Okay, at the suggestion of a friend I’ve decided to post my Midnight Cinderella fanfiction here on tumblr as the MidCin ao3 is basically dead. A Sid x OC where the ‘princess’ of Wysteria is actually King Byron’s younger sister. Here’s chapter 1. If you decide to read it, I hope you like it! The first 3 chapters are here on ao3https://archiveofourown.org/works/30807311/chapters/76048739
Chapter 1: Yours for the taking
“Calm down, it’s not that big a deal,” Gwendolyn Wagner said.
Nico looked as though he was about to explode and start crying all at once, “not that big a deal?! Gwendy this is bad.”
“Well we’ve dealt with bad before.”
“This is really bad.” Nico was tugging at the hems of his sleeves as he often did while agitated, and right now he was really agitated. “This is worse than anything else we’ve dealt with.”
Gwen snorted because this was categorically notworse than anything they’d dealt with. Still…
She touched Nico’s arm, “it’s fine, go back to work and pretend everything’s okay.”
“But what are we gonna do?!” Nico whisper-hissed.
Go back to work and pretend everything was fine?! Had she stuttered?!?! “Nico, think of this as a great opportunity.”
“-a great opportunity to get caught and executed-” he muttered and Gwen resisted the urge to laugh, that would only encourage him.
She smacked his arm instead, “a great opportunity to gather information!”
“And then get caught and executed.”
A second smack. “I’ll use this time to gather information. As their princess, Giles has to trust me now. When we think we’ve got enough, or if anyone starts getting suspicious, I’ll start pretending the pressure’s getting to me and we’ll run away. With any luck they’ll think I ran away because it was too much and you decided to come with me.”
“And what happens next time Wysteria and Stein have a diplomatic mission and they recognize you or me?” Nico asked suspiciously but at least he didn’t sound semi-hysterical anymore.
“What’re they gonna do about it?” Asked Gwen with the arrogance of a born princess.
Nico thought for a minute and then nodded, “okay, we’ll play it your way. In that case, I need to get back to work, good luck!”
Looking far more chipper, her brother’s left-hand man exited the room and Gwen continued down the hall alone with her thoughts.
Anxiously, she tugged on her own sleeves, a habit she had picked up from Nico, as she thought.
She’d acted flippant to reassure Nico but the truth was; she was pretty nervous too. I never should have left, she thought to herself and then grimaced, we never should have left.
Oh Albert’s gonna be so mad… Gwen hated it when Albert was mad at her and she’d really done it this time.
Or rather, Nico had ‘really done it’ and Gwen had… well…
She’d been in Stein just minding her own business (she had!!) when she’d caught Nico sneaking out in the middle of the damn night. After a slight amount of pressure, and perhaps a noogie or two, Gwen had gotten him to confess the reason for this. He and Albert had argued the previous day (surprise, surprise) and Albert had said something that upset Nico.
Try as she might, Gwen hadn’t been able to get Nico to tell her what exactly Albert had said but she was led to understand the word ‘useless’ might have been involved.
If there was one thing Nico hated it was any implication that he was a burden on King Byron. So instead of dealing with his emotions like an adult, Nico was sneaking out in the middle of the night to infiltrate the palace of Wysteria, their nearest neighbour, as a spy so he could feel useful.
In her defense, Gwen had tried to talk him out of it, she really had, even threatening to get the guards to drag him back. Unfortunately she knew by the time she came back with the guards Nico would be long gone, likewise, she couldn’t drag him back herself, the little bastard was faster than she was.
Even more unfortunately, Nico knew this too.
So Gwen had decided to go with him.
He’dtried to talk herout of that but Gwen was resolute, “when you go back, I’ll go back,” she promised.
She had honestly thought that would make Nico turn around, but it hadn’t. So they’d ended up in Wysteria.
Wysteria Palace, like any castle, constantly needed new workers so they had gotten jobs fairly easily, her as a chambermaid, him as a stable-hand and worked their way up until Nico was a trusted and respected attendant.
And Gwen?
Well she’d just been informed that she was now the Princess Select.
Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger and sighed. When the King of Wysteria needed an heir but had no children his adviser picked a commoner girl, well young woman really, to be trained as the next Princess and then eventually, Queen. Generally the new Princess would pick a Prince Consort from among the young noble men and the opposite was true, if the Queen needed an heir a commoner boy was picked. This kept both the common people and the nobility happy, giving both a voice.
