Izuku POV
I'm going to get to the bottom of this, once and for all! After what happened at the ball last night, I don't believe it was dropped on the floor like that. Plus, the masked stranger looked like he was hiding something. Could he be behind this whole thing? Maybe... But the only way to find out is if I could go down to the village.
If only I didn't have any plans today, I could get by easily. What am I gonna do... I pondered while banging my head against the wall. It's already morning and I haven't gotten ready for the day yet, because I've been putting my mind on last night and the masked stranger won't get out of my head.
Ugh! What the hell's wrong with me?! Out of frustration, my hand clenched on a pillow and threw it over my bed, but it didn't make it over, more like close to the other end of the bed. "Agh!!" My whole body started rolling side to side on the bed, still frustrated about last night. "Stupid masked stranger!!!"
A light knock on the door echoed through the room, and I stopped whatever I was doing and paid attention to whoever was knocking on the door. "Your highness, are you okay? I heard you yelling down at the end of the hall, and I wanted to check up on you." It was just the maid.
"Yes, I'm fine! I just woke up from a bad dream, it's nothing to worry about!" I replied to her as I got out of the bed and stretched my arms and legs.
"That's good. Oh! I'm here to remind you that you'll be attending the departure for the king and queen this afternoon. I'm gonna come by and check up on you again, before you leave!" She explained.
"Thank you, I'll take care of things from here," the maid's footsteps sounded like she was getting farther and farther away from my room, until I couldn't hear her footsteps anymore. "I really don't want them to leave, yet. Personally, I enjoyed Monoma's parents' company, but now they're gonna be up and gone."
Why must the universe be against me? I put my hand in my hair to mess with it and left the closet to get changed in some clothes. Opening the closet door, there was already an outfit out for me to wear. A blue tunic, wait no, royal blue tunic. I am not wearing this fancy crap! Simple plain knights ruffle shirt. More comfortable, not too tight, and fits just right!
After putting on some pants and boots, I ruffled the wrinkles off my shirt and sighed as I walked out of the closet.
"Is that seriously what you're wearing?"
"Good morning to you too, Nighteye." He rolled his eyes at me for my sarcastic gesture and pushed his glasses up a bit with his finger. "How far behind am I?"
"Hm? Oh, not that long, just three minutes ahead of schedule." Nighteye wrote something down on the paper and looked back at me. "Now, on the itinerary, you will be spending time with Monoma, again. This is his schedule on what you two will be doing." He informed me as he handed me the schedule for the day.
"Let's see... brag to his fiancé at 11:00 after the king and queen depart, that'll be fun... 12:00 lunch with him and listen to him brag..."
"Basically, it's just me having to listen to his boring nonsense about how great he is, right?" Nighteye fiddled with the pen he has in his hand and slightly shook his head 'yes'. I let out an exaggerated sigh and flopped on the bed. "Do I have to do all of this?"
Nighteye gave me a blank look and looked back at my itinerary, "That's not really all, you and your sister will have a sleepover. But the thing about that is, you will have two of your friends over, and she'll have two of her friends over. Right after you and Momo went to bed, four people requested for a sleepover before the wedding. They're also gonna be the bridesmaids and groomsmen." He cleared his throat and took off his glasses and pushed them back up. "Now get off the bed and let's get going, we don't want to miss the King and Queen's departure."
"Okay... can you just give me a couple of minutes? I just flopped back on the bed, and it's sooo comfy!" To leave or not to leave the bed? That is the question. I really don't want Nighteye to get angry at me though, guess I have no other choice.
After getting off the bed, I followed Nighteye out of my room and we headed to the throne room. Momo was in the middle of a conversation with the King and Queen about something. She then noticed our arrival and walked up to me and Nighteye. "Are you ready, Izuku?"
"Ready as I'll ever be. I'm gonna miss them when they leave."
"I understand, but we must let them go, they've earned this vacation after running this kingdom." Momo gave me a reassuring smile and I smiled back at her.
"I really wish we got to talk more, Izuku," the queen joined in and went over to where I am, "knowing you, you would make a fantastic partner to my Neito!" Seriously! How did she be so sweet and kind, but yet still brought an egomaniac into this world?! The queen giggled, "If my son ever did something to offend you, like cheating, abusing, or breaking your heart, I won't hesitate to come back and give my son a proper spanking." So, she's aware of his attitude?
"Oh I'm sure they'll be fine." The king added in as he was talking with a servant with a list of things to check before they leave.
"I feel like such an irresponsible parent, Neito always looked up to my father, he was such a cruel man. It used to be called the kingdom of Kurogiri, he named it after himself. When he was just a kid, his grandpa was very sick and weak, I didn't want my son near him. But, me being my naive self let him talk to his grandson before he passed. It was a mistake letting him see Neito. I don't know what words were put in him, but he hasn't been the sweet boy I knew..." she started to sob from her words, more tears being let out.
"I really never liked her father, in fact, he never liked me either. We decided to change the name of the Kingdom Kuroyuri after his death. Named it after those uncommon flowers that started blooming around the kingdom, black lilies. Maybe Izuku will change Monoma's perspective and make him into a better person," he pointed out and went over to his wife and hugged her from behind, "So please, stop blaming yourself, you were a fantastic mother. It really hurts seeing you like this."
"Heh... I'm sorry for getting emotional before we left, I'm just a little worried seeing our son grow up-"
"Your majesty! The boat's already by the dock," the maid came in to announce the boat's arrival.
"Thank you for letting us know, we'll be at the carriage shortly," The king thanked her and the maid did a little head bow and left. Two other servants came into the room and helped each other out with a big trunk. "Careful with that, it has our crowned jewels and gems, please don't drop them."
