I serve a tyrannical ruler!

Tyrant King- the final arc- bad end route...

Flames reached high into the sky as though they were towers- no maybe people, standing over the land condemning it, expressions of sneers flickers within the tips of their dancing points. The sky was flared in a bright and smouldering orange, blocking out the sun, leaving the land solely lit up by the flames that whisper violently through the heavy smoke. The air was arid and dry, breathing felt as though it would ignite your very lungs. It was upon the smouldering embers and wreckage of a fallen kingdom that Astaria now lay, burns stretching across her skin which now felt as though it was melting, her insides being cooked in the oven that once was her home. Her golden hair was slowly burning up, becoming one with the ashes of the country as she looked over to her left upon the approaching of footsteps beside her.

Next to her stood the Tyrant king, an empty look in his eyes of deep crimson as he stared upon the girls dying body, only he left standing in the land of ashes and fire. His face was splashed with that of dried blood, blood from the soldiers and perhaps innocents of the country, Astaria's eyes widening to this as she turned her face to look at the king properly.

"A-Ah- Hah-" she tried to get the words out, however the fire had already dried out her throat so much that nothing but the rasped would be's of words came out.

"You'll be better off not wasting your energy more... There's no point in fighting your fate, you should let it consume you..." the king told Astaria, who frantically tried to get the words out, somehow tears still finding their way out of her eyes as she writhed in frustration. The king looked up to the sky above, watching the flickers of orange skirt around the sky as though confetti to celebrate the fall of an empire. "I did it you know..." the king mentioned, raising up his blood stained hands a hollow look in his eye. "I killed that man finally... just like I always said I would. I cut off his head in front of the entire imperial palace... and with him I took all the people who lived there too" the king went on as a flame flickered upon his hand, a look of shock growing in Astaria's face... before it turned to that of pain as she tried to move her body, closer over to him. "Yet... it's funny... it wasn't enough. None of it was. It didn't give me any satisfaction at all... so I decided I would keep on burning..."

It was then that a hand grabbed hold of the kings foot as he looked down, to see the sobbing Astaria at his feet, still trying to talk to him... The king looked at Astaria, not a change of expression on his face.

"You know... I always hated this country... I didn't feel a thing for this place in which I was born trapped in, nor for it's people..." The king continued as his eyes narrowed as they looked back up, a twinge of something lying deep within them. "How come is it though, at it's downfall, I feel the emptiness in my chest growing ever bigger... it's as though I was never destined to be free..."

Astaria gripped onto the king tighter, rolling into her back, angered by her own inability, when it was then that the king knelt down before her, placing his hands over her eyes.

"You are enduring so much, clinging on for a hope that isn't there... I can say that out of everyone, you were the one I didn't want caught in the cross fires of this mess... however you make a habit of getting involved with things you shouldn't... However..." Astaria flinched somewhat as she heard a blade unsheathe... the king brought out a dagger. "At the very least I can free you from your suffering now..." he told her as Astaria tensed up her body... why...? Why has things become like this...? "Do not resent me however... You will not be leaving this world alone. I will shortly be following you... There is nothing that ties me to this world anymore... I won't indulge in life when I took it from so many..." The king told her as Astaria's gripped hand slowly took hold of his own and lowered it away from her eyes, a pained expression on her face. Could she get through to him at all? Was there nothing at all she could do to stop this? The king stared into her face, his mouth hanging open for a moment... before it shut... he raised up the dagger. "I see, you wish to confront death with courage huh? I have to say out of the two of us, I was being cowardly. I didn't want to see that determined light leave your eyes..." he told her, raising the dagger some more as Astaria winced to this. "But I too will confront this end with some courage... So rest easy..."

Astaria saw the dagger glint off the flames of the sky around them as she realised, the truly wasn't any other end for this story now... it was to this that she decided to give in, her eyes shutting as tears fell from them.

'How was it that things ended up this way? Did I not do enough to stop this...? More than anyone...' Astaria gave her final thought as the blade fell.

'More than anyone, you needed someone to be courageous with you... Dante...'

The Tyrant king -bad end- A fallen reign.

*****

Dearest mother and father in another world...

