Royal - HinaYachi ♚

Chapter 4

The next morning, as promised, Princess Runa visited the Karasuno kingdom again, bringing some of their delicacies. She handed the small basket filled with baked products to Shouyou while the two sit under the shade of a tree.

"Wow! These things look great!" The prince exclaimed upon unwrapping the plastic of the foods. "Can I eat these now?"

"Yup," the princess nods her head, smiling.

He took a bite on one of the small, circular bread and his eyes glimmer after tasting it. "It tastes great as well!"

The two chatter while the boy munched on his food. They talk about the upcoming birthday of the princess and such. She said she's not really prepared for that day because of the marriage. What Shouyou and the maid Hitoka talked about last night hits him.

"Hey, do you think this is right?" Shouyou asked her in a serious voice. His eyes were glued to the contents of the basket.

"Pardon?"

"I mean, marrying each other for the sake of strengthening both parties. You know, we can just make a compact or something to create an alliance, not forcing ourselves to do what we don't want to do. Ah, but it's not like I dislike you or anything for opening such topic," his hand flails in front of his face as he turns to face her.

She has a blank expression when it slowly formed into a smile. She closed her eyes and said, "I'm glad. I thought I'm the only one who feels the same way about this." She opens her eyes and looks at the clear sky above. "You see, I've been secretly seeing someone from our place for years now and we were both devastated after hearing that I was arranged to marry another guy. He's not a royalty so I don't think that my parents would accept him even if we would protest against it. We're not breaking up yet despite the situation. We just hoped for a miracle to happen and this wedding would rescind. I never expect that you'd feel this way so I'm really happy. It just means that there's a slight hope for this miracle that we are wishing," she gave him a smile.

It didn't take long before the princess left the castle and went back home. Shouyou didn't leave his place under the tree. He rested his head on the trunk of the tree as he slowly closed his eyes. It feels like a thorn has been pulled out from him after the talk with the princess. They are both against it so it won't be a problem if he made a complaint towards his parents. He feels sleepy lying like that and the air feels really fresh. He just laid there like he's really sleeping.

Meanwhile, Hitoka was strolling around the palace to get some fresh air. Because of the misunderstanding last night about her getting a fever, they told her to take a break for a while. She insisted that she's fine but the maids told her that they don't want to take care of another maid once she got really sick. She has no choice but to take a day off. On her walk, she spotted a sleeping orange-head under the tree. She hurriedly went back inside the castle to get some blanket to cover him. She went back to his spot, bringing a huge cloth with her. She walks near him as quiet as possible then crouched to cover the innocent-looking creature. She stares at his peaceful face. The boy slowly opens his eyes and stares at the girl in front of him. She blushed after realizing her distance from the prince and quickly backs away from him.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry for disrupting y-your sleep, Your Highness!" She bows her head to hide her red face.

He looks at her for a moment then laughs. "I'm not sleeping. I was just lying here. But still, thanks for this."

She slowly lifts up her head with light pink on her face. She noticed that the princess is not around so she asked him where she is.

"She left a while ago. We just had a small talk and she gave me some foods. What about you? What are you doing here?"

"The maids told me to take a day off because they thought I have a fever."

"Hmm. Come and sit beside me."

Again with the "sit beside me" attack of this guy. But she just followed him and sat a few centimeters away from him.

"I was really grateful that I talked to you last night."

She turns her head to him. "Huh?"

"I and the princess discussed the marriage topic and it turns out that she, taking this stupid engagement, is feeling more troubled than me. She has her own problem going on." He straightened his sitting position. "I'm thinking of talking to my parents regarding this, not just for my own but for Princess Runa, too."

Yachi smiled. "I see. Good luck then."

He smiles back at her. "Say, you mentioned last night that your parents used to work here, right? What were their names and what's their role?"

"Ah, that," Hitoka told him about her parents and told him that they're already in the palace even before they were born. She speaks highly of them and she even hinted that she really miss them.

Shouyou, on the other hand, feels comfortable around her since she's the only person in the castle around his age. He doesn't have to hear another old people's problems like he would usually hear from the older maids. It's kinda refreshing to be with her that's why he told her to sit with him again and talk with her.

They went back inside at lunch. Since he wants to talk to her more and maids aren't allowed to eat with the Highnesses on the table, he decided to eat his food in his room and asked Yachi to eat with him. The door swung open and revealed Sugawara with Natsu. The four people inside the room were shocked to see each other, especially Sugawara since his student gained himself a friend who is near his age.

"S-Sugawara-san, Natsu? What are you doing here?" The prince asked.

"Well, we were wondering why you're not at the dining table just yet. Turns out that you're eating here. And sorry for not knocking," the silver-haired guy scratches his head with a smile. He looks at the girl beside him who is looking pale. He smiles at her and gave Shouyou a thumbs up as if he's saying, "Good job". Not that he knows what that thumbs up mean,  though.

He holds Natsu's arm and pulls her back outside. "Well, we'll be taking our leave. Sorry for disturbing." The door slams shut, leaving the two confounded.

Outside the prince's room is a teary-eyed Sugawara because of great joy. Natsu tilted her head up to see the tutor's smiling face while wiping his tears with a scarf that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Suga-sensei, why are you crying? Are you hungry?" Natsu asked innocently, still staring at the man. Just then, his tummy growled.

"Yeah. Let's go back."

ⓐⓝ

I deleted the first Chapter 4 because the chapters are not arranged and it won't even change whenever I would try to fix it.