Imprisoned to Love You [Edited]

♦⊱ Chapter 14 - Understanding ⊰♦

Ruka pov:

"That cloud looks like a rabbit," I mumbled to myself. I was sitting on a reclining chair on the snow-covered grass in one of the many gardens of the palace watching the clouds. It was just after lunch and I had nothing to do besides relax.

Days had progressed to weeks and weeks to months – it had now been close to three months since I had come to this palace and a little over one since I was allowed to roam the palace without soldiers keeping an eye on me all the time.

Kichiro sama's unexpected gestures of having me sit in his lap during meals and sleep next to him at night had become an everyday routine. At first, he had me sit in his lap or sleep next to him once every few days. It slowly increased and now it's something that is an everyday occurrence. I've not only got used to it but I've also become quite comfortable with it...which is kind of scary, actually.

I didn't feel as afraid of Kichiro sama as I was before and had even begun to be curious about him. I often wondered what the actual reason was for him to bring me here, why he always made me stick close to him when he could, why he was so...gentle towards me. I was his prisoner and there was no reason for him to give me such a luxurious room, expensive clothes and more than stomach-filling, scrumptious meals three times a day. He didn't make me work at all like a prisoner or slave would have and he didn't expect anything else from me either. I was free to do whatever I wanted as long as I remained well within the compound walls of the palace.

I couldn't really come up with any explanation for it though so I stopped thinking about it. I just settled comfortably in the luxury while making sure I stayed completely subservient to Kichiro sama.

Besides meal times and sleeping next to each other in the night, Kichiro sama had been mostly busy with his emperor duties. I rarely saw him during the day because of that. Despite our limited interactions, I had noticed subtle changes in him. He didn't get easily irked by anything I did anymore, mainly if I hesitated or was slow at understanding something. According to Kyo chan, he was a lot calmer than before, in general and not just with me, treating his soldiers and attendants without losing his temper as quickly as he did before.

If he did lose his temper though, he was still very violent and hadn't eased out on the intensity of punishments he gave to those he was angry at – I wasn't really aware of these changes though because I was silent and submissive, being the good girl he always wanted me to be. I just worked to make my behavior around him acceptable so he would lash out at me in any way.

He had taken me the Imperial Strolling Garden twice and both times, he had given me a branch of flowers as a gift when we left from there. His gesture was most definitely considerate and I had taken the liberty to put the flowers in a vase in 'our' room.

I also visited the stables often to see all the horses including Onyx. Onyx had taken quite a liking to me and I was almost sure that he was always happy to see me. I was certain that Kichiro sama had heard about my visits to the stable and even the name I had given his horse bit he hadn't said anything about it. I didn't try to tell him about it either since I came to the conclusion that he probably didn't mind it much.

I blew hot air into my hands to warm them a little. Winter had set in completely and I had to wear extra layers to keep warm. It was uncomfortable because the clothes were heavy and made it difficult to walk. But I couldn't really avoid the extra layers because it was a necessity.

My train of thought was interrupted by the light snow that began. I smiled, raising my hand to catch some of the snowflakes but my smile faltered when I remembered the very first snow that I had seen when still in the village. I remembered Tomo kun, Lady Kana, Miyuki san and the others I had become close with, missing them – surprisingly, even Akari.