Xiaoven Royal Au

18

He giggles at the bird as he rubs the head of it. He sees Aether and quickly stands up, letting the bird fly for now. "Ay, Aether! Good morning!"

"Oi, Venti. Good morning"

"May I ask where you're going?"

"Of course. I'm ahead to Beidou's ship, eh... To meet someone"

"Oh? Okay then! Be safe" he grins while waving his hand as Aether left. Leaving him bored and alone again. Surely he could just go and talk to... No. Not yet.

He figures that he will spend his whole day trying to get that book from Ganyu. So here he is!

He slowly walked his way to the maid's room, they should be working at this time so it wouldn't be that hard to go inside. "Hmm... This is such a pretty book though, why does princess Ningguang want me to burn it..." Venti heard from outside of the room.

"Wait- don't tell me this..." He hears paper noises, seems like the maid is looking through it right now. "This is the original rule book... I cannot throw this away... I'll just hide it from prince Alatus and princess Venti!"

Venti gasps when he finds out that their motive was to hide the book from both of them. Well, finding where the book must be easy. A maid like her wouldn't have that much skill in hiding things... Or does she?

-

"Beidou what are we gonna do if she finds out Venti's true identity?" Ningguang scolded, almost harsh enough to make Beidou also burst in anger. "I don't know! I cannot do anything if she wants to come"

"So you're saying that you'll do nothing?" Ningguang asked her, completely calm—though I'm sure she's worried. "It's not like that-"

"Maybe you weren't worthy to be a queen after all? Perhaps fate brought us together so you can't be the queen"

This truly breaks Beidou's heart. The words that pain her the most, coming from someone she loves the most. Beidou's eyes get watery, though I know that she is tough enough to stop it. She worked so hard to be the queen, she lost everything, she never even had friends. And then someone tells her that she does not deserve the position at all..?

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Sorry that I didn't pass your expectations for a queen" she wiped her tears before leaving, completely hurt. But what if Ningguang was right..? Ningguang is always right.

She couldn't do anything to help Venti and her brother, how can she be a great queen?

But why? After all those works... Why can't she still be a good queen? "Damn. Who hurt you today..." She heard a rough voice from the back of her and it revealed a teenage boy with teal hair and golden eyes. "Oh, Alatus" she quickly looks away, trying to hide her red nose from him.

"Did something happen?"

"Ahh... Ningguang and I just had a small argument"

"Small argument but I caught you here crying... Hm"

"Aren't you supposed to be with princess Venti? Or go get practice!" Xiao chuckles, "stop acting tough right now, I know you're sad. Just cry" he sat beside his sister and accompanied her. "About me and Venti... Almost the same as you and Ningguang. He's been ignoring me for a while now"

"Eh?"

"He likes somebody else, I find it out last night... Aren't I too vicious? I forced him to marry me when there's actually someone who he likes"

"Are you sure it isn't you?" Xiao quickly shakes his head as he picks up a rock, "nope. He hates me so much"

"Mm.. I disagree" Xiao threw the rock from afar, hoping it wouldn't hit anything but the ground. "Beidou... Could you please revoke our marriage..?"

"Alatus?"

"I don't want to force him anymore... If he were to love me, I'll be here—waiting for him"

-

Venti kept listening to the maid inside the room and hoped she would just get out so he could grab the book and go. Until he felt someone pulling him from the collar of his dress.

"Drink with me" and that voice... Princess Ningguang, argh. Venti tried resisting her fingers but he couldn't. How are they so strong? Seems like the girl didn't really realize Venti was trying to sneak inside the room of the maid she entrusted the rule book to.

She seems out of herself, is she okay? "W-why me- AH! Why not princess Beidou?"

"She's not here"

"Huh? She isn't here? Where is she then"

"Fighting treasure hoarders... Just come with me" her drag was so harsh, when I say harsh, it's harsh. Almost as if she was choking Venti on purpose. "HEY! I can't breathe-"

"We're almost there" when they arrived at the fireplace, he was surprised that there was already a wine in there. And ooh, who is Venti to refuse this? They both took their seat and drank their wine. Ningguang was too quiet while Venti keeps mumbling words.

It was pretty hard to deal with Ningguang. "What's this quietness about... Hehe?" No response, "hey don't ask me to drink with you if you're not going to talk!"

"Why are you talking like that to a princess,"

"Right now we both aren't a princess! We're just a person. You're free to tell me anything, I am your friend"

"Friend?"

"Yeah, looks like you need it right now" there was another silence after those words, but it does look like Ningguang was trying to spit out some words, so Venti just smiled and waited. "I feel like I got too intense..."

"Huh?"

"I- I told her that she didn't deserve the position of a queen... But I knew how much she worked hard for it, and I knew how much it would hurt her. I was stupid"

"Oh? You really are stupid..." Venti agrees with her with no hesitation, "wow, you did not help Venti"

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Oppose you? What you said was right, you hurt her, even if you knew that she worked very hard to be one"

Ningguang was shocked by this boy's stubbornness. He had the nerve to talk like that to her? Interesting. "You're quite... The attitude"

"Mm, Nah"

"Move away from the topic... How are you and Alatus?"

"Ah.. I can't say it's good"

"Why is that?" She sips the wine from a glass as she stares at the prince. "Am I too low for him..?"

"Too low? Do you perhaps mean, that you're just a villager?"

"Yes. I feel like this wedding of us is just unfair. There's too many more princess's wanting to be with him..."

"You sometimes... Just need to stop overthinking things, you're the one he wants to marry, and we can't do anything to stop him from that"

"How could you say all those when you don't even understand my situation.."

"I was once a villager too" Ningguang confessed. Horrible things reflected in her eyes. "Huh?!"

"Did you really think I was from a royal family?" Venti's jaw dropped immediately, still not believing her words. "You have no right to say that you are not worthy for Alatus just because you are from a poor village. There's a lot more you and that prince should be worried about... Huge sacrifice, huge loss"

"What do you mean?"

"You'll know soon"

-

Venti and xiao are both 17 btw...

Fun fact: listening to the musics I add in this fics actually express what the characters are feeling 😲😲😲😯😯😯😮😱😱😱😱