From One Glance | childe x reader |

12

After Mona waved her hand as a goodbye, you awkwardly follow your prince who had a frustrated face while his mouth is slightly pouting. He enters the carriage first, and then you follow after. He sits down, crosses his legs, and gazes at the window in silence. You didn't dare to say anything about his forlorn attitude and leave him be as you sit down diagonally from him. The outside view is just the same, a lot of trees and greenery like how Liyue usually is. You look to the side and see Ajax's lips frowning and his auburn red eyebrows scrunching in an irritated manner, and his hair jumps every time there's a bump in the road. You noticed his freckles across his cheeks and some to his nose, and his blue eyes somewhat empty and deep, yet there's a light hope to it as well. His lips are chapped even though it's always warm in Liyue.

Ajax finally looks over to you, noticing your intense gaze at him. "What are you staring at?" He asked in sight annoyance and brushed his hair with his hand, which messed it up even more. You blinked, once, twice, "Nothing." You said avoiding his gaze and look over to his side of the window. He then huffed but then sighed in exasperation, "I might rule Snezhnaya." He said, and my eyes perked up with interest. Your mission was to kill him after all. That, and to also end the Snezhnayan rule in the process.

"Isn't that a good thing?" You asked, raising your eyebrows, curious about what he'll say next. "I do, but the Tsaritsa just makes it harder than necessary." He said, finally relaxing his shoulders and leaning back to the seat with a relaxed expression on his face. His frustration disperses as he vents his problems to you. "She said I will need a woman once I rule, but I don't want that since it'll be a weakness to me." He said rather seriously. "So what if it is a weakness? What if you love each other?" You asked carefully.

"If that happens, then I'll kill her." He answered without hesitation.

"Oh." You let out a slight gasp at his answer, totally not expecting that. But for some reason, your heart aches like a sword stabbing your heart. I groaned in pain as I clutched my shirt where my heart was. "Ugh.." I decided to breathe out, trying to ease the pain. Ajax went to your side in worry, "Hey? What happened? What's wrong?!" He whisper-yelled at you. "I-I'm fine.. maybe motion sickness..?" You answered, not even sure yourself. It was strange and disturbing, the pain in your heart was real, and it unsettled you.

"Don't worry, we're near the palace already. You could take a rest in your quarters by then." Ajax said as he patted your back in reassurance. You mumbled out a weak, 'okay' to him, and nodded. For some reason, you feel that this connects to your dream a few hours ago.  A dream about yourself.  You shiver at the thought, the eerie feeling still there.

Finally, the carriage stops, and your heart starts to feel a little better than before. You ease your clutch on your shirt and try to breathe in and out to calm yourself. Ajax glances at you for the last time before he steps out of the carriage. You later follow his action after him. As usual, the maids bowed to his arrival as he walked to the entrance of the palace and you behind him. "Go first and rest, I'll see you tomorrow," Ajax said as he waved his hand to dismiss you. Without sparing a glance, you immediately go to your quarters and throw yourself into the bed and sigh.

As Ajax noticed your illness, he called the butler hastily. "Tomorrow before we leave, call Doctor Baizhu here." Without another word, the butler nodded his head and quickly wrote a letter for Doctor Baizhu for an appointment. Ajax then went to his room and used the bathroom for a refreshing shower, just to calm his thoughts and ease his problems for a while.

In your room, you begin to sit from the bed and pull the drawer from your desk, and pull out a piece of paper and an envelope. You decided to write a letter for Diluc to accept his mission :

To Diluc Ragnvindr,

This is y/n the assassin you hired. I accept the mission.

The letter is too straightforward and informal. However, Sir Diluc likes it better this way. You fold the paper in half and insert it into the envelope. I write his address, Dawn Winery.' and then seal the envelope with wax. Since you do not trust anyone in this palace except yourself, you decided to venture out of the palace and navigate yourself to the nearest letter delivery.

The weather is warm as always, and some sweat begins to drop from your forehead. You panted after reaching the location and inserting your letter into the box the staff had placed just for the letter soon to be delivered. After that, you return to the palace and receive weird looks from some of the servants until one of the servants asks, "Are you okay? You look like a mess." A servant decided to ask. You heaved a breath and show him a thumbs-up while panting. "I'm okay, just had an exercise." The servant shook his head in reply. You just shrugged and returned to your room and rest for the day.

The next morning was awful, your eyebags were visible, and your hair was a mess. Thankfully, the pain in your heart disperse already, though it still felt strange. And the night when you slept, you had that dream again. About yourself, or hopefully, someone that has a striking similarity to yourself.

There was a woman of the same height, same body type but different hair length. Though you can't see her face clearly at first since she was facing away from you and her body is turned so you could only see her back. Somehow, the floor is all water, and you could see your reflection if you look down. In the water, though, there is some blood mixed in it. You assume it was the woman's. The sky is dark. There was no light at all except the light-colored dress she wore. Most probably white, and a copious amount of blood dripping from her.

Your steps grew closer to her, and now you're just two steps away. Somehow, her presence gives you comfort and dread at the same time. At last, she turned to face you, and you could see her chest bloody and her right hand placed on her heart. For some reason, you could vaguely feel the pain she felt. It was uncomfortable and stifling. The woman just looked at you with anguish. You tried to speak, but there was nothing you could say. Your voice was somehow muted, but you did hear her mumbling softly; "I don't regret it."

Suddenly everything turned bright and you opened your eyes from the dream which brings us to the present, now. You panted heavily, trying to ease the bad feeling in your chest. You groan in annoyance when the feeling of dread doesn't disperse. Finally sitting up, you could see yourself from the vanity mirror, and gosh, you were a mess. It was 5 in the morning, and you decided to have a quick shower to freshen up and meet the prince after.

Again, you look at the mirror above the sink in your bathroom. You noted that the woman you dreamed of has the same mole placed on your undereye. And an unsettling feeling once again fills your veins, and your blood turns cold. The woman in your dreams was indeed  you.

You sighed, trying to shake off the thoughts since you were still unsure or probably in denial. If the dream was indeed true, then you were most probably going to die soon. You huffed in annoyance , stepped into the shower, and twisted its faucet, letting drips of water fall onto your body. You let out a sigh and let yourself be covered in the lukewarm water and let the steam surround you.