends as there was no PDA between them unlike a few other men she was seen with.

When Mary was 24 she started dating WAFTA winning actor Patrick Dunn. Patrick was invited to the annual San Myshuno Palace Garden Party where he met Mary and the King and Queen. Mary was smitten and started dating him a few weeks later. They were seen shopping and getting coffee in San Myshuno. They also were seen vacationing together in Sulani two months later. The pair dated for a year, and they even attended the 85th WAFTA Awards together, with the Princess wearing a custom dress by Valerie Le Croix. Patrick won Best Actor in a Television Drama and gave a nod toward his girlfriend in his speech. However, 3 months later the pair ended their relationship amicably.

Mary started dating Eric Ellington, 6th Duke of Wells 6 months after her relationship with Patrick ended. Mary and Eric were set up by the princess’s cousin, Princess Margaret of Gardania. Eric and Mary had known each other for years and they ran in the same social circle, with Eric escorting her best friend Lady Mikaela Hastings at her debutante ball years prior. Eric was seen as the perfect husband for Mary, he was intelligent, charitable, kind, and was a member of nobility. Mary and Eric dated for almost 2 years. Eric started appearing at important functions at the palace such as the Brichester State Dinner and Princess Mary’s Investiture as Princess of the Isle. It was clear the couple were destined for marriage. Two weeks after the Princess’s investiture a story leaked that Eric had proposed to Mary and she rejected him. A source close to the couple claimed that Mary was not ready to become a “bride” and wanted to focus on her duty as the Princess of the Isle.

For the next two years Mary was not seen publicly with any boyfriend, her relationship with Eric ended and it seemed as if she was going to remain single for the rest of her twenties. However, at the Princess’s 29th birthday party Oliver Montgomery was spotted at the Palace. The next day Oliver and Mary were seen holding hands in San Myshuno while getting coffee together. In the next few weeks Oliver started renting an apartment in San Myshuno near Princess Mary’s residence, Honey House. Oliver and Mary dated for around 5 months before the palace announced their engagement.

#StatfordLegacy #sims4 #sims #ts4 #ts #the sims #sims 4 legacy #royals #royalty #legacy #sims 4 legacy challenge #ts4 royalty #ts4 royals #the sims 4 royals #the sims 4 royalty #s4 royals #s4 royalty #PrincessMary

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earlgodwin · 2 months

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tapping the mic to say 🎤 when do u think the real shift in cesare and juans relationship happened and when did it begin to sour (or the audience could argue there were always notes of sourness and love mixed in together that just developed as time went on to be less fondness and more envy on both sides) bc lowkey ive been thinking the rift began when juan was chosen to go defend rome against king charles's army in s1 and cesare was desperate to don the armour and go and so when juan came back defeated, he was so ashamed with himself but cesare felt petty vindication and in this essay i will...[the audience cuts me off]

"He's not making excuses for what he is anymore, and what he wants to be. He ultimately feels that killing Juan was the right thing for himself. It's something that he focused on and I think he can control his mind into having no second thoughts. And that's the only way you can rule in that era, really." - Francois Arnaud

you're right! it's a mixture of sourness and love because, while cesare resented juan's weakness and naivety, but i think he still cared for him at first because he feels obligated to protect him since he was his family. but mainly, rodrigo's vicious cycle of ambitions tore them apart as he made cesare believe he was inadequate, despite loving, admiring, and relying on him. rodrigo's deliberate self-delusion (he is aware that cesare is the driven and more competent one) and self-loathing prevented him from embracing cesare's true self. appointing juan to a task desired by cesare fueled the hatred and envy as he started thinking juan was rodrigo's favorite. eventually, his frustration towards juan led him to murder him because this is where he becomes the cesare borgia we read about in machiavelli's 'the prince.' and like i said before, juan shaped the rest of cesare's story till the end. he was the one who drove him to finally become what he always meant to be and take the path he was always destined to. it's why juan's death is necessary to him because it was also a way for rodrigo to release him from his position as a cardinal. he claimed to rodrigo that he killed juan because he brought dishonor to the family, but cesare pretty much did contribute to bringing dishonor to the family by not wanting to warn juan about ludovico's army coming his way at forli after machiavelli informed him about it. cesare could have spared his family from another failure but decided not to because his priority was to humiliate juan just to prove a point to rodrigo, that he is the better son. he even gaslit juan about it by telling rodrigo that he wasn't aware of the attack, which makes cesare self-contradicting, just like how he went all "we're borgias, we never forgive" while killing juan because he was well aware juan struggled all his life questioning himself if he was truly rodrigo's son or not and desperately wanted to belong. cesare very decidedly excluded juan because he wanted to even emotionally hurt him in his final moment, then later was begging for "forgiveness" from rodrigo, a borgia, after the murder. also rodrigo feels a great deal of guilt (as he was hallucinating and dreaming of juan in s3) for making juan envied by cesare which led him to the decision to murder him, as that was the only way for cesare to gain his father's attention and the papal army. and when rodrigo finally forgives cesare for his sin of fratricide, rodrigo also forgives himself of the blame he's placed upon himself and the guilt he feels for letting his ambition destroy his family. they finally let go of the past and rodrigo can finally embrace cesare for the person he really is and has always loved deeply.

