Chapter Text
Dunk nearly threw his mouse against the wall when the character he hated the most popped up on the laptop screen. The dating sim that Rowan had introduced him to had three main routes and Dunk was on his fourth playthrough trying to get a match beyond the demon on his screen.
"How the hells did I even end up with fucking Aerion again I chose all the responses he'd hate," Dunk grumbled as he watched the credits roll.
A knock came from the outside of his room. "Dunk you're going to be late for that apartment showing," Rowan called out.
"Thanks, I'm packing up now," Dunk replied.
Dunk had been down on his luck for the past few months. His adoptive father died, a fire destroyed their house, and Dunk got dined and dashed by two separate dates in the span of a mere five months. The absolute cherry on top was his mechanic job cutting his hours. Rowan and Raymun had been gracious enough to house him temporarily and adopt Arlan's cat Sweetfoot.
Dunk packed his laptop into his bag and made his way through the kitchen.
"I heard grumbling from your room. Are you still ending up with Aerion on every playthrough?" Rowan sipped her tea.
Raymun groaned from the other side of the counter. "It's an addiction I'm telling you guys. That game is destroying your minds."
Rowan laughed. "It's fun and Dunk needs dating practice. He keeps landing the most toxic love interest so it's a dire situation."
Dunk blushed. "I got Valarr on one run through. He was very calm." Dunk was choosing anything at random on that run and let out a sigh of relief when the dark haired prince appeared at the end instead of the platinum blonde nightmare.
Rowan scoffed. "He's boring in my opinion. Tell me when you unlock the secret fourth route. I read in the forums it's a silver fox type."
"Dunk please come back to the light. We used to discuss proper topics like cage fighting in this house," Raymun whined.
Dunk and Rowan laughed at Raymun's dramatics.
"I better get going. Fingers crossed on this place," Dunk bent down to pet Sweetfoot as she passed by.
"Dunk you can stay as long as you need there's no rush," Rowan said.
"Yeah mate! You pay rent and you revived my garden. Stay forever please," Raymun bit into his bacon.
Dunk picked up a muffin and slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'd love to third wheel on you guys forever but I'm afraid I'll turn into a recluse in your guest room."
Rowan and Raymun told him goodbye and waved him off with a smile. Dunk unlocked his beat up truck and started it up for the short drive to the apartment complex. Dunk cursed a car that cut him off as he got out of the neighborhood. At a light Dunk tapped his finger on the wheel and wondered what it'd be like to have what his friends had. A nice house and a loving partner to come home to. I'll make a real effort to start dating when I get this new living situation, Dunk thought as the light turned green.
As he was in the middle of the intersection a huge truck honked as it ran through the red light. Dunk barely had time to think before the world went black.
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Dunk opened his eyes to an ornate room. Heaven sure is pretty, he thought before getting out of the bed he ended up in.
"Duncan! You must wake up! Lady Lily will be up soon to prepare for her meeting with Prince Daeron!" A stout woman in a maid's outfit entered his room in a flurry.
Lady Lily? Prince Daeron? Those were characters from the the dating sim, Prince Panic. Whatever afterlife Dunk had been sent to was clearly hell if he somehow ended up in a dating sim.
"Well don't just gape at me, get dressed!" The maid exclaimed.
Dunk jumped out of bed and took the suit she held out for him. "Sorry I stayed up too late," Dunk lied. The best thing to do in this ridiculous situation was to play along. Perhaps he was just in a coma in the real world and this was all a hallucination.
The maid looked at him with pity. "Boy you insisted that you wouldn't stay up late reading those damned romance novels. 'Mary I promise I'll read one more chapter and go to bed' is what I heard last night," the maid scoffed.
Dunk turned red. Apparently game Dunk read romance novels for fun and was in service to the main character of the story.
"I'll be out in five minutes. I swear on my heart," Dunk looked at the suit he took. It looked like a butler's suit of sorts.
"Be quick. The young lady isn't keen on this meeting for some reason," Mary left Dunk to figure out how to tie a bow tie.
Gods help me why am I stuck in a stupid game, Dunk thought as he pulled on starched dress pants.
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Lily Tyrell was the pretty protagonist that Dunk played as. It was jarring to see her sitting in front of a vanity applying glitter to her eyes. This definitely has to be a fever dream, hell wouldn't be this bizarre, Dunk thought.
The young lady turned to him and her face brightened. "Duncan! A dreary morning until you arrived. Can you braid my hair like you usually do?" Lily did her best puppy eyes.
Dunk made his way behind the woman and started French braiding her long auburn hair. He thanked the gods that his friend Tanselle forced him to braid her hair in college. Dunk finished off the braid with a bejeweled hair clip.
"You always know how to do the best braids. And you don't tell me what I should say for these damned meetings with the princes," Lily grumbled.
"Should you be cursing my lady?" Dunk joked.
Lily whipped around to face him. "They're all awful Duncan! One's an artistic drunk, the other is a stiff bore, and the last is a sadistic warrior!"
Dunk held back laughter. The game had each prince trying to win your favor over the course of a month. Poor Lily had already had her opinions set on these royal men.
