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lavendermage · 2 years

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My Princes

Characters: Kaeya (Romantic), Diluc (Romantic), Albedo (Romantic)

Genre: Royal au, Reader uses he/him

TW: Reader gets poisoned, he’s fine though

1.5k words

AN: I plan to make this a series. Next up are ayato and thoma, visiting from inazuma.

Masterlist

You were a servant, nothing more. You did your job and you did it well. You took pride in your work, but didn’t delude yourself into thinking you were anything more. Hundreds of other people worked in the palace, dozens of them serving the princes, Diluc and Kaeya.

The one thing you had going for you was your experience. You had worked in the palace longer than most of the other servants, and often mentored new-comers. You were trusted. The princes knew you by name, but they knew all the senior staff.

So it was no surprise when you were asked to deliver a plate of hors d'oeuvres to the princes at the party. You picked up the platter and walked up the steps, watching your step on the smooth marble. Other guests took from the platter, but you noticed one put one back.

You were only a few steps away from the princes now. A slight bitter scent stung your nose. It would be unnoticable for anyone else, but you recognized it. Poison. Pointing it out would lead to chaos. Feeding to the princes was unthinkable. Finding a flaw in the dish would lead to the firing of kitchen staff. So you fell. You stumbled on the last step, hitting your shin and falling at the princes’ feet. It hurt.

Kaeya was the first to react. He bent over to help you up. “Falling for me, aren’t we?”

You politely refused his hand and stood up on your own. Any contact would fuel gossip, especially with his flirtatious personality.

“Are you hurt?” Diluc asked, a touch of worry in his voice. It was unusual for you to be this clumsy.

“I’m alright, but the pastries are not. Apologies.” You couched over to clean it up, brushing the hors d’oeuvres back onto the platter. Once finished, you stood up, bowed and walked back to the kitchen.

You wrapped the poisoned pastry into a napkin and put it in your pocket. The Royal Alchemist would have to take a look at it.

“What happened?” Sara asked.

“Sorry I fell and dropped them.”

She groaned. “I expected better from you!”

You hummed in agreement and picked up another platter. You’d have to be more careful. You hurried up the stairs as fast as you could without raising suspicion.

You place the platter nearby and put two of the appetizers on plates. “May I recommend these, your highnesses.” You offer the pastries while bowing slightly.

Diluc looked confused at the gesture, but took it anyway. Kaeya is too busy chatting to a noble to notice.

“Your highness, Prince Kaeya.”

He finally noticed and accepted the tart. “Thank you.”

Everytime one of the princes reached for something, you handed it to them. You made sure any food or drink went through you, checking for poison inconspicuously each time.

“Would you like a drink?” A woman asked Diluc. It smelled of poison. Luckily, he refused. Thank the archons he didn’t drink.

Kaeya on the other hand. You intercepted several glasses of wine before he could take the hint. Each time you’d have to find an unopened bottle that was ‘more to his liking.’

You walked up to Diluc with another one of his favorite appetizers. In his hand was a poisoned tart. You glared at it, trying to find a way to get it away from him without drawing attention. He misunderstood your gaze.

“Would you like one?” He offered the tart.

Oh well. “Thank you, your highness.” You forced it down your throat and smiled. “Here’s a shrimp for you.” You handed it to him. The sooner this ended, the sooner you could get medical attention.

Thankfully the brothers decided to leave soon after. Diluc because he had grown tired, Kaeya because he had noticed your exhaustion.

As soon as they left you hurried to the royal laboratories. You ran past several tired alchemists before reaching the one you were looking for.

“Albedo, I need you to analyze something.”

He looked up from his work, eyes awake as ever. You wondered if he ever slept. “Of course.” He led you to one of his labs.

It was filled with various instruments all polished to a shine.

“So, what is it that you want me to examine?”

You pulled out the pastry. “What poison is in this.”

He pulled out some equipment. “How urgent is this?”

“That depends on how fast acting it is.” You sat down, your head getting dizzy. “And I’d guess it’s pretty fast.”

“Did you ingest any of it?”

“Yes.” You sensed his judgment and clarified. “It was either me or the crown prince.”

He just sighed and continued his work. “Try your best to stay awake.”

“No promises.” You slumped in the chair, the combination of poison and a long day dragging you to delirium.

