His Obsession (Yandere Prince x Reader)

Prologue

6:00 a.m.

Zwarfe, Estenia

Y/n's POV

I wave goodbye to my mother and siblings before leaving. Quite frankly, I don't think she even knows where I go off to. All she knows is that I leave at dawn and come back at dusk with enough food to feed us the next day. She probably assumes I have a job.

In reality, I don't. I go out at dusk everyday and wander the markets, stealing whatever I can get my hands on: which actually turns out to be a lot. I can normally snatch some food and quite a few pretty pieces of jewelry that I can send to my black market contact for some money (way less than he should be giving me, mind you).

Today, I decide to go big and start out in the nobles' market. I turn toward the woods behind my house, walking through for a few minutes. I hop over a creek and walk some more before finally getting to my little stash. I step into the little hut, glancing over my small pile of coppers before landing on a dress. I had recently purchased a lovely little piece of clothing: something not too pretty and expensive but also not too cheap-looking. It's done well to disguise me in the smaller noble markets, so today, I'm going for the big one.

I jog back through the woods with a cloak wrapped around me so that no one in the poorer districts thinks anything of my fancy dress. When I make it to the crossing between the two districts, I duck into an alley and pull off my cloak. Smoothing out my dress and fixing my hair, I step into the noble district.

You can visibly see the difference between the two districts. On this small side road, my district has dirt roads while the nobles have beautifully paved cobble. You can literally see where the two meet. You can also tell from the houses. The noble houses are wonderful masterpieces. They are mainly two-story, clean brick houses along the outer rings. When you travel further in, they only get nicer: beautiful architecture, clean walls, and perfectly manicured lawns. However, on the poor side of the divide... we have one-story slums. Many houses are haphazard, tin structures, barely having one room in each. Because of my... skills, I managed to buy us the materials to make ourselves a small cottage on the far edge of town, almost ten miles from where I now stand.

I only get further as I walk along, entering the noble side. I try my hardest to keep calm as I near the central market, but my heart is beating crazily. I can see guards standing along the edge of my vision, but that's not what I'm worried about.

Recently, every time I come to the noble district, I feel as though I'm being watched, but this time, the eyes aren't on me. I sigh in relief and walk around. I pretend to look at the stalls, but I'm actually just eyeing the nobles around me. I've found that women are easier to steal from since most of them are bubble-headed. I scope out one that looks particularly rich and, of course, particularly pretty.

I grin to myself and slide over near her. I keep a level expression, a light smile on my face. Right as I reach out for her purse, someone grabs my wrist. I flash around to see an angry guard lifting up my arm.

"Thief!" he shouts.

All those around us stop to stare, intrigued by the supposed thief in a lady's dress. I panic slightly before remembering that I taught myself what to do in this instance.

I scoff and yank my hand from his grip. "I beg your pardon, sir! How dare you accuse me of being a thief?!"

"You were slipping your hand into this woman's purse!" He points to the girl I was trying to rob.

I scoff again, trying to seem offended. "I was not! I was simply reaching to tap her arm and tell her-" I turn to the woman, a kinder smile flitting across my face. "-tell you that your dress looks beautiful on you, and I was wondering where I might purchase one similar."

She blushes, obviously loving the compliment. "I got mine down at Bureaugard's. M-maybe I could accompany you there, Lady...?"

I flash her a charming smile that she blushes more at. "Lillian. Lady Lillian Costeau." I gently picked up her hand and kissed it, definitely not snatching her very expensive-looking ring at the same time. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I cannot occupy your time today. I have places to be."

She hangs her head. "Oh, I see. Well, will I see yo-" By the time she looks up, I'm already gone. I watch her look around for a moment before she sulks off.

I giggle lightly and turn to leave, figuring I still have enough gold stocked up to go home now. Plus, I could spend some more time with Matthew, Amelia, and my mom. I slip out of the noble district and back into the alley I started in, changing out of my dress. When I step out of the alley, I see the guard from earlier as well as three of his comrades.

"Miss, you are under arrest for thievery," he announces.

I look down at my clothes, realizing that I can't get out of this one. I look up and smile apologetically before running away from them.

I can hear him faintly shout, "Get her!"

I keep running, but I'm nowhere near as fast as the trained guards. One easily catches up to me and tackles me to the ground. I struggle to get out of his hold, but he just stands me up with my arms behind my back.

The other guards soon catch up, and the one from earlier yanks my bag off of me. He rifles through its contents before yanking out the dress from earlier. "Hm? Did you steal this too, urchin?"

I struggle against the hold of the guard behind me. "I did no such thing! I paid for it myself!"

"Oh? And was this with money that you had stolen?" he questions, raising his eyebrows.

I shut up and look at the ground.

"Well, that settles that. What is your name, filth?"

"It's (y/n)," I mutter.

"(Y/n)...?"

"That's it."

"Very well. (Y/n), you are under arrest for theft. You will be judged by his majesty tomorrow at dawn."

I stare up at him in shock. The prince was known for being cutthroat. All those who were sent to him ended up either dead or placed into the harshest prison in the country. "H-his Majesty?!" I splutter out. "Surely his majesty is not interested in petty theft?!"

The guard looks down at me with a smirk. "He is when it's his cousin who was robbed."

It hits me then how fucked I am.

First chapter, I'm so excited! Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!