Chapter Text
It was an exhausting day going through the portals, learning and recruiting more people for the Court of Roses. I know it takes a lot from my Queen to open them, she squirms in pain every time she has to. If only I could burden that duty from her.. Nevertheless, I decided to check on her at night because... because as part of her Royal Court and selected Knight, it is my duty to ensure she is safe.
I knock on her door.
"Your majesty? May I enter?"
I hear an ‘Eep’ come from her chambers, honestly… she’s quite the klutz..
"Ju-Just a second..!"
She calls out and I sigh when I hear some rustling behind the door, before hearing a click.
"Your Majesty, I..-"
Once the door opened, I was not prepared for the sight that was presented to me.
The Queen was wearing her pajamas, but she had undone two of the buttons of her shirt, exposing a good view of the top of her.. personality, let's call it. Her hair tousled messy, like she was asleep and making it appear somewhat cute.. and lastly she had clearly pinched her cheeks to bring a slight pinkish shade to them.
"Oh, hey!"
She says, looking a bit flustered?
"I was jus- Oh-?!"
After my brain catches up on what I just witnessed, I slightly shove her inside and close the door behind us. Isolating the Queen and myself from the rest of the sleeping Kingdom.
"Your Majesty, why are yo-"
Before I can even scold her for such scandalous behavior, she cuts me off.
"Just 'Ruby', Please?"
The red haired Queen pouts at me and says sternly, clearly upset by something..?
I shake my head.
"It's hardly proper. You're the Queen, and anyways-"
She takes a small step forward, cutting me off again.
Ruby looks up at me, instead of pouting, she sighs and looks a bit tired.
"Please..? I get enough of 'Your Majesties." And 'Your highnesses.' and the worst yet was 'Your Esteemed Radiance-essnesses.' as it is.."
Her gaze drops to the floor.
"I don't need it every ten seconds from the people close to me.. It's annoying.."
I cross my arms in front of my chest, ready to teach my Queen about formalities and royal exquisite.. But she looks really tired, not physically but rather tired from all of this..
New responsibilities, dealing with the Grimm, having to rule a Kingdom that Ruby didn't know she had.. I can only imagine the stress she's dealing with… and as her chosen Knight.. I shouldn't add more to her burden.
"Fine.. Your Majes-.."
I shake my head again lightly.
"Ruby."
Looking up to meet her gaze, I again, realize her scandalous state that she's in-!
"In any case, you have to be more careful! What if someone else had been at the door? Ozpin, Glynda, or any other member of the Court..?"
My eyes dropped to her.. her chest but I quickly caught myself and met her eyes again.
"Do you have any idea of the scandal you could have caused dressed like.. this?”
Again, my eyes betray me and look down at her chest, Get it together-! That is no proper Knight behavior-!
Ruby seems to be in deep thought, she looks down at her attire, then she brushes her bangs out of her face and tucks some hair behind her ear.
She smiles brightly at me and meets my gaze once more, did she blush just now..?
“You’re worried about me..?”
I bring my hand to my nose and pinch the bridge of it. I can feel my face warming up.. This is unbecoming of me..
“I-I am trying my best to keep my Liege from embarrassing herself and her entire Kingdom! What if.. What if someone had seen you greet me dressed as such..?”
Ignoring the blush I can feel rising on my cheeks and ears, I take a small step forward to her, getting closer so I can whisper this.. Intrusive thought.
“How long would it take for rumors to spread about the Queen having a tryst with one of her Court members?”
I shake my head again, trying to physically shake the blush out of my face.
“The entire plane of Vale could get the wrong idea!”
The Queen… She takes another small step closer, looking up at me with that Damn smile of hers.
“O-or the right one..”
Is she blushing harder-?!
“...”
I can’t help but glare at her.
Is she being serious right now? Why do my cheeks feel like they're on fire right now..?
“I suppose this is some form of Vale humor. Like one of those jokes your sister is so fond of.”
The red haired woman glances to the side, then looks up at me again.
“I’m not… It’s not a joke.”
She takes another small step closer.
“I trust you, Ser Schnee.. If it was anyone else, I would have been more careful.”
I can feel my eyes gape, I can feel my composure almost slip because of the foolishness my Queen is saying all of a sudden. Willpower alone doesn’t help so I bring my hand to my face to cool it down and recollect what little composure I have left.
“Honestly, Your Majesty…”
Ruby seamlessly seems to get angry at me again, giving me a stern look and pouts her lips at me.
“We just talked about this, Ser Schnee-!”
Instead of sighing silently, I let out a deep sigh, rolling my eyes and AGAIN-! Feeling my cheeks warm up.
“Ruby..”
Why do I feel my cheeks and ears burning whenever I say her name..?
She takes a step back now.. Huh…
“So. Did you need to ask me something? It’s unusual for you to visit, even more at nighttime.”
Wait, that’s right. Why was I here to begin with..?
I look down again ARG-! Stop gawking at her-! She’s royalty-! Not a slab of flesh-! You deviant-!
