PENUMBRA // Tamaki Amajiki x Reader Royal AU

Chapter 14

Monks were stereotypically reserved people, my initial meeting made me think otherwise as they were eager to accept me, but the rest were mostly reserved and spoke minimally. This made my life easier as no one asked questions, meaning I did not need much backstory.

Almost like back at the academy, there was a strict routine every day. Wake up at dawn. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Take a communal walk to the highest point on the mountain. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Participate in morning meditation. Take your place in the feasting hall. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Eat your breakfast. Then there was free time until lunch. Most of the monks spent their free time meditating or tending to the gardens but some took small strolls which made it less suspicious when I went exploring around the settlement.

At lunch, the routine began again. Take your place in the feasting hall. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Eat your lunch. Take your place on the balcony of your sleeping hall. Participate in post-lunch meditation. Free time. Take your place in the feasting hall. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Eat your supper. Take a communal walk to the highest point on the mountain. Participate in final meditation. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Take your place in your sleeping hall. Pray to the god, Endeavor. Sleep.

Like clockwork, everyday was identical. There were no holidays. Coincidentally, I read that the Helios Kingdom worshipped Endeavor and I did not recall reading that the Amijiki kingdom worshipped any specific god.

Keeping up the act was not too difficult but I had to have my sorcery on autopilot to maintain appearances even when sleeping. The communal sleeping halls were my greatest challenge, that being said, my life in district 2 was not very challenging.

My satchel hung, abandoned, on a tree branch high up where no monk would find it. It did not contain much of importance other than a copy I created of the book on Kings and Queens and some of matron's 'special Rhodiola herb mix' which I convinced one of the young sorceresses to steal for me. It was not as though Rhodiola's were scarce in this region, but some of the other herbs were and though I may have been powerful, I was less sure of my alchemy skills so going through the effort of finding the other herbs and brewing them only to end up accidentally poisoning myself seemed like a waste of time when I already had some mix. So I made sure the satchel was safe.

I did not plan on staying with the monks forever but doing anything too drastic so soon would arouse suspicion and I feared being shunned from the settlement. With this in mind I made the effort to spend up my free time walking around the mountain. Sometimes I would disappear for hours on end and all I was left with were the trees and my thoughts. My goal was for them to get used to me vanishing, for now, they knew Y/N was only in the woods somewhere and they knew that was what Y/N did everyday so if I happened to go somewhere else but reappeared in time for meals then they would not even think to doubt where I had been.

All the walking worked up quite an appetite in me, which was never fully satiated; the monks lived on very basic foods and ate minimally. Which I supposed was because they did not do excessive exercise, but needless to say a diet of mostly bread and cheese did not cut it. There was nothing I could do, however, so I ignored it.

After repeating the same day over and over again, I felt like they had accepted that I was here to stay so during the morning free time, I took the opportunity to do what I had been waiting to do all this time, what I risked my title and respect for, what this whole journey had been about.

I paced into the woods and when I felt like I was alone, I removed the vanity and cloaking spell. Closing my eyes, I focused on stone walls and spiral staircases and when I opened them I was in the Amijiki castle, staring at the base of the staircase leading to the prince's tower.

Ascending the staircase, my mind ran through what I would say to him, already I had forgotten the possible scenarios I had spent hours refining in my head whilst traversing the mountain. Reaching the wooden door, I pushed it open and peered inside.

Since the monks arose at dawn, free time began before most people had awoke besides farmers and royal staff, so I should not have been surprised to see the prince asleep in his bed. After painting him as such a monster for a while, it was easy to forget that he must do ordinary things like sleeping, though from the heavy bags under his eyes it seemed like a rare occasion. I thought myself to be quite lucky.

There was always the possibility that I found myself face to face with the king, if it were a servant I could simply render them unconscious and no one would believe there stories but everyone would have to believe the king, he could do as he pleased, but I would have been more surprised to find the king in the same room as his son he seemed to hate so much than I would be in my current situation.

Hesitantly, I levitated and glided over to his bed and just stared. He was so vulnerable. Of course, he was vulnerable every time I saw him awake, but this was different. With his hair spread out against the pillow, stark white against midnight bunches, his frail frame hidden by the cover, and his face so relaxed, he looked so peaceful. Like in this moment, everything was right in the world.

Naturally, peace does not last forever and the stillness was broken as he awoke to be face to face with the kingdom's greatest enemy. He shot out of bed and pressed himself against the wall, as far away from me as possible, "H-how...". His face was a mix of confusion as well as fear. "Hello. Do not freak out. Please do not tell anyone I am here."

"You, you're dead." His voice sounded strained. "Excuse me?" I did not know what to expect from someone like this but certainly not threats. "They said you d-died."

"They told you that I passed away?" He nodded. I stared at him before letting out a loud 'Ha' which made the prince flinch and squeak. "And you believed them? You have seen what I can do, do you really think they could harm me?" He took this more as a threat than a question, "Are you going to h-hurt me?".

"I have no reason to hurt you, like I explained the last time I was here, I want to help you." I tried to muster my words as sweetly as possible but when your hungry, tired from running magic on autopilot, and intensely bored from the same routine, your patience is short. "Why? I don't... deserve help."

I sighed and remembered that this was not going to be an easy feat. "I do not care what you want, there is no reason for me to help you other than for my own desires. Because you are all I think about. Constantly, my morning, day and night is filled with you, you, you. I am the best sorcerer and there has never been an obstacle I could not overcome until you and it is killing me."

"Can't y-you end it, instead?" His eyes plead as though all he wanted was the sweet escape of death. The prince dragged his nails down his face and began to shake. Despite my fear I stood my ground. "No!" I yelled at him and walked around the tower until there was no longer a bed separating us, "You do not get to act like this. I am helping you whether you like it or not. So this is how it is going to work; everyday, this time in the mornings and just past noon in the afternoons, I will visit you. You can either cooperate willingly or by force, but if you do it willingly I will be nice to you. If you are to have one of your... episodes, try do it outside of those times. Do you understand?"

It looked like it took all the courage he could muster to whisper, "What if I tell someone?". That was something I had been afraid of, and there were a few ways to deal with the issue, some more pleasant than the others, but I really just hoped that he would not tell the king, or anyone that I was here, "Will you?"

The prince slowly shook his head. "Then I do not need to worry about that." I headed for the door leaving him fearfully against the wall, "Oh, and I will not be coming this afternoon but we start this time tomorrow, so be awake." I tried to smile at him actually talking to me - which was more than I expected - but it was really just me raising my eyebrows pressing my lips together awkwardly.

Outside the room, I changed my appearance and teleported back to district 2, under tree where I left my satchel, all the while shrouding the prince's tower with negative energy. It would not ensure that no one went up there but it should deter most people. Though I did not expect him to get any visitors, I could not trust him not to expose me if he did.