CHAPTER 1

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The King's new wife had ascended the throne after he himself had ascended to the heavens to join the one he'd dreamed to be with again. The new wife been married off to the King for political relations only, and there never was any love lost between them.

For who could love someone who only loved herself?

If there was one thing the now Queen prided herself on, it was her looks. She had a complexion like the brightest of all golden sand, her eyes were delicately shaped and her long, black tresses flew very much like a gentle breeze that caressed trees lovingly. What she did not have, though, were the very things that were needed to rule over subjects: a caring nature and loyalty to the country.

But the Prince wasn't yet of age, and the Princess even smaller. And so, ill-suited though she was, she retained the throne.

A lady always has many whims; so did she. But not even with a gaggle of servants would her very deep desires be satisfied. All she wanted was someone other than her who would tell her what she most longed to hear. These desires ran so deep that she hadn't even glanced at the man who'd sold to her what she considered to be her most prized possession. If she had, she would have been impressed by his deep blue eyes and deep blue hair.

Her prized possession was seemingly ordinary; to anyone else, it was just a mirror. But she knew that the mirror contained a tremendous amount of magic. No one other than her could see the green-haired lady serenely standing inside it. Only she could.

She'd carefully hung the precious artifact in her chambers. Eager as she was, she immediately asked the question that had been brimming in her heart for a long, long time.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

The Mirror answered, "My Queen, you are the fairest. There is none in this land who can compare to your beauty."

Immensely pleased by this answer, the Queen became ever more vain than before. Yet, the mirror also had a good effect. It kept her happy, thus ensuring that she ruled peacefully over the kingdom.

In such a manner, the years passed.

Prince Touya finally became of age, but did not ascend. His sister's beauty kept on evolving and became a topic discussed at every nook and cranny.

All was well, until -

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

"My Queen, only Princess Sakura can be proclaimed as the fairest of them all. None other."

Jealousy is the ugliest of the entirety of emotions. It is one that can make you lose all your senses, drive you out of your mind with rage and make you rebel against the one who caused it in the first place.

When this very emotion crept up on the Queen, her rage knew no bounds. All she knew was that the Princess had to go. The girl's death was the only thing that could make her happy.

"Eriol!" She screamed. "Eriol! Report to me, right now."

The man named Eriol had never lost his composure, and walked in quite calmly, unfazed by the ruckus. He was the Queen's guard and therefore, possessed one hundred percent of her trust.

"You shall kill Sakura," shrieked the jealous lady. " She has committed a great act of treason. But the public must not know. You will kill her, and you will do so secretly."

Slowly but surely, a smirk spread over Eriol's face. Shadows half-obscured him, radiating a cunning and deadly look. Bowing, he replied, "Your wish is my command, Your Grace."

Every morning, the Princess would go for a walk in the nearby woods, accompanied by a guard. The day after the Queen's command, Eriol was decided to be the one guarding her.

When Princess Sakura saw his familiar face, her entire face lit up like the beaming sun. She was always glad to see one of her friends accompany her.

"Ohime-sama," he said, bowing down deeply.

She waved him off, "Eriol-kun, you know there's no need to be so formal when it's just the two of us."

"Your wish is my command, Sakura-san."

In amiable silence, they began walking. Once they were at enough distance from the Queen and her castle, Eriol held Sakura's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Sakura-san, it is as your friend that I must say this to you: please run away from the castle."

This sudden announcement caused Sakura-hime's eyebrows to shoot up at an alarmingly fast rate.

Eriol relentlessly continued, " There is danger to your life. I have been ordered to kill you by your stepmother, Sakura-san. I cannot do it. You are Tomoyo's cousin and my friend. That is why I must ask you to leave the castle behind."

She lifted her chin and said, "I have always known that the Queen hates me. But to want me dead? I refuse, Eriol-kun. I will not run away. I will stay and fight against her tyranny. What if she goes back to how she was before? What of the people of the kingdom then?"

"Ohime-sama, while your brother, the Prince, remains by the Queen's side, I do not think that there should be any such problem. Please, Princess Sakura," Eriol knelt down, "I ask this from you not as a friend now, but as a subject. Your safety is most important. Onegai."

The Princess let a sigh fall from her lips. She did not want to leave everything behind. She loved her duties: meeting subjects, helping the poor, playing with children. Yet, she also had a duty to stay alive. She owed it to the people who depended on her. She was shaken to her core at her stepmothers attempt to kill her, but she did not show any of it to Eriol.

Finally, she nodded. "Fine. I shall flee. But what will you tell the Queen? I do not want to cause you any trouble," she said, biting her lip.

