Levi x Reader || One Shots And Short Stories

Worlds Apart: The Interview

Last night, by some strange miracle of God, you found yourself attending The Peace Ball, a grand party held every year in the kingdom of Valen that all the neighboring kingdom's princes attended. It was honestly just a lavish display of friendship and allegiance between each kingdom and the ball always was the talk of the world for weeks prior. Of course, you had been interested in the petty things, wondering who was attending and what this year's gorgeous fashion would look like but not enough to truly care.

As of right now, you were here in Valen on a study abroad program and had been residing here on scholarship for the last five months. Prince Armin Arlert happened to have come by the bakery store yesterday where you worked part time, a place he frequented secretly once a week, and begged you to go as his guest. Valen had a long standing tradition that the prince would invite a regular citizen to the ball. He hadn't the slightest idea of who to invite until he visited your bakery and felt you would be his best option on such short notice. You attempted to refuse, seeing you had a paper due in about a week and your presentation to prepare for, but Prince Armin looked desperate so you caved. If it wasn't for the fact that you had slowly become friendly with him by how often he would visit the shop, you would have politely declined the offer.

Fast forward five hours later and you found your arm linked with the prince of Valen, wearing a borrowed ballroom gown that your were sure was priced more than your entire college tuition. Your nerves were acting up; you knew you had no experience with any of this high class life and it showed just by how you carried yourself. You were uncomfortable, not just with how out of place you felt, but by the garb you were forced to wear just to look presentable. After formal introductions of the seven princes that comprised the seven countries of the United Commonwealth, you were toted around proudly by Prince Armin. He introduced you as a friend, clear that there were no intimate ties between you two, when the question arose, and you were grateful for that. Introductions alone had been difficult for you; the judgement everyone passed on you was obvious, especially those who had ties to royalty.

This world was ridiculously different from yours; by the end of the night, you could tell there was a lot more to being royalty than just being accustomed to wealth and living the high life where everyone catered to your will. To you, it seemed more of stifling political small talk, feigned interest in personal matters, and suffocating mannerisms and expectations than you ever would want to deal with. You were thankful for your simple, financially strapped life and would take that any day than to ever have to give your opinion on all the affairs of state.

You did enjoy yourself, of course. The food was magnificent and the ballroom itself was a sight worth more words than you could describe. Dancing, however, made it quite clear that you practically were a peasant in the eyes of the upper class, and you begged Prince Armin never to make you do another waltz for the rest of the night. You never were uncoordinated, but attempting to maneuver in your heels that were an inch higher than you could normally manage and a heavy gown proved far more difficult than you had assumed.

At the ball, you made one friend, a young woman who could sense your growing discomfort when ever Prince Armin had to leave your side to pay his respects to the other royalty of neighboring kingdoms. Mikasa had been her name and she was surprisingly not as uppity as the rest of her kin, to which you were grateful for. She was by your side for the majority of the time whenever Prince Armin left you, making sure to give you pointers under her breath so you did not appear too klutzy or otherwise out of place.

"Hold your head up, shoulders back" and "smaller steps and smile at all times" and "curtsy or bow to everyone you are introduced to" were a few things she told you, all of which were obvious yet surprisingly difficult.

You really enjoyed conversing with Mikasa, despite her veiled and constant interest in her childhood friend, Prince Eren Jaeger of Anduen. You found this amusing because you noticed very quickly that Prince Jean Kirschtein of Ryndell had his eye on Mikasa all night. Mikasa did not talk much, but when you were able to converse enough with her, you realized the only real passion she had about anything was when she would speak of her childhood days with Armin and Eren. If it wasn't about them, she usually was complaining in deadpan about how much some of the upperclass irritated with their haughty dispositions, even to their own kind.