Chapter 1

A Well Deserved Break

As the first rays of dawn seeps into his chilly attic room and touch his face, sixteen year old Yuichiro begins to wake even though he was having such a perfect dream. Just as he sits up on his bed, the clock tower at the palace begins to ring the morning chimes, indicating that the king says it is time to start a new day.

Knowing that his family will be awake in the next hour, Yuu takes a quick cold shower, get dressed for the day, then leaves his room in the tall attic tower to find Tomoe opening the curtains and Yoichi dusting off any surface that had collected dust overnight. "Good morning, Yoichi, Tomoe." Yuu greets two of his friends he has grown up with since his father took them in and off the streets to be given a much better life here at the chateau.

"Good morning, Yuichiro." Tomoe greets back with a smile forming on her lips.

"Morning, Yuu-kun."

"Since it will be awhile before stepmother, Mahiru and Shinoa wake up, I better get Kōta taken care of first." Some time ago, Mahiru had adopted Kōta from an orphanage and has been teaching him to be a noble like her family. When she's not around, Kōta is nice to Yuu and the other servants of the house. However when her presence is known in the room, Kōta is expected to be just as nasty to the servants as she is but he just falls silent instead.

"I feel bad for Kōta. He has to be taken in by that witch and be expected to act like her." Tomoe says, her hatred towards Mahiru still vivid in her eyes.

"I know." Yuu nods in agreement before he sets off to Kōta's room to already find the thirteen year old awake and dressed for the day. "Good morning, Kōta."

Turning to face the older boy, Kōta smiles as he walks right into his open arms for his morning hug. "Good morning, Yuu. Mirai helped me get ready for the day."

"Has she? She's been doing that more often now."

"I think she likes me." Kōta glances away as a blush forms on his face.

"Why would she not like you? As long as Mahiru is not around you can be yourself." Yuu thought to himself, thinking of them possibly having a bright future they can have together.

"Come on, let's get you some breakfast before everyone else is up." An arm wrapped around his shoulders, Yuu leads Kōta downstairs and into the dining room so Kōta can get settled down and Yuu then enters the kitchen to get right to making breakfast.

Gathering the ingredients to prepare oatmeal, Yuu then sees Narumi enter with a pile of firewood. "Good morning, Narumi."

"Good morning, Yuu. Kimizuki asked me to let you know that he'll cover for you today, so you can have a break and go for a ride through the woods." Narumi informs him as he set the logs in the hearth and start the fire for his friend.

To hear that his pinkette friend will cover his work for him today, Yuu smiles at the grateful thought. "I'll have to thank Kimizuki later." With that, Yuu went to work to finish preparing breakfast for Kōta and his family with a smile on his face, already planning on where to go with Asuramaru later this morning.

Once breakfast has been completely prepared and set on the table, Yuu leaves Kōta his breakfast inf front of him and as the boy starts to enjoy his oatmeal with honey and buttered toast, Yuu leaves the chateau for his family's stables to get his absolute best companion. To see that Mirai is already preparing the handsome stallion for him, Yuu sets a hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to turn to see him smiling at her. "Thanks for preparing Asuramaru for me, Mirai."

"Sure thing, Yuu. Shiho told me that he was going to cover for you today so you can have the day to yourself. I thought I would get Asuramaru ready for you to take him for a ride." Mirai says as she hands her friend the reins and he mounts the black stallion.

"Give my regards to your brother for me." With that, Yuu snaps the reins and Asuramaru starts to gallop away into the woods.

With the raven gone to have his break, Mirai leaves the stables to find her older brother taking care of laundry. "He's gone into the woods, Shiho. He is really grateful that you're covering for him today."

"Well, the idiot deserves a break every now and then. Lady Lorraine will be leaving today after breakfast for a business trip so Mahiru will be her bitchy self as usual while she's gone." Kimizki says as he removes the clean clothes from the clothesline, folds and place them neatly into his basket to take back inside to put them away.

At the mention of Mahiru, Mirai became mad as she thought about that witch. "Why can't Lady Lorraine realize how her oldest daughter has been treating everyone while she's gone, especially Yuichiro since this is his home?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Mirai." Kimizuki says with a sigh as he also felt his hatred towards the older Hiragi daughter resurface as he picks up the basket. "Mahiru always convinces her mother that while she's gone on business trips everything is fine when really she's just really manipulative."

"Well I feel bad for Shinoa, having to grow up with such a mean, terrible sister." Mirai adds as she glances in the direction of the chateau, thinking about the kind and sassy Shinoa that everyone living on these grounds came to care and love despite how Mahiru wants her to be cruel to everyone like she is.

"We all are, Mirai. Let's just hope that no matter what, Yuu won't give up on his dreams." Kimizuki agrees with his younger sister. With that, the Kimizuki siblings head back inside the chateau to continue with their work.