"he loves his errant son, does he not? More than he loves his dutiful one." - Cesare Borgia

cesare was proven wrong after all the time he was thinking juan was the favorite. he came to the realization that even though rodrigo saw so much of himself in him, he still planned from the beginning to make cesare his true heir. this brought relief and a sense of validation after years of feeling inadequate. rodrigo always intended for cesare to succeed him in the church, which was the only way that truly mattered to him. he made cesare a cardinal, a prince of the church, with the ultimate goal of cesare becoming the future pope and king. when rodrigo shared his dream of creating a papal bloodline to be passed down to cesare and his own son, cesare's perspective shifted. he began to heavily care about the perceptions of others, which not only fueled his power hunger but also led to him becoming classist. he even felt ashamed of his mother when she offered him counsel and to join him in war, rejecting her because of her former occupation as a "whore." it was a chilling development in cesare's character and honestly he became more interesting to me than he was in the first two seasons.

"One thing that I've always said about Juan is that every action that he does is heartfelt and genuine. When it was the war against the French, he was there and he was going to go to war, even though he knew he was going to die. He saw them getting ripped apart, but he was there and he was going to do it. I believe if Lucrezia hadn't come over, he would have led all his troops into death. I don't think there's anything that he's done which was through general cowardice. In terms of his survival, he died how he lived, and that's laudable, in itself." - David Oakes

rodrigo sending juan to war against the troops definitely (and rightfully) triggered cesare because juan has no idea what the hell he is doing and even though juan is incompetent, he never asked for the position he was given, but he tried his best to fulfill his responsibilities. like when he showed bravery by willingly risking his life against the french, even after his troops were torn apart in front of his eyes, insisting to lucrezia that he would never accept defeat and that he will keep fighting because he'll never let king charles of france destroy rome and get rid of their father, but only surrendered because the prospect of him dying would upset lucrezia, and lucrezia told him she already had a plan to prevent this.

"It’s interesting that Juan’s attempt at relieving pain is through closeness and hugging and love. When he forgives Cesare at the end saying how they’re brothers and wants to be together, I think that’s genuine. That’s the first time you realize what he’s always wanted." - David Oakes

juan felt deeply isolated because he never had a peer, and unfortunately, he was too weak and succumbed to his darkness, impulsiveness, and insecurities. he had a deep love for his family, but he lost himself in the pressure of the role and even committed heinous acts to prove himself, unaware that it would make his siblings hate him. all he wanted was to be included in their world. however, he struggled intensely in expressing his feelings, which led to him being shunned. it is tragic because ultimately he longed to feel like a 'true' borgia and have a close relationship with his family, especially with cesare. but the lack of moral guidance and the weight of expectations pushed him to behave inappropriately, resulting in everyone pushing him away and his death going unmourned except by his father, the one's responsible for his failure and feels guilty for it.

byeeee i really went on and on answering this oops sorry zaynab!!! anyway i hope these insights help lol

#loving the borgias fandom renaissance let's goooooo #what an epic family drama no one ever did it like them i love them all so much #never ask me a question about the borgias because i'm afraid i'm never shutting up #genuinely wondering if i'm gonna get attacked again by cesare fans for simply *checks notes* appreciating the source material #even though i'm obsessed with cesare as well and pretty much isn't delusional about him #in conclusion; cesare and juan's relationship is sooo one sided #it's very complex but to put it simply; cesare hates juan but juan loves cesare #if the situation was reversed at forli; juan would've warned cesare and rescue him byee #because cesare does everything ultimately for power and political gains and juan for wanting recognition and love i rest my case #zaynab 💌#messages #cesare borgia #juan borgia #rodrigo borgia #the borgias #juan and cesare #text post

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yournextflame · 2 years

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The downfall of Fundamentalism

Playing devil’s advocate for the outer gods wasn’t enough, here I’m going to explain why Golden Order Fundamentalism isn’t synonymous to religious fanaticism, but originally it was... a magic maths. One of the most interesting themes of the Elden Ring for me is the eventual corruption of what once was great, and I think Fundamentalism is a good example of initially amazing concept degrading into the parody of itself with the flow of time.

This post branched out from my observation of the Elden Ring sigils and originally I planned to write a big summary of all “holy” spells, but the size of the essay was becoming enormous even by my standards and some topics such as the Erdtree’s changes over time were covered in other posts. [if you’ve seen similar comment on certain hellsite, well, it was me]

Instead, I decided to focuse on the Golden Order Fundamentalism, one of the most “wronged” aspects of the Elden Ring lore.

Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of strict beliefs. However, In the context of the Elden Ring definition of fundamentalism has different meaning:

Fundamentalism is scholarship in all but name. Scales incantations using both intelligence and faith (Golden Order Seal)

Golden Order and Golden Order Fundamentalism are used interchangely by fandom, the latter bears the derogatory meaning of blind fanatism, but this is plain wrong.

Golden Order refers to:

- the particular shape of the Elden Ring (The Golden Order was created by confining Destined Death - Mending Rune of the Death-Prince),

- religion centered around worship of Marika (The Golden Order is founded on the principle that Marika is the one true god - brother Corhyn)

- a historical period of Marika’s reign, but usually it’s called “age of the Erdtree”

Meanwhile, as you can see in the description of the Golden Order Seal, Fundamentalism is a scholarship centered around metaphysics of the Elden Ring runes via the Laws of Causality and Regression. There is a religious influence in play, especially later on, but initially Fundamentalism derived from the blind belief in the Erdtree and was build around the idea of structural study of the fundamentals of the world.

Speaking of Fundamentalism, it is impossible not to mention its founder - Radagon.

As the husband of Rennala of Caria, the red-haired Radagon studied sorcery, and as the husband of Queen Marika, he studied incantations. Thus did the hero aspire to be complete One the first things that we learn about Radagon is that he was interested in magic, both sorcery and incantations, as result Fundamentalists spells are utilizing int and faith, and sometimes int only. However, Fundamentalism isn’t solely dedicated to spellcraft; engineering, craftsmanship and maths also played important role in its foundation. Notably, idea to take the best from the both worlds and improve it with “scientific” approach fascinated him from the very beginning:

One-of-a-kind enchanted crossbow of exquisitely detailed craftsmanship. Made to celebrate the matrimonial union, and reconciliation, between the houses of the Erdtree and the Full Moon, Leyndell and Raya Lucaria. The two rings dance when reloading the weapon. Reveals true worth when used with holy-infused bolts (Full Moon Crossbow)

And even after he divorced Rennala, he still pursued knowledges and better understanding of the laws of the world.

I don’t want to turn this post in analyzes of Radagon’s character, I already have like five of them in my drafts and argued a lot on hellsite, but there is an interesting and really overlooked detail about him - he naturally lacks talent for magic. If you pay attention to the description of Marika/Radagon’s scarseals, you may notice that their stats are split, while Marika is leaning towards int, faith and arcne, Radagon’s main attributes are physical.

An eye engraved with an Elden Rune. Said to be the seal of King Consort Radagon. Raises vigor, endurance, strength, and dexterity (Radagon's Scarseal)

This, and description of Fire Giant’s braid, together with the description of Radagon’s icon are painting pretty clear picture - Radagon was looking for a way to improve himself, to overcome his more primal and unrefined nature in comparison with more “civilized” Marika. There are many characters, who are rejecting their true nature in the Elden Ring: Godfrey uses Serosh to supress his bloodlust, Malenia quite literally loses herself, Morgott cuts off his horns and hates his Omen origin. But Radagon, while struggles from self-esteem issues, doesn't go full on "woe is me" and goes on the long quest to develop qualities he is lacking.

Also, leave the mantle of the hardcore Erdtree hugger to Morgott because Radagon literally removes Erdtree as a symbol of the Erdtree worship from Fundamentalism sigil as you can see on the OP pic. Not to mention, he is not a huge fan of people fighting in favor of the dying tree

A talisman patterned after swords used in ritual combat held to honor the Erdtree. The practice had died out by the age of King Consort Radagon, but remains of the arenas where ritual combat took place can still be found in every land (Ritual Sword Talisman)

Carian sorcery was based on fate reading via astrology. Golden Order faith borrowed the power from runes and the Erdtree. Fundamentalism united both types of magic and advanced it even futher with a help of maths study. The Erdtree was way past the age of flourishment and people needed to develop new spells. In fact, Fundamentalism is the most populated group of spells in so-called Golden group, but on top of that - it’s the most diverse. The Crucible/ancient Erdtree spells and Erdtree’s worships categories are mainly focused on healing and defence, while Fundamentalism provides all variety of miracles. And, of course, we shouldn’t forget about maths:

Golden Order Principia (reference to Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, a work expounding Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation)

A dense and complex academic treatise that contains the Order's fundamental principles.

Pulley Bow: Longbow which utilizes a series of pulleys and springs. The complex mechanism, which required advanced mathematical and mechanical understanding to craft, was likely made by a certain genius who learned Golden Order fundamentalism.

“Scholary” part of the Fundamentalism also represented by the naming of the fundamental laws in Japanese.

Law of Regression is 回帰性原理 where kanjis 回帰 is a mathemathical statistical technique that relates a dependent variable to one or more independent (explanatory) variables.

On the countrary 因果 in Law of Casualty means “karma” in Buddihsm, karma refers to action driven by intention (cetanā) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth.

Even kanji Order 律 - “vinaya” originated from Buddihsm, it is often translated as 'discipline' and 'doctrine” and used to refer Buddha's complete teachings.

