Amaranthine

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#au; royal #; lindou #; marius #; silane #; dariel

ametvsta‌:

Silane hesitated to answer properly to begin with, knowing that the decision she’d come to wasn’t going to be taken too well. “I did. I left early. And I decided that I won’t meet anyone else for a while.” All of a sudden, she felt very aware of how much of a disappointment she would seem in comparison to her sister, even if she’d been placed in this situation much earlier than expected. That aside, she didn’t particularly want to repeat her experience with the prince either, but Silane told Lindou almost everything and maybe she would be understanding if she heard what had happened. “I was mentioning what I was studying, and—” she paused, wondering if there was a nicer way to explain it. “Well, he told me it isn’t attractive for a woman to learn the things I do. So, I told him exactly what I thought of him and left. What an awful person…”

Silane hoped that the conversation would end there, but Lindou soon drew attention to the coat in her arms instead, which she’d forgotten she was even carrying. Of course, she couldn’t tell her the truth, so she would just have to make something up. “This? Actually, it belongs to him. I said he could leave it in my room before we left, so I’m taking it to the entrance hall before he can come back for it,” she lied, surprised at how easily the words came to her and hoping Lindou wouldn’t question her further.

In the meantime, Dariel was pleased that Marius agreed to stay afterwards. However, as the time passed and their conversation continued, he eventually noticed that Marius didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic as usual. “Is everything alright?” he asked. Naturally, Dariel began to worry if he was upset about something, or if he just wanted to rest after a long day and it had been wrong to ask him to stay longer.

After she’d returned the coat and rested for a few hours, Silane went to the usual meeting place and found that Marius wasn’t there. At first, she thought he was just late in finishing up his work, but the longer she waited, the more it seemed like he had given up on their plans. Eventually, she began to head back for the night, but upon entering the hallway to her room she saw him coming in the other direction. “…Where were you?”

Truthfully, Lindou didn’t know what their parents would make of Silane’s decision, but hoped that whatever happened, Silane would be happy. “That’s... a terrible thing to say.” For a moment, Lindou was at a loss of words for anything else to say. Lindou didn’t want to imagine Silane spending her future with someone that had no sense of respect for her, so she was almost happy she told him how she felt. “I’m glad you won’t be seeing him anymore.” With Silane’s explanation, Lindou dismissed any further suspicion she had of the coat and decided to carry on with her walk for the evening.

Even though Marius was happy to spend extra time with Dariel when he wasn’t working, he wasn’t particularly engaged because he was worried about Silane. Since they’d planned to meet up, he could already picture her sitting in their meeting spot, wondering why he wasn’t there. “I’m just a little tired,” He lied, before excusing himself from the room. Although he felt guilty about leaving Dariel, he felt worse about leaving Silane at their meeting spot alone. Eventually, he found the girl in the hall, carrying his coat. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t leave the usual time I do.”

While Marius and Silane talked, Lindou was coming around the corner, returning to her own room for the evening. Instantly, she caught sight of Silane talking to a boy, but she couldn’t tell who he was. As soon as she saw the coat he was wearing, she began to realize what was happening. With no other idea of what to do, she turned around and headed in the direction of Dariel’s room, hoping he was still awake at this hour. After she knocked and the door was opened she walked in, hoping she hadn’t woken him up. “I’m sorry for visiting so late but... I think Silane may be... sneaking around with someone in the castle, and I don’t know who it is.”

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#au; royal #; lindou #; marius #; silane #; dariel

ametvsta‌:

Despite Lindou’s attempts to be positive about the situation, SIlane wasn’t convinced. “It’s not a good time at all. It’s so sudden. I don’t know why they didn’t ask me first…” Even if things were to turn out well, she didn’t feel capable of making such important decisions about strangers she had no kind of attachment to. But, there was nothing she could do about it. Therefore, when the time came, Silane made an effort to do exactly as she was expected to.

