Chapter One:

Undis Aquae Lacrimo

She often wondered how it came to this. How did she get into this mess? She had a good life…so why ruin it?

Videl was the daughter of Hercule, the King of Earth, which, of course, made her the Earth's Princess. Its only princess and the only heir to her father's throne.

From the day she was born she was kept in her father's castle and she would be cut off from the rest of the world for her entire life. She was of too much value to be shown off in public, since she was the only heir. Because she was the only child of Hercule she automatically became one of the main targets of Saiyan assassins, except for the King himself of course. That is why the King thought it was best for her to not be displayed in public…to protect her.

She was taught the protocol of being a princess. She learned how to talk, walk, dress and act like a Princess. She learned to be polite, interested, friendly, poised and respectful toward people, though she hardly had interaction with anyone outside of the castle. She learned how to tie her hair in an elegant bun, how to dress her into her kimono's, she learned how to paint her face with the white make-up and to draw her own eyebrows. She was taught that you should always sit with your knees together and with your hands on your lap, with a strait back and your chin up in the air.

She drank her tea with small sips and with her pink stretched.

She covered her face with a fan to hide her yawns.

She never sat when she wore a corset.

And this was how her life looked like for seventeen years.

She killed the time by reading…

Oh, yes…she had read a lot in her life. Reading was her only escape from the life at court. Reading was her only outlet, her only passageway to the real world…the one outside the castle walls. Through reading, she learned about the population that peopled her home planet. She learned about their customs and their opinions and views, which were integrated into the stories in the books. She had found out when she was young that the general thought of the population and the stories in the books were entwined like two threads. What the people thought in certain ages was reflected on the timeline of literature. Three centuries ago, for example, honour had been a very important aspect in the life of the ordinary man, and considering that honour was very dominantly present in the books of those times. A century later, however, reason and individual fortune became more important than honour, and even later, the human psyche was quite popular.

But she didn't read only novels. She read everything about anything. History, math, biology, astronomy, economy…anything.

You know much, princess…

But knowledge is not wisdom

She knew the Praetorian was right. She was not wise, but book smart. She had practically no life experience, because she had been locked away from the world. Until recently, she didn't know how life looked like, and what really mattered. She only knew life in books.

She did have other occupations around the castle though. She was a talented painter, a very gifted singer and an exceptional dancer. He father had hired masters in these professions and they tutored her on a daily basis. And she became quite good.

After all, anyone with so much time to kill as she had could be good.

And thus she painted imaginary landscapes, she sung in languages she didn't even speak and she danced dances she never saw.

But the thing she really looked forward to were the martial arts trainings.

When she was a little girl of 4 or 5 years old, she saw the guards train in their spare time in the huge castle garden. She found herself being mesmerized by their movements. They punched, kicked, drew their swords, blocked…but they always remained respectful towards their opponent. Never attacking them in the back, or in the rather…sensitive areas, always bowing prior and after their spar. It had been some sort of dance, a dance of pure harmony and concentration, being one with nature and opponent. It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw.

So she begged her father to hire martial artists to teach her how to fight like those guards in the garden. The king refused of course. She could get hurt unnecessarily and nobody wanted poor, little Videl to be in pain. But the young princess was an obstinate little devil and she kept on whining until she got what she wanted. That was the advantage of being a daddy's girl…always getting anything the way you liked it and wanted it.

Since the day her father gave his consent (under the cloak of "your mother would have let you…"), she was trained by the best fighters in the world. She learned everything there was to learn, and she practiced her movements diligently. And when she was at the point she could defeat her own master in a head-to-head match, she moved on to the next. She figured she has had over a dozen masters in her seventeen years of existence.

And so, her days passed slowly with reading, painting, singing, dancing and practicing her martial arts, and, how could she forget, school. Home-school, that is…private lessons from her mentor Esebur. It was not really a regular school…after all, she was self-taught mostly. Ever since he showed her how to read and write, he encouraged her to read as much as she could and thus she learned every subject by herself…through her own reading. So instead of having subjects like history, economy, math etc., Esebur taught her everything she needed to know when she would eventually success her father. He taught her how their political system worked, how to reason like an orator, how to speak like a leader…everything for leadership.

She would be queen, after all.

But neither her hobbies nor her school nor Esebur could ever distract her from the terrible and empty feeling of loneliness. Her father was usually nowhere to be found, her mother was dead, she didn't have any brothers or sisters and she didn't have any friends, except for a few maids, who had to work all the time anyway. Her only company was an old cat, Conall, which was as old as Videl was. He probably didn't even live any more, while Videl thought about him now.

