Silent Knight (Risotto x princess!reader)

Ch. 10 The Mischievous Blond

After an hour alone with Risotto in your room, supposedly "studying," you and the knight returned to the grand hall for lunch with Diavolo. You curtsied at the king before sitting down. A bowl of soup had already been poured for you.

"Again, Sir Diavolo," you spoke, "my deepest apologies for earlier. I had completely forgotten about my lesson." "Now, now," the king assured you. "It's no big deal. Just don't let it happen again." "Yes, your Highness." You were grateful he didn't think too much of it, or at least you thought he didn't think too much of it. "By the way, if I may ask," the pink-haired man continued speaking, "what was your lesson about?" With merely a second to think, you blurted out the first thing that came to your mind: "Human anatomy."

Risotto nearly choked on air and had to work incredibly hard to maintain a neutral facial expression. You wanted to kick yourself, but it was partially true. "Human anatomy?" The king repeated. "Yes, the human body is quite fascinating," you lied. In reality, you knew barely a thing of the human body; never before have you taken a single lesson on that subject. "I agree," Diavolo swallowed a spoonful of soup. "But I find the mind much more interesting." "You like psychology?" You also ate some soup. Eating it with Diavolo made it taste bland. Perhaps it would taste much better if you ate it with Risotto. "Oh very much," the green-eyed man responded. "The mind can be a... bizarre place." You were left wondering what he meant.

Behind you, Risotto was on to the king. Slowly but surely he was collecting information and connecting dots. The sudden change in the king's personality this afternoon was no mere coincidence.

After lunch, the three of you returned to the garden to "continue where we left off," as Diavolo said. On the walk there, you were nervous; what if he tried kissing you again. The only person you had ever kissed before was Risotto and you didn't want to kiss anyone else; especially not in front of him.

You faced away from the king as you spoke. "Can I tell you something a bit personal, King Diavolo?" You brushed your fingertips along the soft petals of the taffy pink roses. "I'm actually quite nervous when I'm around you and King Bucciarati. I've never met suitors before, or anyone who thought of me in a romantic way. So this is all quite new to me." Risotto could tell you were also speaking to him.

"So I'd really appreciate it if we got to get to know each other as people first," you turned around again to see Diavolo was extremely close; too close for comfort. You didn't even hear his footsteps as he approached you from behind. You tried backing up, but the thorns in the rose bush behind you poked you. You hissed at the sting but didn't trust yourself to break eye contact with the king.

Risotto was on high alert, ready to jump in and protect you if the suitor were to try to do you any harm. But it seemed like the pink-haired had no intentions of getting closer; he merely stared deeply into your eyes.

It's as though he was searching. Perhaps searching to see if what you said was the truth or just a lie you made up in case you already chose Bucciarati to be your husband. Yet, he found nothing; in your eyes, he found nothing but honesty.

Only when Diavolo backed up and chuckled softly, could your knight breathe easily again. "You know," the king looked over to Risotto as he spoke, "words aren't the only thing that can speak." He looked back at you; "You've told me a lot today, just through body language alone." You could feel the tips of your ears heating up. Did he find out you'd rather not marry him? Does he know you fear him just a bit?

"Do you mean human anatomy?" You decided to play dumb. Beautiful dumb girls always got off easy. The king let out such a hearty laugh, you flinched. "Why hasn't your father told me about your sense of humor before?" Diavolo wiped away a tear that had trickled down his left cheek. You let out a fake laugh to match his energy. "I have lots of surprises up my sleeves, King Diavolo." Wanting to seem confident, you flung your hair over your shoulder. "Yes," the pink-haired man suddenly got serious again, "I can see that, y/n." A sinister smirk sat on his lips as he stared at you. Confused about what was happening, you mistakenly looked over at Risotto who looked back at you then at Diavolo.