The Last Princess

by Marissa Craig

  “Thank you,” I say to him.

  “I’m not all bad.”

  “I never said you were bad.”

  I smile at him. If I gain confidence then he’ll know I can handle the burden; we can be together.

  “And there will be suitable men for you to date,” he states.

  Date? He says it so nonchalant. He says it feeling nothing for me. He’s a damn idiot. Same as me for liking him. I drop the letter and head to the door.

  “Yumiko-san-”

  “I’ll go so let’s not speak about it anymore.”

  I slam the door and run to the bathroom. Why? Why can I never been seen as worthy? There’s a heavy knock on the door.

  “Leave me alone!”

  “Yumiko-san?”

  It’s Kyoya-sama’s voice. I crack the door leaving my head down.

  “What did he do to make you so upset?”

  His voice is always so gentle. He’s always so caring.

  “He got me into college,” I say to him.

  “You poor thing-”

  “He’s sending me away to get over him. He rejected me again.”

  It’s quiet with just the sound of snores and jet engines. I shouldn’t be talking to a prince from inside the bathroom. I step out and wipe my eyes.

  “I’ll never understand what you see in my brother but did he look at you when he said those words?”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Then it’s hard for him too. If he lets on that he likes you, he thinks you’ll be taken away. That’s how he’s always been. He’s been trained to not have a weakness; so he’s detached.”

  He stands with his arms crossed. My problems must be stupid to him. He sighs and I’m alerted that he’s so casual.

  “A lot will change after this memorial. I’ll be staying behind, you’ll be going to college in a few months-”

  “Staying behind?”

  “Yes, I must.”

  He looks over at me. I don’t see how a foreign king can accomplish anything when his only claim to the throne is an engagement.

  “That will leave Setsuna-chan all alone,” I say to him.

  “I’m aware….but I’ll make sure she never feels lonely.”

  That’s unfair. She’ll just be trapped in another palace. I lower my head. The poor girl will be trapped again longing to see him. I don’t even know if they are close to finding the people responsible for the massacre.

  “I always wanted to say sorry to you since the night we learned about all this. I want to be a good king for you as well.”

  Those charming eyes and gentle voice. He’s not a snake. He’s truly genuine.

  ”Um…I’ll support you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Chapter 33: Setsuna

  I stand with Kyoya-sama on the stage looking at the hundred coffins sitting underneath us. So this is everyone. The guards, the maids, the cooks, and even mother and father. I talked to my father frankly and he said this would be a possibility. He made me understand his will and the will of all the kings before him.

  Kyoya-sama can never fill father’s shoes but I don’t think father would mind if he tired. I’m the only survivor of that night. It had to be on purpose. I have to get father’s will across.

  “I didn’t think there would be this many cameras,” I hear him say.

  He touches my head and I straighten my veil. So I’m supposed to just stand here and look sad. That’s not what father would want. I pull on his sleeve and he kneels down to me.

  “Something wrong?”

  The coffins are spread along the palace lawn. Just outside the gates the cameras and people are waiting for the ceremony to begin. I point back to the house. There’s no way for him to understand me. I start walking and he just walks behind me. We get to the front door and there’s tape around it.

  This is my house; I won’t let it be a crime scene. I pull the tape off and forcefully throw it to the ground. This house is all I know; it’s not a bad house, bad things just happened here.

  I step inside and the blood is gone. That’s good. I keep walking stopping at every room. I know where everything is. Everything is in its place but…there’s just no people.

  Kyoya-sama follows behind me silently.

  “I’m glad we’re alone, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  I turn back to him. We’re right near the room where we first met. I bet no one has fed the fish. I open the door and the pond is empty.

  I sit down on the edge and he sits down next to me. I feel so comfortable around him, not like when we first met.

  “I remember I met you here. You made me feel so nervous. You really were the most beautiful thing I had even seen. I never would have thought…I would fall for you, a girl eight years younger than me. I felt myself falling just from you saying my name that first time.”

  He’s staring straight again. He must be about to say something to make me sad.

  “I really like you, Setsuna-san and given what’s happened I wanna stay by your side but…as much as I have a duty to you, I have a duty to your father and your people.”

  I agree. I know he has to take the throne soon, even if we’re not married. The people will grow restless without a leader; father told me that.

  “And also I don’t want to make a mistake. We need to cool down a bit. Or I need to cool down a bit.”

  So he’s just gonna start his duties. I know he can’t babysit me.

  “I’m trying to say that I’m staying behind and sending you back to Han. It may be years before we can be together again.”

  I look up at him. He can’t stay away that long. I like him too much, that’s the problem. I didn’t give him room to breathe. I’ll give him space. I pull on his arm and he refuses to look at me.

  “I’m being cowardly by saying all this to you when you can’t talk back. I’m sorry.”

  I try to call out his name but nothing comes out. I wanna speak again.

  “Be a good girl,” he says. “I need to do this. It will hurt me too, being apart from you. I have to do this so that what happened here will not happen again. Hear me as your future king and your future husband, do you understand?”

  I release him. Father would say something like that. This must be why he chose Kyoya-sama. He blindly puts his arm around me.

