[ROYALTY/MODERN AU] the princess of inazuma had never been seen before by anyone other than the trusted residents of the castle. all she ever wanted to do was connect with people, but due to her sheltered lifestyle, she had never been able to. well...
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XII. PORCELAIN FACE
prince kunikuzushi was known for his face of porcelain; to have the beauty of no other man. admittedly, when setting her eyes on him, eula agreed with these statements. alongside his godly looks, he also seemed well-mannered and polite, though there was always a glint of irritation swimming in his eyes. hm... perhaps she was imagining it.
while sitting at the dinner table, ei chatted with eula's parents and they found themselves getting along splendidly, which scaramouche absolutely despised. he had a sliver of hope that his mother would grow a distaste for them and he'd be able to leave. unfortunately, the opposite was true.
what made it worse were ei's gestures throughout; she'd reach to hold his hand, or smile at him while telling of his achievements, and he knew damn well she wouldn't even dream of doing such things if they were alone. the acid in his stomach bubbled up to his throat each time she showed any sort of affection, but he kept his mouth screwed shut. honestly, even he himself was surprised by his amount of self control.
it wasn't necessarily the acts that he found disgusting, but moreso the fact that it was his mother. he did tell himself he loathed physical affection, but it was far from the truth. he craved it, and that scared him.
his desire didn't mean he was looking for a wife, though.
"why don't you and eula get to know each other, hm? spend some time by yourselves."
the orange hue of sunset seeped through the windows of the mansion as the two young adults traversed the halls, the only noises being the clacking of their shoes. they were both clearly uninterested in conversating, but they were bearing the awkward weight of the situation with a fair amount of grace and tact.
"...perhaps they had a point."
scaramouche's eyes locked with eula's as he quirked a brow, urging her to elaborate on her statement. with a sigh, she hung her head low and clasped her hands together.
"no matter the reason we're doing this, we're going to be married," she said. "we might as well know each other."
he frowned in response, "sorry to burst your bubble, but i don't plan on going through with this."
she blinked, her features slowly morphing into an offended expression, "and why is that?"
"has it not been clear enough?" he sneered. "i'm not interested in you."
"clearly," she muttered. "but what about your family? aren't you doing this for them?"
"only because i have to," he stated, glancing away to look out the hallway window, echoes of gold creeping onto the floor just before reaching his feet. "my family doesn't need help, anyway. i just want to get out of that damn castle as soon as possible, and once i do, you'll never hear from me again."