Again, I believe it’s important to separate art from inspirations, but by mentioning maths and other references I want to show that Miyazaki’s creativity isn’t limited to the “Catholisism is bad for dummies” and “I read one manga in my life and it’s Berserk” (please, someone tell Berserk fans that Miyazaki also loves oldschool shojo manga). Golden Order Fundamentalism definitely was inspired Christianity - to a degree, but just like in game it’s a mix of sorcery and incantations, in terms of real life inspiration it isn’t limited to the only religion majority of Westerners ever heard about.

This brings up the complexity of Fundamentalism and Miyazaki’s take on the religion in the Elden Ring. His critics of organized cults was a big part of Dark Souls (I hate clerics - Patches) and Bloodborne, but usually it was shown from “there is no god in your church” angle: the prophecy of Way of White was fabricated, Gwyn and his kind weren’t actually gods, members of the Healing Church barely had any idea what they are doing.

Elden Ring, however, raises another question:

Should there be a god at all?

(According to the Buddhist scriptures, the sunflower is the flower of the Buddha. The seeds inside the sunflower represent the Buddhist faith and the flowers represent the virtues of the Buddha)

Ever Brilliant Goldmask is another prominent Fundamentalist character, he is a Tarnished, who searches in the mysteries of the Golden Order.

Goldmask is not the most talkative fellow in game, but from Corhyn we can learn that he is calculating what’s going on, which means that he leans towards “scholary” side of the Fundamentalism, while his companion represents blind fanatism to the point where he rejects book of Two Fingers and calls it heresy.

While still a precise calculus, the rhythms grew increasingly wild Or at least, such is all I can interpret from the rhythm and calculus of his finger.

[interesting, Corhyn is basically Goldmask’s "Finger Maiden“]

It is worth noting that Goldmask is the one, who adresses the huge issue with Fundamentalism that happened after the Night of the Black Knives, when Ranni broke Cursmark of Death in half, the Erdtree got infected and the souls stopped to return to the roots.

Discrimination of Those Who Live in Death is a dark page in the history of Fundamentalism, a turning point when religious origin of the Golden Order and ideology based on the concept of immortality overcame common sense.

The noble Goldmask lamented what had become of the hunters. How easy it is for learning and learnedness to be reduced to the ravings of fanatics; all the good and the great wanted, in their foolishness, was an absolute evil to contend with. Does such a notion exist in the fundamentals of Order?

Goldmask, despite his low opinion on hunters, still believed that Fundamentalism was a great idea that was screwed by fanatics. He holds similar opinion on the Order, in the end Elden Ring is just an instrument, but gods are imperfect and shouldn’t influence it.

The imperfection of the current Golden Order, is otherwise its instability of ideology. It is unnecessary for Gods to have emotions like humans. That was the flaw of the Order

I guess my question should have been how much gods were involved in the persecution of Those Who Live in Death? Most certainly, Radagon was, for example incantation Order's Blade shares design with his Golden Order Greatsword. We can also find golden centipedes - hunters fetishes, near his statue in Liurnia. Surprisingly enough, Miquella, who is usually known for his more liberal and open-minded views and acceptance of the shunned and ostracized, wasn’t in fond of Those Who Live in Death as well.

His sword, Golden Epitaph, allows to use the skill named Last Rtes:

Raise the epitaph to grant the effect of Sacred Order to yourself and allies in the vicinity. Particularly effective at laying to rest Those Who Live in Death.

As you can see, it uses Haligtree sigil, which means that Miquella at that moment already abandoned Fundamentalism and was working on his own plan, however, this spell still utilizes power of Radagon’s Sacred Order.

[I am really curious about the timeline, it is commonly believed that Godwyn was killed right before the Shattering. However, Japanese supports that this line is right:

It happened during the Golden Age of the Erdtree [age of abudance?], long before the shattering of the Elden Ring

While this line - Soon, the Elden Ring was smashed, - is wrong, there is no mention of timeline in JP.

It’s a bit offtopic, but there is a thing - Radagon couldn’t be Fundamentalist before marrying Marika as he didn’t studied incantations properly yet. However, Those Who Live in Death couldn’t be a thing without Godwyn’s death. But if Godwyn died during the age of abudance, does it mean that Radagon still lived in Liurnia, therefore Ranni’s motivation for the Night of Black Knives didn’t revolved around vengeance for Rennala? Time is convoluted]

Eventually, Fundamentalism developed into the opposition of what it originally was, what once started as in-depth study of the fundamental laws degraded into a raving fanatism. It followed the fate of the Golden Order as a whole:

The battle art you've learned is of the glintstone family. They were conceived at the great Academy of Raya Lucaria, to the north of this castle. In the past, they obeyed laws which contravened the Golden Order, or so I'm told. Fascinating, isn't it? That the Golden Order was pliable enough to absorb practices that itself in the past. With the Order broken, twisted, and in need of repair, such adaptability is more important now than ever (Rogier)

P.S. I posted bits of this post on r//dit, which spiraled into interesting, albeit heated discussion, so there is a thing - I’m lore blog, I’m discussing lore of fictional universe from Japanese game, I’m not interested in american puritan trauma and what comes with it; if you want to argue with me - let’s stick to the lore.

