Our Strange Duet (Yandere Modern Princes x Reader)

Chapter 66: Royal Command

Rei had his fill of meetings. As the King of Vethela, it was only expected, but they were beginning to wear on his nerves. If he hadn't just realized that they took time away from (Y/n), he would have eventually, and either way, he was bound to be grumpy and maltempered. The last thing on his agenda for the day was a relief to him as it was something he knew he would enjoy at least slightly. His mother was doing most of the work anyway.

The blonde had arrived in the ballroom, the location where most of the preparations were being done. It was almost hectic the way that servants ran around, listening to the orders of the male's mother. She appeared immersed in what she was doing; a surprise, considering she was more on the side of opposing it than not. Nonetheless, she was doing her best, arranging for only the best flowers, decorations, and attendants.

The young king would have been irritated at the fact that his mother was doing more of the wedding planning than (Y/n) was. However, he understood the reason that she was. The younger girl was already under a lot of stress as it was. It would probably have been better for the wedding planning to be taken care of for her, and it wasn't as if Rei had the time in his schedule to plan for it. He sighed.

"Good, you're here," his mother huffed, holding up a place card, "Do you think that Cadmus will have the decency to attend?"

"Considering he was not present for his son's funeral, I think he needs time away from the castle, but I'd prefer if you kept him as attending just in case. I'd rather like to see my uncle here. He would have liked (Y/n)."

"If you say so, but I'd say the chance of him coming is less than one percent. Anyway, did you need something?"

The blonde shrugged. There was little need for him to see the comings along of the wedding when he knew that his mother wasn't the only one in charge of everything. He also had a very trusted member of the castle staff on the job; Presley Alaric. He was an honorable man with the desire only to serve the royals, having done so many loyal deeds that he was promoted from a king's guard to the chief of staff at his request. Although Rei, himself, hardly interacted with him, the male was had been Kazuki's playmate when he was younger and had been a close confidant to Orion.

Without him, Rei's mother might have attempted to throw a wrench in the works. However, she looked genuinely happy to be planning for her youngest son's wedding. While she might not have enjoyed the fact that a common foreigner was marrying into the royal family, she was joyful to see the blonde so at peace. He had even shown the rarest side of him. She had missed it so deeply. Perhaps if (Y/n) was able to draw that out of him, she wasn't so horrible after all.

"Are things going smoothly here?" the blonde asked, tilting his head in curiosity as he saw the numerous presents his mother had already bought for him.

"Oh, yes. We should be more than sufficiently prepared by next week. Ah, but guests will start arriving soon. I've already made the guest rooms available to them so I hope they will be perfectly at ease. In any case, worry not, sweetheart. I have it under control."

Rei should have been relieved at the news that everything was going as it was meant to. However, he wasn't. In fact, there was a lingering feeling of dread inside of him. When he presented the opportunity for Ichiro to take the throne, he was overjoyed, but the blonde wasn't so sure he enjoyed being king. Certainly, it came with numerous perks, but when the only thing he wanted was to enjoy his life with (Y/n), it wasn't so wonderful.

He frowned the more he thought about it. The bluenette had argued that if he wasn't king at all, the younger girl wouldn't have agreed to marry him. Rei didn't know the validity of the statement but the uncertainty shook him to his core. He bit down on his thumb, a concerned expression on his face. Was he really just forcing her into a marriage she didn't want? A desperate whimper left his lips.