[YUZUKI]
For days after the interaction with Ayami, Yuzuki didn't sleep. She rotated between the throne room of Kurayami and her study, where she kept tabs on everything. It was as if she were struggling to catch up on an entire lifetime for Kurayami.
Granted, she had the memories, but there were things that Yuzuki needed to understand on her own, so when, on the ninth night, Rinko walked into the throne room with the high council members behind her, Yuzuki didn't seem as bothered.
They always did this — came to talk to her and then left, but there was something about today; there was a look in Rinko's eyes that he hadn't seen since she had woken up and it was confusing her for a moment.
The discontent and disapproval in the servant's eyes were amusing to Yuzuki, but the frown on the council members' faces was something that got her wondering what the fuck they were up to this time.
They had tried to get her to sleep through very unconventional ways, and even then, Yuzuki had stayed busy, determined to understand all there was to the relationships before they went to the mating ball in Yamashita.
That mating ball was her way in and everything would be damned if she let herself lose the little grip she had right now. There was still a lot of work for her, and she needed to familiarize herself with the new role as the Kurayami queen.
She needed to be better than the memories. She needed to understand everything that was needed, and she was stressing herself out. Hell, she was spreading herself a little too thin for the job that had gotten her reincarnated.
"I am not sleepy, Rinko. I'll sleep when I need to. And the council can proceed with the meetings. I will be here to listen. You can help them out, since you have been my most trusted servant," Yuzuki said, dishing out the usual responses.
But this time they were not fitting into what he was selling. This time, it was as if they were done with her antics and needed to have her attention.
"Kurayami will hold the mating ceremony," Ishiguro said, and a blade whirred right past his ear, making the other council members take a step back. Even then, they didn't move too far from the woman who had just thrown her blade.
She wasn't in the mood for all this silliness.
Yuzuki needed to go back to Yamashita. She needed to see what Kazuya had done with her home and what had become of the place her pack once stood. She needed to go back. To mourn properly. And she wasn't about to let anyone fuck with that.
It was already good enough that Ayami had been a little weird around her at the riverbank, and she was counting on it. She wasn't going to change her mind, and they had to have known that.
"Looks like you are starting to hate your life, Ishiguro. Perhaps I should free you from the burden of living a luxurious life and send you to your creator, no?" Yuzuki asked, not bothering to look up from her reports.
Only those reports in her study talked about Kurayami and the other kingdoms.
But Yuzuki wasn't busy with the other kingdoms. Her table was messy as fuck it was filled with reports that dated so so many years back yet were all about Yamashita.
"You just woke up, your highness. It will be unfit for us to let you go to Yamashita when they know that you have been out of it for the past month. They will try to manipulate and trick you into doing the bidding—" one of the council members said.
Yuzuki just laughed heartily at the statement before she threw her blade into the man's chest, so close to his heart that it was obvious that the blade had missed his heart by an inch or so.
It was the most dangerous thing that Yuzuki had done since she had woken up, but to the people here, this was normal.
They were used to their irrational queen who only did what she wanted and how she wanted it all because at the end of the day, it was her responsibility to take care of the people of Kurayami.
"You think I don't know that? Do you think I grew stupid just because I was fucking unconscious for the past month? Is that what you are all insinuating right now? Do you see me as defective?
"... Or are you so tired of living that you would dare to spew shit that you know isn't good to the queen who just woke up? Or am I supposed to be a princess and wait for you, prince charming, to come and save my life, poor thing?" Yuzuki asked.
This time, she was glaring at the invite that Kazuya had sent to Kurayami three months ago, about the mating ceremony. While it was obvious that kingdoms rotated with the mating festival and that everyone knew it was Kazuya's turn to do the hosting—
—There still had to be a formal invitation, especially to Kurayami, because everyone knew that no one in Kurayami just did things out of the kingdom without the approval of the queen.
If Yuzuki decided that they were not going to attend the mating ceremony, then not even a bird from within the breeders would be free to fly above Yamashita. It was always that simple and crazy, but it was a system that had worked for them for so many years.
It was pointless for them to start looking at each other like this was the first time they had gotten this. Then again, the council members had to have thought Yuzuki was losing her mind because of the mating ceremony, and had come to save her from the stress.
But was this the woman who needed saving, or was she just desperate to get her answers and her vengeance, while she prayed to reunite with the love of her life? The stakes were almost impossible, but Yuzuki wasn't going to give in.
"You haven't slept a wink, your majesty," Rinko said respectably and this time, Yuzuki lifted her head from her reports and invites. She had known that Rinko was worried about her and one look at the woman's face was enough to prove it.
But that was still not enough for Yuzuki. She needed answers and she needed to find them soon enough. She needed to be able to understand what was shocking and what she needed to be ready for.
This body and the memories it came with belonged to Kurayami and was very aware of what to do, and Yuzuki was still new to it all. She was desperate for a balance and she had to find it, come hell or high water.
It was the only reason she had stayed awake throughout the past few days, determined not to sleep even for an hour.
"I slept an entire month, Rinko. That was enough for me. So, unless you want me to kill a few of these men, leave me be. And bring me tea. If you try to slip the sleeping potion into my tea—
"—I will kill you all and find new council members and servants," Yuzuki warned calmly, like she was talking about the weather.
Perhaps she had really lost her goddamn mind this time.