#elden ring #radagon #goldmask #miquella #elden ring lore #lore theories

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cal-a-bungaa · 11 months

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The Realm

The Realm Part Five - Prince!Jake Kiszka

Synopsis: In war there are two evils: war and peace

Word count: 4.6k

Warnings: mentions of death, war, and alcohol.

Enjoy! And huge thanks to @writingcold for being such a big help!

__________

With the moon at its highest, you basked in its light. It was a reminder of the girl you once were; naive, gentle, and emotional. Now here you sit in the rays of the moon, a queen of a kingdom that sees her as merely an object. You are a figment to their insufferable dreams of great wealth and endless wine. You can hear the people who pretend to support your rule in the echoes from the dampened hallways.

The crown you were intended to wear rested on the cushion beside you. Its precious jewels glimmered in the light, bathing you in its glory and sorrow. This heirloom was to bring nothing but blood and misery for those who are destined to become its mannequin. The roots of Weria have long begun to rot alongside your fathers body and take the other king, whose resting place is in Weria soil, in its grasp. Nothing but tragedy was to come. That you knew from the moment you saw the prince leave you behind without a glance. Though you’ve dealt with a great deal of pain, you will walk through your sorrow and let the roots wrap themselves around you. You are now Weria and Weria is now you.

Whilst the lords and ladies all guzzled wine and stuffed their mouths full of pig meat, you sat alone. Your chambers were comforting, a place where memories did not leave. You could sit and think about the moments you had within these four walls. You could even look down below at the gardens your mother used to pluck flowers from and the hedges where you would steal kisses with a certain prince. From the arched window, you can see the smoke from fires burning in the distance. They were far off, but not too far that they could not travel to the castle by dawn.

No matter how aware you were of the looming threat of Strainad’s impending arrival at the castle doors, there was another danger that lurked. The same rat from months ago scours the halls. He is in search of more food- more bloodshed. He had not failed yet, simply taking a life in return for the one he had not gotten. Oh how we loved watching the poor old king choke in his fancy silken sheets.

As the rat lingered in the dark, he was that of many. He was one with the courage to take charge at those who downcast his people. Sent by his own ruler, he will have his revenge.

_____

His men had been gravely wounded. Thousands laid to rest in the fields of Weria and hundreds left to suffer the consequences of such a battle. Strainads king felt defeated by the losses, but vengeful for his brother. A Werian soldier took his life without remorse and the kingdom will pay for it. His love for her will never amount to anything for the love he had for the young late king.

Jake sat up against his stallion in the mud, letting it soak him as it should be him getting pecked at by crows. Josh loved all that was nature and he was just searching for some sort of connection to him once more. His hands fisted in the mud, its thickness oozed out from between his fingers and dripped back into its puddle. There was no life in the wet soil, only filth.

The soldiers knew that they were now to kneel to Jake. He was no longer just their commander, but their new youthful king. Though unpronounced, it is granted that he will take the throne upon their arrival home -if they make it back. For now though, they will let their fires burn out and when the morning sun rises upon them, they will move forward.

_____

The night continued on, the stars only shining brighter before the sun hides their beauty. You’d not been able to sleep, staring up at the canopy of your largely cold and empty bed. You can vividly recall the warmth of another sleeping beside you in the cool autumn nights. The sneaking around from guards and behind your fathers back was thrilling to say the least.

The yellow hues of burning candle wicks brightened up your faces. Their flames reflected in his coffee-colored eyes, letting you see the adoration he held within them. His loose waves sprawled out across the pale blue satin of your bed linens. He looked rather dashing lying there beside you, saying nothing but everything with just his gaze and the small smile that twitched at the corners of his mouth.

You’d spent the day wandering around the castle town outside of the grand stone walls that stood as defense. Under a disguise, dressed in clothing that your mother would surely ridicule over. The people knew your face, but not his so you donned his cloak over the rags that embraced you. It was freeing to see your fathers people living their lives peacefully, free of duty and responsibility; free of the crown's threat. They played with their children, loved their families unconditionally, and did all that they loved without punishment. You wanted such a life. You wanted this kind of life with the prince who stood by your side, leading you through the crowds. And when the night came, he led you back through the back doors of your home. As a prince who may never get the crown of his own kingdom, he was free to do as he wished. He could learn how to get around without being spotted and he taught you such a skill.

Now here you were, wrapped in the sheets of your once-made bed with the man that you quickly grew fond of. You were both still dressed, not giving in to the temptation that surrounded you. Even as your engagement became official, you needed to keep whatever purity you had. So as you basked in the midnight glow, taking in one another and what life had in store for each of you.

