"Mummy!" Shouted Greta as she ran to me from the courtyard. I smiled, kneeling to her and letting her hug me. My wound had nearly completely closed during the time I was unconscious so I was allowed out my room. Conrart stood beside me, watching happily. Anissina approached with a big smile on her face. I think Greta had grown on her.

"Mummy! Are you better now?" Greta asked, pulling away from me to look at me worriedly. I gave her a smile, giggling.

"Nearly all better! Thank you, Anissina" I stated, standing back up to give her a thankful smile.

"Naturally. She's quite an intelligent little girl. She helped me come up with quite a few experiments I'll create soon!" Anissina stated, making me instantly worried for the safety of everyone in the castle.

"Mummy! Kitty!" Greta stated happily, lifting up Seraphina in her arms clumsily. I giggled, seeing the unimpressed look on her face.

"Daddy! Look at the kitty!" Greta suddenly said, making me freeze. Wait, who was Daddy?

"I see, Greta! Seraphina looks like a doll, doesn't she?" Conrart stated, smiling as he knelt down, patting Seraphina's head. Oh, Conrart was Daddy… wait… Conrart was Daddy? When did this happen?

"U-Um… Gunter? C-Can I talk to you?" I asked, turning to look at Gunter as he looked almost amazed at the fact that I said I wanted to talk to him. He led me to the study, closing the door behind him and turned to look at me.

"Um… I was wondering… Would I be able to adopt Greta?" I asked, seeing him look shocked. He then began to smile gently at me, almost smirking to himself.

"We had a feeling you'd ask that when you woke up. Conrart's already adopted her as your daughter. So now we have the Queen, the Princess and soon to be Prince. Seeing as Conrart is not technically royalty anymore, he cannot assume the role of King, merely Prince or Duke" Gunter explained. I smiled, understanding what he was saying. I looked out at the door, feeling happy about the fact that knew me so well.

"Oh, and your brother is leading one of our armies on the borderline of our country. There was a dispute there, so he's there to gain some experience. Gwendal is there too to help him out." Gunter explained. I thought to myself for a while.

"Are they aware that I'm awake yet?" I asked, looking at him. He shook his head.

"Okay, then I want to go there. I want Yuri to relax and see that I'm awake. Even though he probably already knows, I'd still like to surprise them!" I asked, seeing Gunter sigh.

"I know there's no stopping you… and getting you out may allow us to catch the people trying to take your life" Gunter stated, smiling halfheartedly. I giggled in triumph, exiting the room after thanking him. I walked over to where everyone else was, seeing Greta on Conrart's shoulders, giggling happily.

"Conrart, I'm heading over to where Gwendal and Yuri are. Do you want to come with me, or are you staying here?" I asked. Conrart looked shocked, but smiled regardless.

"I'll come with you, Kazumi. Wolfram, Murata, and I will accompany you. Anymore would give away that you were leaving with us" Conrart stated, already aware that Gunter was going to try and catch the assassins while we were gone.

"You go see your brother. I'll stay here and pretend to be you so the assassins won't know you've left." Hisako stated, giggling at me. I gave her a thankful look, hugging her tightly.

"Hisako! Thank you!" I exclaimed, feeling her freeze up in my hold. She twitched uncomfortably and then began to slowly relax.

"Y-Yeah… okay… You can stop hugging me now…" Hisako stated, sounding very awkward. I giggled, letting her go and holding her shoulders.

"You're the best!" I exclaimed, giving her a grin. She sighed, looking like she was wondering how on earth she got stuck with me again.

"Fine! Whatever! Go!" she said exaggeratedly, then gave me a smile. I giggled, turning to look at Conrart, seeing him smiling at me. Greta gave me a curious look and I gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Mummy and daddy have to go for a little. But I promise I'll be back in a few days, okay?" I stated, kneeling to her and seeing her smile at me.

"Okay, mummy!" she exclaimed, hugging me. Hisako sighed, giving me a strange look. It was mixed with multiple emotions, but the main one I could see was that she knew she wasn't good with children. She'll have a hard time dealing with Greta.

