[3rd Person POV]
It was the morning of the coronation and you could practically hear the chaos, it was very lively at sunrise in the palace. If you call running all over the place lively, that is.
The sun wasn't even up yet, but people were already getting ready for the big day.
After all, this will be the most important day in Sumeru history.
They wanted to be ready for the ceremony as soon as possible since the whole nation will pretty much be there, in the grand ball room of the huge palace.
Kings and Queens from other nations will also arrive so the workers must make sure that everything is extremely perfect.
Other noble families have also been invited to attend the celebration.
Of course not every day has a celebration like this one, but every time a monarch has died, they do and so naturally, every single thing needs to look absolutely perfect for the public eyes.
"You look very handsome, my lord." Kaveh comments, clearing his voice and trying to be nice for once despite holding small grudges against Al Haitham who finds every chance to tease him.
"Mm. You don't look to bad yourself. Although, your collar is little off and you can work on liking me a little bit more since you'll be by my side, forever." Al Haitham says in a teasing tone to Kaveh who just looks at Al Haitham as if he wanted to shove his shoe up his butt hole.
"That's the idea though, yeah?" Al Haitham says again with a wink while looking around.The guards are looking down but then Al Haitham notices something.
One of them is staring back at him with a suspicious stare. It took him a few seconds to figure out what exactly the man was staring at because he was too busy looking at the guards.
He turns his head to see what the guard was staring at and he sees a young woman standing behind the guards. It was (Y/N) who was still in her regular daily clothes that she would wear.
"I hope I'm not disturbing anything..." She says very timidly, her hands behind her back while looking at the two.
Al Haitham shakes his head with a slight smile while looking back at her.
He knows how much she dislikes seeing the guards acting very intimidating just by the look of her face and the only way to make things better is by talking to her without them in the room.
"You two can leave the room, just wait outside and don't let anyone in unless it is my sister or Lady Viva." He commands and just like that, they exit out the room, closing the door behind them.
Once the door was closed completely, Al Haitham looks back at Y/N who is just nervously biting on her lip.
"What brings you here? Aren't you preparing for today?" He asks as he walks over to her and gives her a quick hug before letting go of her.
"Ah no... Actually I..." She trails off her sentence and looks towards Kaveh, hoping he'd get the signal to get out the room.
He locks eyes onto (Y/N) and understood before a long sigh leaves him and just leaves his best man to deal with the nervous woman.
As soon as he left, Al Haitham walked closer to (Y/N), outstretching his hand to her shoulder, placing it tenderly and giving a light squeeze.
"You can tell me anything, I have some time to spare." He says in a soft voice and just the touch of his hand made her feel calmer than usual.
"Um... Well..." She starts to say after a short pause but then pauses again. It's difficult for her to start explaining herself to Al Haitham when she never talks about this kind of stuff with anybody.
"Today is the day. You'll be King." She says, fiddling with her fingers.
"I will be. Is there something wrong with that?" He asks her, hoping to get an answer out of her.
"No! Nothing, never mind. I'm going to get going, I'm deeply sorry for wasting your time!" She says, taking his hand off her shoulder with her own hand and turning around to rush towards the door.
Just before she could open the handle of the grand doors that bestowed upon her, she felt Al Haitham trap her against the door with a hard slam to both sides of her figure.
She took this time to admire his outfit, it was elegant, it was representative of Sumeru's national colours, similar to her own style and dress.
"You're acting odd, you know you can tell me anything, right?" He says, bringing his hand up to her cheek and cupping it.
His thumb caresses her skin gently and he could clearly see a small blush forming on her cheeks, which were flushed from being caught red handed.
Al Haitham smiles at her and sighs before taking a deep breathe and saying what was on her mind.
"Will we still be able to stay the same after you become King?" She whispers, feeling vulnerable to say such a sensitive thing but then, he understands her and he leans forward and places a gentle kiss on her temple.
He pulls away first and smiles softly. "Yes, you will." He replies, squeezing her shoulders and kissing the top of her head lovingly before stepping aside and motioning for her to leave.
"You want to already kick me out, how cold?" She says, with a teasing tone in her voice.
A burst of confidence kicks in and she looks at him with a look of ambition. "Then you better keep to your words!" She says, grabbing his cheeks and looking at him with determination in her eyes.
His eyes widen at her sudden outburst which was soon replaced by chuckles towards her little act and shook his head, 'no'. "Not at all, but you too have a busy morning. We both will be busy the whole day till the evening.
She nods and smiles gratefully, before quickly rushing out of the room.