I seem to have gotten myself in a grave grave situation...

As had been so for the past few days, a silent yet growing storm lurked over the manor house today, waiting to burst... Just a week into being born into a new world, I discovered that I, Antoinette Silverston am in fact living in the world of an otome game known as Tyrant king!!

Tyrant king tells the story of a beautiful female heroine who gets taken in by one of the members of the royal family after her house and family is lost in a fire. From there she is pulled into the life of aristocracy. Upon discovering her rare magical light healing abilities, her family decides to send her to the magical academy for nobles. It is there that she meets many people of high aristocracy, including that of the first crown prince Horatio and the fourth crown prince Dante. There are numerous routes within the game, there being a total of six male routes to choose from. However the main plot of the otome game focused around that of the fourth crown prince called Dante, who inevitably by the end of the game, tries to take over the country, giving him the name tyrant king. Depending on which route and ending you get, Dante either destroys the kingdom, the protagonist and her partner in a fiery war and blaze... or he will get defeated by the protagonists partner, killed, exiled or imprisoned for life. Only one route ends up happy for Dante and everyone else and that is his own happy end, where the protagonist ends up able to give Dante a change of heart and help him heal the wounds of his past...

'Dante's ending was the most heartfelt of the entire game considering he never got a happy ending otherwise, I enjoyed his route...' I thought to myself with a small halfhearted sigh as I recalled it... when my eyes the widened as I dropped the broom in my hand, shaking my head. No WAIT WAIT, THAT ISN'T WHAT I SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON HERE!!

"Uhm Annie..." A maid muttered whilst she walked past me, Sana wafting her hand from side to side to this.

"Just leave her, she's been like this since the other day..." Sana noted awkwardly, the other maid walking past me in concern as I kept to floor with a timid look in my eye. The problem here was that right now, I was serving the very guy who in the game does not have a single hesitation in killing someone he doesn't like!! The Dante in Tyrant king as far as I can recall is the exact same Dante I am serving at this moment of time. Which meant depending on the route we were on, he could go on to wipe out an entire country!!! What nobody else in this mansion knew was this guy was a ticking time bomb!!!

At first, when I realised this the night previous, I came to the conclusion, that this didn't matter in the long run. Afterall, this wasn't like any of the other world stories I had played or read in the past. I wasn't reborn as the heroine so it wasn't as if I had to worry about the main plot of this world... nor was I reborn as the villainess like in some other stories, so it wasn't even as if I had to go through some sort of redemption arc to avoid my untimely fate either. I was just reborn as a maid, a simple npc in this world. In fact if I remember correctly unless it was an important character, none of the maid sprites even had a face. Nowhere in the game was there ever a single mention of the name Antoinette Silverston, that was because she was so insignificant, they never needed to address her... so all that being said, it would be reasonable to think that a complete nobody like me had nothing to worry about in this world... that's what one would think... would think...

"Hey Annie, are you okay, you've been sat there a while" Sana chuckled in a faintly concerned way, approaching me, when quite suddenly she was stopped by a faucet of stressed out tears coming from my face, much to her shock- "Wah-"

You would think that a simple maid had no worries, however it was upon recalling that specific bad end earlier that I remembered a very specific thing that Dante said...

'I killed everyone...'

I dramatically fell to my knees, sending Sana in a panic as I silently screamed to myself-

'Dante kills all of his maids and butlers upon starting the war!' I wailed in my own mind, the shocking realisation of my very own death flag making me fall into a pit of anxiety and dread. That wasn't the only problem! Because in almost every end that Dante has, he gets a bad end and starts a war, it means that his loyal servants in the story also suffer that bad end with him...

Those game developers... I gripped my hands tighter as I then smacked my fist off the floor.

'It's all good and fine, giving dante that many bad ends for his actions, but did you have to make all of Dante's servants suffer for that too?! What did we do wrong?! Where is the justice in any of this?!' I thought to myself in despair, my heart suddenly going out to all the faceless butlers and maids who had to perish in my many replays of the game. Unless we got a good end for Dante in the game, it meant that we the maids were as good as dead... that also meant that...

