LONG LIVE THE VILLAIN (MHA AU)

VII.

You were in bed late but arose early to start your day looking at the history of the kingdom. You'd spent most of the night trying to get into the spell books, but you realized if you wanted to fully understand the magic you were trying to work with, you'd have to read through those who held it before you. That, and you weren't able to even spark any reaction from yourself that night.

It was like you had no abilities at all. You knew you had them. Your mother said so, and you believed her, of course. The task at hand was just difficult.

You were sitting in the throne room, curled up on the comfort that the velvety throne had to offer. It was sort of homey, in a way. You vaguely remembered your mother sitting in the throne at times, and sometimes your father sat in it to joke around. Ah, so it was true. Your mother was the primary ruler.

The doors to the throne room opened but since you were at a 1 for staffing, you already knew who it was and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes farther back than they should be.

Shinso entered with a tired look on his face. But that was his usual expression aside from the few cocky smirks here and there, so it drew no sympathy from you whatsoever. He was clearly capable of losing sleep since he managed to keep the whole castle clean for this long. But then again, no one was going in and out of it so of course it was easier to clean.

"Shinso." was your only utterance as he took to a stand before you.

It was more of a question than a statement. You wanted to know what he'd unearthed in the search through the financial records.

"I looked through all the files, just as you requested."

"...And?" You finally spared him a glance as you laid the book that you'd been looking through against your chest.

"How about a 'thank you' first for my time, at least, since I'm not being paid." His voice was slightly gruff, which you hadn't noticed before. You supposed it was because you had been focusing on the contents and not the quality.

"Thank you Shinso. I hope what you say next deserves this thank you because it would be a shame to be showing gratitude for hollow words."

"I meant a thank you for spending my whole night looking through the records."

"Thanks for doing your job, Shinso. Now what did you find."

"Well, Your Majesty," He began reading off his findings from each year. You listened, impressed with how he had taken the time to carefully note the answers of all your questions. He was indeed fit for the job his parents once had.

"Interesting. What do we have in the current treasury for funding?"

"Your parents left behind quite a bit of wealth which was untouched by the King of Endormia when he stormed the castle because he does not know where the treasury is. Moreover, all the assets which the royal family owned before are now still owned but I can go and visit them to make sure." He pointed out.

You nodded and leaned against one of the velvety arm rests of your throne. You could've never imagined that you'd be here now. Right here. On the very throne that was once bitterly taken from your family. You'd do all it took to be a leader worthy of it. But vengeance burned in your every being and that had to be quelled.

Shinso cleared his throat, which you found quite annoying because he was interrupting your thought process and because it was Shinso.

"Are you sure you should be sitting like that?" He motioned to the fact that you were sitting with your legs over the other arm rest.

"How am I supposed to sit?" you inquired with zero ounces of actual interest. It was obvious he was just trying to patronize you.

"Like a Queen." He replied with all of the smugness in the world and then some.

"I am the Queen. This is how I sit. Feel free to correct me when you become the ruler."

"Don't tempt me."

You stood up, discarding the book you'd been reading and gave him a firm nod.

"We will go visit the lands today and see that all of the property once owned by the Royal family is still in tact. This will also be a great way to recruit some staff and spread the word that I have returned."

"Hm, is that your plan?"

You gave him a look a that clearly conveyed the words 'Well, what do you think?'

He gave a chuckle. His deep voice made it husky, as usual. You hated every second of it. As usual.

"Y/N, you are aware that there are spies from Endormia planted around Kaeylos to watch for any big news. The Dead Queen who is not so dead would definitely be big news. Endormia would come charging into here in a moment and not only would we be history, but history would repeat itself and your survival of death would be for nothing."

"I'm aware of that, but I cannot convince people to work in the palace otherwise."

"That, is where you're wrong. This Kingdom and almost if not all of it's subjects are still loyal to its past rulers. You just need a reason for a lot of people to come to you and then you can convince most of them to work here as staff and a few mercenaries to weed out the spies."

You bit back the nasty taste that was on your tongue. It was the taste of you about to say something terribly unaccording. You were about to call Shinso Brilliant. Imagine that!

"Hm...That plan will do. I will write down the benefits and pay of the job, so I'll take those Financial records right now. Don't advertise the benefits of the job when you go though." You said.

"I don't have to. All I have to do is announce that I need volunteers once again. People come volunteer to clean up the castle all the time. This means that you'll get the people who actually want to clean and who have better intentions."

You were once again impressed by his train of thought. You'd never say, of course.

"I knew that you weren't cleaning this castle by yourself."

"Impressive that, that's all you got from everything I said, Your highness. I thought Rulers were supposed to be perceptive."

And, there it was. The reason why you couldn't take him seriously ever.

"Alright, just do what you need to do. I need to do some accounting of my own."

He nodded.

"Of course, Your Highness."

"Oh, Shinso,"

He looked at you, awaiting your words.

"Don't ever call me 'Y/N' again, we're not close enough for that. And....Thank you so much."

He couldn't even respond before you were out the door.