Instead of the Head maid waking you up or a random guard, you got up on your own. You always woke up early, you just never wanted to get out of bed, but this time you wanted to get to Akuto before everyone else.
It was probably around 5:30 when you got up, so you grabbed your uniform, went into the bathroom, and set up your bath. You tried not to make any unnecessary sounds that could possibly wake up any other maids or butlers since you weren't in the mood to explain what you were doing up so early.
Getting in the bath, you thought about the future of your mothers kingdom. You knew it would fall into your sister's hands in three years, but you knew that she wasn’t a good person to follow.
Your step sister is sensitive and if she were to get negative feedback from her people, you bet a million pounds a gold that she would start crying.
To be a queen, you can’t be sensitive, you have to be not only physically strong, but also mentally. If not, you would probably go insane.
You honestly didn’t want to be the queen of your kingdom anymore, mostly because if you did, then you would 100% receive a whole lot of backlash from your community and probably be assassinated. It would also be impossible to become queen at this point.
If it were possible, you would build a whole kingdom yourself if you could, but you knew that was currently not possible.
Taking the shampoo bottle, you wondered if Akuto slept at all last night. Suddenly being captured and put into a random room would put anyone on edge, but after seeing his baggage, you were curious whether he even closed his eyes at all.
Scrubbing your hair, you heard many pairs of footsteps walking around. The butlers and maids were most likely already awake, so rinsing your hair off, you put a towel over your hair and started drying your body. You would most likely not be eating anything so you didn’t bother rushing into the kitchen. You haven't eaten for three whole days! You were used to going on diets, but this was too much…
You were starving and needed something to eat, but you knew if you complained to the Head maid, she would only extend the time period of your suffering. You stared into the mirror, you looked pale and kind of sick. Not eating could really damage your body and skin.
At this point you were putting on your maid uniform and drying your hair. You had a lot of hair and it took some time to dry, but it eventually worked out.
Brushing your teeth and styling your hair into a neat braid, you heard a loud knock on the door.
‘They don’t have to knock so hard..’
Looking towards the door, you decided to get them off your tail.
“The restroom is occupied.”
“...”
‘How annoying..’
You went back to braiding your hair until you heard a voice at the door.
“Y/n, you are needed in the kitchen, the princess will be having a special guest coming over to the castle tomorrow for dinner.”
Why were you needed in the kitchen? You weren’t a good cook anyways, plus you could barely even wash dishes without breaking at least two plates. You even surprised yourself that you didn’t break any yesterday.
“Coming..”
Finally finished with your hair, you smoothed out your uniform and walked out of the restroom. Once again, pure chaos.
The guest would be arriving tomorrow, so what was the big deal?
You also found it unnecessary to prepare the food the day before since it wouldn’t taste as fresh when presented tomorrow, but you didn't say anything. It wasn’t your business anyways..
You walked through the room without a care in the world as decorations were flying everywhere and people were tripping over each other. You were about to start laughing, but then you saw Akuto standing in a corner looking at the floor as a butler helped him with his tie.
He didn’t look like he got much sleep as expected since he looked slightly dead and looked like he was about to drop any minute. But that wasn’t any of your business, you had to worry about yourself.
You were starving and needed food quickly, maybe you could grab a few pieces of bread when the maids and butlers were not looking..?
Thinking about biting into the warm piece of bread made you smile a bit, you never thought you would be craving something as cheap as bread, but at the moment, you didn’t care anymore. You needed to eat something to regain your energy or else you could possibly die.
At the moment, there were a lot of maids and butlers in the kitchen so you would have to wait for the crowd to die down. Currently, you have to act like a normal maid so that your new partner could get a good impression of you.
Looking at Hiroshi, you noticed that his handcuffs were finally off and he was wearing the butler uniform. He looked pretty nice in a suit, but his hair still wasn’t brushed. His bangs were covering his eyes and you could tell that they were in the way. Realizing that you were staring at him for a bit too long, you went back to the bathroom to go get a brush.
You thought that maybe if you could put on this ‘big sister’ act, then he would eventually fall for your ‘affection’. Grabbing a brush from one of the baskets, you walked back out so you could find him, but you stopped in your tracks when you spotted an annoying bug at his side, your sister.
She was having a conversation with him, well, she was the one that was doing all of the talking while he looked down at the floor, but it still annoyed you. She was getting in the way of your plan and you needed her to go away immediately.
Walking over the pair, you just needed to take away your new companion and be done with the whole thing, you weren’t in the mood for your ‘sister’s’ sweet talks.
