Chapter Text
The sound of swords clashing still rung in your head. The whole night it had kept you awake. It simply didn't seem to fade, even thought it had already been two weeks since the fight in your father's throne room. The fight that had started because of you. The fight that had claimed yet another one's of your knight’s lives. Would this ever end?
Sitting in front of your breakfast, you poked your fork at the food on your plate, but no appetite arose in you. All you could think about was your knight's blood spilling from his neck as he fell to your feet. All because two of your suitors wanted to fight for your favor and he had tried to separate them. As if brutality would win you over. As if he was supposed to leave your side.
It seemed like no one was concerned with what you wanted, not even the knight who had pledged his whole live to you didn't seem to understand that running head first into a fight for you was the last thing that you wanted. But they all seemed like that. All of your knights had been good fighters but all of them were too hot-headed to know when to jump into a fight and when to leave the sword in the sheath. All of them had died in the name of protecting you. How many more knights would you have to go through, how many more would you have to see dead in front of you? How many more nights would you have to lay awake because the image of their blood covered corpse didn't leave your mind?
“Princess?” One of your maids had entered your room and pulled you out of your thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Your father has summoned you. Apparently he wants to choose a new knight for you.”
You furrowed your brows. Why would he consult you on this matter? He always picked one and then assigned them to you without asking if you were alright with this random man following you around all day and night. Why now?
“He is waiting for you in the courtyard, princess,” she said since you didn't move.
“Yes, yes of course.” You got up and took the coat she handed to you.
At your door, one of your fathers guards waited for you. In the time between your old knights death and the assignment of a new one, one of his personal guards always looked after your safety. He seemed like a good knight, one you didn't mind having by your side. But sadly, he was already sworn to protect his king, not you. Soon, he would return to his old duties and you would be left with a knight who would give you even more nightmares.
“Ah, y/n, there you are!” Your father beamed at you from across the courtyard where he was awaiting you.
By his sides there were two of his guards, knights you have known for quite a while now. In front of him, however, was a line-up of men you had never seen before, all dressed in their armor.
“Father,” you gave a small courtesy and waited for him to speak up again, and he did.
Gesturing towards the knights in front of him, he said: “And, what do you think?”
You were confused. Did he put together a whole army of knights for you? Surely, that was a bit too much. You raised an unsure eyebrow at him.
“Well, which one do you want? As your knight?”
“I.. I get to chose him?” It probably wasn't the best first impression to give your potential knights, a young woman unable to make her own decision, who is used to being patronized by her father. That wasn't you. Or at least, it wasn't all the time. You had your own life while your father attended his royal duties, had duties of your own, made decisions of your own, but when your father put his foot down and decided “what's best for you”, there truly was nothing you could do about it. He was the king, after all. And you were, though a princess, just a young woman at court. What say could you possibly have?
“Well, it seems that the last ones weren't a good.. fit for you. But these knights have all been recommended to me and traveled here from the castles of my friends. I thought perhaps you'd have a better feel for who would be a good pick. So, go ahead.”
No, you weren't used to being asked to pick a knight instead of just having one presented to you. But now that you could pick one, you had to pick one that would not get himself killed at the first sight of a sword being drawn. You had to be smart about this.
Straightening your back you stepped forward, hands clasped in front of you as you bore your eyes into theirs. There were maybe twelve men in front of you, some looked back at you with confidence that seemed to burst out of them, some avoided your eyes and some looked back at you with an expression you could not read.
“Which ones of you have seen combat before?”
All of them rook a step forward.
“Outside of your training grounds and alley fights. Which ones of you have been to battle?”
This time, not even half of them stepped forward. Of course, most of these knights that were held in such high regard were actually some coddled, high born lords who got the honor of being a knight by being liked by their uncle or some other important lord, not because they actually deserved it. At least that made your decision easier. Now, instead of choosing between all of them, you only had to pick between five contestants.
Then, you let them quickly recount the biggest battle they had been a part of. Of course, all of them boasted about how many men they killed, how brutally they claimed their victory and how blood stained their swords were. All of them - except for one. A knight whose eyes were trained on you but revealed just the tiniest glimmer of sadness as he recollected a bloody battle at the end of a long siege. His white hair with tips of black moved in the soft breeze. Unlike the others, he avoided describing the gruesome deaths of his friends and opponents alike, simply stating the order of events.
“When we first arrived, I was fighting side by side with Lord Abbott, but we got separated when we made our way into the castle. I led the attack on the walls of the castle while he secured the inside. The people in the castle and the city had been suffering because of our siege and while some fought against us with rage and fury, others were too weakened to fight. Many men lost their lives that day.. many good men. Both on our side and on the enemies. It was a hard fight and I am lucky to have come out of it alive.”
The yard fell silent after his little speech. The other knights already had a glimmer of triumph in their eyes - he hadn't even spoken about all of his kills - and skills! But something about the way that he spoke, the calmness in his voice reassured you that he was a better knight than all of them combined.
“Are you scared to die?” You looked at him more intensely, trying to read his mind, trying to see what he was thinking.
For just a split second, his eyes widened and he seemed unsure of what to say. He was doing what you were doing: Trying to read you.
A few seconds both of you stared at each other, trying to feel the other's thoughts.
“I am, princess. But that does not stop me from doing my duty.”
“No,” you said, a smile slowly forming on your face. “It won't stop you.” Taking a step forward, you stretched out your hand for him to take.
Immediately, he took it, averting his eyes and kneeling in front of you like you were sure he was told to do.
“Now, might I know the name of my future knight?”
His brown eyes rose up to you and in them you saw something you had never seen before. Not just loyalty and bravery - but devotion as well. Devotion to you and to the cause of protecting your life, even if it would cost him his. Not because he wanted to be a hero, but because he wanted you to live.
“Kita, princess. My name is Kita Shinsuke.”