  “I love you,” he says to me. “And I’ll love you even more when I meet you again.”

  I try to keep my tears from him. I wipe my eyes on my sleeve but he notices quickly. He pulls me to his chest and I cry. I don’t want him to leave me. I’ve been alone for so many years waiting for him.

  “If you were to say “don’t go” or “please stay” you would cripple me. That’s why we have to do this now.”

  I can’t even tell him “I love you.” If I don’t say it, he won’t know. I try my hardest to speak and it just comes out as a scream.

  “Don’t push yourself. I’ll hurry and fix things here so we won’t be apart too long. And I’ll have Kan-nii helping me so things will go faster.”

  If Kantarou-sama is here with him that means Yumi-chan will leave too. They’re in love after all.

  “And I’m going to put Captain Saki in charge of you so try to get along with him.”

  Because they’re friends. I don’t want to burden Kyoya-sama. I have to be strong so he won’t worry about me. I nod to him. I wipe my tears again and he leans down and kisses me.

  “Don’t kiss anyone else, okay,” he says to me.

  He should do the same.

  “I’m gonna head back out. Take your time.”

  He gets up and I’m left alone like before. I wish I could talk to mother. I want her advice. I wonder if she ever cried when father stayed away. I never saw her cry so, she was just being strong.

  “You must never burden your king; you must only encourage him,” she would say.

  She may have been harsh towards me but she was only trying to prepare me.

  “It’s easier when you’re not in love,”
I heard her say. “But when the man you love is away from you, it makes you feel like a common woman. But you must be strong to make him strong. Because you’re the only thing making him feel like a common man. Remember that, Setsuna.”

  It was one of the rare times she let her hair down and let me brush it. I touch my own hair ornaments. It’s all passed down between generations. These robes and hair ornaments are a representation of her. She’s here with me.

  “That was quite a scene.”

  I turn back. No….how could he. He takes a step forward with his heavy boot vibrating the floor. Where’s Kyoya-sama?

  “I’m sorry your lover is parting from you. You seem so sad.”

  It’s the killer from that night. He would come back into this house on the day of the funeral. There’s a hundred coffins outside and he walked pass them to get to me; he felt nothing.

  “I’m not here to hurt you,” he says lifting his hands up. “I came to see how you were.”

  He takes another step closer to me. I know he’s not going to kill me. He just wants to intimidate me. I turn back and look at the empty pond. He sits down right where Kyoya-sama was.

  “You’re still weak. I saw you wobble on stage. You’ll just get weaker cause you’re losing even more people now.”

  I can’t let it break me. He passes a jar to me.

  “It’s for your wound. Use this every night to make it heal. Make sure no one sees you do it.”

  I take it from him. Why is he trying to help me now?

  “And I came to give you your voice back.”

  I turn to him quickly. I’d be able to tell Kyoya-sama how I feel.

  “But in exchange, I still expect your silence.”

  I get my voice back but I can never say who did this. I have to talk again but to live with the guilt of silence is too much.

  “You want to talk to you lover one last time, don’t you?”

  I nod.

  “Then you agree?”

  I nod. I stumble back when he lifts his hands to me. He pauses then comes at me again. He turns down my collar exposing my neck. I close my eyes then feel a sharp pain like a needle. He replaces my collar and gets up.

  I try to speak but still nothing.

  “Give it a few hours and you’ll be back to normal.”

  Hopefully I get to stay by Kyoya-sama until my voice returns. I get up and straighten my robe.

  “You’re going back to Han afterwards, right? I’ll try to pay you a visit.”

  He walks to the door. I still need answers from him. I run forward and grab his arm. I need to talk to him. He stops and I look around for paper. The room is completely empty.

  “I can read lips so go ahead and speak,” he says.

  “Why? Why did you do this?” I mouth to him.

  “Things will be better now, don’t you think? For all you know, I did it for you, little princess.”

  “I never met you before,” I mouth to him.

  “But…we can go on meeting now.”

  He touches my chin and I move away.

  “I’ll never hurt you; you can get that out of your head.”

  He’s confusing me. Killing all the people in this house did not help me. It made me hate being the only survivor.

  “What is your name?” I mouth to him.

  “Call me whatever you want.”

  “Are you Captain Saki?”

  “Captain Saki?” he repeats. “Do you want me to be?”

  I don’t want to be correct about my assumptions. I just want to know who this man is.

  “Don’t make another grab for my mask,” he says.

  I was thinking about it. I don’t want to be alone with him anymore. I want to be next to Kyoya-sama again. He takes a step back then leaves the room.

  Chapter 34: Kyoya

  This is incredibly boring. It’s been going on for hours. I sit on stage with the princess and Yumiko-san while hundreds of citizens march through the yard observing the coffins. Both girls seem quiet. Probably trained not show emotion at a time like this.

  I thought this would break them but it hasn’t. Setsuna-san continues to amaze me. She doesn’t even seem fazed by her second meeting with her parent’s killer. I guess she can’t speak just yet. I know she’ll talk to me as soon as her voice returns.