At the same time, she continued to see Marius in the evenings. She hadn’t intended on doing so but to Silane, he was far more interesting than any prince she’d met and after some weeks, things developed beyond friendship. Although it felt strange to continue meeting potential partners, Silane didn’t want to cause trouble for anyone by refusing, but she soon changed her mind. On this particular afternoon, the prince she met with had irritated her to the point of losing her temper and their meeting ended much earlier than intended. Once she returned to her room afterwards, the first thing Silane noticed was a coat left hanging on one door, which she immediately recognised as belonging to Marius. Rather than sit alone in her room and think about what just happened, she figured she could take a walk and return the coat to his room to distract herself. However, on her way, she spotted Lindou ahead of her. “…Lindou?” Since she always seemed to be occupied with something and Silane rarely saw her anymore, it was a surprise to see her wandering down the hall as if she had nothing to do. “What are you doing?”

For the past few weeks, Dariel hadn’t spoken much to Marius at all because of how busy he’d been, and he was beginning to feel bad for almost ignoring him. So, that day he returned to his room earlier than usual, knowing Marius would be there at this time. “Marius, you don’t have any plans for later, do you?” he asked as he entered the room, placing a bottle of wine on the desk. “When you’re finished, you should stay. We can catch up.”

Even though Silane felt very negative about her situation, Lindou intended to do her best to support her through it. Lindou had considered herself very lucky to feel content with Dariel, so she hoped that Silane would have similar luck. However, after a few days of meeting different suitors, it was clear that Silane was not having the luck that Lindou had. She didn’t always have time to meet with Silane, but she did her best to reassure her and console her, encouraging her that the next meeting would surely be better than the last.

On one particular night, Lindou found herself wandering through the halls. Typically, she would stay in her room at nighttime, but she wanted a change of scenery from her room. At first, the walk was quite peaceful, with only the sound of her footsteps following her. However, she soon heard Silane’s voice behind her, causing her to turn around. “I was just taking a walk,” She explained. Lindou paused for a moment, trying to remember if today was one of the days where Silane would be meeting one of the princes. Since the two had been apart more than she was used to, Lindou found it difficult to remember for sure and ended up asking her just in case. “Did you meet one of the princes today? How did it go?”

As Silane explained her answer, Lindou’s eyes shifted to the item the other was carrying in her arms. The coat didn’t appear to be Silane’s, nor did it appear to belong to another girl. “Who does that coat belong to?” She asked, feeling a little suspicious of why Silane would be carrying a man’s coat.

Meanwhile, Marius was finishing up his duties for the night, hoping to see Silane immediately afterwards, as they had planned. Even though Dariel asked him if he had plans for the evening, Marius would’ve felt bad denying him, since he’d gotten them some wine to share. “I suppose I can stay for awhile…” He agreed reluctantly, hoping that he wouldn’t end up being late to his meeting with Silane.

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#au; royal #; lindou #; marius #; silane

ametvsta‌:

As Marius spoke, Silane glanced at Lindou and realised that she’d been watching her. Naturally, she wondered if she suspected anything, but Silane just smiled innocently at her and hoped she wouldn’t figure out it wasn’t the complete truth. Meanwhile, Dariel couldn’t help but think back to what he’d said before, though it seemed so ridiculous to even consider that Marius would’ve taken his words seriously. With no one saying anything else on the matter, he just nodded at Lindou’s suggestion and the two continued on their way.

It was best to go their separate ways before anyone else could come along, but as Silane turned to enter the library, Marius asked a question she hadn’t expected to hear. “I— well, yes.” she began, raising an eyebrow at him. “I think your duties are more important right now than asking me questions about that. But maybe I’ll tell you what it was, if…” Silane hesitated, knowing what she was about to suggest was definitely not allowed. However, she was willing to risk it if it meant this wouldn’t be the last time they could talk. “…If you meet me again.” She looked around, making sure no one was suddenly nearby to hear. “Do you have tomorrow evening free?”

In the morning, Silane and Lindou joined their parents for a last time before they left for home. Unexpectedly, they had new hopes for Silane during her stay at the castle, but she couldn’t bring herself to do anything except agree. After their goodbyes were said and the pair were left alone, Silane turned to Lindou. “How can they expect me to begin meeting princes already?” she asked. “You only just started. It’s too early for me to think about it.”