The guard got up to his feet and gave a low bow, "If you do not want to cause me any trouble, promise to stay safe, Sakura-san."

Emerald eyes gleaming, Sakura-hime held up her pinky finger, "I promise, Eriol-kun."

Solemnly, they shook their pinky fingers. The beautiful princess took a deep breath and said, "Well, I should get going now, I suppose."

"One last thing, Sakura-san," the blue-haired man said, handing a saddle bag to the lady. "Some food for the Princess. I'm sorry that you'll have to carry it. Maybe you could get some deer to help you?"

"Thank you, Eriol-kun. Perhaps I will get those deer to help me," she said with a laugh. "I'll see you soon, I hope."

"I'll see you soon," Eriol asserted with great confidence as she started walking away and was slowly swallowed up by the dense undergrowth and foliage. Eriol watched her go, already formulating a plan in his mind. He would kill an animal, and show its heart to the Queen, claiming it to be Sakura's. He knew of the Mirror, and he knew it would tell the Queen that he hadn't killed the Princess, but all he could've done right then was give her more time to hide. The truth would not remain hidden for long.

Wearily, he began searching for an animal to hunt down.

Meanwhile, Princess Sakura had already begun her impromptu trek in the forest. Wherever she went, birds twittered behind her and deer actually ran up to her to offer their help. She felt at peace for a moment, forgetting that someone with a very wide reach wanted to kill her.

But when the moment passed and she remembered the reason she was fleeing, she began to run. Her feet slapped the ground and trampled flowers. The beauty of the woods wanted to distract her, but she refused to let it do so. She ran and ran until her breath caught. Until her legs ached. In her hurry, she had failed to realise that she was so deep within the circles of trees that she no longer knew the way back to the palace.

Finally slowing down to get some rest, she started looking at her surroundings. She was in a part of the forest that she'd never explored before. Even so, it did not seem unfriendly to her. She looked down at the ground, wondering where to hide. It was then that she noticed a footprint in the mud. It definitely wasn't an animal's. It looked perfectly human. Then, there were people around here? If she walked for just a bit more, someone would definitely find her and help. With this notion, she convinced her feet to help her just a bit more.

As she trudged on, she noticed more pairs of footprints. They traveled in both directions: where she was going as well as where she had come from.

She supposed there was no harm in finding out why so many footprints were present there. She followed their direction and was pleasantly surprised with what she came across.

In front of her stood a beautiful house, honeysuckle growing around its wooden fences. The house itself wasn't too large, but it gave her a good feeling. A cherry blossom tree was in full bloom, projecting beauty to all of its surroundings. A stone path led to the wooden door of the fence, and then the stone door of the house.

Even though the palace was much bigger and extravagant, the Princess felt awed to find a house that was so gently caressed and hidden away by nature. Just what was it doing here, though?

She cautiously opened the wooden door and then walked towards the stone one. Knocking that one, she asked, "Hello? Is anybody there?"

Nobody replied. She knocked again, "Hello? Can I come in?"

When there was no response, she pushed open the door, which opened easily. Walking in, she found no one. All of a sudden, she felt a tickle in her nose. She did not want to disturb the silence of the house, but she just had to sneeze. The dust that had settled itself in the house made sure of that.

Since she was alone, she spoke out loud, "The house seems to be uninhabited looking at the amount of dust. But then, why were there fresh footprints outside? Well, at least I get somewhere to rest. I should clean the rooms first, else my sneezing will not stop."

Thus the Princess began cleaning the house. Sweeping dust away was a thing she'd always enjoyed. The routine made her feel... independent. So she had always done most of her chores by herself, despite being a princess. Her stepmother had never had a problem with that, at least.

Only once she was done conquering dust did she look out of the window and see the sun setting. When she'd arrived, it was right over her head in the sky. She had been so engrossed in her task that she hadn't noticed the time slipping by. Now, with nothing to do anymore, the day's fatigue clambered over her. Every part of her body hurt from over-exertion. All the Princess wanted was to sleep. She began her search for a bed.

Clambering up the stairs, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. Cleaning up a two-story house was a very exhausting work, after all. She'd observed seven rooms in the two floors of the house. She walked to the one that had green draperies and gave off a warm feeling to her. That room had once again made her wonder about the owners of the house. A bed in the midst of the room called her name invitingly. She gladly accepted its calling and went to sleep smack-dab in the center of the large bed.

When she opened her eyes again, she couldn't see anything due to the inky darkness that enveloped her. She stretched lazily for a bit and then decided to get up and light a candle. On her way to getting up though, her head banged against... something. This something was quite hurtful too, because she saw stars for a moment.

Before she could speak or recover, a hand roughly grabbed her own.