Chapter Text
Eren had never before been to the castle but as he looked at it now, he was suddenly hit with the realization that this was where the royal family lived. He knew, of course, he knew. But he hadn’t known it before now. The ceilings were tall, the walls decorated with tapestries and paintings, and the floor polished to perfection. The large windows made the castle look bright and inviting and the occasional stained glass window made color dance across every surface.
He stood in the door opening he had been about to enter through and gaped in wonder. Only his mother’s gentle push had him moving forward rather than continuing to block her entrance.
“Sweetie, close your mouth before you catch a fly,” she told him with a small giggle.
His cheeks tinted red from the slight embarrassment of being called out by his mother but he still couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight of the castle’s interior. Eren had a hard time fathoming that his mother had seen this sight almost every day for the past dozen years. He guessed he would have to get used to it eventually, seeing as he too was about to start working here, though he still couldn’t imagine that a sight like this would ever stop affecting him.
His mother, having successfully cleared the doorway of herself and her son, started guiding him towards a side door. He supposed it was yet another out-of-the-way servant’s entryway, like the one they had just entered the castle through. The narrow corridor and staircase beyond it confirmed his suspicion.
Following his mother up the winding staircase, he could no longer quell the nervous twitch of his hands. He was about to start his employment as a royal attendant of the Ackerman household, and the excited nerves that thought brought with it were almost enough to make him lightheaded. Before this, he had only done a few odd jobs here and there to help his family pay the bills, but as a 16-year-old omega, he was now eligible to work in the castle along with his mother. He was under no illusion that he would have ever gotten this good a job offer while being so young without his mother’s help but he would make damn sure that he proved his worth.
Eren guessed they had traveled about two floors up when they arrived at a door at the end of the stairs. With a firm push, his mother led them into yet another beautiful hallway, this one with windows angled towards what must be the royal garden, which was filled with the rose bushes and trees that Queen Kuchel was so famously fond of. A cracked-open window allowed the scent of those roses to fill the hallway which helped calm down his nerves just a little.
All too soon they stopped in front of yet another door, this one open halfway. His mother knocked carefully before pushing it all the way open.
“Ah, Carla! Come in, come in. This is the son you told me about, yes?” A blonde alpha waved them inside the room. He sat behind a desk while an elegant raven-haired omega stood by the window. The omega turned upon hearing them enter and smiled kindly when Eren’s mother promptly curtsied. Eren, taking his cues from his mother also bowed to the woman before him. He supposed that with her hair and pleasant rose scent, she could be no other than the Queen herself.
Upon them both straightening, Carla turned with a smile toward the alpha. “It sure is, Hannes. Thank you again for this opportunity, I’m sure he’ll do great no matter where in the castle you decide to place him,” she said with a wink thrown over her shoulder to her son.
At this, the alpha, Hannes, laughed heartily. “I’m sure he will. I’ll admit, at first, I was gonna put him with the general maintenance crew since you mentioned he was a competent cleaner, but -,” Hannes motioned towards the Queen, “Queen Kuchel came to me herself with a special request.”
The Queen took this as her cue to explain. “As I’m sure you’ve heard, the Crown Prince turned 10 a few months ago. This of course means that my son has moved on from needing the supervision of his governess and instead will be receiving assistance from personal attendants. He is a very private boy and has requested that for now, he will only have one servant assigned to him.” She then looked at Eren with warm eyes. “It is my hope that you, Eren, could possibly fulfill this request?”
Eren blinked at her with wide eyes. The queen knew his name.
Before he could blurt out an answer, Hannes cleared his throat to regain their attention.
“Your tasks will of course be explained in more debt to you later, should you accept, but in general you will simply attend to his needs and help with any problems that should arise. Additionally, you will be granted a room close to Prince Levi’s and would be expected to move into the castle as long as you are in our employment. Does this sound agreeable to you, Eren?” Hannes asked him.
“Yes! That- that sounds great!” he told Hannes before turning to the Queen. “Thank you for the opportunity, Your Majesty,” He said quickly and followed it with a shy smile.
—
After his agreement, the Queen had welcomed Eren to the castle and had taken her leave shortly thereafter. Then all the practical parts of his new employment were worked out. Now, though, the last part of his job interview could commence: He had to meet the Crown Prince.
