Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Arrival
She had trouble keeping her eyes open. Such long travels always make her so sleepy, even when she tried to concentrate on the book about the kingdom's history in the front of her.
"Ah… whatever," she groaned, bookmarked the page, and put the book back into one of her bags.
She took a little box out of a smaller bag, opened it, and unwrapped a sandwich she made herself for this ride. Maybe eating would help her to stay awake. Well, she was hungry anyway.
Still trying not to fall asleep, she looked out of the window of the surprisingly big carriage which was pulled by one black and one white horse. She was the only passenger, even though it has space for at least four people and their baggage.
"Royalty wants to show off it seems," she thought.
Outside the weather was really enjoyable today. A little bit chilly for an early spring day but at least the sun was shining. Also the sound of the birds chirping and the flapping of the dragons, which were delivering mail across the kingdom, was pretty soothing. That didn't help her sleepiness though.
The journey to the capital will take another three hours and she can sleep more comfortably there. Well, she wasn't sure, if she had the opportunity to take a nap right away, because she probably will have to meet a lot of people first.
While passing by some forests, lakes, small villages in the distance and yet another couple of forests and lakes, there came finally stonewalls in sight. A relieved smile formed on her face. Then she heard a knock from the front of the carriage.
"Miss, we're almost there. Please get your stuff ready," said the coachman in a somewhat exhausted tone. He must be tired too, even more than she was.
She began to fold the thick wool blanket which was warming her legs during the trip and packed it into her bag.
"Luckily, I took this with me. Long travels and short skirts? Never again," she huffed and stretched her legs.
Some time passed and the man knocked again. "We're here!" he yelled with a more upbeat tone than before.
The vehicle came to a stop and she looked outside. They stood in front of a huge building with white walls, golden shimmering balconies, and red tiled roofs. On top of the house waved a flag with the symbol of the royal family: a golden crown above two crossing swords - one white, one black.
"That must be the home of the royalty and their servants," she thought with a curious look, "…and a lot of girls who are after the prince's heart." She made an amused, yet skeptical face.
Two people ran out of a gate and went to each side of the carriage, opening the doors, and taking the bags.
"Welcome to the royal city of Regalia!" one of the servants said and bowed to her, "we'll take your bags to your room, so don't worry about them."
She exited carefully, yet again cursing her choice of such a short skirt, and also bowed to the person in front of her. Then the two men entered quickly the left side of the palace. She went in front of the carriage where the coachman was standing next to the horses.
"Thanks for your service, this travel must have been very exhausting for you," she said with a little frown and began rummaging in her vest pocket. "Here, that's for your hard work today!" she exclaimed while extending her hand holding some coins to him.
"A-are you sure? Well, thank you very much!" he said with a smile, took the money, and bowed.
"And also thanks to you two!" she said to the horses while petting them.
Another person walked out of the building, more gracefully than the other two before. It was a girl with short black hair, wearing a dark blue dress, silver necklace and bracelets, and a small silver tiara on her head.
"Oh, you must be the new kitchen staff I was told about!" she exclaimed with a cheerful voice and her eyes wandered from the carriage back to the former passenger, "…and not just that I guess," she remarked smirking.
Then her expression changed to a bit more worried one. "I apologize, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Princess Suguha, it's my pleasure to welcome you to our home." She bowed lightly and pointed towards the entrance the two servants went into earlier. "You must be tired. I'll show you your room."
While walking to the door, the princess turned around, looking embarrassed, and apologized yet again: "Sorry, I'm not really experienced with these formal things yet. I didn't asked for your name."
"I'm Asuna Yuuki, it's a pleasure to meet you, my princess," she said with a deep bow and walked behind the other girl.
After some stairs they came into a hallway, where the two exhausted servants were waiting in front of a door, but they smiled immediately when they saw the two women.
"We put the bags into the room and the door key on the table," one of the men explained.
"Thank you. You two are dismissed for today," the black-haired girl answered and the two men bowed.
But before they went down the stairs, Asuna gave them gratefully some coins as tip.
Asuna entered her room, opening her eyes wide. It was more spacious and looked more luxurious than expected! Looking around, she sat down on her bed. It had white bedsheets and two really fluffy pillows. It was almost twice as big as her bed at home, she estimated. Next to the bed was a huge window with a balcony in front. In the middle of the room stood a wooden table for four people where the room key and a little vase with a rose in it was placed. On the other side was a big wardrobe, a desk, a shelf… and another door.
