Rose awakes in a bedroom, and a fancy one at that. There were expensive looking paintings on the walls, a large bookshelf on one of the walls, filled with books that she had never even heard of. Looking down, there was a large, dark green rug with the Kingdom's crest on it covering most of the floor. There was the big bed she was in, but across from her sat Hiro in a chair next to a desk.
"How did you sleep?" Questions Hiro, while sitting backwards in a chair looking at Rose.
"Fine, but where exactly are we? I remember getting on your back and then waking up here." Asks Rose.
"Sounds about right. I tried talking to you, but you were asleep almost instantly. Aside from that, I have a few "friends" to introduce you to. Also, you have a new name. Starting today, you are Rose Azor."
"Azor? Like the Royal family? Why is my name being changed in the first place?"
"When I said that you would work for me, I meant that you would become a member of the family. In doing so, you now belong to the most prestigious family in the kingdom, along with Vanessa, Rex, and myself. Instead of thinking of it as working for me, think of it as working with me."
Rose is assaulted by multiple different thoughts and emotions. For once, she's feeling a sense of responsibility, but at the same time, she feels like she can't handle the weight of a name as important as this.
Hiro, seeing her mixed emotions written on her face, says "Don't get too worked up about the name. If you feel like you've got to live up to some grand ideal of royalty, you can stress about it outside the palace. While you're here, you can relax and be yourself."
Hiro says in an attempt to reassure her. His words do put her slightly at ease, but she still does feel a little out of place in the palace, and in such close company with the King. She then gets up and follows him out of the room.
Upon leaving the bedroom, she stands in awe of the Royal palace's interior. There were glass chandelier's hanging throughout the foyer with a long red carpet rolled down the center, lined with gold that led to the throne room. As they walked through the entrance hall, she saw maids and attendants smiling and waving at Hiro as they happily performed their tasks.
"Good morning M'Lord."
"Good day, Lord Azor."
"How are you doing today, Madam Azor?"
Madam? Thought Rose, as she wondered who said that, and who she was talking about. After looking around for a second, and noticing Hiro stopped walking, she looked over his shoulder to see a woman a few years older than Hiro with pink hair in a maids uniform in front of them, smiling gleefully at her.
"You know, I am your King." Hiro states to the woman.
"And I am your elder." Asserts the woman, looking at him with a strained smile.
"I was asking her a question." Turning back to Rose, the woman says, "My name is Helen Azor, and I am Hiro's personal attendant and head of palace affairs. He told me that someone was here who would be inheriting the family name, but nothing else. Would that someone be you, perhaps?"
"Y-Yes ma'am, that would be me. My name is Rose. Oh- I mean, uh, not just Rose, but Rose Azor. As of today, at least." Nervously stutters Rose while sticking her hand out for a handshake. Helen grabs her hand, and pulls her in for a hug.
"Sorry, but I'm more of a hugger rather than a handshaker." As Helen says this she hears a whimper of sorts from Rose and notices a tear roll down her face.
Helen hugs her tighter and asks what's wrong, and Rose responds, "It's nothing really. I just... haven't been hugged by anyone since my mom passed away a few years ago."
Rose, hugging her tightly, between sniffles, says, "I'm sorry if I'm messing up your clothes or something, but can we stay like this for a minute?".
Hearing this, Hiro puts a hand on their backs, whispers something to Helen, and walks off down the hall. Rose and Helen stand there, holding each other tightly as Rose cries into her arms. After a few minutes of this, she starts to straighten up a bit and begins to let go of Helen, she wipes her face on her sleeves, saying, "Thanks for that. It's just been a hard few weeks, well, years really." She says through a weak, half smile.
"Anytime, Madam Azor." Says Helen as she lets go. "You should get going. Hiro likely went to his study to wait for you."
"Yes ma'am. But before I go, I have a question for you." Says Rose as she looks down the hall for what might be Hiro's study.
