A Race Between Time • RyuuxReader • Snow White With Red Hair

9 - The Flower Shaped as Mist

YOU OPENED YOUR MOUTH but no words fell out. There was a length of silence before Ryuu climbed beside you before laying down, "I have a hard time talking to people about- well, anything,"

You put your hands out in front of you, "You don't have to tell me anything! It's really fine,"

He shook his head, "I want to," you nodded, "My uh, my dad was a solider and died when I was young. I don't remember him much," he paused waiting for you to say something and whenever you didn't he kept going, "I had an older brother, he would tell me stories of my father. He was an inventor and quit doing his academics to pursue it. He died in an accident, but speculation went around that it, that it wasn't an accident," his voice began to shake as he spoke, looking down at his hands, "my mom was the only one left. She had a history of getting sick," he lightly chuckled, "one day she didn't get better. So that's why I went into medicine. Through that i discovered she had gotten poisoned by some type of flower. Like the wood at Laxdo, the fumes of the flower brought a slow suffocating death-"

"Ryuu you really don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," you interrupted

He brought his gaze up to you, "Except the flower doesn't have to be burned to be lethal, I didn't know that until she died.. I've been studying poisonous plants with Garak since."

You were speechless, "I'm so sorry,"

Ryuu closed his eyes as you laid down beside him. You laid in silence for a couple minutes before he spoke softly, "I don't really remember much about them,"

"That's a blessing and curse,"

He turned his body to face you, "How a blessing?"

"Wouldn't it be worse if you were older and had many fond memories with them?" You asked hesitantly

He was silent, "I never thought of it like that,"

You both stayed quiet in thought whilst drifting to sleep.
You replayed your day in your head, the ball, the gossip, the crying, the truth, the picture, and Ryuu. All the now memories swam in your head as you couldn't help but wonder, who was the other girl in the picture.

_ _ _

Y/n snored softly as Ryuu stared up at the ceiling, every once and a while glancing at her sleeping state. Had he really just opened up to her about everything? He wasn't even hesitant about it, the words fumbled out of his mouth easily and without restraint.
God, did he say to much? Did she think he was weird now?
His anxiety climbed his spine like a ladder, sending shivers down his limbs.
The candle still thrived and danced on her bedside, creating moving images on the walls.

Ryuu attempted many more times to fall asleep but his thoughts seemed to run wild, he sighed as he sat up a little too fast. Y/n shifted making him hold his breath, he released whenever she settled back on her side.
He noticed himself constantly admiring her not only for her beauty but for her mannerism. Her nose, her eyes, her hands, the way she takes notes, how she walks, and much more.
A piece of hair fell in her face. He slowly moved it with one finger before going back to admiring every feature of her.

Ryuu's cheeks turned bright red as a thought crossed his mind, I'm in bed with Y/n
He brought his hands up to cover his face from the non-existence audience, silently cursing his shyness. A shiver shook his body as a gust wind blew through the room. It blew out the candle resulting in the reflection of the moon being the only source of light.
He slowly and silent shifted out of the bed before tip toeing over to the window and closed it. Ryuu grabbed the matches and relit the candle, he bit his lip as he contemplated trying to go to sleep or to go back to office and work but something pulled him out of his thought. A long stemmed flower sat at Y/n's bedside, oh the one Prince Izana gave her and Shirayuki.

Ryuu thought for a moment why women enjoyed the presence of flowers as he lifted it up and twisted it towards him.
Long stem, white petals, purple streaks and a yellow center.. purple streaks?
He dropped the flower, staring at the place it previously was in his hand. Not again

Ryuu raced to the common room with the flower, his mind was blank as he slammed opened the doors, "Garak! The flower-"
No one was in the room.
He glanced at the window seeing the full moon stare back at him. It was night, and no one was awake.

Ryuu panted as he threw the flower on the center table. He had never been one for stamina or being fit. Hence him dropping Y/n at the fort. Ryuu cringed at the memory.
He paced around for what seemed like a half an hour before coming to a conclusion. He had to get rid of it.
His anxiety made it far too hard concertante on reading too much. He settled for scanning through all his books and notes only to find nothing but theories and myths.
He wanted to scream in frustration.
How long had Y/n been breathing the fumes? How long does it take to become deadly?

Ryuu looked at the flower, how long had he been breathing it in?

It was almost morning when Ryuu decided his best answer, his best theory and maybe even the most risky.

He lit the fireplace, silently watching the flames dance before throwing the flower in. He felt angry as he watched the flower burn. And more questions circled his body, who had given his mother the flower? And why? Why did Prince Izana give Y/n the flower?
Ryuu clenched his fists as the flower snapped in the flames.

He came to his senses only as he began to cough. His dry throat made it painful and hoarse. He took his sleeve over his mouth and nose as he realized his theory was wrong. And it was too late.

Ryuu tired to stand up but his knee's locked under him, causing him to fall back down.
He kept struggling and fighting but it was useless. The darkness overtook him at his last attempt to stand.

_ _ _

It was a sad scene to see Garak and Shirayuki laughing as the entered the common room. Only to find Ryuu on the face first ground, Shirayuki shrieked as they both ran over to him.
As they flipped him over his face was covered in blood. This was immediately dangerous because the blood could have went down his throat and choked him, had he been on his back.

The two women's arms shook as they lifted him up, maybe from nerves or their tiny appearances.
Shirayuki tried her best to figure out what to do as Garak argued for help from the other parts of the Court.
This took 14 minutes. 14 minutes wasted in Garak's mind, had they just listened to her it could have been 5.

Garak found Ryuu's opened books and underlined notes, with the help of Shirayuki she had realized what happened.
Shirayuki hid her surprise and fear as Garak told her about the flower and its background. She gave a silent thanks to Zen's jealousy for he had disposed of it soon after Prince Izana's meeting.

Despite the progress they made, Ryuu was unconscious with no signs of waking up.
Once the other courts entered the room Garak and Shirayuki went separate ways.
Shirayuki to get Zen.
And Garak to find Y/n.

They both walked quickly as one thought simultaneously ran through both of their minds:

Someone had attempted murder on a Court Herbalist and the 2nd Princess of Seiranna.

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