Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The Dukes welcoming
The Fortress seemed like a sad, lonely place when you stepped through, barely any lights, water leaking through the walls and dripping to the floor, warm mist roaming in the air, it disgusted you. You knew you were not going to enjoy this. You sighed deeply knowing what was about to await you.
“Usually I would be giving the tours little girl, but His Grace himself has offered to give you a tour” The guard exclaimed.
You stood frozen, you knew who the Duke was.. Wriothesley. You did not like him, and he surely didn’t like you, so why would he want to give you a tour?
“I- uh.. is there any way for him.. not to?” You said with a nervous voice.
You were answered with a slight chuckle from the guard. “Oh little girl, you should be honoured, The Duke never gives tours, only to those who are close to the Duke ..”. ‘Of course..’ You thought to yourself, you knew he was going to torment you here, he did it as kids, why would it change? You sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way out of this situation. “The Duke should be here in about 5 minutes little girl” The guard chuckled again. “Since you’re new you don’t know but, you must refer to him at ‘Your Grace’, it’s a sign of respect”. You were close to punching the guard if he called you ‘little girl’ one more time, but you didn’t, you just roll your eyes, but the guard seems to notice..
“OI! No rolling your eyes in front of the guards! I’m not one of your stupid friends! Got that little girl?” He screamed.
”Yeah Yeah whatever..” You turn away, not facing him nor caring.
“Ah, still as bossy as ever I see?” A faint voice says calmly. You froze, you knew that voice, you knew exactly who it was.. The guard also seems to notice and begins to bow. “Your grace, she-
There he stood. The Duke himself, the administrator of the Fortress of Meropied, Wriothesley. His black hair with white tints in it, which made it shine out. His bulky body, he was definitely a body builder. His style of fashion was.. weird in your eyes. You could only see the side of him, the first thing you noticed was.. how big his ass was, you were trying so hard not to stare at it. He had a stern look on his face when he saw you, you looked nervous but still kept a serious look on your face.
Wriothesley puts his hands up and cuts him off, “I’m aware of her.. delinquent type behaviour.. you may leave now Louis”. The guard bows at him again and walks off into the dark shadows in the fortress, you were nervous and trying to get out of this situation.
Wriothesley chuckles and looks at you with a devilish look. “(Name) How have you been?” He says with a cheeky grin on his face, you knew he was up to no good.
“Wriothesley.” You say with a cold and shallow voice. The others around you stopped what they were doing and they turned to face you and Wriothesley. “Same old same old..” He muffles to himself. “Listen (Name), whilst you are in MY territory, you will refer to me as Your Grace, do you understand?” He says, with a stricter voice.
You look at him, still with a smug look on your face. “And what if I don’t want to, Wriothesley?” you say proudly. Wriothesley does not seem amused and he suddenly pushes you against the wall. His warm breath touching your pale skin, you felt slightly aroused. His bulky arms on the sides so you won’t be able to escape. His eyes close to your eyes, making you blush a little.
“Then I won’t care throwing you into solitary confinement little lady, mark my words (Name) Don't think your getting princess treatment down here” He stares at you some more and doesn’t move, he then begins to smile. “Heh, who knew someone like you was into this type of shit” He suddenly let go of you, letting you breathe the cold air.
He looks down at you again, grinning. “So? What are you going to refer to me as?” You look down, still embarrassed. “Your grace..” You quietly mumble. Wriothesley seems pleased, “Good, Now (Name) time for the tour, this way” He gestures his hands, indicating that you follow him.
The rest of the fortress a living hell, rusted down, barely any lights, a very peculiar smell that smelt of rotten metal, intoxicating warm air instead of normal breeze and a lot of weirdos. “I’d be careful if I were you (Name), the men are.. how should I say it.. playful..” Wriothesley smirked. You shivered, you knew you weren’t strong, so how would you face these.. guys..?
”Dont come to me if you’re dealing with random bullshit, just because I knew you when we were kids, doesn’t mean shit to me, got it?” Wriothesley ordered. You rolled your eyes behind him “Yes your grace”. Wriothesley chuckled, “You’re lucky, unlike you i’ve grown as a man, so i won’t be tormenting you, unless I want to of course..~”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean jackass?” You angrily asked, right now you were pissed and done with Wriothesleys bullshit, he literally made you want to kill yourself at some point. “Relax, I was merely joking around, Ah! here we are! My favourite place, the infirmary!” He smiled with glee. You looked at him, thinking he was stupid. “What’s so interesting about this place?”
