Imperial Affairs (Levi X Reader) AU

2. The Deal

Levi's POV

"I'm a messenger for a certain figure," the man in the black cloak said, "Let me speak plainly, I'm sure you've heard of the second prince, I would like one of you to end his life"

No one said anything until I broke the silence.

"Huh. Why would a proper citizen like you come all the way down to the underground just to tell bad jokes? Did being so far from the sun screw up your internal clock? Who'd believe such crazy talk?" I glared. There was something off about this offer.

"The reward is cash and the right to live in the royal capital," he stated.

I stayed silent for a moment and glared yet again, "That's even more suspicious, go back up there and I'll pretend that I didn't hear anything."

"This is a waste of time," I said looking down at the floor when Furlan interrupted showing his hand to signal me to wait, "Wait, Levi."

"Huh."

I was confused as I stared at him, he met my gaze and signalled as if to let him talk as I did.

"We understand what you want, but this is so sudden," he continued, he was good at conversing which apparently me and Isabel weren't good at, "We simply can't respond right away, you understand. Please let us consider your offer."

The man paused for a second and turned towards the door, "Fine, tell me your decision by tomorrow. If you accept then you'll receive the details. This should be obvious, but don't say a word to anyone. Don't try anything funny, for your friends' sake," he finished and left, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey-"

"Okay," Furlan said enthusiastically, "Wanna trail him? We need to pin down who this 'certain figure' is."

"You're not actually gonna do it, are you?" Isabel asked, as if questioning his sanity, or at least that was what I was doing.

"The money aside, the right to live in the capital, it's unthinkable for people without connections in the noble or merchant classes. Even the entire imperial family doesn't live there and plus, it's a member of that damned imperial family, we can kill him," he pleaded.

"But even if we do kill him, then we'll be the next targets," I pointed out.

"Most likely. So we'll kill him but our mark will be this 'certain figure' and we'll use that to blackmail them," he speculated.

"And you think that those pigs will care about a threat from the underground?" I understood where he was getting at.

"It's worth trying. This is our chance. Come on, you two," he urged.

"Okay! I'm in," volunteered Isabel.

I sighed, giving in, who was I to stop them. "Fine," I muttered.

The three of us got up to trail the man to find out who this 'certain figure' was. It was hard trailing him but we figured it out in the end, it was the empress. We got back to our hideout to discuss this.

"We've hit the jackpot," said Furlan, "It's the empress, the only person who has enough power that even the emperor himself can't outright oppose her."

"Think about the risk," I cut in.

"Think about what we can gain," Isabel cheered.

These two weren't focusing on the situation, only on the prize. Even Furlan wasn't thinking straight.

"The man said that only one of us can go, the three of us can get the reward but who will complete the mission?" I asked.

"Me!"