I looked up at Sana who was at a loss of what to do with my sudden meltdown as she stared back at me nervously... before I then started crying again! It meant that someone as sweet as Sana would also perish in the fall of the kingdom. I crawled over to her wailing, much to the poor girls confused alarm.

"SAAANAAAA-"

BAM

Quite suddenly, it seemed as though my hysteria had been pummelled straight back into my brain... quite literally pummelled as there came a sharp stinging on my head.

"OUCH!" I cried, falling to my side in pain as someone gave a tutt from above me.

"Since the new girl has such time to have public freak outs, I'll assume that she has time to do extra work today..." was the disappointed tone of the head maid, Lady Irian, who towered over me, her corrosively sharp chocolate coloured eyes shooting down daggers at me as she batted a feather duster off her hand. This ogre of a lady with clean and proper red hair maid in an updo behind me in her mid fifties was the maid in charge of all the maids in the manor. She was the one who gave us all our tasks to do each day and made sure we was doing them. She was quite relentless on those who were slacking off as you could observe.

"Ah Lady Irian, how are you this afternoon?" Sana greeted her with a small bow as the head maid flicked her nose up.

"I was in a decent mood until I saw that our new maid was in fact a dunce..." the head maid mentioned casually as I rubbed the top of my head with a sour expression. Say, I am right here you know... Lady Irian looked down to me once more. "What is it, pray tell, that has you in such a crazed mood this morning, Miss Silverston...". The head maid then turned to me as I looked up to her in with a start, about share my bad news-

When it was then that I paused- ah wait, there was no way I could tell them of such a thing- much rather there was absolutely no way that they would believe me... That I originally came from another world and knew that their prince they so lovingly served was going to wipe out the entire kingdom in a few years time that is... The head maid raised and eyebrow at my nervous silence as I desperately tried to think of some sort of excuse, the tapping of her finger against the handle of the feather duster only increasing my anxiety. I looked back to her, noticing that Sana was also giving me a stare of curiosity... when I then gave a timid laugh, pointing to myself.

"I was trying to... put myself in the shoes of the dirt... because it'd be scared to be cleaned... I thought it would make me a better cleaner..." I responded, even I myself realising that my excuse was awful, the head maid's eye twitching slightly.

It was only to be expected that the feather duster would meet my head as I now found myself huddled with my hands over it as the head maid shook her own.

"Really... I would suggest cleaning out your mind but it appears it is already empty..." The head maid gave another one of her harsh one liners as Sana tilted her head to me.

"You have quite the strange way of cleaning Annie..." Sana told me as I held my head bitterly. Actually I just have poor lying skills Sana, I'm sorry to say...

Sana then looked back over to the head maid, who seemed to be looking round as she did her tour of the manor house.

"Say, Lady Irian... are you looking for something?" She asked as the head maid stopped, looking back to Sana.

"Hm, yes I am... After yesterday's incident, I have been told to heighten personnel around his highness. So actually, I am looking for suitable candidates to serve as his highnesses close servants for the week" Lady Irian explained as I twitched upon hearing such a thing.

"Is that so?" Sana gave a faint but stiff laugh to this, not entertaining the idea of such a thing herself... before she was gave an even more anxious smile upon a second thought to this matter. "I don't suppose you were looking at us as potential candidates?" Sana then inquired as I felt myself begin to sweat. Sana, please, you shouldn't tempt fate by asking such dangerous questions... Lady Irian thought a little upon her answer, before she then gave a sharp glare in my direction.

"I would have done so, except I don't think I can trust such a moron in charge of his highness..." Lady Irian replied coldly- ow, that hurt my heart a little...

However...

I clenched my fist! I couldn't be happier with this turn of events! As right now I had made it my resolve! To have as little to do with that chaotic prince as possible. And what was more... a somewhat troubled expression appeared on my face as I became a little thoughtful. I had to find a way to avoid the death flag as a maid working for Dante in this world... Being in my position, I doubted there was much I could do to actively change the flow of the story, whichever route it went on... and for all I knew, I could be on the happy end route, however I just couldn't take those chances. Right now Dante was twelve and he would be starting the game story properly at the age of fifteen in three years time. During that time, I will have reached the age of sixteen. The game ends after one school year in game. If this was a bad route, then that would mean I would be dying at the age of sixteen again. I had already decided to live this new life to the fullest, I couldn't let myself die again. Especially not in the way of the game.

