Diving Deep (requests closed)

Yandere!Ash Landers (Black Butler) - Dark Dealings

I could feel his  fingers, gently caressing the skin of my upper arm as I sat there,  watching the pale-haired male on the other side of the room as he tended  to the Queen. Trying to avoid thinking about the one next to me, I hid  the shudder that tried to run through me as the much older man grinned  at my father, eager to continue negotiations for my hand in marriage.

Truly it was both a  blessing and a curse to be born into money, getting to enjoy the  luxuries of life at the cost of your freedom to choose your own future.  Especially if one was female.

I swallowed a few times  to keep my meal from coming back up when I felt the older mans lips  pressing against the back of my hand, his mouth parted just enough for  his teeth to graze my skin. My father ignored my subtle discomfort,  simply smiling again as he nodded to the man who had named a high price  for the 'honor' of having me as his bride. As if any honor was involved  in this deal.

Hearing my father clear  his throat and tell me it was time to go, I could barely keep myself  from running out of the ball room, taking only long enough to glance  once more at the Queen's attendant. I could have sworn I saw a frown  flash across the otherwise expressionless face I was staring at before  he turned away, whispering into the Queen's ear.

--------

The whispers that rang  out as I sat there had little effect on me, some odd blend of shock and  horrid satisfaction filling me as I watched the trial progress. After  all, any love I might have had left for the man before me had been lost  long ago, around the same time he had decided to start taking me to  events where he could show me off as "a beautiful flower almost of age  to be plucked by the one lucky enough to wed her."

How could I continue to  feel love towards someone who was willing to treat me like some prize  horse waiting to be sold to the highest bidder? When the judge  pronounced my father guilty of treason against the crown, I shed no  tears.

The best news was that I  no longer had to wed that old man, the noble having been another of  those accused of having committed treason alongside my father. Sadly,  the fortune he had amassed as a Duke went to the Queen, leaving me  without a home or money to afford food nor shelter. I had to admit, I  could understand why she did it, as she did not want the money to go to  anyone who might feel sympathy for my father's treasonous ideals and us  it to try to further them.

--------

How I wish I had been  born a male, then I would not have to rely on another to look after me.  Instead, all I had been taught by my father was how to look pretty for  others and the few things that would be useful for a bride to know.  Mostly useless things like playing a harp, dancing, embroidery and how  to quietly make sure a household stayed running, all things that would  do me little good in the situation I had found myself in following my  father's imprisonment in the Queen's dungeon.

I would have been better  off learning how to actually clean, cook or sew seams into fabric. At  least one of those skills could have gotten me a job that didn't require  me to remove my clothing. I dreaded the thought I might have to someday  work at one of those houses. It would be just as bad, if not  worse, than what my father had tried to sell me into with that marriage  contract he had signed.

Looking up at my  father's cousin, I shivered upon his doorstep as the rain poured down  and prayed he would let me stay with him for the time being. It had  taken a few days to find his house and I was more dirty, cold and hungry  than I had ever felt before.

"Please, even just one  night? Just so I can dry myself off and get warm, please?" I was almost  ready to drop to my knees and beg when he stepped back and motioned for  me to enter, tears of relief filling my eyes. "Thank you! Thank you so  much!"