Chapter 4: The Princess Consort

The person laughed sickeningly as they took their katana and pressed it to the palm of their left hand. Sliding their thumb on the sharp blade while still being careful to not cut it.

"The Prince's favorite hm? Well I'm more than sure that the Princess Consort would love to hear this. Capture these two! Now!"

Yoru remained calm and steady as the rush of what he would assume to be the other servants of the Princess Consort. A lot has already happened to the brunette that he couldn't properly keep track of it all even if he had a list to remember it by. All Yoru was trying to do was scope out the place and buy himself some time with his new assistant Eriki who was still frozen in pure fear.

Whispering to the young brunette, "Eriki, I can't fight them all at once and it's obvious this would cause a lot of trouble for you and I. So it's best if we surrender to not cause any more harm. I'm sure His Highness will hear about this right away and come to retrieve us from whoever this Princess Consort could possibly be," Yoru muttered as he kept a straight face to not look suspicious any further.

Eriki nodded hesitantly as if she wasn't sure such a bazaar claim that the Prince would come to get them would possibly work. Then again, she was only a newbie playing around on higher ranked officials' grounds. And since she was now the disciple of Nami-San, the only thing in her power was to listen to every word she says.

"Yes Nami-San. B-But, the Princess C-Consort is a force to b-be reckoned with. No one has e-ever passed her punishments…"

"Punishments?"

Yoru(Nami) could even think about it any further as he found himself kneeling down on little pebbles of rocks. The brunette raised his lowered head as he wanted to check his surroundings to find out where he was, but a sudden, harsh force pushed his face into the little pebbles to the point he could feel blood trickle down his forehead and onto the ground. Yoru grunted in pain as a cold shiver ran down his spine at the feeling of blood he hadn't felt in what felt like forever. It felt like a new sensation since any other side commission the brunette has been assigned to by a client in a village or small town, he would easily avoid getting a single scratch on himself. But this wasn't one of those commissions, oh no, this is the mission he assigned to himself that would determine if he gets to live his life a free soul after completing it, or in awful regret that will be looked down on by his own clan members.

Yoru was so far in his own thoughts that he couldn't hear the voice calling out to him. But his daydreaming didn't last long before a harsh, brutal kick made contact with his side. The brunette could feel that side of his rib crack and shoot pain throughout his whole body. He grunted and rolled over before looking up between squinted eyes that held small forming tears as they fell on a lady that had a hand on her hip and the other holding what looks to be a smoking pipe.

"Tsk, how dare you ignore me you filthy, insignificant rat!"

"Huh? Oh I'm sorry, did I upset you or something?"

The woman gasps in disbelief as to think someone would dare be brave enough to not only completely ignore her existence that should always be recognized, but to act like they didn't know who she was. And for the first time, the anger that sat at the bottom of her stomach for what felt like hundreds of years started to boil up like a baking cake would if the heat temperature was placed higher than instructed.

"M'lady, this rat has the audacity to say she's his Majesty's favorite maiden. What should we do to this little rodent?" The servant that stood next to the Princess announced so anyone who was near could clearly hear what was going on.

"Favorite you say? His Highness only loves me and that's it! To let some lowlife maiden take his cold heart that I should be the one to cure and warm up would leave a horrible, bitter taste in both of our mouths! I belong with him and that is clear to the whole damn Palace of Dragonsphire!"

Nami laughed as she raised her head despite the fact there was a force trying to hold it down. Her royal purple eyes stared into fearful rose red ones. Unlike the other maidens that seem to be working under the Princess Consort, only she could see what was hidden in those mischievous, wicked eyes of Nami. And as if they were having a full on conversation, the Princess understood everything that was said behind those vibrant royal purple eyes even if not spoken out directly.

"N-Nami-San! You're okay!"

"Eriki?"

Nami turned to see the young teary brunette running weakly towards her as three of the Princesses servants followed behind her in an attempt to capture her. Though they were barely visible to the public eye, the older brunette could see the signs of beatings on her disciple's leg, back, and arms. Judging by the way she couldn't straighten up her back and was limping towards Nami as one of her feet couldn't even touch the ground as if there was an injury on the bottom of it.

Nami turned back to the Princess who was growing in constant fear at the fact it was clear to her that Eriki was an important person to her. Their eyes made contact once more and this time, nothing good was being said. The woman clenched her fists as he started to shake up.

"Release that girl! And tend to her wounds as fast as possible!"

"B-But M'Lady, you wants us to keep her captive-"

"I SAID RELEASE HER AND TEND HER WOUNDS NOW! You know better than to go against my words!"

"Y-Yes Princess!"

"No! I don't want t-them to tend to me! I want Nami-San!"

Nami didn't exactly know what to say when she heard what Eriki said. But it is more than clear that she really trusts the older brunette to the point she rather have her tend to her wounds even if it was only today she became Nami's disciple.

"Princess, it'll be best if I could get your name. I'm actually quite new to this," Nami spoke up as she got up from her spot on the ground that was covered by little pebbles and dusted out the excessive dust that got on her clean outer layer of clothes.

"Her Highnesses name is Kiringubyūtī. But she never liked the fact that her birth givers gave her that name that stands for 'Killing Beauty.' So she prefers to go by Princess Ringubyū," an unknown voice spoke up.

Nami tried to track down where it came from and turned to stare next to the Princess who was frozen in place. And there was the unknown person, wearing a blue, white, and gold hanfu. Their black, silky hair was up in a stylish bun with their clan pin holding it together and two strands framing the side of their perfect face. But it was their eyes that caught the attention of Nami who was dazed by them. They were a golden color. Dusty gold, but sparkles unbelievably bright even in the setting sunlight. And they looked right at the brunette, ignoring everyone else's stares and looks directly at her's that looked back at theirs

"Princess, please release these two. I'll take them back to the Palace and have them in their chambers by that time," they said as the person walked elegantly up to the older brunette who still couldn't move their eyes to anything else but them. It was as if nothing else existed and they were the only ones in the dark world.

"Well, I've never seen such beauty before. With due respect, may I ask for your name?"

"Hmf, you have the guts to say such a flirty thing to me considering you are at Princess Ringubyū mercy right now. But since you want to know so badly, I am Dakū Enjeru. But I prefer to be called Dakūai."

"Dakūai… such a beautiful name to say. Well, Dakūai, how about taking me and Eriki-Chan back to the Palace? I'm sure we can have a wonderful chat on the way there."

"I don't have interest in doing idle chit-chat with someone who doesn't know how to show some respect to their superiors."

"My apologies, Prince Dakūai. I was born in a family where greetings weren't used frequently. Even as the only child, they treated me like an outcast."

"H-How did you know I'm a prince…?"

"I might not know how to show proper respect, but I do know how to respect a person's gender and title."

Nami gave a bright smile as a faint blush crept up on Dakūai's already heated cheeks.

'A step forwards. This is turning out pretty good for me,' Nami thought as she opened up her eyes to look at the flushed Prince that stood in front of her. 'But I'll have to tell them my true identity soon enough. Tsk, this really is troublesome.'