Clearing my throat, which helps compose myself once again and help with the burning sensation on my cheeks. I stand straight and lock my eyes to hers, her Silver glistening eyes full of life, hope and determination.
“I thought I should ask if you were alright. A lot has happened in the past few weeks, and-”
Before I can continue, the Queen once again cuts me off-! What a Brat-!
“You WERE worried about me.”
She gives me a wide grin, showing off her pearly whites at me.
Feeling a bit irritated, I narrow my brows at her and give her glare.
She’s unaffected by it, so I quickly remove such features from my face.
“I WAS concerned that my Queen might be troubled. I know a disturbed mental state makes it harder for you to fend off Crescent Rose’s nightmares.”
Ruby’s eyes flicker briefly but she smiles regardless.
“I’m fine.. Just a little tired.”
Noticing that small crack on her facade, I prod.
“You’re certain?”
She doubles down, nodding at me.
“Thank you for your concern, Ser Schnee. It’s nice to know I can count on you to watch out for me. But I really am alright.”
Her eyes wander to the side, smiling.. A bit too fondly..? What..?
“You’re too import…”
Silver eyes quickly gape as the blush she wore came back ten fold.
“I-I mean, your RESPECT-! Is too important to me for me to…”
Her eyes come back to me, fully committed to looking at mines.
“I mean, I wouldn’t lie to you.”
The Queen seems to be a bit flustered as she scratches the back of her hair and gives me a warm smile. Hmm…
Silence.
I look at Ruby and she looks back at me.
Ahem, I should carry a flask of water with me.. Sheesh..
“Well.”
I give her a warm smile, the same one she’s giving me.
“I’m glad.”
We should leave it at that. It’s getting late and I should let my Queen rest, she’s had quite the week and deserves more than proper rest.
I remove the smile from my face and give her a proper bow.
“In any event, I will be right outside if you need anything.”
The red haired woman's expression falls, it falls into a solemn look into her face, it doesn’t look good on her…
“...What?”
I raised an eyebrow at her, curious why her expression changed so suddenly.
“A physical guard can have beneficial psychological effects.”
Turning my face quickly to the side, cause I can feel that DAMN BLUSH coming back. Why am I acting like an accursed infatuated teenager-?!
“And… I… I want you to feel safe.”
Now turning around completely because I refuse to let the Queen see me in such an unprofessional manner, yet again.
“Plus, I can keep you from opening the door to anyone else in your.. Current state.”
Ruby looks down and realizes she still has her shirt semi open, another blush creeps into her cheeks.
I go to open the door and leave my Queen’s chamber..
Until..
A tug on my arm, almost.. Possessively..?
“W-Wait-!”
I freeze on the spot, looking at the door, not wanting to turn to face her. Not yet…
Another tug on my arm, Ruby wants me to look at her. I refuse.
“I’m sorry, I-I know I’m being selfish, but…”
She swallows the lump on her throat and exhales the breath she was holding on.
“I can feel it… I can feel Crescent Rose waiting for me. Like the moment I close my eyes.. The nightmares will come rushing back..”
I suddenly hear it, something that breaks my composure completely.
A single sob.
“I don’t have the right to ask this of you, but… I would feel a lot better if I knew someone-… If I knew you were here to watch me..”
Letting out a shaking breath, my hand is still frozen on the doorknob.
“Ruby…”
I turn my head slightly, not turning around completely.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have Glynda watching you, or Yang?”
Hearing the tussle of her hair, indicating she’s shaking her head in disagreement.
“Glynda would give me a lecture about getting closer to my family’s power.. And Yang…”
The Queen lets out a slight chuckle.
“There’s a good chance she’d try to smuggle me out of the castle and away from all of this..”
Again, silence engulfs the room. I can hear her breathing slightly and something louder, my heart beating.
Why am I acting like this..? I should be assisting my Queen but why am I so reluctant to do so..?
I shouldn’t let my feelings get in the way of my duty, in another life.. Maybe if things were different. Just maybe..
As I was about to open my mouth to respond, the hold on my arm slowly went limp, slowly falling from my arm, to my hand and then..
Nothing…
Ruby let go all together…
“I-I’m sorry.. I shouldn’t have asked that.. You shouldn’t have t-”
Screw it.
This time I cut her off by turning around and grabbing a hold of her right hand with my left hand.
Squeezing it to let her now I am here and so she looks at me.
Ruby looks up at me, she looks crestfallen.
“I am a knight, in case you have not noticed. Making my Liege feel safe is sort of in the job description.”
She smiles at me, smiles at me warmly again. This is a better expression for her…
“Thank you, Ser Schn-”
Again, how Ruby did to me, I cut her off again by taking another small step towards her.
“Weiss.”
The Queen’s eyes widened, a nice shade of pink dusts her cheeks, I think I caught her off guard. But it seems it’s okay because she rewards me with a wider smile than before.
“Weiss.”
Now catching me off guard, she tiptoes and leans forward, planting a chaste kiss on my cheek.
“Oh.”
I mutter.
“Thanks.. For watching out for me..”