When we finally arrived at Kyotora, the boat left us at a port town called "Yumiko Port," which was the main city where most people traveling to their nation would disembark.
The place had evident Japanese roots, as all of the buildings shared the sa architecture that resembled the old Japanese structures.
Layered roofs with black stone tiles and paper-thin shoji screens that allowed a dim amount of sunlight to enter were present in most hos.
’It almost feels like we traveled back in ti...’ I thought.
A cobblestone path took us from the sandy beach area to the center of the town, where a cherry blossom tree stood tall in the middle.
Bruno, the swordsmanship professor who was also a chaperone with , went inside a building to hire the carriages that were ant to take us to the capital.
anwhile, I decided to look around and saw a small stand selling food that instantly caught my attention as soon as I saw what they were selling.
"Rice balls!" I exclaid, quickly approaching the lady and ordering a dozen of them.
It was my first ti seeing rice in this world, and I couldn’t contain my excitent.
’This is the first ti that I’ve ever been this excited for rice...’ I thought.
Since we were in a port town, all of the rice balls were filled with seafood, which was great. Still, I saw that the woman was also selling uncooked rice and bought a few bags that I stowed away in my void pocket.
My companions, being the food lovers that they were, asked to try the rice balls, so I quickly gave one to Yoru to eat inside my shadow while Vespera happily ate hers next to the food stand.
After finishing my snack, I noticed that Yuki was wearing a hood to hide her face, and when I asked her about it, she said that she didn’t want to be recognized.
Yuki was a princess in Kyotora, so of course, there were tons of people who knew who she was.
However, she wasn’t hiding herself because she didn’t like the attention. Instead, it seed to like she was hiding out of sha.
At that mont, Professor Bruno ca out of the building with a disgruntled face, explaining that we had to stay one night at Yumiko Port as there were no carriages until the next day.
Since we arrived one day earlier than expected, our next transportation ans were not ready, but the tournant organizers paid for our stay at the inn as a way to compensate for the trouble.
We gave the students the rest of the day to hang out and return to the inn at night, making them scatter to tour around to their hearts’ content. Still, Yuki didn’t seem to want that and went to her room.
"Hmm, I’m a bit worried about Yuki..." said lina as she stared at her friend leaving the group.
When nightti arrived, lina asked Yuki to have dinner with us, and she reluctantly accepted, but only because we were eating at the inn’s restaurant, so we didn’t have to leave the building.
"Sorry, you must think I’m acting weird..." Yuki comnted as we waited for our food.
"Well, yeah. That’s why I’m worried," lina replied with a soft tone.
"Yuki, if you need help, you can always ask us..." I continued.
The black-haired princess was hesitant to speak and clenched her dress, but when the courage finally got to her, she began explaining her situation in more detail.
In Kyotora, the king was allowed to have concubines that would bear his children apart from the queen, and Yuki explained that she had four siblings, all of whom were born from different mothers.
Yuki was the third princess of Kyotora, born from a concubine, which made her stay at the castle quite miserable since her stepmother, the queen, hated all of the children who weren’t hers.
Her oldest brother was nad Takeo, and he was the only son born from the queen, making his upbringing much different from his younger step-siblings as he was the crown prince who would be emperor after their father.
Yuki kept elaborating, saying that the only reason she was sent to Sephyr was that her stepmother wanted to send her away for as long as possible, with her last words to her stepdaughter being, "I hope you never co back..."
’What the hell is wrong with these monarchs, man...’ I thought.
"I know that my brother is going to compete at the tournant. So, I want to beat him and show my little sister that Takeo isn’t the only one who is strong..." Yuki comnted.
From what she told us, her oldest brother had graduated from the academy one year ago and was sure that he wouldn’t miss the tournant.
The second prince was studying at the academy in Kyotora, but she expressed the fact that he was pretty averse to combat, so she doubted he would participate.
Her younger stepsiblings were the ones that Yuki felt she needed to protect the most, as the fourth prince was only 11 years old and the 5th princess was 7.
Takeo, being the oldest and having a different upbringing than his stepsiblings, always looked down on them and treated them horribly, so Yuki’s dream was to put him in his place.
’Being the third child is already hard enough on a kid, but to neglect them like this is so strange. Isn’t their father a king? What the hell is he doing with his children!?’ I thought angrily.
After Yuki vented her frustrations, lina offered to sleep with her and went to their rooms.
As I sat on my bed, Vespera and Yoru ca out of my shadows, wondering if I was going to do sothing about the king.
"Huh? Do sothing about it?" I asked.
"Didn’t he treat that Yuki girl like trash?" Vespera answered with another question.
"I an, yeah... But this sounds more like a family squabble. I can’t just punch the king and get my point across, you know?" I said.
["What about the queen?"] Yoru interjected telepathically.
"Guys, I’m not punching the queen!" I exclaid.
’I’ll think about it when we get to that point...’
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