Before you could reach them, your sister noticed you first so she was the first one to wave and call you over, even though you were already walking to them.
“Good morning Y/n, did you rest well?”
“No your majesty.”
‘Please go away..’
“Oh, really? That’s a shame, is your cell not cutting it out for you? Maybe I should move you into a nicer cell on the other side of the castle. How does that sound?”
You knew she was tricking you, the cells on the other side of the castle were freezing cold and water always dripped through the ceilings. She wanted you to say yes so she could move you to one of those cells and get sick.
“No thank you, I am fine in the cell I currently have..”
“I see…”
She put her hand against her cheek as she tried to look confused by your decline of the invitation, but you both knew that those cells were not nice at all.
“Well then, I’ll be going now Hiro! If you need anything, just ask one of the guards and they will alert me right away.”
She winked and walked away while Hiroshi didn’t even acknowledge hem at all. It was almost as if she was invisible to him, which was a relief.
When you heard the big doors closed, you sighed out in frustration and walked over to Hiroshi. He didn’t even notice that you were in front of him until you lifted up his head with your hand and started brushing his hair.
“We don’t want the food getting hair in it, but I'll let you off the hook since it’s your first day.”
He stared at you with a blank expression on his face, he was probably deep in thought thinking about who knows what. He made you a little nervous since you couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
You tried not to make it obvious, but you brushed his bangs away so you could see his eyes better. They were big and very dark, almost appearing black. Even though they were slightly creepy and looked dead, they matched his face perfectly.
After you were done brushing his hair, you pushed back a few hair strands with your hand and backed away. You admired your work for a few seconds since he really looked good in his suit and now brushed hair.
“Let’s go.”
This caught his attention since he immediately looked up and started following you. This felt nice since you now had your own personal dog.
As soon as you stepped into the kitchen, you almost ran into the Head maid who was trying to run out with some plates and cups in her hand. Her face immediately changed when she saw you, but calmed down when she saw Hiroshi behind you.
She looked at you both, eyes switching back and forth every once in a while.
“Uh… good morning..?”
“Mr. Akuto, your breakfast is on the table. After you eat, go assist Y/n in the kitchen.”
She quickly walked past you without sparing a second glance. It was odd since she didn’t say anything insulting to you, it was probably because she knows that the princess has taken a liking to Akuto and she didn’t want him to tell her anything. Not that he could anyway.
Leading Akuto into the small dining area, you told him to sit down and left the small room to prepare everything. You weren’t the best at cooking and could barely even bake cakes, so whenever it came to making something, you were in charge of baking the cakes while the chefs put icing on them.
There were still quite a few chefs in the kitchen making different foods, so you couldn’t snatch a few pieces of bread unfortunately.
Even when you took all of your baking supplies, you still noticed that Akuto wasn’t in the kitchen yet. When you were still in the dining room with him, you remembered that his plate only had two loaves of bread with a little butter on the side.
Walking into the dining room, you noticed that he was staring at the food blankly. It looked as if he hadn’t moved from his position at all.
“What are you doing?”
You stared at him slightly annoyed since he was wasting time and food by sitting in the same place.
He obviously didn’t reply, so you pulled out a chair and sat down next to him.
“You can’t be wasting time, we have a lot of work to do.”
He only stared at you in response, but you could tell he was listening.
Picking up a butter knife and breaking off a piece of bread, you put butter on it and held it towards his mouth. This time he bit into the food without hesitation.
‘This child…’
His hands were uncuffed, so he had no reason to be fed anymore. If this was how he acted, then you don’t understand how he even became a fugitive in the first place.
After he finished the whole piece of bread, you picked up the next one and held it towards his mouth. This time, he didn't open his mouth. He stared at you blankly this time.
He really knew how to weird you out, but you didn’t question it. You just assumed he wasn’t hungry anymore, so you put the bread back on the plate and got up to leave.
“Let’s go.”
He got up, but not without picking up the loaf. You thought that he probably just wanted to save it for later until he moved his hand and held the piece of bread in front of your mouth.
You stared at him in confusion until it clicked, he was trying to feed you.
‘Was it really that obvious that I was starving?’
Still staring at him, you noticed that he didn’t break eye contact the whole time. This might have been the longest you had ever stared at him. But this was when you realized that you could have possibly earned his friendship from the way he was acting.
You smiled to yourself knowing that this was the start of a new beginning. You had a small amount of hope that would eventually grow with time.
Taking the bread out of the boy's hands, you opened your mouth and took a bite.