"Your Majesty…" "Shh…silence…these are the last two cards…" "Uh…" "Yes! Done!... Alright, what are you trying to tell me just now, Lex?" "Yes, Sou-kun is here already, Your Majesty." "Oh, almost forgot about that, get him in." "Yes, my lord."

Later…

"Hmm… You look nice in this outfit, haha! I never thought you will make this as your mother"s day present for Asuka... I mean your mother." "…" "…?... What"s with this face? I know it is a boring job to be my personal a.s.sistant, or more specifically, subst.i.tute a.s.sistant as Rei is out for this few days…" "No, Your Majesty, it"s my biggest honor to work at your side, just that…" "Just that?" "…This is not the present I prepared for her…" "I"m listening." "She doesn"t like the present I prepared, she wants me to be King"s servant…as her mother"s day present…" "Ah! So you really hate to work with me, huh?" "No, My lord! It"s not." "Just teasing you, don"t be so nervous…If you have no issue of being my a.s.sistant, mind to tell me, what is upsetting you?" "Your majesty, I spend a lot of time to prepare that present for her, but end up all she care is the position of a royal servant… both my mom right now and in my past life are like that." "Past life? Ah! Just remember that you are born with your past memory…Well, I"m not sure about your past life but I"m sure Asuka has a very good reason for that, maybe she just wants you to have a good life, that"s why she really wants you to be a royal servant." "I don"t think that"s the reason, my lord. She accepts Kou"s present just like that, after all, she"s just a girl, you can"t expect much from her…" "I see… so you are jealous of your sister." "No!" "Haha…Anyway, want to hear a story?" "Huh?" "Since Kou is not here, I think I could tell you this gruesome past of someone, as you can be considered as an adult with a ten years old body right?". Sou nodded while looking at Chris anxiously…

A long long time ago, there is a lady, she is the daughter of a Baron in an unknown kingdom, she has a son who lost his father the day he was born. Every day, the lady prayed to the G.o.d, she prays that, when one day her son finally grown up, he will marry to the King.

Wait, he? Yes. He. His mother always hopes that he is a daughter, so that he can be a queen.

The lady has made the boy wear dresses since he is still a little baby, she teaches him to behave like a girl to a point that he almost believes that he is a girl. Until one day, the boy found out the truth from the old baron, so he went to argue with his mother…

"No! You are a girl, you are my little princess, you will marry the prince…" "Mother, listen to my voice, does this voice sounds like a girl"s voice to you?" "Ahhh!...Your voice, no!!! it shouldn"t be like that! You have to be a girl, you must be a girl, you will be a girl!!!" then the mother took out a pair of scissors... "Mother? What are you… trying to do? No! Stop it! No!!"…

"Ah! That quite gruesome…What happened to that boy?" "That boy…hmm?...Lex, What are you doing at the door? Anything urgent?" "Yes, My Lord, here is a letter from The Alliance." Chris took the letter from Lex and read it. "Looks like I will be out again…*look at Sou*…you job today will be…hmm…*suddenly took out a Byako from under the table*…play with Byako." "Your Majesty, I…" "If you want to know what happens to that boy, why don"t you ask him by yourself? He should be in the HQ right now…Let me know if you got your answer after I came back, okay?" "Yes, My Lord."

A week later, Chris"s office…

Chris is sitting on a sofa with Rei by his side. Chris"s right eye is covered with a bandage. "My eye hurts…" "Please refrain yourself from touching it, my lord." "But it"s really hard to not do so with all these bandages, I can"t even see things properly." "No, don"t rub it!...*softly took away Chris"s hand from his injured eye*…*sigh*…I only left for a week and this happens, I can"t imagine what will happen if I leave for a longer period." "This has nothing to do with that right? That incident** is quite a surprise. Glad that we reached The Alliance"s base in time, if not the whole place is going to be wiped along millions of inhabitants there." "Your Majesty, when will you actually consider your own safety first before any brutal action?" "Maybe the day when I can finally die?*look at Rei with an innocent look*… " "Your Majesty…". Then Chris continues with his daily routine jobs, such as reading reports from all the sectors, reply letters from other organizations, reading manga and fanfic, surfing Utube… hmm it"s not that hard to be a King huh?...back to the story… then Sou came in.

"Your Majesty." "Sou-kun! I have been waiting for you. So, do you have any reports for me? For the a.s.signment I give you last week." "I"m uncertain about this, my lord…" "Don"t worry, just say it." "How about a story of a Prince and a mute?" "That"s what I want to hear about, I guess Rei would be interested to hear about it too, right?" "Yes my lord." "Ok…So, I will start the story…"

The boy"s mother did not cut off his tongue, instead, she gives him a medicine that will permanently damage his voice cord, causing him to lose the ability to speak.

A few days later, the old baron pa.s.sed away with unknown reasons, so the boy continues to be rise as a lady by his mother, until all the outside people actually believe that he is actually a girl, no one knows his true ident.i.ty. Until the coronation of the new king…

The Lady brought her "daughter" to the palace for the ball that was supposed to be held for the purpose of choosing the new queen. The king noticed that timid lady with flaming red hair. The "girl" makes him think of someone he used to know, so he had a dance with the lady and asked her to stay in the palace after the ball.

