Teach Me How To Live -~Zen Wistaria x Reader~-

Without them.

Today is my second day in tanbarun..
About a week ago I said goodbye to Zen, Mitsuhide and Kiki and began the ride to tanbarun with obi, shirayuki, and ari. And.. today I'm announcing to the world my title..

"Y/n, I promise itll be okay" shirayuki was trying to tell me while i was freaking out. There are people from many, many countries here ready for this news. The king sent for all these people to arrive today for big news concerning his kingdom and.. well, im not doing anything for the kingdom really.
"Y/n, I can assure you its not scarey out there" Raji told me but wasnt helping. I met my half siblings yesterday. Raji is my half brother but I'm not related to the other two by blood. Things yesterday were.. awkward.. Not even dad was here..
"Yeah, no, im okay, im totally alright" i assured them and tried to pick myself back up.
"You are not alright.." obi muttered and sighed. Right now im standing in a fancy dress with both my swords wrapped around my waist. I will never go a full day without wearing my swords and the king knows that and respects it thankfully so im allowed to keep wearing them over my dresses.. but i have to wear dresses everyday..
Suddenly the king, father, opened the door. My real dad isn't going to be here for any of this. People still think he's dead but he's still just hiding somewhere.
"Y/n, it's time" father told me with a smile and took my hand.
"Wh-What do I say?" I asked nervously.
"Be calm and honest. Tell them what you want" he said with a gentle smile and slowly walked me out to the public. Obi was right behind me standing guard in the back while I moved to the middle of the huge room everyone has gathered in.
"You all must be aware who this fine young lady is by now" father said with a smile as we stood in the front. I was shaking and was absolutely terrified so I pressed my hand against Zen's watch thay was hiding under the fabric of my dress. "As you all know I was once married long ago till my wife and I split ways. She's better known as Julie Moon these days though.." Father began. Everyone suddenly gasped and knew right away what that meant. "She remarried Mathew Moon and went on to have my lovely daughter, Y/n Moon" he explained and looked happily at me. Everyone was absolutely freaking out but were trying to stay quiet. "She is the true first princess of Tanbarun and will forever be known as such." Father announced loudly. To my surprise.. Everyone started clapping.
"Not only is she the greatest swordswoman of our time, she's a princess too!"
"Of course such a fine woman would be a ruler of our country!"
"Look how grown up she is already! She must be looking for a suiter!"
"Prince Zen of-"
They began to trail off back to zen and i..
"Y/n, would you like to add anything?" Father asked me before looking at the crowd who suddenly calmed down.
I took a deep breath and calmed myself down before talking, "Hello, like you, I only realized this truth just recently within the past few months. I cant say I know much about being some sort of royal or about my upcoming responsibilities but ill try my best to rise to everyones expectations and someday exceed them" i said before giving everyone a short nervous bow.
I stayed in that bow till suddenly clapping then even cheering. Some even said I was more dependable than raji already...
Our conference ended soon after that with no further questions. I was still terrified but shook it off.
"Y/n, nows the only chance we'll get to explore tanbarun before news spreads!" Shirayuki whispered to me.
"O-Oh yes! We have to change then quickly!" I told her and looked around.
"Youre really planning to go to town?" Raji asked in wonder.
"Yes, would you like to come as well?" I asked worh a smile. We're over the whole poison apple thing sort of so im trying to be nicer.
"R-Really?.." he stuttered and looked shocked.
"Obi, do you think you could find him some clothes that don't look so flashy?" I asked with a little grin knowing it'd only make obi annoyed.
"Yes, princess.." he sighed before grabbing raji and walking away.
"Have you really known that boy your whole life?" Father asked and looked at obi strangely for not being nice earlier.
"Hes my best friend, we were the only two kids the same age in the same kind of work so we've been best friends for years. I only just found him again though. Dominic wanted obi to bring me back to the castle so I could be his concubine but obi was going to take me somewhere else till zen and shirayuki came for us" i explained quickly and smile at shirayuki.
"Thank you for saving her, I dont know what would have happened if she was found by that horrid boy.." father said to shirayuki.
