Felicia's father had to leave his daughter with a heavy heart. He really hated leaving his daughter alone for so long but his inherited long running empire was so demanding and as leader, he couldn't just abandon it. He had to file endless reports on inventories, experiment on new merchandise, and make business deals with other companies. Unfortunately, recently, they were going through harsh times and many businesses have plummeted.

His company was on the verge of going bankrupt and he was severely dependant on foreign exports and imports until the economy got better. Despite all his efforts to keep it alive, it was starting to fall and he started to fall into debt. He never told his daughter about the money troubles they had because he didn't want to worry her. And they had enough left over to survive in the very least.

Once he arrived at the port, his heart sank even lower. He was utterly screwed. The ship was totaled and men were working carefully on getting what cargo remained out. He dismounted Lovino to go find the foreman.

"Ah. Romulus. Glad to see you." He said passively.

"How bad is the damage?" Romulus dared to ask.

"Extremely. We've lost a few men to the sea and hardly anyone let alone anything got away uninjured. Most of the materials are ruined but we're taking what's still in one piece."

"Well, I suppose something to sell is better than nothing, right?" Romulus said cheerfully.

"No, you've misunderstood me, Romulus. We're taking what's left of your cargo to repay the last of your debt. Nothing more. If we let you take anything more to sell, you will not get anything in return. If anything, you'll go into further debt and your poor child will have to keep paying for it long after you're gone."

Romulus' blood went cold. They were shutting down his business for good. There was no hope whatsoever of saving it. He could try but by the time things turned around, Felicia would be the one paying off his debts for years. He didn't want that to happen.

He received some compensation so that he and Felicia could live off of for about a month. That should be how long it should take him to find another job.

He crossed the border without much trouble but on the second night, he wasn't feeling the greatest, which left his judgment was impaired. He ended up relying mainly on Lovino to get them back home.

It was dark and foggy out on the second night. There were no stars, no moon to guide them. They were wandering through a forest which was supposedly another day's journey back to the village. But Romulus didn't know where they were. Nothing looked familiar. Soon, he found a sign at a fork in the road but it was extremely old and illegible.

"Lovino, let's go this way." He pulled the reigns to the left. Lovino saw that the path had a horrifying atmosphere, it practically screamed 'DO NOT ENTER' and it was less mended than the one on the left. The left path even looked brighter for crying out loud. Lovino ignored his rider's orders and stubbornly pulled to the left. Romulus pulled his reigns again and urged him to go right.

"C'mon, Lovi, it's a short cut. This old man knows what he's doing." Lovino knew it was pointless to convince him now. Unless if they were in serious trouble, he wouldn't turn around. Lovino carefully treaded the path, twitching and flinching at every noise that he heard.

Suddenly, a wolf appeared behind them and Lovino burst into a gallop with Romulus hanging on for dear life. It had started to rain to top everything off and if they couldn't throw the wolves off, Lovino would eventually lose his footing and they were both goners. Romulus spotted a large iron gate up ahead to the left that was open and steered Lovino into it. He jumped off Lovino just as they got in and quickly shut it before falling on his back and watching in terror.

The wolves clawed in between the bars and snarled at the gate as Romulus crawled backwards and standing up on his feet. As he turned around, he was amazed at his luck. He had arrived at a castle. There was a small bridge that he and Lovino were on that led to the grounds. He took Lovino's reigns and walked towards the first set of doors.

As he approached the doors, they opened before him, revealing a magnificent set of gardens. There were hedges and flowers in all shapes and sizes everywhere. He found the stables and led Lovino to them and took off his supplies before throwing a blanket on his back which was neatly folded and waiting.

He then set off to enter the castle and see if anyone was here. They must be because everything looks so neat and recently used. The doors once again opened before him and he entered carefully, observing each and every fine detail of what was inside. There was a magnificent hall with six doorways on the left and right side of the grand staircase that was right in the center of the hall.

"Why did you let him in, fool? Do you realize what you've done?" A voice hissed behind him. He turned but no one was there. He figured he must've been hearing things from his being unwell.

"But Roderich-san, would you rather let him stay out in the cold? He could become terribly ill."

"Is someone there?" Romulus called out. "I don't mean to intrude but I've lost my way and I'm not feeling very well. I was wondering if I could stay for the night."

"See? He's sick. He needs to rest." The second voice said again.

"Don't let him see you!" Romulus grabbed a candlestick for better light but dropped it immediately when he heard the candlestick gasp.

"What in the world?" The candlestick sat up and moaned a little bit.

"My poor back…"

"Way to go, fool." A clock appeared out of nowhere and walked up next to the candlestick. "Since there's no point in hiding anymore, I am Roderich, the majordomo to our master. On behalf of our master, I bid you welcome and we will gladly accommodate you. And this is Kiku, our master's personal servant. If you would follow me to the dining hall, I will have dinner prepared." The clock continued to walk down the hall with the candlestick leading the way for the light.

