Royalty/Reincarnation AU!
TW: hitting, death
stablehand!Inosuke x princess!Aoi
Pushed to a forced marriage to an old man whom she's only met a few times, the princess spends time within the walls of her new prison, only to fall in love with a stablehand...
c. 5000 words
---
Shivers and the feeling of disgust crawled up her arm, seeing the older man deliberately kiss her hand for longer than intended. Understandably, her mother's expression changed briefly before reverting to its signature smile, the smile that the kingdom was famous for.
"She's very pleased to meet you." her mother managed, coughing slightly before placing her gloved hands back together politely.
The noblesse grinned, a shiny golden sparkle almost blinding between his gray-toothed smile. If it weren't for her schooling, she outwardly would have cringed.
"Pleasure to meet the princess." he rasped, his throat dry from the intake and stench of alcohol radiating off of him.
"Pleasure is mine." she swallowed thickly, looking away.
Seeing her mother send her a warning glare through the lens of her eyes, her mother looked away, placing a gentle hand into the waiting palm of the noblesse. Again, he pressed a kiss to her ring, a sign of her marriage to her father.
Who was never here.
Her father, who ran away just two weeks after their marriage, leaving her mother to raise her on her own, in the prison that was this castle.
If anything, she could almost imagine herself seeing this as... a change of scenery.
A change of scenery with an obscene old man who probably didn't even know the first thing about her, except the fact that she was pretty and young.
"Get him out of here." she ground out from her teeth.
"Well, now, that's no way to speak to your future husband." he whispered, suddenly behind her as he whispered this into her ear.
"Excuse me," her mother cleared her throat expectantly, "please get your hands off my daughter. If not, well, there's always the next noblesse-"
The next one?
"If you'll excuse me," she spat, "I think I'll retire to my room. I'm a little... light-headed from all the excitement."
---
She stepped out of the carriage, her eyes trained on the floor, the shadow of the tower looming over her as the wind swept leaves around her head, almost taunting her with just the sliver of freedom that she tasted as the drawbridge lowered, welcoming her into the confinements of yet another prison that she was subjecting herself to.
"Princess~" the noblesse stepped down from his high horse and spread his arms warmly, his smile widening though not friendly as he handed the reigns of his horse off to a boy, who, oddly enough, was half-naked.
Averting her eyes, she looked away, even though the boy bowed before her, sparkling green eyes underneath a brown cap that hid his hair beneath the starched fabric.
"My husband," she smiled, her soft smile not reaching her eyes, with no movement to glide forward on the balls of her toes.
She had no love for her husband, was it not obvious.