"Alright, men! Are we ready to go?" Yelled Conrart, going into military mode. I sat on my horse, a brown cloak covering me so no one could tell my identity. Murata sat on the back of Wolfram's horse, and all four of us were wearing cloaks. This was to try and fool the assassins. I don't really know how this was supposed to trick them, but Wolfram claimed it would work. All of Conrart's squad sat on their horses behind us, shouting out that they were ready. None of them were cloaked though. They all looked like average men, but beautiful like Wolfram or Gwendal's squad.

"Come on, let's go see how Yuri's doing" Murata suggested, laughing when Wolfram huffed to himself.

"We're off!" Conrart commanded, leading his horse out in the lead. I made my horse follow after Wolfram and Murata, then the rest of the squad followed behind us. It took a while, but eventually we made it to a creek at the halfway point. We stopped to let the horses graze and drink, while we sat on a blanket, eating our lunch.

"So, what'd the maids pack for us today?" Murata asked aloud as he opened the box and blinked when he saw a traditional Japanese style bento. I leaned closer, gasping when I noticed what it was.

"What the? That's Japanese…" I stated, pulling out an octopus shaped wiener.

"What the hell is that?" Wolfram exclaimed, looking almost mortified for some reason. It wasn't that bad looking was it? I turned the wiener around, freezing when I saw what had shocked him. The wiener had a horribly etched face drawn on it, making it look almost demonic. I sighed.

"Hisako…" I sighed. I should've known she'd do something like this.

"Well! Bon appétit! Thank you Hisako for this meal!" Murata thanked, grabbing the wiener out my hand and popping it in his mouth. I reached out for it, trying to stop him.

"Ah! Murata! No! Don't!" I tried to warn him, but it was too late. He'd already begun eating it. He chewed for a few seconds, making me think that maybe this one was safe, but his face suddenly froze and his cheeks began going red. I felt panic begin to set in.

"Murata? Murata! Murata, talk to me! What's wrong?" I asked, feeling panicked at the fact that Murata was choking. Turns out he wasn't choking, but the food had been way too spicy, as I found out when Murata suddenly yelled out that it was hot and he needed about two bottles of water. I sighed in relief, laying flat on my stomach to relax. After that panic attack, nearly all my strength was gone and my legs felt like jell-o. Murata was laying on his back, a bottle of water stuck in his mouth and he was pretty much breathing in the water.

Wolfram sat with his back turned to us. I had no clue what he was doing. Conrart returned from patrolling the area to give us curious looks.

"What on earth happened here?" he asked, looking worried.

"Hisako's cooking…" I replied, seeing him chuckle at Murata. His cheeks were still red from the spices, but at least he could finally go a few seconds without having to drink something.

"Murata ended up becoming the guinea pig. One sausage ended up burning his mouth." I explained, hearing Conrart laugh.

"I don't get what you guys are talking about, this stuff's good!" Wolfram stated, turned to reveal he'd eaten more than half of the bento already. Murata and I sat up, looking shocked at the fact that Wolfram hadn't begun cursing or burst into flames already.

"Eh? You can eat that Wolfram?" I exclaimed, looking amazed. Wolfram looked down at the bento, putting some of the omelet in his mouth.

"Well yeah, it's a little spicy, but it's edible" Wolfram explained, his mouth still full.

"You're incredible, you know that?" Murata stated, seeing Wolfram looked confused. He chuckled, giving me a smile as Wolfram just looked even more confused.

"Goodness… looks like I missed out on all the fun." Conrart stated, sitting by us and pulling out the other lunch the maids had cooked. This was a proper lunch, one that Hisako hadn't touched. Well, I probably shouldn't say proper, cause the one Hisako made was a proper bento, but edible would probably be the better word. I gave Conrart a grateful smile as Murata did the same and we began eating the lunch.

"Alright, let's get to our destination before nightfall!" Conrart yelled to the men as we all rode on our horses, heading to the village my brother and Gwendal were at. I was beginning to get excited at seeing Yuri. It felt like forever since I had last seen him.

Our riding arrangement was the same, much to Wolfram's disgust at the fact that Murata was behind him, and eventually we saw the outline of the village in view. I gasped, seeing the village looked almost abandoned. Just what had happened?

"This is horrible…" Murata stated, jumping off the horse and heading for one of the houses.

"Murata!" I called out, jumping off my own horse and following after him quickly. I entered the house after him, looking to my left and right before I bumped into his back. I glanced at him curiously.

