Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

48. A Lonesome Birthday.

Y/N awoke one fine morning in spring to find that the sun was already pouring through her windows onto her bed. That's strange, she thought. Normally someone would have come to wake me before now.

Hearing a knock on the door, Y/N called for the person on the other side to enter. To her surprise, she saw that all of the chambermaids had come in, Visca in the lead carrying a tray with breakfast food. "What's the occasion?" Y/N asked, tilting her head.

"Why miss, today is your seventeenth birthday!" Visca exclaimed. "That's why we let you sleep in and brought you breakfast in your room Y/N."

Y/N felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she remembered that it was her birthday. She was happy to be older, but she wanted to celebrate it with Frosino the way they used to. He hadn't been there to celebrate the past few years while he was overseas, so now that he was back Y/N wanted to enjoy her birthday with him again.

It didn't seem likely that he would though. Over the past few weeks, Frosino had been distancing himself from his ward. He would avoid the areas of the castle she frequently visited and spent most of his time locked away in his chambers. Y/N would knock on his door and ask if he was alright. She was always answered with a simple "Yes, I am fine. Please leave me."

Y/N was starting to get very worried over what he was doing in there. None of the servants were being allowed in either, so she couldn't ask them. The only person who was allowed in was Ilidoro, who was being surprisingly tight-lipped about the whole thing.

Suddenly, Y/N's brooding was interrupted by the sound of her bedroom door being thrown open. Before she could respond she was nearly knocked off her feet by the force of something colliding with her.

"Y/N! Happy Birthday! I am so happy for you!" Abela exclaimed brightly. "Come on, hurry up eat your breakfast so we can spend the day having fun!"

Y/N finished eating with Abela breathing down her neck. After that, she got dressed in a flowing lavender gown. She made sure Paety's ring necklace was resting on the outside of her bodice before she finally linked arms with Abela and let the eager blonde drag her out to enjoy her birthday.

Surprisingly, Y/N found herself enjoying her birthday so much that she forgot the fact that Frosino was not there to celebrate with her, well almost. It was evening now, and Y/N was watching the stars come out one by one in the sky above the mountain from the balcony on the second floor of the ballroom that looked over the front doors of the castle.

She couldn't help but let a sigh escape her pouting lips. She was very grateful for all the wonderful gifts she had received, as well as for the time that she was able to spend with everyone but deep down she was sad.

She would have traded every single birthday gift she had ever gotten if it meant that Frosino would have spent the day with her. More than anything, she just wanted to be with him, and her emotions were only making things worse.

"Was it something I did?" Y/N asked the nighttime sky as she thought of how much Frosino had been distancing himself from her. "Did he realize how I really feel, and this is his way of letting me know that he's not interested?"

The H/C girl felt a lump building in her throat as she whispered, "or has he just grown tired of me altogether?"

She rested her head on her forearms, doing her best not to cry. She just wished that Frosino would tell here what she had done to anger him. Y/N would be happy to fix anything she had done if only he would see her again.

"May I join you," a deep but quiet voice asked from the doorway that led to the balcony inside of the ballroom.

Y/N wiped her eyes and quickly whirled around. She saw Frosino standing there in the shadow of the doorway, handsome as ever, his pale skin glowing in the moonlight. Y/N nodded at his request, too surprised to speak.