It was a long-standing, if not exactly common, tradition in Wysteria and Gwen had known it was going on the same way she knew the sun was rising and setting. It happened, it just wasn’t something she paid a lot of attention to.
Big mistake that turned out to be.
Moving her hand from the bridge of her nose, she rubbed her brow. She was now the princess of Wysteria. Giles, the King’s current adviser, had picked her this morning and Gwen and Nico had been panicking ever since.
Giles would be so mad if he ever found out Gwen was actually the younger sister of King Byron of Stein!
This was a fine mess the two of them had gotten themselves into!
Gwen reached Giles’s door and knocked, there was the sound of muffled conversation on the other side.
She sighed again, maybe Nico was right, maybe they should just cut their losses and run now.
Word hadn’t gotten very far about the new Princess Select, Giles could probably do damage control and pick a new princess with fairly little hassle. They probably wouldn’t look too hard for her either.
Giles bade her entry and Gwen pushed the door open.
And almost walked right into the (strong, muscular) chest of the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
The stranger had been reaching to pull the door open for her when Gwen entered but after she let herself in he stepped back (shame) and smiled slowly at her.
Gwen smiled back, because really, who wouldn’t? Before turning to Giles.
“You wanted to see me?” She asked Giles, taking her eyes off the handsome new stranger, for a second anyway.
Giles could obviously see the looks Gwen and the stranger were giving each other but he chose not to say anything about it, instead he just made introductions.
“Princess this is Lloyd Gardner, son of the Archduke Gardner. Sid, this is our new princess Gwenyth Fowler.”
The man grimaced, “just call me Sid, everyone does,” he reached for her hand.
“Sid then, I’m Gwen,” yeah maybe using ‘Gwenyth’ instead of ‘Gwendolyn’ as her fake name was not the most inventive thing she could have come up with but it was better than nothing *cough, cough* Nico.
“Sid buys and sells information, there are certain sects of the populace that are not content with the Princess Selection and we want to nip any discontent in the bud,” began Giles.
“So if you feel something’s wrong, you just come to me. I’ll help you get it sorted,” finished Sid, giving her that slow smile again. He still hadn’t let go of Gwen’s hand.
Now, now, maybe she and Nico didn’t have to leave that quickly. Like Gwen had told Nico, this was a golden opportunity to collect information and if the source of that information happened to be smoking hot, who was Gwen to turn away that opportunity?
Yeah, they’d be in huge trouble if they were caught, Byron was probably worried sick and every second they stayed here increased their risk of being found but Sid was super fucking hot.
Gwen had her priorities.
“And what if I don’t feel something’s wrong?” She asked, fluttering her eyelashes ever-so-slightly.
Sid’s grin widened, “well you can always come to me anyway.”
“I feel better already,” said Gwen. She took her hand back but only because poor Giles was standing right there being forced to watch this, if he wasn’t she would have been happy to let Sid keep a hold of her hand for as long as he liked.
“Say, have you picked your prince consort yet, Princess?” Asked Sid almost casually.
Ah, right to the point. Excellent, Gwen didn’t have to spend time messing around.
Giles made a slight noise that Gwen didn’t think was encouraging. Actually, she was pretty sure Giles was shaking his head vehemently behind the other man’s back but she couldn’t see past Sid’s broad, muscular shoulders.
“Why? Was that an offer… because if so… maybe.”
Just as it was getting good, the voice of Leo Crawford, a bureaucrat from Wysteria, called Sid from down the hall. Sid stepped back from Gwen reluctantly.
“Sorry, duty calls but we’ll talk soon Princess.”
“Counting on it.”
After Sid bid Giles farewell and left to find Leo, Gwen raised an eyebrow at Giles.
“So? What’s his deal?”
“His ‘deal’ is a fiancee of six months,” said Giles and the smile vanished from Gwen’s face like magic.
Figures! Men could be handsome or decent, never both!
“Although I believe the engagement was against Sid’s wishes, he does not love Lady Elise.” Normally Giles wouldn’t air his friend’s dirty laundry like this but the look on the princess’s face was worrying him. He felt compelled to defend Sid, at least a little, he didn’t need the princess kicking Sid in the family jewels the next time they saw each other and calling him a cheater either. Besides, this wasn’t common knowledge but it was hardly a secret either.
Ah, Gwen nodded in understanding and slight sympathy. No, this was good actually, it couldn’t be anything serious for him, so she didn’t have to feel bad about leading him on.
