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kokofromwattpad · 5 months ago

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THE TRAVELING DANCER

featuring: The remarried empress

Plot: The Eastern Empire was holding the biggest celebration of the year to commemorate the upcoming new year. With this, the emperor and empress decide to invite an old childhood friend of theirs, who had temporarily left the nobility to pursue their dream as a performer, who's dancing was said to bring good luck to any of those who had the privilege to witness it. How does their return affect their dear friends?

Cw: Rashta, ooc Navier and Sovieshu, fainting, crappy dance scene, gn!reader, they/them/their pronouns used

A/N: Hoofer and flanker are both synonyms for dancer btw

The skies felt even more big and blue than usual. Clouds moving so slow that the average person would not be able to notice unless they were to look up from what they were doing and strained their eyes enough. The young noble laid flat on their back, scarred and rough hands supporting their throbbing head. It felt as if the sky was trying to make their suffering worse by making itself bigger and bluer than usual to overstimulate the poor noble. Thoughts galore were rushing in their head. Red strings flying everywhere, connecting times and dates and occurrences that had recently happened.

Commoners in the nearby town were always talking about anything and everything they could get their grubby hands on. Rumors were always on the high in small villages such as the one the young noble was currently staying at.

The most recent rumors that were popping up involved the young nobles' childhood friends. The two were the emperor and empress of the nation that they were currently residing in. It was about the emperor bringing in a new misstress into the palace, who was, unfortunately, a commoner. She was caught in a bear trap and was nearly dead when their emperor friend had found her. He had then been enraptured by her beauty and naive nature and had made her his misstress.

The new years were coming around, and the Eastern empire's towns were buzzing with excitement and chatter. Banners were strung from house to house, and the doors of businesses were all labeled with special sales to try and grab as much cash before the new years actually happened.

The noble sighed as they looked back up at the sky. The clouds looked heavier, low to the ground, and much more grey than before. 'Shit. Its about to fuckin' rain' thought the noble.

A long strip of wagons were lined up, one after the other around the small hill that the noble was laying atop. It was their band of performers. People usually called it a circus, but ever since the young noble had joined, they had more revered as gods.

It was said, that if the young noble were to dance or perform at a ball or banquet, they could bestow luck and good fortune upon the hosts and guests of said event. It was all a mear misunderstanding of sort. You see, that legend had started when a royal couple from a far away land who were apparently having fertility issues, fell pregnant not even a week after the young noble performed their usual dance in front of them. Ever since then, requests for them to dance and perform at more and more events became frequent. Fortunately, the leader of the circus had said that the final decision on who and where the noble would perform at, would lie with them.

So, the young noble had decided to only perform for the people who they are most close to. That included emperor Sovieshu, empress Navier and the rest of the Trovi family, as the young noble used to be a humble attendante among the team of servants who had worked under and for Navier ever since she was a child. The young noble had been specifically trained to be friends with Navier as she did not have the time nor wish to spend any time at balls or banquets when she could rather be studying. So through the connection of the young nobles' mother, they were able to befriend both Navier and her fiancee Sovieshu.

"Hey charming! Get yer ass up right now before we leave you here!" threatened Mia, a trapeze artist and a colleague of the young noble. Mia had always had her striking red eyes out for the noble since the day they joined the circus. She was confused and most probably disgusted that a noble would want to ever want to get a job that only dirty orphans and the desperate would do.

"Yeah yeah.... I'm comin'..." yawned the noble as they scratched the back of their head while they steadily rose from their laying position and onto their weak feet. They wobbled for a bit, holding onto the tree they were laying under for dear life. Having finally gained their sense of balance again, they started sprinting down the small hill, but nearly crashed into one of the carriages from the amount of momentum they had acquired. They stretched their arms out and pushed hard against the door of the carriage, pushing themself back up straight. Almost immediately after the push, the ringmaster of the circus slammed the door open with a 'slam!'

