Chapter One

"Lust is an immoderate wantonness of the flesh, a sweet poison, a cruel pestilence; a pernicious poison, which weakeneth the body of man, and effeminateth the strength of the heroic mind." - Francis Quarles

Someway, somehow he managed to get her into the kitchen. As dark as she was.

'Which wasn't the darkest...' he thought to no one but himself.

She was meant to work on the never-ending rice fields. That stretched miles and miles through the countrysides of the kingdom. Somehow he managed it and there she stood head bowed on the opposite side of the room waiting to be acknowledged. She was a mere Slave girl that seemed to disturb his dreams; or where they nightmares. She plagues him so.

Maybe she was a witch and she cast her wicked spells on him. His dreams that were so vivid, it caused him to stay awake at night. He wanted to touch the forbidden fruit highest on the tree. He shouldn't want a slave girl to sedate his primal urges and yet he did. He imagined what she looked like under those grey rags they kept her in. If it were up to him he would have in the most expensive silks just so, he could rip them off. But he could never have her he was a prince and she was a slave. But that didn't mean he couldn't dream or touch himself and imagine her hands on him instead.

It was becoming maddening to the point where he needed her like his lungs needed air. He tried not to stare too much to not cause suspicion in the royal table. He looked over at her once more for the sixth or maybe the tenth time tonight he lost count. She looked over at him for the briefest of seconds just a glimpse of her eyes was enough to fuel his fantasies. Honey brown eyes that promise to stir life from dormant flowers, the nascent plants guided upward by the light before blossoming into the vibrant colors of a new season.

He would have her tonight beneath him as he pounded achingly into her wet warmth. He could never be seen with her in public eyes or even marry her but he could have her every night if he pleased to.

"Hikaru?" His father's booming voice commanded his attention and out of the fantasies. He was dressed in the finest silks embroidered with gold lining with the house sigil of two circling koi.

"Yes, father?" He says quickly snapping his gaze away from the slave girl but he wasn't quick enough. His father's eyes look forward at him but looked elsewhere. At her. At his...

"Is there something that has caught your attention?" The king asks now with his undivided attention on his oldest son.

"No nothing." The prince stated picking up his chopsticks and going back to his meal. The food that sat before him was not the flesh that he deeply desired. His mother sat on the right side of him with an intense woebegone stare, that pierced his heart. She didn't say anything just sat quietly and ate her meal. Was she watching him as he stared at the divine flesh that stood mear feet from him? He didn't know he could only hope she didn't.

"Your thoughts seem to be elsewhere my dearest grandson hopefully on your bride to be." His grandmother Aimiko says in a way that makes him shift in his seat. The tension doubles over like a thick cloud of tobacco smoke that he was just forced to inhale.

His Bride to Be was a foreigner from the far east according to his court. She was beautiful and fair. With skin as white as the moon's rays and jet black hair that fell to the smalls of her back. Her face was symmetrical with green grass eyes that were framed with spider-like eyelashes and thin rosy red lips. She was the perfect noblewoman. So he would marry her as the king and queen wanted. And produce the heirs he needed who would rule next in their family dynasty. But his mind would wander back to the slave girl that would occupy his fantasy

"Of course," Hikaru says finishing his meal placing his chopsticks across his bowl. His grandmother was old and wise with a sagging face. she lived a full life almost at her 80th year. Her tongue was slick like silver who could still run an army given half a chance. She was dressed in a simple blue kimono that with a golden crown that sat in her topknot that was pulled tight at the top of her head.

"Excuse me." He says standing up bowing to his family walking pass the slave girl looking at her in a brief flash. Then to the head maid to follow him. She bows and follows him out into the massive hall. She wasn't that old but looked to be in her earlier 30's with a plain flat face with black hair in a low bun at the nape of her neck. She was a bit less lavishly in a simple black dress that brushed against her ankles. On her left breast held the gold sigil of two circling koi.

"Hikaru Ouji-sama." She says giving a bow and looking up at him for direction. She was the head maid that oversaw all the servants and made sure not a hair was out of place. A humble servant she was.

What he was about to ask wasn't too outlandish his ancestors have asked for worst. But for some reason, the words seemed stuck in his throat like a thirst he couldn't quench.

"Ying Yue, Your servant girls..." A prince as honorable and high as himself should never hesitate to ask a mere servant for anything...And yet he did. Was he afraid to be judged by his request?

"Gather them all I want them in my chambers after the sunsets." He spoke quick his words stumbled together. He could feel his heart rate quicken a pink tint flushed his cheeks. She eyed him and her herself had too turned pink at his request.

"Ouji-sama if you don't mind me..." She starts off bowing again face red like a beet fruit. "Wouldn't you rather have a girl of your harem. They are for your pleasure and willing to please you Ouji-sama." She says hands in front of her fiddling with them. She was embarrassed or maybe Ying Yue thought he wanted some kind of Orgy with them. He only wanted the slave girl with honey for irises.

"No." He says simply "I'll be expecting them in my chambers after my bath." He says she can only oblige by his orders and so she bows walking back into the great hall. He took a breath to compose himself and made his walk back to his princely duties in a much jollier mood than earlier.