Eren felt almost more anxious about the fact that he was about to meet Levi than he had felt when speaking with Queen Kuchel. What if the Prince disliked him? What would he do then, could he even keep the job if Levi hated him on sight? Armin had always told him that his overthinking would someday be his downfall, and right now Eren was inclined to believe him. At this point, he would end up sending himself into an early grave with how fast his heart hammered in his chest at his own worries.
Hannes was currently leading Eren toward Levi’s room, they had left Carla to start her own workday now that Eren had basically already been hired. Hannes seemed calm and Eren tried to draw some strength from the Alpha’s unaffectedness. Surely the man’s scent would have soured at least somewhat if he had thought the Prince would protest having Eren as his maid.
In a last-ditch effort to gain control of himself and his own scent, he tried to think positive thoughts.
The Prince would absolutely love him. He’d be the best maid ever. Levi was gonna want Eren to be his best friend. This meeting would go fantastic and so would the rest of his employment. He could handle this because nothing bad would happen. Ever.
Yes, that was definitely convincing.
Before he could get completely lost in his head, Eren realized that they had arrived at Levi’s chambers. Luckily his scent had mellowed into just a slight twinge of nervousness, which was better than the full-blown panic he had been on the cusp of earlier. He was surprised the alpha hadn’t commented on it, though he had probably wanted to spare the young omega the embarrassment of pointing it out.
They entered the chambers after Hannes had knocked firmly on the door and had received a muffled come in from the other side of the door. When Eren stepped inside he was surrounded by the pleasant smell of rain. It was a juvenile scent and clearly came from the unpresented kid sitting on the windowsill with a book in his hands. He had the same raven hair as his mother and the same eyes as well. If anyone asked Eren, he’d say that almost everything about him resembled Queen Kuchel, and had they been of the same primary and secondary genders, then they could have passed as carbon copies of each other. But there was no doubt that Levi was both a male and an alpha, despite still being unpresented. The Prince was an Ackerman and like all firstborn Ackerman children before him, he would present as an alpha when he reached sexual maturity. No one knew why this was, but it was a biological advantage that had served the royal family well for centuries.
It must have been nice to know for sure from the start what you would turn out to be. Though Eren hadn’t exactly been in the dark either, people had always referred to him with words like delicate and pretty even before he presented just before his 16th birthday. He’d somewhat hoped he'd end up an omega-looking beta, but no such luck. He was stuck with heats every 3 months and was essentially at the bottom of the proverbial food chain. Though he was lucky to have been born in Eldia compared to neighboring countries from what he had heard. At least here omegas were seldom outright disrespected and forced to do unsavory stuff. Being an omega sucked but it wasn’t a death sentence or a target on his back here like it apparently was in the country of Marley which lay to the East of Eldia.
Levi’s voice brought him back from his musings, “Hannes, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Your Highness,” Hannes said with a respectful bow, “This is Eren, son of the royal seamstress. He has recently been employed by your mother, the Queen, as your personal attendant. He will take care of any needs and should you need anything, he will aid you if you so request.”
As Hannes spoke, Levi had turned his inquisitive eyes to Eren, who quickly bowed as well with a soft, “Your Highness.”
When he heard nothing further from the Prince he straightened up once again and was treated to the sight of the kid with a dumb-struck look on his face. The intense stare of the Crown Prince had him fidgeting with his shirt. Had he unknowingly spilled something on it?
The look didn’t seem disgusted, though, so Eren supposed that the boy was simply curious or perhaps he too was a little nervous? The thought charmed the omega and he smiled brightly at Levi, which only seemed to fry his brain further. Uncertain of what to do now, he looked to Hannes for guidance.
The man seemed greatly amused for some reason but didn't comment on the prolonged silence in the room.
“Well, there will be lots of time to get to know each other later. For now, I’ll show you around the castle, Eren, and then your official duties can begin tomorrow when your stuff has been delivered to your room.”
With that, he motioned for Eren to follow him back out of the room. But before Eren closed the door behind himself, he looked back at the Prince, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Your Highness.”
“Yeah…”