51 Friends Or Foes?

After I had finished with my check up we made our way down to the schools exit. Lady Yu had looked at me with an inexplicable expression before saying " The king has summoned you. Please head there before you go home. I shall see you soon for our first lesson"

She promptly turned and left.

I rushed up to Ki and Ren with a smile.

" Did you both miss me? We can finally talk now!" I said with a wide grin.

" Mm we missed you lots young master!" Ki said as she wrapped her arms around me tightly.

" I wonder what the king wants!" I said in Ki's embrace.

" We are just going to have to find out! " Ren said and nodded.

The carriage ride was very quiet. Ki and Ren were both staring at me while I got used to moving my body again. We spoke a little but not much.

Something felt wrong.

" I sure am glad to have friends like you!" I smiled a plastic smile trying to bring up the mood.

" Yuki!" Ren said as he looked at me shocked.

He held out his fist.

I fist bumped him and he smiled brightly.

" What just happened?" Ki said bewildered.

We spent the rest of the way just had Ren had once done with Riku teaching Ki our friendship sign.

Finally, we got up to the palace.

Ki, Ren, and Kibbles were made to wait as I was ushered into a room that everyone in the royal family was sitting at.

Their expressions were gloomy.

It was at this moment everything that I had known would come crashing down.

As they spoke my mind became more filled with questions than answers.

[ I have been spending so much time trying to be Yuki that I had forgotten about how the previous Yuki must have felt ]

[ Why did he become such a jerk to the princess in the first place? ]

[ What made him turn into the uncaring fool that the gamer had met in Romance Fantasy ++? ]

I knew now, at this moment surrounded by people.

I was sitting in a room in the royal castle. I had been excitedly saying that my heart was fixed to Ren as we made our way here. I was so excited to get my powers, as well as my heart, fixed that I failed to realise the looks on Ren and Ki's faces as we got summoned by the emperor.

I had failed to notice that everyone from Madam Yu to my own maid had been hiding things from me. That my heart that was just repaired would be instantly broken again.

" Your mother was killed due to poisoning and your father is missing in action on the border." The emperor said bluntly to me.

" You have got to be kidding! Who would poison my mother?!" I responded angrily.

None of this should have happened. I shouldn't have gone to get my magic tested. I should have been there for my mother.

Ren and Ki, where were they?!

" YOU'RE LYING! I was only asleep for a week! " I said as I slammed my hand on the table.

" Yuki! You can't yell at father like that" the crown prince Leo warned.

" You are telling me that my mother is dead and my father is missing and you are angry that I am yelling?! How dare-" I spat.

" ENOUGH OF YOUR CHILDISHNESS!" The emperor retorted angrily.

The guards at that moment had stood up straighter, the emperor looked down from his high chair and glared. The empress next to him held his arm as if to calm him down.

" We are investigating as we speak. Your family has many enemies in Vance. You cannot lose your temper. Your duty is to me as was your fathers. You have been summoned here to accept my decree. Dare you not take it?" The Emperor stated in a commanding tone.

" What decree? " I said with clenched teeth.

" Your grandfather will take you in until you finish high school. You will then marry my daughter and there will be not a hint of complaint from you. Then you will take your father's place should he not return by then." The emperor said.

" You mean, you are abandoning my father? Are you even searching for him? " I said as I glared.

" We are searching but… there must always be an Aikyo at Aikyo residence to defend the nation. We MUST think of the citizens." the emperor said before sighing.

" What about mother? Empress, were you not her friend? Do you not weep?" I said shaking.

The emperor had explained to me everything that I needed to know before he wanted to shove me out of the room like I was an eyesore. The children who were supposed to be my friends had not even spoken a word as their parents had planned my whole life like I was a pig or a dog.

" Dismissed. Get him out of here and send him to his grandfather's place" The emperor's hand moved over his face.

The guards at the door walked towards me and grabbed my arm.

" I can leave by myself! " I said as I brushed them off.

I took one last look at everyone at the table. The crown prince who had his head down. The princess who was just staring at me. The second prince who was shocked and the emperor and empress that were looking over at their children.

I was disgusted.

Angry.

In shock.

And betrayed.

" Some friends you are " I whispered under my breath as I left.

They invite me here all smiles and worry, then send me up to the emperor to get told that the only family who had ever cared about me are missing or dead. Worst of all I can't even hold a funeral for mother because the citizens are not allowed to know of her death.

It is all being pushed under the rug for the countries sake. My heart may have been healed but it had never felt so broken…

Who were the people that poisoned my mother?

How could they know that my father was leaving for the border?

Were the two related?

Was I supposed to be at home according to their plans?

[This is all a lie right?]

I was finally out of the palace. I walked up to Ren and Ki. My shoulders moving up at down as I was struggling to hold in my anger.

" Is what the emperor said true? Is mother really...?" I choked out.

" Yuki I am so sorry!" Ki said, her eyes filled with tears.

" YOU DON'T GET TO BE SORRY! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" I looked up at her in pure rage and yelled.

I had never been angry at her before. Her face went pale and she took a step back as she stared at me wide eyed.

" I was not allowed, it was under your grandfather's instructions" Ki said crying.

" And you?" I said looking at Ren.

He scratched the back of his head, looked down and nodded.

" I'm sorry Yuki." Ren replied.

" I'm leaving." I responded as I turned my back on them.

I couldn't say anything else. These people who I had seen as my friends had just betrayed me. What else was I to do?

Kibbles who was waiting inside the carriage I was supposed to ride jumped out and landed on my shoulder. His warm tail the only solace I felt from the darkness building inside my chest.

[ Is this why Cupid apologised? Was this the doing of Rinura?]

" You can't leave young master! We must take you to your grandfather! " Ki replied.

" And if I don't want to go? " I said bluntly as I turned around.

Ki and Ren looked at each other, then nodded and walked towards me.

" It's for your own good Yuki. We can't leave you outside the palace right now. We know you are upset but you have to go home!" Ren replied.

" I will protect you even if you hate me for it young master!" Ki said.

[ We follow them, then escape as soon as we can Kibbles]

" I will follow you anywhere!!" Kibbles voice echoed in my head.

I looked at the ground for a moment and calmed my nerves. I called up on the feelings of peace that came with my magic. I breathed in and out slowly. I couldn't think straight but at least I had this much going for me.

"Home huh? Maid thank you for your suggestion, it is quite a good idea." I said with my most plastic smile.

I walked towards the carriage and jumped up. Kibbles took a seat across from me in his Kithun form.

Ki wiped the tears from her eyes and bowed.

" Yes, Young Master " Ki and Ren said in unison.

[ Even if I hate them huh? ]

The carriage began to move as I looked silently out the window. Everything in this world had changed for me.

My feelings towards those people I used to call friends.

The joy that I felt coming to this universe.

The sense of belonging I felt.

And the kindness I once felt in my heart.

[ I have you and Cupid at least... ]

I thought to myself as Kibbles stared at me.