Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

5. Memory of the Ring.

Y/N was sitting idly on the side of Luccia's fountain waiting for Paety to show up and bored out of her mind. She had been seeing less of him lately and she was starting to get worried. The two of them had been really close over the winter months, but Y/N was starting to think that he had just been using her to get through the winter, and had no real interest in being friends.

The thought of it made her little heart ache. She had felt so alone after her uncle forced her to live on the streets, but after she met Paety that seemed to change. They had each other, and whenever she needed help, Paety was always there supporting her.

Y/N looked at the ground sadly, feeling a spring mountain breeze play with her hair. She could tell that ever since it had gotten warmer Paety had been distracted and seemed to be pulling away from her. It hurt to think that she had felt a true bond of friendship for him, when all he saw her as was a means to survive.

Y/N looked up to see that Paety was running towards her up the street. He stopped, panting and out of breath directly in front of the sulking girl. He held his hands clasped behind his back, and looked at Y/N with a mischievous grin on his face.

Y/N looked up at him, very confused about why he looked so happy. Was he really that pleased to be rid of her?

"So... Lovely weather today," Paety said awkwardly.

"I guess," Y/N replied, not having the energy to pretend to be alright with losing her only friend.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about this past winter, and how much time we spent together," he began again, not able to look her in the eyes as he shifted his feet nervously.

Y/N looked down and squeezed her eyes shut, and clenched her fists, bracing herself for Paety saying that he found her irritating, and that he didn't want to be friends.

"And it made me realize that I want to spend the rest of my time with you," Paety mumbled, getting down on his knees so he could better look at Y/N's down-turned face. "You're the first person to ever treat me like I was actually worth something and not just something that got underfoot, and the only person who I know will always have my back."

Y/N snapped her eyes open in surprise. She saw Paety kneeling on the ground in front of her with a bashful smile on his face, unable to look her directly in the eyes.

"I realized that I don't want a day to go by without you being a part of it, which is why I have been spending so much time making you this," Paety pried Y/N's fingers apart and placed something into her palm. Looking down Y/N saw that it was a small wooden ring.

Paety lifted up his hand to show the girl that he wore a matching ring on his finger. "I made these to represent the promise that we made to always be there for each other," Paety said nervously. "And after I am older and make something of myself, I thought that maybe I could take care of you, and we could be a real family."

"Oh, we're already a real family," Y/N exclaimed, tackling Paety in a bone-crushing hug.

"Glad to hear it," he said giving her his trademark grin.

Y/N awoke from her dream with a start. She looked around, wondering what happened and where she was. Her whole body ached, but the worst of the pain was emanating from the back of her head. Raising her hand,
Y/N felt that she had a large bump where the pain was coming from and winced.

She noticed that she was no longer wearing the dress she had lived in since starting her life on the streets, but was instead clad in a simple nightgown that was too long for her in every way. Panicked at the realization that she was laying in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and had no memory of how she ended up there.

She hurriedly checked to make sure that Paety's ring was still on her finger and let out a small sigh as she saw the dark wood circlet on her middle finger. She clutched the hand with the ring to her chest as she looked around the room in fear.

It was a rather small room, the walls were an ivory color, and the room had only one small window luminating it that was too high for the girl to see out of. But it was still the nicest room that she had ever been in by far, and the bed the most comfortable place that she had slept in years.

But that still didn't answer her biggest question, how had she gotten here. Through her increasing headache, Y/N tried to think of how she got here. Her memories from yesterday were fuzzy. She could vaguely remember Demetrius sending her and Paety to do something, and she recalled being chased by the angry baker, but after that everything was blank.

The crystal doorknob suddenly turned as someone entered the bedroom. Y/N froze in fear as she watched the door swing open. In stepped a tall and menacing woman. She was broad-shouldered, and seemed as though she could wrestle with a pack of mountain wolves and live to tell the tale.

She wore a serviceable brown skirt, with a pair of olive stays over a plain white work blouse. Her hair was dark brown with a few bold streaks of graey, and she had chilly blue eyes set into her sallow face. She stared at Y/N with not a trace of warmth to be found in her expression.

"Now that yar awake ay've been givin' orders ta clean ya," the woman spoke roughly, in a very different accent than the ones that belong to the people of Crivell. The scary lady offered Y/N a stout hand, but the sight of the odd black markings on the woman's forearm caused the girl to only cower away in fear more.

"Come on ye, ay've already got the hot water waitin' in the kitchen," the woman, chided. Losing her patience, she crossed the room, took hold of Y/N's wrist in one of her large hands and began to pull her to the door.

Thinking on her feet, Y/N quickly agreed, "alright, I'll go with you."

Upon hearing those words the woman hastened to let go of the girl, not wanting to prolong their physical contact.

The pair exited the small bedroom and entered the narrow, but well-lit hallway outside. Y/N had enough time to notice the design of the hall was very similar to the one of the room that she had woken up in, but none of the details, for as soon as the lady's back was turned Y/N took off sprinting down the hallway.

A/N

I think I might be suffering from plotline-whiplash from updating so fast, but I like getting all ya lovely muffins more chapters so that's ok.

Until next time I'll see you on the other side

~J. C. Coltt.~