𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 // 𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐉𝐈

chapter fifteen

The days passed at the castle of the Vinsmokes, and it has been over six weeks since I arrived. Now, only a few weeks remain until the wedding, and it is stressing me out. Donna was true to her promise, I received her letter that she sent on Friday.

Dear lady Y/N,
It has been six weeks since your departure. Is everything alright there? Not much left until your wedding, I hope you got to know your groom better in the past days. I do not expect you to write back, please do not, I fear Her Majesty, your mother may find out about this interaction. Your sisters and me wish you well!
Donna

Her letter warmed my heart, knowing that both Donna and my sisters miss my presence. I wanted to inform them that I am alright and miss them more than they will ever know, but as Donna said, mother might find out about it, and I do not want anything to happen to my loved ones since mother did not allow them to contact me.

I hope you got to know your groom better in the past days... no. No I did not. The last time when I spoke to Ichiji was the awkward walk in the garden, barely anything was said there. Since that, we are walking around the castle like two strangers, he does not acknowledge my presence, and I do the same for him. We sometimes share a word during dinner or lunch, but noting really happens.

On the other hand, I got to know others better. One of these people was Reiju, the pink haired girl. We talk daily, and she is much nicer than I expected. When I first met her brothers, I thought she might be like them, but I was proven wrong. She still had humanity left in her, even though she still had the modifications. Reiju was a good company, she was the only one in the castle who I could have girl talks with along with Marguerite.

But when she was busy, example on missions, there was still somebody who gladly kept me company: Sanji. During this somewhat short period of time, we got extremely close, to the point where the servants even had suspicions. He always greeted me with a smile and a bow, even though I told him not to be so formal with me. He would always hold the door for me, motioning to go before he does. Chivalry, he said. An absolute gentleman. I loved talking to him, he always had some questions, or just a topic he would like to talk about, and I listened all the time. Do not worry, he listened too. Whenever I said something, he would focus with all his attention.

There were days when his father and siblings were away on missions, and on those days, he would invite me to the kitchen to cook something. I was not a chef, could say I was medicore in cooking, but ever since I was doing it with Sanji next to me, I could feel that I was getting better at it. He would always help me out, I just had to follow his instructions. Sanji was extremely patient, no matter how many times I asked the same thing, he would still reply with a calm, composed tone.

I was not always cooking with him when we were in the kitchen. Sometimes, I would just watch this man cook when I had no other activity scheduled for the day. There was something absolutely mesmerizing about it, something that was making me feel weird inside. The way his hands moved made me think things I would not be allowed to say loudly, and how his hair got progressively messier the more time he spent with cooking. He was on my mind all the time. I wanted to deny it, but deep down, I knew the truth: i loved him.

As I walk trough the corridors, heading to my room after a talk with Reiju, I see somebody leaning on the door of my room. As much as I wanted to just wait here until he goes away, I knew that there was a reason why he was standing there. I take a deep breath as I approach him.
"Prince Ichiji." I say in the most polite tone I can manage. Out of all people it had to be him...
"Hey. I was told to check up on my bride, but when I opened your door, you were not inside. I supposed you would show up here sooner or later, so I waited. And voilá, here you are. I guess you were with my freak little brother again, huh? What is it that you see in him?" He asks.
"What?! No! I was not with him! And what do I see in him? Somebody who is better than you! And I mean in everything! You are just a stupid, emotionless jerk, who this he is superior!" I snarkily reply. I was getting frustrated by this guy.

He was taken aback. No response. Just a minute of silence between us, neither of us moving. The air was thick.
"YOU! TAKE IT BACK!" he shouts and punches me across my face. I could feel the crimson blood leaking from my nose, down to my chin.
"I would rather die than take back what I just said, you rat!" I argue back, my hand on the area where he landed the hit.
"ICHIJI!" I hear the familiar feminine voice from the other side of the corridor. I look back, and see Reiju angrily walking towards us, Marguerite behind her, not as angry.

I see as Reiju drags her brother away, saving me from another potential punch.
"Oh my, what happened to your nose, princess?" Marguerite asks, staying with me. "Let's go inside your room, we need to treat this." She tells me as she opens the door and gently pushes me inside.

"You see..." she starts the conversation as she examines my likely broken nose. "There are people who would die to be in your place right now." She says, her voice sounding somewhat spiteful, causing me to have a bad feeling. "And now I am not talking about the fact that you are a princess. It is the marriage."