Chapter Text
The great hall of Oakenfield Castle is packed full of people, a usual occurrence as of late. All the figures are seated at large circular oak tables, each topped with the leftovers of a feast. The room is filled with idle chatter amongst the men with the occasional shout here and there when a statement needs the extra emphasis. The scent of roast meat still lingers in the air.
Seated on an ornate throne at the back of the room is a man, bedecked in a shirt of gold brocade and breaches of crimson silk; his beard is black and combed with wax narrowing to a point just below his chin. On his head, sits a circular band of gold with spikes pointing towards the sky. Encrusted into the metal are gemstones of red and blue.
He is looking out over the room, watching a figure approaching the throne. It is a man dressed in a muddy brown surcoat, matching the color of his short hair. In his hands, he is holding a cushion with a large blue gemstone resting upon it. Instead of walking up to the king, he instead turns to the left, towards a girl seated next to him.
The girl is seated on a smaller and less intricate throne; dressed in a crimson dress to match the hair that is tied in a braid down her back. She has a silver circlet on her head, with a few red and blue gemstones in the center. In her hands is a bunch of lilies that she occasionally lifts up to her nose to take in their strong scent. She is not paying any attention to the man who is walking up to her, instead, her attention is on her surroundings, looking at the painted depictions of battles that are hanging from the right wall of the room.
“Princess Riko, I am Sir Beval and I bring you a sapphire, a family treasure of mine.” The man places the cushion down onto the floor in front of him.
As he continues to talk, the princess looks down from the paintings the suits of armor that lies below them, each clutching a longsword by the pommel, pointing the blade towards the marble ground at their feet. Her mouth opens slightly into a yawn.
“Enough!” The king’s voice echoes around the room, silencing the hall and causing all the eyes in the room to fall to him. He is glaring down at Riko, his hands clutching at the arms of his throne. He takes a deep breath in and turns towards the knight standing before the princess. “Sir Beval, I am sorry for my daughter’s actions, you may return to your seat.”
All eyes in the room follow the knight as he bows towards the king and shuffles back to his seat. When the room is finally silent once more, the King looks back at his daughter. “Riko, I have tried to be fair, I gave you a chance to decide for yourself, but it is clear that all you do with this power is abuse my patience.” He rises to his feet, looking down over the Princess. “Hundreds of men have walked through those doors, all coming here, traveling many moons, just for the chance that they might take your hand in marriage.” The king starts to pace in front of his throne, the sounds of his boots on the marble floor echoing around the room.
“How is it that you deny every single one? I understand that you don’t wish to be wed but it is your duty. Failing to pick a suitor will bring shame to yourself, our name and our entire family.” As he says this, he points towards the paintings that are hanging on the left side of the room, each depicting a former king of the realm.
Riko remains silent, no words could ever calm her father in the state she’s in. He’s heard all of her excuses many times and she’s in no state to think of any new ones. Anything she could say will be belittled by her father.
“Thanks to your actions over the past months, I should just decide for you, right here and now.” He pauses, his glare fixed on the princess. “However, I shall give you one last chance.” He walks over to her. “In two months time, you will reach eighteen summers, if you have not decided before then, then I shall be forced to relinquish you of your decision and I shall decide for myself.” As the echoes from his voice slowly die, it is replaced by the sounds of people whispering and muttering.
The lilies in Riko’s hands fall from her hands onto her lap. Her body is frozen, unable to move from the seat below her. “F-Father…”
“You leave me no other choice.” He steadies his pacing and resumes staring at her. “You will hopefully start to pay more attention now.”
Riko pushes herself off of the chair, the lilies tumbling from her lap to the floor. She steps closer to the king, opening her mouth as if to defend herself. No sound leaves her lips. The mutters of the visitors start to get louder and louder. Her eyes dart around the room, catching the eyes of the suitors that have come to visit her.
“I’m done for today.” She turns around and walks towards the nearest door out of the room, every single person watching her as she does.
Riko collapses onto her bed, her fists pounding against the mattress. She rolls onto her back and lets out a cry of frustration. She stares up at the ceiling. It was a common occurrence in the past year, the intricate pattern of swirls that make it up has proved a valuable escape from her situation.
“Why can’t you see that I want someone who likes me for who I am.” She sighs at the pointlessness of her words. I know he’ll never understand. As she continues to stare at it, the decoration on her ceiling gives the illusion that the curls are shifting around, dancing above her. “They all want me for the throne.”
The door creaks open. Riko looks up to see the familiar black and white uniform of her handmaiden, Yoshiko. “Princess, are you alright?”