"O-Oh! Thats okay! Honestly, we had all just met but we knew Y/n was in some sort of trouble and wanted to help. We thought she was being kidnapped at first though" shirayuki giggled to me.
"Yes, well, it felt like it too" i chuckldd and scratched my head.
"Well, you girls better hurry before news spreads. I trust if you get in trouble you'll be okay though" father told me with a smile. I nodded happily before leaving with shirayuki. We ran down the halls trying to find my way back to my new bedroom that was 3 times the size of my old house. When we did find it, we both changed then went to find obi and raji.
"Y/n, can we come with you too? We havnt been out in forever!" Rona shouted at the door.
"Oh, hello Rona, Eugena" I smiled seeing then just around the corner before we could find obi and raji. "Im sorry shirayuki, it seems like we'll be getting a bit of attention today" i apologized with a little smile.
"O-Oh! I dont mind! The more the marrier anyway" she told me with a bright smile.
"Alright, then I suppose you two don't have any clothes matching ours right? Maybe I should have just told raji wearing what he had was alright.." i thought to myself.
"Princess, im afraid prince raji will be wearing his usual.." obi grumbled to me as he walked up.
"You dont look too happy" shirayuki giggled to him. He calmed down after seeing her again though.
"Well, lets all get going then" i smiled looking around at my new family and friends. We had to take a carriage most of the way there. It really seemed to attract attention..
"Shirayuki, um, is it normal for the royals to visit their towns?.." i whsipered to her.
"Its not normal that even you're visiting.." she whispered back. Great.. so we'll really get a lot of attention.
"I haven't been in town much!" Eugena said and looked pretty excited.
"Yes well, be on your best behavior and no running off" raji told them.
"Y/n, can you hold my hand please?" Rona asked but already took my hand.
"Y-Yeah sure.." i stuttered in surprise. I really feel like an older sister now..
"Shirayuki, is there some place you'd like to visit while we're here?" Obi asked as we all began walking. We got a lot of looks from people. They all look extremely confused and maybe even scared. I guess it is unusual for royals to be here. It must be so lonely in the castle though..
"Oh, i know!" She said and started leading the way, "my grandparents own a bar around here, we can stop by and ask about things to do!" She told us excitedly.
"I dont think rona and Eugena are allowed in bars yet.." i said and gave her a questioning look.
"Its okay, we can stay outside" rona told me while she swung my hand back and forth.
"Raji, have you ever been to a bar?" Obi asked with a smirk and has started messing with him. I think obi has dismissed the fact hes a prince and is trying to get comfortable here.
"O-Of course not! You have?" Raji related with crossed arms.
"Oh yeah and plenty of fights" obi said while shirayuki rolled her eyes and giggled to me.
"Well.. It looks like we're getting a lot of attention.." raji said as we all looked around.
"Then smile a little bigger and maybe they'll say hi to us" i told him and looked back at him with a smile.
"Yeah! Maybe if we start coming often they won't mind us anymore!" Eugena shouted next and suddenly held onto Obi's hand. Obi picked Eugena up and put him right on top of his shoulders! Rona and raji looked like they'll never seen such a thing so I picked up rona. I've gotten a ton stronger so carrying her on my shoulders was no problem. They were giggling away as obi and i ran around bouncing them on our shoulders. It really captured the towns peoples hearts too and they didnt seem so frightened anymore! Soon enough we reaches shirayuki's grandparents bar and it was empty because its still early day.
"Grandpa! Grandma! We have visiters!" Shirayuki shouted as she walked in. Obi and i took rona and Eugena off our shoulders then took them in with us.
"Shirayuki? Is that you?" A woman walked out with a bright smile. She didn't have the same red hair as I was expecting.
"Yes, im here and I brought some friends too" she giggled and pointed at us.
"Oh my goodness!" The woman shouted suddenly. My eyes widened a little when i saw her reaction. "You've made friends with the royal family and Y/n Moon?" She asked in a whisper and looked like she was about to pass out.
"I promise we're nothing to be afraid of, ma'am" i told her kindly with a smile and tried to be as nice as possible.