As Silane began to answer, Marius started to feel embarrassed that he’d brought up what had happened the night before at dinner. Even though Silane had noticed him, his clumsiness also drew the attention of many others. Naturally, he began to wonder if Silane had only looked down on his clumsiness and if she now pitied him, but her invitation for a meeting between the two of them proved his theory otherwise. Generally, Marius was very busy during the day, but he was always available in the late evenings, after Dariel was finished for the day. “I’ll be free around midnight,” He said, already thinking of the ideal place for them to meet where they wouldn’t be discovered by others.

Dread filled Lindou as their parents said their goodbyes to Silane and Lindou. With each passing day and change, her future was becoming clearer and clearer. While her future here seemed promising, she couldn’t help but feel sad at the happy memories she would be leaving behind. However, her feelings of sadness were replaced with surprise when their parents announced what they were expecting for Silane. It almost didn’t make sense, considering Silane was a bit younger than Lindou, and Lindou was not doing such things at her age.

“I... I don’t know...” For a moment, she was bewildered at their parents’ words, hoping Silane wouldn’t feel pressured by this, considering she was so young. “I suppose they just think it’s a good time for you to begin since you’re in a new place.” On the other hand, Lindou didn’t want Silane to dread the experience, since Lindou had once been in her position, but now was content with her current situation. “But, it might not be so bad. You might even like one of them,” She said, hoping to make Silane a little more optimistic about it.

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#au; royal #; marius #; lindou #; silane #; dariel

ametvsta‌:

To Silane’s surprise, it turned out that the boy worked for Dariel and already knew a little about her. After they reached the library, she thought that Marius would leave and return to his work, but he didn’t move just yet. “He’s one of my favourites, too. I like classics the most, but…” Silane started to answer his question, but she was soon distracted by two others appearing at the end of the hallway. For Dariel, it had been a while since he’d allowed Marius a break from his duties, so it was odd to see him outside the library at this time, and even more so when he realised that Silane was there with him. Once he and Lindou had caught up, Dariel glanced between them but said nothing, turning his full attention to Marius instead. “Marius, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else now?”

As it was unexpected for the two to be talking at all, Silane was suddenly conscious of what they would think of it. Since she didn’t want to get Marius in trouble about his work either, it was best to act as if they hadn’t even introduced themselves yet. So, before anyone could say anything, Silane spoke up first. “Oh… does he work for you? I apologise for keeping him from his duties,” she said, choosing her words carefully and hoping Marius would catch on. “I was searching for the library and I couldn’t find it at all, so I asked this boy here to show me the way since he was nearby.”

As Marius was so involved in his conversation with Silane, he hadn’t noticed Dariel and Lindou coming towards them until Silane stopped speaking mid-sentence. When he noticed them approaching, he wondered what they would say at the sight of a servant engaging in such casual conversation with someone so far above his position. After Silane explained what happened, he noticed how she seemed to distance herself from him verbally, and completely understood why. They could both be in a lot of trouble for being so casual with each other. “Yes, I was just returning from my break when the princess asked me where the library was. I will return to my duties momentarily.”

While this conversation was happening, Lindou could only watch Silane, wondering if what she said was the truth. The pair seemed to have been talking outside the library, which certainly was much more than just showing the way to a room, but she wouldn’t mention it. After a long pause, she turned back to Dariel, hoping they could continue on their way to the throne room, which she was eager to see. “Shall we go?”

Once Lindou and Dariel were gone, Marius knew he had to return to his obligations, but he had one more question to ask her. “The other night at dinner… I noticed you looking at me. Was it for any reason other than the huge commotion I made?”

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#; marius #; silane #au; royal

ametvsta‌:

Once the boy had spoken, it seemed to Silane that he was somewhat nervous, but she couldn’t tell if that was how he usually was or whether it was just surprise from the two running into each other. “Oh no, it’s okay. I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” she said, offering him a brief smile. However, as she excused herself and began to walk away, Silane suddenly thought that he would be able to point her in the right direction, if he was going inside. So, she turned back and followed after him. “Wait, if you don’t mind… would you be able to show me where the library is on your way?”

