I guess I have to sneak out to get some food again. I left quietly and went to the pantry. I grabbed an apple and went back to Sora's room. When I got back, Sora was sitting up on the bed, waiting for me.

"I see you're feeling better now that you can sneak out and steal some food." I took a bite off my apple.

"I was hungry." I plainly answered. He sighed.

"Why do you do this? You always worry me." He's worried about me? Then why does he act like a complete a.s.shole?

"Because… I'm hurt." He looked up at me.

"I'm hurt that you don't trust me. I'm hurt that you believed an anonymous letter. My family is sincere with you and yet you chose to believe that they'd betray you. That I'd betray you." Sora stood up and wrapped me in his arms. He wiped the tears that were falling down my face. I didn't even know that I was crying.

"I do trust you, but when situations like this arise, my judgment must not be biased." I continued to cry in his arms. He led me back to the bed where he snuggled me in his arms.

"I hate you…" I said.

"What?" He asked.

"I hate you… I hate you… I hate you…" I said over and over again while hitting his chest. He didn't say anything; he just wrapped his arms around me even tighter.

"I hate that you even thought I betrayed you. I would never put you in harm's way. No matter how much we fight, I still care about you." I let the words come out of my mouth. I'm tired of holding back.

"I'm sorry." Hearing him say that made me cry harder. No matter what he says, I still love him. G.o.d d.a.m.n this idiot heart.

We stayed in each other's arms until we fell asleep.

I woke up to an empty bed. I got out of bed and changed my clothes. Aino walked in and greeted me.

"Good morning Yukina." She said happily. I smiled at her.

"Let's go to the dining hall. It's time for breakfast." I didn't answer. I just nodded. I don't feel like talking today. Not because I'm in a bad mood, but because I was holding back tears last night and it actually hurt my throat. I'll be silent Yukina for today. Aino looked at me.

"Are you okay Yukina?" I nodded. She didn't pester me anymore after that. I arrived at the dining hall and took a seat. The other concubines were already. A few seconds go by and Sora arrived. He took his seat next to me. We ate in silence. Why do I feel some kind of weird tension in my body? I ignored the feeling and continued to eat. When I was done, I drank some tea before standing up and leaving.

"Is the Empress in a bad mood? I heard she hasn't uttered a single word today?"

"Really? Did something happen to her?" I heard them gossiping about me as I left the room. Couldn't they have waited for me to leave before they started talking about me? I went to the kitchen and prepared some ginger tea with honey. After making some, I drank a cups worth. Still no good, my throat still hurts. I decided to walk around by the lake to look for some Lotus Root. As I was walking, I noticed a man by the lake's edge. He must've noticed me as he turned toward me and smiled. I smiled and bowed.

"Good morning, young miss. Lovely day for a walk." I nodded. He looks so familiar.

"Pardon me, I haven't introduced myself. I am Prince Kagami Seichi. My brother is the Emperor." He bowed his head. Oh that's why he looks familiar. He looks a lot like Sora. He looked up at me and waited for me to answer. Oh c.r.a.p, how am I supposed to answer him? He looked troubled.

"Did I offend you, young miss? Forgive me." I shook my head and waved my arms. How to do this? I grabbed one of the flowers from the garden and smeared it across my arm. I wrote what I wanted to say and then I showed it to Seichi. He looked at me, confused. I pointed to my arm and he read aloud.

"I am Senju Yukina; I did not mean to offend you. My throat hurts and I cannot talk. I'm sorry." I pulled back my arm and wiped the blue writings off. He laughed.

"My, my, I've never met someone as amusing as you. Are you one of my brother's concubines?" I shrugged. Am I a concubine? I'm the Empress but does that still mean I'm a concubine? This time period is confusing as h.e.l.l. He laughed once again. I punched his arm lightly and I made a pouty face. He looked at me and smiled.

"Did you punch me because I was laughing at you? I'm sorry." He patted my head. He's totally different from Sora. He's much more open and boisterous. I wonder if it's because he's got less responsibilities.

"By the way, how old are you?" He asked. I signed '2' with my left hand and '5' with my right.

"Oh, we're at the same age." I smiled.

"Seichi." We turned our heads to see Sora coming our way. Oh great it's you again.

"Brother! I'm glad to see you." Seichi ran towards his brother to hug him but Sora pushed him.

"Seichi, what are you doing here?" Seichi looked sad but he became happy almost instantly. This guy… he must be broken or something.

"What? I can't visit you now? I haven't seen you in forever. My duties back at my palace were so boring so I decided to come here." Seichi looks at Sora like a little kid looking up to his big brother. Sora rolled his eyes and face palmed himself. I couldn't help but smile.