So what was the plan? Right now it was to live my next three years in this mansion unnoticed by the prince... then after he had left I would focus on escaping. Fleeing to another country perhaps? Though there was the question on just how I would do such a thing... Should I steal some of the finery from the manor and hide it? I didn't know what was actually worth value or what was unnoticeable in this place... whatever the case I knew for now my main objective should be to avoid the prince at all costs.

It had seemed that Sana had noticed the look of concern on my face as it was then that she seemed to recall something. She walked on ahead of me, towards the head maid, tapping her arm.

"Actually head maid, Annie hasn't had a formal meeting with his higness yet-"

SANA WHAT THE HELL?!

My thorough plotting to make an escape were all but thwarted by this simple remark from this young girl as I gave a look of total betrayal and shock to her. Lady Irian looked up over to me a subtle but confused expression appearing on her face.

"Huh? Is that so..? How strange, this has never happened before..." Lady Irian mentioned as I began to sweat more- and I don't want it to happen, thank you very much!! I thought that Sana's daring of fate was going to stop there, but she seemed determimed to seal the deal. Before I could even stop her, a bright smile that despite it's pure intent, looked completely demonic in my eyes, appeared upon the young maids face.

"Yes, and it seems Annie has quite the interest in the prince! She was asking me loads of questions the other day too!" Sana remarked, my face going completely ashen and my words refusing to come out in their complete dumbfoundedmenf as I felt the head maids eyes corrode a stare into the side of my head.

Sana, my sweet and pure Sana... How very dare you...

So fleeting was my plan A, so quick was I brought before the man, the myth and the legend himself, who sat upon a fancy looking chair in the centre of a large hall, already feeling the burn of this young boys glare melting off my face as I knelt before him with my most rigid and forced smile, the head maid stood behind me. There was also the remarkable absence of Sana, who after doing her blissfully unaware misdeeds, gave her most sparkly and confident thumbs up and smile of support. How could you give me that expression, you pure but chaotic traitor?! Look at what mess you got me into!! Ah- the look on his face upon seeing me, you could probably crack a nut between the creases of his eyebrow after the look of distaste he gave me! Was it because it was me specifically? Or was he just like this with everyone? There were over fifty maids in this estate alone, there was no way he recognised me from the other day right?!

"So, what is it you are saying?" Dante asked coldly as the head maid cleared her throat calmly, placing her hands on my shoulders.

"That since you have not yet had a formal meeting with Miss Silverston, she will be one of the new maids assisting in your personal work" Lady Irian noted, her hands on my shoulders feeling how I could imagine a stock feeling as it was to this that Prince Dante gave a sneer at me.

"Huh? And why is it I should care?" He then asked yet another haughty question. Urgh, this brat... has not a single person ever tried to teach you some manners?! My smile towards him became ever more plastic as Dante then narrowed his eyes more at me as though he had concluded something himself. He got up off his chair, the head maid flinching to this.

"You-your highness, you have to say the oath, it is part of her formal introduction!" Lady Irian commented as Dante casually looked back to us, an empty look in his eye.

"There's no need actually, we have already been introduced..." Prince Dante mentioned as even the best of my acting skill couldn't change my surprise to this. He did remember me!! It was then that Dante's tone of voice became even more distant as he glared down at me. "In fact, she already made an oath to me at the cost of her life... so really this meeting was unnecessary..." he added, the lump in my throat sinking right down into my chest to this! He definitely remembered!!! It was with this that Dante decided he had enough of waiting around to explain things, the boy walking off to the door to the side of the hall as the Lady Irian spluttered somewhat, not knowing what exactly to retort to his claim.

"But- your high-"

"Do whatever you want with that maid... so long as she doesn't have anything to do with me, I don't care..." Prince Dante added, leaving just me and the head maid to stare at the empty door in his absence.