Like reading her thoughts from Asuna's face, Suguha said: "Yes, that's your personal bathroom." She slowly approached the chestnut-haired girl, took her hand and explained further: "Make yourself feel at home here. I'll pick you up in around an hour to meet the prince. We'll serve dinner afterwards. And then show you round some more. I hope that's fine?"
"Yes, thank you very much, my princess," she confirmed, "see you later then." Both girls nodded and Suguha left the room.
Asuna sighed and leaned back on her bed. It was so soft, she could take a nap immediately. But then she remembered the bathroom, stood up, and searched in her bags for the stuff she'll need. She opened the door to said room and her eyes went wide yet again. It had everything she ever wanted, especially the bathtub was better than she ever imagined: it was made out of marble and it was so big it could be used by at least two people at once. Very tempted, she walked right to it, and filled it with hot water. She let her hair down, undressed, and put everything she needed now on the little table beside the tub. Taking a bath in such a bathroom and after such a tiring journey felt like heaven.
When she was finished, Asuna walked out of the bathroom and towards her bed, smiling blissfully. There laid the bright red dress she was going to wear tonight. The day before she left, her mother bought it as a gift. "She was right," the girl thought while putting it on, "it's comfy, not too revealing, suits me, and is definitely suitable for the occasion and place I'm in. Probably expensive, I don't even want to know where she got the money for this."
Then she remembered something important: a framed photo of herself and her family in front of their house, taken some weeks ago … before disaster struck. She found the frame in one of her bags and placed in on the nightstand next to a lamp.
After braiding her long hair, she checked herself in the mirror. Asuna gave her reflection a affirmative smile, turned around to smile to her family in the picture, and mumbled to herself: "Here goes nothing. I hope he doesn't send me home right away. I do this for us, wish me luck."
Then she heard a knock on the door. The hour was already over and Suguha came to pick her up. Asuna opened the door and greeted the princess with a slight bow.
"You're ready, it seems. Let's go then, I'll show you the way," the black-haired woman said.
Together they went up some stairs entering a hallway, which looked more luxurious than the one with Asuna's room. The walls were decorated with golden ornaments of the royal family symbol and a long dark red carpet spread on the floor.
Occasionally during their walk, the princess, with a little smirk on her face, turned towards the other girl, whose face looked a little bit pale in comparison. She was also chewing her bottom lip.
"I'm sure my brother will like you," Suguha reassured her.
Asuna lowered her head to hide whatever emotion her expression might reveal. All kinds of thoughts ran through her mind which didn't ease her nervousness even the slightest: "What if he doesn't like me and sends me home right away? Or what if I don't like him and want to leave right away? Or what if he likes me too much and won't let me go home at all?" She wildly shook her head, these thoughts needed to end right now.
The princess announced that they arrived at their destination. Two guards were standing in front of a wooden door and greeted the two women with a deep bow.
"Excuse me, my princess. The prince isn't ready yet. He just returned from his training and to be quite honest with you, he doesn't seem to be in a good mood. It sounds like he's scolding one of his subordinates...," one man said with a little worry in his voice.
"And he's alone in there," the other one added.
"Huh...," Suguha snorted annoyed, "so he's still trying to learn how to dual-wield swords? I already told him multiple times that he'll cut one of his arms off before he can do that properly..."
The four people chuckled, then they heard the unlocking of the door.
The two guys stepped aside and spoke in unison: "Sounds like he's ready now."
"Okay then!" the princess exclaimed, putting her hands on Asuna's shoulders, reassuring her once again, "you got this, see you at dinner!"
Trying to breathe out all of her remaining nervousness, the chestnut-haired woman stepped towards the door, knocked, and opened it slowly after hearing a voice inside.
She was impressed when she saw her own room earlier, but this? She didn't even want to wonder how many and how long people could be paid with the money used for the furniture. A lot of gold shimmering - thanks to the sunlight shining through two big windows on the right side - greeted her, it was almost blinding. Lamps hanging on the walls, several emblems of the royal family symbol, a lot of little decorations and ornaments - all made out of gold. But the rest of the interior formed a strong contrast: door, floor, cabinets, shelves, tables, chairs - all made out of dark wood; walls, sofa cushions, curtains - dark grey; the carpets - black. On the left side were two closed dark wooden doors, probably leading to his bathroom and bedroom respectively.
