Sans AU One-Shots

Nightmare || royal pains. (pt. 2)

Pairing: Prince! Nightmare Sans x Princess! Female Reader
Prompt: With no choice but to marry a rich prince to save your people, you make the selfless decision and try to approach your new life with open arms and a bright smile - but you're not the only one with an ulterior motive.
Type: angsty, plenty of secrets and backstabbing, toxic romance, but yk I had to give ya a happy ending
Length: 7k words
Background: This is your stereotypical 'Nightmare is the prince of a kingdom, you're the princess of another kingdom, and y'all get into an arranged marriage' shtick.
Notes: Your chemistry with Nightmare is kinda iffy at best since I couldn't write scene after scene with just you two getting to know each other (I need to go to bed eventually lmao) so you're gonna have to trust a lot of progression happens off screen.
You should read Part 1 before reading this. 

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For being betrothed to Nightmare, I spent nearly no time at all with him. He was usually cooped up in his study, Murder telling me he wanted to be left alone at my every inquiry, and I admittedly felt rather dejected after only a couple days. Surely he wasn't avoiding me, right? Father explained kingdoms needed your utmost time and attention to run properly, but surely that shouldn't take up his every waking minute? Dream did his utmost to make me feel wanted but there was only so much he could do before Cross pulled him away, claiming if the others saw, they would assume Dream was trying to make a move on me. Gold colored his cheekbones in horror and he let Cross drag him away, mumbling apologies my way that only made me smile. Dream was sweet, and even if Nightmare was ignoring me, he did a good job of filling the void. There was something about his presence that just put me at ease, like a warm blanket on a bitterly cold evening, or a warm fire after a long winter night, and just being around him improved my mood when Nightmare's avoidance brought it down. I was very lucky to have him.

But now I wandered the halls of the castle alone, searching for the library Dream told me about. The halls seemed empty and lifeless when I was alone, and I didn't know if it made me more or less comfortable to walk without a royal guard in my shadow. It felt nice to be alone with my thoughts but I wasn't used to it – back home there was always someone around me, and it felt like something was missing to be alone when I wasn't winding down for the night in my chambers.

Eventually I managed to guess the right room, opening a dark oak door to a wide, expansive library that made my breath catch. This put my private collection back home to shame, and I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face as I strolled inside, gaze flickering across every title the eyes could see. My finger trailed along the spines of the first bookshelf's books, my excitement almost making it hard to stop and read each one. If this was my plethora of options, I would be set for at least the month until the wedding.

Voices right outside the door made me perk up, and I crouched behind a sitting chair on instinct as the door handle turned. I was allowed to be here – probably – but I kept out of sight as I peeked over the leather chair to watch Nightmare walk in, glancing back at Killer. "I told you to leave me be."

"Your wife has been asking after you every day, you know. If you don't spend time with her, she's going to catch wise." Killer wasn't playing with his knife for once, a frown on his teeth that almost made him appear serious.

"She will not 'catch wise' if you continue to do your job, Killer." The sharp glint to his eyelight made Killer freeze, his gaze falling away in submission. Nightmare opened his mouth to continue but paused, raising his head as if he caught a faint whiff of something in the air, and he scoffed under his breath. "Remember your place." He turned to leave Killer behind as he headed over to the desk in the far corner of the library, and Killer shifted on his feet before turning to leave, shutting the door loudly behind him so it echoed around the spacious room. The silence that followed made me uneasy and I debated what to do. Nightmare was alone and not in his study, surely that meant I could talk to him, right?