Our Strange Duet (Yandere Modern Princes x Reader)

Chapter 52: Freely Confined

After the ball, the nobility were escorted to their rooms at the castle to stay in for the night. Some would stay longer, some shorter, but the (h/c) haired girl had fallen asleep almost instantly. Her embarrassment and insociable state of mind drained her energy when she was around others, especially those that she didn't know. It wasn't an issue, however. Rei treated her kindly when she slept, watching over her until he was certain she was at peace. Only then did he fall asleep with her.

Yet, in the morning, when he woke up, he was surprised to find that his mother was waiting for him. She had a straight face, her lips pressed into a fine line with an unreadable expression. In response to her presence, he scoffed, and rolled his eyes, throwing his arm around the younger girl and ignoring the woman. He wasn't in the mood to have to engage in an early morning argument with her. The blonde would much rather lay in bed with (Y/n) and be at peace for once.

"Rei," his mother called.

The blonde groaned, closing his eyes tightly as he tucked his head in the younger girl's neck. She was so warm, especially against the early spring morning's cold air that came through the open balcony door. The male narrowed his eyes at that. Still, his mother's presence was more irritating and he found himself huffing again. It was certainly not the ideal way to start the morning - bickering with his mother - and he would much rather everything go away until the (h/c) haired girl woke up. After that, he would be fine to go about whatever needed to be done.

"This is a top priority," the woman repeated, a frown beginning to form on her lips, "and it needs to be discussed now."

At that point, Rei was fed up with his mother's interference. She had come into his room and was demanding he leave the warm embrace of his lover to speak with her about whatever. If she had continued spewing garbage, she would have woken the younger girl up, and the blonde was averse to letting that happen. She had a big night and needed her rest. Besides, it was only going to get more hectic from there, nobles and civilians alike questioning her about everything.

Thus, the male stood up and placed a kiss on the younger girl's forehead before following his mother reluctantly to the observatory. She didn't speak on the way there, possessing a stagnant gaze ahead of her and little to nothing else. It angered him how she thought she was still the most important person in the castle. She thought herself even above him, and frankly, he was getting sick of it.

"Well, what did you want?" he snapped, sitting down and focusing his attention on some birds chirping at the window.

"Now that you decided to announce to the world that girl of yours was abducted, people have already made the connection to your brothers."

"Isn't anyone capable of doing something themselves? Why do I always have to deal with everything?"

"If you didn't rush in with your guards, making a big deal of it to all of the people in that city, you wouldn't have to. But now you can't keep your brothers out of the public's eyes unless you want public outrage to spark."

Rei didn't care for the fact that he had to deal with his brothers. It shouldn't have been something complicated. They had wronged him and deserved to be punished. If it were up to him, and it wouldn't affect the (h/c) haired girl, they would have been dead already. Well, Ichiro would have been, and depending on Kazuki's involvement, he might have been let go. Still, neither would go without their just desserts.

"So, what?" the male sighed, "What do you want me to do?"

"Keep them under supervision and give them house arrest for the time being. The public needs to see them. Then you can falsify whatever you want and do as you please. I won't have you lose your crown because you're jealous."