He noticed your shallow breathing and checked your pulse. It was weak, but still there. Your skin was flushed. You moved unsteadily and tried to stand up. He pushed you back to a seated position.

“The princes… “ You groaned, eyes barely open.

“They’ll be fine.” He brushed your hair from your face, noting how it stuck with sweat.

“What time is it?”

“Time for you to rest.” He held your mouth open and tilted in the antidote.

You tried to spit it out but he held your mouth closed. You swallowed. “Bitter.”

“I know it is.” He held a glass of water as you drank from it greedily. He draped your arm over his shoulder and lifted you from your seat.

“Where…”

“We’re going to your room. You need to sleep.” He thought about bringing you to his bed, it wasn’t like he used it anyway. The scandal that would cause made him reconsider. He had never cared much for social rules and he was respected enough that he didn’t have to follow them. You on the other hand didn’t have that luxury.

The two of you stumbled down to the servant’s quarters. Your room was unlocked. He moved the blankets and laid you on the bed. Your room was small, about 8 paces by 8 paces. There was a bed, a desk, a cabinet and not much more. He pulled out the chair at your desk and started writing notes. Symptoms, chemical composition, materials, all the information he had about the poison. He would occasionally check in on you. You were tossing and turning the whole time.

In the morning someone came to knock on the door. You tried to get up to answer but your arms collapsed under you.

“Stay.” Albedo commanded. He opened the door.

“Sir Albedo? Why are you… Is he sick?” Diluc’s voice rang through the room.

“I’m fine.” You did not sound fine.

Diluc pushed Albedo out of the way and hurried to your bed. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s no big deal-”

“He was poisoned.”

You glared at Albedo but he just shrugged. You sigh. “It’s fine. I’ll recover in a day or two.”

“But you didn’t eat anything.” He put his fist to his chin. “Except… the tart I gave you.” His hand dropped.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I poisoned you.” He looked horrified.

“You didn’t know it was poisoned, and I chose to take it.”

“Did you know?” He took your silence as confirmation. “Why would you eat it?”

“It was me or you. A servant or a crown prince. One is much more replaceable.”

“No, you’re not!” You startled at his voice and he lowered it. “You’re not replaceable. Please, don’t say that about yourself.”

Just in time Kaeya burst in the door.

“You didn’t wake me this morning.” He pouted.

“Apologies, I’ll be taking the day off.” You waved him over and fixed his shirt. He had an awful habit of undoing the top few buttons throughout the day. “Who dressed you today.”

“Anne. I still missed you though.”

“Hmm. She did well.” You pointedly ignored the second part of his statement. Anne had been one of the servants you trained, you were proud of her progress. “Now don’t mess up her hard work. Hands off the buttons.”

“I’ll try.” He wouldn’t. “By the way, why are you taking the day off?”

“I poisoned him.” Diluc said.

Kaeya looked up in confusion.

“Don’t be dramatic. Someone poisoned the food he gave me.” You told Kaeya.

“So that’s why you were acting strange last night.” Kaeya said.

“Not really. I was just trying to keep you and your brother from ingesting any of it. Especially you. Most of the wine you were offered was poisoned. The poisoning happened later.”

“How could you tell what was poisoned?” Kaeya was quick to ask.

“I’ve practiced identifying toxins. This one smelled bitter.”

“Was you tripping a ploy too? To keep the poisoned appetizers away from us?” Diluc asked, finally recovered enough to piece together last night’s events

“It seemed like the best option.”

“You’re incredible.” Kaeya shakes his head, almost disbelieving.

“It’s truly not much. For all your family has done for me.” You try your best to divert the attention away from yourself.

“We owe you.” Diluc stated, not seeming to understand the weight of his words.

“Not really,” You desperately try to brush off the comment, face heating up at his remark.

“He needs to rest and you both have work to do.” Albedo shepherded the brothers out the door. “And you,” He closed the door behind him and pulled a chair to your bed. “Need to help me write a report.” He pulled out his notebook and pen.

You groaned. You hated paperwork.

Masterlist

#kaeya #g/n reader #genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin kaeya #diluc ragnvindr #diluc #albedo #diluc x reader #masc reader #genshin albedo #albedo x reader #genshin royal au #pining #foul play #royal au #lavendermage

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