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RomanoxReader: The Nation's Three Questions

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LovinoxReader - The Nation’s Three Questions
Rewritten Version of The King’s Three Questions
omir-the-storyteller.blogspot.…

*Lovino Cursing And Being A Jerk Warning*


King Lovino sat at his throne again. He was bored once again. Many thought him as a cruel ruler, as he often played nasty and fatal tricks on this around him. But it wasn’t his fault he got bored easily. What else was there to do? All the other nobles ran the kingdom for him. All he did was send messages through the Royal Adviser, his younger brother. He was always smarter, always the better sibling. They listened to him more and followed his advice.

He was the problem. And he was also going to help solve the other problem.

Lovino called Feliciano in front of him. His younger brother came running up, sliding on the slick marble floor, before bowing in front of his king. “Si, fratello?”

“I’m fucking bored,” Lovino explained with a wave of his hand. “Let’s play a game.”

Feliciano smiled brightly at the thought of an innocent game. “Okay fratello! Veh, what kind of game?”

“I will ask you three questions. If you answer of three of them correctly, idiota, I will give you three bags of gold. If you answer one incorrectly, I’ll chop off your head one time. Answer incorrectly twice, I get to chop off your head twice. And if you get all three answers wrong, I’ll chop off your head three times. If that fucking clear, idiota?”

Feliciano started shaking and crying. “Please don’t chop my head off! I’m too young to die! And what if I don’t die I’m just mortally wounded and forced to lie there in misery in a pool of my own blood! Please, I’ll do anything fratello, well I mean within reason, I don’t want to die~!”

“Shut up, idiota! I can do what I want because I am king!”

“Si fratello...” Feliciano sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve. “Quali sono le domande?”

“First, how many stars are there in the sky? Second, precisely how deep is the ocean? And the third one is, what am I thinking?” Lovino smirked, knowing that his brother would be too much of an idiot to know any of them. “Move along now, enjoy your day. See you tomorrow.”

Feliciano ran out the the room, crying in fear again. He knew he didn’t know any of the questions. How was he supposed to survive tomorrow? For once, he wished he wasn’t born as the second prince, and wished he had taken up a post somewhere other than in the capital. As he walked, he quite literally ran into the King’s Storyteller.


*{Reader POV time~}*

I walked along the palace halls, trying to figure out where to get my next story idea from. The position of King’s Storyteller was hereditary. I inherited it when my father died, leaving me as the youngest storyteller ever, to deal with the king that is cruel to the subjects. Well, not really cruel. He just has his moments where he gets bored and decides to take it out on people he hates. It’s not his fault the previous king, Lovino’s grandfather, always favoured Feliciano, even though Lovino was going to take the throne first.

I’ve been at the palace all my life, first helping my father manage the library, before he died and left me to do the job all by myself. My first memories are of playing in the large courtyard as a small child and meeting Lovino for the first time. I didn’t know he was the Crown Prince at the time. My father had always told me the Crown Prince had many lessons and classes to go to, so I didn’t think this other kid with too much time on their hands could be the prince.

Because I was one of the only other children at the palace, I became Lovino’s first friend, before he became cruel. I think I was the only one who has never been affected by any punishment he has given out. He knows I’ve been trying my best as a storyteller, but all I can really do if hunt for old manuscripts in the library and change up the plot a little to make it new. What he doesn’t know if how scared I’ve been getting of him of late. I’m afraid the one time I’m forced to entertain, I’ll mess up. I haven’t been able to handle the cruel Lovino, and spend most of my time hiding away in corners of the large library, pouring over large tomes of history and folklore, copying down any new stories I find, and re-transcribing older works so they were readable again.

As I wandered the halls, once again in deep thought over stories, I barely heard the running of feet coming ever so closer. I had no time to register the noise as someone barreled into me and knocked both of us over. I rubbed my head which had collided with the other person and opened my eyes. I was shocked to see Feliciano, the royal advisor and Lovino’s younger brother, on the ground across from me, crying his eyes out.

“Feliciano? Are you okay?” I asked, leaning over to him.

“{Name}!” Feliciano launched up and trapped me in a hug, knocking us both over again. “You need to help me! I don’t want to die! I mean seriously, I’m a virgin, where do you think they get virgin olive oil! I don’t want to lose my life, it’s pathetic enough as it is~!”

