Imperial Affairs (Levi X Reader) AU

31. Abandonment

Reader's POV

"If you sit so far away from me then how are you supposed to protect me?" I spoke up, trying to get Levi to sit closer to me so that I could have a look at the book he was reading.

Levi scoffed and got up as he headed toward me, "What could possibly hurt you here, Your Highness?"

"I don't know because that's your job to figure out in order to protect me," I looked downwards at the book in front of me on the table as Levi dragged the chair from the seat in front of me and sat down.

I tried not to look nervous but confident as I was supposed to after the numerous years of training as I glanced at the book Levi was so invested in.

I still can't look at the title.

The book was open so you couldn't exactly blame me for that.

"What are you reading?" I decided to be direct.

"A book, Your Highness," Levi decided to joke, not knowing that I was dying on the inside.

Upon hearing my silence, Levi probably thought that I was in no mood to joke and decided to tell me the truth as he read out the title.

"The Yeager Family: The History of the English Imperial Bloodline," Levi stated as I became aware that I was in deep shit.

It could be worse though. What if he picked the Ackerman Family's history?

But it could be a lot better too.

What do I do now?

Ugh, out of all the things that I have been taught, why did I have to be the worst at improvising? It's one of the most useful, especially in situations like this.

But I have no other option other than to give it a shot.

"Why are you so interested in that?" I looked up from my book towards Levi and struck up a conversation.

"I...," Levi trailed off, probably wondering whether to tell me or not before deciding to talk, "I just wanted to know about Isabel. Your Highness said that she is related to you and both sides of your family are Imperial bloodlines. If we look at genetics then she looked more like His Majesty than Her Late Highness so I figured that she'd be from the English Imperial Line. I wanted to know how someone with Imperial blood ended up down there."

"I could always tell you," I rested my gaze on Levi, calmly as I tried to direct his attention away from the book.

"Oh?" Levi looked up from the book, finally paying attention to me, wondering why I was spending my time and energy telling him something that he could easily find out with a good read of the book in his hands, "Very well, Your Highness. How did she end up down there?"

"My great aunt, the previous emperor's sister, Her Late Highness fell for a commoner in Karanes," I began telling him the entire story that he wouldn't have any curiosity left and wouldn't open the book again, "Someone from the Imperial or even noble families marrying a commoner was unheard of then and the relation was taboo to speak of even more so than now so it wasn't permitted. My grandfather, His Late Majesty knew this but also understood his sister's feelings and helped Her Late Highness run away with the man she loved. They lived in hiding with their son until they were found and forced to run away from there as well and were cornered with no place to go except the Underground which was still a construction site at the time. Her Late Highness's husband worked there until he died in a workplace accident when some prison runaways flocked there. Soon, the place was turned to the Underground you know now and more and more runaways made their home there and construction was stopped due to the budget cuts caused by the corruption and Her Late Highness and her son were stuck there for good once the gate closed. I believe that Isabel was Her Late Highness's granddaughter."

"But," Levi was still curious as he asked me another question with narrowed eyes, "How does Your Highness know this?"

Mate, I literally just told you a basic history of how the Underground was formed along with answering the question you asked in great detail and you still want to know more?

"Because Isabel had seen her grandmother and when I met her, I asked about thow her grandmother looked and behaved along with her name to match it up and she indeed did fit the description."

"You met her?" Levi was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"Many years ago," I revealed some information to Levi that was already public, "I was taken to the Underground then and that was when I met her."

Levi's mouth hung open in confusion and though it was not very obvious, I had learned to spot changes in body language as taught in my three years of the training corps, the elite school for Imperial families and high ranking nobles.

Or maybe I figured it out because my blood detected it for me.

"She did talk about meeting someone from above the ground..." Levi thought out loud as my body shook in fear for a second before I calmed myself down. But I could only do that to fool eyes but I couldn't fool blood because I was still fearful and Levi, who only side eyed me when I shook, jerked his head upwards to look at me carefully once his blood told him of my fear.

"Your Highness?"

"Yes?" I tried to calm my blood down so that it wouldn't send him any messages, especially revealing my fear because that could cost me.

"Is Your Highness unwell?" Levi frowned, taking his guarding duty seriously so that he could get his friends out of that hellhole down there.

"No. I'm fine," I answered, half lying and half letting out the truth, "I just remembered that place after a long while. I didn't really want to think about it."

It was true. I still got the chills from thinking about that place and it's dark alleys, brothels where many women and some men were harassed, rats that carried diseases but were used as a source of food by the weak, whether it was a young child, an old man or a sick person who couldn't get their meals to survive any other way.

I could still see the drug deals all over the place where the dealers or customers weren't even trying to be discreet and the stench of alcohol, smoke from cigarettes, cigars and pipes and vomit spread all over the place.

I can still see the flies that roamed around and the centipedes that were waiting for another person to die so that they could feed on their corpse. Maybe waiting is the wrong term because they never had to wait, there were corpses dropping every second whether it was death because of sickness, murder or suicide.

In my nightmares, I still run from the men who thought I could fetch a good price if sold and I still feel the pain in my knees and elbows from the constant falling on the uneven ground that I wasn't used to. I remember the burning in my eyes because they were dry from crying so much and I can still hear my sobbing. I still feel the dagger in my hand and the blood of two of the men dripping down my arms.

I still feel the fear I felt when the other two caught me and tied me up.

I still feel sorry for leaving her back there, the only person who even bothered to pay attention to me let alone rescue me from the dark depths those men were sending me into. I know I don't deserve forgiveness for leaving her because all I was doing then was being a coward. I thought that I had no choice but to leave her there for the time being when deep down, I knew that I could've found a way to save her or stay there to protect her but I was so scared and I missed my friends, my home and the luxuries I took for granted so much and just wanted to be out of there that I couldn't thank her and I couldn't help her like she helped me.

I felt all this when I stayed there for less than a week and I can't possibly imagine the feelings, scars and nightmares of someone like Levi, the people in the North that I rescued from the Underground or even Isabel, what she felt in her final moments after not getting to experience happiness after living in that hell all her life.

A/N = The one year anniversary of Imperial Affairs is coming up so I wanted to do a special chapter. Maybe a Q/A with the characters in the way I wrote them? I'm taking suggestions! And please suggest because it would be really embaressing for me if  no one replied.

December 21, 2022

- Heliaxa