Stolen Heart (yandere! King x reader)

2. A Matter Of Moments

"I specifically told you I wanted a linseed oil painting, not egg tempura. I can smell the stink of that low-quality paint from here. Trash that and start over!" Lady Halliday demanded, pinching her nose as she sat posed on her luxurious marble bench. Lord Halliday's brow furrowed as he checked his pocket watch, but he stayed silent. The audible groans came from their two children, Nicholas, and Cati Halliday. Nicholas stood beside his father, while Cati was beside her mother.

You stifled a groan. This was the third time she had told you to restart today. Such is the life of the poor painter.

"Madam Haliday, this is linseed oil. While its smell is strong, I promise I would never dirty your house with egg tempura." You felt your patience thinning, you were more tired than usual and her complaining wasn't helping your mood.

"It reeks! I swear, it's giving me a headache!" You only noticed that she had left her seat when she snatched the yellow dye out of your hands and capped it before throwing it back to you. You blinked in surprise when you caught it, but she didn't seem to notice your surprisingly quick reaction as walked back to her spot.

"Mother, just let her-"

"Nicholas, if we're paying for her to paint us, we have the right to critique the process. Now, if you could, would you please keep your paints closed unless you're actively using them? Otherwise, the smell becomes too... overwhelming for me." Her smile almost made it seem like a request, but you knew it wasn't. You were getting a headache too, but it wasn't from the paint.

"Of course Madam Halliday, but I would like to let you know that doing this will extend the amount of time this painting will take..." You saw her husband's eye twitch at that, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Are you joking? This is ridiculous, we've already been at this for hours." Nicholas was losing his composure quickly, he never liked sitting still and he wasn't wrong. You had been at this for hours already and the process had constantly been extended by commands to start over and requests as silly as the strong paint smell.

Lady Halliday's eyes narrowed as she turned to look at her son and his large form seemed to shrink. She huffed, sitting back down and putting a practiced smile back on her face.

Your first day of portraits couldn't have gone worse. The Hallidays were rich, indecisive, and entitled, which led to hours of scrutinizing different sketches as they switched positions and poses. You could have painted them three times over at this point, but you were just starting to paint and they continued to do everything they could to slow you down.

This was a miserable waste of time, but it was also a perfect alibi. Nobody could suspect you of stealing fortunes and leading a rebellion if you were constantly doing cheap work for rich people. You'd be much too exhausted. And, well, they were kind of right. The dark circles under your eyes seemed to grow darker every day but you managed to keep pushing forward. The minimal amount of sleep you were getting definitely had a negative effect. Your temper was short and you found yourself dozing off a lot more than usual. You were almost thankful for the constant changes and extra work, it meant you had something to forcefully keep you awake. You couldn't risk slowing down, not when it was getting so close to tribute day. You can last another day, right?

"You know, you should be grateful..." Cati, Lady Halliday's daughter, lost her refined expression as she spoke. Her voice sounded breathy, her corset was pulled much tighter than it should be, but that didn't stop her from giving her normal back-handed compliments.

"A painting from... someone like you" her nose crinkled in disgust, "- is going to be hanging in the house of a noble! This really is such an accomplishment for you. Honestly, if you actually spent some time working on your appearance, people might believe you came from a proper upbringing. If only everyone in this lazy town worked as hard as you."