"GYU"

That would be the sound my face would make at the large frown that had now come across it. Just who did this brat think he was anyway to treat people like this? I mean- yeah- he was royalty. BUT- that didn't give him a right to just treat the people who were meant to be loyal to him like dirt, there was only so much tolerance people could have you know. Nonetheless... I took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure as I looked at the bright side of things. Actually this sort of cold and arrogant behaviour worked fine for me. The less he cared, the more likely my days in this manor house would pass by with no worries until the day I fled. That's right, this actually worked perfectly for me! He could remain a hateful person for all I cared, he was only going to suffer for it in the end anyway.

The head maid gave a long and worn out sigh from beside me as I looked up to her empathetically. That was right, as the person in charge of all us maid, she probably got the brunt of all the troubles that young prince caused. I almost felt sorry for her... The head maid recomposed herself, seeming to take a moment to do this... before she then looked down to me, a glint in her eye.

"...and so what is this I hear of you already meeting his highness..." she then cut straight to the point, a demonic aura pouring out of her as my sympathy decided to flee along with my calm. Like I said... almost...

Somehow, I managed to avoid the wrath of the head maid and avoid telling her the truth of how the prince met me by remaining blissfully ignorant to what he had said before; I now found myself hard at work within a room one could only describe as way too lavishly decorated. I stood within the room decked out with lots of expensive looking furniture and finery, each wall having multiple expensive looking portraits on there, the shine of the gold and marble in this room hurting my eyes somewhat, as I took it all in with a daze. I was pretty sure that one item alone in this room could probably get me to another country and start of my new life there... however all my valuing aside, it wasn't as if I could actuall use any of these items in here anyway... afterall, this was the prince's room.

I remained spaced as I took my time to truly take in this room. This was a little kids room.... WHY WAS IT SO HUGE?!

You could probably fit a public pool within here! In fact, in the room to the side of it, there was indeed a pool sized bath!! The room was so big that without certain decorations, there would be huge portions of the room that just looked barren. I swept the one part of the floor slowly, each sweep invoking an increasing amount of resentment on my face. I mean not being rich didn't bother me and I understood that, especially in this world, there was an obvious distinction between the rich and poor. But one thought remained on my mind as I heard a familiar voice call over to me.

"Annie, there you are!" Sana called, waving to me and running over to me as Felicia followed her nonchalantly. Yes even though she roped me into this obliviously, it seemed she wasn't as cruel to let me do such a thing alone. Since Felicia was already appointed to this duty for a while, she was inevitably here too... I looked over to Sana as she approached me... before a dry look came onto my face.

"No wonder he is such a spoilt brat..." I thought out loud nonchalantly as Sana paused in a faintly nervous confusion.

"Uhm... Annie... by 'he' do you mean his majesty...?" She asked me as I nodded, giving a small sigh to myself.

"I mean, when he has almost everything, it would be easy for anyone to lose touch with reality..." I then explained as Sana didn't seem to argue against this despite her nerves of being caught.

"I-I'm guessing your first meeting didn't go so well..." she noted as I looked over to her with a rigid frown.

"You can say that again!"

"His highness isn't the easiest to deal with as you have heard from others... Apparently with the recent stuffy weather too, his mood has only worsened." Felicia noted as she lifted up her polish, walking over to the shelves. So what if it was a little stuffy, he couldn't abuse the oeople around him because of something as uncontrollanle as the weather- speaking of, WHEN IS THAT STORM GONNA HIT ANYWAY?! All this built up tension really wasn't doing any good for my heart. I gave a deep sigh as Sana patted my shoulder.

"Well, look at the bright side. You'll get any remaining questions you had of his highness answered whilst working on the job!" She noted, going to do her own work, my eye twitching to that comment. Yeah, that was great... except I now wanted to distance myself as far away from that small demon spawn as possible.

I was about to go on with my work with a slight grumble, when it was then that the large doors of the bedroom opened, as there came a announcement from the door.

"Make way for his highness Prince Dante the fourth!"

Was the announcement as I felt myself freeze up. Why was it that every time I had made up my mind to avoid this fellow he made a habit of turning up... Nonetheless, I stopped my mopping, wearily turning to face the door way, joining every other maids actions in the which was to curtsey the moment this child showed his face... and after a moment greeting from us maids, I raised my head to see that very child walk in, beside him being another boy his age, dressed up in a blue version of the normal butler apparel of the manor, his blonde hair being slightly permed to the left as his rather soft yet stoic blue eyes surveyed the room.

