Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

34. Blooming Friendship.

Y/N was awoken one chilly morning in late autumn by the sound of faint knocking. She got up to answer the door and shivered as her feet came into contact with the cold wooden floor. Pulling the door open, she saw that Abela was standing in the hallway awkwardly. Clad only in a morning teagown, it was not a surprise that the girl was shivering, even the sturdy stone walls of the castle couldn't protect them from the chilly winter.

"I was wondering if I could spend the morning with you?" Abela asked, looking at her bare toes in embarrassment. "I don't want to be a bother, but I don't know how to start a fire, and my bedroom got really cold without the fireplace burning."

Y/N ushered Abela inside and sat her down on her bed as she went over to stoke up the fire that had burnt low in the night, Abela watched Y/N work with unhidden curiosity plainly on her face.

Once the H/C girl had finished, and the flames were again licking merrily in the fireplace, she got to her feet and turned to face her guest. The air was filled with an uncomfortable silence as the two girls just stared at each other. The pair may have been on good terms ever since they had their serious chat, but things could still be a bit tense between them. It was one of those times.

Abela fiddled with her fingers nervously before she finally spoke. "Hey, Y/N, could I do your hair t-today? It is just about the only thing that I am good at."

"Sure!" Y/N exclaimed. "I never have done anything much with my hair, Tola always liked to play with it, so there wasn't much for me to do with it, but I really like the hairstyles that you wear Abela."

Abela looked more confident, and she flashed Y/N a grateful smile as she picked up the hairbrush in her dainty hands and set to work on Y/N's H/C hair.

. . .

Y/N sat in the large chair behind Frosino's desk as she tried again to decipher the bi-annual request of goods from Luccia. She still had no idea what any of it meant, and she had been so preoccupied with the new arrivals at the castle, that she forgot about it entirely. Now the deadline for it was getting closer, and if she did not get the letter sent off by the end of the day it would not reach the capital in time.

The complex and contradictory language used in the legal form made Y/N want to pull out her hair, and she probably would have had it not been for all the hard work that Abela had put into her hair that morning. The deceivingly simple-looking hairstyle had taken at least an hour to do, which made it impractical for everyday wear, but Abela so badly wanted to prove to Y/N that she was useful that Y/N didn't have the heart to turn her down.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Y/N called. Tola entered, carrying a tray of small sandwiches and fruit. Y/N felt a wave of nostalgia as the middle-aged housekeeper set the launch on the dark wooden desk. She remembered how she and Frosino would share lunch together in the library after she finished her lesson for the day. Her heart tightened painfully as she suddenly felt incredibly lonesome.

Feeling morose Y/N took one of the sandwiches from the silver tray and munched on it, while staring blankly at the document on the table, hoping that if she stared at it long enough it would make sense. Alas, she was interrupted by the sound of the library door opening again.

Looking up, she saw that a door had opened on the third floor of the library. The blonde figure of Abela clad in a mint dress appeared on the third, and the highest balcony that clung to the walls of the cylindrical library. "Good afternoon Y/N!" Abela yelled down. "This library is beautiful!"

Y/N couldn't help but sigh at the interruption as she watched the other girl climb noisily down the ladders to reach the bottom of the library. Once she did the blonde hurried over to the desk where Y/N was sitting. "Hello Y/N, what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out this bi-annual request of goods from Luccia," Y/N said, glaring at the paper darkly. "I can't make heads or tails of it."

"May I give it a look?" Abela asked softly. Y/N nodded and past the document to her. Abela squinted at it for several minutes, then she placed to back on the table and pointed to a nearly invisible line at the bottom. "You just need to put your signature here in order to validate this form. Once it arrives at the capital the signature gives the goods collectors permission to enter the Archdiocese of Crivell and take the ordered goods with them back to Luccia."

Y/N stared open-mouthed at Abela. "How were you able to understand anything that was written in that document?!" She asked, comply shocked.

"Well, I don't think it was anything special, I'm not smart or anything," Abela said, looking away in embarrassment. "I just spent a lot of time with my father when he was filling out forms like that, he was always busy working, so I had to learn how to read those things if I wanted to understand anything that he was doing."

"Abela," Y/N said softly. "I don't think you know just how capable of a person you are. I would have been completely lost if you hadn't told me how these things work."

"Oh, thank you, although you really do think too highly of me," Abela said, turning to leave the library. "I'm just a ditsy girl from the capital."

"Nonsense," Y/N protested. "You are really clever when you want to be, and are more socially adept than I could ever hope to be." The H/C girl pointed to the silver tray of food, "stay and join me for lunch, will you? I could really use the company."

A genuine smile stretched across Abela's face as she took a seat in Y/N's old chair. The two girls enjoyed their lunch, talking and laughing together as girls do. It was one of the most enjoyable afternoons that Y/N had since Frosino had left, in fact, Y/N didn't think about how much she missed him once throughout the whole afternoon.

After they finished eating a sad look spread across Abela's face. She still felt that she didn't quite belong at Castle de Crivell, and felt that she would be nothing but a burden to the kind people there. To try and make her feel better Y/N took her by the hand to show her something that she hoped would make the blonde feel like she truly belonged.

Pushing one of the doors open to a large empty room, Y/N dropped Abela's hand and began to search through the dusty chamber while Abela watched her. The ivory walls were covered with hanging sheets to preserve the ornate paintings that lined the walls of the old portrait hall, making it a challenge to find the one that Y/N was looking for.

After a few minutes, the H/C girl found it and pulled the cloth away with a flourish. The painting was large, and held in a gilded frame. The woman in the painting was wearing a golden dress that matched the rich golden hair that flowed from her head like sunshine. Abela approached the painting and stared in wonder at the pale woman. Her eyes were a deeper blue then Abela's, but in all other respects, the two were nearly identical. The plack beneath the painting read: Stalla Crivell of the house of Morocini.

"She was my mother's youngest sister," Abela murmured. "She was beautiful, I wish I could have met her."

"Yes, she was beautiful, I wish I could have had the chance to meet Frosino's mother too," Y/N said wistfully. She then turned to Abela and smiled warmly. "But now that you are here, I think Castle de Crivell is happy to have a daughter of Morocini walking the halls again."

A/N

It looks like Abela has found a new home, and more importantly, a new family at Castle de Crivell. But will things remain so pleasant when Frosino returns to the castle at last?

Let me know what you think, and, as always,

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

~J. C. Coltt.~