"What made you stop?" I asked, peering over his shoulder and freezing. My blood froze cold, as I remained fixed like a statue. I'd never seen so much of the color red. Three mangled bodies of what looked like young children lay sprawled on the ground. They were cut into pieces and almost all their blood had splattered across the floor and walls. I couldn't even tell what had been used to kill these children, and their identities would remain forever a secret. They were too mangled to ever be put together again.

"This is…" Murata began to say, looking as pale as a ghost. My stomach began churning.

"Kazumi? We should go…" Conrart began to say with Wolfram behind him when they spotted the bodies of the children. Conrart gasped, looking horrified as Wolfram exited the house quickly.

"This is disgusting…" I stated, kneeling down by the bodies of the children. I'm pretty sure blood was getting on my pants, but I didn't care. I brushed some of the hair from the head of one of the children, gasping at his expression and the state his head was in. The top, right side of his head had been smashed off and I could see bits of the inside of his skull. His expression was one of utter horror. I gently ran my hand along his cheek, saying a prayer inside my head for his family and for him.

"We should leave now." Murata stated, putting a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him, and he saw how pale my skin had gotten.

"How could someone do this? These are innocent children with their entire lives ahead of them! How could someone honestly take pleasure in this kind of thing?" I exclaimed, feeling tears begin to fall down my cheeks. Murata gave me a sympathetic look, helping me stand.

"I don't know… Some people just do…" Murata stated, beginning to lead me out. Conrart glanced back at the children, sighing, then exited after us.

"I just don't get it…" I muttered, looking down as we exited the house, but stopped when we heard Wolfram yell out. I gasped, running to him when I saw something come at me at an incredible speed. I jumped back to dodge, falling on my backside.

"Kazumi! Run!" Wolfram yelled, hitting the cloaked man that had tried to hit me. I looked up fearfully, seeing him glare at me, trying to strike at me. The entire cavalry had been knocked unconscious and now it was only Wolfram, Murata, Conrart, and myself left conscious. I screamed, covering my face with my arms when someone suddenly tackled me out the way. I looked up, seeing Murata glare at the cloaked assassin who had just tried to strike me. Conrart ran out the house after hearing our screams, but was suddenly entangled in ropes by a trap some other assassins had set by the door. I gasped, seeing him struggle to free his arms, which were tied to his sides.

"This isn't good! Run, Kazumi!" Murata exclaimed, pushing me away as the assassin came at us again. Murata prepared himself for the worst when Wolfram jumped in front, the clanging of metal ringing through the area.

"Wolfram!" I called out, looking around fearfully.

"Kazumi! You have to run! This whole thing was a set up! You have to get out of here! You have your sword with you. Use it to protect yourself! Now go! Find Gwendal and Yuri! They're in the next town!" Wolfram shouted, looking at us. Murata turned to give me a serious look.

"Go! Now!" he shouted, giving me a final push and I began running in the direction I had been pushed to. I glanced back at them, worried that they might be killed, but I continued running.

After about half an hour of running, I finally began seeing the outskirts of the town Gwendal and Yuri were in. I sighed in relief, my running beginning to slow down when I tripped on something sharp. I fell forward, breaking my fall with my arms. I looked at what I had tripped on, gasping to see a wire. I looked up, seeing one of the cloaked assassins walk towards me. I tried to push myself away from him, realizing I was trapped. I saw his sword rise up to strike me, making me gasp. Everything seemed to run in slow motion, the sword flew down at me, and all I saw was red as my scream ripped through the area.

"That was Kazumi!" Wolfram shouted, gasping as he looked at the direction of the scream. Conrart, Wolfram and Murata had been freed from their bindings when she ran off, and they were in pursuit on their horses. Conrart wasted no time; he immediately began galloping in the direction of the scream. He only prayed he wasn't too late. Wolfram and Murata galloped after him, arriving at the spot to see nothing but a large pool of blood and Kazumi's sword laying on the ground. Conrart stood there, looking down at the pool of blood with a horrified expression. He knelt, looking like he was trying to reach for the blood, but grabbed the sword, holding it in his hands. He grit his teeth, inhaling.

"KAZUMI!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, praying she would hear the shout and yell out to him in return. But no other sound resonated from the area except for the heavy rain that began to fall.

SEE YOU IN SEASON 2!