(Kouen x Fem! Reader)

Summary: You are shown to your room and more antiques while your father tries to get help.

SURPRISE! I needed some way to get over that algebra EOC... I still have more tomorrow... It's so hard T~T. Anyway, we are now on chapter 5! Whoo!

~~~~~~~~~

You sobbed as you laid your head on your knees, he was gone. You'd probably never see him again, you sniffled and wiped your nose. The cold cell almost made things worse but the thought of your father being here didn't sit well with you either.

You heard loud thumps on the stairs and you kept your sobbing to a minimum as you recognized that monster's footsteps. You wiped your eyes and glared at him, "you didn't even let me say goodbye! I'll never see him again!" You spat as you looked out the window to where your father was trapped in a carriage going back to town.

Kouen only said nothing and stared at you and the way you shined under the moonlight which was now fading into daylight. He shook his head to get rid of a feeling rising and walked off, leaving you in the dirty, cold cell.

Kouha, who had been on the floor to keep out of the way, stood up and stuck his tongue out at his brother's retreating form. To think he was a gentlemanly prince before, now he was just downright rude. He walked over to the latch that opens the cage and stared up at it. It was a few feet away from him small form.

He jumped a couple of times and grabbed onto it, he pulled down causing the cell to open with a slight creak. Hearing the subtle noise you flinched as you thought he came back, your brows furrowed and you cautiously walked out with a stool in your hands to protect yourself.

"Well, now you've done it! What would ani-sama say?!"

Someone scoffed, "he doesn't have to know."

You walked out and your eyes widened to see a candelabra and a clock, talking. You screamed and slammed the stool down on the candelabra causing him to groan in pain. He removed it from on top of him and chuckled, "pardon my intrusion, you are very strong mademoiselle. I've come to escort you to your room."

At first, you were confused about your room but the topic at hand switched to the fact that he was a candelabra and could talk, "y-you can talk?" You asked, confirming if you were crazy.

You heard a huff from the clock, "of course he can talk it's all he ever does," said the clock bitterly. The candelabra pouted at the clock and whined about how that wasn't true, he actually wasn't all that far off from the truth.

You interrupted their little disagreement, "w-what are you two?"You asked wearily, it didn't seem like a sane question as they were objects.

The candelabra jumped up to grab your hand and pressed a chaste kiss to it, "I am Kouha," he said, winking, he turned to the clock who was rolling his eyes, "that grump over there is Koumei!"

"Hey!"

Kouha, to evade his brother's wrath, pulled you away to bring you to your room which he had spoken of earlier. You looked back at your cell and decided to go with the room, at least you wouldn't freeze to death.

Koumei, who was still angry, huffed once more and followed them. Even if he didn't agree to going against his brother's orders.

*~*~*

"You must forgive first impressions, I hope you are not too startled."

You scoffed, "why would I be startled? I'm talking to a candle," you said, unamused as you held him in your hand to light the way while walking to your room with daylight shining through the windows and dust along the corridors.

Kouha glared at you, "hey, candelabra. There is a huge difference," he sassed as he crossed his arms with a small pout. He seemed pretty offended after you called him that, "anyway, the castle is your's now, feel to go wherever you like." He smiled.

Koumei who had been walking in front of the two of you spoke up, "Kouha what would ani-sama say about this?" He asked wearily, fearing his brother's wrath. He had gotten punched by him once just for sleeping while standing up. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Kouha scoffed and chuckled, "he's so dramatic. As long as she doesn't go in the west wing, she'll be fine!" He said cheerfully. Koumei gave him a look of shock as he wasn't supposed to bring up the only wing everyone was forbidden to enter. Kouha gasped and put his hands over his mouth for letting it slip.

Seeing the exchange, you brows scrunched, "what's in the west wing?" You asked, curious. It seemed like it was important by the way the two talked about it. The two looked at each other and said nothing.

"Nothing."

"Nothing but storage space."

You rose a brow but didn't bring it up, your eyes soon landed on the scary decor which happened to be gargoyles the shape of monsters with icicles from their teeth making them look sharper and more threatening. You felt a tear escape your eye as you could be with your father right now instead of being stuck here.

You quickly wiped it and continued walking ignoring the cold nipping your face from opened windows along with the sinking feeling in your gut.

•~•~•

They stopped in front of a slightly worn out door with gold accenting the baby blue color. That was most likely your room, Kouha jumped out of your hand and onto Koumei's head, causing him to glare at his little brother, to land right in front of the door.

He pushed it open and turned to you, "welcome to your new home, modest but comfortable."