"Why the sad expression on your face, Princess?" His low, hypnotizing voice asked from the other side of the room. "You are so much prettier with a smile gracing it…"

Videl let out a grim chuckle as she rose from her bed and walked over to the large two-door entrance that led to her balcony. She leaned against the doorpost as the navy-blue, transparent curtains swished in the cool air of the night.

"How do you know? You never see me smile…" She grumbled with her arms crossed. She looked at the dark sky. It was starred with so many twinkling dots; she longingly wondered if any of those stars was Earth.

"I do see you smile…When you don't think I'm watching." The praetorian said with a tone that was so evidently amused that Videl rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"And when would that be?" She could not suppress her irritation, nor did she try to.

"When you spray that sweet perfume all over you…when you see your bun is perfectly peach-shaped…when you feel the precious silk on your skin…"

Ah, he was right…she did love that.

"When you whisper a name in your sleep…Conall, Conall…"

This made Videl whip round with a start, the transparent, white veil on her head almost falling off. She gazed at the darkness in front of her and she searched for him while the veil blurred her vision.

"You hear that?" She asked him incredulously. A low chuckle echoed through the room, sending chills down her spine.

"You know I hear everything."

"Well, you shouldn't listen. Why do you always have to watch every thing I do and hear every word I say…even in my sleep I'm not safe from your eyes and ears." She shouted towards the darkness.

"What? Does it make you feel…afraid, Princess?"

"No, just uncomfortable."

"Sorry, it's my job…"

"Oh yeah…well you seem to take an awful lot of liking in it."

Ugh, he could be insufferable some times. Like now. In an act of desperation, she threw her arms in the air and she made her way to the door. She was about to push the handle down when she found out…she couldn't.

Of course…the door was locked every night to prevent her from escaping. Not that the praetorian wouldn't seize her when she tried to, but still...the king thought it would be necessary. She whirled her head towards the balcony door again and she calculated her chances. She could just leap from the balcony and…and what? Escape while she fell the 100 feet distance to the ground? No, impossible, and besides, the praetorian would stop her in her tracks.

Why was everything so hopeless?

She leaned against the door and quailed as she closed her eyes with a defeated sigh. They both remained silent for a while, as Videl cursed herself for being so stupid to leave Earth in the first place.

'I was safe there…why did I leave?' That thought kept running through her head as she felt her eyes sting with warm tears, formed by her despair and longing for the place she had called home. And all of a sudden, he broke the silence.

"So, who is this Conall?" His tone was cold and uncaring, and it was definitely not what Videl wanted or needed right now.

Slowly, the thick tears rolled down her cheeks and she clenched her hands into fists.

He was so…

He was such a…

He was a bastard.

Nothing more than a bastard.

"It was my cat, you stupid moron!" She yelled while she let her tears go, not caring if he saw them or not. Probably not, the stupid veil covered her face of course.

He didn't reply, and she didn't want to hear him say anything back anyway. With her back against the door, she slowly let herself slide to the ground and she buried her face in her bent knees. She let out small, muffled sobs, and she cried like that for the next few minutes…until he again broke the silence.

"Princess…" He said softly, and Videl, startled by the tenderness in the voice, turned her wide-eyed gaze towards the black darkness.

"Come here…" he said. "Come into the darkness…"

Videl obeyed without reluctance and she found herself walking towards the darkness of her room and entering it without any doubt crossing her mind. She couldn't see anything and she listened to his movements around her. In the darkness, she could feel his presence so much better. As if she gained a sixth sense when she lost her sight.

He came closer and she heard his rapid breathing now. He was standing right in front of her. Gently, he pulled the thin veil from her head and he let it fall down unto the ground and he took her teary face in his hands. He wiped away the tears on her cheeks and around her eyes and she felt his gaze on her. She always wondered how he could see her in so much darkness and she wished that she was gifted with such excellent sight too.

She felt a rough pair of lips on her cheek and she closed her eyes to concentrate more on his touch. This feeling of him touching her was so much more intense when she closed her eyes.

He planted more kisses on her face, but he carefully avoided the forbidden area of her lips.

And so he went on...

And on…

Kissing her and soothing her…

"I'm sorry, Princess…"

He slowly walked around her and encircled her waist from behind, while he dug his face into the crook of her neck. The think locks on his head tickled her face. She could tell he had short, spiky hair.

"For what?" She asked in a whisper.

She felt the grasp around her waist tighten, and his face left her neck to reach her ear.

"For limiting your freedom like I do." He whispered huskily.

Why did he always know what to say…?