Tyrant's Favorite | Sukuna Ryomen x Reader

010. Killers

You faithfully believed that King Sukuna's castle was the darkest place on earth. Not even the caves in the hidden mountains or the depths of the ocean were as dark as the place that has been your home for the past 365 days. Furniture stained in black varnish, complex undiscovered passages and tinted windows that didn't allow the sun to enter. There were corners forgotten by everyone and in absolute darkness.

Sukuna and Uraume were already used to it, since this castle had been their home for the past 500 years, but the servants despised it completely. Especially in winter, when the sun is not so intense, it is freezing cold, and they must walk everywhere with a candlestick in hand to avoid tripping over something hidden in the shadows.

In addition, every morning they had to make sure that all the torches were lit, one more task in their repertoire of chores. Despite all the attempts to dimly light the place from the inside, there were always places that the servants feared to enter.

Kenjaku entered the library at 10 o'clock as usual. He trusted that you would be sitting by the window while reading something as he arrived, but that wasn't the case. His sight checked the perimeter, there was no sign of you. "Is she with the king?" he questioned, leaving the library. This was out of your character. He began to patiently search for you among the corridors. His first instinct was to head for King Sukuna's office. To his surprise, neither the king nor you were there.

His second stop would be your room. His calm, subtle footsteps made their way discreetly to one of the most opaque areas of the castle. The spiral staircase that led to your room was not well lit. It was covered in concrete walls and was so narrow that there were no torches to illuminate the passage.

Your teacher found you sitting at the foot of the first step while reading a heavy book with the help of a small candlestick. The only thing that made the seat slightly more comfortable was the red carpet that decorated the center of the stairs. A heavy fungi encyclopedia hung over your legs, revealing some hand-drawn pictures of different types of edible mushrooms. You remembered how your mother always made sure you didn't pick any poisonous mushrooms for dinner because you might accidentally kill someone.

You missed the woman who used to be your mother. Despite being a greedy woman who wanted to live her dreams through her daughters, she used to be someone who cared about them being good people and knowing how to defend themselves from the dangerous world around them. She used to be a woman of strong character who would not let anyone make fun of her or her convictions. A dedicated mother who lovingly scolded them so that they would always be the best versions of themselves and stay out of trouble. It was a shame that you no longer knew the woman you once loved. Her image passed away along with your father's.

You had been thinking the last few days about the easiest way to create an almost odorless and tasteless poison so that anyone could consume it without problems. Mushrooms were the first thing you thought of. All that remained was to know what kind you had to use to make the first attempt a success and where to get it. Maybe you could ask Uraume or Kenjaku to bring you some, since you were not allowed to leave the castle, but they could. Sukuna ordered you to kill someone, but he did not forbid you to ask his servants for help in doing so.

"Are you lost?," Kenjaku greeted you with a friendly grin. "What are you doing here?"

"Today is harvest day," you answered with a sad look on your face before turning the page.

It was finally the first anniversary since your mother sold you as a servant, met Mrs. Inoue and sworn allegiance to the terrible king. It was also the anniversary of the death of that little nameless boy whom you could not protect that terrible morning. Even though you kept telling yourself that what happened was not your fault, you still felt a heavy weight of guilt on your back. You could have done more, shouted more, fought more, but you didn't. He was taken from you. They snatched him out of your hands and murdered him right under your nose. There wasn't a week that went by that you didn't remember him and feel your heart shrink.