"Give them a fair chance. Maybe you'll find one of them good enough for marriage," Dunk set the comb back on the vanity.
Lily scoffed. "The one I want isn't a prince."
Dunk froze. That wasn't in the script. Maybe his brain was adding in new stuff to spice up the world. Dunk held out his arm for Lily to get up. "Meet Prince Daeron today and kindly reject him then."
Lily sighed. "Duncan I wish we could switch places some days."
Dunk ignored the chill that went up his spine and nodded at the woman. If he wanted to survive this cursed situation he had to play along with the script and not veer from how things are meant to be.
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Prince Daeron sat across from Lady Lily drinking tea that was definitely spiked. Dunk looked on from his corner in the greenhouse at the awkward silent meeting. Dunk glanced at Daeron's bodyguard who looked at Lily like he was love sick idiot who was struck by Cupid.
Daeron cleared his throat. "Have I ever told you about the paintings of the conqueror period?"
Lily glared at him. "I'm perfectly educated on the art of that period," she snipped.
Dunk winced at her tone. He watched the prince deflate in his chair and look a bit ill. This tea time was a train wreck that Dunk couldn't tear his eyes from. He prayed that someone would concede and end the tea time soon.
"Oh no my handkerchief! I must've dropped it in the garden. May I borrow Ser Donnel to locate it?" Lily rifled through her clutch.
Daeron gave her a dismissive wave to go. Lily practically skipped out of her seat to Daeron's bodyguard and pulled him away. She gave Dunk a discrete thumbs up before they took off.
Dunk sighed and picked up her forgotten fan from the table.
"You don't want to escort them?" Daeron asked.
"She's a capable lady and I'm just here to make sure she gets back home in one piece," Dunk answered.
Daeron snorted. "You're either terrible at your job or too trusting as a person."
Dunk raised an eyebrow. "I'll trust most until they give me a reason not to." Dunk remembered the school children calling him stupid for falling for simple pranks that he should've seen coming.
Daeron smiled as he looked Dunk up and down. "Fascinating. And I thought that today was ruined. You may have redeemed the afternoon," Daeron got up and strolled to the exit. "You should wait for them by the rose bushes. They'll be done eating each others faces by the time you walk there."
Dunk watched Daeron stumble away. The prince's word left him with confusion. He was just a butler, there was nothing fascinating about him at all. He shook his head as he took the prince's advice and made his way to the rose bushes.
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Dunk accompanied Lily back to her room after they arrived from the palace.
"Wasn't he so handsome?" Lily smiled dreamily.
"The prince or his bodyguard?"
"His knight of course! He's robust and so stoic. I think I'm in love," Lily twirled before they reached her room.
Dunk chuckled. Who was he to police young love, they seemed happy. "Yes my lady he's very stoic." He had heard the man speak a total of eight words during their entire interaction. His quiet nature would balance out Lily's chattering nature.
"If you have no more need of me I bid you a good night my lady," Dunk bowed slightly.
"Duncan I never thanked you. You're the best ally I have in the house and I appreciate it," Lily smiled.
Dunk smiled back and nodded. As he walked to his room he couldn't shake the feeling that her statement felt awfully similar to a goodbye.
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Dunk awoke to someone shaking him violently. Mary the maid looked panicked as Dunk rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"She's gone! She's gone Duncan!" Mary cried out.
"What? Who's gone?" Dunk mumbled.
"Lady Lily has run off in the middle night with Ser Donnel! They got married at the sept and took off for one of his family's crabbing islands," Mary cried out.
Dang he was a rich crab heir and he was working for the royal family. That's wild, Dunk thought.
"Isn't that good? Lady Lily married a noble man with a solid inheritance… of crabs," Dunk sat up in bed.
Mary threw up her hands in frustration. "Fool! The crown might see this as an insult against them. A noble woman running off with someone sworn to them, the scandal!"
Dunk didn't remember this much lore in the game but it didn't matter. If Lily wasn't involved in the original story then he didn't have to interact with the princes anymore. He might even get to enjoy a world where he didn't have to worry about rent and taxes.
"Are we going to be punished for the young lady's actions because I swear I didn't know of these plans," Dunk rubbed his hands nervously.
Mary sighed. "Boy we have to wait out whatever mood Lord Tyrell's in. Right now he's sobbing in his study over his only daughter running off."
Dunk grimaced at the thought of a father dealing with his daughter's abrupt elopement.
"I hope for our sake the crown doesn't exile the Tyrells. The young lady was the top contender for a marriage with the royals," Mary sighed. "Up with you now. We still have a full day of chores despite the drama."
Dunk chuckled as he got ready for the day. A part of him was happy for Lady Lily for making her own happy ending. The rest of him had this sinking feeling that something bad was on the horizon.
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It was a blissful week of working around the Tyrell estate before Dunk got summoned to Lord Tyrell's study.
Dunk knocked on the door anxiously.
"Come in," Lord Tyrell called out.
