"Hitomi? Hitomi? Hitomi!" she jumped looking at Yukari who's staring at her intently.

"What?" she asked.

"What's wrong? You've been staring out the window since you woke up. Did something happen?" * Last night… * she thought then instantly shook her head.

"N-nothing. I'm just not in my best mood today that's all. What have been up to?" she asked moving away from the window and trying to avoid Yukari's puzzled eyes.

"Nothing really. The breakfast room is ready and the King will be there in any minute." Yukari said as she looked on Hitomi with questioning eyes.

"I see. I'm not really hungry. Just tell them that I'm not feeling well." Hitomi climbed her bed and lay back.

"But you didn't eat that much last night."

"I'm fine." She answered as she pressed her face against the pillow. * Why the hell did he kissed me? He should have asked first if I were the one following him! The pervert! What kind of first kiss is that! How the hell will I tell Yukari? She'll surely laugh! My first kiss! My first kiss is from a perverted guy!

"Hitomi?"

"Not now, Yukari"

"Come on tell me what's wrong?" Yukari slowly sat beside her.

"It's nothing! I'm just not hungry that's all. Please Yukari, I'm fine no need to fret."

"But…"

"Please leave me for a minute. I'll eat as soon as I feel hungry." Yukari stood up and then left.

* Oh I just can't believe this…Why does it have to happen to me? Why? *

"What are you doing? You can't go in there?" Hitomi heard Yukari's voice from outside her door. She lifted her head against her pillow and stared at the man with black hair and brownish red eyes as he came in her room slamming the door closed. As she stared he's wearing one of those uniforms of their soldiers.

"What…" she didn't finished what she was about to say as the man came right at the end of her bed and pulled her feet towards him. She shrieked as he pulled her to her feet and roughly carried her like a sack bag towards the door.

"What are you doing? Let me down! Let me down!" She could hear Yukari screaming, as she followed them out of the room. She slapped the man's back repeatedly as he walked on.

"You beast! Let me down! Don't you know me! Damn You! Let me down!" She screamed. She tried to move up but he instantly slapped her butt. She stopped. * he slapped my butt. My butt! * She went berserk! She keeps slamming on his back.

"How dare you! Father will hear about this! And he will have your head for treating her daughter like this!" She felt him stopped walking. She looked around; they are in the dining room. She saw her father sitting there looking at them with a smile on his face. * No, it can't be… *

"Thank you for bringing my daughter. You can let her down now." The man pulled her away from his shoulder and roughly put her on her feet. She stumble a bit and slowly regained her composure as she stared at his father.

"What's the meaning of this?"

"I want you to meet your personal guard, Van Fanel." She gasped.

________________________________________________________________________

"You will stop following me this instant!" she screamed. She had been doing so since she left the dining room.

"He's my what!"

"Van Fanel at your service." He said and slowly kneeled down in front of her.

"You can't be serious." She ignored him and looked at her father.

"He's from Fanelia and the finest swords man there is." Her father stood up and walked slowly in front of her. He caressed her cheek.

"You'll be safe with him."

"Safe? What safe are you talking about! He carried me here like a sack bag! Didn't you see?" She even stamped her foot as she frowned at her father.

"What kind of safe are you talking about father?" she couldn't help herself from retorting. For the first time in her life, she had never been off balance but this man, this bastard of man have the nerve to carry her to touch her. The nerve!

"You will stop this!" She very much wanted to ignore his father outburst but she still stopped and still tried to calmly explain.

"But father…"

"No! No more, Hitomi! He will be with you anywhere you'll go." She watched as his father left.

"It's all your fault!" She turned and pointed her finger at her so-called personal guard. She hurriedly left the room.

"I said stop it!" she screamed again but he just kept on following her a few yards away separating them. She left the dining room to be alone at the garden but as she had predicted before he followed her outside.

"What will make you stop following me? I have gold and jewelries and if you want to I can give them to you, just leave me alone." She stopped and turned and stared at him.

"Even if I do accept, Princess. Surely your father will just get you another personal guard in replacement." He answered as he leaned against one of the tree they had passed. She sat down and crossed her legs as she looked at the lake in front of her. It's a bright sunny day as the lake shines in front of her but it didn't changed the way she feels. She cursed, words she heard from stable boys. She often do that whenever she becomes frustrated. She didn't saw the small smile that tugged at her personal guard as she goes on and on. She keeps on cursing until she tired out and lied down.

"What the hell am I going to do now?" she muttered.

"Accept." He answered. She looked sharply at him.

"I'm not asking you!" She saw him shrugged.

"And I can very well protect myself! I don't need a guard like you!"

"Father said you're from Fanelia and you're the finest swordsman there is, why then I haven't heard your name spoken before? If you are truly the finest swordsman, I should have heard about you long before you came here." She asked as she stared at the sky.

"Being known and being excellent is two different things, Princess. I'm excellent not known." She snapped her head to look at him. * Talking about arrogance! * She thought. She slowly stood up and brushed her skirt.

"Well, Sir Van. I don't need a guard and I don't need an arrogant over confident man so you'll just have to tell my father that his daughter doesn't need a man like you." She was about to walk away when she heard him laugh. She stopped and looked at him incredulously.

"How dare you laughed at me?" she barked. He then walked towards her. He stopped inches away from her and slowly leaned down.

"Listen very carefully Princess. I'm here to do my job whether you like it or not, so it's either you'll just accept the fact or live all your life locked in your bedchamber just like what your father said." She gasped and pushed him away. * The nerve of this man to talk to her like that! *

"No I will not! I will not accept and I will not live my life locked in my bedchamber, you hear!" she shouted at him.

"You listen to me, you arrogant bastard…"

"Such a foul word on such a well educated girl." He cut in.

"Shut up! I lived all my life knowing how to deal with danger. My very own father trained me how to fight and it made me quite furious to know that I had to take a guard when I already turned eighteen! And I am no longer a girl!"

"Really?" She simmered as she watched his left brow lift.

"Yes! And you will stop thinking that I am! I'm eighteen and quite capable in taking care of myself." She turned away from him and started walking back to the castle.

"You're the first 'not a girl' that I met who screamed her head off, stamped her feet when angry, sat like a child in the grass and swear like a stable boy. Are you sure you're eighteen not eight or ten?" she could here the laughter in his voice but she just ignored him and continued walking. * What the hell does he know anyway? * Then she stopped abruptly. * That's it! * She slowly turned and looked him straight in the eyes. He saw something in her eyes that he knows he'll be hearing something ridiculous.

"You said you're an excellent swordsman?" she asked. He stared at her frowning. He doesn't like the sound of her voice.

"Answer me." She asked again.

"Yes." His voice hard and cold.

"Then prove it." His frown deepened as she stared at her.

"How?"

"I challenge you to a duel." He stared at her shocked.