As she gets into the hallway, she sees Kaveh pacing up and down, looking stressed out. "Kaveh?" She says, stopping him from his little moment.
"Sorry, I'm glad you came out, something has happened last minute so we may have to delay the coronation to tomorrow maybe." He says, placing a hand on his head and rubbing his temples.
He stops quickly and slaps himself back to reality, giving (Y/N) a slight bow and goes back into Al Haitham's office.
She too leaves, going down the hallway, down the stairs and sees Nilou running towards her. "(Y/N)! We have been looking for you!" Nilou says, running up to her and grabbing her hands.
She tugs her along to the palace gardens where they see Tighnari, Collei, Cyno and Nahida sitting at a marble bench table with some food and drinks.
"Nahida decided to host a small get-together before tonight." Cyno says casually.
"I hope you don't mind joining us unless you're busy?" Tighnari questions.
"No, other than tending to my herbs, I don't have much to do. I want to ask, Kaveh said something has happened that they may need to delay the coronation. Any clue what this might be?" She asked, knowing that they probably knew what it was already since they were probably the ones to arrange the entire event.
"Hello (Y/N)! I wanted to speak with you all before we go prepare for the coronation tonight!" Nahida says with her joyful and energetic tone.
"However, the reason I've called you here last minute is to let you know that you must be on alert at all times tonight."
"Well, we heard some rumours about something weird yesterday in town." Tighnari says slowly.
"Weird how?" (Y/N), inquired, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Don't freak out but we heard that Lady Shouka and her daughter have escaped prison. Now, they're trying to find out the culprit as they believe they're working with an outside organisation. We too are on high alert, anything suspicious will be reported."
She stood up abruptly, slamming her hands down onto the marble table. "What?!"
"We do have an idea as to who is responsible as there is only one person who despises our lord, deeply."
"Who?" You ask.
"Azar. Only he would dare to go to such lengths but obviously we cannot just say it without any empirical evidence."
She takes a moment to stop and think about all the events that have happened up till this point. "It seems like I'm the target for them, right?"
'Azar. That man... He was the one who was always on my case because he thought I was the suspicious one. Turns out the ones who try to act nice are just trying to hide their true intentions.' She thought to herself, closing her eyes for the brief moment before opening them again at the sound of footsteps.
"That is right, my lady."
A voice comes from behind and they turn to see Lady Viva coming up to them with a few of her accomplices following behind her.
"Lady Viva? What brings you here, please take a seat." Tighnari says, gesturing the available space right next to him.
She signals for her accomplices to go along their own ways for now, leaving her within their company.
She sits down on that spot and clears her throat before continuing. "What I mean to say is, you, (Y/N), dear have unnoticeably broke the chains of destiny that was wrapped around our King. Now the threads of fate have been broken by yourself unintentionally, the functions are starting to also break and go haywire."
There was a pregnant silence.
They let her words process into their brain but (Y/N) couldn't catch onto it.
Sensing the confusion, Lady Viva slightly smiles in amusement at their states. "In simple terms, you've changed the course of destiny, maybe for the better or worse. We do not know any longer."
"Are you talking about the prophecies?"
"Prophecies?" (Y/N) tilts her head in disbelief at this bizarre thing.
"Yes my lady, somehow you are in control of it."
(Y/N) shakes her head vigorously and stands up in panic, she doesn't wanna mess with this shit anymore.
"Look, I know that you've been through alot, so if this has brought you distress, we're sorry to have dragged you in this mess." She says.
"Why are you sorry for, Lady Viva?"
"The prophecies knew you'd apply for your position beforehand but we too all have an obligation to never bring harm towards our King. You changed him for the better so I do not regret my decision. You shouldn't make me regret this either (Y/N). Even though this is a big burden, you and the King have this bond that is far beyond to what destiny could ever give or provide." She explains, looking at the woman with a proud look on her face.
She stood up from her seat and said, "I will be getting on with the preparations of tonight. As the Princess said, we need to be on high alert tonight."
She turns to face (Y/N), uttering, "Thank you, thank you so much, my lady, I can't thank you enough. You saved our King unknowingly from being married to Lady Hina and becoming a corrupt king. You saved the Princess from having to face a life of loneliness and isolation." The woman said, bowing low before taking a step backwards towards the exit of the gardens.
(Y/N) felt herself growing a big smile, thinking about all the things she did to prevent Sumeru from being a corrupted land.
