Kouen x Fem! Reader

Summary: You never thought such a horrid beast would ever consider saving you, let alone actually warm up to you.

A/N: Sorry, I know this is long overdue...

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You had to admit you didn't have the slightest clue on how to beat them and escape with your life, but you didn't want to die here. You tightened your grip on the stick as one of the wolves jumped at you.

You yelped and quickly swung at them causing them to whimper, the others growled and stalked towards you; you almost felt like prey.

It was the same process over and over, you hit them and they whimper while others get ready to attack. Baal helped by neighing at them, making some of them back away in slight fear.

You soon realized all of them were becoming too much for you to handle, especially now one of them had a hard grip on the stick you were using as a weapon. You tugged and pulled, trying to wedge it free only to have them rip it from your grip and toss it behind them.

You backed up against Baal and felt tears come into your eyes, was this the end for you? Were you really going to die without seeing your father again?

As one of them jumped you shielded yourself and realized that you were really were going to die. You braced for it only to feel a flash of wind hit you and a blur of red pass your eyes.

You shakily opened them to see the beast you loathed roar at all the wolves and begin to attack. You could barely move as you watched him fight them off, what could've possessed him to come and help you?

~

"Aniue!"

Kouen only ignored his brothers as they walked behind him, you were gone and he was starting to like it that way. He didn't have anything to worry about now.

Koumei felt one of his eyes twitch as Kouen ignored him and Kouha. "Aniue! Don't you realize she might die out there?!" He exclaimed, hoping to get some sense into him.

Kouen scoffed, "maybe she should've thought of that before running away."

Kouha frowned, "it was your fault for yelling at her! Don't you realize this may be our only chance to break this curse?!" He yelled, feeling his patience falter.

Kouen stopped in his steps and stayed staring down at the floor. Thanks to the recent cleaning on it, he could almost see his reflection. As he stared down at himself he could've sworn he saw your eyes staring back at him, they reflected something he hadn't seen in a while. Concern.

His fists clench and he stalked away from his brothers toward the front door of the castle. They didn't say anything but he could've sworn he saw their smug faces looking at him as he left.

~

The wolves were becoming too much for him as one of them pounced on his back and bit his arm, he cried out in pain and threw the wolf off him. He roared louder than before causing all of them retreat.

You took this as your chance to leave and got ready to haul yourself up on Baal. You took a small glance at him to see him collapse into the cold snow with a groan, you shook it off and looked back at Baal.

You were hesitating and it was hard to say why given that he was a tyrant and treated you horribly. Although, you still took into account how he did just save your life. You sighed and decided you would regret this later.

You went up to him and removed your cloak to put on top of him. "You have to stand," you whispered, "it's the only way I can help you."

He seemed to understand and, with a lot of help from your end, you got him on the horse on the way to the castle.

•~•~•

All of the servants fussed over the two of you once you returned. They knew their master was going out to find you but they hadn't realized he would've gotten hurt in the process, with more work you managed to get him seated in a chair in front of the fireplace.

You had a bowl of warm water next to you and a towel in your hands, you dipped it in the water and scowled at him as he licked at his wound. "Stop that, you might infect it," you scolded.

He only huffed and rested his arm on the armrest of the chair. You sighed and rested the towel on his arm causing him to growl at you, "THAT HURTS!"

You huffed and took it off his arm, "if you stopped squirming it wouldn't hurt as much!" You retorted.

He grumbled, "if you hadn't run away this wouldn't have happened," he said bitterly.

"If you hadn't frightened me I wouldn't have run away," you huffed.

"Well..." He thought of another point, "you shouldn't have been in the west wing," he said triumphantly.

"Well, you should learn to control your temper!" You retorted, angrily putting down the towel in your hands.

He huffed and rested his head in his hand, he was almost like a child that lost an argument. You sighed and picked up the towel, "now, hold still. This might hurt a bit," you informed, placing the wet towel back on his wound.

He hissed in pain but grew used to the feeling as you kept pressing it on his wound. You looked down at his wound and avoided his eyes, "by the way, thank you... For saving me," you said softly.

His eyes widened and he looked down at you with a soft expression, "you're welcome."

•~•~•

Kouen had soon made his way to bed, leaving you alone with the servants. With the recent events a question was popped into your mind, "was he always like this?" You asked.

They all hesitated before speaking. Koumei spoke up, "he used to be human but... He was turned into a beast from a curse," he explained, "the same thing happened to us."

Your eyes widened, "Is there any way I can help?" You asked, concerned with their current situation.

Hakuei shook her head, "never you mind about that, it's our burden to bear," she said with a sad look as Hakuryuu snuggled into her side.

Your brows scrunched, "what do you mean?"

Kouha's gaze went to the floor, "En-nii's father... Wasn't a great man. In a way, it's his fault that En-nii had a rotten heart," he explained, "but none of us tried to step in... So, it's our fault too."

Your grip tightened on your dress, you still wanted to help them but nothing came to mind on a single way to help. You decided to just let it go for now.