Imperial Affairs (Levi X Reader) AU

18. Concerns

Narrator's POV

"Did you hear what happened to His Highness?"

"What are you saying? Who doesn't know?" Employees of Y/N's palace gossiped amongst themselves.

"Do you think that His Highness is okay?" Marco asked worriedly.

"Do you think that anyone would be okay after they lost their sister?" Jean looked at Marco.

"But His Highness hasn't come out of his chambers for days except for Princess Christa's burial next to Princess Historia's grave at the far end of the palace grounds," Marco said sadly, "It would help if Lady Leonhart and Lord Hoover would come visit His Highness but unfortunately, Lady Leonhart is visiting the Empire's borders at the northern side as a potential future heiress of the Leonhart Grand Duchy as the family of army strength and Lord Hoover is at the diamond mines as a potential future heir of the Hoover March as the family of diamond and gem suppliers."

Suddenly, everyone in the little group except Marco, meaning that Jean, Connie and Sasha glared, Jean more aggressively than the others, at Levi who was being forced to sit with the group.

"Stop that, guys!" Marco said annoyed, which happened very rarely, at his friend's behaviour, "It's not his fault!"

"It's Her Majesty's! And he works for her!" Jean yelled, attracting the attention of everyone else in the dining hall eating breakfast as they all glared at Levi except Marco who stood for what was right and tried to defend him.

"It's not Her Majesty's fault! Did you not hear what happened? Her Highness Princess Christa had His Highness Prince Udo and his mother killed and His Majesty had her executed for her crime!" Marco stood up and talked, trying to pull his comrades back to their senses, "Her Majesty wasn't involved in this! And I agree that His Highness doesn't deserve this pain but we shouldn't blame Levi for this!"

"But what about the so-called sympathy letter from Her Majesty which was actually for taunting His Highness?!"

"What letter?" Connie questioned.

"One day after the incident," Jean gritted his teeth and spoke of the princess's death as if naming it was taboo, "Her Majesty's messenger, Sir Marcel came over to deliver a letter and I remember seeing Mikasa seething after she saw the letter. I don't think she even let it reach His Highness but asked Mr. Smith to write a reply from His Highness's side."

"But there's no reason to blame Levi for this!"

"Why are you defending him?! He's trying to kill His Highness!" Jean stood up and opposed his best friend.

"But he wasn't responsible for this!" Oluo stood up and talked. Oluo had become Levi's fanboy since the first time he saw him.

"You just shut up, Oluo. You're biassed. You like Levi too much!" Jean accused Oluo despite being biassed himself since he supported Y/N with everything she did even if it was something she shouldn't do.

"Look who's talking! And don't talk to me like that! I'm your superior!" Oluo, a member of the Special Guard Squad at Y/N's palace, shouted.

"Well, why don't you act like a superior by not trying to bully your subordinates!" Connie stepped in and talked about what Oluo was doing recently by trying to bully Jean.

Levi gave his new acquaintance, Marco, a glance that said 'What is going on?'

Levi was confused on what he was supposed to do. He didn't know how his friends were. He didn't even know if they were alive. He had to take one of the two deals given to him. Either he could try and kill the prince while he was still weak or he could wait for the chance to prove himself to the prince. The problem was what if the prince killed himself in his depression or died from starvation because apparently, he hadn't had another meal since the incident. If that happened, the Empress wouldn't give him what was promised because he wouldn't be the one who killed the prince. And another problem was that what if the Empress killed his friends Underground because of the delay. Or what if he couldn't live up to the prince's stupid expectations. And now, the palace employees were fighting amongst themselves on how they should treat Levi.