A/n: So, I hope you like this chapter. I'll be introducing a lot of new characters here, most especially, Kousei's new friends and some of his cousins. :)

Watari Ryota and Tsubaki Sawabe had been in the Royal Residence for over a week now. They're mostly out of the Phoenix Walls while accompanied by Seto Hiroko. After they were done with their job to tell Kousei about what they discovered in Japan through looking through Japanese newspapers and Internet, they began their real reason why they are in the Empire of Atlantis.

While they haven't started their last year as Senior High School Students yet, they preferred to look for a college university that can help them stay around the Crown Prince. For them, Kousei needs them. It was at that sunny day of the second week of Saturday when they saw Kousei standing behind a tree near the Silver Throne Building. They were walking together at that time and they plan to talk to him. 

"What are you doing there, Your Highness?" Watari Ryota asked Kousei. Kousei noticed them quickly and looked at the front of the Silver Throne Building again. His father and three of his royal tutors are still in front of his vicinity. 

"Please leave before they notice where I am," he asked his friends.

Watari Ryota and Tsubaki Sawabe stared at the Silver Throne Building. When they saw that there are a lot of people surrounding the front of the building and are standing close to the Silver Throne Room, they understood quickly that Kousei's hiding from them. It was at that time when Lady Miyazono Kaori, who's also trying to find him observed that Tsubaki Sawabe and Watari Ryota were staring at an apple tree near the entrance of the Lower West Floor Towers. They seemed to be talking with someone there. She stared at it more closely for a few seconds. That's when she saw Kousei's hand trying to tell them to shut up. She slowly walked closer to it fiercely and at the time she reached the tree, Kaori surprised Kousei by pinching his left ear which made him scream in pain.

"Watari Ryota, Crown Prince Nathan Arima had to return in the Silver Throne Building right now," Kaori said to him. "He had just got better after he had flu but after a week, the Emperor learned that his grades in school are falling down!"

Kousei had only heard Kaori speak his official first name twice since she usually only say his nickname 'Kousei'. While in Japan, he had only used his nickname to hide his identity as a Prince in the Empire of Atlantis.

She spoke his first name for the first time when she found out that he's stealing food from the food storage and falling asleep while he's inside the Chemistry Laboratory while their professor's talking. It's his third time to hear her say that name to him which means, Kaori's angry with him, too. "Kaori! Please, I don't want to go there! I would have to keep listening to a lot of complicated lectures from my tutors again! Also, dad's very angry with me," Kousei said while Kaori's pulling him out behind the Apple Tree by his ear. "I don't want to meet my dad for now!"

"It's your fault, CROWN PRINCE NATHAN 'KOUSEI' ARIMA!" shouted Kaori while she pull him off the tree. "You're not studying! Tell me how you can lead the empire if you're not ready to lead?"

Watari Ryota and Tsubaki Sawabe were both surprised by how she treat him. She doesn't look afraid of him at that time even after all of the things she witnessed he could do. Also, they have noticed that Kousei's weak against her. They watched her take him back at the open corridors of the Silver Throne Building from the Lower- West Floor Towers and in front the huge pair of doors of the Silver Throne Room. At the same time, they heard two older males chuckle. They look like Kousei, too. They have striking blue eyes and deep black hair. 

"I'm glad we're the children of the second child of our grandfather," spoke Prince Stephen. He's twenty-seven years old. He's wearing a green military uniform. He's an honorary soldier that served in the Atlantian Air Force for two years.

"That's true. We don't need to really have high grades like the children of Uncle Richie," grinned Prince River as they watch Kousei getting pulled on his ear by Kaori. "I'm glad he found a suitable wife for him before he reaches the age of eighteen."

