Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

41. Girlish Fun.

After a few days, everyone seemed to have adjusted to having Frosino back at the castle, although there was still the occasional awkward moment. For example, when it was discovered that the old lesson time that Frosino and Ilidoro had conflicted with Fiora's lesson time. In the end, it was decided that Y/N would have her morning lesson with Frosino, while Abela would continue to study with Fiora, then, in the afternoon the would share a lesson with Ilidoro in the ballroom.

Of course, everyone had been very excited to hear about their travels across the sea. Ilidoro would happily indulge them with grand stories of adventure, and Abela would hang off his every word, but Y/N was more interested in the fact that Frosino showed very little interest in talking about the Empire. Whenever he was asked about it he would answer as briefly as possible before changing the subject. Y/N figured that he had not enjoyed his time there, and was trying to push the memories of that place away, so she didn't push it.

Life at Castle de Crivell had finally returned to the tranquility that it used to have. It was though the mountain itself was put at ease by the return of the Archduke, at least for a time. But it seemed that the mountains desired more than the Archduke alone. At least that was what Y/N thought when she recalled the events of that day afterward.

Y/N had just finished her lesson with Frosino for the day when Abela came racing up the hallway and stopped just in front of her with an all too familiar wicked mischief twinkling in her blue eyes. "Come on Y/N! Let's skip our lesson with Ilidoro and go for a ride instead!"

Before Y/N could say anything Abela had grabbed her hands and started dragging her through the castle. The blonde only slowed down when they reached the stables. At this point, they were already going to be late, so Y/N thought that they might as well skip the lesson entirely.

The girls saddled their horses, then proceeded to lead them into the courtyard where they both mounted their steed and took off at a canter across the drawbridge. As they departed, the figure of Ilidoro watched them go. He let out a sigh and shook his head, he wished that Abela would stop trying to avoid him, but he couldn't help but smile, after all, he had been just as much of a challenging student as she was.

The two girls had a wonderful afternoon in the mountains. Sometimes they would race, and other times they would let their horses wander next to each other through the enchanting forest. The air was filled with the sound of birds chirping and the sweet perfume of spring flowers.

During one of their high-speed races, the girls accidentally went through a big puddle on the trail, which resulted in both the girls and their horses getting covered in mud. They simply laughed at the mess and continued their ride, and before they knew it, dusk had settled over the mountains.

The girls, at last, returned to the castle, dirty but happy. They continued to chat and giggle until they noticed the stern figure of Fiora standing at the top of the stairs with a cold look on her face. Y/N and Abela stopped talking at once and quickly dismounted from their horses. Fiora scolded them about their reckless behavior, before ordering the girls to go wash up in the bathhouse.

The girls walked across the courtyard with their heads hanging in shame, but they perked up as they descended the small flight of stairs and were enveloped by the fragrant steam in the bathhouse. The bathhouse was set partially underground like the kitchen on the opposite side of the castle, but it was much more elegant than the kitchen.

It had pristine white marble floors with matching columns supporting the ceiling that had a large glass pane set in it to allow light to enter the chamber. In the center, a large square pool was set into the floor, filled with water that was flooding the room with steam. 

The bathhouse was one of the finest designed rooms in the house because the basin never emptied of water. The room had been built directly into a mountain hot spring, which resulted in a constant supply of clean water flowing through the tub without anyone ever needing to fill or change it.