Looking at those two, they were having a hard time because there were multiple trunks in the throne room. I'm sure they won't mind me helping them out. As I was about to lift a trunk of things, a servant got it out of my hands and walked with it.
"A prince like you shouldn't do anything. I mean, you're royalty after all, so what's the point of having servants if you want it done yourself?" He said and walked away with what I had in my hand. Is it wrong to punch someone else's own servants? Because I really want to hurt him right now! No! Keep it together, take deep breaths, deep breaths.
"Izuku, are you alright? You seem a little off today," Momo interrupted my thoughts and glanced back at her.
"Oh it's nothing, I'm still tired, heh! Speaking of off, where's Monoma? Isn't he going to see you guys depart?" I asked the queen nervously, chuckled and scratched the back of her head.
"He's still asleep. Since we'll be coming back soon, he doesn't think it's that important." Lucky him, oh, no actually that's rude of him. Considering the fact she gave birth to him and this is the thanks she gets? Such a kind woman who doesn't deserve this, I'm literally crying on the inside.
"Izuku?! Why are you crying just now?! Someone get him a handkerchief !" The queen panickedly shouted and a few servers instantly came into the throne room with handkerchiefs.
-
"This has been fun, getting to talk and meet his husband to be." The queen shook my hand and smiled at us.
"It was an honor, we'll make sure everything is alright." Momo replied with a little curtsey.
We both said our goodbyes and watched them getting aboard on the ship. Sailors untying the ropes, and pushing the boat to let it drift off to sea. I wonder how small we are to them?
"Okay, enough of the sappy goodbyes, we need to get back to the castle." Nighteye interrupted the mood and we both sighed as we know what's yet to come. "Momo, I need you to make the guest list for this wedding and make some kind of invitations, you were good at arts and crafts when you were a kid, right?"
"Yeah, though it has been a while since I've actually made something like those, it may take a while." She explained as we all started walking to the carriage.
"Um excuse me, will this be the last time we'll be outside of the castle?" I questioned Nighteye and he made a quick glance and back at his list.
"Of course this'll be the last time you'll be outside. This place is filthy, wouldn't want you guys to catch a cold. If anything happens to you guys, your father will place me personally responsible for this."
"Okay I get the message! But, before we go anywhere, I do need to use the bathroom."
"Now?! Can't you hold it until we get to the castle?" He spatted at me, and groaned. "You know what? Fine. Fine! You can go! Just take five minutes and come back here, okay?"
"Every time you say that, that's gonna add another five minutes!" I added as I rushed away from the carriage and headed into the village. Freedom!
Now that I'm nowhere near anyone who's going to stop me, I'm gonna have an actual look around in the village and act like I had to use the bathroom. As I walked into the village, people looked very tired and worn out. I heard some people laughing up ahead and saw some of Monoma's guards talking and laughing. Shit! I'm done for, goodbye cruel world.
"Hm? Prince Izuku? What are you doing outside of the palace at this time of day? Shouldn't you be spending the day with Prince Monoma?" The guard asked me as they stopped.
"Oh! My sister, advisor, and I were just by the dock for the king and queen to depart. I actually had to use the bathroom, do you know where that is?"
"Pfft! Why use a bathroom in this environment? It's obvious these commoners don't keep things clean." He laughed, "But if you want to know, there's a bar down at the end of the village. Just take a right and you'll be there."
"Thank you!" I ran ahead of them and went towards the end of the village. I didn't know they treated the villagers like this. There must be someone who can tell me what happened to this place. Seems like those guards do patrols around here just to keep things at bay.
Thud! "Oh pardon me sir, I didn't mean to bump into you..." a stranger apologized to me.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. Say uhm, I'm sorry for asking this, but can you tell me what happened to this village?"
"Hm? I don't quite follow, I'm just visiting family at this time of year. I'm actually on vacation as of right now."
"I see. Sorry if I caused you trouble." The stranger nodded his head and waved his hand 'no'.
"Sorry if I couldn't be of help, now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna surprise my family with the little money I have left and buy them some bread." He said and left me alone. He's such a nice guy. As I was done waving back at him, I put my right hand in my pocket. That's odd?
I rummaged through my pocket for a moment. I could've sworn I brought a pouch full of my mon-.
"Hey you! Get back here!" My feet started moving very fast, I ran forward and saw him looking back at me. He stuck his tongue out and picked up his pace. Dammit! I thought the pouch of his money looked familiar, he must've bumped into me and took it while I was distracted.
He pushed a barrel down, to keep me away from him. I jumped over it and continued to keep running after him. He made a right between the houses, I followed his tracks because of the mud and finally caught up to him. Though, when I finally caught up, I found him lying on the ground.
What the-? What happened to him? I walked over to the unconscious man and kneeled down to get a closer look at him. It looked like he had gotten hit by something or someone. He's still breathing, now I should take my money and leave. My eyes glanced over to the man's hand for a moment, I'm sure that was where he was holding the pouch.
"Looking for something?" Who said that? I looked around frantically and saw no one. I must be imagining things, "Up here!" Huh? My eyes darted over to a building and saw a man standing on the roof, holding something. The wind started to blew a bit, we didn't make any sound and all that could be heard was the whistling wind.
A/N: I am officially on summer break! Now I can focus more on this story and be able to update a lot! I did bits and pieces of this new chapter while I had a break every now and then. Though, I'm still going to be busy because of vacations, and I'm gonna try to apply for a job soon, so that may take up most of my time to write.
Anyway! Hopefully I get this story all done for those who want to read.
Have a good day or night, take care of yourselves, wash your hands, wear a mask, stay safe, have plenty of food and water, and a good night's rest. Bye!