"You're a real force to be reckoned with, and I have so much respect for how you handle yourself. But for some reason... I'm the exception."
Dream x Reader/Original Character
~.~.~.~.~
Dream is only twenty one when he becomes king of the realm. Alex...
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Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
That's what Clay's father always told us, when we were younger. And he ought to know. I do not remember the day he was crowned king, but for as long as I was old enough to understand, I've known he felt the weight of responsibility resting heavy on his shoulders. Being the monarch of the Dream SMP was a rewarding job, to be sure, and as a general rule, it's people loved their king. However, our people were volatile, often chaotic, every single one of them apparently born with an agenda they were determined to see to the end. And if the slightest thing went wrong, the buck ultimately stopped with the king.
I was abandoned as a child, or so the story goes. Every gossiper in the country would tell a different tale, some believing my parents had died whilst travelling, and some believing they'd deliberately laid me where the king of the realm would discover me, and that they were still alive somewhere. I'd always believed the former to be closer to the truth, and even though I'd lost hope of discovering how my parents had died, Clay's parents, the king and queen, were always kind to me. Clay had treated me like a little sister when we were younger, but now the relationship had morphed into something more like best friends. The two of us always had each other's backs, and most of the people of the realm treated me like a Princess. There were, of course, those who hated the fact that the king would allow an abandoned child to become third in line for the throne, but Clay would not allow me to take their words to heart. I wasn't entirely sure when it had happened, but he was fiercely protective of me these days.
"You needn't worry so much, Alexa," Clay's mother told me, on a day as I sat observing Clay and his father sparring in the arena below us.
I glanced at her, unsurprised to see her bright green eyes watching me knowingly. I blinked my own, before turning back to watch again.
"How did you know I was worrying?" I asked her. She sighed, shaking her head, before moving to sit beside me, pushing my books to one side. "Hey!" I protested, albeit weakly.
"I see how you watch them, every day," she said, completely ignoring my protestations. "And your concern for your Clay's wellbeing, and his concern for you, will take both of you far. But he is his own man. And his father will not hurt him."
"It's not the King that I'm worried about," I stated, rolling my eyes in a direction I hoped she couldn't see me. "I worry that Clay does not worry. His confidence is going to get him killed one of these days, and I..." I paused, not wishing to speak my mind.
"Ah, and there it is," she smiled, and I realised that I would not have to explain. Sometimes it seemed as though she knew me better than anyone else in the world. "That's the real reason, isn't it? You don't want to be monarch yourself."
"My concern for Clay far outweighs my concerns for my own future," I said, quietly. "And I do worry about him. After what happened with Imane..."
"He still blames himself for that," said the green eyed woman. "And I think he always will. But you must allow him to learn from his own mistakes, Alexa. Better he make them now, than in the future, when it could cost him his life."