"If you're looking for his study, it's the second door on your left down the hall." Says Helen as she turns and begins to walk away.
"Thank you for that, but that's not what I wanted to ask. Why do you call him by his first name, when everyone calls him 'Lord Azor' or 'M'Lord'?" Rose responds curiously.
"Oh, that. I've known Hiro and Rex for quite some time. Thinking about it now, I've known them since Lady Vanessa brought them here. To me, they still feel like my younger brothers, so I guess I haven't quite broken out of my informal ways yet." Says Helen. "I make sure only to call them by their first names in the palace when there aren't any guests."
"That wasn't what I expected, but that works too." Rose mumbles to herself as walks off towards Hiro's study.
"Who's that other guy she mentioned? Rex? Also, they were brought here? Vanessa adopted them? I've got a load of questions for him." She thinks these things to herself as walks down the long lavish hallways of the Royal Palace. She walks up to the rather plain looking door and opens it, revealing a small room with bookshelves lining the walls, with Hiro sitting behind a desk reading a book.
"There you are." He says as he closes the book and sets it down.
"I see you took a liking to Helen? She's been a great help to me in many ways for over the years."
"Oh. Sorry about that, I just couldn't control myself. I thought I was over it for the most part, but I guess I wasn't after all." She says looking down in an almost embarrassed tone.
"My mother was executed for about a decade's worth of accounts of theft about four years ago, and since then I've been too busy stealing and trying not to get arrested to really get a chance to grieve. To be honest I've had mixed feelings about the whole thing. She was arrested and executed for stealing, but she was stealing for my sake. To make sure that I had the things I needed, like food and water. It's a bit hard to know that you're the reason for your mother's death." She explains, starting to tear up a little. As she explains, Hiro's expression shifts from empathetic, to a more annoyed, almost upset expression.
"I'm sorry you had to go through something like that at such a young age. If you'd like, I could give you some time before moving on into your responsibil-"
"No sir, that's not necessary." Rose says, cutting Hiro off. "I'll be fine. You said you have a job for me to do, so I'm here to do it. Besides, I can't just sit around and mope while you give me a place to live and food to eat for free." Rose says with a determined look on her face.
"Good. If you've made up your mind, I can introduce you to your instructor."
"Instructor? For what exactly?" She says as the door to Hiro's study bursts open as a young man lunges into the room, attempting to punch her in the chest. She teleported at the last second behind Hiro's chair. Upon closer inspection, she sees the young man is about the same age as Hiro, but slightly shorter with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slight grin on his face.
"This is Rex, your instructor. I apologize for his lack of etiquette. He isn't very 'graceful' when it comes to meeting people either." Hiro says while burying his face in one of his hands.
"I like your quick reaction to teleport to safety, but if I were in your position I would have teleported behind the assailant and counterattacked." Rex says straightening himself out and patting the dust off of his clothes.280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEpcdVkrQk
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"Remember that when you are with Hiro, regardless of location or situation, you are to put his safety above your own. I understand he has the capacity to defend himself, but as King, he has people such as you and I who are to make sure he doesn't have to." Says Rex as he continues to lecture Rose.
"Yes, yes, you make an excellent point Rex, however she's only been here for a day and hasn't yet been told what her job is yet. Hiro says in defense of Rose.
Turning to Rose, he says, "That is half of your job here. To that end, you will train with Rex in order to master your ability, as well as learn to hold your own in combat. For the protection of myself, but also for your own safety. The rest of your job will come afterwards."
"In a week's time I'll turn you into one of the greatest warriors in Rahu!" Rex exclaims. "A week?! I'm not a fighter and I barely know how to use my ability, but if you say so Mr. Hi- um I mean Lord Azor." Rose says, stumbling to find the correct title.
"In the palace, Mr. Hiro is fine. Just make sure to remember when we're outside." Hiro says, chuckling to himself.
