PENUMBRA // Tamaki Amajiki x Reader Royal AU

Chapter 3

"Your highness, good evening." I quickly curtseyed, careful not to stumble in my hurried state. He did not appear to show any sincerity towards my surprise, in fact he appeared rather angry... unless that was just his normal face. "And to you too, this will not take long."

King Amijiki carried his head high as he made his way across the room, mantle trailing behind him, and he lowered himself onto my bed, gesturing to the space beside him while averting my eyes, awkwardly indicating that I should take up the space, which I did. "I apologise if I seem out of sorts, your majesty, I did not anticipate your arrival, much less in my chambers..."

"Yes, well the intricacies of this arrangement must not be made known to the royal court or the people of my kingdom, it is mandatory that this meeting is held in secret." akin to his employees before him, the king ceased to make eye contact, only holding his gaze in the space above my eyes to create the impression that he was making eye contact but a highly perceptive person could decipher this deception, "with that in mind, you must not confess your identity to anyone outside this room besides the prince. If you wish to leave the castle grounds you must retreat in secret through the underground tunnels as to not cause a stir in the kingdom, do I make myself clear?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

I studied his face for a second - harsh and unfeeling, wrinkles of spite lined his face but in the moment I could not conclude whether their cause were nature or nurture - before giving my reply, "I understand, my king." without actually processing anything his highness was saying due to my lasting surprise of his arrival and incredulity of being in the presence of royalty.

"Good, I have summoned you here on the premise of fixing the prince, my offspring. He has tarnished our family name with his... diseases." the king practically spat his words, as if he could not wait to get them out of his mouth, "My late wife died of child birth complications to put it lightly, entirely due to him and his defect. He has this curse to which my solution was to lock him in his room and starve him but obviously he had to eat at some point, I can not kill him because he is heir to the throne. To make matters worse he is an embarrassment, the whole kingdom knows of his existence so I can not completely hide him and must present him to the court on special occasions but he simply can not talk to them no matter what. He shivers and nearly cries, all the while drooping his head and bringing shame to the kingdom."

King Amijiki stormed across the room, flinging open the curtains allowing light to engulf the room once more, "The prince must be fixed and I have come to terms with the fact that physical means just will not cut it hence why you are here." The great man turned to me, "What I can not grasp is why did they send you?" I blankly stared at him, "I'm sorry, sir?"

"I specifically asked for the most powerful sorcerer in the land, yet they send some child fresh out of school. I just hope my judgement is misplaced."

Clearing, my throat, I was excited to brag to a person of status about my level of power, "I was the top of my class, but that in itself is an understatement. I was far more powerful than any of my peers and all of the teachers, who is to say that I am not the most powerful sorceress?" I raised myself a little taller and held my head high to maximise my influence, his majesty glared at me and huffed, "I find it difficult to imagine you with that title but nevertheless will be given a chance, I shall not replace you if you fail to bring results, that shall be blamed on the prince's inability to be fixed rather than your incompetence." He trailed to the door, lighter this time, with an air of finality, "That will be all."

Upon the kings passing, I hurriedly rose to curtsey my farewell, "Good day, my ki-
His majesty opened and closed the door without looking back, leaving the room heavier than before he arrived, an echo resounding in the space he left behind. The infant silence was welcoming and encouraged me to analyse our conversation and his request which I was too surprised concentrate on due to my surprise in the moment. Closing the curtains once more, I laid on the bed and started to remember.

'you must not confess your identity to anyone outside this room beside the prince' I wanted to imagine that this was an unusual requirement but in truth, I had nothing to compare it to, on account of this being my first quest. Supposing I would have to wear only the clothes loaned to me by the maids as to not give away my identity through my own sorceress clothes - which were my only clothes I owned - I decided on venturing into town one day to buy some 'normal' human clothes. Not to say that magic users do not wear 'normal' human clothes, but my life being centred around school left me with little time for meaningless, consumer-driven possessions, so I was left with clothes the school gave every student for practising magic.

My next thoughts lingered on the prince. I was only allowed to 'confess my identity' to him, this confused me as I pondered on his royalty's requirements for a moment then recalled his actual request: 'I have summoned you here on the premise of fixing the prince'. Consequently, I fell into a state of even greater confusion, the words 'fixing the prince' emanating throughout my brain.

Then it sunk in why I was so confused; my initial expectations were that I was summoned to slay a beast yet here I was, on a task to fix some silly prince. The royal highness himself even asked for 'the most powerful sorcerer' for what reason? Any average magic user could remove some curse from some foolish prince. Slamming my hands onto the bed, I grabbed some of the bedsheets and curled up my fists while my tear ducts began to well up. Teeth gritted together and I screamed internally, screwing my face up in the process. I could have been in the middle of slaying a ravenous dragon who had been consuming people in their sleep and terrorising villages for centuries, or a murderous sorcerer gone rogue who had assassinated all his people and no one in the vicinity had the wits or strength to defeat him, yet I was stuck in a suffocating room waiting for - wait... I did not even know what I was waiting for, no one had told me to stay put I could have left the room already and put an end to this nonsense, freeing this imbecile of his curse and making my way to a kingdom which would actually put my power to good use.

In a rush, a newfound buzz fermenting inside from this sudden breakthrough, pupils scanned mirrors and hands rubbed eyes, collecting myself in the event I stumbled across a palace worker. Despite my affinity for this plan, I calmly made my way to the door, ignoring every urge to run or skip.

Swiftly, the door was opened and closed and I was outside my assigned chambers, the hallway was grand and spacious, with corridors that just did not end and ceilings touching the sky. Not sure where I was meant to be going, I decided on heading one way until happening upon a member of staff who could point me in the right direction.

After parading in a straight line for no more than a couple minutes and glancing back, I realised that each door looked the same and I had no hope of finding my bedchambers by myself if I were ever to return.

As I rotated my neck, to turn my head back, out of seemingly nowhere, a maid had materialised in front of me. "It is against the king's wishes to be out of your chambers right now." she was directly on eye level yet - akin to every person I had met there - ceased to make eye contact. "My apologies, I did not know of this wish, however I would like you to take me to the prince, the king has given me a request and it is a request I will fulfil right this moment if his majesty will allow, then I can get out of your hair."

The maid showed no change in emotion, or any sign that she would comply to my demand, "The prince is not to be seen as of now, and you are going against the king's wishes being out of your chambers right now, I shall take you back. Follow me." she set off in the opposite direction to the way I was heading and I reluctantly trailed behind, "Sorry for pestering you but could you tell me when it is I will get to meet the prince and fulfil the king's request."

We stopped and the maid turned to a door which was apparently my room, "You can enter your chambers now, you will meet prince Amijiki tomorrow." She stood waiting for me to escape into my designated room then I heard her oddly light footsteps for the heavy boots she was wearing, echoing in the direction we came from.

I fell against the door and lowered myself to the floor, yearning to get it over with, though I later decided that that would not do and I thought strategically in hopes of maximising efficiency and completing my request quicker,pondering over what prince Amijiki's curse could be and how I could undo it.