King Kaneki [Kaneki X Fem. Reader]

Chapter 21

"Miss," Riven called me after a few minutes had passed since our descent, subconsciously pressing into his back the more paranoid I became of the shadows that surrounded us, I could feel the vibrations of his voice touch me which soothed my frantic state just a little bit. Answering him, I replied back, "Yes?"

"I apologize for vanishing like that and leaving you all alone back at the stream bank. I could imagine your worry and understand how vulnerable you must've been with me gone but I can assure you that when those Koeuna men captured me, it was to protect you—-although in reality I could've taken all three of them out if I hadn't came up with the idea of interrogating the ghouls on where the tomb was located."

My grip on his bicep loosened as I became confused as well as a little offended yet flattered by his elaborate apology. "Riven you're telling me that my life was in danger and I didn't even know?"

The man watched the flames of the torch carefully and answered, "When you had jumped over the small stream to the other patch of land across it, one of the Koeuna's had grabbed me and placed a spear by my neck. Of course I thought such actions were foolish since flint can't inflict damage upon ghouls, but I realized quickly after the spear grazed my skin, that the weapons were far from harmless. With your back briefly turned, another one of the Koeuna's threatened to attack you if I didn't comply. The only reason I truly complied was because I had one underlying intention; which was to get information on the location of the tomb. If I didn't need such information I would've taken those men out long ago. In the end the girl actually ended up helping us since you did kind of blow my cover when one of the Koeuna's caught sight of you, but I just wanted to apologize for leaving you like that—-worried and still vulnerable to one of the Koeuna's possibly catching you and eating you."

Listening to his side of the story now, I completely understood the former situation we were in before and felt somewhat grateful to have such a physically and mentally strong sailor like him with the king. It showed his dominance in certain good yet frightening aspects and it revealed just how dangerous Riven could really be.

My mind traveled back to when he picked that Koeuna up by the neck causing me to almost shiver at the remembrance of his cold voice.

Shaking my head, I re-tightened my grip around his bicep again and smiled, "no worries, thank you for explaining yourself, I appreciate your abundance of protection but I do hope that you're watching out for yourself as well." The male took a deep breath, replying, "my job is not only to retrieve this valuable but mainly to protect you miss, my wellbeing is a second priority, the king says so-"

"The king didn't say that! He would never say that!"

Without really realizing it, I raised my voice into a type of whisper-yell to emphasize my shock at his words but the darkly stairway still taunted me so I managed to keep my inside-voice despite it.

Noticing Riven's silence, I averted my gaze to the side of me and continued, "How about this: If you don't at least try to protect yourself then who's gonna be there to protect me if you die?" When the silence pursued, I realized that I must've gotten him where it counts and he was possibly reconsidering his train of thought right now.

"Alright," he started, "if you really insist Miss—-I'll also watch out for myself but that still doesn't entirely change my first priority which is you." Grinning from ear-to-ear at the sound of his surrender, I stared at the back of the brunets head, smiling,