The letter was rather unusual because it was inserted in between the sheets of papers that had been written by another man.
The identity of the mysterious writer was obvious in the very first line: 'I suppose even a man like me must obey the rules of this palace so I will write to you in order to return a handkerchief which must not be very valuable, as you deliberately dropped it and didn't pick it up."
Kite? For some strange reason Yuu looked around guiltily even though she was alone in her room as her maid delivered the letters along with her breakfast.
Really, why was she bothering when he behaved in such a manner? It was not as if she lacked handkerchiefs to use!
Yet she was intrigued, more than a little if she was being honest. After all, why would such a man like him write to her?
It was really an offer - for some reason he was giving her an opportunity to see what the peasantry life was like.
A proposal she decided to accept- although she refused to admit that it was because the prospect of doing this was too exciting for her to refuse.
It would not be fully proper and Minami would certainly not be pleased at her actions, but the adventure was not really harmful, since Shiraishi clearly did not care about her anyway. Kite was a commander, which meant that he had certain position.
Having made her decision, Yuu went to her closest and began to search for a dress that had an extremely simple design with materials that weren't too expensive. Even though the plan was for her to cover herself with a cloak, it was better to be more cautious.
Yuu did not know that the writer of the letter was not very far away and he too, was thinking about his decision.
Writing the letter and then sliding it in another was extremely easy for him, but the question was why he bothered to do so.
Maybe it was because of her accusations that he was actually prejudiced against her since she was a princess. Even though he was not the type of men who would wallow in self pity, he was fully aware of his status and what would have happened to him if he was not adopted by his foster father.
Yuu made him realise that he was not fully innocent since he did judge her based on her identity of being the princess from the neighbouring kingdom.
But this still failed to explain why he wrote that letter and asked her to spend time with him. Why did he want to show the market to her?
No, it wasn't really to show her the market. It was to let him see what she would be like when she was not a princess under the gaze of men who made sure that the correct behaviour would be displayed by those around her
She claimed that she was a woman as well as a princess, so he wanted to see a separation of these two roles.
It was time for breakfast to be eaten and Ashita decided that she would go and wake the emperor up. The number of time he had stayed the night in her quarters increased, although he would always retire into a separate bedroom.
He was still sleeping and instead of waking him up, she knelt down in order to examine the sleeping figure.
There was something very different about him when he was not in any symbol of office- he seemed much more at ease and even a bit younger. Reaching forward, she grabbed some of his hair, which was loose, and brushed it off his face.
He was a handsome man, although Ashita felt that it was a type of attractiveness different from Shiraishi. It seemed more of a roughish charm, as she would sometime see a smirk in his eyes, while his current smile was almost a bit boyish.
She suddenly felt herself being grabbed by the waist and before she could even react, he swung her up, causing her to lay right on top of him. They were so close that she could feel the heat of his breath, and her hair was blown by his mere breathing.
The most important thing is to stay calm, she told herself, because if she caused anyone to come in then they would definitely make a wrong assumption about what was happening right now.
His hands slid away from her waist only to cup her face, preventing her from trying to stand up. In addition, he was even pulling her even close to him.
"So beautiful."
Now that she was so close to him, she could finally hear what he was saying, as well as seeing how his emotions changed when he suddenly realised who she was. Ashita was sure that there was disappointment between his recognition and amusement.
"Ashita?" he asked as he sat up.
He dropped one of his hands, allowing her to quickly sit up. But she couldn't get up as he was still holding onto her hand.
"Breakfast…breakfast is ready!" Ashita muttered.
He nodded and it seemed that he was still thinking of something.
"Who…who did you think I was?" she suddenly asked.
A slight smile appeared, one that she recognised as the prelude to some joke or teasing. Without saying anything, he pulled her toward him, burying her face into his chest.
"Are you so curious about my dreams? Or are you jealous? Don't be, there is no one who is prettier then you." He teased.
The smile was gone once he was sure that she would not be able to see his face. Foolish as it was, he thought that Aizuki was somehow here and was even willing to smile at him.
Ashita did look quite like her sister when Aizuki was only a girl. Their hair was of a similar shade even though Ashita's hair was a slightly paler blue then her sister's. But in the moment where a man was lost between sleeping and waking, it was very easy to make mistakes.
Yet they were different, Ashita still had an air of innocence and trust around her, and even though she was still nervous around him, there was no hatred or even anger when she looked at him.
But she seemed to be trying to find ways of avoiding looking at him, as he noticed that she was staring very intensively at her food and never lift her gaze away from it unless she had to.
Well, he couldn't really blame her since he must have given her quite a scare. But he was glad that he didn't manage to say anything criminating.
"Ashita, didn't you say that you want to talk to the head gardener?" he suddenly recollected. "We can go now. Now is actually a very good time to do so," he added, "Because we will be free from any danger."