  What’s she staring at off stage? She must still have it in her mind. She’s staring at Ayato-san while he stands guard. I put my arm around her and she looks straight ahead.

  “Kyoya-sama,” Yumiko-san says to me. “Is she really okay with you staying behind?”

  “There’s not really a choice.”

  “She could stay with you while you work.”

  “It’s safer for her in Han.”

  “Sounds to me like she’ll just be locked up again.”

  “With a killer on the loose I think that’s best.”

  And I don’t want to touch her prematurely.

  “She waited a long time for you. And she has so much grief now. Rethink this.”

  “Yumiko-san-”

  “Do you not know how this looks? Just abandoning her and taking the throne-”

  “I’m not abandoning her! Stay out of matters that don’t concern you.”

  I put my head down quickly. I can’t lose my cool now. I didn’t kill them just for the throne, I did it be close to her. She’s happy now, even if I don’t get to be around her. I did it for her. For Setsuna-san.

  She’s staring at me with worry. Her small hand slides over mine with a tight grip. I can’t lose it in front of all these people.

  After the crowd passes through there’s silence. Her hand falls away from mine and she stands up. The guards look uneasy. Is she going to speak now? She walks slowly to the end of the stage. Her parent’s bodies are right beside her. The cameras flash capturing every moment.

  She’s braver than I thought. Probably even braver than me. She lifts her veil and there’s a worldwide gasp.

  “M-my name is Setsuna Asahina. My father was…my father is Hajime Asahina and…my mother is S-shouko Asahina: your king and queen.”

  Her hands are shaking along with her voice. She’s speaking cause she feels a duty to her family. I can’t stop her. It’s making me sad to hear her voice again. I can hear her pain now.

  “I was here on that night. I never left the palace except for that night when I had to run away. It was scary. I stared the killer in his eyes. I fought him and lost to him. He’s still alive, probably content that somehow all this is going his way.”

  My heart sinks with her words.

  “But the palace will not falter. Kyoya Niwa-sama is the man my father picked for me to marry and the man that will become Morinaga’s king. He will take the position sooner than expected because I am fairly ill since the attack. I have faith in him. And I will guide him because no one knows my father’s will and the will of all the kings before him more than me. So…”

  She takes a deep breath.

  “You will accept him. And I don’t want any unrest. The Niwa family of Han were there for me and there for my family in this terrible circumstance. The Niwa family sheltered Yumi-chan. Without her I would have no one. Thank you Kantarou-sama for looking after her…They want nothing but the best for Morinaga…”

  It’s the first time she’s spoken. She’s very well trained. At the bottom of the stage I see Kan-nii standing guard with a smirk on his face.

  “There was an understanding my father had with them. He explained everything to me. Han is different. It is a stronger nation that shows its power; they’re arrogant, entitled but only cause they’ve earned it. It’s a country that lost a lot of men because it doesn’t back down from a fight. It’s a country with a lot of pride. Kantarou-sama symbolizes his country very well; which is why he will be a wonderful king.”

  I watch her on the big screen. A smile spreads across her face.

  “Morinaga is just as strong but doesn’t like to show it. It’s observant of others so that it can strategize in the best way. It’
s caring, calculating, subtle, and full of potential it has yet to show. Morinaga is just like Kyoya-sama. My father saw it, which is why he betrothed me to the second born and not the first or the third. I love Kyoya-sama like I love my country and that’s why I know he’ll make a great king.”

  I put my head down. Her father believed in me at such a young age. I killed him. I can’t look at her. I can’t look at any of them. She’s smiling at me and I can’t take it. Her words are too much right now. I look down at Ayato-san and he signals me to come forth.

  I look back at her. She’s so beautiful. She deserves so much and I took it all from her. She stares off into the crowd then looks stricken. They’re not cheering for her. They’re screaming in displeasure. She takes a tiny step back.

  I get to my feet quickly and stand behind her.

  “It’s okay,” I say to her. “You did well.”

  “Traitor!” I hear.

  “No,” she whispers to herself. “It’s not supposed to be like this.”

  “Fucking traitor!”

  She tries to take another step back but I stand still. The crowd is getting out of hand. I thought this was a funeral. Something shoots out of the audience and she’s blasted with red paint. It slides down her face and soaks into her dress.

  She looks to the open casket beside her and screams seeing the paint on her mother’s face. I turn her to me and shield her. Kantarou jumps on stage deflecting the next paint bomb with his sword.

  “Saki, right there,” he calls out.

  Ayato-san pushes through the crowd and snatches the man up by his collar.

  “The Han military has no right to be here,” a Morinaga soldier calls.

  “Why don’t you do your job then,” Kan-nii calls back. “I will not let her own people do this to her.”

  I peek down and see her crying still. I walk her off stage and Yumiko-san takes hold of her. They’ll be a riot between Han forces and Morinaga troops. I walk back to the microphone.

  “What are you doing? They won’t listen to you,”Kan-nii tells me.

  “They crossed a line so I’m going to cross it some more.”

  I can’t stand this. I will not rule a pack of idiots. They will change now. She looked devastated. She has the courage to finally speak and they hate her for it. I can’t allow anyone to make her cry like that. She’s innocent.