1 1 - The Joy of Being First Born

When Anemone was seven, she was told she was a girl and she can no longer learn how to be the heir to her father's title, the Duke of Castiano. It was also the year she was told her baby brother, who was two years younger, will be taking her place. Upset, she ran away from her home.

It was right after she had finished training with her sword. Being sensible, she made sure to bring her sword as for sure she can make a living being a mercenary. One of the guards had told her stories about his adventures before he decided to settle being a guard. She'll show her parents she can be a man without the title.

As her training was always done early in the morning, she had plenty of time to set out. The sun was just spreading its rays, painting the ice blue sky golden orange. She ran into their garden maze as she knew the entrance should lead to the exit.

Unfortunately, being still a child and short, she got lost in the maze. It wasn't until the sun was hanging high in the sky before she realized it. Tired, she crouched under a tree using curses she had overheard her guards use.

As she looked around, she noticed this was just an area of the maze they used to plant a garden. Big red rose hedges surrounded a water fountain. The water fountain was a figure of a woman with an urn pouring water out. As she got up. She walked closer to the edge of the pool surrounding the statue.

"Mother, I don't want to be a girl!" she screamed at the statue.

The statue was silent of course. Tears clouded her sight as she bent over the ledge of the pool. Staring at her reflection, her hollow dark black eyes stared back at her. The water rippled under her, teardrops falling slowly. She stared at her pitiful self before rubbing her reddened eyes.

Renewed with determination again, she moved out to the right entrance near her. As she made her way through the tall hedges, she finally saw another clearing. This time it didnt look well maintained. As she drew closer, it looked like an exit out.

Overjoyed, she ran through the field that was littered with flowers. The grass was tall enough to reach her knees. As she wasn't looking down when she ran, she tripped over something hard. She fell hard on what tripped her.

"Ow!! Who-?!" she exclaimed as she turned to look what tripped her. As she touched the object, she realized it was a dark cape. A dark cape covering a really angry boy. His tousled blonde bangs wreathed over his cherubic face with dark streaks of dirt. His blue eyes as bright as the sky were glaring at her as he stood over her with his hands on his hips.

"How dare you trip over me?" he demanded.

Startled, she shook herself from her stupor. "Ah! Apologies! I didn't see where I was running to," she explained as she slowly stood up.

He made a strange face and then crouched back down to what he was doing. She watched him picking some of the wild flowers. From the way he was dressed under his cape, he seemed to be a noble. With his hair tied up in a ponytail similar to hers, his hair sparkled under the sunlight.

"Are you a fairy?"