Chapter 4: Kei's Trial
When the servants came back with purple clothing that bore a resemblance to Hakuryuu's and that princess's attendant, Kei was forcefully stripped of his favorite - though now ripped - jacket. They seemed to have been particularly fascinated with his slanted zipper, as they ran with it to who knows where. Fortunately, however, he was able to convince them to leave his shirt and jeans alone. His phone and wallet were hidden in the pockets after all, though he doubted they would be really useful.
Hakuryuu and Judal were still talking about something - or more like the high priest was still pestering the prince, who should be returning to his studies. Kei briefly wondered if he should help, having been assigned Hakuryuu's assistant and all, but brushed the thought away when he observed that no one seemed to care. Besides, he didn't lift a finger when Ogata bothered Inaba either.
"Let's go conquer a dungeon together Hakuryuu~!" said Judal, although there was a slight hint of distraction in his tone. The magi had found Hakuryuu's newest retainer to be strange - to say the least - as he could not see or sense any rukh around him. Like with all things that did not really matter to him, however, Judal decided to ignore it. "I just raise a new one for you - it's near that stupid king's place, but you'll come with me right?"
Hakuryuu sighed. "No, I won't. So stop bothering me, High Priest." The youngest prince twitched as some medicine caused his latest injury to sting. He had merely been caught by surprise. Although still rather aware of the situations around him, such as Judal and the gossiping of some servants, Hakuryuu's mind began wandering through the questions he wanted answers to. There was too much changes in one day, even if it wasn't like his world had been flipped upside down. He, of all people, would know what that feel like.
"Oh come on," moaned Judal, placing his hand on Hakuryuu's shoulder. The young prince ignored him.
As Kei stood by the wooden door, a veiled man walked past him. He was carrying a strange, scythe-shaped staff that made the raven-haired boy shivered. It was as though the temperature in the room had dropped, like a grim reaper passing by. The man stopped in front of the high priest, murmured a few words and shook his head in response to Judal's whine. After a final pat on Hakuryuu's shoulder, to which the prince sighed and closed his eyes, Judal agreed to go with the blond man. Official duties, perhaps, although Kei wasn't betting on it. Neither two seemed like the type to do such work.
The high priest glanced at him as he walked by, crimson eyes lingering far longer than his long, segmented braid. Haruka instantly appeared in Kei's mind, but faded away just as quickly. The boy's motif was a white rabbit after all, not something like a black scorpion, though both shared the same shade of eye color. Kei was then called by another servant, who told him that she will give him a tour of the palace before leading him to his new room.
"Prince Hakuryuu's order," she said, almost tiredly, when she caught him looking toward the prince. "He does not wish to be disturbed right now."
As Kei watched Hakuryuu exited through another door with a solemn expression - specifically with furrowed brows and tightly-pressed lips - he couldn't help but wondered if this was why a stranger and outsider like him was recruited for such an important position.
/vvv/
"Hey Gyokuen, what do you want?" said Judal as he stepped without hesitation into the bedroom of the empress. Inside was a dark-haired woman surrounded by many veiled men, some of whom were braiding the woman's hair. She did not acknowledge Judal right away, waiting until her hair was fully styled before standing up. As she walked gracefully across the room, a sweet smile lay fixed upon her face. Like a mother, Gyokuen cupped the magi's cheeks with her hands as she looked deep into his crimson eyes.
"Judal~ Why did you summon a dungeon so close to another king's territory?" said the empress, still smiling. "Especially that king's, what were you thinking?"
There was something prickling at his neck, almost urging him to pull away, but Judal ignored it as he replied, "Eh, I overheard you and that pig talking about sending Hakuryuu to study there, and I thought a dungeon with a weird feeling like that would be perfect."
"A weird feeling?" repeated Gyokuen. She paid no attention to the way Judal referred to her husband, the current emperor. Instead, mild curiosity swelled in her ocean blue eyes while her hands drop back to her sides. "Can you describe it?"