"And obi.." Shirayuki whispered with a bright blush on her face.
"Obi?.. from your letters?.." her grandma asked. I giggled and watched obi try to man up.
"Hello ma'am" obi said nervously and took a step forward.
"Oh! He's handsome!.." she whispered to shirayuki. Rona and I giggled hearing that. Obi looks so nervous now but I'm so happy for him.
"Go you, obi.." i whispered with a little grin as shirayuki's grandma led us back to a living room and sat us all down. There weren't many chairs though so some of us stood. Well, everyone but Shirayuki, her grandma and obi sat, the rest of us stood behind where obi and shirayuki sat together.
"Tell me, how in the world did you all meet?" Shirayuki's grandma asked with a smile.
"Well, when i left home I bumped into Y/n. We met prince zen of clarines within the same few minutes then all became friends. We went to clarines and started work. Then we met obi when he was trying to kidnap Y/n.." shirayuki giggled and intentionally tried to put obi in a bad spot. Obi's mouth opened wide and he looked so confused and almost mad after hearing that.
"Okay, let me explain" I giggled and stepped in.
"Good idea.." raji nodded and looked confused as well.
"Obi and i have been friends since birth. We grew up in the palace walls of alfin and did the same sort of work together so we've always been close and had each other's backs. One day he left when we were young. Then months ago when I left alfin he found me and said prince Dominic was going to make me his concubine so we both ran away from clarines but prince zen came to find us with our others friends.. since then we've all been together" i said with a smile and looked down at the two.
"I dont mean to be rude but how do you know the royal family here as well?.." The woman asked and was looking at raji, rona, and Eugena.
"Because she's our big sister!" Rona shouted happily. The woman gasped and couldnt believe this news.
"Its true, I only just found out at my families funeral. Word will spread soon so we decided that visiting town now would be better before I get more attention.." i tried to explain.
"Well you certainly already had enough attention before with your family's funeral and the prince of clarine.. I guess if you really wanted to see the town you could walk through the market though" she suggested to us.
"Oh! I completely forgot about that place! You all will love it!" Shirayuki shouted happily.
"I suppose you should get going now then.. Ill tell your grandfather you stopped by when he comes home later" the woman told Shirayuki as everyone stood up. "Oh, and Obi, dear.." she called. Obi came over to her side and listened to her loud whispering, "take care of my girl. She seems to really care for you so if you hurt her you'll have us to come after you as well" the woman warned. While I giggled, shirayuki tried to split up her grandma and obi before things got dangerous for obi.
"Nice job, stud" i giggled to Obi.
"Where exactly is the market again?.." raji asked as we began to walk.
"The heart of the town raji! Downtow!" Rona shouted as we all walked out back to the streets.
"Obi, can i ride again?" Eugena asked shyly.
"Any time you want, highness" obi smiled and picked him back up.
"Want up too?" I asked rona with a little smile.
"Raji, can you carry me?" Rona asked with a little grin. He looked taken back by that. I knew it made him nervous but I think he can do it.
"Come on raji, I know your noodle legs are stronger than they lead onto. And up!" I said happily as i placed rona right on top of his shoulders.
"Whoa! Stop wiggling!" Raji shouted while everyone laughed.
"Come on brother! Just be happy for once!" Rona shouted happily and finally got steady. Shirayuki and I smiled at each other seeing everything play out. My best friend and my new brother are doing so well! I feel like if I can teach raji anything, it's how to live a little. Not that I have much room to talk but I think I could help him out. After all, I did have a more playful family before now.
We walked for a while catching the attention of everyone before finding the market down town. It was filled with people who all had to take a second look at us to catch everything. They seemed to lighten up though when they saw us playing around together. We went around to every booth looking at all the items. My new siblings loved everything they saw and we even bought a few things to being back to the castle with us.
After a long while though everyone was tired and hungry so we stopped for a snack break where some so the citizens came up and talked to us. We sat at this fountain around each other and welcomed anyone who wanted to talk.