"By the way, brother, you have so many concubines, right? Can I have her?" Seichi grabbed my hand and put me in front of Sora. What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us both killed?! Sora didn't answer but he looked mad. He looked at me and I avoided his gaze.

"I find her amusing. She's not like the other girls I've met. She's somehow quite special." Seichi added. Urusai! Urusai! We're so dead! BAKA!

Suddenly, Sora punched his brother in the head.

"Itai! What did you do that for?" I couldn't help myself from laughing. I covered my mouth to keep quiet.

"How could you be disrespectful to your own brother?" The scene between brothers is so funny.

"What? You have many concubines. What's wrong if I want to take one? I doubt that you even pay attention to all of them." Seichi, you're digging your own grave. Sora's expression was unreadable. He was about to punch him again when I held his hand. He looked at me and I shook my head.

"See? She wants to be with me, brother." I face palmed. Sora and I looked at each other and I let go of his hand. Sora punched Seichi again. I was trying to help you. Honto baka desu ne.

"Seichi, this is Empress Yukina. She's my wife." Seichi's eyes widened. He quickly bowed to me and apologized.

"I'm sorry Empress. I didn't know." I couldn't help myself and I giggled.

"What are you doing out here?" Sora asked. I couldn't answer him verbally so I grabbed another one of those blue flowers and wrote something on my arm. After writing, I showed it to him.

"I was looking for Lotus Root to soothe my throat. It hurts to talk." He read aloud. I wiped the blue dye from arm.

"Let me help you." Sora said. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Let me help you too." Seichi b.u.t.ted in. Sora pushed his face away. I giggled. Reminds me of Yorihisa and Yorisane. We walked along the edge of the lake where the water was shallow and lotuses were prominent. I pulled Sora's sleeve and pointed at one of the lotuses. There was a good size lotus root over there; it should be enough for my sore throat. I tried to reach for it but Sora stopped me. He tried to reach for it but Seichi accidentally b.u.mped into me and then I b.u.mped into Sora. Out of reflex, he grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me. We both fell into the water.

It wasn't really scary, the water was quite shallow. Sora was sitting up and I was on his lap. We looked at each other and I laughed. I looked at him and he was smiling. You should smile more often. You look really handsome.

"Are you two okay?" Seichi asked. I looked over at him and I smiled. I stood up and helped Sora get up.

"Here." Sora handed me the Lotus Root. He got it! I accepted it and smiled. We stepped out of the lake.

"Yukina, go back to your room and change. I don't want you getting sick again." I nodded. But before I left, I took another flower and wrote something on my arm.

"Please change too. I'll be really worried if you get sick." He read my note and a small smile appeared on his lips. I bowed to him and Seichi and went on my way back to my room.

When I arrived, I asked Aino to prepare the lotus root. I asked her to make it into a soup. I took a bath and changed my clothes. A few moments later and Aino arrived carrying the bowl of Lotus Root soup. After drinking the soup, my throat immediately started to feel better.

"Thank you Aino. I feel better." My voice was hoa.r.s.e but at least it didn't hurt to talk anymore.

"Why didn't you tell me this morning?" I giggled.

"I couldn't. My throat was really hurting, I couldn't even talk." She nodded and took the bowl from the table.

"Aren't you going to report to the Emperor today? He's in his study." I sighed and nodded. Aino and I went outside. Aino separated from me; she was going to the kitchen to put away the bowl. I was on my way to Sora's study. While walking, I pa.s.sed by some servants; they were talking about something. They all seemed excited.

"We should hurry and finish our duties for this week. We don't want to miss the festival tomorrow night."

"Oh yes, I've been waiting for this festival all year. I know they'll be a lot of stalls. I saw Lady Ima had bought a beautiful hair pin today."

I want to go the festival too. What festival is it?

"Excuse me? What festival are you talking about?" The two servants turned around and immediately bowed to me.

"Empress Yukina, we were talking about the Toro Nagas.h.i.+ Festival." Floating lanterns festival?! I WANT TO GO. I thanked the servants and I made my way to Sora's study. How do I convince him to allow me to go to the festival? I really want to go.

I knocked on the door and to my surprise; Seichi opened the door for me.

"h.e.l.lo Empress." Seichi greeted me. He took my hand and kissed it. I retracted my hand and gave him a smile. I stepped inside and saw Sora was sitting on his desk, as usual. I sat down on one of the chairs. I'm waiting for my cue to ask permission. Seichi sat in the chair opposite to me.

"What are you doing here, Empress?" Seichi asked.

"I have to report here every day as ordered by his majesty." I answered with my hoa.r.s.e voice.

"Oh really? My brother can't get enough of his beautiful wife, huh?" Seichi teased. Sora stood up and punched his head again.

