CRIMSON HUNTER ♔ PRUSSIA[✔]

VI

"Ooh... She's finally awake," Someone hissed.

Finally, your senses were coming back to you.

Where am I? All I remember from yesterday was going to the town square... Joining the protesters... And that's it... How am I back at the castle? Oh god, did Gilbert see me there?!

"Back off, Jones." Gilbert's voice said, and you blinked and sat up. You lay in a plush bed. It wasn't your room, the bed was all white.

"I carried you to my room. One of my guards said that he found you outside in the Town Square area." Gilbert said. You gulped and nodded.

"What were you doing there?" His eyes were firm and steely, but his voice was gentle.

"I was just.. Taking a walk." You said, and you heard a scoff from the corner of the room. It sounded like the person who had hissed at you earlier.

He wore glasses and had slightly tan skin. His hair was messy and blonde. He wore a simple suit and had intimidating, blue eyes... Gilbert saw you staring and sighed a little.

"(Name), this is Alfred Jones. He's my good friend, so that's why he's very informal with me," Gilbert glared at the blonde man.

"That's right," Alfred said rudely, slinging his arm around Gilbert's shoulders, much to the Albino's discomfort. "I'm also here to help plan your little ballroom party or whatever," He said.

"That's right. We have set a date for your coronation... Since you are marrying me soon, we just decided to go ahead and start planning your play into the title of Duchess. Is that okay?" Gilbert asked.

"She has no choice," Alfred muttered, but you didn't hear him. Gilbert elbowed the American man in the side.

"Of course!" You fake smiled, but deep inside, you knew something was going on. You didn't like this Alfred guy, and Gilbert didn't seem to like him either. It was almost like they were... Forced to work together.

"That's great! Let's go to the ballroom." Alfred said, and he grabbed yours and Gilbert's hands and dragged the both of you down.

---

You sighed, collapsing on the couch. It had been a stressful day, to say the least. Alfred was on top of everything, but you and Gilbert had many choices to make such as the type of food being provided, the decorations, and the cake. Finally, the weird American man left.

You also had to prepare a speech... But you were NOT good with that type of thing.

As you put pen to paper, you found yourself endlessly doodling and zoning out.

"(Name)?" Gilbert asked. He looked over your shoulder to see all the drawings, and you blushed furiously and hid the notecard.

"I-I'm not good at this kind of stuff," You huffed and glared at the Albino, embarrassed to have him see you in this unintelligent state. He put his hands on your shoulders, and you shuddered a little. Your shoulders were ice cold, but Gilbert's hands started warming them up. You hadn't realized you were this cold until now.

"You're freezing," Gilbert frowned. You shrugged.

"Here, let's go somewhere. Maybe you can get inspired." Gilbert said, smiling. Without hearing what you had to say, he picked you up bridal style.

"H-hey!" You squealed and grabbed onto him, blushing 20 different shades of red.

---

You smiled as you watched the sunset. Gilbert had brought you to a hill overlooking the ocean. Stereotypical and predictable for a date, but you enjoyed it. The two of you brought some sweets and listened to the ocean waves. The clouds moved by slowly, and the skyline was splattered with colors of orange and pink.

"This is beautiful..." You murmured, slowly getting lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean. Gilbert nodded and wrapped a blanket around you. It was warm and cozy, but you wanted to share with him, so you held the blanket open.

He looked at you with surprise before crawling in. Of course he did, because just a few days ago you didn't even want to talk to him.

You leaned against his warm chest and breathed in the ocean breeze.

As you were going to sleep, you said something that made his heart ache for the future.

"Maybe this isn't so bad. I wouldn't mind living the rest of my life with you."

And just like that, you were asleep.

—-

With the coronation coming closer, things became chaos in the castle. You and Gilbert would go days without seeing each other, and today was one of those days.

You were in your room with lots of tailors crowded around you as they poked, prodded, and criticized every inch of your body.

"She'll need a corset... Here are her measurements," one tailor said to another. You sighed, standing on the podium, feeling like some sort of circus animal.

The air was kind of cold, and you were only in your undergarments- a lacy bra and underwear set. You didn't want to be stripped down like an animal, but the tailors insisted that they needed you to so that they could get accurate dress measurements.

You weren't a big fan of dresses. While they kept tightening the measuring tape around you and rounding numbers, you let your mind slip away to Gilbert. You hadn't seen him in almost 2 days! He was almost always in the kitchen, talking about catering or in his bed, exhausted. You wanted to see him badly, although you couldn't understand why.

click click

You widened your eyes as you saw the doorknob open, but it all happened too fast for you. Desperately trying to cover yourself from whatever intruder entered without knocking, your cheeks grew warm.

"Hey (Name)-"

"GET OUT!" You shrieked, and the tailors all made a desperate attempt to cover you.

Gilbert stared at you for a few seconds, a blush on his face before he snapped out of it and smirked.

"But we're engaged!" He whined.

One of the tailors smacked him on the head and shooed him away.

As the tailor was closing the door on him, he turned around and winked at you, making your heart flutter.