"[Name]! Get your ass inside right now!" ordered the ringmaster. The noble leaped high into the air and tumbled into the carriage, almost flipping it onto it's side. Abruptly, someone grabbed the noble from the nape of their neck and hauled their body onto the seat next to them. The ringmaster's sister shoved the nobles head into the fabric of her dress with a short and snippy giggle. "Oh [Name], how you always make me smile from your adorable antics." she cooed while stroking the skin of their face with her claw like nails.

"Sister, I beg of you, stop ruining your soft hands with the filth of this fallen noble!" cried the ringmaster with a desperate expression painted on his face. At that moment, the noble remembered the little story they fed their boss in order to get this job. The young adult had crafted a complex lie to join the circus, which had been a dream of their's since they were extremely young. They lied that they were from a fallen noble family who went bankrupt after the death of their parents, leaving their bedridden, sickly brother as the head. All of it was, of course, false. Both of their parents were alive and they had no bedridden, sickly brother and they were not desperate for any job. But the ringmaster had chalked up their extremely impressive dancing skills to their past noble status. It was easy enough they supposed.

The carriage began moving, shaking their head from left to right and through their body up and down from how bumpy and rough the road was. The ringmaster's dearest sister turned her head happily in the direction of the dancer. "[Name], do you plan to dance at the new years ball?"

The noble turned their head sleaveily at the young woman. They cocked their head to the side in thought and made a loud humming sound, confirming the girl's question. "Oh that's incredible [Name]! I've only ever seen you dance once before and how I've longed to see it again.. You will take me as a date... right?" she squeeled out.

Before the noble could answer the ringmaster answered for them, saying in a high pitched sweet voice, "Of course they are going to take you. I mean, it only makes sense! This retched dancer does not deserve to perform without your eyes on them." The sister's eyes widened in happiness as she squeeled and wrapped her arm around the circumference of the dancer's arm.

The large marble pillars stood tall and proud to every visitor that walked past them. The sun shone and sparkled against the glass windows of the Eastern Empire's largest and most grandest guest house that the empire had ever and will ever see in its history. The ringmaster's sister hung off the dancer's arm as they led them through the expansive gardens of the castle. The young woman was smiling from ear-to-ear. She and her ringmaster brother had grown up surrounded by the circus, music and performers all their lives, so, safe to say, she had never seen a building as grand and beautiful as the honorary guest house. Luckily, due to the fact that the noble had grown up everywhere around the imperial castle, so they knew the layout, inside and out.

Once the two had entered the grand main hall, there was a corridor of maids and butlers lined up and waiting for the guests to come in. Almost all of them seemed to recognize the young noble immediately and smiled even wider than they had before. An older looking butler with salt-and-pepper hair came up to the dancer's side and said in a cheerily happy tone, "Oh my goodness! It's been such a long time since I've seen you! Goodness, come come before your feet start hurting my child!" And with that, the butler hustled the dancer and their escort down a long hallway where their rooms were supposed to be.

After a quick but messy catch-up session between the noble and the older butler. The ringmaster's sister would now and again huff in annoyance from the lack of the dancer's attention. Once the three of them made it to the wing where all the bedrooms were placed, the ringmaster's sister nearly cried in anger from the fact that the two of them would not be sleeping in the same bed. "Why would we sleep in separate beds when we came here together?!" She wailed on and on. The butler meerly huffed in annoyance as he shuffled the young noble into their own bedroom while the ringmaster's sister screamed her head off.

The dancer walked down the marble path with a sort of pep in their step, hands behind their back and turning their head back and forth, taking in everything that they saw so that they would not forget. It was early spring, so the flowers were in bloom, and the grass was never greener than ever.

"[Name] there you are." an elegant voice says in front of them.

The dancer's eyes widened in surprise.

Empress Navier Ellie Trovi stood in front of the dancer with a nearly affectionate look on her face. Her golden blonde hair was strung up behind her head in a graceful bun. The dress she wore looked to be made from such soft material that it looked almost like a cloud and so green that it brought the colour of her eyes out. Behind her were her trustful ladies-in-waiting, all wearing happy faces from the sight of their queen being happy.

