"Miss, miss Anastasia, you remember me!" Said Hans with a smile.

Hans felt warm when he heard that someone as famous and great as the princess of the north remembered him, a simple peasant.

Hans ignored though, that, his act of bravery was the trigger for Anastasia's change, in her mind, she could never forget this young man.

"Of course, I do, wanna come in?" Said Anastasia.

"But…" Said Hans while looking at the guard.

"What, in here, I am the one who orders around" Said Anastasia.

She turned to look at the guard.

"Isn't that right?"

"Yes- yes, as the young princess order" Said the guard.

"Come, I was just about to play with my cousin" Said Anastasia.

Hans entered the manor, to him, who has always lived in a worm-out house in the poorest neighborhoods of Yellow City, this manor seemed like a completely new world.

Both walked to the backyard, in a huge garden, a young man was reading a book near a tree.

"Cousin!" Shouted Anastasia excited.

"Anastasia, is that you?" Said the young man with a smile.

Hans looked at the elegant manner of the young man and his clean clothes, he couldn't feel the difference between the worlds between his and Anastasia's.

"Oh, you came with a friend?" Asked the young man.

"Yeah! Let me introduce you, Hans this is my cousin, Pierre Veritia, cousin, this is Hans, my…" Anastasia wanted to say more but she suddenly blushed and didn't say anything.

Pierre looked at Anastasia's reaction and laughed a little.

 "Hi Hans, a pleasure to meet you" Said Pierre while extending his hand.

"The- the pleasure is mi- mine" Said Hans.

He wanted to shook the other party's hand, however, he looked at his dirty hand and stopped midway.

Pierre looked at this reaction and laughed, he grabbed the Hand of Hans.

"That's better, isn't it?" Said Pierre.

"Ye- yeah!" Said Hans.

Anastasia looked at both and smiled warmly.

For the rest of the afternoon, the trio spent a lot of time chatting about the adventures of Pierre and Anastasia.

"Anastasia"

A voice interrupted the trio. Anastasia trembled a little after hearing the voice.

"Bro- brother Claude" Said Anastasia.

"Pierre" Said Claude Flatly.

"Claude" Answered

"Pierre, It's good to have you heard, however, its already late, Anastasia has to wake up early" Said Claude.

"Come on Claude, let's be clear, it's only 5 at most" Said Claude with a smile.

"It's only that you can't stand seing your sister get near a plebeian" Said Pierre.

"…" Claude looked at Pierre with his cold eyes.

"A usual you are not only pedantic but also annoying" Said Claude.

"It's a gift" Said Pierre.

Claude turned to look at Hans.

"Don't be mistaken, it's nothing personal, the blood of us, the Boltor family, can't be mixed with lowly blood like yours"

"And given the fact that her blood is already... stained…" Said Claude.

"Claude"

Pierre abandon his calm demeanor and give a murderous gaze to Claude.

"Be careful how you talk, don't think that just because we are in the Boltor manor"

"I don't dare to kill you" Said Pierre icily.

 "You don't scare me, Pierre" Said Claude with a smile.

Both looked at each other for some seconds before Claude turned to look at Anastasia.

"The show is over, come" Said Claude.

He turned around and went on his way to the manor, Anastasia only lowed her head and follow besides Claude.

Hans wanted to said something but Pierre stopped him.

"You can't be by her side"

"Not now at least" Said Pierre.

"…" Hans looked at Pierre and knew what he was talking about.

"Each year, the Boltor family has a compet.i.tion to select guards, if you want to be by the side of Anastasia, you not only have to enter but you have to excel, if you can impress the chief guard, then, you might be selected as Anastasia personal guard" Said Pierre.

"Personal guard" Murmured Hans.

"Don't worry, I will help you" Said Pierre with a smile.

"Bu- but why?" Asked Hans.

"Because I will love to see the stupid face of Claude when he sees you being the guard of Anastasia" Said Pierre.

"…" Hans was speechless.

Like this, Pierre began a spartan like training with Hans, of course, this training was an absolute secret, for this, Pierre took Hans to the Veritia manor in secret.

If was quite training, not only did Pierre help but also the Queen of winds, Alison Veritia also gave pointers every now and then, as for why… well…

"The face of that idiot Karl and pedant Claude is worth the effort!"

"…" Hans was speechless by this pair of mother and son.

........................….

[Meanwhile, in the manor house of the Boltor family]

"Really!? Cousin you are lying right!?" Asked Anastasia with excitement.

"Haha, why would lie to you? That boy is living h.e.l.l right now, mom sure is as strict as ever" Said Pierre.

"Don't bully him too much cousin" Said Anastasia.

"You really care a lot for that kid, don't you?" Asked Pierre with a smile.

"I…" Anastasia blushed.

"Haha, don't worry about it, he can make it" Said Pierre with confidence.

"Mmm…" Nodded Anastasia.

After Pierre left, Anastasia stood in her room thinking.

She remembered the scene back when Hans came to the manor. Especially, she remembered that stupid happy face of his when he saw her.

She couldn't help but blush a little.

"Come back soon" Murmured Anastasia after looking at the starry sky.

 Soon enough it was the day of the compet.i.tion. Pierre as well as her mother were invited to the event, however, this was more of a formality, after all, Alisson didn't give one s.h.i.+t about this kind of events, so, usually, the only one who came was Pierre.

However, that year, something unexpected happened.

" Alisson?" Asked Karl after seeing the woman accompanying Pierre.

"Wow, that stupid face that you do every time you see me remains the same after all these years, surely you are a simple man, aren't you karl?" Said Alisson.

"Alisson please, not here" Murmured Karl.

"h.e.l.lo, lord Boltor" Said Pierre gracefully.

"Pierre, as always, is nice to see you" Said Karl with a smile.

"You honor me with your words" Said Pierre.

"Father"

A voice came from behind Karl.

"Claude, son, come here" Said Karl.

"It's a pleasure to see you healthy, Queen of Winds" Said Claude.

"It's good to see you too, Claude"Said Alisson.

"Pierre"

"Claude"

The sparks were almost tangible when these two greeted each other.

""As always these two are like fire and water""  Though Karl and Alisson.

"The compet.i.tion is about to start" Said Karl.

Alisson and Karl when on their way while Claude and Pierre stayed behind.

"I have a small surprise for you this year" Said Pierre with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Said Claude.

"Hehe, you will see" Said Pierre.

 With an enigmatic smile, he left to follow her mother and Karl.

"This some of a b.i.t.c.h, what is he planning" Though Claude.