the prince and the pauper ; kubokai royalty au

3 ¬ shadow ¬

an: yall..... im including the kaido siblings in this story!!!!! bc they're legends and i could not leave them out bye 

okay enjoy lol

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On his way to the gate that led into the garden, he ran into his younger sister, Sora, who was juggling a tray in her hands and a book under her arm.  Shun accidentally nudged against her as he passed, causing the tray to shake and the contents to almost spill.

"Hey! Watch where you're- um, are you okay? You look .. sort of confused. What's on your mind, hm? Thinking about Hana again?~" Sora hummed mockingly. She was under the impression that Shun was head over heels for his maid, which was NOT true, and he despised her for thinking it. 

"Shut up, Sora. You know it's not like that." He muttered. 

"Well, what is it then? Why do you look so lost in thought?"

"Nothing. I look normal. I just didn't pay attention, that's all."

"Whatever. Ooh! Have you met the new-"

"Oh, for god sake, don't tell me you've fallen in love with him too."

"What?" Now was Sora's turn to look confused. "No. Why? Who's in love with him?"

"Hana wouldn't stop talking about him earlier. Apparently they had a romantic moment, or something."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, "So THAT's why you're in such a bad mood. You're jealous!"

"What?!" Shun yelled. "Why would I be jealous of Hana?!"

"Um..not Hana, Shun. You're jealous of Aren, right? Because he's going to steal your mistress.."

"Oh, yes." He said, relieved. "Wait, no! I'm not. I'm not jealous. I don't like Hana. We just get along because we're the same age."

"Right...okay, well, that's good then. Hah.. imagine, a Prince pursuing his servant. I don't think the local press would get enough of it, let alone what FATHER would say.."

"Okay! Okay. I get the point. Now move, you're in my way."

"God, fine.. you know, I don't think you'll make a good suitor at all." She said icily, and moved to let Shun through. "I can hardly imagine the ladies of the town lining up to marry you." She laughed to herself, her voice bouncing off the walls as she walked away.

"Well, maybe I don't-" But it was too late to retaliate, as she clearly wasn't listening anymore. Feeling even more annoyed, he picked up the pace so not to have any more intrusions as he opened the gate.

--

Shun wasn't sure what the time was, but it didn't matter. He had nothing to do today after all. He loved reading because he could get so immersed in the story and hours could feel like minutes, it was easily the best way to kill time. And most of the time, when people saw the Prince reading, they'd leave him alone. Because they knew that he could get so caught up amongst the pages, that sometimes he wouldn't respond to people around him at all.

However, today it seemed that a new member of staff wasn't yet aware of this.

"Um, excuse me, Prince?"

Huh? Is somebody talking to me?

Shun looked up from his book to see none other than Aren himself standing beside him, wearing different clothes than this morning. He was dressed in scruffy looking robes along with a dirtied apron tied around his waist, and he was holding a small box of gardening tools in his right hand.

"I'm so sorry to disturb you, but ..I've been assigned to remove the weeds in this area. Um, would you mind if I could get through here so I can get to this patch behind you?" He asked politely and ushered to the small path that was blocked by Shun's chair, and it was clear he'd practiced his words prior to asking.