King Kaneki [Kaneki X Fem. Reader]

Chapter 35: The Royal Children

"Bring him at my feet."

    The dulling beat of my courtiers wooden Geta shoes crossing over the court rooms planks like drums; I relaxed, deep into the golden pins of my seat with my knuckles beneath my chin and my silver eyes steady—-not a single tadpole to disturb a spring pond.

    The masked boy was brought before me, slashed down to his knees he must've knelt not in honor but against his own will.

    "Tear the veil," I ordered.

    Upon my demand, one courtier summoned his koukaku and traced the assassins mask by it's center; I witnessed the cracks form before the piece's finally fell.

"Pahtu"

    The ghoul, cocking his head to the left, hurled a ball of red spit at the floor aside him. My ear listened to the foul connection; the bodily fluid and the polished ground connecting with a stone smack. At that speed of impact, a splash of blood bit over the ends of my kimono—-

An amusing decoration.

    "ON YOUR FUCKING WRISTS PIG!"

    One of my guards raised his heel to the assassin, slamming Yato's face into the ground, the whole court room could hear when the bone of his chin split in two on contact.

A face or more grimaced at that.

    Tearing his cloak off of him along with the boy's peasant shirt, now only the assassins bare back was revealed. One thousand and three hundred marks of Rinkaku lashes adorned the pale skin that stretched over his jutting spine.

My lips.. twitched.

I hesitated.

Even with the blood of my parents on their hands... even as I sit here now taking in the nasty sight of this man's inflamed back, a river of blood staining the wood beneath me.

I took no pleasure in his pain.

    Clenching my jaw, it was time I prepared to commence this order the way King Eike, my father, did.

The way he always did.

"How did you get into the palace perimeters?"

He scoffed, "I already told you prince, the security of this place just ain't good enough anymore," a crooked smile possessed the boy's chapped lips, "Maybe if you didn't have a silver spoon stuck up your ass the entire time you would've heard me."

WACK

"Agh! FUCK!" He slammed his fists, dizzied from the heavy hit.

"You infiltrated the castle quarters, what was your objective?" Calmly continuing, I waited for his answer.

"For you," he answered smoothly, at this point hardly able to pay any attention to me for he was in far more pain than I could imagine.

"For me?" I repeated, more so to myself than him.

"It was for you," he gulped down a gag, struggling to suppress the pain that was perhaps shooting past every nerve in his system. "The objective was to kill you prince... you were the last one."

My brows furrowed, "Elaborate."

"Long story short, eughk!" He coughed, continuing, "Our people want it back, we want it all back, heh.. ha-ha. The pompous asshole you call daddy took our home from us, we just want it back. So we came to take it back."

Yato shook his navy head, slipping in the puddles of his own blood, "We know how to destroy a kingdom from the inside out. So we killed the king and queen first without knowing that they had a child." He laughed, staring up at me darkly, my body stiffened only the slightest at the sight of such a pair of ungainly eyes—-

One demons gaze, hidden within two black holes.

With his wrists still on the floor, the ghoul managed to point at me, vermillion dripping from is finger; rich and potent.

"Speak of the devil, eh? When we found out about you pretty boy for sore eyes... we. went. nuts..."

"So that's it," he said simply, expanding his hand, "the objective was to kill this kingdoms one and only chance of regaining stability... clearly, we failed."

Without noticing it, the nails on my fingers nestled their way into the wooden arms of the seat I sat upon. I could feel the splinters working their way into my skin, though I could honestly care less right now.

"If you despise me that much, then surely punishment by living would be far worse than punishment by death."

Seeing his head snap upwards at the sound of the words that just left my mouth, I knew he was more than just confused—-bewildered even.

"With every drop of hate in your being, serve me and only me for the rest of your life as punishment for trespassing on royal ground, hurting my aunt... and trying to kill me."

Silence filled the court room.

Soon after, he cackled shortly beneath his breath, replying, "I'd rather receive punishment by death. To serve you would be going against everything I've ever said and believed."

I was prepared for such an answer,

"AHHHH YATO!"

Immediately, he jerked his head to the back of the room where his friend Zamari was being held. A guard picked her up by the throat, the child's consciousness slowly began to slip from her face.

"Zamari!!" The boy's screams ran up his throat like thunder, booming off of the walls of the court area.

"If you choose punishment by death then your friend will perish with you. She did join you on this assassination did she not?"

"Get your damn hands off of her-" my guard smacked him quiet.

"I guess I'll have to kill not one but two Aogiri bastards, how wonderful-"

"NOOO!"

Surprisingly, the severely weakened ghoul managed to get up to his feet, still restrained by the guards beside him.

"I'll do it!" He panted, eyes widened and lips parted with clenched teeth, "I'll serve you with my life, let- let her go."

Hearing his voice crack as a tear traveled past the boy's blood-stained cheek, I felt something within my heart that didn't feel bad nor good.

Dragging my gaze away from the Aogiri girl, I readjusted the royal cloth on my body and made way over to the young kin who seemed just a few years older than I.

"I commend you for that choice, now kneel boy, and tell me your name."

He got down on both knees, raising his sinful head to me. We met each other's gazes, I learned that I shouldn't be afraid of such eyes.

For how they had looked so scared—-when I threatened someone he cared about.

"...Ayato.. Ayato Kirishma."

1081 words