<< Your POV >>

After waiting for hours, finally, someone came into the reception room. You didn't notice his presence at first, that was until you heard a slight creaking from the floor. You looked up from one of the scrolls you were reading and towards the nearing figure. Assuming the person you were facing was Prince Koumei, you stood up to greet him. When you said his name you expected some sort of response but he just stood there staring at you. Once you said his name a second time he reacted by putting one hand on the back of his head. Then he replied, "the weather is nice today."

"Y-yes it is." After a prolonged silence you spoke up. "Um, Prince Koumei?"

"Yes, Lady (Name). I have some matters to discuss with you."

"Ah, right. I've been waiting to tell you that I'm not the (Name) you're looking for, so if I could just be on my way now?." You got up from where you sat as you set the scroll on a nearby table.

"Lady (Name), please wait for a moment." He said gloomily.

You hesitantly sat back down in your chair. "Y-yes?"

"I'm certain you are who I'm looking for. Here, come with me." He rose from his chair and you followed his movements. He lead you to the same gazebo you had fallen asleep in on the night of the party. You both took a seat at the table, there he handed you a scroll. As you opened it and your eyes flashed across the words. You recalled the scroll as the one you had been reading on that same night you came to this gazebo.

"Are you sure you're not the (Name) I'm looking for? Doesn't that scroll not look familiar to you?"

You glanced down at it in surprise that you had actually been the (Name) from the rumors. You opened your mouth to say something but ended closing it and opening it a few times before actually saying anything. "No, no, no, no, I don't remember this scroll at all, I really think you have the wrong person."

"Hmm, is that so?"

"Yes! So, can I go now?"

"Lady (Name), you do realize you are terrible at lying."

You felt your face grow hot, "I-I'm not lying."

"At least hear why I've been looking for you." He paused for just a moment, "it's not because I fell in love with you."

"It's not?" You let your guard down after hearing that. Yosuke only wanted you to be careful because he thought Prince Koumei was in love with you. Besides that, Yosuke seemed to be joking when he said it. If Koumei wasn't actually in love with you then there was no need to pretend to be someone else. "Fine, say what you have to say."

"So, the reason I've called you here is simply because of your potential. The fact that you were able to read this scroll means you could be a very strong asset for this empire's growth. Not many people are smart enough to understand this material and you seemed to enjoy it."

"What's your point?"

"I'm offering you a chance to live here at the palace while working for the Kou Empire."

You paused to think about this offer for a moment, but it didn't take long for you to come up with your decision. "I'm sorry, but I must decline."

"Are you sure? From what I know you are treated like a servant at your house. If you take up my offer you can live without having to do things like housework again. Your parents won't torment you and you'll be able to live in luxury."

"That really does sound wonderful, but... There is someone I can't leave behind, he is very important to me." You looked down at your lap as you blushed just thinking of Yosuke.

Prince Koumei was silent for a while before asking, "who?"

"M-m-my.... Boyfriend." You felt face grow hot as you said it for the first time. "Y-yeah I really can't leave him, I don't think I could ever stay apart from him for long."

Prince Koumei's eyes looked off to the side before he gave a short sigh. "I could hire him as a servant here if you want."

You lit up at the idea, "I'll ask him if he wants to!"

"I can have some paper brought here so you can write a letter to him."

"Thank you, but I think I would like to talk to him in person. I'm only going to stay here if he decides he wants to work here anyway."

"...alright."

You stood up from where you were seated. After a few more words you left Prince Koumei to go find Yosuke. Koumei seemed very nice. He was giving you such a great opportunity and was even letting Yosuke work at the palace too. Never again would you have to suffer your parent's oppression. What especially made you happy though was that you would have more time to spend with Yosuke since you would probably be working less.

Sitting in the carriage on the way back to the mansion seemed to take forever. Walking to the servants entrance seemed to take forever. Trying to find Yosuke seemed to take forever and ever, until finally there he was! You ran to him ecstatically and jumped into his chest.

"(N-Name)?"

"Yosuke! Guess what!

"What?"

"If you want, I've gotten us both jobs at the palace!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yosuke, do you want to work at the palace?"

"Why?"

"Just answer the question."

"Ah, okay, I guess I do."

"Well, I was invited to the palace and we were both offered working positions there, we can live there as well."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, come on. I'll tell you more about it on the way there." You grabbed his hand and pulled him along. The whole trip back you explained all that you could, but you were still confused with all the small details too. You wondered what you would be doing at the palace.

Once you arrived again at the palace you were both show to your rooms. Yosuke's room was a servant room attached to yours. Since he was being hired to be your personal servant it was arranged so if you needed anything at night he would be close enough to call. Of course there was no way you were going to both to wake him for something you could do yourself. You grew up as a servant and planned to do your own work rather than leave it all to Yosuke.

You explored your new room, which was incredibly nicer than your old one. It was also a lot bigger, even Yosuke's servant room was bigger and better than your old room. When you and Yosuke were settled in, you both sat on your bed discussing everything that was happening. However, most of what you both said wasn't really serious, until a thought came to mind. "Ya know, Yosuke. I never had the chance to thank Prince Koumei. Maybe I should go do that."

He looked into your eyes and gave a big smile before joking. "Normally I wouldn't like you seeing other men, but I guess I can make an exception just this one time."

You smiled back at him and leapt off the bed. "I'll be right back!"

You ran out the door and went to look for the Prince. Some servants told you were he might be or where he usually was, but everything they said lead you nowhere. After a long search indoors, you began your search outside when someone told you he might be feeding pigeons. Apparently it was his hobby. You wandered the gardens in search of him all the while asking anyone you passed if they had seen him. After searching and searching you finally found Koumei sitting on a bench in a garden. His back was facing you with a bunch of pigeons surrounding his figure.

"Prince Koumei?" You walked over towards him, but he didn't seem to react. The birds hopped out of your way as his face came into view. When you saw him asleep your jaw slightly dropped and you found yourself in quite the dilemma. Should you wake him up or let him sleep? Your logical side told you not to wake up the second prince, still you found your hand reaching out for his shoulder. You gave him a slight nudge and softly called his name again. He didn't wake up at first, actually he didn't wake up until a few minutes of you shaking him and calling his name out of worry.

After what seemed like forever he groggily woke up, whilst rubbing his head. You worried said his name again, "P-Prince Koumei?"

He raised his hand to his mouth and gave a wide yawn before looking over at you. "Yes?"

"Ah, well first I'm really sorry for waking you up, especially how I did it. I meant to be more gentle."

He looked up at you as if he had no idea what you were talking about. "It's fine, normally I get hit over the head anyway."

"Hit over the head?"

"Yeah, it's how my brother usually wakes me up."

"...So... Um, you like to feed birds?"

"Yes."

It was getting pretty awkward, then you remembered why you came in the first place. "Um, I wanted to say thank you for letting me and Yosuke stay here and for giving us work here. So, thank you very much!"

He looked at you for a second before beckoning you to sit next to him. Once you were seated you felt his hand creep up on top of yours. You quickly pulled you hand away in surprise.

"(Name)." He said softly but very passionately despite his bored looking face.

"Y-yes?"

"Hmm," he gave out a small hum before he placed his hand on the back of your head and pulled you closer to him. Then, before you could do anything you felt his lips against yours.