The empress neared closer to [Name], her arms outstretched, gesturing the want for a hug. The dancer, so overcome with nostalgia, quite literally fell into her arms and nearly swung the empress around them as if she was but a mear doll to them. The empress giggled from her old friends enthusiasm. "Oh [Name]! It's so so nice to see you again after such a long time!" the empress exclaimed in such an excited voice that it lightened her ladies-in-waiting's chests. Their smiles were bright from the sight of their empress's happiness. Recently, the days were feeling longer and longer from the stress of the new years celebration and Sovieshu's new misstess being brought into the palace had just rubbed salt into the wound.

"Natty, are busy today? I was hoping to escape from my plus one for a while now." the dancer sighs. The empress smiles lightly from their words and shakes her head. "No, luckily for you, I was hoping to invite you to tea. Would that be alright?" The dancer nods in agreement, to which Navier grabs their hand and drags them to her secret place in the imperial gardens. Nostalgia wraps the duo wholeheartedly.

When the two of them were very young, the duo would visit Sovieshu at the imperial palace whenever they all had the day off. Sovieshu had ordered the gardeners to build a swing set covered in flora for the two of them to share. The dancer remembers fondly how Navier would sit them in her lap and would read anything and everything she could scavenge from her family's library. The dancer, in turn, would twist and turn gracefully to an imaginary song that the three of them had created through their childlike imagination.

Navier shifts and twists through bush after bush, the dancer following suite with the empress's ladies-in-waiting after them. The swing swings lightly back and forth from the soft, gentle breeze. Navier sat first on the swing and the dancer followed, squeezing next to the empress as best as they could. The empress giggles lightly at them as they push the two of them, making them swing back and forth. "Is it just as you remember, Natty?" the dancer questions. Navier agrees happily and smiles at her best friend.

The first night of the New years banquet had begun. The dancer was dressed up, ready for their performance, but was given permission to mingle with the other guests before they perform.

Groups of other nobles gathered in clumps all over the banquet hall. The dancer was surrounded by such a large amount of people, that it was nearly crushing their ribs.

The dancer was dressed elaborately in the usual clothes they wear when they perform in since the circus they were apart of did not gift the young noble a dance uniform. They wore a simple white poet blouse, loose black pants, knee-high black boots, and a one size too small belt that hugged their waist a bit too tight.

Abruptly, the voice of the announcer said in his usual bellowing voice, "Entering, the emperor and empress of the western empire!" Everyone's head turned towards the royal couple as their walked down the grand staircase hand-in-hand.

When they came to the base of the staircase, Sovieshu nearly galloped away from the empress and towards his misstress who was speaking to other nobles who were surrounding her. He smiled gently down to her as they began speaking to each other in lovely whispered voices.

Guilt clawed it's way into the dancer's heart as they saw the sad expression the empress wore as she watched her own husband speak sweetly to his misstress. The dancer gently pushed their way through the crowd which surrounded them.

"Natty!" they called out to her.

The empress's head shifted up to meet the eyes of her dancer friend. She then smiled the way a parent would smile towards their concerned children. The dancer took her hand and lead her away from prying eyes. "Since you won't be able to dance tonight because of Sovieshu, I'll just stay with you for the rest of the night." quietly explained the young noble as they gently squeezed the empress's hand. She nodded and sighed while closing her eyes.

A blonde tall man walked his way towards the dancer and the empress. The young noble bunped the empress with their hip, making her open her eyes only to see the man kneeled in front of her with a beautiful red rose in his hand.

The dancer giggled with their mouth covered at the sight of the empress's confused face. With flowery words, the prince asked the empress to dance with him with a soft smile spread on his face.