As the two began to head inside, the complete silence eventually got to Silane. Although they didn’t know each other at all and she wasn’t expected to talk to him, it would be good for her to know others in the palace, regardless of who they were. “Actually… I’m staying here for a little while, so I hope I’ll remember where to go after this. I’m Silane, by the way.” she said, thinking it was a nice change to introduce herself as a normal person would, without all the formalities there usually was. After a short pause, Silane turned her attention to the book he held for something else to talk about. “What were you reading?”

Since they’d both apologized to each other, Marius assumed that the princess wouldn’t have any need to continue to talk to him, so he continued towards the castle. So, when she spoke to him again, he turned around, surprised that she’d said anything at all. The library was a place that he frequented and it was near the garden, so it would be no trouble at all to show her where it was. “Of course. You can come with me,” He said, stopping for a moment so that she could catch up before heading inside with the girl.

Before she even introduced herself, Marius had a good idea of who the girl was, since he and Dariel had already discussed the two princesses. However, he was surprised to hear her speak to him so casually. Most royals seemed so strict and caught up in formalities to Marius, so he was surprised to hear her speak to him normally even though they had just met. “I’m Marius. I work for the prince, so I’ve heard a little bit about you and your sister. I hope you feel welcome here.” Once they arrived at the library, he stopped in front of the doors to answer her question. “It’s Shakespeare. He’s my favorite writer. What kind of books do you like to read?” He asked, knowing he should probably return to his work, but he didn’t want to leave Silane so quickly after meeting her.

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#au; royal #; marius #; silane

ametvsta‌:

Personally, Dariel thought that the rules about such things were unnecessary. Even if he felt that he’d been lucky, not everyone else would be, but this wasn’t the kind of thing he could ever say. Still, he couldn’t imagine Marius daring to go against those rules, so it wasn’t something to think further about.

The next morning, Silane was ready earlier than usual. Since she was expected to spend time studying some new subjects during her stay, she decided to take her books and find out where the library was. However, as she wasn’t yet familiar with the castle, she quickly gave up searching and wandered out to the gardens, thinking she would find a quiet spot there instead. Momentarily, Silane became distracted by a display of flowers as she passed by, not knowing that someone else was nearby and therefore crossing straight into their path. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t—” She stopped, realising that the person she’d run into was the servant who had caught her attention at the dinner. Instantly, Silane thought back to the evening and began to feel rather embarrassed that he might have noticed her looking, but she managed to compose herself. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

The next day, Marius was temporarily relieved of his duties, so he decided to head outside to the gardens for some fresh air. Usually, he was content to spend his limited free time in the library, but on this day in particular, he was drawn to the atmosphere of the garden.

Marius was happy to sit and read his book but soon lost track of time. Nervous he would miss something indoors, he closed his book and began to hurry through the gardens, so he could go back inside to resume his duties. As he rounded a corner, he ran right into someone. Once he’d realized what had happened, Marius stepped back from the person, hoping that they weren’t hurt. When he finally was able to see who he had run into, he was immediately filled with anxiety. The girl before him was clearly a princess, someone of much more significance than him. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I was in a rush to go back inside,” He explained, hoping she would understand, but from her words, it was clear she wasn’t upset with him at all.

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#; marius #; dariel #au; royal

ametvsta‌:

Silane wasn’t exactly sure of why she hadn’t been able to look away from the servant, but it was much easier to make up a simple excuse than to explain herself. “No, I don’t know him. I thought I recognised him from somewhere, but it must’ve been someone else I was thinking of.” With that, she did her best to avoid looking in his direction for the rest of the evening.

