Damsel In A Red Dress (Tsukasa X Reader)

Chapter 13

Getting up to 100 reads per chapter! Now we are getting places :)
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I lazily sat down in Amane's office with blowing into the air to release steam. I was summoned for only when I had free time today, and he had told me to take a seat while he finished work. He noticed my less than ladylike manners and chuckled, looking up from the papers in his hand.

He scribbled down on his papers with his expensive looking pen before he looked back up at me. "Nice to know your comfortable. Aren't you even a little embarrassed with your manners in the presence of the future emperor?"

I giggled at the prince's question and rose my hand to look at my painted nails. Nene had painted them red for me the night prior. "Who's actually bound to rule the empire? You? Or Nene?" I smirked jokingly.

"Yes, Yes, I know. Behind every strong man, there's an even stronger woman." He waved off my casual comment with the flick of his hand. Within the next minute, I heard frustrated sighs and scribbles from his pen. "Now then. The next order of business." He smiled at me.

I put my hand over my chest in fake offense. "I'm business to you?" He threw the expensive pen at me in hopes to have me stop joking, only to have me catch it. "I'm keeping this."

Amane chucked at me as I put the pen behind my ear and leaned back in his cair with his arms under his head. "Because even the other nobles have figured out about your mother. Tsukasa proposed an idea at breakfast this morning to avoid further troubles for you." He went straight to business just like he had planned.

I was late at breakfast this morning so I was not present. I had slept in a little too late.

The mention of the second prince caught my attention. "Tsukasa did?" I sat up from my slouched posture on the couch.

"Ooohhh? Now you're interested?" Amane teased me quite easily. My cheeks flared up and I turned away in hopes that He didn't see.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The prince threw his head back in laughter. "Uh uh. Sure." Finally settling down he sat across from me and waved to his butler to get him some tea. He had an odd color of hair orange. I personally thought the man would look better if he cut his ponytail and got rid of his glasses.

As soon as the butler left, my curiosity got the better of me. "So what did he say?"

"We didn't want anything further to happen to these rumors that were spread around you. Nene was especially worried. So I guess that Tsukasa came up with a solution to get rid of her complaining at breakfast." He crossed his arms and leaned back comfortably. "As we, the imperial family, have been victims of year's worth of rumors, we negotiated a transfer."

My heart stopped. I wasn't moving, was I? I don't think I could handle being sold again.

"Hold on, What's with that face? It's nothing to fret over. You haven't even heard the details." Amane quickly reassured. "We decided to transfer the name you serve under. Currently, you serve under me as Nene's attendant. You can't serve under Nene's name because she hasn't married into the star kingdom yet. And both of my parents already have to deal with numerous names under them."

I sighed with relief and My expression of worry washed away."You scared me! I thought I was gonna get sold off again."

The butler came back with the tea and set it on the table in front of us quietly. Amane's face filled with understanding before nodding his thanks to his butler. "We would only sell you off if you had done something to deserve it. But knowing you, You don't have any friends or connections that would make us think so."

"I can't tell if that was an insult of a compleme-" I was swiftly cut off with the slurping sound that came from Amane. He was drinking his tea loudly on purpose to make me shut up.

He set his tea down properly and gave me a wicked smile. "Huh? You were saying something?" The man even cupped his ear for emphasis.

I had never wanted to smack someone more than I did then. I only sighed with aggravation and plopped a few cubes of sugar in my tea before ushering him to continue.

"Tsukasa suggested that you served under his name. His exact words were 'People fear me. So if she serves from under my name instead of yours, they won't question her.' I can't tell if he's jealous that you're under my name or if he's a genius." He shrugged with a sigh.

My heart jumped in my chest and my body felt warm. Though, I was sure it was from the tea. I was happy Tsukasa suggested it. But as Amane said, it was to make sure Nene stopped complaining.

Amane observed the content face of mine before he took another sip of his tea and sighed. "I'm really conflicted."

"Huh?" He broke me out of my thoughts.

He stood up from the seat and went over to a bookshelf, grazing his hands over the backs of the books. "Tsukasa changed so much. He would normally despise breakfast and now he doesn't really seem to care for it. He used to hate going into the library but that's where I mostly find him these days if not the garden. He used to have this really mean glare when talking to anyone that wasn't apart of the palace, and now he only fakes a smile to keep face." He finished with his eyes suspiciously on me.

My surprise was evident as I was finding a hard time forming words. "You know that I'm not at fault for that right?"

"Are you kidding?" He asked sharply. "You are the only one to arrive since his change and he's already been ignoring the love letters he received since two years ago. Unless he fancies one of the other nobles I doubt it would be anyone but you."

He threw point after point as if it were an arrow to the head. He was completely right. But I didn't want to hear it.

The prince sighed. "He likes you (Y/n) It's so obvious. Why can't you accept that?"

Hearing those words directly made me the happiest girl in the world. But I knew better "Because I don't deserve him. I'm good for nothing just like my father."

He growled in anger, and I could hear his butler chuckle from the corner of the room. "That's where you're wrong. You aren't serving your father. You are serving the family. And with you being noblewomen and now serving under Tsukasa's name, no one will think anything of it."

Heat rose to my cheeks and tears started to form in my eyes. I wiped them away quickly. I didn't want to cry. "It's...It's okay?" Hope started to blossom in my chest. All this time I thought that since I was of such low status I had no place in calling the young prince my lover.

"Yes!" He cheered at his succession of opening my eyes. "Now all we have to do is see who confesses first!"
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Original release date: March 26th 2021