Then the "lady" starts to live in the palace, every day the King will summon the "lady" to his reading room. But instead of talking or doing anything with "her", he will spend some time just looking at "her" face and all "her" movements. These disturbing actions of the king continue for a week, then, for the first time, he spoke.

"You remind me of someone I used to know a few years ago, from a wicked circus. I wonder how he is right now, is he still been forced to do that awful performance?" "…" "Oh! Sorry about that. Now I think about it, I haven"t known your name ever since we first met." "…" "You… can"t speak?" The girl nodded. The king is a bit shocked and stunned there for a few seconds before reaching his hand to the girl"s neck, he softly touched it then says: "Hmm… I see, it must be pretty tough for you huh? Can you use sign language? I can understand some." The girl nodded.

​

So… they live peacefully for a period of time, until one day, the "girl" asks the king, why "she" need to remain as a "girl" despite the king knows "her" real ident.i.ty and didn"t blame "her". The king thought for a while and say: "You are the son of the Arzazez clan right?..." "…"

He embraced his long and smooth red hair, and look at him with gentle eyes. "You must be wondering why did I know about that right? Well, there is something I can"t let you know right now. But before I"m capable of protecting you from them, please be a girl." he said.

However, the ident.i.ty of the "girl" had been exposed later. The people along with a high priest broke into the King"s chamber with the reason for demon exorcism. They took the "girl" away from the king. Then, the "girl" is tied up on a cross…

​

Back to the present, "Your Majesty, I don"t quite understand about this. Why would the king choose not to reveal the boy"s ident.i.ty and why he ends up been executed?" "I guess this is probably something not even an idiot like him can accept. Sou, have you ever read about the history or rather the legend of the Arzazez family?" "Not really…" "The Arzazez was once a well-known n.o.ble family…"

"However, the clan began to break down with the "fore sighting" of a certain priest that said that the son of 174th generation would be an incarnation of a fire demon. During that time, these kinds of words from priests are to be taken seriously by the people, they believe anything that been told by a priest although sometime it might be a lie. Furthermore, the word "demon" is certainly a taboo during that time. According to the historical record of that kingdom, the son in law of an old baron is executed on a cross with fire as he is said to the 174th generation of Arzazez clan, his pregnant wife saw her husband been engulfed by the fire with her own eyes…"

"Hold on! I think I start to understand, that boy is the son of the executed Arzazez." "Exactly." "So, why did they execute the boy as well?" "Well…There was a thing that I found out accidentally…" Chris looks at Sou, observing his reaction before continue.

"According to the clan"s record, the last recorded name for the clan is the executed man, while there is only 173rd generation there. Which means the 174th generation is supposed to be the boy instead of his father. Maybe that"s the reason his mother wants him to be a girl so badly. And the king somehow found it and tried to keep it a secret until he is capable to protect him."

"That"s a bit sad, what happens to the boy? Did he survive?" "Of course he did, if not, how would you able to know about this story?" "Ah... That"s right, I"m the one asked him about the story." seeing Sou"s respond, Chris laugh out a bit.

"During the "exorcism" process, the boy is tied up on a cross, with some priest along with the high priest, reading their holy verse, praying to their G.o.d. The high priest is holding a burning torch, which ready to throw to the cross filled with dried gra.s.s that barely covered the boy"s mother"s mutilated body. The king is held tightly by two royal guards, shouting hysterically and begging them to let go of the boy…During that time, the priest has more influence than the king. All the people are praying and chanting along with the priest hoping to eliminate this demon forever. "

"However, little do they know, what they did at that time is about to bring a big disaster to the whole kingdom… Slowly, the firelight up and the darkness grows… Ah! My eye bleed…" "Your Majesty! Sou-kun, can you get Sir Benjamin here?" "Yes, my lady!"…

A lot of times, when you think your parents treat you so badly, please do think about the reason why they doing so, are they really just did it for their own sake? Happy Parent"s Day.

​

Did you think the story ends here? Ha! Too underestimated me!

At some random timeline, the King and the red-haired boy is sitting near a river… "Hey! I just remembered that I didn"t know your name until now…" The boy grabbed the left hand of the king and wrote something with his finger. "Ma…ria…Ann…Eli…za…beth, that"s your name?" the boy nodded. "Haha! Even your name sounds girly huh? Alright, we will be living together from now on, Maria." The boy smile and nodded. (Happy ending)

*if you wanted a lovely and happy ending, you probably should just stop here, but if you choose to continue, then…

Present, Chris"s office. Like usual, Chris is working with his computer, on the screen, we can see a record of a diseased fighter cadet, the name is Ryu Akishima, cause of death is …been directly blast off into particles during a mission. Then, Chris stared at the record for a while before he switched to another screen. "I fully understand what are you trying to avoid, but I hope you can forgive me, Asuka." On the screen is a list of fighter cadets entry application, Chris hesitated for a moment, before clicking the "approve" b.u.t.ton for the name, Sou Akishima.

The End.