Good for her, not good for him.
This was good, just a bit of harmless flirtation. With the guy most likely to find her out as a spy.
Nothing serious.
What could go wrong?
*
Things went well for Gwen after that, she breezed through her princess lessons, telling Giles, not totally untruthfully that she had been around enough noble women to pick things up, Nico only had a minor heart-attack the first time he saw her flirt with Sid, and Robert decided to keep his mouth shut.
Yeah, they were gonna have to have a conversation one day soon. But not today.
She only had one minor incident when, snooping around the castle in the middle of the night, she lost her shoe on the staircase as she ran to hide from the guards but they couldn’t prove anything so it was fine.
The more time Gwen spent with Sid, the more she liked him, he had more depth than she’d first expected and was a funny and interesting companion, he was smart and listened when she spoke and was game to go with her the one time she snuck out of the castle to meet an informant (and he knew the guy and helped Gwen ask her questions too). He even offered to take over that part of information-gathering for her so she didn’t need to sneak out at night. That was so sweet, Gwen hoped he never found out the real reason she wanted this information had nothing to do with protecting Wysteria.
He kissed her once too, that night they snuck out and two weeks later Gwen’s head was still spinning over that kiss.
Handsome, charming, a good kisser, smart… Too bad she couldn’t really be Wysteria’s (and Sids’s) princess.
So yeah, things were going pretty well… except…
“Good Gods, all you do is complain,” Gwen sighed, resting her elbow on her desk.
“Well I wouldn’t have to if you’d just listen the first hundred times I complained,” said Nico, hands also on her desk, staring her down, “you’re running off with Sid? Sid? Who in this castle is most likely to find us out, do you think?!”
Yeah, yeah, she knew, she knew. It was Robert. Obviously. But the second most likely person was Sid.
“Nico this is a golden opportunity we will never get again, if I don’t milk it for all it’s worth I’m gonna kick myself.” She picked up an Important Wysterian Document and studied it, “and if I do a teensylittle bit of flirting too well, there are worse things.”
Throwing his hands up, physically and metaphorically, her closest friend shook his head, “we’re gonna get caught, we’re gonna get caught,” he sang under his breath, shaking his head like this hadn’t been his idea, “and I’m telling Albert you were flirting with Sid.”
Gwen couldn’t help but laugh, the oldest threat between them; telling Mummy she was doing something scandalous. “Don’t tell Albert,” she begged.
“Telling. Albert.”
After she promised they’d leave soon, Nico finally told her the reason he’d actually come to see her, Sid had invited her out riding with him that evening. Or maybe Giles had invited her out riding with Sid, that part was a little unclear. Either way.
Gwen smiled, yes, things were going very well.
*
“Well that’s what the Archduke says anyway,” Sid finished.
Lying on her back on a grassy knoll, staring up at the starry sky Sid’s deep, slow voice could lull Gwen to sleep if she wasn’t so focused on him.
“You call your father ‘the Archduke’?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, playing with a strand of her overlong hair. True, it was much nicer than the things Gwen called her father but it was a tad unusual.
“He’s not my father,” said Sid to her surprise, when Gwen raised both eyebrows this time, he elaborated. “When I was little my parents were banished from Wysteria. They had nothing and nowhere to go and didn’t want to bring their kid into that so they asked a good friend of theirs to adopt me. He did, made me his heir and gave me a new name. He’s been good to me, but he isn’t my father.” It was a little more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it.
“That’s why you don’t go by ‘Lloyd’,” said Gwen, understanding immediately, “‘Sid’s’ the name you were born with.”
“That, and ‘Lloyd’s’ a stupid name.”
Gwen choked on a laugh and Sid took the piece of hair she was playing with and wound it through his own fingers, “I don’t know why I told you that.” He admitted.
“Is it a secret?”
“Not really, just not something I talk about very often,” he tugged on the lock of hair, “you have very beautiful hair, princess.”
“I already know that but you can tell me any time you please,” said Gwen, shutting her eyes and it was Sid’s turn to cough out a surprised laugh.
Sid began to card his fingers through her long hair and Gwen didn’t think there was a woman alive who could resist that. She felt herself beginning to drift off and fought it, she needed to stay awake, and she wanted to talk with Sid some more.
Funny though, how she already trusted him enough to fall asleep in his presence.
Gwen shook herself, physically and mentally, flirting was fine, getting attached was not. For both of them. She’d do well to remember that the next time he kissed her.
