Devils in Disguise (possessive royals x reader)

10 The Grand Library

You followed the slender, tall figure of the youngest prince through countless corridors with marble tiles or walls of light stone, with tapestries and paintings hung about and big windows with the glass tinted blue someplaces letting in a blueish, white light of the scorching sun. Servants sometimes rushed past, bowing wildly as they did so, all dressed in simple black suits or maid dresses. Through countless halls, with chandeliers of crystal and pillars supporting the tall, high ceilings, with arched windows and niches in the walls, sometimes with long tables encircled by a row of chairs in the middle or a little fountain, with a little stage for musicians and dancers during times of celebration. And through countless heavy wooden door, some ornamented with thin silver lines or gemstones wrought in, he led you until finaly stopping in front of a pair of doors more massive than the others, with more silver lines running through then, weaving in patterns. The doorknobs were of silver, too, and as Yu pushed through them inside-

Wow.

To say you were amazed would be an understatement.

Carpets mapped the floor, their colors dulled by having been trampled on for hundreds of years by thousands of shoed feet. shelves of dark wood stood tall and mighty on all sides and creating a sort of labyrinth in the middle of the huge library, stuffed with books of leather cases, paper documentations or other writings, with delicate, curved script on the sides of the books in gold telling of their titles - worlds maps, old stories of forgotten heroes, ancient myths and fables of gods and goddesses, poems and balads, thick, heavy novels and thin, short stories, books telling of the royal ancestors and past kings and queens, of heritage and and history, books about other nations, their languages and customs. Books of herbs, animals, potions. Books on medicine or killing poisons. Stories about legends, about the majestic mountains or the people cursed to turn wolves during every full moon. Books on everything littered the shelves, and in one corner of the room, there was a pair of long tables and chairs.

But that wasn't all - there was a curved staircase leading to the upper floor of the library as well, with many more books to offer.

You had never seen so many books before. The most you had ever seen in one place was the humble collection of your father - five books, most children's tales he or mother used to read to you when you were little. The air smelled of old paper and leather, too.

From the corner of your eye, you could see Yu watching you. “You can pick one,” he suggested and when you turned your eyes on him, he added with a chuckle, “they won't bite you.”

Averting your eyes back to the shelf you stood in front of and praying he didn't notice your cheeks flushed from embarrassment, you carefully studied the names and titles of the books standing in the shelf. Almost none rang a bell, none seemed familiar.

You picked out a random book and blew on it, dust particles flying wildly in the air around as you did so. The light grazing through the window was faint, dulled, as if not many people had come here and thus dust had collected in the place and hung heavily in the air, light cutting through only partly.

The pale haired prince beside you began to cough as he tried looking over your shoulder to see which book you held. “As you can see,” he said while scrunching his nose and rubbing his eyes, “not many people like to spend time in this place. Even the servants clean it only occasionally. To be honest, I'm probably the only one who still visits the library.”

“Really? But- I mean... there's so many stories to unfold,” you whispered in wonder and admiration, grazing your fingers against the hard leather cover of the book in your hands. It smelled of aged, old paper and leather, the pages yellowed and the script written out in curved letters. It seemed to be a language foreign to you - letters and symbols you had never seen, organized into words and sentences you could barely try to read.

You put it back onto the shelf as Yu opened his mouth again, “I guess you could say that not many nobles care for such 'nonsense gibberish', or how they'd call it. It's a shame, really,” he sighed, his long fingers following yours in grazing along the book covers. “Hey, let's go upstairs,” he said suddenly, breaking the silence which fell upon your shoulders moments ago. His cheerfulness was back on his face as he ushered you to the staircase.

The wooden door opened. It produced a loud sound seemingly out of place in the silent, quiet library, the soft, gentle padding of your feet swallowed whole by the thud it made as it close. Yu stopped in front of you and you almost crashed into his back.

Somehow, you knew who it was before even turning around to see the raven hair you had so expected to see. It was as if his dark, demanding presence only had the power to chang the whole atmosphere, making it instantly known who was the third visitor. It was a little colder in the huge room, tenser.

Your eyes courageously met with his black orbs.

“Y/n,” his voice cut the air like knives, “I told you to wait for me in the gardens.” He did not look pleased.

Your vision was blocked by Yu's wide back, coming to stand in front of you like a shield. “I found her and brought her here, Sashi. It was my idea.”

A flash of something traveled across those dark, midnight orbs as you peeked from behind Masashi's younger brother at him, but it was gone before you could be sure. “It took me thirty minutes to find you,” his voice held an accusatory hint.

You stepped from behind Yu. There was a rush of adrenaline in your veins, and you did not need to be protected by the younger prince. But maybe you felt so courageous only because the younger brother was there, paradoxically. If you were there alone and Masashi would have found you disappeared and went to the library without any permission, maybe you would've have been so brave that time.

“You were the one who left me alone.”

The way his lips pressed together told you he knew you were right, but did not quite wanted to admit his mistake to you. But then again, you knew he had no choice but to follow the orders - it was a little childish of you to accuse him of fulfilling his princely responsibilities. But you could not back away, not now.

“Did you really expect me to wait out there in the sun without moving? Of course not! You say I'm your host, but then you just leave me to find my way in this labyrinth by myself? You could've at least sent someone to keep my company meanwhile. But, luckily, Yu came to do so, even without your request, of which you weren't even bothered enough to think of.” With a deep breath, you forced yourself to held your eyes on the dark prince, no matter how much he was piercing you with his steady gaze. You were nervous and it took your whole will not to avert your eyes elsewhere, but he had years of practice already - there was no sign of nervousness, a lack of any emotion on his face. No fidgeting feet or fingers playing with each other - suddenly, you felt small and foolish for your outburst in front of him.

You did not understand it - one second, he made you feel angry, the other, he could make you feel like you're less than a speck of dust, barely worth the air you breathe. How come he had such a power to influence your emotions and confidence so much?

It was no fair.

He narrowed his eyes as he heard you call his younger brother by his nickame, refer to him as Yu. He did not like you being on such familiar terms together.

He did not say anything to your little impulsive speech. Instead, Masashi regarded you both with an observing gaze for a few more seconds, until his eyebrows stopped furrowing and he loosened up, unbothered, yet arrogant aura floating around him, acting as if he did not care.

"Lunch is served and ready to be eaten." He whirled around and disappeared through the door without another word.

“Well, that was... interesting,” the pale boy paused in search of a good word to describe the event which had just taken place, but even the word 'interesting' did not seem to do it justice. He breathed out softly and you shivered, the room feeling colder by a few degrees. You hoped he could not see the fear you were sure was reflecting in your eyes.

“Shall we,” Yu began, “go eat lunch, then?”

You still did not dare open your mouth again in case your voice might break, so you just nodded in reply.