Catching Feelings? (TodoDeku x Reader)

—First Person POV.—

Light.

Despite my eyes being completely sealed shut, the glare still managed to appear bright, too bright for my liking—and making my brows furrow as it seemed to break past my eyelids.

I have to squint my eyes open, lashes fluttering hazily as I came to my senses.

My face is warm with the suns rays dancing across it and pouring in through the window where the shutter was left slightly ajar.

And my body reacted long before my half-asleep mind could process—jumping up from the bed in a panic and nearly flinging myself face first onto the floor.

I wanted to question why exactly I was on Hikari's bed and not my own narrow cot in the next room? But that's immediately explained when my brain flashes memories of the night before—flooding me with the answer.

Hikari ran away with her lover, I was unable to sleep.. How I somehow managed to wander into the Lady's now vacant room and accidentally fell asleep on her soft feather bed?

Actually, that part made more sense— Her bed really was comfortable, but the dreams accompanying last night kind of ruined most of the appeal.

The remnants of that damned dream lingered like frost on a windowsill—envisioning a desolate, eerie castle inhabited by a monstrous man so repulsive and primal that none dared approach him—it was a dark shadow that weighed over me.

How my mind could conjure up such nightmares? I didn't want to know or dwell on it any longer.

My back met the silky sheets as I fell across the bed, dipping the mattress inwards and making the blanket cradle around my body.

For once in a long time, there was nothing for me to do: no Lady Hikari to wake up for, no tending to her needs, clothing to fix, shoes to clean, cleaning or games to play in an attempt to amuse the mistress.

Nothing else to think about as I stared up at the ceiling, eyes flickering over the see-through drapes casted amongst the sides of the bed posts.

If I stared long enough for my mind to wander, I could still remember the castle— But its Prince was showcased as a lightless figure, dressed in umbra "Just look at his face, he's a monster.." I could catch a maidservant murmur against my senses.

I held my breath, gaze narrowing as I took a step forward—meeting the base of the staircase in an attempt to get a better look at him.

His eyes were unseen until it snapped down on me, or at least I think he looked at me, only pools of fire met my sight with an audible sneer—

And that's when I jolted awake.

My brows furrowed as I turned onto my side to stare out the open window, the same one Hikari had fled out the night before—and I an reminded that I should be going over and panicking about what I'll tell the Duke of Kyushu.

'Had he even discovered his daughter was missing yet?' I pause, taking a moment to listen for any type of panic throughout the castle, but all I'm met with is silence.

A hum falls from my lips at how stupid helping her in the first place was—of course it peered more with my moral compass.. But what will he do with me now that I'm unneeded? The Duke had no other daughters.

I needed this position as a personal maidservant because the income was well enough to supply my family their necessities.

My father couldn't work with his legs paralyzed and Rikido was always too kind to up his bakeries prices, they would surely fall without my pay.