Okay, it's me! -I know none of you want to hear me, which is why I'll shut up after this time- Anyways, thanks for the Prussian reviews XD

And yes, I'm aiming to have no rape in here...However, if there ever will be -highly unlikely-, I probably won't describe it. I suck at that stuff XD

Sho, the following chapter includes stuff that makes you think it's rape, but it isn't. You have my word. It'll be explained later.

-Tsukuyo

Chapter 2

There was a quiet, hesitant knock on the door.

"Yes?" A low purring sound sounded.

"...M-Mother..."

"Don't be scared, my dear..."

The door creaked open, and Lukas peeked in. His navy-blue eyes were bleak, but showed no signs of fear.

Chun-Yan, however, could see the way his chest heaved up and down slowly, as an effort to hold his composure. Her 'son' really was pitiful. It fitted him, though, pitiful, just like Alona. That stupid whore...That stupi- Chun-Yan mentally scolded herself, and sighed quietly.

Why couldn't he have grown to look more like Emil? Emil took after the father, Erling.

Her Erling.

"Oh, dear, come closer...Mother wants to take a good look at you..." She adjusted her position in her velvet chair, causing Shinati to move along with her. Not a single brown hair was stray, and not a single fold or crease could be seen on her blood-red dress. Chun-Yan dripped authority, and she knew it very well.

Immediately, Lukas stiffened up, but he obeyed, sliding through the crack in the door. He gasped at the sudden temperature drop, and hugged his bare arms tightly. Chun-Yan smiled slyly. She liked to keep her room cold, especially in the middle of the night. That didn't matter now, though. Instead, she feasted her eyes on her precious Lukas.

The teenage boy was almost bone-thin, the skinniness of his frail structure revealed by the lack of proper clothing. His hair was a mess, and his hand looked odd, wrapped in a dead-red scarf. It would've been quite interesting to see Alona like this, so weak and helpless. Torturing Lukas, however, almost fulfilled that desire.

She snapped her fingers.

"Come here. What happened to your hand?"

There was a visible flinch.

"I-I...Nothing."

"Come...Let your mother see your wound." she cooed, vaguely gesturing at him to move forwards. Chun-Yan watched as her 'son' bowed his head and shakily approached her. If she had to guess, it had something to do with Amelia. Melanie would've gone with something more mental or scattered, instead of using definite, brute force on one small area. Of her two daughters, Melanie was the clever one, while Amelia was the opportunist.

When he was within reach, she briskly snatched his arm before he could retreat, and examined the cloth. No blood. It was painful, though, as she felt Lukas stiffen up. Without much care, Chun-Yan peeled off the dusty old scarf, and looked at the hand. The boy grew even more tense as she moved mangled fingers roughly to examine their condition. Broken? Clearly. Crushed? Probably not. She let go and twisted her body, looking on her table for what she needed.

"A-a..."

"Hm?"

"It's n-nothing..." She frowned, but found the tool she had wanted.

"You can tell Mother, right?" Chun-Yan held up the object smiling devilishly, and Lukas grimaced, inching back a bit.

"..." He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He was speechless, too. This wasn't the first time, but she didn't do it so much that he had gotten used to the feeling. She waited for him to speak.

"M-Mother...Please..." he finally managed to get out. His blank face had been replaced by one of pure terror. How she loved and savoured these moments, when they were alone like this.

"Well, if you really don't want to...You can go back to bed. Yes, of that's what you want, my dear boy..."

Lukas' eyes widened.

"R-Really...?" his voice was full of hope.

"Of course..." she answered slyly.

"Just make sure to tell Emil that Mother wants to request a favour." Chun-Yan added, twirling the object she held between her long fingers.

Lukas looked like he had just been slapped.

"N-No!"

"Then get on the bed." There was no light in her tone this time.

"..."

"Yes...Of course." Lukas' eyes were watery, but he solemnly obeyed, without another word. The boy really loved his brother, didn't he? Just like how Alona had 'loved' her Erling. She needed this, yes, but she would also enjoy this very much.

Later that night, only one sound could be heard throughout the house. Amelia and Melanie were dead asleep, silent in their rooms. Emil was wide awake, cowering under his blankets, tears pouring out of his eyes and down his pale cheeks as he squeezed , his toy bird, silent as well, though the sobs wracked his body. But a certain boy's screams clearly rang in the night, mixing with the coppery tang of blood in the air that had now spread throughout the mansion, like a wind. The screams were sharp and foreign to the little boy. No matter how many times Emil heard the noises and smelled the smells, he could never carry on normally; His brother never told him what went on, either. It was pained Emil to hear Lukas like that, and it disgusted him to think that he couldn't help. All he could really, that was of any use, was to stay silent, and hope.