Those same rags you wore on that day remained in your wardrobe, hidden from the world to keep your precious secret safe. Unraveling yourself from the linens, you pad over to the sacred closet. Upon opening the doors, there are preserved memories through dresses that you’d worn throughout your life. Your mourning gown, sleep clothes, and now your coronation gown. Locked away in a small fabric box rested the items you hadn’t worn in almost a year now, they were worn down and unclean. Pulling them out, you spot new holes in the sack of a dress and the dirt from the town stained the hem. You could still hear the way the Strainad’s prince complimented you for your beauty even while dressed in such clothing. He reminded you of your inner beauty and that he did not feel for you because of your status or physical appearance; he just wanted you, princess or not.

You hold the fabric to your face, taking in the musk of the outside world and the old fabric. A single tear rolled down your cheek, leaving a trail of the past. Though Jake wanted you then, he did not want you now- a queen that he fully believes betrayed the one thing that ever meant something to him. You knew of his fight, his will to seek revenge on his brother and the king's behalf. You were also aware that said king was alongside him in battle, taking matters into his own hands. As that threat loomed over you, you prayed for their safety and that Jake will soon find what he is in search for.

As you are lost in your head, a rat scurries to the shadows. He lurks and watches you, bare and defenseless. With two of his targets dead, there are only two more to handle; you are one. He’s waited for this day to come. The day he would take Weria’s pride and beauty from the world. Your lineage would end here on this clear night.

With a rusted dagger found in the dirt planted outside of the castle, the rat stands tall in the darkness. “Stand,” he finally speaks, “and if you wish to continue breathing, you will not call out for your guards.”

Fear racked through you in a way you’d never felt before. Dropping the distressed dress to the cold floors and taking a stand with your back facing the threat of death. “Who are you?” your voice shakes.

“No one of high importance to you,” the rat pauses “your grace.”

Your throat tightens at that. “Then, to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?”

A breathy laugh comes from behind you, blowing strands of your hair as it comes. “Consider a meeting of political matters. I need something as do you.”

“What is it you need?”

“What I need is for the greater good, the end of all monarchies in the realm and you are in my way.”

“So, you wish to kill me?” He wouldn’t even have to put that dagger through your chest for you to die, you think you could just from the tension and fear you feel. “You wish to kill every royal in the realm?”

A sinister laugh fills your chambers. “You see your grace,” the sharp end of the blade pricks the nape of your neck, “I’m already halfway there.”

Confusion floods over you. Halfway there? The only royal you’ve known to die in recent times was your father and it was described as natural causes. As if the rat could sense your questioning mind, he pushes forward. You could feel his breath against your ear and the fabric of his tunic brushing on your skin.

“Confused are we? Let me enlighten you then.” You could hear the smug grin in his tone, “Your father wasn't natural. I watched him as he choked on the tea of the poppy.”

Your lips quiver as you fight to hold back tears. “And as for the other, I didn’t even have to do anything after my failed attempt at your engagement party if I remember correctly. The king of the sun died in a field late evening yesterday with a sword piercing his heart.”

Josh… “That cannot be true..” you refuse to believe such a rumor.

“But it is my queen, and the prince who is now crowned will be next.”

Jake? King? Your fear grows by the second. You feel as though you could be sick of hearing such news. Jake never wanted that title just as you hadn’t either, but here you were. And Josh. He did not deserve that death. His light was radiant and he spread it to even those who were undeserving. Such love will never be seen by the realm again. It will be covered in blood and taken over by those who wish harm upon those with power.

“You will not kill me, not here.”

A scoff comes from the rat's mouth. “Say your right, when would be a fitting time to take your last breath? Or should I just have your fiance do my job for me?”

“The only one who shall be killed is you.”

The rat chuckles, “Keep telling yourself that, but he is out for blood is he not?”

“Blood that was spilt by your hand.”

The sharp end of the dagger drags from the hollow of your neck to, just below your chin, the jagged edges of the blade scratch at your skin every time you swallow. Slowly the blade adds pressure to your throat, making it harder for you to breathe.

“Continue on believing you are safe and it will cost you your life.”

His blade leaves your throat as fast as it was pulled on you. The rat left his mark, a small scratch along your jaw. No blood spilt tonight, but it will soon come if not stopped.

“Hopefully this is the last we speak, your grace. Long may you reign.”

Overcoming your fear, you finally have the courage to spin around to face your threat. But he was nowhere to be found, lost in the shadows where he belongs. No doors were heard closing or the breeze of the wind blowing in so the rat would still be running around the halls of your home. Until caught in a trap, the rat will pray for the realm to bleed. In a time like this, you wish you had someone to go to, but rather you are alone. If you ever put it out into the open, not a singular soul would believe your truth.

A queen should never show her weakness; that is the first lesson you learned from your father. Despite the sobs that tried to tear at your lungs, you straighten your back and swallow down the emotions. You refuse to give into the rat just as much as you refuse to allow the guards posted at your door the right to hear you coming apart in a fashion that was expected. Instead, you allow your lip to quiver, silently as the only show of the torrent that was bottled up inside.

