I love you, but I don't (Reiner x Fem!reader)

Chapter Four- Rising Tensions

This is the rewrite of the fourth chapter that used to be titled 'An Unwanted Fire'. Things will start taking a more similar route to the story before from now on but there will still be a lot of changes, thank you for your patience and support!

3rd POV

(I listened to 'I Put A Spell On You' by Nina Simone while writing this bit)

Y/n opens the main door, leaving the store. Reiner is waiting right outside for them. He immediately notices Sasha's face being much paler than usual but decides not to make a mention of it. Either way, he wasn't going to find out what they were doing inside the bookshop or who they had been talking about earlier in the carriage. He couldn't start testing his luck so early on, especially when Y/n clearly wasn't a fan of him.

He opens the carriage door, but Y/n lifts her hand slightly, signalling him to stop. "We will be looking around the town," she tells him.

"I don't think it's safe," Reiner answered, catching Y/n and Sasha off guard. His voice had been unheard since their initial greeting; its sudden emergence was a surprise.

"Pardon me?" Y/n asks, staring back at Reiner, "Are you implying Ourvud is unsafe?" She asks, clearly annoyed by Reiner trying to dictate what exactly would be right or wrong.

"I'm not implying anything," he responds right away, "I'm simply saying that it's imprudent to walk around the town without any protection but myself as the queen," he says, his tone serious and cold, as he looks at her, his eyes defiant.

"I don't need protection," she quickly replies, moving closer to him, her eyes staring daggers into his, "On top of that, the people of Paradis do not know I am their queen, so I'm no danger." Her tone matches his cold one, but a quiet anger can be noticed in hers.

Neither of them utters a single word for what feels like an eternity; their intense gazes lock on one another as the tension between them intensifies. The atmosphere in their presence is so palpable and weighted that it feels like a physical force, almost visible in its density. They stand there together like statues, unable to tear their eyes away from each other as the silence stretches out around them. Reiner notices the rise and fall of her chest with each breath she takes. Y/n's heart pounding loudly in her chest as she holds back her evident irritation for the officer; she can't precisely decipher what about him makes her so angry; it's as if his presence in itself vexes her.

Sasha can't help but stare at both of them, feeling the rising tension, her eyes noticing the hostile stares between each other. She doesn't say anything or move; she just waits and sees what happens. Part of her finds the mutual dislike amusing and intriguing. It wasn't often that Sasha saw someone talk back to Y/n with the same level of strength she held, especially since no one really dared to say anything to her after she was crowned queen.

"Perhaps you don't need protection," Reiner finally says, breaking the silence as he steps closer to Y/n, his voice low but still cold. It causes goosebumps to go down Sasha's back, as she's surprised by his tone. "But, unfortunately, my job is to protect you."

"I am fully aware of what your job is," she answers almost immediately, her tone strict, "That is why I don't need you to tell me what I should do," she adds, glaring at him one last time before moving back, creating distance between them again. "We won't take long looking around."

She turns around and walks over to Sasha, taking her hand as she starts walking. Reiner sighed, his gaze briefly resting on the side before he followed behind them. He knew he shouldn't have spoken to her so harshly, not because it wasn't allowed, but because he was supposed to get Y/n to trust him, not make her wary of him. His tone had been too direct and demanding; it hadn't been the right approach. He cursed himself internally for making such a mistake.