Riko falls back against her bed. “I suppose you heard what happened.”
“I did, princess.” She takes a few steps into the room. “News travels fast in this castle.”
“Haven’t I told you many times, to call me by my name?” She rolls over on the bed until she reaches the edge.
“It is not my place to do so princess.” She bows her head.
Riko lets out a cry of frustration as she pushes herself up. “Why does he not take a few seconds to think about what I want?”
Yoshiko walks to the large oak wardrobe next to the bed. “He wants you to find someone before you get even older.” Their eyes meet locking gazes before they start to burst into laughter.
“You’re only a year younger than me, don’t get too ahead of yourself.” Riko retorts, her lips return to a warm smile. “Thank you, I needed something to cheer me up.”
“You’re welcome, princess.” Yoshiko opens the doors to the wardrobe and picks through the clothing hanging inside. “It’s not like your father can do anything else, this is how marriages have been arranged for centuries.”
Riko opens the window and gazes out, looking over the giant lake and towards the mountains that pierce the clouds on the other side. One day I’ll find my own way past those and over the horizon. She twists a strand of hair around her finger. “I want to explore the world, meet someone who truly cares for me, who knows… me.”
She turns around to find Yoshiko standing there, presenting a dress for her. “Someone like you…” The words slip from Riko’s lips before she can catch them. Her cheeks flare up at the realization of what she’d said finally sinks in. The dress in Yoshiko’s hands slides through her fingers and onto the floor.
“N-Not actually you though.” Riko feels her body heating up. She tucks the strand of hair she’s been fiddling with behind her ear, averting her gaze from the other girl. That was too close.
An air of silence falls over the two. What do I say now? Riko’s mind spirals into chaos as her thoughts dance from leaning in and kissing the girl, to running away and leaving her there. “I… I… I’ll get changed now…”
She bends down to pick the dress up, as Yoshiko does the same, their fingers accidentally brushing. Blood immediately floods to Riko’s cheek. Her hand pulls away as Yoshiko’s continues to pick up the garment. “Princess… you shouldn’t task yourself with things such as this.” As Yoshiko stands back up, she hides her face behind the dress. “It doesn’t look creased.”
“Thank you…” Riko reaches out and takes the dress, it’s a light red color, with small pink flowers scattered around the fabric. She sees Yoshiko’s mouth open slightly, as if she’s going to say something, instead, she takes a step back and turns away.
Riko places the clothing down on the bed next to her and undoes the ties of her dress, the feeling of the fabric loosening around her body provides some much-needed comfort. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Alright, I think I’m alright now. She resumes pulling her dress off her body before turning towards the new garment. Once she has worked the new dress onto her body, she reaches out and taps her handmaiden on the shoulder. “Yoshiko, do you mind fastening it for me?”
Their eyes meet briefly as Yoshiko turns around, causing both girls to quickly glance away. Her handmaiden drifts over to Riko. “Do you mind turning around princess?”
“Of course not,” Riko shifts to face the wall. After a few seconds, she feels delicate hands, glide over the skin of her back as they pick up the ties of her dress and start to tighten them, sending shivers down her spine. Father would be furious if he ever found out about these feelings. Yoshiko’s hands finish adjusting the dress and begin to work on her hair, running it through fingers. I wish I could spend all day with her.
“All done princess,” Yoshiko steps back, giving Riko space to turn back around. As she does, their eyes make contact.
Riko has to fight the urges to close the gap between them and press their lips together. Her hands come together in front of her body, her thumb starting to stroke the back of her hand. Something about this girl is enough to make me lose my sense of reason. She closes her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. “Thank you, Yoshiko.” She flashes a smile towards her handmaiden and walks from the room.
Riko’s favorite place in the castle is the library. It’s a small and cluttered room; the walls are lined with shelves, each one crammed full. In the center is a table with even more books piled on top of it. Next to the table is a large velvet cushion. Riko has frequented this room since she first learned to read and she doubts she’s tackled half of the stories that are hidden here.
Initially, she’d wondered why they didn’t have a larger room if they had so many books, but as the years had passed, she’d realized that she had never once seen anyone else enter or leave the room. This had answered that question, but lead the way to many more. She’d tried to ask her father about the room once, but he’d dismissed her with a wave.
Riko visits the room every morning, taking some time to herself before the monotonous task that is her suitor visits. Today is no exception, especially after the news that her father dropped on her the previous day.
“What am I going to do?” Riko verbalizes her thoughts as she places a book down onto the table. She has been staring at the pages for what feels like hours, her mind ticking away on how to proceed. “I can’t let him choose someone for me.”
