Chapter 5

Due to his shock over the discovery of his identity, and afterward the shock of what Lucas had done, Raguna had put no thought into how exactly he would handle going to what was apparently his home or how he would be received there. No sooner had he stepped out of the carriage than he'd been tackled to the ground.

"Prince Chairo's home!" someone screamed. Raguna looked up at an excited maid who had pinned him to the ground "Everyone-come quick! Prince Chairo is back!"

"That's enough!" Ivan pulled Raguna out from under the woman and put his hands on his hips "You can't be so violent, Tsuki"

Tsuki looked hurt "But… but I was just so crushed when he went missing."

"Uh…"

"This is Tsuki, remember" Ivan told Raguna "She used to be your personal maid"

"Used to be? Wait. Why would he need an introduction?" Tsuki demanded

"Later" Ivan insisted "Come on, Chai, I'll take you to your room" he said sweetly before dragging Raguna away.

Up until then Raguna had thought Bianca's house was the most unnecessarily extravagant and oversized thing in existence. Now he realized it was actually rather modest. The castle couldn't have been more overdone if the gods themselves had built it. To his relief, his room was actually very simple. The walls looked like they were made of a cheaper material, the furniture had probably come from somebody's garage sail, and with the exception of a few nice outfits the clothes were all somewhat poor looking.

Ivan noticed him noticing the differences and laughed "One day you got in a fight with Grandfather. I wasn't there, but apparently it had something to do with the royal family spending to much on extravagances. When he didn't listen to you, you put a harmer to all the decorations carved into the walls of your room and threw your furniture out the window. Almost crushed a servant who was tending to the garden, he was lucky to step to the left when he did. A servant plastered over your walls to cover up all the cracks you made."

"Did I really do that?" Raguna did find the castle to be overdone, but that seemed extreme.

"You and Grandfather never saw eye to eye. Whenever you two fought you'd go all out to get him back for whatever he did."

"Oh… okay…" Raguna walked over to his bed and sat down "So… what am I supposed to do?"

"Pardon?"

"Well, I don't anything about politics or nobility" Raguna reminded him "In the carriage you and the king said something about me relearning and having to meet people. What am I supposed to do when that happens? How am I supposed to handle that sort of situation?"

"Say a lot and hold your tongue" Ivan laughed at the baffled expression on Raguna's face upon hearing this advice "You're second in line for the throne. Grandfather handles important people. I, as the first prince, take care of business with those people's advisors and the likes. You, the second prince, usually just deal with frivolous figure heads. You'll mostly just have to keep them entertained. Talk to them about issues without saying anything to opinionated or giving away sensitive information about Norad."

"I think I can do that"

Ivan laughed "You could barely pull it off when you'd received proper instructions. You're too obvious of a person. Lying, keeping secrets, and skirting around the truth are the three key skills needed in politics-and you lack them all. If something you say doesn't give away how you think or feel your face does." Raguna started to object, but realized his brother was right. He was a very easy person to read. "And you could never get the idea of ignoring strange customs. You'd also do something to give away how odd you thought someone was behaving. It started a couple arguments, but nothing big ever came of them."

"Maybe I should just shut myself up in my room where I can't get in the way and won't break any of the rules of trying to live a normal life" Raguna decided, flopping over as he spoke.

Ivan rolled his eyes "Uprooting you was just a hasty move"

"Not political?"

"It was that too" Ivan admitted "Not mincing words, you meet with figure heads because you are one. The cute, young, friendly prince of Norad with the steel solid moral code. It was a huge blow when you went missing. Grandfather must have figured that recovering you would fix some of the damage it did. Of course, if it gets out that your disappearance was a kidnapping or that you have amnesia we'll only have more trouble."

"So I can't even talk to the servants incase I'm supposed to be well acquainted with one."

"Pretty much" Ivan confessed "Don't worry, Chai. You're friend Bianca follows political events and workings. She had a solution for this."

Ivan opened the door and Tabatha stepped in "Hello, master Raguna" She told him. Her voice, as well as his name, were like music to the amnesiac's ears. He sat up and smiled at her.

"Tabatha herself is still learning the castle layout, but once she knows it she can help you find your way around." Ivan told him

"Yes, and years of helping Miss. Bianca avoid people at parties as given me the experience to help you avoid your amnesia being exposed without appearing rude." Tabatha added.

Raguna smiled "That's nice, but I'm really a lot happier to just have someone I know"

"You know me" Ivan piped in.

"I know a merchant who comes to town once a week and gives good advice" Raguna replied "Not the first prince of Norad"

Ivan sighed, looking a little hurt "Right. I suppose… that's true. I'll leave the two of you alone"

"Master, that was rude" Tabatha chided the second Ivan was gone.

"Don't call me master-please" Raguna begged "It just doesn't sound right"

"But you're a prince"

"No. I'm not. I'm an amnesiac farmer who's in way over his head" Raguna told her "So please, just call me Raguna"

Tabatha smiled "Yes, Raguna"

"Is Bianca okay with this?" Raguna asked, flopping over again.

Tabatha nodded "She's a little cold, but not thoughtless. She realized you'd be lonely here in the place, and she wanted you to have someone you knew to be at your side. Since I actually know how to act as a maid I would have the easiest time taking on this job" Raguna imagined Mist trying to behave like a maid and nodded in agreement "She spoke with Ivan about it last night, and her father is getting a new maid in my place."

"And you're okay with this?"

Tabatha blushed "I-I'm happy to help you!" quickly covering this up, she added "And I was curious about what a large human city would look like, as well. And the inner working of the Norad castle… I… that is…"

She stopped, noticing Raguna had fallen asleep "We work on manners starting tomorrow" she promised, then left the room.

OXXXXXO

Rune Caster: I got out everything I wanted to in the first 2 thirds of this, the final part was just a filler so I could work up to an ending.

btw, if anyone reading this wants to review, I'm not stopping you...
please... I feel rejected...