Dante, as one could probably expect, didn't even give a moment to acknowledge any of the maids who greeted him, heading over to the back of the room, carrying a book in his arms as he decided to sit at the podium mid room with a white vanity lounger and small white cushioned chair beside it, the boy following him as I stared at him in slight intrigue. Despite this butler's rather surprising closeness to Dante, the young prince didn't seem to mind it. What was more this boy wasn't wearing the usual usual colours for a butler within the manor.

My gaze must have been a little obvious as it was as I swept the floor in thought, that Sana came up next to me as she polished a plate in her hands.

"His name is Hugo..." Sana mentioned as I flinched at the sudden sound of her voice.

"W-Wah??" I gave an exclaimed whisper as Sana simply tilted her head in the direction of the butler next to Dante.

"The boy beside his majesty. His name is Hugo Del Cast" Sana restated as I gave a curious look to this. Another strange and fancy sounding name, particularly for a butler. "Don't be deceived by his attire, he is actually a nobleman" Sana added with a firm smile on her face.

"Is that so...". I responded flatly, not exactly appreciating Sana's running commentary on things but not exactly refuting it either. Still though, I looked back to Hugo a little in curiosity... what was a noblemen doing in butler attire...?

"Hugo is his majesty Prince Dante's right hand man in training. He may not look it but one day he will be one of the best knights in the country!" Sana then added on cheerfully as I nodded nonchalantly to this.

"Hmm? Is that so..." I responded proceeding to sweep the floor, the cogs in my brain seeming to buffer for a moment as the realisation refused to him me. Until inevitably a few moments later it did, the impact of it almost causing me to drop my broom.

"EHHH?!" I exclaimed back at Sana upon being screamed at in a delayed reaction upon her heading back to work almost dropped her gear herself.

"Eh?!" She repeated as as I went to hit Sana with an array of questions... before becoming aware of two sharp eyes staring daggers at me from the background. I decided to discreetly sweep my way over to Sana, trying to not gain any more attention from the quick to anger prince from behind me.

"Don't 'eh' me back, what you you mean 'right hand man?! That kids only a foetus!" I whispered harshly over to Sana who seemed bewildered at my sudden interrogation.

"Well, you are forgetting the part where I said he was in training and Annie you are only a year older than him-"

"Training or no training, you are expecting me to believe he keeps that kid around as protection?!"

My added more questions to the ones that had still yet to be answered as Sana backed up a little nervously.

"Believe it or not, for a child his age he is quite skilled with a sword," came the explanation from Felicia nearby as she continued polish some ledges. "Sure, he may not be able to fight off an ambush on his own yet, but if there is any single man attacks on his majesty while in the manner house, you can be certain that at the very least, Hugo makes a very good distraction so his majesty can get away..." she continued as I gave a questionable expression to this fact. Im all honesty when thinking about who would win in a three way battle between an attacked, this young butler knight and Dante, I was pretty sure Dante could most likely chase an attacker away just by frowning at them. Still though, it was now I was thinking more on it, this all did sound rather familiar...

My eyes widened a little- wait- could it be?? I looked back over to Hugo who was busy talking to the demon prince himself. Hugo was a character in the game Tyrant king?! No- wait- if this was in fact really the world of Tyrant king, then shouldn't I be expecting this??

I wasn't expecting anybody all that important to show up until the school segment of this story though, if characters are already in place other than Dante, did that mean that the story for Tyrant King was in fact already beginning?? I looked down thoughtfully to myself as Sana gave my reaction a stiff smile.

"Aha, we lost Annie again..." Sana commented as Felicia went back to work.

"Perhaps the stuff weather has also gotten to her head..."

Reflecting on it, there was in fact a ton of back story to the characters of Tyrant King and character building. Didn't it make sense for the story to start this early? Do I have death flags in wait for me before the end game?? Before the game even started?! I placed my hands to my head, my brain starting hurt from all my over thinking. What the hell was with this manor anyways, it seemed every new room I stepped into only brought in even more confusing questions.