Riko sighs and lies back on the cushion, her hair cascading down the sides. “He’ll choose someone for power, someone who has a high standing , someone who is the same as all the others.” Her eyes fall to a small moth, stuck in the middle of a spider web. It struggles against the sticky string, trying to break free as a spider creeps closer.
She watches the futile attempts of the moth in the web until it is fully entrapped by its pursuer, ready to become its meal. Her thoughts eventually drift to her handmaiden. What do I do about Yoshiko? She doesn’t dare say the words out loud. I wish it were allowed for me to love her.
“Princess?” A knock on the door follows the words, snapping Riko from her thoughts as the familiar voice makes her smile. “You need to start getting ready.”
Riko pushes herself to her feet, saunters to the door, looks one last time around the room, takes a deep breath and opens it.
After Riko takes a bath, Yoshiko helps her into a dark green dress, one of Riko’s favorites. She loves how the color contrasts with the golden vine pattern that adorns it. She uses those thoughts to distract herself from the girl behind her.
“All done princess,” Yoshiko says coyly as the girl steps away. “Do you need any more assistance?”
“No, thank you.” Riko turns around to look at her. “You’ve done an amazing job, as usual.” Without thinking it through, she leans forward and presses a kiss to the girl’s forehead.
Her body freezes. What did I do?
Before her handmaiden can speak, Riko runs from the room.
As she leaves the room, Riko runs head first into someone. She blinks a few times and shakes her head, regaining her composure. She looks up to see a man there. He is dressed in a pitch black surcoat, with crimson stitching etched into the fabric. On his right breast is more crimson, forming the symbol of a Snake coiling around a sword. He looks down at her. Riko sees a flash of anger on his face before it relaxes.
“Have no fear, my good lady.” His voice sounds highborn, like so many she has heard day after day for months. To most, it would be this, but Riko hears something else in there, that makes the words sound sinister. “I take all the blame for not watching where I was going.”
Riko straightens herself up. “Still, I shouldn’t have been running out of my bedroom.” She catches a glint in his eyes as she says this.
“Well princess, may I walk with you?” He holds his hand out towards her.
Riko looks at it for a second before realizing exactly what he said. Of course, he’s another one of them. She shakes her head. He wants to spend a little time with me, to get the upper hand on the others. “No, thank you; I have something I need to do first.”
As she is about to turn and walk in the opposite direction, he reaches over and grabs her arm. “Is that a way to treat your future husband?”
“Excuse me?” Riko turns back to face him, partly to defend herself and partly because he is forcibly pulling her closer. If he thinks I would ever choose someone like him- She doesn’t finish the thought, instead, she finds herself being pressed back against the wall. “What are you doing?”
She is pinned to the wall by his hand on her arm. His voice is a whisper, his lips right next to her ear. “I am the perfect choice for you, I come from a wealthy house, my father knows yours and-”
A shout comes from down the hall, cutting his voice off. He pushes away, cursing under his breath. He stares into Riko’s eyes for a few moments before walking away. Heading towards the main hall.
A figure runs up to her, placing his hand on Riko’s shoulder. “Are you alright there?”
Riko looks up to see the face of someone who looks more like a boy than a man. His face is lit up with a warm smile, his eyes are light blue and warm, but she notices a hint of worry in them as well. He has long wavy muddy brown hair, which is left to fall down his back, below his shoulders. His face is smooth; showing no signs of aging, only a single scar along his cheek ruins what could almost be called perfection. He is dressed in a pale blue surcoat, the same symbol decorating his right breast.
Riko blinks a few times and looks after the man that had pinned her there. He’s gone. I hope I don’t have to see him again. “Yes, thank you.” She pushes back against the wall, standing up straight and brushing the dust from her. “I should be good from here on.”
“That’s good to hear.” The boy removes his hand from her shoulder. “It looked like he was trying to… well, I’m not sure what exactly.”
Riko shakes her head. “It was a… misunderstanding.” Riko turns back to face him. “Thank you for asking though.” She bows her head towards him. And for saving me.
“You don’t need to thank me, princess, I didn’t do anything special.” His hands start to fiddle with the ties of his jacket. “If you don’t mind, I should get going.”
Riko bows her head again and holds her hand out, pointing down the hall. “You don’t have to ask me.” She watches him scamper away and a smile breaks out onto her face.
After a few seconds, Riko shakes her head and begins to saunter down the hallway, trying to bide as much time as she can before the events of the afternoon.