When the dinner finally came to an end, Dariel returned to his room for the evening and was soon joined by Marius. He’d expected that he would ask about the day, so he had already thought of his answer. “It went really well. I don’t feel worried at all now. Although, it does feel weird to think it’s already time for this to happen,” he replied, before remembering there was something else he had to say. “I didn’t realise earlier, but Lindou’s sister will also be staying for a while, so we have to make sure she feels welcome, too. I think she’s the same age as you, actually.” As Dariel spoke, a thought came to mind and while it was surely just wishful thinking, he couldn’t resist saying it aloud.

“In fact, Marius, you’ll also have to think about your future soon. If you get along well, perhaps you can ask her to marry you. We could be brothers.” Dariel paused to catch Marius’ reaction, cracking a small smile at his own joke. “Maybe not. But it is a nice thought.”

Knowing how momentous today was, Marius was happy that things were going well. What happened today would more than likely go on to affect the rest of Dariel’s life, so he was glad that the future now seemed promising. “That’s good. I’m happy for you,” Marius said, offering the prince a smile. Upon hearing what he had to say about Lindou’s sister, Marius tried to think back to the dinner earlier that day. Seeing that he was busy, he hadn’t had much of a chance to pay attention to the individual guests. However, he didn’t have much time to reflect on who was at the dinner once he heard what else Dariel had to say.

Marius knew that he was getting older and that he should be thinking about his future, but this sounded like something that was out of his reach. Being just a servant, there was no way he would be allowed to be in a relationship with a princess. “That would be nice but... isn’t she a princess? Isn’t that sort of thing against the rules?” Aside from being against the rules, Marius was sure that someone like him would easily be overlooked by a princess. With his position, it would be easy for him to go unnoticed even if he was interested in her.

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#; lindou #; marius #; silane #; dariel #au; royal

ametvsta‌:

As soon as Dariel had arrived to the dinner, he had become busy with having to greet almost every guest personally. So, while he had known that Marius would be helping out that evening, there was no chance for Dariel to look around to acknowledge or even see him. However, it wasn’t long before a shout from someone allowed him to finally notice where Marius was. At first, Dariel was confused as to what was going on, but once he realised exactly what the problem was, he couldn’t help but lower his head so that no one would notice him laughing to himself.

After hearing Lindou’s answer, it was a relief for Silane to know that everything seemed to be going well for her. “I’m glad… I’m really happy for you,” she started, but their conversation was soon cut short. A servant had spilled a drink on one of the guests, causing everyone to stop and look in their direction. Although it was only a brief distraction for most people, Silane’s attention was still on the servant long after the moment had passed. It wasn’t until a sudden noise startled her that Silane realised she had been watching him intently, and she turned to Lindou, wondering if she’d said something to her or if she had just imagined it. “Did you say something?”

Lindou was about to respond to Silane, but her thoughts were interrupted by a sound from the other side of the room. Her eyes were temporarily drawn to the servant, but her attention was redirected across the table to Dariel, who appeared to be laughing. Confused, she turned to Silane, who was still fixated on the servant. “... Do you know who that is? Did you see him before?” Lindou asked, wondering why Silane would be so intrigued by him. Clearly, Silane hadn’t even heard what Lindou said, so she repeated her question. “Do you know who that is?”

As Marius finished cleaning the mess he’d made, he was relieved to see that most of the eyes in the room were no longer on him. However, there was one person that continued to watch him. He tried not to stare, but couldn’t help but notice that he’d never seen the girl before. Once dinner was over and all the guests had left, Marius joined the prince in his room. “How was your day? Did everything go well?” He asked, knowing today had been rather eventful.

♕

#au; royal #; lindou #; marius #; silane #; dariel

ametvsta‌:

Naturally, Dariel was relieved to hear Lindou agree with him, knowing that if they were both content so far, then being in this situation wouldn’t be as difficult as it had seemed. However, as happy as he would’ve been to stay a little longer in the gardens, there were plans for the evening and he knew there would be plenty of time for them to familiarise themselves with these new circumstances later. “We should go back inside,” he said, offering his arm to her. With things having gone well, Dariel felt almost excited for what was to come as they went their separate ways.