"L-Lukas...Lukas, stay strong..."

"And so, you pull the bow li- No, not like that, young prince!"

Mathias smiled apologetically as he watched his music teacher, Roderich, cover his ears for what seemed like the hundredth to muffle the sound of the harsh note.

"Sorry...Teach me how to do it again?"

"Of course, young prince. You hold it like so-" Roderich had began, holding up his own wooden bow to demonstrate, but Mathias was quicker. The blonde man pulled the bow across the strings of the ornate violin, making a sound that sounded like a cat dying. He smiled confidently. He was getting better, wasn't he? Mathias looked at his teacher for approval, though all he did was take a bunch of deep, concentrated breaths.

"That was...good...This time, let me finish talking before you try." Another sharp note followed directly after. Mathias grinned again, thinking that he sounded great. Roderich, however, looked pale. He took several deep breaths before speaking again.

"E-Excuse me for a while, young prince..." Then off he went, scurrying out of the room to who-knows-where.

The old man probably has to take a piss again. Mathias snickered softly, and set down his instrument, happy to be rid of it. These 'noble' activities really weren't his thing, even if he did excel at them.

"Wow, just a week and I already play so well...I've gotta show Al..." he said aloud contently. The only reason he had even accepted the idea of violin lessons was because Alfred and Gilbert said that it might've been possible to shatter glass if you played it right. More thoughts ran through his head. Did that mean that Roderich shattered lots of windows? Dad had said he was an master violinist... He had to ask Roderich how to do that!

Ten minutes passed, and Mathias sat there, fiddling with his bow as if it were his battle-axe, his favourite weapon. He had named it Axel, as a pun. It wasn't extremely posh, though it was beautiful in it's own way; and it could kill. It could kill. It's simplicity appealed to him more than any other 'noble stuff', and seemed perfect.

He waited for a while longer. At one point, the wind started blowing, making the velvety drapes flutter about, like a butterfly's wings. Mathias raised his nose and took a long deep breath, inhaling as much of the fresh air as he could.

How he wanted to be outside, playing ball with Alfred and Gilbert. Too bad it was going to rain soon, or at least, that's what it looked like from the smell of it. The boy sighed, and lowered his head in frustration. On the bright side, he could crack windows, right?

But music teacher never returned. Mathias' dad did, though. Silius Køhler stormed in, blue eyes flaming like icy fire.

"Mathias!"

"Pop!"

Silius groaned, and rubbed his forehead with a scarred hand.

"How many times have I told you? 'Father'. It's the proper way of things." he chastised, closing his eyes. Mathias scoffed.

"Only girls say that. Al and Gil say 'Pop'."

Actually, when he played amongst the commoners in last year's Christmas festival, he hadn't heard a single 'Father'. The girls said 'Dad' or 'Daddy'. 'Father' was seriously so priss-like; not even those creepy little dainty girls in those

"They're commoners! You're a noble. It's time you started acting like one." Silius growled, eyes flashing again.

He just stared, and put down his bow. Silius was so up-tight and proper. Couldn't he learn to let loose every once in a while? Well, the young noble had a thing or two he could teach his pop as well... Mathias then flashed his trademark grin, the one that all the members of court knew him for.

"Maybe...If you catch me first!" And then he ran past Silius, scarlet cape flapping behind him like a flag in the wind. The king was too stunned to respond. After the first few initial seconds, he found his voice.

"Wh-wh-wh-H...Get back here!" he roared. Too bad Mathias was already too far away to hear.

The boy ran down the hall, making no move to look behind him. It would only slow him down. This chase would be too fun to give up. He didn't stop, even after he elicited the screams of three surprised chambermaids as he nearly knocked them over with a sharp turn.

"Sorry! Pardon me, royalty coming through!" he hollered back at them, grinning, though he didn't bother to watch their reaction.

Somewhere in the background, he heard an angry, 'Stop, Mathias!', probably from his silly dad, who was undoubtedly making chase. The old man was no match for the likes of Mathias Køhler!

But now...Where to hide...? Gil's ideas for hiding spots were okay, but he couldn't keep quiet. Even if you stuffed a turkey into Gilbert's mouth, you couldn't get him to shut up about how awesome his idea was. Al, on the other hand, was not the person you'd depend on for stealth. He'd probably hide some place stupid like Mathias' bedroom, or better yet, the grand throne room. Stealth and Alfred were often bad when used together in an actual sentence. Like they said, if you want it done well, do it yourself!

