Maybe staying in jail for a year wasn't so bad after all. It definitely beats being with loder. Actually, I feared loder more than the Commandant. There's something off about loder that makes me scared. The last thing I want to do is be alone with the elf. The word of us together would get out fast and his entire fan girls would be delighted to hear about it. I just know that for a fact.

But with this situation going on I worry what Flynn thinks the most. Right now he believes I'm behind bars. (Well, being stuck with loder is like being trapped in jail.) Hopefully he won't get mad at me. I don't feel like arguing with anyone for once. If I get out of here, I'm never coming back even if Estelle wanted me to visit her.

From the foyer, I was given a tour of the castle against my will. Prince loder led the tour and wouldn't let me out of his sight. Neither did the guards. I was stuck with them for who knows how long? I wasn't even allowed near the guests who simply walked by. I walked between the wall and loder. The guards marched behind us.

My eyes wandered off when the homo perverted prince began explaining how the castle was built. I don't want to know about that stuff. I already get enough history in class. Looking at the cracks on the walls was more interesting. Pretty quickly I drifted off into my own world.

Suddenly my face was jerked in his direction.

"Pay attention to me." He commanded.

As a reaction, I pushed him and his hand away. The Imperial guards immediately grasped their swords and stood by for orders. Prince loder made a hand motion that signaled them to stand down. He turned to me and smiled largely.

He told me without a second thought "I like feisty boys Yuri Lowell. Let us continue our tour."

That made my skin crawl and I was now very uncomfortable. I want everyone to come back from the trip. I'm desperate to escape. But when I think about it, Estelle might not be able to help me since I temporarily belong to loder.

After all of this torture, I got kind of hungry. I'm sure royal food is to die for, but since each person in line to the throne is skinny, the chefs probably don't serve that much food. In other words: It'd be like eating one plain stick of celery. Now that I think about it… I wonder if we ever had a fat prince or princess.

I found myself deep in thought about something that was unimportant. Prince loder didn't seem to notice me drifting off into space this time. I didn't realize that the long boring tour was over and loder continued to talk.

"Listen." I said as nice as possible (although I interrupted). "Thanks for bailing me out, but I have to go home sometime soon."

He turned in my direction with his hands behind his back. He looked really smug to the point that I just wanted to smack him. "Home? I own you Yuri. This castle is your home."

My jaw dropped. Now I know loder is obsessed. He still looked smug like he knew he had won something. My hand twitched from me wanting to hit him so bad. I walked away from the homo perverted prince and the guards. None of them bothered to call me back which was fine by me. The exit couldn't be too far from here.

I wandered around a while and to no surprise, I was going around in circles. The hallways were long and dark. There were also many doors everywhere. Some guards passed by time to time so I asked one of them. It turns out that I've been going the exact opposite way.

I got to the exit shortly, but I was halted by more guards. Apparently, Prince loder told them to not let out a boy with long black hair and black eyes. So walking out the front door wasn't going to work. I felt my pockets. My cell phone must've been confiscated when I was arrested. So much for calling Flynn or Estelle.

My next resort was finding a window to go through. It shouldn't be that hard to find one that lets me out on the first floor. I meandered for quite some time and I never found a window that wasn't locked. Each locked window had some weird code. I guess it's to prevent burglars from escaping, but I won't be surprised if I see something on the news about the royal family and Imperial guards dying from a fire or something like that. Smart people can have dumb ideas.

The dining hall smelled so good when I walked by it. I don't know what they were cooking though. I peeked inside… What do you know… more people. They didn't live here either. Just by looking at their clothes it's easy to tell. I see most of these on my way to school. I thought that this was a home not an all-you-can-eat-buffet.

Just when I was about to leave, I saw someone from the lower quarter dressed like a noble. I assumed he was going to eat like a pig and then bring some food back to the lower quarter… Wait. This is perfect. I could just ask him to help me escape. Hopefully he knew the way out.

It took a while for them to be dismissed and it took even longer for that one person to come out. He finally did and his belly was huge. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him away from everyone. He noticed who I was in an instant.

"Yuri Lowell?" he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing special. I'm just trying to leave. You know that way out without any of the guards noticing?"

"Of course. Follow me."

So I did. He led me to the other side of the castle. I never saw this part before. Everything here looked new and bright. The light hurt since I got used to the darkness from the rest of the castle.

My lower quarter acquaintance moved one of the pictures and behind it was a secret passage. Stone stairs led downwards. I'm not so sure that's where I wanted it to go. I stared at my acquaintance still uncertain.

