The Servant Prince

"You're the prince?" Anna pointed a finger at the guilty-looking Kasai heir amidst the spilled soup and the broken pottery on the floor.

"Yes, he is. Give some respect," said the head palace maid between gritted teeth. She came rushing to the scene as soon as she heard the crashing of dinner wares. She bowed down at the royal family apologetically. "I'm sorry, Your Highnesses, she's new here. She will be reprimanded after this." She pinched Anna by the ear and whispered crossly, "Apologize to their majesties for ruining their dinner."

Anna ignored her and continued glaring at the prince. She felt suddenly betrayed and the thought of being tricked by the enemy was too much for her. He had led her to a trap from which she couldn't escape easily. There's no one who could rescue her but herself. I'm staying here no longer.

Prince Yoh jumped from his seat as soon as he saw Anna ran outside the dining hall to the dismay of the head servant. "I need some fresh air. Sorry!" He blurted out to his disapproving father as he took off and followed the blond girl. She was a fast runner but his royal training and experience as a wanderlust helped him catch up. Good thing there were no guards patrolling the hall at that time.

"Anna, wait!" he successfully halted her when he grabbed her by the right arm but that did not stop her from giving him a slap with her left. "Aww!" Yoh felt his cheek swell but did not let go of his hold on her.

"Please Anna we need to talk."

"That won't be necessary. I won't believe your lies anymore!"

"I'm sorry Anna. It was a misunderstanding. I did not mean to bring you here. I did not mean to hide my identity. If I revealed to you who I was you won't trust me anymore. I was going to tell everything to you after I cleaned the stables but I couldn't find you. I didn't know you entered as a palace maid here…"

"This is my only way to survive in this despicable place. I'm leaving here and you can't stop me. Now let go of my arm!"

The prince did not heed her.

"YOU-ARE-MY-ENEMY. You were spying on us during our engagement ball, were you not? Did you plan the whole murder of my family, too?" Tears began forming on the angry girl's eyes.

Yoh was taken aback by the accusations. "I was ordered to spy on you but I was just gathering information for my father. I did no such things to your family. Please trust me, Anna. I could have killed you or drowned you in the river if I wanted you to die." The prince shuddered at this thought. He couldn't imagine himself killing someone.

"I'd rather die by the riverbank than get executed here." Anna snapped at him.

"You won't, I promise. Nobody would know who you are. I'll help you leave."

"Help me? Why would a useless prince like you help an enemy? Oh…. I get it now. If your family finds out that you have allowed an intruder to enter your kingdom, you'll be executed, too."

The prince let go of his grasp on her and fell silent for a moment. "Yes, that is true…"

"Huh! So you finally admitted that the peace treaty is scaring you a great deal. This is about you, your honor and your reputation and NOT about me."

"You're right… but I still want to help you get out of this mess I created. Please believe that despite my cowardice and fear of losing my life and dignity, I want you to return to your kingdom safely, Anna..."

Maybe he is telling the truth… There was genuine sincerity in the boy's eyes and voice. Or maybe he is a talented pretender. Either way, we're holding on to each other's necks. He knows my secret but he can't reveal it to anyone because it will cost him his life and throne. I'm sure he won't be foolish enough not to keep my identity between ourselves. We will be both executed anyway. I guess this is a fair game.

"Fine! I don't have a better option right now than to need your assistance. I'm a stranger to this place and I need you to show me how to go back home."

The prince's face brightened up, "Thank you Anna. I won't let you down."

"So when can I leave this wretched palace?"

"Er….. in a month's time."

"What? This is no time to joke around."

"Majority of the palace servants have their day off scheduled once a month. It is a security measure not to permit our helpers to leave this place whenever they please to limit the information that leaks out of the palace. The next day off is in month's time. Also, my father has decreed that I may not be allowed to go out of the palace without his consent."

"Great, now I have to become a maid for about a month. May I remind you that I am a princess and I am not used to manual labor."

"Er… I think I can do something about that."

The next day...

"This is too much, Yoh. I cannot grant your request. You already have Amidamaru to oversee your royal training," said King Mikihisa as he sat stiffly on his jewel-encrusted chair. His son came to the throne room early that morning just to ask for a personal assistant.

"But father, Amidamaru is only in-charge of my physical training. Besides you always send him to missions along with Manta and Ryuu. He's not always around to check on me if I'm really doing my daily tasks. I need someone to push me and remind me of my duties."

The king eyed his son from head to foot. It's true that this young lad needed someone to tame him for being irresponsible but who was he going to appoint with such a difficult task?

"And who do you think has enough patience and skill to do that?"

"Amidamaru's distant relative… the new palace maid called Anna."

Yoh crossed his fingers as his father pondered on his suggestion. Good thing the blond girl gave him the information that Amidamaru told the king that he and Anna were relatives which led to the girl being accepted right away without undergoing due process. He knew too well that his father trusted Amidamaru more than any other personnel in the palace.

"She's qualified to handle the academic part of my training. She was a former governess in her hometown but decided to become a palace maid here out of poverty. Everybody knows you pay our helpers generously." Yoh wanted to slap himself for lying to his dear father. He had rehearsed this the whole night with Anna who seemed excited about his idea. This was an opportunity for her to really keep an eye on him and nag him about his promise to help her go back to Kouku.

"Amidamaru didn't tell me anything about his relative being a governess. Where is she from anyway? "

Yoh gulped. "Er… she's from... the town of… Chikyuu."

"Isn't that quite a long way from Riku, Amidamaru's hometown?"

"Well, they are distant relatives after all," Yoh laughed nervously.

"Very well, since your grandfather is too old to be your tutor, Anna will be his replacement and will serve as your personal maid."

"Thanks Your Majesty!" Yoh wore a triumphant look as he quickly ran out of the throne room after hearing his father's decision.

The king sighed as he watched his son leave in excitement. Maybe the girl called Anna could also teach Yoh proper manners and the appropriate conduct of a royalty. But that's too much to ask from a commoner who was oblivious to those things.

Yoh ran towards the kitchen where he saw Anna washing baskets of vegetables for slicing and dicing afterwards. Apparently, she was assigned the boring task of cleaning the ingredients since the cook was not impressed with her knifing skills and the head palace maid was not happy about the broken pottery from last night's dinner. Her fingers were already wrinkled from being subjected continuously in running water.

"Good news Anna!" Yoh seemed to dance from excitement.

All the servants except the one he had addressed immediately bowed down when he entered.

"Father has agreed. You'll be my tutor and personal assistant from now on."

The other young female maids shot Anna with envious looks. The girl ignored them and smiled at the prince, "I'll be more than happy to serve you, Your Highness."

Yoh's excitement faded. There was something sinister about the way Anna smiled at him. Was there something they had agreed upon that he couldn't recall?