Riddle and Eliza are a couple I've created while planning out Ace and Victoria's story. Eliza is a book keeper in training in the Rose Queendom's court, and Victoria recruits her to help solve the mysterious kidnappings around the kingdom. Of course, as Ace gets help from Deuce and Riddle, Riddle and Eliza end up working together with medical research (since Riddle's family are doctors), and for Riddle, it's love at first project. Eliza is just so smart and compassionate that it's no wonder that Riddle is interested in her.

Link to original post: https://old.reddit.com/r/TwistedWonderland/comments/xe5lzy/twstober_prompt/

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Eliza wished that she was trapped in a storybook. In the correct chapter, she could live in a place where problems and expectations were nonexistent. No “Lizzie, what happened to the floors?” No “Still off in fairyland, Eliza?” No “The Queen needs to see you, Liz.” There had to be a different timeline in which she’d never hear that in her entire life. Could she have a full day without people of the castle talking down to her? If the storybook world she had wished for since her childhood had a rose garden, she’d be in bliss all the day, every day. She would spend all of her hours dreaming away, having to do nothing at all.

Eliza flipped the next page of her book. A freshly cut, naturally born red rose floated its way into her peripheral vision. Except, it didn’t float.

“Hiding from responsibilities again, I see?” The sound of Riddle’s cool voice sent a shiver to Eliza’s spine, but his childlike smile took the sensation back immediately.

“Isn’t it against the rules to touch the Queen’s beloved roses, let alone snipping them?”

He smirked. “Exactly.” He knelt before the servant girl, offering the rose as a token.

Eliza gladly accepted it, taking the fragrance through her nose. The sweetness from the petals lifted her spirits as if she was drifting away towards the clouds. That cloud wasn’t one of the sky, but one just in her reach.

Riddle snuggled up against his precious rose. His arm reached over her shoulders and hung around the left side of her neck. The warmth between them was enough to make both of their hearts trot like horses across the vast plains. “What made you run away this time?” he whispered.

She blushed in shame. “What doesn’t make me run away?”

“Eliza…”

She deeply breathed in, held it, and then blurted out her frustrations. “I’m tired of telling people I couldn’t find something from them. As the bookkeeper, I can only give what I have, but some people think I have the Creator’s level of knowledge. Mathematics…Do I look like I sit around and solve math equations every morning?”

Riddle’s eyes widened. “There are no math books?”

“I believe we did at some point, but when the math was getting old, we never received newer editions.”

“Goodness me,” Riddle said with a sigh. “Have you reported this to the Queen? Perhaps she can have you go retrieve new books for this case? It’ll give you a new task in your day.”

“I want to ask her, but she’s so busy with other things.I don’t want to be a burden.”

“My precious rose…” Riddle caressed Eliza’s cheeks and chin. “You are never a burden. If the Queen ever believed that, then I will dare say, she’s a fool.”

“Riddle!”

“As your employer and ruler of the Queendom, she should be able to accommodate what you need as the keeper of the books. New information is found all the time. A little handicap wouldn’t hurt.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Eliza yawned. “But I don’t want to think about it now.” She laid herself in Riddle’s lap. “Can we stay here for another five minutes?”

He chuckled. “You’re still avoiding the issue, Liz.”

“Please, Riddle? It’s only five minutes.”

His cheeks pinkened. His fingers brushed through her soft orange creamsicle hair. What harm would five more minutes do? Riddle took the open book from the grass and began reading aloud.

“ ‘This is the Enchanted Garden,’ said the oracle. ‘All who have a wish find their way here.’ ‘May I make any wish I want?’ the little princess asked. ‘There are no limits to your heart’s desire,’ replied the oracle.”

Eliza wrapped her finger in Riddle’s shirt. She tiredly listened to his comforting whispers as he recited the words from the pages. Is it possible to nap for five minutes? she thought.