(PLEASE REREAD, I SPENT A WHILE TRYING TO WRITE THIS!)

Ryuko took a deep breath. She wasn't leaving the room. She couldn't. They'd have to drag her out kicking and screaming. She didn't want to be anywhere near Shinya or Reiko. She would kill Reiko and she's be so disgusted in herself.

Why did the Grand Duke have something against her? Why did Keigo hate her? They were friends! Shinya had said they'd asked for him to call off the wedding a few nights ago.

If she got out of this, she was going to make Rikiya and Chitose pay for this. Maybe Keigo too but she didn't know. He was clearly just being fed information from Rikiya and just went with it instead of...

She had incriminated herself, shit! She was being suspicious and she got one of the only people who trusted her to think she was the villain.

"My lady, the ceremony is starting now, you have to come out." A guard said. Ryuko refused again.

"Tell the King I can't come out right now. Tell the princess, tell everyone now." Ryuko said, holding the knife. She didn't know what to do.

"Alright?" The guard ran off.

"What's up with you? You were so excited to get married yesterday," Keigo asked. "Really excited the day before. His Grace is still scarred by that." Keigo laughed.

"I'm truly sorry."

"For what?"

"Being dumb or something. I don't know! I just know you don't like me, just like Yotsubashi doesn't. Shinya will probably get tired of me soon anyways." She cried.

"Hey, babs, I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have said those things about you. It's only natural to want to protect my friend right?"

"I guess..." Ryuko sighed. She had to ask him a question. "Keigo, did people think you killed Rumi?"

"She died in her sleep. Some people thought I had poisoned her," Keigo said, "but I didn't. I loved her. I saw her again the night you arrived. I'm sorry for questioning you."

"How'd you handle the idea that people thought you killed her? How'd you handle her death?" Ryuko asked, a hand clutching her hair.

"Well, I didn't handle it well, I can tell you that. I cried so much that I got dehydrated and threw up a lot. I couldn't handle it. Shinya gave her a royal funeral, and I'm forever grateful that she was sent off like that." He said on the other side of the door. "I shouldn't have questioned you. I guess I was mad. I knew Rikiya was planning to get rid of you, but I wanted to know why, and when you lied to me, I didn't know what to think."

Ryuko placed two and two together.

Her step mother and the Grand Duke were working together. The "assassination attempt", the timing.

They wanted her executed for treason.

Why was she so stupid?! She couldn't even realize that!

"Hey Keigo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Ryuko took a deep breath and began praying for the gods to freeze time. She couldn't do this now, she needed Rumi or Nejire to come back and save her. Reiko was bound to be at the wedding, there was no avoiding that. Reiko would be stabbed in front of everyone, Ryuko would be arrested and executed a day later.

"You might wanna come out before Shinya thinks you have cold feet, or his guards are sent to come grab you."

"That's really gonna happen?"

"It's happened before, I promise you it has happened before." He laughed.

Ryuko got up on her feet and unlocked the door. She was going to go to Reiko's garden for a moment to at least try and summon Nejire and Rumi again.

She had never been told about the night rule.

Fairy godmothers can only be summoned at night. They're stars.

Ryuko walked down to the garden, trying to not be seen by anyone. The knife was in the pocket of her wedding dress, and she held the bouquet in her hand.

When she made it to the garden, Ryuko sat down and relaxed for a moment before hearing the princess start humming.

Ryuko pressed a hand over her mouth as her body jolted. She felt sick. She saw a purple glow on the ground and looked at it, trying to find the source. Where was Chitose at? She brought Reiko out here? She had to! Or Rikiya!

Ryuko noticed how wet her hand was. Was she drooling on her hand? Gross! When she removed her hand and looked at it, she realized the purple glow was from her eyes.

No help from Nejire or Rumi it seemed.

—————

"Your majesty?! Your majesty!" Chitose screamed out, chasing Shinya down from where he was. He was just trying to check in on Rikiya, but Chitose was screaming for him.

She grasped his shoulders with tears in her eyes. "Ryuko is planning on stabbing the princess! I heard her as I walked past her room!" Chitose cried out. "She's going to kill the girl!" She sobbed, trying to gain the man's concern over his little sister.

"You must be mistaken. Ryuko loves Reiko."

