Family Jewels | Dream Smp Royal AU

Chapter Two, Let's Pretend that Didn't Happened

   I knocked on Sir George's door with a quiet yawn. Today was the deadline for Drista's dress, so I was stuck fully fleshing out Drista's dress instead of getting sleep. I added some small details to the dress just so It'd be a bit more extravagant, up to Sir George's--and even King Dream's--standards. Plus, I had to take a trip to the castle storage room to take notes on what fabric needed to be used.

   Ugh... I'm tired just thinking about it...

   The door opened slowly and I faced a rather disheveled Sir George. It took me a minute to even recognize who he was because--on top of the fact he was in common clothes instead of his bulky metal uniform--his hair dark stuck out in every direction, his face was decorated with dark eyebags and droopy eyes, not anything like how he usually looked. Even as children, he never looked so improper.

   "The princess requested I drop this off." I needed to keep the conversation short, so I handed him the paper and turned to take my leave. If I left Drista alone in the kitchen any longer I knew she'd try to steal some food and Mars was in a partially irritable mood today.

   "I can't promise this will go through," he said, staring at the paper for a moment. I turned to him, nodding before attempting to make my escape again. But his voice stopped me again, "oh, and Y/n." Now he was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed. "Later today I'm having a spar with Sapnap, would you care to join us? For... old time's sake?"

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   "He ain't tellin ya' somethin'," Mars said, stirring a large pot of meat stew. I paused my job of chopping onions and stared at him with teary eyes. "Oh please, ya' can't be that stupid. Knights ain't got "old times" from chil'hood. He probably wants to interview ya' while sparrin', back ya' into a corner to lead ya' to tell them somethin'."

   I rolled my eyes with a forced laugh, handing the knife off to Drista. "It's possible, I heard that one of the guards got questioned. Kig also said that she heard that King Dream thinks there's a mole or a spy of some sort. But then I heard my brother talking about our father's death, maybe he's reopening the investigation." I stared at Mars' bowl of stew, my throat tightening.

   "Really?" I squeaked out. Drista nodded, scrapping the cut-up onions into a small bowl.

   "He can't accept the Murder-suicide theory that the original investigators landed with."

   "Whatcha think, by the way? I've ain't heard ya' speak 'bout your pops." Drista shrugged, handing the bowl to Mars.

   "Didn't know the guy. I was what, two, when he died." I remained silent, staring down at my hands. Drista patted my shoulder, continuing to talk to Mars with a small smile. "Y/n knew him far better than I did." Mars looked over, but I couldn't look either of them in the eye. I could feel the lump climbing up my throat and tears slowly attempting to break free.

   "I don't like to think about it..." I whispered, shrugging off Drista's hand. "I'm gonna get some air." Neither of them stopped me as I exited the room, biting back tears at the expense of my lower lip. I found myself in the garden shortly after. Not the beautiful garden that most visited that resided in the front of the castle, the wilting garden that was forgotten after King Terran's death.

   Don't think of Terran.

   I scooted next to a group of dead carnations that used to be a gentle pink, I used to braid them into a flower crown with King Terran. He was the one who taught me how to weave them together, a hobby I did while watching over Drista.

   Don't. Think. Of. Terran.

   I took a deep breath, telling myself to calm down. They were probably interviewing everyone, and I had nothing to be scared of. I'd done nothing but assist Drista since King Terran's death. Maybe Mars was wrong, maybe he'd been cooped up in his kitchen for too long. And even if I was being looked at, a simple spar wouldn't tell them anything. I would just go, get my butt kicked like how one would expect of a lady-in-waiting, and then it'd be over.