_____

The sun peaks its head above the horizon, waking the hundreds of men that are to continue their mission. The king had not gotten a wink of sleep, opting to wait to see the sun awake. Jake sat by the fire, finding his brother in the flames. Reliving their childhood and every day they spent as one in the same. He can still hear the sound of his older brother’s laugh, the way his smile was infectious. And while he should not blame your sweet heart for another’s stopping, it was one of your men that took him. It was an attack that was unknown to Weria, and Jake ended it though your seal took his brother's life. There is a greater debt to be paid now; a life for a life.

Jake readied his men to ride, they must reach Weria’s castle by high noon. He needs to see your face in the sun's light as you become aware of what your father has caused. He will pierce the old king's heart with his very sword as his beautiful daughter watches. You tried to defend him more than once to Jake and for that, it is treason in itself but he cannot physically hurt you no matter his anger. He would be named a king slayer if it goes to plan- it is not a title one wants to hold, but rather one needs sometimes. Killing does not come without punishment and Jake is ready for what the gods have in store for him once the king's eyes shed themselves of life.

Sitting atop of his horse, the king raises his sword and shouts, “Ride to Weria’s castle!”

_____

You’d long since stopped shedding tears and the sun reflected itself off of your windows, painting the walls in a radiant rainbow. Your knees had to have been bruised by now from how long you have been kneeling in front of the rags of clothing before you. The memories now felt tainted after such an event. This war was not because of you or your father, but another that had a vengeance as thick as blood and swore to take it.

Before the sun gets too high in the sky and your handmaids enter your chambers, you decide that you will no longer rely on the help of others. To go against whoever that damned rat is, you’ll need to be strong on your own. You will have to gather the strength that your father had through his reign. You dressed yourself in the simplest of dresses you could find. A collar high enough to hide the cut on your jaw. If your subjects see the cut, they will see weakness and a fragile queen who lets anyone strike at her. Whilst they must already believe your defenses are down as your soldiers lost at the fort. But those are men slicing other men, not a queen.

At the hem of your dress, a design of roots intertwining with one another embroiders the pale blue fabric that matches the day's sky. It has you grounded; tied you to the soil that your home was built upon. Even your arms were tied down from the vines encircling your sleeves. You’d even done your hair in the only way you knew how to from watching your mother get ready in the early mornings. She was always radiating such beauty and grace no matter the time of day. When you look in the mirror though, you see a queen that has nothing to her besides a family heirloom of power.

“Your grace- you’ve dressed yourself.” You eldest handmaiden pointed out.

Turning away from the standing mirror, you turn to face her with your hands fitted together over your abdomen. “I did, and from now on I will continue to do so.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

Nothing more was said as you walked past her and out of your chambers that were now not-so comforting as they used to be. Your guests were still asleep as the castle's halls were still quiet, but not quite enough to hear a rat moving about. He still resided within your walls, choosing when he’d be seen and heard.

Before the doors of your study, you stop to turn to a guard behind you. “Bring me some wine and no one will interrupt me, understood?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

When the doors open from the guards pushing it open, your study is in the state that it was left in by your father. Books were still open across the desk's surface. Some were piled on the ground at the foot of several bookshelves. Markers were still pinned in the maps hanging along the walls. Your fathers presence lingered in this room, it felt almost wrong to enter after so many years of not being allowed to. Even your own mother was not to enter this very room. Any other room in the castle was open to whomever, but this one was always locked and its contents hidden away from anyone but the king's eyes. What took you by surprise the most was the portrait hanging from the wall across the room from the desk in the center. You mother sat in a golden chair while your father stood behind her in the suit he wore for his coronation while you stood at the forefront with his hand on your shoulder. You’d never seen the painting after its completion, not giving a care in the world at age seven.

Walking behind the desk, you let your fingertips drag across the smooth mahogany. You scan the books left open and the feather pens spilt across a pile of letter paper. Crumples of paper littered the floor, some on the fine desk. In the center of the workspace, there was a letter that had bleeded ink stains and smeared lettering. You sat down in the plushness of the blue velvet chair to read said letter. The first few words had your chest constricting.

To the king of the sun, Joshua Kiszka,

I write to you as a means of apology. I can assure you that Weria had no influence in the matters of the attack that was targeted to your greatness or kingdom. In fact, I suspect that it was someone of a different kingdom- one that was disregarded when I was a new king to this realm. They have tried many times to inflict their attacks upon my people and the land we hold, but to no avail. As of recently, their methods must have directed to a new approach.

I do not know what the future holds in store for the future of Weria or Strainad, but rest assured I will do what I can to defend both. I hope our kingdoms can be brought together once more. My daughter will be queen one day and my wish is for your brother to have her hand and her heart. I hope this reaches you well.

King of Weria

Your father knew. He knew it was someone not from the two kingdoms behind the tragedy that took place in the banquet hall. This was to be sent out before his untimely death, but he was too late to solve this matter at hand. Yet it shows the kindness and strength your father had as king. And to know that in his heart, he did want the best for you even on his harshest days meant more than he’d ever know. When he wanted to be, he could be a fighter, but at the end of everyday he was a man with a large heart that reached out to all as Josh was. He had to have seen this love in Jake as well if he was the one your father wanted you to marry. You can even remember the fondness the late king had when you were first introduced.