And in front of the back window, sitting at a table with a relatively small gold crown placed on it, a person with short black, still a little bit ruffled hair and a kinda downcast face. He wore relatively simple looking clothes, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, all black. No second guesses what his favorite color must've been.
Asuna slowly approached the man in a bowing posture, trying to form a greeting in her head suitable for a person of his position, someday he'll be the king after all.
"Y-your r-royal highness, m-my crown p-prince, it's a p-pleasure to make your a-ac-acquaintance…," she uttered, turned red like a tomato from sheer embarrassment, squinting her eyes, mentally kicking herself with how stupid she must have sounded.
The girl heard him getting out of the chair, she started up, standing straight again, then he turned to her, changing his former expression to a more unreadable one. Was he amused? Curious? Surprised? Shocked? Did she mess up that badly? Whatever it was, it looked like he was searching for a proper way to answer her when his dark eyes met her amber-colored ones. It made her a bit uncomfortable to be quite honest.
"Well, no need to be THIS formal," he answered with a mischievous grin. The man put his right hand on his heart, bowed a little, and introduced himself: "I'm Prince Kirito, first of his name, heir to the kingdom, and some other fancy royal stuff I'm supposed to say in a proper introduction. And who do I have the pleasure with?"
"M-my name is Asuna Yuuki. I come from Undine, a town at the Southern Ocean," she replied, still with slightly red cheeks.
"So, Miss Yuuki... or is Asuna more to your liking?" the prince asked head tilted questioningly.
She nodded. She's an ordinary girl after all, so there's no problem with that. And who could decline such an offer by the crown prince himself anyway?
Then he walked back to the table, pulled out the second chair, pointed towards it, and requested: "Please take a seat, milady."
"Well, who's formal now...," she almost said out loud, averting his gaze, sitting down, chewing on her lower lip.
"If you'll allow me, I want to make one thing very clear right from the start, so that no misunderstandings happen," Asuna raised her voice and one finger, "I'm not out for your heart. I just need this job here desperately."
"Why?"
"My parents own… well, owned a restaurant back in my hometown. One month ago during a thunderstorm our house was struck by lightning and the restaurant part burned down. Luckily our home next to it was more or less unharmed, so we could still live there. The repairs will cost a lot of money but my family is determined to rebuild it, it was our dream after all. We all work hard to see it fulfilled again."
She gulped and clenched her fists under the table, not looking at Kirito's face.
"That's why I applied to the offer to become part of… let's call it your "circle of close female friends". That was the only opportunity I had to get a well-paid job."
He wrinkled his nose and forehead on the "circle of close female friends" part.
"I see, well then…," the prince spoke up and turned his concerned frown into a smile. Seemingly her backstory moved him.
"So you got your employment as part of the kitchen staff, I presume?" he asked.
"Yeah, apparently they need more people badly. They accepted me without any proof of my skill or something," she responded shrugging.
"They indeed have to feed a lot of people!" Kirito laughed, "talking about them, we should go to the dining room now, so you can meet the others properly before our meal starts."
He stood up, placed the crown on his head, walked to the door, grabbed a jacket hanging next to it and left the room. Asuna closely followed.
"Drewbert, Big," the prince said placing each hand on the guards' shoulders, "I'll leave my room in your care until I return."
"Of course, my prince. Count on us," they saluted, "enjoy your dinner."
Asuna walked one step behind Kirito. He put his jacket on, which was black - of course - and had some small golden decorations at the front and on the shoulders. Wearing the crown, he looked more like a prince now. But something was bothering him, his hands were twitching. Did they hurt from the sword training earlier or was it something else? Hard to say without seeing his face.
Both went down some stairs and entered the hallway where the dining room was located. From afar they could see five people coming down the stairs from the other side.
One of them was Princess Suguha, so the others must be…
"Hey, brother!" the girl yelled from across the corridor. The group met in front of the huge door to the dining room.
"So you all get to know each other, meanwhile I need to talk to my brother in private, come on," Suguha said, grabbed his arm, and dragged him around the corner, without giving him the chance to protest in any way.
Asuna looked a bit dumbfounded while the other four women more or less ignored this scene, they were probably used to this by now, and instead eyed her from head to toe. One of them leaned a little forward.
"Well well well, who have we here? You must be the new one. Quite the looker, I must admit. Kitchen staff, I heard," the girl with short pink hair wearing a red apron-like short dress scoffed… but then got immediately elbowed by a smaller girl with two light brown pigtails.
