P r o l o g u e

"You realize what you're doing, right?" He had asked.

The younger female bowing before him nodded, she couldn't have been more than fifteen.

'Far too young for this kind of mission,' He had thought, but in the end there had been no other choice.

"If you're sure, then…"

"So since you're new you probably don't know this, but try to keep away from the Royal family as much as you can. If you don't you might anger one of the consorts!" Mei, the maid assigned to showing her around warned.

Yuka nodded, even as an outsider she knew angering a consort could only lead to certain hell.

"So, that's it with the tour, any other questions?" Mei asked.

"Well," Yuka began, she chose her words carefully; maid etiquette was different from what she grew up with, "When will her majesty, the princess be returning?"

"In two or three days, I would presume. She had a meeting with the finance mister," The other woman answered.

'So by Wednesday, finance minister will be dead by tomorrow morning,' she thought, smirking to herself.

"So there is her room," Mei motioned towards large oak doors, "You should go scope the place out. Then I guess you can take a break and go over your chores. You start tomorrow." With that the golden haired female was gone and Yuka sighed in relief.

She pushed the oak doors open and stepped inside to a very lavish room, only to find someone already there.

"Oh, hello!" The girl said clearly startled, she seemed to be cleaning.

"Hello," Yuka replied politely.

"I'm sorry I'll be done in a second," the other girl smiled, they looked to be the same age, "My name's Ayako by the way, nice to meet you."

'Ayako, is it? "Scholarly Child" what a strange name for a maid.' But she brushed the thought aside and replied, "Pleasure, I'm Yuka."

"You're the new lady-in-waiting, right?"

She nodded, "How did you-"

"Gossip mill," Ayako giggled, "You know what they're like."

Yuka smiled, she liked the girl so far, "Well, I'm pretty lucky. This one seems to be the most normal of the three," but she suddenly gasped, "I hope I haven't spoken out of line!"

The raven haired girl laughed it off, "Oh, no. It's perfectly true, the father and eldest son are perverts to the highest level, and the youngest son has no interest what so ever in politics."

Yuka nodded in agreement, that's why all of them should die. They only ever thought of themselves.

"Well, I'm done now. I'll see you later," with that Ayako was gone.

'This place, it's so serene, you almost can't tell it's the center of so much evil,' Yuka thought, she brushed her shoulder length brown hair behind her ears. Her forest green eyes scanned her surroundings, no one was around.

She pulled a fan out of her sash and began twirling it in the air absently. It had been a habit of hers since she was younger, throwing items into the air to see how long they could sustain themselves.

Sometimes, she had almost felt like the fan.

But this time, she threw it a bit too high and it flipped backwards. 'Oh no!' she felt like crying and she spun around trying to catch it, 'the lake!'

There was a sudden snap and her fan was grabbed by someone seconds before it hit the water. She gasped, as she stared at the man. His long hair was tied back into a pony-tail and bangs fell to his face, he turned to look at her.

"This is yours, I take it?" He asked, his voice was kind, but Yuka couldn't help but gulp. Judging from his silk sky-blue robes he looked like a noble-man or at least some of very high importance in some way.

"Yes," she replied meekly.

He walked over and handed it to her. She took it hesitantly, and he smiled at her gently as if he sensed her shyness. "My, it is a sunny day isn't it?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yes sir."

He started walking, and a few seconds later turned around to look at her as she still stood there. "You coming?"

Her eyes widened as she rushed to catch up with him. They walked to a more or less secluded part of the castle and Yuka saw a table with food placed on it.

"I was about to have my lunch, care to join me?" He asked politely.

She nodded shyly and they sat down, she nibbled at her shrimp dumplings. It wasn't everyday that Yuka found herself sitting across from such an attractive man so she stared a little…okay a lot. His hair was a deep purple that was almost black. But his eyes where what had gotten her, they were the most unique shade of sky blue, matching with his robes.

But unfortunately, he caught her staring, "Is there something on my face…?" He asked; his kind smile was still fixed to his face.

"I'm s-sorry, I just didn't know how to address you, sir," she replied quickly.

He watched her curiously, as if processing her answer. "Rei Shinsei," he replied.

She froze, as she gulped down some sashimi way to quickly and ended up choking. She drained a glass of lemonade within seconds.

Rei Shinsei, general of the imperial army?! One of the top advisors to the Emperor, himself?!

'I am so doomed!' She thought, as she coughed some more.

A/N: Well, here is my pathetic attempt at a historical and light romance. I'm trying to remain with some true facts, but the place and story line are completely made up. Please review and leave me with your thoughts,