I sighed, not understanding a single word Feliciano had just cried out to me. I stood up and picked him up with me. “Come on Feliciano, I’ll make you some of that coffee you like so much to calm you down.”


*{One Coffee Timeskip Later...}*

I walked with a tray of coffee to the soft chair where Feliciano now sat in front of the fire. I had taken him to the library, the one place almost no-one goes to. He was still sniffling, a tissue now in his hand. I set the tray on the small coffee table between the two chairs and served him a cup of the soothing stuff. I made myself a weaker cup and sat down in the chair to his left.

“Now Feliciano, can you calmly tell me why you were freaking out earlier?”

“It was fratello! He wants to play a game with me and I’m going to lose! If I lose, I’ll die!”

“What?” I choked on my coffee. I thought it was another silly little fight, not something actually deadly. I took a deep breath. “What kind of game is this?”

“He has asked me three questions, and I have to answer all of them correctly or my head comes off!”

“What are the questions?”

“The first one is how many stars are in the sky? The second is precisely how deep is the ocean? And the last one is what is fratello thinking?”

I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes. I had a wide knowledge of riddles, epics, folklore, and almost everything that was written down in the library we were sitting in. My eyes opened suddenly. I knew those questions from a long time ago. They weren’t written down anywhere, because I had forgotten about them until now.

“Feliciano, I know the answers to your questions.”

I saw Feliciano nearly fly out of his chair, holding my hand in his two. “Grazie a Dio! Veloce, tell me the answers and I’ll give you the three bags of gold fratello has promised the right answers!”

I put my free hand over Feliciano’s mouth, effectively shutting him up. “No, no no! I didn’t say I could tell you the answers. I said I could answer them! Look, I’ll tell you what, let me borrow your clothes and cloak, and I’ll go before the king in your place. I’m a storyteller. I can imitate your voice almost perfectly.”

“But bella!” Feliciano cried under my hand. “If you’re wrong, you’ll die!”

I gave Feliciano a bright smile. “I’m not wrong!”


*{Timeskip brought to you by Corvo~}*

The next day came. I met Feliciano at my room, him bringing me some of his clothes and his cloak. I had already made sure I could imitate Feliciano, and under his clothes I was able to hide most of my “womanly curves” as he had called it. I fixed up my hair to be mostly hidden in the hood of the cloak. I used a thin wire to be a copy of the Italian’s famous curl. After Feliciano’s friend Ludwig had come in looking for him, and he nearly looked like he had seen a new horror when seeing two Felicianos, I felt I would do a good job saving Feliciano’s head.

I gave Feliciano one of my own plain cloaks and he walked to the throne room using Ludwig as a hiding spot. I took a deep breath and followed the two of them in. If I was wrong, Ludwig was there to stop anything before it happened. As I entered, I saw Lovino in a heated debate with one of his other nobles, Antonio.

Though I couldn’t hear much from the doorway, I did understand Antonio didn’t want Lovino to kill his brother and to just give up with the cruel act. Lovino just took Antonio’s ax and yelled something in Italian I couldn’t catch. I decided to move closer to listen in, but found out that wasn’t necessary. Antonio had reached a breaking point and had finally snapped. His eyes narrowed and he replied to Lovino in a voice only a few people, including myself, could hear.

“If you weren’t this cruel to everybody, {Name} would probably come out of hiding again! She’s scared of you like this!”

Antonio stormed to the farthest wall of the room and leaned against the wall next to Ludwig and a disguised Feliciano. Lovino was stunned still for a moment, and for that brief moment I saw the child Lovino I met years ago. But as soon as that moment ended, Lovino swung the ax to the ground, cracking the floor and making me nearly jump out of my skin.

“Alright idiota, I’m pissed off, so you better have the right answers. Do you?”

I nodded.

“So how many stars are in the sky?”

“Well fratello,” I said in my best Feliciano’s scared-as-hell voice, “There are four hundred fifty-five million, six hundred twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred and sixty one stars in the sky, and if you think I am wrong, you can count them yourself!”

Lovino’s eyebrows shot up at this reply. He tossed the first bag of gold at me, and I saw he intended to get it back at the next question. “Fine then. Precisely how deep is the ocean?”

“Fratello, the ocean is precisely a stones' throw deep.”

Lovino sneered at me. “That is not correct. I can throw much farther than that.”