He opened his mouth to say something, but someone else's voice overpowered his.

"That's as far as you go."

We both turned around with guilty looks on our faces. Prince loder and his guards stood a few inches behind us. I can't believe neither of us heard them. My acquaintance left me behind and ran away. Now I know not to trust people from the lower quarter that sneak into castles.

"Come to my chamber Yuri."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"I'm not asking. I'm telling!"

The sudden yelling startled me. I looked at the guards. They had their hands on their swords. So far that I've seen, they only did that to me.

So I sulked and went with them.

Prince loder's room wasn't that far from this side of the castle. I think that green is loder's favorite color. His door was green just like his jacket. I don't like that color anymore. It's going to remind me of loder every time.

The guards stayed outside the door as loder and I went inside. Surprisingly no leprechaun colors were here. The curtains were open. It was night time already. I walked towards the window. We were on the third floor. I'd break a leg trying to jump out from here.

From behind me, I felt loder touching my hair. It sent shivers up my spine. I also felt his warmth and breath. I pushed him away and moved away from the walls.

"What are you doing?" I asked although I was clear on what he was doing.

"I just wanted to touch your hair. I've longed to do that."

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "And breathe down my neck and have dirty intentions and… Forget it. I'm leaving no matter what you or your guards say."

I quickly walked to the door, but was halted by loder's words.

"Then I guess you won't mind being executed. You belong to me and therefore do what I say."

These rules are ridiculous. What twisted person made these things up? I turned around to see loder's smug expression again. What kind of shit was the elf going to make me do?

He pointed to the bed. "Go lay down."

I hesitated and did what he said. My heart raced from fear. H climbed on top and sat on me. He smiled largely and unbuttoned my shirt. I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes. That's when I heard footsteps racing down the hallway. The door barged open.

"Yuri I-"

Flynn had arrived at the right/wrong time. He had to do a double take. A few moments later he wobbled out of the room.

"Flynn wait!" I called out as I pushed loder off and ran after him.

Flynn got pretty far away. I ran faster. He was still wobbling. I assumed he heard my footsteps so he stopped moving. He didn't look at me so I silently walked to him and stared at Flynn face to face. Flynn still wouldn't look at me.

I noticed that he looked dazed and angry. So I grew angry too. I can't stand it when he gets like this. I just know if I let this be he won't talk to me.

"Flynn!" I called. He looked at me. He was no longer dazed but anger still remained.

"What were you doing with loder?" he asked in a very loud tone.

"I was forced to do what he said. If I ignored-"

"Well you sure didn't look like you were trying to get away!"

"Listen to me!" I yelled. Flynn was surprised by me suddenly raising my voice. "I don't like loder at all. If I didn't obey him I would have been executed. Luckily we didn't do anything romantic. Besides I like you. A lot. That's why I kissed you when we danced."

He smiled but I know that he's still mad. I hope he won't stay this way for long. I kissed Flynn and held his hand.

"Now…" I said. "Do you know the way out of here?"

"Follow me."

The next day was bright and sunny with no clouds in sight. I sat on the floor in my uniform playing video games. My hair wasn't brushed and still hadn't eaten anything. I played "Resident Evil 5" for the sixth time in less than twenty-four hours.

Hanks brought Repede back yesterday. Now Repede slept on his dog bed. He seemed happy to be home. Maybe Hanks gave him too much attention.

Flynn walked inside. For once he didn't knock. He was about to say "good morning" but stopped and looked disappointed. I only stared momentarily.

Our daily routine started. We ran to school due to the risk of Flynn's perfect record. People from the nobles' quarter stared in disgust like we were vermin. Most of the fat people stared at us. I guess it's uncommon to see skinny people here since they are gluttons.

We almost got onto school grounds when I was pulled aside. Prince loder had me by the arm and he wore school uniform. Our school uniform. My eye twitched. Prince loder smiled largely at me.

Suddenly I felt someone grab my other arm. Flynn had a firm grip on me. Prince loder tightened his grip too. I was pulled in loder's direction and got pulled back by Flynn. Prince loder still smiled while Flynn frowned.

They constantly pulled me towards each other. I felt like my arms were going to pop off.

"Guess what Yuri." Prince loder said. "I'm attending your school."

My eyes widened and so did Flynn's. I jerked away from loder. Flynn and I walked through the gates to the school and loder followed behind us as if he was our friend. I just can't believe I have to deal with loder here too.

To be continued…