Romulus thought he was surly dreaming. There was no way a candlestick and a clock could be talking and walking. But he didn't want to ask questions. He was too tired to.

"It's the second one on the right, Roddy!" A woman's voice called. The clock moved to the right side of the staircase after he was clearly heading for the left side.

Romulus sat himself down at a large table that had only two seats, one on each end. Plates and silverware had already been prepared.

"You have my thanks, Roderich and Kiku. May I ask if your master will be joining me so I can thank him for his kindness?"

"No, he will not. Ludwig-sama is… not quite… ah…" Kiku hesitated and was fumbling with his words.

"Our master is not used to guests and won't be coming down." Roderich said bluntly. "I'll give him the message."

"Thank you." Romulus heard clinking on the table and a teapot and a teacup were coming toward him on the table. The teacup had a haunting resemblance of Felicia but was adorable nonetheless. It even had an identical curl like she had.

"Um… Ah… Good evening, Mr. Would you like some tea?" The teacup smiled at him ever so cutely. If it wasn't made out of glass, Romulus would've hugged it to death.

"No thank you." He smiled kindly at it. Its eyes began to water.

"Di-did I do something wrong?"

"No, you did fine, Ita-chan." The teapot smiled. Her emerald eyes were very vibrant and kind. Romulus wondered if it was the teacup's mother. "It's alright if he doesn't want tea. May I offer you something else?"

"Just water is fine." Romulus's mind was filled with questions but he was too tired to ask them.

Xxxxx

The next morning came so quickly and Romulus felt better than he ever did, despite all that has happened yesterday. He was disappointed he didn't get to meet the master of the castle so that he could give a proper thanks but he thought he could probably come back and visit and thank him properly. He didn't see any of the servants again so he decided to head home.

As he was passing the grounds, he could really see what kind of flowers were growing in the hedges. The majority of the flowers were roses and he suddenly remembered his promise to Felicia. He was so depressed about his empire falling that he had forgotten to buy a rose for Felicia. There were so many that grew here, he was sure that the master wouldn't mind if he took just one.

He found a small rose hiding beneath a larger one that seemed to be overshadowing it. It hadn't bloomed yet but with proper and tender care, it surely would be the most beautiful rose anyone had ever seen. He gently pulled it out of the hedge and then suddenly Lovino neighed in terror and went on his hind legs.

Romulus turned and a monstrously large figure with golden fur and furious piercing blue eyes stared back at him.

"How dare you! I give you a place to stay for the night and this is my thanks? You steal one of my roses?" It roared. "Return it at once!"

"Wa-wait! Please hear me out! This is a gift for my child. I promised her a rose I this was the only place I could find one. And you have so many…" His voice was fading from fear.

"If you won't give it back, then you'll have to pay for it with your life!" The beast grabbed his throat and hoisted him in the air.

"Please, there must be some way we can work this out! I-I'll do work for you! I'll do anything you want!"

The beast lowered him back to the ground and softened his glare.

"You said you had a daughter? Send her in your place. Eight days. That's how much time you have." He said coldly. Romulus's blood went cold. Felicia was to take his place for a mere rose? This wasn't right. But the beast didn't know where he lived so he couldn't live up to his threat.

Xxxxx

Felicia was halfway through reading the new book Matthew gave her for the fifth time. She found it fascinating and very moving. A princess was placed under a spell that turned her into a swan every day and she could only turn back into a human at night. One night, a handsome prince discovered her and they fell in love. Just the thought of someone being so devoted to break her spell because he loves her so much, it was so romantic.

Her thoughts were interrupted by rapid knocking at the door which made her jump. She ran to the door expecting to see her father but it wasn't.

"Yo, Felicia. I was wondering where you've been hiding all this time. Kesesese~" Gilbert grinned.

"Oh, Gilbert. Good day." She sighed. "I-I thought that…"

"You don't mind if I come in?" Gilbert moved past Felicia who didn't have time to protest and grabbed him a chair next to the table.

"What brings you here today, Gilbert?" She smiled.

"Oh, no particular reason. I was just thinking you might be lonely and thought I would grace you with my awesome presence." He leaned back in the chair and smirked.

"Oh really? Thank you… I guess. My father left two weeks ago and I get sad when he leaves. I hope nothing bad happens to him." Felicia sighed. "And he took Lovi too so I don't have anyone to talk to, really." Gilbert got up and started to walk closer to her slowly which Felicia didn't notice.

"I guess I came at a good time, then." He smirked. "Hey, Feli~ How would you like it if you had some awesome person with you all the time so you wouldn't be lonely?"

