[Crown of the King] Yuno Grinberryall x Reader

[8: The Shore]

MENTIONS OF SUICIDE AND Infanticde.

Reader POV (past, before Asta is chosen as Wizard King right before Chapter 34)

Things between Yuno and I had gotten good recently. He and I would go about our days, separate but we would meet up for meals.

"I will grant you one wish," Yuno told me. "Only because you will someday birth my heir."

I looked down at the sapphire and diamond ring. "Anything?"

"Except divorce or anything that will harm either of us."

"Then let me go swimming in the North Sea. I want to feel the power of the ocean."

So we went to the sea. I jumped into the water. I felt my lungs burning the longer I stayed under. I just...gave up. Everything so far had hurt. Sure, he and I had been on nice terms, and I was carrying his child, but he did not know and I was not going to tell him.

I'm so sorry, little one.

But just as I was about to succumb, I felt Yuno grab me from under the waves. There was a high ringing sound as I passed out in his arms. I woke up much later when I was on a bed.

"You know, I really applaud your resilience," Yuno came in with a glass of water. "You almost died, yet the scales saved you." He sat down on the bed next to me after giving me the water. "I never wanted you to want to kill yourself. I know things aren't okay between us, but you never tell me how you feel. I always have to guess and it's tiring."

"So is being raped and held hostage."

"And I'm sorry." He looked up at me but I wasn't looking at him. "I was telling the truth back then, by the way."

"Hm?"

"When you saw my coronation. When I told you I wanted to make up and to have a love marriage. I truly loved you, (y/n)."

"Well, this bitter feeling I have towards you is the product of you forcing yourself on me."

Yuno nodded with shame. "I know. I just don't want to loose you. Even if it weren't for the royal customs, I would never divorce you-"

"You just want to control me. If you truly loved me, why did you lie to me back during the time before our wedding?"

"The secrets. I understand now that you didn't know that Julius was sharing a soul with Lucius, but it still hurts that you kept it from me. Charlie had to be the one to break it to me. They murdered my father and left my mother and I survivors. I can't look at you properly, though I am slowly learning to. I'm sorry."

I looked away from him. "But you still had every opportunity to correct your mistakes yet you keep making them. If you're wondering, that is why I'm easily able to talk to Leopold about anything and nothing with you."

"And I'm sorry." He held me tighter in his arms. We stayed like that for hours, me eventually falling asleep. I woke up to the sound of his gentle snoring, him sleeping next to me.

I felt the two move around in me, touching it with my hand. The one baby reacted by kicking, a feeling that I let myself enjoy to the fullest.

Maybe... I moved Yuno's hand onto the area. This is your father, little ones. His name is Yuno Grinberryal and he is the king of the Spade Kingdom. I wasn't going to tell Yuno verbally I was with child, but I knew if I touched him in his sleep, he wouldn't remember.

I moved Yuno's hand off and touched the heart-shaped locket Yuno created for me after a long and hard training day back at Klaus' home. He had been so excited to give it to me since he crafted it with the help of Klaus and Winston Lunettes, but only showed emotions around me. He had been so adorable when giving it to me while looking away with scarlet on his face.

If you had stayed the same man I fell in love with, I would've happily married you and I would've told you everything including who Julius was...I rolled over and gently brushed raven locks off his face. While our paths are deeply intertwined, you choose to treat me terribly. You claim to want to be better, yet you turn around and lay your hands on me.

When Caspian was born, there were lots of complications.

Leopold was holding my hand, gently pressing clothes on my head, an Atlantean physician near me.

"Your Highness," Damie said to Leopold. "Her life is in danger. You have to be the one to make the call: save her and loose the children or...."

"Save her," Leopold said immediately. "I can't loose her."

Damie knew that they were not married, but it was no secret the affection they shared. "I will do my best."

I came to hours later, Leopold holding two children, one boy and an extremely tiny girl.

"I'm sorry." Leopold said as he handed me the boy. "She didn't make it."

I held the boy in my arms. "We will name her Stella. She will be the brightest star in the sky. Let me hold both of them." The girl had Yuno's messy raven tufts, and I didn't know what color eyes as they were sealed tightly.

"And the boy?"

I stared at him. "Caspian. His name will be Caspian."

Stella was laid to rest in a basket, giving her a proper Atlantean funeral. The basket was decorated with incense and flowers, Damie taking me deep underwater to put her with our Atlantean ancestors as per my request.

Leopold held me so close that night, tending to my every need as well as Caspian's.

"He must never find out who his father really is," I fretted. "Not until he's old enough to understand why I left."

"What about his twin?"

"I will tell him about that too," I said. "We must raise him here surrounded by love and none of the hell he would've gone through had I stayed in the castle."

NOW

I watched Caspian and Amore sleep together on the large bed. I will protect you with all my heart, my loves.

Night fell over the Clover Kingdom and I heard the quiet exchange of words outside the room where I was kept in order to protect the family I created.

Yuno, I need you to come back to me. Even after all this time, I still loved him to an extent, but I could not excuse what he did to me, my family, the Atlanteans, and the torture he put Leopold through.

War is coming, but we will win. And I will divorce you.