The New Tutee

Anna fixed her eyes on the person across the table. She and her new student had engaged in a staring contest ever since their tutoring session had begun. This game had already evolved into a muted scream of curses and violent visualizations of murder and torture - at least in her mind. She didn't have the slightest clue what her companion was contemplating at that moment or if he was even participating in this silent war. Prince Hao just kept on looking at her with keen interest as if she was some kind of freshly caught insect trying to flee from its glass prison. She wanted so much to punch him squarely on the face to erase his annoying smirk but she was determined to win this staring game.

"So…" Prince Hao finally broke the silence before her temper goes out of control. "… you know a lot about Kasai?"

"Yes," she answered calmly despite the fact that the prince seemed to question her credibility as a governess.

So much as if I was born in here.

Reading thick volumes of books about Kasai and listening to Yoh's adventures had taught her a lot about this foreign kingdom. Perhaps she knew about Kasai more than Kouku now. A thought that she would rather not entertain for it implied that she's becoming comfortable in this kingdom.

"Okay, it seemed like it," Prince Hao did not look convinced but did not dwell on the matter any further. "I was just wondering… How did you and my brother meet?"

"We met in Chikyuu… " Anna recalled her supposed-to-be hometown.

"Ahh… the town near the border - a small laidback town with agriculture as its main industry," the prince scoffed. "It was once a flourishing town hundreds of years ago when trading between the four kingdoms was still open. In fact, most of this kingdom's rich clans originated from Chikyuu but had to leave and transfer to other parts of Kasai when the war broke out. After the peace treaty was signed that town's economy crumbled and only the poor farmers remained to plow dirt. Oh pardon me for blabbing, I'm sure you know your hometown's unfortunate history."

"What a liar! Why am I forced to teach this know-it-all? The blond girl clenched her fists.

"Kasai had lost half of its wealth and glory ever since the war. This kingdom is too prudent to even enroll its future ruler to the prestigious Royal Patch Academy," Prince Hao snorted.

"Perhaps King Mikihisa has more important projects to fund than send his son to the Academy. I'm certain that Prince Yoh is well-educated and well-trained to be king even if he is being home-schooled," Anna defended her student.

"On the contrary my dear, I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about me. I AM the future king." The other Kasai prince gritted his teeth.

Anna felt the tension between them growing. She had touched a nerve, an unburied history of some one-sided sibling rivalry.

"My brother is not competent enough to raise Kasai to its former pedestal. He is a weakling. He is not of monarchy material."

"Oh Your Highness," the blond girl scowled at her companion, "you are belittling your brother. I am certain he is primed for the job."

"Nonetheless his skills will never match up to mine. He would wet his pants if he were to face the Kaminari prince in the battlefield while I can make him scream like a girl."

Oh I'm beginning to hate this obnoxious brute even more. Why is he dragging Ren into this?

"There will be NO war between the four kingdoms so please stop conjuring weird ideas. Besides, Prince Yoh can hone his skills without difficulty so he can be of the same level as you. No, forget what I said. He would become a BETTER king than YOU because he has true compassion for the people of Kasai something that YOU clearly lack."

"Enough!" Hao slammed the table with his hands.

"If Your Highness wishes me to leave his presence I would gladly do so." Anna collected the books she brought and stood up from her seat.

The other Kasai Prince quickly grabbed her free hand. "Who said you are leaving?" he whispered threateningly.

Prince Hao narrowed the gap between them so that his face was dangerously close to hers. "My dear Anna, why do you care for my brother so much? If he becomes king, you would return to the filthy place where you came from. Tamao would ensure that. But if I would become king, I can make you my queen. We can rule Kasai together. Isn't that a happier thought?"

"For someone like you who thinks highly of himself, I didn't expect you to settle with a palace maid for his wife," the blond girl tried to pull away from the prince's grip but he squeezed her frail arm even more.

"How queer that you do not act like a servant, Anna. You are just like me. So high and mighty that I'm beginning to think that you are some spoiled princess from another kingdom."

"I am a proud governess after all."

"That's why I like you. You are different from my ex-fiancée who's too refined she bored me to death. Not to mention she always talks about the prince of Kaminari, that bastard friend of hers for three years at the Royal Patch Academy."

"Oh so that is what this is all about." The blond girl smirked. "Don't vent out your jealousy issues on me."

"No, I'm not jealous. In fact I let her go. She's not worth my time. I just pity the Kaminari prince's fiancée if ever he had one. Could you imagine how lonely she had been while he was far away flirting with another girl? Perhaps in her loneliness, the fiancée ran away and found another prince. But it's too late. She had already fallen for him when she found out that the prince was set to marry another woman. It's a tragic story, isn't it?"

Anna did not respond.

"Maybe she would meet a better prince, am I right?" Prince Hao took this opportunity to lower his lips on hers. But before he could caress them with his own, there came a heavy thud followed by a tremendous pain on his right foot.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I accidentally dropped these." Anna gathered her hardbound weapons on the floor while hiding her smirk. "Your Highness, if I may give an unsolicited advice to the Kaminari prince's fiancée, I'd tell her to go back home before she meets a despicable pervert like you. By the way this is for trying to kiss me." She slapped him hard with her left hand such that his long silky hair swayed with the impact.

The blond girl stomped her way out of the prince's room.

Prince Hao chuckled after he was left alone with an aching foot and a stinging cheek. "You are quite an interesting woman, Anna."