"Th-that would be nice. But my friends don't have the time to spend every minute with me and I wouldn't want to trouble them like that."

"Heh, that's not quite what I meant. What if you were interested in marrying someone handsome, strong and who would spend every minute of his awesome existence with you?" He was standing right beside her and knelt down to her eye level.

"Vee~" Felicia sighed as she looked away. "That would be so romantic.~ But… I haven't found the right person yet. And Papa still needs me." Her eyes had a distant gaze.

"What if the right person was right here? Standing right next to you?" He used emphasis on 'right next to you' and leaned his face closer to Felicia's who turned her head to the other side and started crying.

"Uwhaa! My right person is a GHOST? Then-then that means… I won't find him until I die!"

'How did she come up with THAT? … At least she's cute.' "I'm sure he doesn't like seeing you cry and he would kiss you to make you feel better."

"V-veh?" Gilbert took Felicia's cheeks in his hands and leaned closer to her and when they were a nose width apart a knock on the door made her pull away.

"Ah! Papa!" She beamed and bounded to the door making Gilbert fall flat on his face. "Welcome home, Papa!"

"Ah, mia principessa! I missed you so much! Oh? Were you crying?" He noticed Gilbert was on the floor and Romulus glared at him which made him cringe. "Did you make my daughter cry?"

"Oh, no Papa. Gilbert just came over for a visit and he told me that my perfect guy is a ghost and I can't meet him until I die."

Romulus chuckled. "I think Gilbert is just being silly."

"W-well, the awesome me can't hang around here forever so I'll be leaving now." He nervously laughed and was gone before Felicia and her father blinked. All that was left was a cloud dust.

Gilbert ran down the stairs then a few seconds later, he yelped in pain as Lovino neighed and sounded like he was stomping or kicking something.

"My awesome sexy butt! Damn pack mule!" Felicia thought she heard Lovino neigh as if he was chuckling.

"Did your trip go well, Papa? Oh? Are you alright, you don't look so good."

"Yes, yes… I'm alright. I just need to… lie down. But, I do have a present for you." Romulus pulled the rose out of his bag and placed it in Felicia's hand.

"Oh Papa, it's beautiful! You found a baby rose! I can't wait until it blooms!" Felicia proceeded to put the rose in the vase before helping her father sit down by the fire.

As the days went by, the rose did bloom quicker than normal and with it, it appeared that Felicia was growing more radiant by the day. However, Romulus seemed to be getting sicker by the day due to stress. Too many things were on his mind, him losing the company, generally feeling ill and the encounter with the beast. He prayed that it was only a dream and he was unable to tell Felicia about his misfortunes.

On the eighth night, there was a storm outside and Felicia was struggling to keep a fire going and she was almost at the point where she had to cut up some more fire wood outside in the storm. She moved her beloved rose from its place on the windowsill to the kitchen counter where it was warmer and the candles gave it a nice illuminating effect.

There was a knock on the door that surprised Felicia. Romulus was in the living room in a big comfy chair and he turned his head and was terrified.

"Who could it be in this storm?" Felicia wondered out loud. "Gilbert's a good friend if he's coming to visit us in this weather."

"Feli, don't open the door!" Romulus said in a panic.

"But Papa, we can't leave them out in this storm." Felicia said as she opened the door. Her eyes widened as she saw a towering monster in front of her. All she could see was its horrible hideous face and it's piercing icy blue eyes.

A golden paw started to reach for her as she screamed but couldn't bring herself to move.

"Felicia!" Romulus ran protectively in front of his daughter and the paw grabbed him and hoisted him in the air. "Felicia run!"

"Time's up." It growled. "We had a deal, you said I could have your daughter."

"Papa!" Felicia cried. "What's he talking about?"

"I swear, I never meant it!" He looked at his daughter apologetically then turned his head back to the creature. "Take me, not my daughter!"

"Very well. Your life it is." It growled.

"Papa, what's going on? Why does he want your life?"

"I took your rose from his garden. It was the only place that had them. And in return he wanted my life or you."

"Papa no!" Felicia cried. Out of impulse, she clung on to the monster's free arm before he could use it on Romulus. It turned its head to her and stopped completely when it met her eyes. "Please, don't take his life. This is all my fault, all I wanted a was a rose and Papa loves me so much that he wanted to get one for me. So please, take me instead! I'll go with you! I'll do anything! Please, leave my Papa alone!" She pleaded with a stream of tears flowing down her eyes.

"Very well."

The creature dropped Romulus and whisked Felicia away before she could even say goodbye.

Yay! I finally updated this! With any luck I can update this regularly. ^^;

Major apologies for the wait!

That one part where Gilbert was flirting with Felicia, it made me wonder who was actually the oblivious one.

And gotta love a stubborn pack mul- I mean, horse that can literally kick ass :D

Anyway, enjoy!