Your eyes widened at the sight of it, it looked bigger than your attic, which you considered pretty big. The walls seemed to match the door adding a small theme to it, littered along the walls were fake gold branches along with a mural on the ceiling, one window stood next to your bed with the curtains drawn causing sunlight to pour in.

"It's beautiful," you mumbled with amazement. It was anything but modest, it was grand and everything you would imagine in books.

Kouha chuckled, "of course, en-nii wanted you to have the best room in the castle," he said jumped on the bed and landing with a pose, he coughed as a cloud of dust surrounded him, "we were not expecting guests," he said chuckling.

You giggled and stepped back as something white flew past you, three feather dusters flew and began wiping the dust. They looked graceful and were shaped like peacocks, "don't worry we'll have this place cleaned up in no time," one said while wiping the dust to the air and to the floor.

You only blinked as you were slowly getting used to all the inhabitants, "o-okay."

Three soon stopped and squealed at the sight of Kouha, you rose a brow and Koumei only sighed. Kouha smirked and opened his arms allowing all of them to rest under them, "what I wouldn't give to spend one whole day with all of you," he said causing all of them to sigh.

"We don't mind being burnt by you Kouha~."

"Please~."

You turned to Koumei with a confused and shocked look, as if asking him what was going on and why the three liked the pain way too much. Koumei only cleared his throat causing Kouha to dismiss them, "they're his assistants," he said.

You only nodded slowly, barely taking in the information, "uh huh..." You took another glance around the room, "is everything here alive?" You asked. They were about to answer but as if on cue the wardrobe, which seemed to match the room, in the room sprang to life while singing.

You jumped back in shock while Kouha smiled and jumped off the bed, "meet Kougyoku, she is your wardrobe and a fantastic singer," he commented as she sang the note from earlier.

"If she can stay awake..." Mumbled Koumei while getting nudged by Kouha for being rude.

She giggled while taking out a fan, "Koumei, a woman needs her beauty sle... zzz..." She had fallen asleep causing you to look in shock as she seemed so alive earlier.

"Kougyoku, wake up! We have someone for you to dress~," said Kouha gesturing to you, causing the wardrobe to come back from her sleep and look to you with a spark in her... eyes.

"Finally, a woman," she said wistfully, "pretty eyes, proud face, a lovely canvas," she said while she grabbed your head and gestured to different parts of your face with the gold accents acting as her hands.

She smiled, "yes, I will find you something worthy of a princess," she said while smiling as the small curtains inside her moved as her mouth.

You shook your head, denying her statement, "oh, I'm not a princess," you denied, even if your father said otherwise. The thought of him brought a sinking feeling to your stomach but you brushed it off and ignored it. This was something you'd have to get used to.

"Nonsense!" She said, "now, let's see what I have in my drawers," she said, excited as she opened her last drawer wich was full of butterflies that began to fly out. She blushed and snapped it shut, "oh, how embarrassing," she said bashfully. She soon brushed it off and pulled out an assortment of multi-colored fabrics causing you to grow slightly dizzy at how fast she was moving.

"Kouha~! Come and help!" She called, you looked past all the fabric to see the candelabra grab one end of the fabric while Kougyoku grabbed the other, they both pulled and you gasped as it went tightly around your waist.

Kougyoku took out a white powdered wig and placed it on your head, "done!" She said, proud of her most recent work. The dress didn't look all that bad but it wasn't your style and it did remind you of the sweets you used to eat in town on account to the colors.

Kouha and Koumei slowly walked to not upset her work, as it wasn't all that good compared to most dresses. "S-Subtle, understated. I love it! Au revoir!" He said quickly pushing Koumei and his assistants out before Kougyoku could say anything else.

Meanwhile, you looked down at the monstrosity of fabrics and ribbons on the floor and gears began turning in your head, which hadn't happened in a while. You had an idea on how to get out of here.

You ripped the wig, along with the dress which you had to crawl out of o account to the petticoat keeping the dress up, off of you and began grabbing the fabrics in a bundle as Kougyoku fell asleep again.

You put down on the bed causing more dust to fly around and make you sneeze. You waved it away and opened a window, you looked down to where the ground was and paled. It was a long way down.

You backed up and sat on the bed, grabbing the strips of fabric to get to work.

*~*~*

Koumei and Kouha looked to each other with sadness in their eyes, "what if en-nii doesn't make this work. She's only our chance, why can't we just tell her?" He asked referring to the curse from the enchantress.