Navier looked at her dancer friend with a concerned look painted on her face. The flanker noticed and said, "It's alright Natty, I need to start my performance anyway." The empress sighed in relief as the prince lead her away to the edge of the ballroom, to wait for the dancer to conclude their dance.

The dancer gracefully stepped into the centre of the ballroom as all of the nobles and the royal couple stared with interest in their eyes.

When the music began, the dancer began nearly immediately, arms raised above their head as their body moved gently with the music. Their legs moved to the beat, made the dancer's body spin around in circles. When the music was nearly done, the dancer kneeled in the center of the ballroom, arm raised above their head pointing towards the crystal chandelier. The music stopped and the nobles and the royal couple clapped loudly as people started yelling in happiness, "Blessed! We've all been blessed!"

The dancer stood up, back on their feet as they were surrounded with both male and female admirers. They sung praises of all kinds in the noble's ear, which made the dancer smile in pride from the compliments.

Suddenly, the crowd separated into two groups as the emperor walked towards the dancer with Rashta clinging onto his forearm. "Hello there my old friend." he smiled gently at the young noble. "Hello black beauty. I see you brought in a new face, hmm?" they teased while looking at Rashta with an interested face. Soviehsu chuckled at their words as he encouraged Rashta to introduce herself.

Rashta got the message and clasped her hands in front of her chest and smiled wide as she introduced herself. "Hi! I am Rashta, you're very very pretty!"

The dancer looked stunded at Rashta as they looked suspiciously at the emperor. Sovishu leaned into the dancer's left ear and whispered, "I found her injuried in the forest while I was hunting. She's a commoner, so please just humor her."

The dancer sighed in annoyance and nodded. Gingerly, the young noble placed their right hand over their heart and nodded their head at Rashta while saying, "Good evening miss Rashta. I am the only child of Duke [Lastname]. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Rashta gasped in surprise as she said in a surprised voice, "I thought you were a commoner like me!" The young noble shook their head in agreement, explaining, "Yes, but I've been living like a commoner for the past five years. I've been traveling around with commoner performers and have only been receiving money through my dancing."

Rashta oo'd in awe towards the young noble's words. Her face was painted in glee and asks in her usual high-pitched, naive voice, "Will you dance at mine and the emperor's wedding?"

The dancer cocked their head to the side and answered in a gentle voice, "That depends if I am still in the empire when you and the emperor get married." Rashta nodded in acknowledgment as she smiled at Sovieshu.

The young noble became uncomfortable and excused themself from the couple and began walking away from the two. Abruptly, Soviehsu softly grabbed their hand and asked in a nearly desperate tone, "How long do you plan to stay in the empire. The empress and I are hoping to spend some more time with you beyond the banquet."

The dancer smiled and answered, "That really depends on what happens in the next few days. So try not to make top much trouble if you want me to stay, black beauty."

The emperor smiles and let their hand go for them to return to empress Navier's side.

"Natty! How was I?!" the dancer said in the most excited voice they ever had. Navier smiled at them and began singing praises for them while the dancer smiled in triumph. Prince Heinry soon joined Navier's side and joined in with her and worshiped the dancer just as much as Navier did.

"I think I'm just going to sit out for the rest of the night..." drawled out the young noble. "Really? I'm sure a lord or lady would love to have a chance to dance with you."

The dancer sighed and explained that they wanted to save their first dancer for their love. Navier grinned and nodded at her friend.

Heinry gently leads Navier by the hand to the centre of the ballroom and danced with her, nearly clinging onto her. The dancer smiled at them as they sipped on the champagne they randomly acquired a few minutes before.

The next song began and the four dancers that the young noble knew. Heinry's new dance partner was Rashta and Sovieshu's new dance partner was Navier. As the emperor and empress danced, the young noble noticed that the two were whispering about who knows what.

While the dancer looked down for only a few moments, Sovieshu yelled out, "Rashta?!"

The hoofer snapped up at the sound of his screaming voice. The emperor pulled a crying Rashta from the floor and embraced him tightly into his arms. It seemed that he was trying to comfort his weeping misstress.