Judal shrugged, crossing his legs as he turned a little to the right. The room was filled with many things, from scrolls to many beauty products, all arranged in an orderly fashion on top of the shelves and tables. The veiled men were still in the room, standing in complete silence as though they were dolls. It seemed that Ithnan had saw himself out a long time ago, off to wherever he goes when not teaching magic to Judal. "It just started dragging people in with these vine things as soon as I summoned it." he said.
Gyokuen's smile grew, a curved line that spread her cheeks but did not reach her eyes. "I see. You did good, Judal." said the empress. She trailed one hand down his arm, propelling the magi to look at her once more. Her eyes shone knowingly. "I have to go to a meeting soon, but is there something else you would like to share with me?"
Judal stared, then blinked as his face brightened. "Oh, Hakuryuu found this cat creature that has black rukh like yours! It has a weird magic too- a puppet that was healing its wounds." he said, thinking back to all the strange little tools of Pitou's Doctor Blythe.
The empress hummed. It was only a fraction of a second, but her smile wavered at the unexpected variable. "Hakuryuu?" murmured Gyokuen, becoming silent for a moment. As the faraway look faded from her eyes, she urged Judal aside so that he would not block the doorway. Looking back toward him, as though she just remembered his presence, the empress said, "It's time for me to go meet His Majesty, so why don't we continue this conversation later?"
/vvv/
"And this is the library," said the servant as she led Kei around the palace as though she expected him to remember the whole layout with one quick tour. While walking past the slightly opened doors of the library, however, Kei caught sight of a red-haired person holding his jacket up in the air. Due to the person's long ponytail and bangs, the raven-haired assistant could not see the person's face.
"Ah!" Kei exclaimed, pointing his finger toward his jacket and the one holding it. After a quick glance in that direction, the servant visibly seethed as she grabbed his arm to force it down.
"What are you -? Oh god, that's Prince Koumei, you i - G-Good evening Your Highness." The woman stepped away from Kei - or rather Koumei - before bowing almost 90 degree. She was as tensed as when she received Hakuryuu's order.
"P-Prince? This guy?" said Kei, his finger pointed toward the expressionless redhead as he stared at his guide. "He doesn't look like a prince at all! What's up with his bed hair, acne scars, and eye bags? Why does he look so overworked when he's supposed to be a prince?!"
By this point in Kei's rant, the servant had turned as pale as glass. That is, she seemed to have fade from existence due to horror.
Kei gulped, his fellow servant's reaction luring him out of the heated power up that always came with his retorts. I shouldn't say anything else, thought Kei as he sneaked a peek at the strangely emotionless face of Koumei. Even though he has my jacket for some reasons… and is eyeing my legs.
"Who are you?" said Koumei, lifting a hand to scratch the side of his head. The second prince had noticed that the raven-haired servant kept glancing almost longingly at the mysterious clothing draped over his left arm.
"I'm Kei Nozaki, Prince Koumei." answered Kei with his back straightened. He had been quite disrespectful earlier after all. "I was assigned as Prince Hakuryuu's assistant by Princess Hakuei."
Koumei's brows furrowed slightly as his head leaned a little to the right. There was very little - if any - information concerning the Kou Empire that the second prince could be unaware of. Especially if it involved his siblings. "When did Hakuei-dono assign you?"
"T-Today." said Kei, rather alarmed by the prince's glare. He looked intimidating despite his shabby appearance, and the commoner just remembered that he could be executed simply by offending a member of royalty. Do I even have the right to a fair trial here? Kei thought, a sweat running down his cheek.
Koumei nodded. "That explains a lot." said the prince, while trying to figure out why Hakuei would assign the person in front of him to her beloved younger brother. He hardly looked strong or wise, lacking in both muscles and grace, as well as the ability to keep calm. Although he seemed honest and open, such qualities would be a double-edged sword for Hakuryuu's retainer. After all, while he was someone who commonly kept people at a distance, Hakuryuu had more than enough honesty - so the two could easily end up bumping heads with each other. Besides, in his current rebellious phrase, someone like Kei could easily drive the fourth prince out of his comfort zone, and into rash, undesirable actions. It would seem that Hakuei-dono had chosen him on the hope that his similarity to Hakuryuu would allow them to get along, Koumei thought. It sounded like what the princess would do as Hakuryuu's older sister. The boy had never made many friends after all. Realizing that he had been silence for quite a while, Koumei said, "Let me see your documents."