"I hope you don't mind us asking but why is the royal family in town today? Is there something wrong?" A nice man asked and stood with around 10 other people here.
"No, just stopping by" raji answered before bitting into the bread we've all split.
"Stopping by?.." a woman asked in surprise.
"Yes! Our sister has never been to tanbarun before so we're showing her what's its like before the secret-.. Oh.." rona stopped herself and looked at me.
"Sister?.." everyone around gasped and brought more people over.
"Well, it wasnt much of a secret anyway. I am the true first princess of tanbarun and im trying hard to be the best i can for this country" i said confidently and was trying to be as kind as possible.
"But miss moon- princess, why hasn't anyone known?.." another man asked.
"Well, I didnt know till a few months ago. I'm learning what it means to have these new responsibilities and I've never been in tanbarun before so I wanted to visit before news spread" i explained with a soft smile.
"My goodness, you sure are polite.." a woman said with a happy smile.
"We've heard rumors about you in clarines though with the princes.." Someone said shyly.
"Before now she worked as prince Zen's personal sentinel" obi explained to them.
"You are such a hard worker for being so young.. we're all deeply sorry about your family passing. They were brave men and women and shouldn't have gone down by the hands of Dominic.." a man told me and looked truly sad. I guess now everyone knows the truth. It can't be helped, I didnt need to hide it anyway.
"They knew what would happen, it was to save my brother anyway." I smiled and bumped raji's arm.
"What?.." he asked in shock. I haven't told him this yet so it'll be shocking to him as well.
"They were given an order to kill prince raji but denied it because he was their mothers first born child.." obi explained for me.
"Wh-What? Why in the world would you deny that for me?!.." he whisper shouted to me.
Everyone began to cry now. It felt like we had half the town in front of us listening now. Im glad they heard the truth and are so peaceful.
"Well friends, i think we should go back now" i said as i stood up with a smile.
Suddenly.. someone hugged me. It scared me at first but they were actually just little and sad. "Hello.." i smiled and kneeled down to hug the little girl in tears.
"Im so sorry about your family but now you have a new one, right?.." she asked as she wiped her tears.
"Yes, I do and they're just as great" i told her with a smile and pulled away to see her little face.
"Princess, we know youll do us all some good" the little girls mother said and placed her hand on my shoulder as I stood back up before she pulled me in for a hug next. Then rona joined the hug with Eugena. Then more town people.. then raji, shirayuki and obi.. then everyone else who came out.
"Thank you everyone" i smiled and looked around at their smiling faces.
Soon we were gone and back to the castle. I suppose father sent someone to follow us just in case if something bad happened and they reported what happened in town. Everyone was called to the thrown room where father stood with this big smile. He told us how proud he was and how proud he was of me for being so strong today when really all I did was hug people..
After that day I've slowly been exploring more with shirayuki and obi and sometimes the twins would follow. After two weeks though, shirayuki left.. i was sad when she went back but she still had work to do there. So, in the meantime I really tried my best to study this country. I was mostly in the library with obi laying on the floor reading and drinking tea or having snacks. Him and I were trying to get used to it here. Im just thankful I have him or else id probably be moping around somewhere waiting to go back to clarines. I think obi and i spent two full weeks in the library like that together reading and snacking till we decide to explore by ourselves. We went all over and often got lost but eventually made it back. It took us two full days to really explore this place.. then we got bored again. So we started writing letters. Everyday we'd sit down in the garden at the end of the day and write letters back to everyone. We wrote about the situation here and possibly coming to visit soon. We wrote about how incredibly boring it was too but we also wrote about what happened in town that second day. It was truly amazing. Then once we saved up a whole months worth, we had someone mail it for us.
By the time we mailed our letters, we were two months into this. Word spread like a fire about my new title and people truly did come from all over. Just recently there were people seeking in just to see me so I gave them a show with obi of course. We had fun finding all the rats sneeking in then kicking them out. It was the only amusement we really had. I went back to studying though. In the mornings I worked with the blacksmith. I introduced myself to him and he was really cool. His name is buck and he lets me work whenever I want to. I've stuck with the hours zen gave me back in clarines. He would be worried if I worked too hard so I gave myself that time limit again. I worked for hours though making this amazing design for him that'll surely take me at least a few months to make but was worth it for him.
