Hello ! Well, it has been a while... I am sorry it took me almost a year to update. I made a resolution : I will stop promising to update soon as obviously I can't do it. Rest assured however, I don't intend to abandon this story.
I hope you enjoy these chapters.

As usual, I don't own VK.

Chapter 42: Isaya

Yuuki and Hayato arrived in front of another mansion lost in the middle of nowhere. A pureblood's home, no doubt.

"Whose house is it?" Yuuki asked.

"Isaya's." her grandfather replied.

"Great, you took me to my parent's best friend." she said ironically.

"Don't worry, Isaya is also one of my friends. He won't tell anybody. Besides, he already knows."

"What? Just how many people have you told about me?"

She didn't get a chance to hear his answer as the door opened and a dark-skinned maid appeared. She bowed to them and asked them to follow her. Yuuki was a little angry at Hayato for not giving her all the elements to understand the situation. If Isaya knew about her, what else could he possibly know. They arrived in a dark living room and the maid left them after informing them her master would be with them soon. The back door opened and a slender man with long hair entered the room. When he saw them, he went to Hayato and gave him a warm handshake, he said something to him that Yuuki did not hear. Then, he walked to her and made a small bow before kissing her hand.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Princess Yuuki."

"The pleasure is mine."

Yuuki looked at her grandfather, she was a little angry at him but at the same time she felt that he would explain everything to her. So, she just waited, following them as they that in the armchairs. It turned out that Isaya had been Hayato's prime minister for a few years before he abdicated. It made sense then that he was the first to be contacted by the former king and that he knew about the secrets of his family. It explained also why he had been so close to her parents, he was a lot younger than Hayato logically he got close to the then young prince and princess. Yet, Isaya was not the same as when he was the king's most precious counsellor. When he was young, he was optimistic, he believed that nobles and purebloods could rule together to create a pacific society, he was married to another young pureblood and everything was going perfectly. Since then, he had seen purebloods withdrawing from the public life, the Senate becoming more and more corrupted and the purebloods being used by the senators. He had seen his own wife give her life to turn their child human so that nobody would use her and then this child grew old and died. The old man before her was tired, he was bitter, and he did not want to live anymore. While she was thinking about this, the two men observed her and eventually Isaya talked:

"I never thought I would be back in politics, but I guess it would be a good project for my old years. You're our hope Yuuki, we're outdated old Grandpas now, but you, you're a young ambitious woman, we need you. So, I hope that you'll accept to be the heir."

"Lord Isaya, even if I wanted to, not fulfilling my duties is not in my nature: I already accepted."

"Wonderful. Now for what we need to do. We can't overthrow the Senate without back up, so we need as many supporters as possible. Yuuki, I guess that thanks to you we can count on the Shoutous and the Anadagis. What you could do now is contact the young nobles, start with the monarchists maybe the Aido sisters to begin with. As for me, I can contact Lord Ouri, Lady Shirabuki, Lady Hio and the old monarchists."

"Could you let me contact Shizuka?" Yuuki asked.

"Are you sure?" Hayato asked. "She's not exactly sane and is not so fond of us Kurans."

"I know but I believe I can manage, don't worry. Trust in me. There are things I have wanted to talk about with her for a long time."

"Fine but if at any time you're not comfortable contacting anymore her, call me." Isaya added. "There is another matter to be discussed. Agreeing to succeed to Hayato is not enough, Princess. To make sure that the return of the monarchy will last and that you will have as little opposition as possible, we need to have a guarantee that the bloodline will continue. I assume that marrying Kaname is not likely anymore, so we will have to announce your betrothal to somebody else as soon as possible."

"Finding the somebody is not an issue, but calm down for a minute, in the eyes of the world I'm still Yuuki Kurosu the now ex-human. It is not as if I could easily marry a pureblood let alone the only heir of a family." Yuuki stated.

"Which is why we would have to wait until we have the maximum number of allies. Obviously, they will know so for them, there will be no problem and what can a handful do if we have over half of the purebloods on your side?"

"True enough. And I guess hiding my nature is not a priority anyway. I'm in, I'll talk to Aruto." Yuuki agreed even though it was not as romantic as she would have liked. "I've a question about the succession. What about Senri Shiki?"

"What about him?" Hayato asked.

"He's Uncle's son. Even though Uncle was disowned and Senri is a level B shouldn't he be involved in our cause? Besides, I would like a spy that is a little more discreet and innocent-looking than Arisa."

"I didn't think about him, but I guess he could be included, my only concern is that he was raised by his uncle who is a notorious senator."

"I can talk to him and if he doesn't want to side with us, make him forget." Yuuki said.

Her grandfather nodded.

