Kyouhei yawned at the table. Dinner was almost over, and he couldn’t wait for the dancing to start. Seating arrangements had placed their Queen near the head of the table, sitting right next to the King of Darkness, and the four princes were scattered around the table at regular intervals next to important diplomats.

It turned out that some diplomats were gremlins, and the one he had been placed next to slobbered. Kyouhei figured that people got gargoyles and gremlins mixed up, somehow, in the rumors about the creatures inhabiting the Land of Darkness, because gargoyles didn’t drool at all. In fact, they looked quite rough and dry.

He hoped the Queen felt his hatred oozing at her for being so calm and happy while talking to her sister.

Dinner ended and everyone wandered into the ballroom. Kyouhei shuddered, feeling eyes crawling over his body, and hoped nobody would ask him to dance. “Would you like to dance?” came a squeaky voice from below. He looked down and saw the diplomat he’d been seated next to.

“. . .”

The gremlin looked up at him with watering eyes and slobbering lips. Kyouhei said something not-so-nice before his brain could quite catch up to him.

“You’re a girl?”

The poor gremlin burst into tears.

“Now, now—don’t cry.” The gremlin sniffled and looked up through tears into Ranmaru’s warm eyes. Ranmaru twitched, but otherwise held himself together in the face of such ugliness. “I apologize for my cousin’s brash words. His mouth wanders when faced with a beautiful woman.”

The gremlin smiled and giggled. Her teeth sparkled through her drool.

Kyouhei put Ranmaru’s distraction to good use and sidled away in a very quiet manner. Noticing the stares her and the other princes of Jyotis were gathering (it was very scary, being stared at by so many bulging eyes above mouths with teeth much sharper than any fangirl’s to date—an amazing feat, to be sure), he went to a nearby guard, cleared his throat awkwardly, and said, “I need to use the bathroom and have no idea where it is.”

The guard pointed to the door. “There are men and women outside that door who will be happy to assist.”

“Thank you.”

He all but ran to the door. Some creatures tried to delay him, but he continued on with the mention of needing to use the bathroom and was never forced to completely stop.

A butler (who happened to be a Dark elf) led him to the nearest facilities. Kyouhei hesitated on entering through the door and looked at the elf beside him, who stood at attention and asked very professionally, “Is there a problem, Prince?”

“Oh, no. It’s just that I’ll be able to find my way back fine by myself, so you don’t need to stand outside the bathroom waiting for me.”

Red eyes focused on him. “If you are sure.”

“Yes.”

The butler marched back to the ballroom without mentioning that it was all the same to him—both the door to the bathroom and the door to the ballroom were very similar, the only difference being that the ballroom door was a double door and much bigger.

Kyouhei entered the bathroom (which was very clean, but very dark) and lit a few candles with the one already lit by the door so that he could actually see with something besides the mirrors and his own natural glow. Then he locked the bathroom door from the inside and slid down to the floor in a fetal position, trying to prepare himself for the rest of the week.

Thoughts such as I hate dancing and That dragon looked like it wanted to eat me! did not help.

Sunako wasn’t actually looking for Noi-chan and her father yet. She was sitting in one of the shadows, playing with Josephina-san. She’d generally leave the skeleton in her room, but figured that if Noi-chan did get testy about her taking so much time and went to go look for her then it wouldn’t be very good to be in her room, and she could always just banish Josephina-san back.

“. . . died gruesome deaths, and I really would have liked to watch if only Noi-chan weren’t a Witch, too.” She sighed. “And I know we’ve already hashed out this issue before, but with Jyotian’s here after so many years of not caring, and all because they hate Witches and we have one that happens to be my mom’s surrogate daughter, I’m a little worried.” There was a pause in which Sunako may or may not have been listening to a plastic skeleton talk to her, but at any rate she sighed after a few seconds. “You’re right. I’d better go find them.” She banished Josephina-san back to her room. “Knowing my dad, they’re both hiding in the same place.

After half an hour Kyouhei knew his Queen would have realized he was missing and started back to the ballroom.

After fifteen minutes of walking around he groaned. It figured he’d get lost. He didn’t know where he was, but nothing looked familiar. It was pitch black most places, and the only reason he hadn’t bumped into anything was because his glow brought objects into a somewhat blurry view.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered to himself. “Having to send out a search party for a prince lost in the castle of the people we’re supposed to be making better relations with.” He just knew his family was going to blame him.

Something caught his senses, then. Something dark and . . . and crawly-feeling was heading his way. If it was a dragon he definitely didn’t want to be noticed. Concentrating hard, the natural glowing of the royal blood of Jyotians’ faded until he, like the objects around him, became a dark shadow.

The creepy thing he’d sensed shuffled along on light feet, making him dismiss the thought of a dragon. It still felt very dangerous, however, and his concentration on simply Not Glowing never wavered.

His heart nearly stopped when the creepy thing stopped right in front of him. He could hear the thing shifting, and smelled . . . lilac soap?

“I know you’re there,” said a vaguely amused female voice. “I’m just surprised you’re not with Noi-chan—I thought you were afraid of the dark.” Kyouhei would have been insulted if he hadn’t known that she was mistaking him for someone else. After all, who was “Noi-chan”?

The female jerked on his arm, and in his surprise he lost his concentration.

There was a few second’s pause as Kyouhei stared into the eyes of a woman with long dark hair and a shocked expression. Then the woman screamed, and Kyouhei was covered in blood.

AN: Since this is another universe, I suppose the odds of Josephina-san still existing are pretty slim. I’m keeping her.