Meanwhile, as Silane joined Lindou to get ready, she wasn’t so enthusiastic about the evening ahead. Even after years of events like this, she still disliked the idea of it all, although she would never dare to voice it to anyone other than Lindou. “I don’t understand why it couldn’t just be a small gathering between his family and ours…” she said, as the two made their way to the dinner. Silane hadn’t yet asked Lindou about her meeting, so she decided she would wait until the dinner had gone on for a little while. Once she saw that Dariel was occupied with talking to someone else, she took the chance to ask. “So, tell me about everything that happened earlier,” she began. “Is he nice? What did you talk about?”

Once Lindou had returned indoors, she found Silane in the room that she was staying in temporarily. Even though the two of them had been to so many events like this one, she knew that Silane was not looking forward to it. “Hopefully there won’t be more large gatherings after this one... I think they just wanted to celebrate our families being together.” Admittedly, Lindou would’ve preferred a much smaller dinner since she hardly knew Dariel or his parents. “He was nice. I think we’re both optimistic about how this will turn out, which is good. I’m not too nervous about the situation anymore.”

As everyone was sitting down around the table, Marius was getting prepared to serve dinner. Peeking into the room, he noticed Dariel and was immediately relieved at seeing his friend in the room. When the dinner started, Marius began to pour wine for everyone. However, he lost his footing and tripped, causing the glass to slip from his fingers. As a result, the red liquid ended up on one of the guest’s shirts. Immediately, Marius felt his face begin to flush red as he felt everyone’s eyes on him. Embarrassed, he began to repeat apologies to the individual before rushing to clean up the mess he’d made.

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#; lindou #; dariel #AU; royal

ametvsta‌:

As the two of them headed outside and began to walk through the gardens, Dariel soon felt a lot more at ease. For a little while, there was minimal conversation as they walked along, until Lindou asked him a question. “It is. Inside, there’s always something I have to do or someone who wants to speak with me… so, I like to come here to have time alone,” he said, before pointing out a short wall near the edge of the flowers. “Actually, I spend a lot of time over there. This sounds strange, but it’s a nice spot to take a nap when the weather is nice…”

Although they had only just met and there was still very little he knew about her, Dariel already felt that he and Lindou would get along well. In the short amount of time they’d spent together, the worries he’d had in the weeks before were quickly forgotten. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure about this, but…” he began, hoping that he hadn’t left a bad impression on her and that she thought similarly of him. “Even though there’s a lot we still have to learn about each other, I think this could work out.”

At first, things were relatively quiet between them, but eventually Lindou was able to start a conversation between the two of them. “I’m usually busy at home too so it makes sense. It’s nice to have a place to be able to get away from everything inside...” When he gestured to the wall at the end of the flowers, she let out a laugh. “It’s not strange. It seems peaceful.” Curious of how comfortable it was, she took a seat on the wall so she could have a view of the rest of the garden.

Knowing that she would probably come to spend many years in this place, she was already starting to grow fond of the garden. It seemed so quiet and untouched compared to the rest of the castle. As Dariel spoke, Lindou found herself agreeing with him, even though it still felt too early to know for sure. “It’s too early to know for certain, but it does seem that way,” She agreed. “I’ve known about this for quite some time and I was... nervous that we would not get along at all. But, I’m happy to see that’s not the case,” She said, offering him a smile.

♕

#; lindou #; silane #; dariel #AU; royal

ametvsta‌:

Although she knew it was normal for those like her, Silane had never really warmed to the idea of being partnered with someone who would be chosen by her parents. So, when the time came for Lindou to meet the prince who she would be expected to marry, Silane couldn’t help but feel worried for her. Still, she tried to reassure her, anyway. “I’m sure he will be kind… I don’t think he would have been chosen for you if he wasn’t. It’ll be okay.”

For Dariel, his parents had been talking about this for quite some time, so when the day eventually came around, admittedly he was curious to meet the princess after hearing so much about her. At first, it was easy for him to keep calm as the families met and everyone formally greeted each other, but soon after the two were left alone and Dariel began to feel a little nervous. Of course, he wanted everything to go well, so he did his best to ignore his nerves and gave Lindou a smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” He glanced around the room, thinking it wasn’t the most interesting of places to get to know someone. “Perhaps we can take a walk outside?”