He stopped smiling and turned to face you, looking mad. “The head nurse is such a sweetheart, everyone loves coming to the infirmary just to see her” He begins to smile, he then became serious. “The head nurse is my daughter so no funny bullshit (Name), i’m warning you”.
Daughter? Who knew Wriothesley would even have time for a daughter? Who would willingly want to sleep with Wriothesley? You sigh, “Daughter? Which unlucky women slept with you?” You grinned. Wriothesley wasn’t having the jokes, he looked at you with no emotion whatsoever, “I adopted her after her parents died, show some respect at least.”
“Oh.. I didn’t know, uh..” You couldn’t handle this type of stuff, you weren't amazing at comforting people after all. He looks at you dead in the eye, “Whatever, just follow me in already.”
Stepping into the infirmary was like walking into heaven, unlike the rest of the fortress, it looked and smelt pleasant. There was lights and no leaks, it was not to hot yet not to cold, it really was a nice place to be. All of a sudden a little girl, around 9-10 walks in. The first thing you noticed were her melusine ears, was she a melusine? But how? She had human like features? She had fluffy like pigtails, with crimson red eyes. She turned to you, smiling as cute as ever, she then began to walk up to you, waving. "Hello! Im Sigewinnie! The head nurse! If you ever have any injuries whatsoever, come straight to me!" She smiled with glee.
You couldn't help but notice how adorable she was, she was so polite and gentle, you still cant get your head around how Wriothesley is this adorable girls father. She then noticed Wriothesley and ran up to him and hugged him, he smiled at her gently and hugged her back. You couldnt help but smile, Wriothesley may be a jerk towards you but to his daughter, he was a totally different man, you could tell he was very overprotective over her.
He smiled at his precious daughter, "Honey" He points to you, "This is (Name), I can assure you she's gonna be coming here a lot" He says whilst grinning. You give look at him with an annoyed look. However, little Sigewinne looks at you, feeling sorry. "Oh no! That's terrible! Don’t worry! I’ll look after you miss (Name)!” She smiled. Your heart melted, how can a kid be this cute?
Wriothesley rolled his eyes, but he sighed. “Alright bunny I still need to complete the tour, I’ll come back to check on you afterwards alright?” He said whilst patting her head. Sigewinnie nodded and waved at you one more time, before saying something.
“I hope you enjoy your stay!” She waved. You waved back at her, she was so cute. “Finally this tour is almost over” Wriothesley added. You looked at him confused, “You were the one who asked to give me a tour Wri- Your grace, why are you complaining?” You smirked.
He rolled his eyes in sass, “bitch” he mumbled. “Alright (Name) let’s go to your cell, the last place of the tour.” He said in a hurry, leaving the infirmary, Sigewinnie still waving goodbye. Wriothesley was tired and had that same emotionless look on his face, he was in no mood for idle chit chat, however, you wanted to push his strings.
“Soooo.. Your grace.. how did you even become the Duke?” You asked. Wriothesley sighed “(Name) please shut it, your presence has annoyed me enough.” He scoffed.
“Whatever mr sassy pants..” You mumbled, luckily due to his poor hearing he didn’t hear you, you should be thankful.
He then led you to the last part of your tour, your cell. Wriothesley sighed “This is your cell, this is where you’ll be spending most of your time, unless you’re working” He says in a tired tone. “It’s finally the end of the tour, and it’s curfew so, time to sleep, you have work tomorrow (Name).” He says with a stricter tone.
You sigh, knowing you’re going to be here for a long time, you know there’s no point in escaping. “Fine..” You say in a tired tone, not wanting to see Wriothesley any longer. Wriothesley was about to walk out your cell, probably to see Sigewinnie, before he stopped. You were confused on why he stopped but then he turned to face you one more time, before grabbing something in his pocket.
He later pulled out a ruffled gold and shimmery bow, it looked like a dog has vomited it out. Wriothesley sighed before he mumbled "Here's that golden bow you were obsessed with back thenn" He then threw it at you. You caught it and looked at him, puzzled. "Wait.. you took this? and youve had it all this time?"
He sighed "Yeah, I knew i'd see you in here one day, so I kept it, dont think anything of this, this doesnt mean I like you in any way shape or form, got it?" You sighed and faintly smiled, "Well.. thank you Your Grace.." He scoffed one again.
"Okay go to bed now, Work starts at 7:30 tomorrow" He said before finally walking out. You smiled before looking at the broken down bow again, he kept it all these years.. maybe deep down he really has changed. You put the bow on the table counter next to your rock hard bed and fell asleep, awaiting what was going to happen tomorrow...