Still, she didn’t remove his hand from her hair.
“Your turn,” said Sid.
“Hm?”
“Tell me a secret?”
Just one? But she had so many. Oh boy…
Gwen turned her head slightly to look at Sid, propped up on his elbow beside her.
She had lots of secrets and could tell him none of them. I think I could fall in love with you.
I really hope that I don’t.
*
“Hm? What was that?” Gwen turned right around, to look at Giles, there was nothing subtle about the way she’d jumped but Gwen was too surprised to care.
“Yes, it appears the old King of Stein is plotting a rebellion against his son who overthrew him a few years ago.” Said Giles, continuing off what he’d been saying.
Ah, so Giles hadsaid what Gwen thought he had. Her heart hammered and she tugged at the end of her elbow-length glove. We knew this was going to happen, she thought, but for once in her life being right didn’t give Gwen any joy.
“What does that mean for us?” Asked Gwen absently, both Sid and Giles were looking at her funny and she didn’t blame them, considering she’d jumped about a foot in the air at the mention of her father. But still… they hadn’t even heard a hint of a whisper of this in Stein. As far as she knew, Byron was completely in the dark. And a lot of nobles in Wysteria didn’t like Stein; a big and militarily powerful neighbour that, while not aggressive, certainly wasn’t friendly. If they decided it was better for them that Stein was crushed under the rule of Gerald rather than allowed to flourish and threw their support behind him… Damn, Gwen hadn’t expected to have to fight both her father andWysteria.
Giles was explaining how this would benefit and disadvantage Wysteria but Gwen wasn’t listening.
There was only one country she cared about, and it wasn’t Wysteria.
*
Later that day Gwen was pouring over a report when Nico knocked, “I’m sure you can guess who these are from,” he placed a pot of lush blue flowers on her desk.
Gwen perked up immediately, “Sid sent me flowers?!” Score. Maybe today wasn’t complete rubbish.
“Yeah, he said he ‘hopes you cheer up soon.’ What’s wrong?” Nico asked. Oh boy.
She told him what she’d overheard about her father, “Sid’s offered to look into it and he’s the best informant on the continent so I want to stay for that but we need to leave, and soon.”
Nico nodded, mouth tight. He’d only been sixteen when he’d helped lead Byron’s successful rebellion against his tyrant father. Nico had nearly died helping. Gwen wasn’t going to let that happen again. Ever.
Nico left and Gwen dropped her head down with a sigh, this was exhausting. She was going to be nicer to Byron when she got home, he ran their country and that was no walk in the park, it was the least she could do for him.
When Gwen’s head dropped down she nearly planted her face in the pot of flowers Sid had sent her. Their sweet smell surrounded her and a smile touched her mouth, maybe it was a small victory but Gwen would take her wins where she could get them.
The sound of Nico’s footsteps had barely faded away when there was a second knock at the door.
“Come in,” she called.
Robert Branche pushed the door open.
Gwen’s mouth went dry with nerves as she stared up at her old teacher. When he’d been barely more than a teen himself Robert had tutored Byron, Albert, Gwen and Nico. Everything Gwen had learned about forgiveness, about gentleness, about honour, had come from this man. And he did not look impressed with her right now.
Looks like it was time to have that conversation.
Gwen swallowed, “shut the door.” Robert did so.
“So,” he asked in a quiet tone, “are we finally going to talk about you and Nico committing international espionage Gwendolyn?”
Honestly, the most unrealistic thing about IkePri is that Sariel isn’t constantly going “Prince Clav- Prince Lu- Nokto- Yve- YOU THERE, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, GET OVER HERE!!”
Spy x Family Damian and Anya parody - Comte and Jean ver.
You know how Comte and Jean relationship in the mansion so I thought this idea is perfect Papa Comte only wants to protecc his child from whoever makes him cries
In February I went to Paris for two days (where I only visited places with dead people : St Denis Basilica, Les Invalides (Napoleon’s tomb), Père Lachaise Cemetery and Montmartre Cemetery.)
At the entrance of the cemeteries, there are maps with famous people’s names and where to find their resting places. I swear I gasped so loud when seeing Murat’s name
So here it is, I’ve been planning to draw Napoleon in front of it since I took the photo
Also I wanted to add Murat in the background trying to figure their position in the map (let me tell you it was pure hell to find our way in le Pere Lachaise Cemetery )