Even though Silane attempted to reassure her, Lindou couldn’t truly feel calm until she actually met the prince. After what seemed like hours, the doors to the room eventually opened and a small group of people entered the room. Lindou’s worries began to subside as soon as the pair were left alone and he directed a smile towards her. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Seeing that Lindou was completely unfamiliar with this castle, she had no idea what sorts of things there were to do, so she waited for Dariel to mention somewhere they could go. Once they were outside, they began to walk among the flowers. As they walked, Lindou turned so she could look at the castle from a distance. She admired the architecture, finding it difficult to believe that she would one day call this place her home. “It’s beautiful...” She thought out loud before turning her attention back to Dariel. “Is this your favorite place in the castle?”

♕

Lindou’s heart pounded in her chest as she and her family waited for the arrival of the prince and his parents. Usually, Lindou was not at all nervous when meeting others, but the people they were about to meet were not just ordinary people she would see briefly. Potentially, Lindou would come to spend the rest of her life with these people in this unfamiliar place.

Even though she’d known since she was young that she would one day come to marry a stranger, it wasn’t easy in the moment. Her eyes stayed fixated on the door, waiting for any sign that they would enter. Without thinking, Lindou began to speak her worries out loud, hoping to receive reassurance from her family. “... What if he’s not kind? What if we don’t like each other?”

#; lindou #; silane #AU; royal

After everyone else went to their rooms for the evening, Dariel had decided to share some of his wine with Lindou. Since she liked the taste of this one, she decided to bring some up to Silane to share it with her. After entering their room, she set the bottle and glasses down on one of their tables before inviting Silane to have some of it. “You can try some of this if you’d like. Dariel and I had a little a few minutes ago and it's pretty good."

Silane had decided earlier that she would start on a series of paintings to decorate the walls with, and she had been sitting by her bed for most of the day to work on them. Later that evening, Lindou eventually came upstairs and Silane heard her setting down what sounded like glasses, prompting her to pause and look up to see what she was doing. “Not now,” she said, even though Lindou’s offer was rather tempting. “I want to finish my painting. I’ll make a mistake if I drink that.”

ametvsta‌:

“Perfect! He’ll be a snail, then. Have you ever eaten one?” Silane asked, as she began to sketch out her picture. “I think we should definitely leave them under the door. They need to be appreciated.” At first, she drew all the animals in a cute style, giving them smiley faces and drawing hearts around them. However, as adorable as Silane thought it was, it wasn’t funny enough for her liking, so she decided to make a small change to it. Covering it up so Lindou couldn’t see, she took a few minutes to quickly sketch out a rather detailed face onto the snail. It wasn’t perfect, but it was obvious enough that it was Dariel. “What do you think?” Silane asked, trying to suppress a laugh as she held the drawing up to show Lindou once she was done. “It’s realistic, right?”

Afterwards, as Lindou suggested, they silently made their way out of the room with the drawings, before sliding them under the door and hurrying back into their own room. “I wish we could see their reactions. Just— imagine the look on Dariel’s face when he sees himself on a snail…”

Although it had been quite some time, a distant memory of Lindou trying to eat snail was easy to recall. It’d instantly been repulsive to her, and while she managed to finish it, she knew she never wanted to have it again. “I have... It was kind of disgusting. I’ll never understand how Dariel can eat it,” Lindou admitted with a laugh before directing her attention to Silane’s drawing. It had all been amusing to her, so when Silane concealed the drawing, Lindou became disappointed. “Aww... what are you drawing now?” In a few moments, Silane revealed the drawing to Lindou, causing her to laugh out loud. “That’s great!”

Once she composed herself, they took their drawings out into the hall. As they slid them under the door, Lindou stifled her laughter until they returned to their room. “I guess we’ll find out in the morning.” Glancing at the clock, Lindou only now noticed how late it was. “It’s gotten really late... Maybe we should try to sleep.”