"Annie..." Sana gave me a concerned expression as I became even more deflated, that was until.

"Pigtails..."

Pigtails?? Who on earth was randomly saying pigtails at a time like this?

"Hey, I said pigtails!!" The voice came firmer as I realised it was coming from behind me. It could only belong to one voice as well as I felt a pit grow in my chest. Had he gone deranged? I mean moreso than usual, randomly shouting out pigtails. I went to take a nosy at what was going on- that was until as I was turning I was met with the unmerciful slap of ball hitting my cheek out from nowhere.

I turned around, partially in anger, pain and confusion as my eyes darted to that of Dante and his loyal butler who held the pose of a guilty ball thrower. Dante shuffled back in his chair nonchalantly.

"Great, it seems that even if your ears and brain don't work, you are easily distracted, congratulations pigtails..." Dante noted as Hugo lowered his hands. I rubbed my cheek unable to hold back a glare of contempt at the prince as he simply raised an eyebrow at me. "Since you seem to be great at showing off how you are pretty much good for nothing but acting crazy whilst you work, I decided to put you to better use" Dante went on before pointing to Hugo. "My right hand is thirsty, go get him a warm drink!" He demanded as for a second I forgot my position as a maid, clenching up my hand ready to give him a piece of his mind. However it was upon noticing the eyes of all the other maids and butlers in the room on me that I quickly felt the piece of my mind block my throat up instead of exiting. It took me a second to calm down, before realeasing a little as I took a deep breath. I lowered my head into a bow.

"Of course, your majesty..." I responded, trying not to met my annoyance show through the tone of my voice, before I then decided to get the kettle ready.

It was as I filled the tea pot with water that one question beckoned in my mind. Why was I making tea for a kid who just made an almost lethal projectile throw of a ball at my head?! Were all young noble boys in this manor just bad people or was it just anyone in association to the demon prince himself?! I mean that guy may be a prince, but if he told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?? Evidently for Hugo it seemed so... My brow furrowed as a placed tea leaves into a tea pot. It was frustrating, I could have sworn that Hugo was actually a good person when I played- I paused at my own thoughts, catching myself from surprise. That was right, Hugo was a character in Tyrant King! My memory was a little fuzzy but I recalled him existing beforehand! But what did his story go like?? I rubbed my temples, trying to remember, trying to get my memory clogs to work, however it didn't seem much use. Alot of my memories of Tyrant king asside from it's main plot points had become distant ones at this point. I gave a deep sigh, placing the cups onto a tray and giving in... either way this memory didn't help my situation right now, whatever memory I had of Hugo being good was most likely muddle up. I placed the teapot on the tray and picked the tray up. Maybe I should add chilli powder in this?

Ah but if only, instead I found myself dutifully brining the tea of to the ungrateful prince and his loyal butler as they both kept an almost judgemental eye on me as I walked dover to them with a tray of refreshments. Truthfully I could have slipped a bit of chilli powder in there, but I had already made it my goal to live past the age of sixteen in this world.

"Took you long enough, any longer and I would have lit you on fire..." Dante tutted as i jolted to this side comment by him, almost dropping my tray- DO YOU HAVE TO RESOLVE EVERYTHING WITH FIRE?! Plus excuse me your royal twerp but unlike you I don't have the ability to heat up things faster, if you wanted a fast warm drink you should have made it yourself.

I kept these lectures to myself, not even dignifying this threat with a response as I placed the tray down on the table beside them, before I then curtsied to them both. I didn't even try to maintain any eye contact with them as I tuend to take my leave, however-

"Where do you think you are going piggy?"

Piggy?! I looked back to Dante who was scowling at me in disapproval. Dante simply pointed down to the tray next to him, keeping his eyes on me. "I told you to make my right hand a drink, not just leave the stuff to make it on the side. Don't tell me you can't even do that?" Dante pointed out as I rigidly looked back to the boy. I could easily say the same right back at him, dammit why didn't I put chilli peppers into his tea.

Nonetheless, with the roll of my nose, I bowed my head in agreement, walking over to the tray beside them, proceeding to make their tea as Dante and Hugo silently sat beside me, watching my every move as I made the tea.