Prince River's twenty-three years old. He's currently in college in the Royal University of Atlantis taking up Medicine and he's in training in the Royal Knight Academy. He's basically a Knight already. As children of Prince Christopher, a younger brother of Emperor Richard III and second child of the late Emperor Alexander I, they know that soon, they will take up more ceremonial duties after Prince Kousei becomes a lawmaker at the age of eighteen. Since they are merely princes and not the future King, they are only limited to doing ceremonial duties. Their job is to support the Crown Prince and find a job suitable for them inside the Royal Phoenix Walls or be the next Lord of Northern Village like their father. They were close to Prince Leonardo, too. For them, they see Kousei just like how Prince Leonardo treated him. He's a brother to them. "Let's go meet him later, River! He's busy," spoke Stephen as they walk out already from the huge garden of the Silver Throne.

...

At the time Kousei's in front of his father, he lowered his head in shame. Kaori had also took off her hand off him and stood behind him. His father gave him ten of his test papers in Mathematics, Astronomy and Royal Constitution. All of his grades are beyond passable. 

"What are you doing at school? I allowed you to be in the university, Kousei! Will you just disappoint me? What are you doing, son?" he asked him. "Are you in school to play and act like a spoiled child?"

"Forgive me, father!" cried Kousei. He immediately knelt before his father. "I promise to do my best and not get distracted anymore!"

"Stop thinking about your brother's death for a while. I know that is the reason why you have grades like this in these complicated subjects!" Emperor Richard III screamed at him. "Focus on your studies. I would be passing many of your Royal Duties to your sisters, cousins and second cousins. What you have to do is to pass your exams! Be glad I found this out quickly at the beginning of your third and last year of senior high school. If you still fail, I will take you out of there and lock you inside the Royal Throne Room where your tutors will be your only source of information!"

He left his son crying in so much shame. He stared at his grades and crumpled it all up after seeing that all of it have an F symbol in them. He could be the Crown Prince but the University does not serve him. The Royal University of Atlantis serves the Emperor. He does not have power to it. He hated it that his father knew that he's failing three of important subjects he's taking up in school. Miss Bernadette Peters, one of his tutors helped him up. She's very pretty and her gray eyes were too mesmerizing. Her skin's fair and that complements her yellow hair. 

"I disappointed father," he cried while his tears cloud his eyeglasses. "I always study but I always fall asleep in classes."

"You're too stressed. Isn't that why your father chose to give a lot of your royal duties to your relatives?" Kaori spoke up as she dry his tears. "Go to sleep at the right time from now on, Kousei."

Reynold Streamers, an astronomy professor at the West Center City of Atlantis walked near him. His green eyes stared at the young man and spoke up, "We're here to help you learn the things you probably wasn't able to pick up while you were distracted. Your Highness, the Emperor only wants the best for you."

It was now time for his Royal Constitution Tutor to speak up. His name is Ulysses Redford. He's older than Reynold and Bernadette. He's seventy- five years old. "You're the next Emperor, Your Highness. You have to know that there will come a time that you would be making political decisions in the future, most especially, you have a few months before you become a young lawmaker," he reminded him. "You would have to study well, and stop thinking about other things for a while."

"Thank you," he told them. "I'll study harder from now on."

Kaori hugged him while they watch him get teary again. They had also began to pity him when he said to them, "I just can't move on yet. I still wonder why my brother gave me such heavy weight on my shoulders! I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm afraid that I might begin resenting my own brother because of what he did to himself! He changed my life totally! I never wanted to be Crown Prince!"

Since he began crying, Kaori knew that Kousei needed to get in the Silver Throne Room and bring him back in his Royal Chambers. She gestured them to leave. They gave their respects to him and left quickly. Kaori had ordered two female servants in front of the Silver Throne Doors and opened it for them. She brought him back in his room and gave him water after Kousei sat on the black couch inside his bedroom. He dried his tears and held her hand. 

"Why do you think my brother took his life? I'm sure he knew that in his death, it will be automatically be me who would take up his role," he said to her.

"Whatever his reason is, Prince Kousei, you will know it when fate gives it to you. It will be revealed at the right time," Kaori told him. "Also, you deserve to be the Crown Prince. Those who don't seek power are those who deserve such powerful roles."

"You know your way how to comfort me," Kousei said to her while he hold her hand. "I'm glad were in a romantic relationship."

...

A/n: So, how's this chapter? Hope you like it! The reason will soon be revealed!