Koumei shook his head, "we both know why, if we tell her everything she'll feel obligated to fall in love, she needs to fall in love all on her own."

Kouha groaned as he knew it was true, "have you seen him?! She'll never fall in love with a beast. Some of the servants can barely even stand looking at him now!" He exasperated as some of the antique servants all shy away from Kouen's threatening appearance and behavior.

Koumei sighed, "I know but... We have to have some hope, right Kouha?"

"Right."

*~*~*

Sinbad looked around the town as he staggered on his feet after the brown, worn out carriage dropped him off. He took deep breaths as he repeated what just happened a few hours ago. His daughter was trapped and he had to save her.

He immediately ran to a pub where, as much as he didn't want to admit it, were all of the strongest men in town, including Jamil. He opened the doors letting the cold in to see Budel flattering Jamil, along with his lassies, while Jamil only smirked at the praise.

"Please, help me!" Sinbad yelled desperately. The pub grew silent as they saw the town's lunatic standing at the door, "my daughter! She's-" He was interrupted by Jamil.

"Considering my proposal," he said boastfully as the girls rubbed his shoulder's eliciting a small hum from him. The girls, and guy, grew bitter at thought of you always rejecting him but were also relieved as they had a chance.

Sinbad was taken aback but soon recovered, "proposal? What- no," he said quickly, "he's got her locked- locked in a tower! We need to go save her as quickly as possible!" He yelled making everyone draw back away from him in fear.

Jamil chuckled, "slow down, old man. Who's got Y/N in a tower?" He asked, humoring everyone in the pub by continuing the story.

Sinbad frantically waved his hands around, "a beast! A horrible monstrous beast!" He yelled making the pub go silent once more, they soon all began to laugh at his delusions.

Budel chuckled as he leaned against Jamil, "looks like he finally lost his mind this time!" He said while twirling a finger near his ear to signal that Sinbad was a huge loon.

Jamil was laughing the hardest, he wrapped an arm around Sin's shoulders, "what happened to you? You used to be such a ladies man," he said referring to the days of when he first came to the town and flirted with all the woman.

Sinbad's eyes grew dark and he gripped Jamil's collar, bringing him to meet his eyes, "my daughter needed me," he said with malice lacing his tone causing Jamil to look at him in fear along with everyone else. It was true that he was a flirt, the habit soon died as his daughter needed him more and more as the years passed.

Jamil soon began to laugh as he gained his confidence back, "so this beast-" he started, continuing the story- "is he a big beast?" He asked humorously, going above Sinbad with a malicious look in his eyes.

Sinbad's eyes widened in fear as the memory came back, "huge!" He said staggering back causing him to bump into another man in the pub.

Them man smirked, "with claws?" He asked, keeping his laughter in while bringing his hands up to signify the claws. Sinbad flinched, nodding and staggered into another man.

"With big red eyes?" He asked gesturing to his eyes while making them widen to give them more of a threatening look, "and razor sharp teeth?" He said opening his mouth to show off his teeth, dirty from all the alcohol.

"Yes! Yes!" He answered as all the men kept on jabbering him with questions and random gestures to mimic this beast that Sinbad continued spewing on and on about.

Jamil raised a hand to stop them and once they did, he walked over to Sinbad, "alright, old man. We'll help you," he said gesturing for them to grab Sinbad's arms and hoist him up to take him outside.

Sinbad tried ripping his arms away and glared at Jamil, who was busy smirking. Sinbad rose a brow as he never really trusted Jamil, but he was desperate. Jamil unsheathed a small dagger and twirled it in his hand, "I'll help you, I saw a nice asylum in the next town, I'll make sure they know you," he said his eyes twinkling with malice.

Sinbad growled at him, "you wouldn't dare," he said, he knew of all the rumors of him being crazy, you had always told him about them and ranted a few times about them as well.

Jamil shrugged and sheathed it, "alright... I won't...-" he said nonchalantly- "If and only if, you give me permission to marry Y/N," he said, in a flash pointing the dagger at his throat. Sinbad leaned his head back to get away from the sharp blade of the knife.

"No." He said firmly. He would give up his life just to keep her safe and happy so he's not throwing her's away just to save his skin. He just had to get the beast and save his daughter by himself. Sinbad ripped his arms away and walked out, "she will never marry you," he said, his gold eyes burning with determination.

The whole pub stayed quiet as he walked out, Jamil glared and walked over to him to kick him right out and into the snow. Sinbad fell with a thud and clenched his fists around the snow, "will no one help me!" He yelled desperately as his sickness caught up with him causing him to pass out.

"Oji-san!"