Lords and ladies stood on the sides, leaving space for you and the prince of Strainad to be seen by all. You stood before your father and the prince's brother. You’d yet to take a good look at the man beside you that you are being sworn to. Both kings thought that this engagement and eventual marriage would be beneficial to the realm to bring the two great kingdoms together in unity and in thinking you and the prince were a good match.

After your father’s long speech of granting you both his blessing, you raise your heads and stand. Your father has a look of pride in his eyes. With a simple head nod to the prince, you join hands and finally face one another. He was a rather dashing man. A soft face with such fine features. You always thought you’d be married off to an old and drunken noble-man. Much to your surprise, here you were falling deep into the darkness of his brown eyes. You can see everything within them; more of yourself and the deepest parts of him.

Applause fills the room as you and your betrothed take in one another. His eyes scan every inch of you, appreciating all that is before him. Around you the banners of both your kingdoms hang, soon to be joined as one by year's end. You’d be told that by the next spring bloom that you’d be wed and set to be the queen of Weria.

The prince drops your hand, taking a kneel to bow his head to your father. As the guests all turn to have their own conversations, paying no mind to the two royal families in their presence any longer. Your father lets out a belly laugh as he sees Jacob taking a kneel. He steps down the small stairs and clasps a hand on the prince's shoulder.

“Stand, boy. There is no need for such formalities.” The old king tells him. Jacob stands tall in front of his future father-in-law. Your father holds his face in the palm of his hand and gives him a few soft pats on the cheek. “You will make a fine husband and king for my daughter.”

It felt like yesterday that it happened. The day you were destined to Jake was the day you finally started to live. It felt like you’d been sleeping your way through life until standing before the handsome prince. You thought over how he was now the king of Strainad, his brother's crown falling into his hands in a gruesome fight.

From outside of the castle you can hear men shouting. This was not an uncommon occurrence, but not one that went unnoticed. You stand from the plush chair to look out to the outside world you’d maybe never see again. The horror filled you once more with the view you take in. Men on horses charge towards your home's walls, swords raised high to the air. The hundreds of stallions chase the arrows that fly through to air, striking Werian soldiers down. Fires burn atop of the guarded walls, men and supplies set ablaze. At the front of the fleet is him. The new king rides fast, the sun and the moon atop of his head.

_____

In an abandoned cathedral not far from the castle town of Weria laid the real enemy. They’ve gathered and are well rested, ready to send out a full fledged attack on those that took from them. Their leader sits upon a rusted chair, the dragon's tail wrapped around his neck and the head rested on his. A scar decorates his cheek, one he’d gotten over a decade ago by the one who made him into nothing. How would the old king feel knowing he was taking refuge in his land with a crest that would burn his roots?

The rat kneels at his feet, head facing the moss covered floor. “Is it done?”

“Your majesty-” the servant of the dragon looks up, eyes showing his guilt.

“I asked you if it was done.”

The poor man's head hung low once more. “No…”

Silence overtook the room. Other meekly bent servants watched, horror filling them as they knew what came next. No one was to poke the fire.

“Take his head.”

And so, in the realm there was now a dragon that flew through the blue sky. He watched over everything, burning all that he found to be a threat. He was an unmerciful man. The late king of Weria made him as such and he would take what was rightfully his. Adupis was a land of ruins; a desert. But like a phoenix from the ashes, he built an empire that had never been discovered. Now he was to rule the realm, he would burn the royals to the ground and drink their fine wine over their corpses.

No one shall tempt this king's fury or his power.

_____

You burst through the doors of your study, taking off down the cold hall. A fight was coming into your home and as queen, you cannot hide from it. Your soldiers were skilled, but not skilled enough to face Jacob and his wrath. Guards chase you down, following you and pleading for you to stop. At the front doors of your castle, there are arrowheads piercing through the wood. Sharper than normal, you know Jake is out to collect a blood debt.

“They’ve passed the gates!” you hear a soldier shout from outside.

Your breathing becomes uneven; your lungs burning from the lack of oxygen. “Open the doors..” you whisper. No one moves an inch. “I said open the damned doors!” you shout at your guards.

As your men push the double doors wide open, you turn to another to instruct him that he and others are to protect the nobles that reside in their rooms. You will not turn away from this. You will protect the lives of your people even if you die in the process.

You step into the bright, warm light of the sun's beams to greet your attacker. A black stallion rushes towards you, rising high onto its hind legs as its rider comes to an abrupt stop. Guards form around you, swords drawn and shields rise. And for the first time in months you lock eyes with your love. They’ve become much darker than you remember; sunken with rage swirling within them. The emblem of the sun and moon shines brightly atop of his head.

The war has reached at your doorstep, ready to take you and anyone else within its way out.

________

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