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“Maybe the reason he likes giraffes so much is because he looks like one…?” Silane thought aloud, then glanced over Lindou’s entire drawing and began to laugh because of how ridiculous it looked. “I love it. I think you should frame this and hang it up downstairs, like a family picture or something.”

After Lindou had passed some paper and a pen to her, at first Silane was stuck for an idea, since she wanted to draw something that would be as funny as the stick figures. For a moment, she twirled the pen as she thought, then picked up her glass with her free hand. Thinking it would make things a lot more interesting, Silane decided to drink most of it before setting the glass back down, and returning her attention to the paper. “I’ll draw all of you as animals,” she said. “Marius is going to be a giraffe, you can be a penguin, and Dariel… wait. What animal would he be?”

“Isn’t it great? I worked so hard on it,” Lindou said, before setting her own drawing aside to watch Silane. When Silane mentioned her idea of drawing them as animals, Lindou laughed at the idea, already picturing the drawing in her head.

“Hmm... what could he be?” She pondered, taking another sip of her drink before setting it back down. A few possibilities danced through her head before she settled on a rather amusing one that instantly brought a large smile to her face. “I’ve got it! He can be a snail since he loves to eat them so much,” She suggested, laughing a little at the thought of them all as animals. While it was amusing to draw these things, Lindou thought it would be even better if they took it a step further. “What if we slipped these drawings under their door tonight? It would be so funny.”

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Naturally, Silane wanted to see what Lindou was drawing. It was soon obvious that it was the four of them, and even though they were stick figures, Silane instantly knew which one was supposed to be her. “Why have you drawn me so tiny compared to the others?” she asked, pointing at the smallest figure. “I’m not even short. It’s not my fault the rest of you are weird and didn’t stop growing taller.”

As Silane had thought, what Lindou had so far was probably enough to start feeling some effect. Although she’d said she only wanted a little, admittedly she felt somewhat left out that she wasn’t feeling any different yet. “Well, I’ll have another one too, then.” she said, finishing her glass and beginning to pour herself another. “There isn’t that much left. We may as well finish it.”

As Lindou continued to draw the four figures, she began to smile to herself as it was all too amusing to her. Silane, on the other hand, did not seem to be as amused as Lindou was by the drawing. “You’re shorter than the rest of us. So that’s why I drew it like that.” Glancing over the drawing one last time, she noticed how tall she’d drawn Marius, so she pointed him out to Silane. “Marius is almost like a giraffe here.”

When Silane directed her attention to the wine bottle, Lindou temporarily joined her at the table so she could refill her own glass. Once it was poured and she’d taken a sip, Lindou thought it would be fun for Silane to draw something, especially she was far more gifted in art than Lindou. Taking a sheet of paper and a pen, Lindou set the items down in front of Silane. “You should draw something too!”

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As Lindou picked up one of her sketchbooks, Silane assumed she had done so because she wanted to draw, but she couldn’t be sure. “What are you…” she began, trailing off as Lindou showed her one of the drawings. Silane knew very well what it was, but decided she would pretend not to know. “Does it? Interesting. It’s not supposed to be anyone. Anyway, let’s not look in my sketchbook anymore, thank you—” she said, quickly taking it from Lindou’s hands and putting it back on the desk, before passing a blank notebook in her direction. “You can use this, if you like.”

Once she retrieved her glass and continued to sip at her wine again, Silane eyed Lindou curiously, wondering if it had gotten to her already. “How much did you have earlier?”

Even though Silane denied the drawing’s resemblance to anyone, Lindou still thought that it looked just like Marius. “Really? Well it looks just like-” But, she cut herself off as soon as Silane took the book back and set it on her desk. Instead of pursuing it any further, she gladly accepted the blank notebook Silane offered her and began to draw four stick figures of drastically different heights on the page.

At Silane’s question, Lindou thought back to what had occurred downstairs and how much she’d already had before returning to the room. “Hmm... One glass? Maybe a little bit more.”