Royals. (Prince! Komaeda Nagito x Fem! Reader x Prince! Hajime Hinata)

1. The Bakery.

"Damnit, stop fighting with me!"

I wiped the sweat off of my brow with my elbow, letting out a hearty sigh. Suddenly, I heard footsteps enter the room, causing me to freeze up in place like a statue.

"(Y/n), just what are you yelling abo-" A female voice boomed, yet it stopped mid-sentence. Next thing I knew, it erupted into laughter.  "Seriously, are you getting all worked up about dough again?"

I turned slowly to the doorway, meeting the cheerful gaze of my mother. Her usually stern expression had eased up for a fleeting moment, and I couldn't help but let out a laugh as well.

"My apologies, mother, I didn't mean to cause you any trouble," I assured her, proceeding to pick back up on kneading the dough in hand.

Her usual strict demeanor returned, her hands placing themselves on her hips as she glared at me.  "My word, (y/n), lettering day is in a week! How do you expect one of the princes to select you if you keep acting out in this way!"

I pushed into the dough a little harder than usual, hoping to mask my frustration with the movement. Of course, she had to bring up lettering day. It was only the start of one of the biggest events of the decade, if not century. 100 girls would be selected to meet up with the princes and live in the castle with hopes of it ending in marriage. Part of the draw was that any maiden in the kingdom was fair game; in fact, the queen from years before was but a lowly cleaning maid.

"Perhaps I don't want to receive a letter," I retorted, splitting the dough carefully into equal portions. "Father wouldn't have cared about such a thing..."

"(Y/n)! You little twit! How dare you speak to me like that!" My mother yelled, nearly knocking a pan to the ground in frustration. I kept my gaze low— focused intently on the dough— so as not to add more fuel to the fire. I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty, regretting having brought up such a sensitive subject in front of her.

Sure enough, my mother gave in, letting out a defeated sigh. "I just want what's best for you, my dear (y/n)."

I dropped the dough from my hands, turning to face my seemingly offput mother. I couldn't help but wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Mother, I know that. But this bakery is what's best for me. I'm happy here."

After a few moments, my mother pulled away wordlessly, giving me but a small nod as she headed out of the kitchen. Before she left, however, she hesitated, turning back to me and staring at me with that piercing gaze of hers. "Sometimes, my dear, you must think with your head, and not your heart."

I groaned internally at her "prophetic" words, returning to the lumps of dough pathetically sitting on the counter. Think with my head? Hell, she was the one thinking with her heart! She was the one who mentioned the blasted lettering day in the first place!

After putting my putting the lumps of dough onto a sheet and into the hearth, my attention was alerted to the sound of ringing bells from the entrance. I quickly wiped my hands onto my skirt, striding to the front counter to meet the new customer.

"Welcome to Sunflower Bakery! How may I help you?" I greeted the visitor, who was a man who appeared to be in his forties.

"Good morning, my dear! His highness would like to request his daily delivery of bread from your establishment," the man explained, though my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

It was such a simple request, one which all the bakers in the kingdom were familiar with: every day, the king selected a bakery to purchase the palace's bread from. Typically, it was the same one— Celine Patisserie, which was conveniently right outside of the palace gates. But, it appears today he had a change of heart.

"Yes, right away!" I assured the man, quickly fumbling around the kitchen and trying to gather all of the loaves I could muster. I wasn't sure exactly how much bread the palace would require, but I wrapped a couple dozen loaves up in clusters before placing them on the counter in front of the man.

"I-is that enough?" I stammered, admiring the massive stack of bread that stood on the counter before me.

"More than," the man assured me, letting out a hearty chuckle. He then snapped his fingers, causing a few men to file in and take the bread out of the building. "How much payment do you require? Would 500 monocoins suffice?"

"500?!" I echoed, my eyes widened in surprise. Usually, a shipment that large would go for 100 at most, but I wasn't keen on telling the man that fact. With the drop of a coin bag and some muttered farewells, the bakery fell silent again, 500 monocoins richer than it was before.

I couldn't help but let out a girlish squeal, putting a few of the coins in the pocket of my skirt. Mother would take all of it for herself, anyways, and I had been dying to purchase some of the new flour imported from a nearby kingdom from the market. I then placed the remaining coins on the kitchen counter, admiring the shine and luster of currency from his majesty himself.

Suddenly, I smelled a horrible odor, coming from the hearth itself. I cursed to myself as I removed the bread, which was— of course— totally burnt.

—

In the throne room of the castle sat two young boys, positioned side by side one another. In front of them stood an older man, who bowed to them politely before addressing them.

"Young Majesties, it is a week until lettering day. I possess in my arms a book with data on every eligible maiden in the kingdom. If you would each like to select 50 who suit your fancy, that would be most excellent."

"Why don't you just select for me?" The white haired prince laughed in response, his tone cold yet playful at the same time.

The other prince turned to his adopted brother in horror before bowing slightly to the man before them. "I... my apologies, sir. He means well."

"I can take the book off your hands," the brunette prince offered, leaving his throne to take the thick, leather bound book from the older man. He bowed again to the two princes before scurrying off without another peep.

"Why did you suck up to him so much?" The white haired prince scoffed, glaring at his brother distastefully. "You aren't seriously keen on this lettering thing, are you?"

The other prince stared down at the book in his hands, flipping through a few of the pages. Each provided names, ages, occupations, and brief descriptions of each maiden in the kingdom. How would he select a wife based on such little information, a statistic?

Suddenly, the other prince yanked the book from him, observing it at his own pace. The book fell open somewhere in the middle, when the boy stopped dead in his tracks, selecting a name out of a sea of faceless women.

"This one. (Y/n)," the boy laughed, extending a gloved finger to the handwritten text. "Says that she's a baker from the Sunflower bakery..."

"Komaeda... Isn't that in the poorer part of the kingdom?" The brunette prince gulped, tugging on the hem of his collar. He was all to familiar with that area, considering it was where he had spent his life before he came to the kingdom. The reminder instilled that nagging feeling into him once again, the one that kept him up at night.

Could an adopted prince truly inherit the kingdom?

"Yeah, but who cares?!" Prince Komaeda exclaimed, a wide grin curling onto his lips. "Isn't it more fun when you go by luck, Hajime? Keeps everyone in suspense!"

"I... I guess," Prince Hajime murmured, placing a gloved hand to his chin. "Now that you mention it, wasn't the bread from today's lunch from Sunflower bakery..?"

"Yes, it was!" Komaeda exclaimed, reminiscing on the meal he had consumed hours before. "You could practically taste the hope kneaded into that bread! It was divine! Well, it's settled! (Y/n) (l/n) will be our first letter receiver!"

"I... ok," was all the brunette offered in response.

Komaeda couldn't help but let out a devious chuckle. The whole situation was all too exciting for him, causing him to wriggle around the seat of his throne.

"(Y/n)... I wonder what kind of hope you have to bring to the palace...!"

—

Woohoo first time writing again in a while hope you enjoyed! Leave a vote and a comment if you want to see more!