"He doesn't like too much milk..." Dante added on as I picked up the milk jug, almost causing me to drop it... when I then took a deep breath, nodding to show that I understood. Look Annie, you don't want to get on the bad side of this prince, just remember get this over and done with and discreetly get back to cleaning.

I carried over the cup to Hugo who sat down in the chair beside Dante's large vanity chair, the young boy watching me come over to him.

"Your tea sir..." I told him as Hugo looked at the cup in my hands... before his eyes drifted over to Dante who had finally decided to turn back to the book he was reading... it took him a moment to stare at the young prince before he then looked back to me, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Thank you..." he nodded at me as my eyes widened to this. Huh? I blinked twice to the boy who took the tea cup out of my hands. What was this?? A thank you?? Did I hear thst correctly? Good manners, coming from the same child who massacred my head with a rubber ball. It wasn't really all that much, however it was with such a small gesture that this child I was going to sabotage with chilli powder suddenly became an angel in contrast to the actual demon spawn sitting beside him in my eyes.

It had seemed that my shock was obvious to that of Hugo, who after having a sip of his tea, looked up to me, tilting his head in curiosity to me. Wow, taking a double take on him, his eyes were a really stunning blue colour. I don't think I have ever seen eyes that blue before. They definitely reminded me of a character in Tyrant king getting a closer loom at it, an important one at that. Hugo gave me a concerned expression.

"Uhm... excuse me..." he began as Dante cut in, now glaring at me from over his book.

"Did you break down? Leave, your face is annoying us! Or should we have your sent down to the prison for being crazy? " Dante snapped, as I flinched to this, realising that I was being ratger suspicious with my behaviour.

"Ah, I'm so-"

"N-No it's fine. Don't worry about it your majesty!" Hugo cut in, shaking his hand about, Dante raising an eyebrow to this.

"I wasn't worried..." he replied as I accidentally found myself blurting my thoughts out loud to Hugo's actions.

"Ah! I knew it, you weren't a bad guy!!" I exclaimed as both Hugo and Dante seemed genuinely confused at my statement, the demon prince himself putting his book down as just as I began to question why I would say such a thing aloud, I realised just who Hugo was in the game Tyrant King and why I knew he was kind. Hugo could only look at me in intrigue, waiting on what I had to follow up on with my strange behaviour.

"Ah, I know you, you are-"

My words of realisation were quite abruptly interrupted by perhaps one of the most terrifying sounds I had ever heard in my life.

CRACKOOM BOOM BOOM

It was in a flash of light and the a boom of thunder so loud it shook the manner house, that my fate had been ultimately been sealed, the noise causing me to give a loud and shocksf scream as Hugo also jumped at this, the contents of the tea in his cup going into the air.

There was a splashing noise and a crash as I fell to my knee's being in a complete daze.

What- WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT?! Was that thunder or a nuclear bomb going off?! Since when did thunderstorms ever be that loud?!

There came a murmur in the room as I held my hand to my chest, trying to catch my breath.

"Ah- are you okay?" Came a voice from beside me as I gulped a little. Though my body wasn't harmed, the mental trauma was bound to last.

However I didn't seem to understand that the question was not for me, the muttering in the round only becoming louder and more flustered, my attention looking backwards to the two boys behind me. Hugo gave a wary expression, backing up a little as I felt every inch of my body become cold.

Funny I could have sworn that the vanity chair was a pure white colour. Not stained brown... and even more, I was certain that the demon prince himself was alot more dry...

I began to sweat in a way that almost made me as drenched as the now tea soaked Dante himself, the young prince visibly shaking in rage as he remained silent. Oh god... oh god why...?! That wasn't me was it?!!!

Dante raised his tea sodden sleeves, the expression on his face unmoving but his eyes spelling out death. There was a bright flash of lightning again and with it another unearthly loud boom of thunder.

"It seems you think your job as a maid is a joke..." Dante spoke with a tone so sharp it could slice up every person in the room with a single word. My throat clogged up as along the sound of rain seemed to be doing my cry for for me.

Dearest mother and father in another world,

It appears I do not have long left in this new world...