For the past two months I have been getting updates from obi about things. He gets his information from raji's aid so he always knows. I've been receiving more than enough marriage proposals from all over. People haven't said a thing about zen for a long time either.
Its the end of my third month here now. Obi and i have continued with our notes and have even been getting them back. We got one letter at the beginning of this month. Zen said he'd write me eveyday and that this was only the first letter. He told me about how popular I've become all over clarines and other kingdoms. He said everyone missed me and obi here. Without us it felt boring there but everyone was working hard so that one day we could come back. Zen asked me about how things were over here and how I was doing. He asked me about how becoming a princess was and how I was handling my new duties. I wrote him back that day answering all his questions happily. This letter was a spark of hope for me so I kept it and hung it up on my wall. My room is completely empty so I thought that maybe when I get zens notes, I'll hang them up so I could always have them.
Father and I have been speaking about these marriage proposals just recently. Although it's a little early to be starting on this since I just announced my title he agreed that in three months I'll be able to go meet zen in clariness. I couldnt be any happier. Being 6 months without him really sucks but I'm already half way through. Obi is excited too. It's practically all we talk about now. I've been working diligently though on my studies and the sword for Zen. But by the forth month I sort of.. stopped. I wasnt motivated at all and felt suddenly sick. There was a doctor that came in and looked at me but they said I was fine and probably just miss my friends in clarines. Obi still continued to stay with me though. Everyday for the past four months we were never away from each other because we were all we had. So that day we laid around together around my room just being sad for no reason. By the next day we decided that we needed out of this castle so we ran off together to town. We would have gone in the forest but it had just rained.. When we got to town, everyone seemed to notice me but didn't crowd me. They just said hi as i passed them. We stopped at shirayuki's grandparents bar as well just to hang out. They were really nice.. They kind of felt like our own grandparents and listened to what we had to say. They even made us call them grandma and grandpa! We examined how truly bored and sad we were and they understood but didnt expect it. I know we live in a castle but whats the point if you feel so alone?.. So they talked to us and sat us down. They told us that if we gave up now than what was the point of even trying.
He's how our conversations started.

"We miss them.." i said with my head in my hands and felt like i could relax here.
"Its been four months and we still haven't seen them or gotten letters back.." obi said with his head in his hands like me and sighed.
"You two look like love sick puppies" grandpa chuckled as he set down two glasses in front of us.
"I miss Zen.." i muttered and kept my hands over my face.
"I miss shirayuki.." obi muttered next.
"You poor kids" grandma sighed to us. "You only have a few months left though. In December you'll be back wont you?" She asked with a soft tone.
"Only for a marriage meeting.. father said its too early to jump into anything.." i told her and felt completely broken down.
"I see.. When does he suggest would be the right time?" Grandpa asked next.
"A year.." obi mumbled.
"Well then you'll have a whole year to plan the weddings!" Grandma shouted and was trying to lift our spirits but.. it wasn't helping..
"I wanna go home.." i sighed and finally raised my head again.
"And you will but you have to wait. If you think about it, having all this time should help improve your relationships and make them stronger" grandpa told us. Obi's hamds fell to his lap and he still had his head too far down to see his face.
"Look, we're flatted you love our granddaughter so much obi but theres not much anyone can do. You'll be alright, just hold on for a little longer" grandma told obi.
"Right.." he muttered before slowly lifting his head up. He looks sadder than I've ever seen him.
"Youll get your prince back too. I know they'll both come looking for you soon enough" grandpa told us.
We spent a while longer there.. well, actually the whole day. When we got back to the castle, guards were everywhere and I got a good scolding from father. He wasnt happy I left without saying anything but I didnt really care.. i was just sad.
For the next two weeks obi and i pouted all day. We werent even with each other all day anymore. Normally I'd go somewhere and he'd be near but far away..
For some reason we were finally having our break downs after being away so long. We were so strong till now.. but we can't always be..