"Itai! Would you stop doing that?" Seichi ma.s.saged his head.

"When are you going to leave?" Sora asked impatiently. I giggled.

"You want me to leave already? Didn't you miss me?" Sora shook his head and was about to punch him again but I stopped him.

"Stop it, he's going to get a head injury if you keep hitting him." Frankly, your brother kind of deserves it being an arrogant and annoying p.r.i.c.k, and all. But I want you to be in a good mood so you'll allow me to go. Sora sat back down and continued with his work.

"I'm going for a walk." Seichi announced. He waved goodbye to me and left the room.

"I have a meeting with the Daimyos tomorrow. Yukina, you should stay inside the palace until I get back." Sora said.

"What time will you be back?"

"Probably in the evening."

"Can I go out?" He looked up from his work and looked at me.

"Go out?"

"It's the floating lantern festival tomorrow. I want to go."

"No." He turned back to his work without explaining.

"What? Why? The other ladies can go, why can't I?" My voice was still hoa.r.s.e. Putting stress on my voice like that, it stings my throat. He slammed one of the scrolls on the table.

"If I say you are not allowed to leave, you will do as I say!" He answered. I step back. His voice, his face, it reminds me of the time he pinned me down on the bed.

I rushed out of the study. He called after me but I didn't listen. I went to Yukio's room to cool my head. When I arrived in Yukio's room, he was on the bed, looking quite bored.

"Hi sweet pea." He looked over to me and smiled.

"Mama! Are you here to play with me?" I nodded. He jumped out of bed and ran up to me.

"Let's go out to play." He grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the garden. When we arrived, we saw Seichi practicing his swordsmans.h.i.+p. When he saw us he put his sword back in its scabbard.

"Seichi-ojisan." Yukio ran up to him and hugged him.

"Yukio, did you come out here to play?" Yukio nodded.

"Mama's going to play with me. Will you play with us too?" Seichi looked at me. I smiled at him.

"Sure. Let's play hide and seek." Yukio agreed. He volunteered to count so Seichi and I hid. I hid behind a tree and Seiichi hid inside a bush. After Yukio finished counting, he wandered around and saw me first. I gave him a hint as to where Seichi was hiding. He jumped into the bush and caught Seichi.

"Hey, how did you find me?" Yukio laughed and ran around the garden while Seichi was chasing him. After we played, we sat down on the gra.s.s and made flower crowns. Yukio made a flower crown and put it on my head.

"Since Mama is the Empress, she deserves to have a crown." I put a crown on his head too.

"And since you are mama's baby, you are also the Prince." He bowed down to me.

"Thank you your majesty." I burst out laughing and hugged him.

"Hey what about me?" Seichi said. Yukio placed a flower crown on his head too. The wind blew and a few leaves scattered where we were sitting. I picked one up.

"Yukio, come here. I want to show you something." He sat on my lap and I placed the leaf on my lips. I played a beautiful tune. It was the only tune I could remember playing. After playing it, Yukio and Seichi were staring at me.

"Wow! How did you do that mama?" I gave him the leaf and told him how to do it. He couldn't let out a single sound from the leaf.

"I didn't get good at this for my first try. I practiced and practiced until I learned how to do it. Do you want to learn how to do it?" Yukio nodded. He proceeded to practice blowing on the flute.

"That was beautiful. I didn't know a leaf could produce something so magnificent." Seichi said.

I learned to play it when I was young. I grew up by the countryside and my mother taught me how to play it. When I became a spy, I used to play the leaf flute when I was out on my very first missions. I was always scared but whenever I play the leaf flute, my worries disappear and I could complete my missions. It became a thing for me. Every time I was given a mission, I would go outside and play the leaf flute before doing the mission. To me it's like a sign of someone telling me "Good Luck".

"A lot of things may surprise you." I said.

"You and Sora are having problems, am I right?" I looked at him and nodded.

"Why is that?" I looked down.

"He doesn't trust me." As simple as that.

"Why? What did he do?"

"An anonymous letter claiming to be from the Northern border said that my father is helping the enemy overthrow the Emperor." Seichi looked shock.

"Well, is he?" I looked at him, my brows furrowed.

"Of course not. My father has no desire for power. He's a general already; he doesn't need to be the Emperor." Seichi put his hand on my shoulder.

"If I know my brother, once he finds out that the letter is fake; he'll do everything in his power to clear your father's name." I hope so. All the more reason to find out who sent that letter.

Seichi volunteered to take Yukio back to his room. I went to the kitchen. I decided to make dinner for Sora and Yukio. And maybe Sora might change his mind once he tastes my delicious cooking. When I entered the kitchen, all the servants bowed at me. I stopped them.