Dunk steeled himself as he entered. Lord Tyrell sat at his desk shuffling his papers. This was the first time Dunk had seen the portly man up close. His mustache curled up at the ends and the ornate rose embroidery adorned wardrobe made Dunk want to chuckle.
"Duncan, my loyal employee and faithful servant. Lovely to see you," Lord Tyrell smiled.
Dunk hoped that the conversation wasn't a firing or a punishment for Lily's actions. The smile gave him hope that he'd be receiving good news.
"It's always a pleasure to work for House Tyrell," Dunk said. He'd been here for a week and this job was the easiest job he'd had compared to every retail job he worked as a teen.
Lord Tyrell smiled at Dunk sadly. "That's what makes this hurt even more. I have some bad news for you."
Dunk paled. "Am I being fired?"
"Technically this would be a promotion of sorts.."
Dunk stared at the lord in anticipation.
"The royal family has granted us grace about my daughter's elopement with someone in their employ. However in exchange for keeping this scandal a secret they've asked for you to replace Ser Donnel as Prince Daeron's knight."
A few beats of silence passed. "I can't replace him! I have no formal sword training," Dunk cried out.
"I tried to bargain with them to send one of our knights but the prince was very adamant that it had to be you," Lord Tyrell rubbed a hand down his face. "I understand that I'm asking for quite a bit by asking you to indulge in their request but I don't want my daughter's reputation to suffer shame from the scandal."
Dunk felt a pang of pity watching Lord Tyrell deflate in his chair from the request. The man looked tired upon closer look with bags under his eyes. Dunk never knew his biological parents and had been taken in by Arlan as a kid. Arlan would give up anything to keep him safe and Lord Tyrell had the same look of love for his daughter. Raymun would tease him for his bleeding heart but Dunk felt sorry for the man. Even if this reality might not be real he could still stay honorable in it.
"I suppose I'll have to fend off attackers with my fists," Dunk joked.
Lord Tyrell jumped up from his chair and hugged Dunk. "Thank you Pennytree! You are the best employee that anyone could ask for! If you ever need to come back we would welcome you back with open arms."
Dunk squeezed he man back. He hoped that Lily was happy with her chosen ending. Dunk wasn't looking forward to dealing with his new employment situation though.
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Mary and a gaggle of maids were tearing up as they bid Dunk goodbye two days later. Although his time with the ladies were short he felt welcomed and loved by all of them. He hugged each of them goodbye and gave the longest hug to Mary.
"Don't you dare forget about us when you work with those fancy maids in the palace," Mary sniffled.
"I won't. I promise it'll be ok and hopefully this is just a temporary gig and I can come back to you guys," Dunk patted Mary's arm.
Dunk waved one last goodbye to them as he stepped up into the carriage the palace had sent for him. Dunk wiped a tear from his face as the carriage set off for his new home.
In the two days he had before the move he started writing in a journal all his knowledge of the game so he could come out of this situation unscathed. His information on Valarr and Daeron were pretty limited since most of his playthroughs had resulted with him ending up with Aerion. And all he knew about this fourth unlockable character was that he was some sort of older gentleman according to Rowan.
Dunk wasn't looking forward to diving headfirst into the dragon den but sacrifices needed to be made to spare Lord Tyrell. The current plan was to keep his head down and avoid interactions outside of serving Prince Daeron. If he kept to himself he could avoid triggering any conflict between him and the royalty. The original story had veered so far off the rails that Dunk had no idea what could happen next.
Dunk looked out of the carriage window at the rolling hills and wondered if Raymun and Rowan missed him.
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Daeron stood at the gate waiting for him with his hands behind his back. Dunk was mildly surprised that the prince looked cleaned up with his dirty blonde hair tied up neatly and no paint on his maroon suit.
Daeron welcomed Dunk with open arms as he stepped out of the carriage with his one piece of luggage. Dunk stiffened as Daeron pulled him into a hug. Dunk patted him on the back as they separated.
"Do you usually hug your bodyguards?" Dunk joked nervously.
Daeron eyed him up with a grin. "No but you're very special."
Dunk ignored the chill that went up his spine. "We should probably get going," Dunk said quietly. Dunk needed Daeron's attention off of him soon. The prince's intense gaze was making him feel like a mouse about to be pounced on by a cat.
Daeron shrugged and lead Dunk around the palace grounds. Daeron pointed out areas and where things were located. Dunk ignored the man's gaze on his backside and his hands.
They stopped in front of a big oak door. "This will be your room. I'm down the hall if you need anything and I mean anything," Daeron purred as he leaned into Dunk's space.
Dunk leaned away and politely smiled. "I'll keep that in mind my prince."
Daeron smiled. "Your first lesson with the head guard will be tomorrow morning at six sharp. Make me proud," Daeron winked before walking down the hall to his room.
Dunk scrambled into his room and took a shaky breath. What the hell was that? The prince's were supposed to be enamored by Lily not him, a tall plain looking man. Daeron was clearly struggling with a broken heart and needed to show his affection to a new target Dunk rationalized.
Dunk shook his head and started unpacking his bag. He needed to stick to his original plan and hope Daeron found a new person to pursue.