"My daughter, Himiko heard her as well! She brought her handmaiden here to try and save her!"

Shinya looked shocked and hurt. Several people had brought up her being a bad person and now she was trying to kill his sister? Maybe he was wrong about her.

(I- I just remembered the ending of this book and the smut chapter is so funny to me now-)

"Where is the princess?" Shinya asked.

"Her garden! Ryuko will be there soon, she planned on doing it before the wedding." Chitose said, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the garden. Shinya ordered five guards to follow them.

—————

"Reiko? Why are you not preparing for the wedding?" Ryuko asked, freaking out.

"Hm? Well, I got bored I guess." Reiko shrugged. Ryuko cursed under her breath and started crying. "You're crying." She said, walking up to Ryuko. "Is something wrong?"

"Everything is just alright." Ryuko whispered. She was sweating bullets as her hand creeped inside her pocket, slowly slipping it out. Reiko wasn't exactly paying attention, trying to at least understand what Ryuko may be so upset about.

The knife was hidden behind her back as she tried to walk away. It felt like her feet had been stuck to the ground, like she was actually being controlled. She was straining herself to even pin it behind her and not immediately attack the little girl.

"I guess you're scared about the wedding if anything, I'm scared of my own wedding, so that makes sense for you. But we're well acquainted with one another, so I thought you would want to be my big sister and Shinya's wife. Is that not what you want?"

"That's what I want more than anything in the world." Ryuko said, closing her eyes. "I love you and your brother." She said, taking in a big breath before she felt like her body would burst for even attempting to keep the knife hidden.

The second her arm moved upwards, ready to attack, her wrist was grabbed and an arm wrapped around her waist. Ryuko let out a gasp of relief and shock.

"What the hell?" Shinya said, rotating her wrist so that she would drop her knife. It immediately fell back into her hand. "What is this?" He asked, taking the knife several times only for it to return to her.

Ryuko took in several deep breathes. "I promise I didn't want to do that."

"Is this some sort of witchcraft?" He asked, trying to keep his tone low so that Reiko wouldn't freak out. "Why would you try to attack my sister? I'm so confused, why would you- why would- Why would you try and hurt her?!" He said, raising his voice, pressing his forehead against hers like they had the night they attempted to "break tradition".

"I didn't want to. Shinya, I love her." She argued back.

"Then why would you try to attack her if you didn't want to?"

"..."

"No answer? You're lying to me?"

"I'm not." She whispered. His hand was still wrapped around her waist.

"If I let go of you, will you attack Reiko?"

"I will." Ryuko whispered back to him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you right now? The woman I love doesn't want to hurt my sister." He said, backing away from her. "Bring her to the tower for me." Shinya said.

Four guards grabbed Ryuko's hands and arms. Their tight grip not letting go of her no matter how hard she did try to pull away. "Shinya?" She yelled, out attempting to shake them off of her. "Shinya?!"

"Reiko are you alright?" He asked his little sister, who was shaking from fear. "She'll be far away from you, don't worry." He sighed, brushing her hair a bit, placing her head against his chest and slowly stroking her face.

"Shinya, please look at me!"

He gave her a glance before walking away with Reiko. In his eyes she could see a freezing cold side to him. With her moment of hesitation, the guards tightly gripped her arms and dragged her away. She felt sick to her stomach for what she had just done.

As she walked through the palace, Ryuko could see Chitose walk back to her room.

"I guess the wedding is cancelled. Oh well."

Ryuko's mouth fell agape.

"I hate you." She whispered.

✨✨✨✨

Yeah that was supposed to be filled to the brim with Sexual tension-

I can't get over Reiko just looking at Ryuko like "bitch wtf are you going on about?"

My ass debating on whether I wanted Shinya to be the attempted victim, or Reiko.

I love how because Ryuko is somewhat an unreliable narrator in this one, we see Shinya as a protagonist turned antagonist when in reality, he's trying to protect his nine year old sister who can't defend herself against a grown woman she sees as a sister, who's holding a knife. I love that fact. Just everyone may see Shinya as the bad guy but in reality he's doing what a sensible human would do.

Btw I rewrote this cuz I didn't like how it was, plus it wasn't my cup of tea, and I have to start the next chapter off well.