Devils in Disguise (possessive royals x reader)

8 In The Royal Gardens

Instead of taking a turn right, as one generally would when going to the library, he led you to the left, quite the opposite way; something that you had no way of knowing, though, as you did not know the hallways, rooms and chambers of the palace yet, but something a trained eye would notice right away. Suspicion did not raise within you even after he led you through a wide courtyard with a fountain of white stone in the middle, encircled by a round pool of glittering water. The statue in the fountain - a dryad, with flowing dress and mesmerising face - held a jar, out of which water streamed in a thin trickle into the water pool, splashing around dozens of droplets. A lone servant strolled by in a hurry, bowing and greeting. The courtyard was in the shape of a square, with thick walls around, walls in which there were more chambers, more staircases and more halls had you entered inside, with slender towers with pointed tops on each corner and balconies high to overlook the whole courtyard. It, too, looked as if made of ice, glinting blue and purple where the shadows lay on the walls.

Masashi did not lead you inside, though; after crossing the green, he pulled you through a smaller gate at one end, a gate which led into the spreading meadows of flowers, plains of trees and greenhouses housing countless exotic plants. One of the gates leading to the royal gardens behind the palace.

Your breath hitched when you stepped through the gate and saw the scenery. You could see the high walls surrounding the gardens, prohibiting outsiders to freely enter the grounds, reaching ahead and curving slightly; the gardens were oval shaped rather than square.

“What about the library?” you frowned, trying not to gape openly at all the flowers in front of you. Flowers of every color of the rainbow flowers short, tall, upright or bent, big or small, blooming or beginning to wilt, or just springing with sprouts. Flowers of every shape, with petals long, thick, with cut out sharp edges or soft rounds, with thin stripes or petals bigger than your palm.

The lean frame of the dark eyed boy turned around towards you. “Changed my mind. Figured it would be better to see the gardens while the sun isn't scorching yet,” he explained. There was something true and clever about his words; it would be more enjoyable without the white hot sun scorching above your heads at noon, but rather with its pale sunrays shining gently in the morning.

“But Yu-”

“The brat can entertain himself,” he spat back, turning back to walk ahead, deeper into the sea of flowers and bushes. You followed after him without much word; what could you do, anyway? You'd probably get lost on your way if you tried to find Yu and only became more of a nuisance waiting for someone to find you and tell you any kinds of directions.

All the flowers soon made you forget about the pale, smiling boy pretty early on, though. Their bright petals turning to the sun, blooming vividly as bees buzzed around, butterflies shyly flew by and birds chirped in the trees ahead. There was a rivulet of water which soon turned into a stream, a creek running through the fields, curving and changing directions, splitting and joining again, providing moisture and water enough for the flowers and trees around. Sometimes it crossed the pathway of small stones you walked upon, with little wooden bridges for you to cross safely without getting wet. On bumpy land, the stream fell down in small waterfalls, the water humming softly.

Above one of these bridges, dark willows bent their branches to wrap the bridge like a shelter, a bubble with shade. You glided your hands alongside the thin branches bent downward as if the willow wept, alongside the green leaves with silver underneath, and a hint of light shone through the thick greenery.

Fields of roses, climbing through bronze grids, and of every color, emitted a sweet smell all around, from white, light pink, yellow, to shades like velvety red, dark blue and purple, some even black.