Nahida gathers the attention of everyone and looks at them all with a serious look on her face. "Alright, what we need to do tonight is many things. Tighnari and Collei will be patrolling the outer castle, Candace and Dehya have already volunteered to be on guard for the inner premises of the castle. Myself, (Y/N), Cyno and Nilou will be within the hall, making sure everything is okay and stable. There is also someone else who will help us try keep everything safe but will work in the shadows and not be on sight. My brother and Kaveh have also been informed of this plan as we speak. I knew about the situation before my brother did so I had to come up with something last minute. Does everyone understand their roles for tonight?" Nahida says with an mature tone and spoke with such elegance.
Everyone nodded, no questions were asked or uttered. Everyone had taken the job very seriously.
They all then left and went back inside the building, preparing for the event and gathering their supplies for the night.
(Y/N) decided to head towards her greenhouse to tend to the plants and herbs, making sure to do final checks before leaving it unattended for a while.
As she was tending to the herbs, she couldn't pick up the strange presence that lurked outside.
Two of the guards stood outside her door, making sure to be on the look out for any enemies but didn't manage to figure out the figure that was coming from the side of them.
Another guard came up to the both, saying something along the lines of changing shifts. "One of you two need to head inside, second night's orders."
The two guards look towards one another, shrugging in response and one of them had decide to go inside.
As soon as they left and saw some of the other guards near the premises leave the area to go an spectate another area, they started to execute their plan.
"Oh right, give me one moment, I was told to deliver a letter to the Lady inside." They say, holding up the 'letter' and showing it to the other.
The other just carelessly nods, feeling tired from having to guard the whole day and being a little bit more tired than usual.
They entered, seeing their target writing some things down on a piece of parchment paper at their little messy desk in the middle of the room. The aroma of the herbs created a peaceful and calm atmosphere in the room making it have more life to it.
(Y/N) lifted her head quickly at the sound of the door opening, hoping it'd be who she think it be but it was just another guard that she would see on a regular basis around the palace.
"Yes...?"
Whatever happened next, it was inevitable because it was too late.
That's how calculated people act after all.
Or was it?
[Al Haitham POV]
My sister looked at Azar with a calm and kind look, not becoming overly angry after catching him trying to sneak into (Y/N)'s and Collei's shared room.
"I'm not being angry with you, the only one who is overreacting is yourself, Azar. It only makes you seem even more suspicious with you lashing out and already starting with your lines with, "I can explain...!" She mocks him with the calmness.
If anyone who can handle any stressing situation or pressuring, it's Nahida. Her maturity is beyond her age but it is admiring and inspiring to others. I could always tell in old meetings, the look of jealously on the elder's faces at her words that she used so well and effectively.
"You plotted this! You did this so you can catch me to make me leave, you're a very calculated little girl, are you not?!" He shouts at her irrationally.
"Azar. We're not stupid if that is what you think. Who else would have the power to release the prisoners and put them back in other than myself, Al Haitham, first knight Kaveh and yourself. None of the other royal advisor's have no place because you're the eldest."
Guards came from behind us, and running past us to get Azar and place a resistance on him. "Don't let him die, let him suffer in the 'room'. We cannot let my guests worry about outsider matters. Make sure you send in extra guards to protect Miss (Y/N), at this very moment.
It is honestly out of place for me to act irrational but not after finding Azar being part of some plan which involved endangering (Y/N)'s life.
It may sound morally wrong but this woman... She's changing me really well and I respect that of her. We only met not too long ago but it feels like we both know each other, inside-out for more years. I find it hard to believe that I can be comfortable around someone who I've never really known for so long compared to opening up to people who have worked in my family for longer than herself.
But it does feel good, it feels normal. No matter how much time has passed, (Y/N) remains as the person I know in this new world, the one who understands, the one who makes me laugh, the one who is loyal.
I don't have any obligation whatsoever to protect her but, if she's the pinnacle to being the target for everyone. I'm intended to investigate and find the mastermind behind this. Now being crowned king today, it won't change much as it's just a heavier responsibility of a whole nation.
But, that does not mean I will ignore those who dare to put my people in danger or in constant fear of their lives. I'm not blind to the eye to know that being close to someone I start to care about, eventually my enemies would naturally also target them.
If that happens I would not hesitate to do whatever necessary to eliminate all threats that threaten the safety of this nation. I cannot live with myself knowing that (Y/N) would be targeted because of me.
So, I would do anything in order to protect her.
Even if it kills me.
A/N: Oh no, (Y/N) is a damsel in distress, again. God how many times is this woman going to get in trouble.
She has arms and legs to use to fight back 🤺🤺
(Y/N): Yeah, you did this to me. Now I expect you to do something about that.
These next few chapters will be lovely... I think 😃