"Danger?"
It was not a good thing to be happy at another man's misfortune, but Shiraishi was sure that he was not the only one who was relieved that Inui was feeling a bit unwell and had to be confined to his chamber.
It was usually rather dangerous to go to the herb garden as Inui was often there- natural enough since he was the herbalist. The head gardener was often there as well because herbs were probably the most important plants.
Nitobe didn't mind this as he liked to spend time with the plants he loved without being interrupted by trivial comments, although there was one thing he grudged Inui for: the loss of a possible heir.
"Shiraishi, it has been quite a while!" he greeted his visitor warmly. "You should visit more often."
"I would if you can protect me from Inui!" Shiraishi laughed out. "But I am very glad to see you. You seem well and so are all of them." He added as he gestured to the herbs.
"I still think that it is a pity that you ended up being in the military." Nitobe muttered. "You used to play in here so often and you would ask me so much questions about herbs. At one stage I really considered asking Emperor Watanabe to let you be my apprentice."
"It is possible that I might still have ended up doing what I am doing even if Inui didn't become the herbalist." He pointed out. "I did express an interest in fighting every since I was quite young. Besides, I am not that interest in flowers or plants, I am only really interested in herbs due to what I used to eat when I wondered around."
The head gardener did not really know how to brew herbs other then the very basic, but he did know what each herb was used for, as well as which flowers would be poisonous if eaten since Shiraishi was quite curious about such a thing.
"But it seems that these plants have a liking for you since you never once ate any poisonous ones when you were little." Nitobe commented out.
They talked a bit more before the announcement of the arrival of the emperor was yelled out by the guards at the entrance.
"Nitobe, I thought that you would be here." Watanabe declared out. "It seems that the herb garden will be a very popular place today."
"It has been a while since I last visited." Shiraishi said evenly, forcing himself to not deliberately look at Ashita.
When he saw her, he immediately recalled how she had been wrapped up in his own cloak. Once or twice, he caught her staring at the cloak and even brushed her fingers across the fur.
He probably looked at her more then the actual match, which made him feel a bit bad as Kintarou had eagerly asked him about his opinion in regard to the match.
"I want to talk to you about the flowers in my quarter." Ashita began, trying to ignore Shiraishi's presence without being rude. "Maybe I am a bit greedy but I am a bit disappointed that there are no carnations in the garden right out side my quarters."
"I will make amends immediately- I can transfer some flowers there. What colours would you like to have?" Nitobe asked
"Pink, white and striped." Ashita decided.
"Lady Ashita, are you sure?" the gardener said with a slight frown. "Are you sure that you want striped carnations? Do you not know what it means?"
"I know what it means." Ashita said calmly. "But I wish to have the flower because I would like to see them when I look out from my room, not because I wish to give them to someone. Besides, are there not hydrangeas and yellow roses in the garden?"
"Nitobe, what does striped carnations represent?" Shiraishi asked curiously.
"I can't be with you or I wish I could be with you."
A suitable flower, Ashita thought to herself, very suitable.
Shiraishi left the herb garden and went to the stables as Nitobe asked him to deliver some herbs to Jackal- the stable master.
"He wants to make some thing that is native to his country." Nitobe had explained. "He came to find me yesterday- as soon as the news of Inui being sick was known."
It was a very good excuse for him to leave Ashita and his foster father.
Shiraishi was prevented from thinking about what he should do for the day due to Kenya, who didn't even bother to get off from his horse upon seeing Shiraishi.
"I was looking for you." Kenya began. "My mother is going to the market today so do you want to come with us?"
Shiraishi answered by going to his horse, he enjoyed these rare 'adventures' when they accompanied Kenya's mother to the market. It was a nice change from being in the barracks and palace.
Unlike them, Yuu's departure was not as easy. She wanted the whole thing to remain a secret. Despite Kite's rank as a commander, a discovery might still cause many gossips as Kite was regarded as being a peasant despite the adoption. Although it was not as if his foster father's rank was very high.
In the end, she had to compromise by telling Sengoku, as he was the only one who could take her around without additional servants or maids.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure that I keep out of the way." Sengoku grinned. "As I said, women and girls are very pretty in this country."
"I am not like you- this is to let me gain a better understanding of society." Yuu protested.
Sengoku merely thought that his sister wanted a little adventure although he certainly failed to work out why it was Kite out of all people. But he was not a nosy person so he just shrugged and decided that this was some minor rebellion- Yuu wanted to have some fun with the man of her choosing.
Sengoku easily found some clothes to wear as he did tend to visit the town on a rather frequent basis. Yuu, however, still appeared as a member of the upper class despite wearing her most simple dress.
"I expected this." Kite said as he tossed a cloak to Yuu. "Wrap this around you."
"Let us go then." Yuu said with a strange excitement.