"With that being said, our meeting can conclude. I'll speak with you both again tomorrow afternoon, but until then feel free to take the rest of the day to yourselves. If you'll both excuse me, I have some work to do. Send Helen here if one of you see her." He says as he gestures to the door.
Rex and Rose both exit the study, closing the door behind them.
"I would stay and show you around but I've got to check on the police force. They've been struggling to catch a suspicious individual and they asked me to help." Rex says as he walks briskly towards the foyer.
"Why you specifically? Mr. Hiro didn't tell me anything about you, but you don't seem like the type of person to collect clues or anything like that." Rose questions as she jogs to keep pace with him. "He didn't tell you anything about me? Well, for starters, I'm his brother. I'm also the strongest person in the kingdom." He says in a boastful tone. "If you are the strongest, why didn't Mr. Hiro say it when he introduced you? Seems like too important of a detail to forget to mention. You might be strong, but the strongest? I just don't believe it." She says, doubtful of the truth of his statement. "I guess I don't look like it, but you'll see for yourself during your training tomorrow." He says with a grin on his face as he trots off. After he leaves, Rose feels like she's seen him before. After a few moments of recalling her memories, she realizes that he's the blond haired man from the day she got arrested. All of a sudden, his claim of being the strongest might not have been so farfetched after all.
Rose is now left to her own devices in the palace, with nothing left to do. She decides to go look around the palace for herself and find Helen while she's at it. She walks further down the hallway and finds many doors and facilities. She sees a large courtyard in the center, with a variety of trees and shrubbery riddled throughout it. She also finds a kitchen, dining room, various bedrooms, and meeting rooms and other doors that lead to rooms with purposes unknown to herself. As She sees these things, strolling throughout the lavish hallways of the palace, she stops and takes note of all of the artwork displayed on the walls. Some of it is just basic landscapes and painting overlooking the capital, but a large portion of it depicts Vanessa in various poses and battles. "They say she's a very bold and charismatic person. However, she's more than that to some of us in the palace." Says Helen as she turns the corner to see Rose staring up at a painting of Vanessa. "Can I talk to her? I want to ask her about my mother." Rose says, with a disgruntled look on her face.
Helen sighs and says, "Not today. Vanessa is actually heavily injured at the moment. She was injured in the fight with the mana beast three weeks ago and has been fading in and out of consciousness. She has been getting better, but I doubt you want to see her the way she is." She says with a downed look on her face. "Her wound is actually the reason why Hiro became King so suddenly. She was too hurt to continue her duties as King. Before her injury worsened, she gave a short speech announcing that Hiro would succeed her. In the days following, she struggled to stay conscious and eventually went into the state she's in now."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Guess I shouldn't have asked." Rose says while turning away from her. "No, it's fine. Given your position, you deserve to know. However, this cannot leave the palace. There are certain people who might act out if they were to hear about Vanessa's condition." She says sternly to Rose. "Yes ma'am. I think I'm going to head to my room and call it a day." Rose says as she walks away. "Are you sure? It's still early." Says Helen in a concerned tone. "Yeah it's fine. I have a lot to think about." Rose says as she sighs and continues to walk to her room.
When she arrives, she plops down in her bed and shoves her pillow in her face. There were a lot of things that she learned today and she felt like she needed to take some time to process them. Looking up at the ceiling, she talks to herself, saying, "I wonder what Mom would think of my situation. If she were in my shoes, would she have fought back against Hiro? Would she have tried to run away? Would she try to trust any of these people?". She questions herself while tossing and turning in her bed, trying to get her thoughts together. After a few seconds of this, she sits up to observe the room around her. "One thing I can say for certain is that she would be glad to see I'm not on the street anymore." She says with a smile on her face. "I guess I can't be one hundred percent sure about how she'd feel, but I don't think she would be upset at my situation. I'm surrounded by people that I think I can trust, so it can't be that bad." She says, accepting her situation for what it is. As this realization sets in, she begins to grow tired and lays back in her bed, falling asleep, awaiting her training the following day.
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