Hmmm...Cellar? Too obvious. Stable? Too loud. Forest? Might rain. Behind a library shelf? I'd die from boredom. Pantry? Nah, I'll probably start eating...What about...The tower! Perfect. It was usually damp and cold up there, a bit uncomfortable, true, but it wasn't the first place you'd expect to find a prince, even one such as himself. And he could pass the time there, with all the random junk that was scattered around. Old uniforms and costumes, mannequins, and chests full of things more interesting than smelly documents could probably hold his attention for a while.

As he made another sharp turn, scrambling to keep balance, a thought crossed the young prince's mind. Pop always complained about being older and older, and needing a decent heir...He came to an abrupt halt, clutching the sides of a tapestry to catch his breath.

He wouldn't...No! Not again! I already had to do that three times...It never works! Why can't you just give up? he mentally yelled, but grinned anyways. At least he could watch his 'magic' work. No matter what the situation, he had always been able to irritate his old man. The joy of seeing Silius' face, red as a beet, was enough to raise his fallen spirits.

There were footsteps behind him, breaking the illusion of Silius' head blowing up. What a shame. Mathias took another deep breath, and went right, forwards, then right again, before the oaken door leading to the attic entered his line of sight. It was just like he remembered it; not too fancy, not too plain, with grooves in the wood and scratches in the steel. There was something he had always liked about the door and the rooms that lay behind it, though he couldn't put his finger on it.

When he got close enough, he slowed his pace, making sure to be quiet. The doorknob was cold. Mathias twisted, and grimaced as a creak sounded, resembling the noise of a yowling moose. Yep, mooses made weird sounds. No time to think about moose sounds, though. Before he tip-toed up the stone stairs, he made sure to close the door tightly, making sure that it was stiff and stubborn.

The staircase was dark, and there was a sound of dripping water somewhere. They didn't frighten him, of course. He was the bravest person there was.

Yet something seemed out of place. One step at a time, he felt around in the darkness, making sure to have stepped on solid rock before making his next move. There was nothing to hold on to; It was like that old fable. He had to go slow and steady. Mathias couldn't recall what the moral had been, but it had been something along the lines of 'Slow and steady wins the race if your enemy is a lazy person'. Or was it... 'Slow and steady doesn't always win the race, but don't take a nap'?

All of a sudden, there was a chomping noise. Mathias stiffened. Why wasn't Axel with him? He was totally going to miss out on this chance to kill a monst-

"You want a cookie?" The young prince whipped around, flailing wildly at whatever the cookie-eating-monster wanted. He might've made contact, though he wasn't sure.

But it wasn't a monster. It was Ivan Braginski, his guardian. Mathias let out a bunch of stale air, breathing normally again. He wasn't sure how Ivan had crept up on him like that. It was so weird.

"Uhh...No thanks, Ivan. But ho- why were you following me?" he whispered, feeling a bit creeped out. Ivan smiled gently.

"I wasn't following. I was waiting. Actually, I was here for long time, and you ran past me." Something about Ivan's smile suggested kindness, though there was something else entirely that gave one the impression that the kindness could evaporate in a split second.

"...Don't rat me out?" Ivan adjusted his scarf, rubbing the material against his pale cheek before replying.

"That is not fun. The king, though, wanted me to tell you something. So I waited here for you to come. I thought you would come. It's good hiding spot, da?"

Mathias hadn't know that Ivan was good at hide-and-seek. He was going to challenge him one of these days, and beat him to a pulp. Exactly what he would do tomorrow, perhaps.

"What did Pop have to say that was so important?" Mathias yawned, sitting down on a step. For a minute, he had the weird feeling of not being able to see under him, due to the darkness, and felt that he was sitting on nothing. It passed eventually, though.

"Another marriage scam. You will be having dinner with a few families, I believe, all with noble girls..." Ivan started, pulling out another cookie from his pocket before continuing.

"I believe that tomorrow night, you must dine with...The Kirkland family? I cannot remember, but I think that is it." Mathias felt like he had been slapped. Actually, he had, since he had just slapped himself.

"No kidding?" he asked.

"Nyet, no kidding."

Mathias facepalmed, not sure what he wanted to make of this. Just like he predicted. Marriage. He didn't want to be married to a random girl he barely knew, probably much less liked. So he decided to make the best of his situation, and do what he could.

"Okay...Just gimme a cookie."