Whispers shot left right and centre immediately, almost like a bullet. The majority of them were sympathetic for the empress, but there were a few stray voices expressing their distaste towards the empress as well.

Quickly, Navier grabbed the end of her dress and nearly sprinted out of the ballroom, with all eyes on her and her retracting figure.

"How immature..." sneered the dancer, thinking about how sensitive Rashta must be in order for her to cry just because the prince of the west did not want to dance with her.

The young noble placed their flute of champagne down on a random table and darted speedily out if the ballroom.

The hoofer had assumed that Navier would go back to her own bedroom, and luckily when they turned the corner, they saw prince Heinry leisurely chatting with the empress. Navier looked past the prince due to her spotting the huffing figure of her best friend. "[Name]..." she whispered sweetly.

Swift as a fox, the empress grabbed onto the dancer's wrist and pulled them into her private chambers.

Once the door was shut, Navier slid down the door, pulling her friend down with her, as tears ran down her soft, pale cheeks. Feebly, the dancer pulled the empress's head onto their shoulder for her to lean on. Navier accepted and nearly shoved her head into the dancer's collarbone. Her tears wet the young noble's shirt as they lazily ran circles into the woman's back, trying their best to comfort her.

Abruptly, there was a echoing tapping noise coming from the connected balcony. A large golden winged bird was aggressively flapping it's wings trying to get one of the two's attention. The hoofer looked up and languidly lifted the empress's head and stood up.

Navier looked up in confusion as the dancer opened her balcony doors and stuck their arm out.

The enormous gold bird climbed gingerly on the noble's arm, seeming making sure that it's talons did not pierce their flesh.

"Queen!" exclaimed the empress as she got up from whee she was sitting. The bird flew off the dancer's arm and was then embraced by Navier as she wept against it's fluffy front.

The day after the ballroom fiasco, the dancer got the word beating of a lifetime from the ringmaster's sister.

"How could you abandon me?! I'm your date! Your date for crying out loud!" screamed the girl in her highest and against tone she could muster out, trying to make herself seem more angry than she actually was.

The dancer nodded in agreement. They gently held the girl's hands in their own and looked straight in her eyes, "I am truly, truly sorry that I left you. But you are aware that the empress and I go way, way back. I felt compelled to follow her to comfort her, since obviously, nobody else was."

The ringmaster's sister's heart nearly jumped right out of her mouth from the honey laced words the hoofer was spouting. She nodded her head and said in a soft, quiet voice that she was sorry for getting it out of hand and screaming at them. The dancer merely rubbed the girl's hands and said that she had every right to be mad at her.

That night was a second ball, mainly meant for the nobility to catch up with each other and to make new business deals. Everyone was in their own little groups, minding their own business. The dancer, as usual, was by Navier's side, animatingly speaking about anything and everything that came to their mind, just as they did when the duo were still only knee high.

Rumors had recently spread earlier that afternoon about the western kingdom's prince Heinry sending secret letters to somebody in the castle. The dancer decided that they were a seeing is believing person for this matter and stayed as far away from the rumors as they possibly could.

Navier looked away from her friend and spotted one of Lady Rashta's ladies-in-waiting speaking with Prince Heinry with a nervous look across her face.

The dancer was able to catch the two of them were having. Stuff like:

"Why did you deceive me?"

"Didn't I tell you that I am looking for a precious friend?"

"Is it acceptable for a servant to deliberately fool royalty in the Eastern Empire?"

"I-I didn't mean-!"

Prince Heinry smiled mischievously while leering over the poor girl, whispering nearly threatening words into her ears.

Abruptly, Rashta walked up to the prince and claimed that she was his pen pal rather than her lady-in-waiting.

One of Navier's own ladies-in-waiting started cursing Rashta out, calling her a hussy. With that the dancer continued to indulge in their champagne for the rest of the night and decidedly ignored anybody else who came to talk to them.

