the prince and the pauper ; kubokai royalty au

4 ¬ say it again ¬

Aren's first day had been busy, to say the least. He'd already undergone so many tasks, dusted so much furniture, and peeled enough carrots to never want to so much as look at a carrot again. But funnily enough, these mundane, repetitive jobs he'd been ordered to do all day made him feel incredible. He was working at the royal palace,  with a safe and warm place to live, good food to eat and friendly people to work alongside. At first, he was nervous, but soon after arriving, he came to realize that in comparison to his old jobs, this felt like a dream. So far, he'd managed to do everything he was asked to without any mishaps or embarrassing mistakes.

At dinner, all the servants eat together in a small room next to their sleeping quarters, at the rear of the palace. They had just finished preparing and serving dinner in the main hall to the royal family, and now had a half an hour meal period to themselves. Aren collected his dinner tray nervously, scanning the seats in front of him. Everyone seemed to have their own group that they stuck with, but since he was new, Aren didn't have a group just yet. Luckily, he spotted a familiar face among them, and she was smiling warmly at him.

"Aren! Come sit here!" It was Hana, a young maid that he had met earlier today. She was nice to him, which he very much appreciated, because being somewhere new where you didn't know anyone was scary.

Now, why did we meet exactly?  Aren tried to remember, so he wouldn't make it awkward when he sat down.

She had introduced herself as being the Prince's lady in waiting, meaning.. she waited on him during the daytime, and.. of course, that's right, her and Aren had the same job. It was then he remembered that after dinner, that would be his next assignment; he was Shun's evening attendant after all.

"Thank you." He said sincerely, and pulled out a chair beside her. 

"So, how did today go? I've heard people talking about you, you know."

"Oh, um, ..really? About what?"

"At how hard you've worked. Apparently, you've been busy nonstop, and nobody saw you take a break at least once." She twirled a strand of her hair and smiled a little as she said this, looking down shyly at her plate.

"Well..i'm just thankful to work here. I want to show that." He replied truthfully, and ate some soup from his spoon. It was warm and filling, something that he hadn't experienced for so long. "Hey, um, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, what is it?" She sounded almost nervous, and even blushed a little. But Aren didn't even notice.

"Could you tell me a little about the Prince?"

Her face fell, but she tried to cover it. Aren did notice this, but didn't understand why, so ignored it.

"Oh, Shun? Why do you ask?" She said airily, taking a bite out of her bread.

"Well, I guess I feel as if I should know him better if i'm going to be seeing him everyday. We talked earlier, actually. I ..actually really like him so far, from what I have seen.." He trailed off, thinking back to their encounter in the garden earlier. "So.., anyway, I just wanted to know." He brought himself out of his thoughts quickly.

"Oh, well, he's..definitely something. Many say he's unlike any heir to the throne they've ever met.  To be honest, I think being a prince bores him quite a bit. But he's.. very kind hearted."

"I thought that too." Aren said quietly, looking at his fork on the table in front of him. "There really is something different about him, isn't there?"

"There is. I've been his servant for over a year now, and he treats me more like a friend more than a servant. But he does take a while to get used to people, so if he's distant at first, that's very normal-"

"I didn't really think he was distant, to be honest. In fact, he was really nice to me." Aren replied in response. 

"Oh." Hana said plainly. "Well, good. It would be kind of awkward otherwise, I suppose." She had finished her food at this point, and began clearing her side of the table. "Well, i'd..best be off now. You should too, i'm sure you'll be expected to visit his chamber any moment. See you, Aren." Her smile had returned, but she quickly turned away.

Aren felt something was off. Have I upset her? Did I say something wrong?

But now wasn't the time to be overthinking that. He needed to prepare for his evening duties. He stood infront of a mirror and checked his appearance briefly; he put on his gloves and brushed out the creases in his suit jacket. Aren even paused to touch up his hair a little. Another servant caught him doing this and let out a laugh, and a voice ushered from behind him.

"Newbie? What's got you so particular on your look, hmm?" 

Aren turned round quickly, startled.

"Oh, um, I..nothing. It's nothing." 

Huh?! Why did I say that? It's because i'm going to see the prince, isn't it? It's not something to be ashamed of to make myself look nice, right?

"Um..o-kay. You do that." The servant laughed again and walked off, leaving Aren practically alone in the room, as most of the servants had filtered out at this point heading to their next job.

He was friendly enough, and was only joking around, so Aren still couldn't figure out why he had lied, and replied so anxiously at that. But whatever. He turned for the door and walked briskly through the backroom corridors leading to the main palace hallways, nodding politely at anyone who he passed. He felt his heartbeat pick up as he walked the elaborate staircases, approaching the prince's chamber, but he tried his best to pretend he didn't notice. 

Soon enough, he was stood outside the large oak door. Aren took a quick breath, and reached for the brass knocker.

"Good evening, Prince. May I come in?" 

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