"You don't need to bow to me every time you see me. It's okay if you don't bow when it's just me. I prefer you say hi to me than bow to me." All the servants looked at each other but they didn't answer. I'm going to take that as a yes. I gathered ingredients for katsudon and egg fried rice. I might as well cook for these good people. One of the servants helped me cut the meat and onions. I cooked rice while the others were preparing the stove.

"Your majesty, the ingredients are ready." I thanked her and I cooked the fried rice first. I set it aside then I started to make the katsudon. I put rice in 3 bowls. I decided to make one for Seichi. That idiot will be sulking if I don't give him one. After cooking, I put the bowls in a tray for me to carry. When I was about to leave, the servants stopped me.

"Your majesty, you forgot this one." She pointed to the fried rice. Oops, I forgot to tell them.

"I cooked that for all of you. I hope you'll enjoy it." They were surprised.

"But we couldn't accept this, your majesty." I shook my head.

"It will make me really happy if you enjoyed it. Thank you for helping me today."

"Thank you, your majesty. Your kindness knows no bounds." I smiled at them and left. I went to Yukio's room first.

"Mama, what's that?" He pointed to the tray I was carrying. I set one of the bowls on the table.

"It's your dinner. Mama made it especially for you." I kissed his forehead.

"Itadakimasu." He shouted. When he took a bite, he jumped up.

"It's sooo good." I giggled.

"You just eat there, okay? I'll come to get the bowl back later. I have to give these to your father and uncle." He nodded and continued to eat. I left his room and went to Sora's study. I knocked on the door and Seichi opened it.

"Oh I'm glad you're here." I blurted out. Seichi raised his eyebrow. I stepped inside and place the tray down on the table. I grabbed one of the bowls and handed it to Seichi. I grabbed the other and placed it in front of Sora. He looked up at me and raised his eyebrow.

"Those are your dinner. I hope you enjoy them." I grabbed the tray and I was about to leave.

"You made these?" Seichi asked. I nodded. After a pause, Sora spoke.

"You're still not allowed to leave for the festival tomorrow." I was taken aback.

"I wasn't trying to convince you." I turned on my heel and walked out. I was trying to convince him but he doesn't know that. Stupid Sora.

[The Emperor's View]

"I wasn't trying to convince you." She turned around and walked away. I could clearly see she really wanted to go to the festival tomorrow.

"Why don't you just let her go to the festival? If you're so protective of her, send her out with a guard." I shook my head.

"She's too friendly… and besides, I have to keep my eyes on her. I don't trust anyone else." I looked at Seichi and he was smiling.

"It appears my brother has fallen for this sweet lady." I ignored him.

"I wonder how good Yukina's cooking is." He opened the bowl and was surprised.

"This looks delicious." I was curious to see what he saw so I opened my bowl as well. He was right. It looks delicious. I looked over at Seichi and he was taking a bite. He suddenly froze.

"Hey, Seichi." I called out. He didn't answer. Is it poisoned? I was about to call Akiko when Seichi screamed.

"Wow, it's so good. I can't believe something as delicious as this existed in this world." He exclaimed. I took a bite from mine. He's right. It's delicious. I didn't even know Yukina can cook.

"Brother, if you don't really like her, you can send her to my palace. I'll take care of her." My eyes grew dim. This idiot… I was about to punch him when Yukina entered the room. She brought two teacups with her.

"I brought you some tea." She said. She placed them down on the table. She looked at Seichi and smiled. Why is she smiling at him? Why doesn't she smile at me?

"Seichi, is it good?" Seichi nodded at her. Suddenly, Seichi knelt down on the ground and held Yukina's hand.

"Please Empress, stay with me. Don't stay with my mean brother." Is he digging his own grave? I stood up but Yukina stopped me.

"Seichi, stop digging your own grave. And besides, no matter what you say, Yukio is here. He's my life and I won't trade him for anything in this world." Yukina pulled her hand away. I looked at her. She really loves Yukio and that makes me happy.

"What if I take Yukio?" Before I could react, Yukina punched Seichi on his head.

"Omae wa honto ni baka." After saying that, both of them looked at each other and laughed. I suddenly felt like I didn't belong. That they've known each other for a long time. I cleared my throat and they both looked at me. Yukina had her head down. She left without saying another word to me. Seichi and I continued to eat. After eating, we drank the tea that Yukina gave.

"Even the tea is delicious. I feel like Yukina is good at everything." She is good at everything.

"By the way, do you really believe her father is plotting to overthrow you?" I was taken by surprise by his question.

"Whether I believe it or not, it's still a possibility. I can't ignore it." Seichi shrugged.

"When you leave for your meeting tomorrow, I'll go back to my palace." He stood up and left the room.