On the final day of the banquet, only 20 guests were invited by both the empress and emperor. Unfortunately, the dancer was unable to acquire an invitation due to them not being active in high society for the past five years. But they were permitted to attend the separate banquet for all of those who did make it into the separate one.

The dancer was luckily left alone due to their tired looking facial expression.

As they sipped on what seemed to be their hundredth flute of champagne, feeling like they are going to most probably sport the worst hangover in history the next morning.

Rashta had spotted the lone noble look around, seemingly gazing at the beautiful architecture of the banquet hall. She smiled widely at the sight of a familiar face and nearly skipped towards them.

"Hello! Do you remember Rashta? We met two days ago!" She chirped loudly towards the hoofer.

They nodded and smiled as best they could without looking annoyed. "Yes, I remember you Miss. Rashta. How have you been doing recently?"

The young girl smiled and then began spouting off about how she got swept up in a fake reversed love triangle. Over the few minutes that she was speaking, a few other noble ladies gathered around them, singing praises left and right about Rashta. The dancer threw in a few of their own, which were apparently the only ones that she cared about she she only responded to the dancer's voice.

Almost in slow motion, Rashta dropped her sparkling drink to the floor, shards of glass spraying everywhere. She then fell to her knees and covered her mouth as if to hide her breathing. The hoofer kneeled next to her and got her to stand up, but she could only stay up with the young noble's assistance. Rashta was muttering on about something that the dancer could not hear.

Rashta smiled at the noble and asked in a soft, scared tone, "Please, could you escort me to my room?"

The dancer nodded and began leading the young girl away from the banquet hall as speedily as possible, when a voice behind the two called out for Rashta, making the two stop in their tracks. The girl kept her head forward, trying to hide her shaking as the hoofer turned their head to see who was calling for her.

It was a man seemingly in his mid to late fifties, slicked back hair with a goatee and a thin beard. He started spouting out about how Rashta used to work for him, how she was a slave for many years for his family and how lucky she must do be living in the Emperor's embrace, all in a thick mocking tone.

Sovieshu burst into the banquet hall with a furious look on his face. At this moment in time, Rashta had passed out and was being held up only by the dancer. As the emperor passed his friend, he whispered in their ear, "Please escort Rashta to her room, I'll come to talk to you later, alright?"

The dancer nodded and with the help of Rashta's ladies-in-waiting, they were able to safely escort her to her private chambers to rest.

The dancer decided to just go and wait in the Emperor's office until he finished handling the situation.

After nearly two hours of waiting, his office doors opened and in the doorway stood Sovieshu.

"I apologise that the second time we spoke in five years in concerning a dire matter." he drearily said in a soft monotone voice.

"It's alright, Sovieshu. We have many more years of friendship to come, don't worry." the dancer replied with a heartwarming smile. The emperor grinned at their words as he sat across from them and crossed his one leg over the other.

"If you could, please tell me the whole situation in detail."

And off the dancer went, explaining in vigorous detail everything that was said, everything that led up to the incident and everything after.

Sovieshu nodded his head at their words and told his adviser to write it all down before dismissing his friend for the night with a tight a warming hug. The dancer squeezed was as hard before letting go and leaving the emperor alone with his mind.

The time for the banquet to end has come, and the young noble's luggage had been safely packed away for the long trip to come. The emperor, empress, and Rashta were lined up by the carriage speaking to the people who were packing away the young noble and the ringmaster's sister's stuff.

Once everything was packed away, the dancer hugged all three of them close to their chest in goodbye.

Before they climbed into the carriage, they whispered in Navier's ear, "Keep that prince on a leash Natty, he may come in handy one day." To which the empress giggled and nodded at their words.

As the horses pulled the carriage away, the dancer screamed from their window

"Invite me back soon, okay!?"

posted on: 28/06/2024

#the remarried empress #TRE #the remarried empress x reader #the remarried empress x gn!reader #empress navier #emperor sovieshu #prince heinry #rashta

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