Kei blinked, a sweatdrop running down the back of his neck as he mentally screamed, Crap, how could I have any? "My.. what?"
"Your results on the National Exam." said Koumei, "Since you are a commoner, you have to score very high to become a government official."
"Ehhhhh, I…" dragged Kei, his average joe brain working desperately to come up with a good reply. Come on Kei, think! "I didn't take the exam!"
Crap. By now, the raven-haired teen was sweating profusely as he watched the prince's eyebrows arched up. "It is required by law that all of our people, with exceptions of slaves, take the National Exam." said Koumei, as his eyebrows returned to their natural height. "Even sickness cannot excuse a person from it. Judging by your unusual apparel, you are from another country, aren't you?"
Kei nodded slowly, while his brain yelled These clothes are from here! ...Oh wait, I think he means my jeans. "I'm from Ja- an island country." said Kei. As he was not sure of anything about this place, the assistant figured it would not be wise to say Japan.
"Ja? I have never heard of that country." The second prince went silence for a moment. "Is that what Kina is calling itself nowaday?" said Koumei at last. He had come to the conclusion that since Kina - the only island country in the East - had cut contact with the other countries, it most likely decided to conceal or change its name to avoid being discovered.
Deciding to play along despite his urge to retort, Kei hurriedly nodded. Koumei narrowed his eyes.
"Why are you here then?" said Koumei, his expression turning cold. The possibility that the teen in front of him was a spy could not be ignored. Still, even if he wasn't a spy, the fact that he was standing here showed Koumei huge flaws in the current level of security. Whether or not the boy nervously staring at him was actually skilled, more guards needed to be deploy around the palace for the safety of his siblings and confidential documents.
Kei breathed in. "How many questions are you going to ask me?!" said the raven-haired teen, unable to restrain his natural instinct anymore. "We're have been going at this for more than 30 minutes! Look- my legs and she has dozed off a long time ago!" Kei pointed to the servant who had been ordered to show him around. She peeked at them with teary eyes, rudely awakened by Kei's loud voice.
Koumei blinked, his face mirroring whose of a nerd who had just found a equation he has never seen, or didn't expected. The prince scratched his head. "Should we go sit down then?" said Koumei, suddenly feeling like he was dealing with Kouen. The first prince of Kou was the only male who would retort his words and actions without hesitation after all.
Kei mentally groaned. Prince or not, this man was starting to get too annoying. Understandable, but still annoying. "Prince, I really should be going now." said Kei as he bowed. "Hakuryuu-sama is who I should be assisting."
An unusual response, one that a spy - regardless of experience - would not utter under any sane circumstances. After all, he was now the second prince of Kou while Hakuryuu had dropped down to the rank of fourth prince. Does he believe that Hakuryuu knows something I don't? Koumei thought. The Fire happened almost nine years ago, so the teen in front of him couldn't have been more than a child. Had a higher up of Kina specifically ordered him to keep an eye on the fourth prince, who had been forgotten by the public? If so, the explanation for his seemingly frank manners would be to appear harmless and innocent of any ulterior motive.
"Come with me then. I have something to discuss with Hakuryuu." said Koumei as he started walking to the library opposite to the one he had been occupying since last night. There were twenty-one rooms used as such in the palace, containing every information related to the Kou Empire and its government. The library they were heading to was not one of them. Turning to the servant who was now wide awake, he added, "Bring Hakuryuu here."
"R-R-Right away Prince Koumei!" she said, saluting hurriedly before dashing off to locate the fourth prince.
Left with no other options, given his incomplete knowledge of the area, Kei followed the crimson-haired prince across the hall with a sigh. Ogi-san, Inaba-san, please come get me home…