"Liz, cut it out! How many others do you want to scare away with that attitude? You're lucky the prince didn't send you home the last time!" she scolded.
"Oh please, Silica. Aren't we all supposed to be competition?" the other retorted.
While they kept bickering, the other two women sighed heavily and greeted Asuna properly.
"You have to excuse her. Just because she's the oldest and lives here the longest of us, Liz thinks she has dibs on the prince. My name is Leafa, it's nice to meet you!" she said with a happy smile. Her blonde hair was tied into a long ponytail and she was wearing a light green dress with some white highlights.
"And I'm Sinon, nice to meet you," the other introduced herself. She had short light teal hair and was wearing a grass green skirt and vest with a white shirt underneath.
"I'm Asuna, it's my pleasure to meet you all," she answered, "I hope we all get along well." ... "Even if it might be easier with some than others," she mentally added, while her glance shifted to the woman apparently called Liz.
A bell rang and several servants appeared from the lower floor, carrying various items on top of trays: plates, glasses, bottles, various kinds of fruit and dishes. One of them opened the door to the dining room and lightened the lamps, immediately followed by the others putting everything in place.
The princess stormed around the corner and yelled happily: "It's 6 o'clock, time to eat!"
Behind her came the prince and walked up to Asuna while the others already entered.
"I hope Liz wasn't too mean to you. Sometimes it doesn't look like it but deep down, she has a good heart," he whispered.
"It's fine. She's not the first person I met who is like this. I think I can handle it," she whispered back with a little wink as they went in too.
The table in the middle of the room was really huge, big enough for all the food placed on it. Even more than the seven people present could easily fit at the table.
During the dinner, Asuna looked around. As the daughter of restaurant-owners, she was used to seeing people eat. To her surprise, it was not at all what she expected from a dinner at royal court. More like a meal among friends, not too fancy or noble and a little bit messy. That's probably the reason why king and queen had their own dining room on their upper floor.
"It already begins to feel like home," the girl thought smiling and took one of the small strawberry cakes served as today's dessert.
"So, Asuna…," Kirito suddenly spoke up, "what do you think about the dinner? You're the one of us who has the most expertise with cooking, so you can judge best."
She turned to him, her mouth still full, and everyone else looking at her. Blushing lightly, she gulped the food down, and took a sip of her water to get rid of the rest of the crumbs inside her mouth.
"It's really good! Well, I would have done some things a bit differently… I hope the chefs will be open for suggestions," Asuna answered. Then she went red again. "Wait, that sounded too arrogant regarding someone with more experience than I have, didn't it?" she panicked.
They all laughed and assured her that this statement will stay between them.
Suguha stood up and rang a bell hanging on the wall next to her seat. The servants came running in and cleared the table.
Afterwards the group of girls and the prince gathered in front of the dining room and had a little chit-chat. Then Asuna excused herself. As much as she wanted to get to know each other better, she was very tired, she had an eventful day after all. After wishing everyone a good night, she went up to her room.
The girl changed from her dress into a comfy white nightgown, unpacked some of her stuff, brushed her teeth, and dropped on her bed.
"So that's my life now for the next couple of months I guess. I hope everything works out well," Asuna thought looking at her ceiling, turned on her side, switched on the lamp on the nightstand, and grabbed the book lying next to it.
Reading on where she left off this afternoon, the woman came to a interesting part about the ancestors of the royal family:
200 years ago, a war raged across the country. A lot of people lost their lives, including the past rulers and their whole family. A different family of strong warriors helped to gain the victory over the invaders. The people honored their efforts by declaring them the new royal family. They founded the royal city of Regalia, built the royal palace there, and supported the rebuilding of the damaged towns. It became part of the royal philosophy to help their people as much as possible.
Concerning the succession, royalty set the following rules:
The heir to the throne will be the first child born to the ruling couple, regardless of gender.
The heir is allowed to gather a group of suitors from which a partner must be selected. This choice must be made not later than the heir's 25th birthday.
"Wait a minute!" Asuna gasped, checked the calendar hanging on the wall above her bed, and scrolled fast through the book and stopped at a royal family tree, "there it is... Prince Kirito will indeed turn 25 this year."
She put the book back on the nightstand, loosened her already a bit messy braid, switched off her lamp, and laid down.
"Huh, I had no idea there was time limit. Seems kinda strict if you ask me. Well, being royalty isn't as easy as it sounds... poor guy…," this thought running through her mind until she fell asleep.