"I like this idea too." Isaya commented. "If there is nothing else that your Highnesses wanted to discuss, I'll retire to my bedroom, I just woke up from a long sleep and I still feel a little dizzy."

"We are going to go home." Hayato replied.

Chapter 43: Royal duties

After a quick stop at the Kuran manor, Yuuki went home. She was exhausted but happy, not that she would let it show but she appreciated her grandfather's trust.

"How was it? You were gone for long." Aruto said leaning against a wall in the corridor.

"It was enlightening, but I believe we should wait for your parents before I tell you about it." Yuuki told him after a quick kiss.

Being the one calling purebloods for a meeting made Yuuki a bit nervous, but she would have to get used to it if she was to carry her royal duties. Alana, Shizuku, Aruto and Kukai sat around her in the cosy library of the Toma mansion. She looked at their faces one by one wondering how they would react. With an assured voice, she started explaining her meeting with the former king and later with Isaya. To Shizuku's happiness and Aruto's surprise, she revealed that they would have to announce an engagement rather soon. She thankfully had the support of the Tomas who were sick of the corruption within the Senate even though they were much closer to it than the Kurans. Kukai assured her of the support of the Hanadagi family as their heir. To sum it up, the meeting went pretty well.

The only downfall she could find was that there was no stopping Aruto from calling her "princess" now. The next morning, she found only Kukai at breakfast. She had spent very little time alone with him and even though he had grown to like her, she still did not know him well. That is why she was surprised that he agreed to support the Kuran monarchy without consulting his parents first. He must have heard her thoughts because as she was thinking that, he said:

"I don't know how my parents will react to the news, but I will talk to them and even if they don't agree with me, you will always have my support."

"Thank you Kukai, you can't possibly imagine how much that means to me." Yuuki answered.

"You are important to my cousin, and I want him to be happy. I believe that for him to be happy, you have to be happy. And you're nice also, when the time comes you will make a far better leader than the one we have today." he added.

Yuuki realized that she really liked her boyfriend's cousin, he had become a part of the household since he arrived. Speaking of cousins, she had to find a way to contact hers. The problems were consequent. First and foremost, he did not know who she was. And, of course, he was very busy. When he was not sleeping or in the Night Class, he was modelling. Worse, Rima was always by his side. Yuuki had no choice but to kidnap her cousin. It was not ideal, but it would have to do.

When Shiki Senri got out of his next shooting, moments before Rima, who was still thanking the crew, pushed the door as well, an army of butterflies abducted him. Yuuki knew that transporting someone who had not drank her blood before would hurt him, but she counted on their family bond. It did not work that well judging by the face he made when they landed in one of the many living rooms of the Kuran manor.

"What on earth?" was the noble's first reaction.

"Hello Senri. Please take a sit. I'm sorry for kidnapping you, but I couldn't think of a better way." Yuuki already sitting in an armchair said.

"Kurosu?"

"Not exactly." as he reacted with an even more confused face, she went on "I mean it is me, but I am not a Kurosu, I'm a Kuran." Better tell him the truth brutally, they would lose less time.

"No, you're not, Juuri and Haruka Kuran never had a daughter."

"They had one whom they hid from the Senate. Do I look like a normal vampire or an ex-human to you? Can you explain Kaname's attachment to me any other way?" she asked.

"No, indeed. But if you're a Kuran and you woke up to that fact, how come you're not with your long-lost parents right now?"

"They apparently don't miss me that much and I needed time to figure things on my own." she explained.

"That doesn't explain why you brought me here… Lady Kuran."

"I called you here because you're Uncle's son."

"I heard that, yes…"

"And even if he was disowned, this sanction should not apply to his descendants, it doesn't matter that you're a noble."

"And what is there to own?"

"A crown."

"The Kuran monarchy was abolished by your grandfather."

"Well our grandfather wants to end the corrupted Senate and reinstall the said monarchy."

"What does it have to do with me?"

"We need heirs, Kaname is not eligible as thanks to your father, he's not my brother but my ancestor. I'm first in line, but we need a second, that's why you're here."

"What happens if I refuse?" Shiki, who looked like he started to think he needed an overdue family history lesson, asked.

"I erase your memory and send you home."

"And if I agree?"

"You don't talk about it with any other Kuran than Hayato or me, you keep my secret and you start your family duties."

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Yuuki could almost see the mechanic spinning behind his eyes. It was the first time somebody asked him his opinion, she could tell. She counted on that to make him go her way.

"Don't get yourself killed, I don't want to be king."

"I don't want to die, don't worry."

"Count me in then."

Chatting casually with him was surprisingly more interesting than she had anticipated. At nightfall, she took him back to the Academy discreetly. There he asked her one last question.

"Cousin, what will you do about my father?"

"I don't know yet."

"Please, before you try anything, tell me about it."

"I will."

So, what do you think ?