I heard the murmurs in the room start, and I could just barely see Ludwig hold a whimpering Feliciano back. I took a breath before starting again. “But fratello~! Lasciami finire!  If you take your ship out into the ocean, and then throw a stone over the side, you can measure how far the stone travels, and the distance the stone travels is the precise depth of the ocean."

I knew eyes were widening all around the throne room. I saw the gears in Lovino’s mind turning, whether or not to kill me now, but he knew I had given out the right answer.

“Very well.”

The second bag of gold was tossed at me, and that one followed the first into the folds of the cloak.

"Now for my third question. What am I thinking?"

I didn’t hesitate in Feliciano’s voice. “Your Majesty, you think you are talking to your royal advisor, Feliciano, but in reality,” I threw off the hood covering my head and switched to my normal voice. “"I am your royal storyteller, {Name}!”

Lovino’s eyes grew wide, and a gasp was heard all around the room. Antonio pushed himself slightly off the wall, looking as if he didn’t believe his eyes. Feliciano was holding his breath.

"What?" he cried. "I thought I was talking to my royal advisor!"

I smiled mischievously as the words came out of his mouth. Feliciano slid down the wall, fainting in relief. Ludwig was smiling along with me (making me glad at least one person believed in me).

“I told you so~,” I held out my hand. “My third bag?”


*{Epilogue}*

“{Name}? Come out already.”

I peered over the top of the stacks of books making a wall around me. “Follow the sound of my voice. I’m a little trapped at the moment. Second floor, keep heading to the back.” As the owner of the voice followed my instructions, I continued scribbling out the words.

“Cristo, {Name}, what are you doing?”

I looked up to see Lovino, looking completely out of his element. I smiled, holding up the large tome before I set it back down with a earthquake-inducing thump. Lovino saw a stack of books start shaking so he quickly stretched out and held it up before it fell over and crushed me.

“Questa è una trappola mortale. What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m finishing up the true version of my first story!” I answered excitedly. “I’m not going to have the future know you as the abridged version of the story I put in the official book. So this is the explanation book that matches up with the official book.”

I looked up to see Lovino give me his usual impatient look, making me sigh. “I'll be done in a few minutes. Then I’ll take you out to the city with the horses.”

“Bene. I’ll be waiting at the fireplace.” He fixed the stack of book so it wasn't danger to me anymore as he wandered back to the ground floor to enjoy the fireplace.

I dipped my pen back in the inkwell and continued the ending of my story. “And so, Feliciano’s live was spared. His Majesty suddenly saw the error of his ways and how he had pushed his only friend away. He changed, slowly becoming a ruler this kingdom was proud of. The royal storyteller found her first story of many to come in this new era.”

I smiled and looked over at the words my father used to put at the end of his stories.

“And if they haven't died, they’re still alive today.”
What is this witchcraft? Another fanfic so quickly? Who is this person?

Well, let's just say I came up with the best inspirational recently. Also known as 'I remembered the bard from the Renaissance Faire I go to every year and the story I hear every year'. Just out of luck, I found a copy of the story online. I decided to try and see if I could turn it into the fanfic I needed for the second contest I entered. 
Please note that I haven't slept at night for around 72 hours now. I just nap on the ground with my snuggie and a pillow. 
I wrote this one as a short story, as my 20 page one-shot ^^; was a bit......long...Here's an apology. 

As always: I need your feedback! 
Please comment!! I want to know if I did a good job on characters! All comments will help me get started on my next fanfic!

All comments are replied to, but I have stopped thanking for faves on my FF.
If you see mistakes, please tell me so I can fix it!

Here is the link to the original story: omir-the-storyteller.blogspot.…
Note about the last sentence: Is my translation of "und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute". It's the German version of "And they lived happily ever after". I grew up listening to those words at the end of fairytales~.

Characters/Hetalia (c) Hidekaz Himaruya
Story is mine!
You belong to yourself (or Romano. Whichever you prefer)
Preview Image (c) *frybetr03  
© 2013 - 2024 usagi-hikari9
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Natureisnatural's avatar
Ok, I know you warned me, but Lovino is such a f*cking jerk! How dare you kill Italy, Lovi??
But I'm glad he changed!!! And he and Reader-tan got together! 
Anyway, this story was so AWEEEESSSOOOMMMEEE!!!!!!! =D