"Monsterous?," you say, completely surprised at this strangers tone. "I thought princes were supposed to be charming and dreamy..."

"-not these two. I cared for them when they were children and they were a nightmare," she says, brushing off her shabby grey clothes. "And they always came up with the stupidest games to play...," she says bitterly, looking into your eyes.

Hugging your bag of belongings tightly, you study her face- mid thirties, maybe, but she seems so much older, creases of worry lining her face, which would be much prettier otherwise. "Then why are you coming back?," you question curiously, taking a quick glance out the window to see the endless fields of the countryside.

"I-," she begins, then pauses, thinking for a moment. "Am in dire need of money, for a fortune I collected long ago has run out," she says, refusing to make eye contact with you. Knowing this is an obvious sign of lying, you decide to not question her any further and stare out the window, watching the fields pass.

Once, your father took you for a horse-drawn carriage ride with your mother, the real one, and even now you reminisce in that happy memory: the sun lightly kissing your cheeks, the way your mom held you tightly, and your father keeping the prancing horses at a steady pace.

Ten years before you watched these fields pass, and now you are here again, ten years later without the ones you held most dear. Watching, your eyes drift closed as you fall into a deep sleep.
....
"Ah! You yell, kicking and thrashing around as you are tapped on by the other passenger. "Ow!," she yelps, kneeling down to rub her shin, which you just kicked pretty hard. Realizing what you've just done, you apologize, and then realize that this is not the same person as before. Now, she is a dirty blonde, and her skin seems a bit paler.

Noticing your staring, she studies you and says, darkly, "tell no one what I looked like before. Got it?" Nodding in agreement, you say, "you look really nice." Completely changing her current demeanor, she smiles, dark red lips, as if they were covered in blood, presses against one another, into a satisfied smile. "Thank you. I'm hoping we can have a... strong relationship."

The carriage comes to a halt and a tall, young man with glasses, maybe a year older than you, opens the door. The other woman pushes herself in front of you so she can exit first and you follow her, leaving the luxurious carriage behind.

"Good afternoon ladies," he begins, taking each of your hands gently and kissing is, "my name is Kyoya Ootori and I am Head Organizer of the entire Servant staff." Nodding your head in understanding, you look up and gape at the enormous palace before you. Blue, black, yellow, and white flags fly ontop of the tall towers, and rose bushes of various colors are everywhere.

"I hope you found your ride satisfactory, for now I will begin showing you to your quarters so you can start working right away," he says, hitting something down in a big black notebook. Suddenly, a timid looking girl in black attire comes running out and runs right up to Kyoya.

"Master!," she sobs, voice trembling, "I- I spilt the tea all over the kitchen again and no one will help me!" Sighing, Kyoya closes his notebook shut and says, "Please feel free to explore the garden, which should be in peak condition, while I tend to this impending issue." Throwing dagger eyes at the girl, you watch as they both hurry inside and you are left standing there with the other woman in the blonde wig.

Before you could speak, the blonde asks for your name, and you respond with "y/n." Replying, she says, "tell no one about my other appearance, you hear me,?" And with that she gives you a final look and walks away. Didn't she already address that with me?, you question yourself as you watch her walk to the front doors and into the palace.

Now standing alone, you start to wander through the plants. Hydrangeas, lilies, sunflowers, they were everywhere, perfectly primed and sitting in freshly weeded dirt. But, you notice, the roses were the most abundant. They. Were. Everywhere. Red, yellow, green, you name it. Also, you notice, the blue and orange roses were the most abundant, and, in your opinion, they were by far the most beautiful.

Venturing deeper into the garden under the cloudless sky, you soon find yourself standing before a large hedge wall, which seemingly stretches the perimeter of the garden. Oh! You think to yourself as you look at this some more. This must be a maze.

Contemplating whether you should go in or not, you stand there for a few moments and shift your weight from foot to foot. Finally making a decision, you put one foot in front of the other and enter the maze, immediately becoming surrounded by the tall, pristine hedge walls. Thinking to yourself, you ask what could go wrong?

First you decide on a right. Then a left. You travel straight past some outlets, and make another right. Making decisions like this for half an hour, you enjoy this guessing game of mindless fun and continue traveling along the dirt path. After a while, you slow to a crawl and stand there for a moment, then continue to do a 360 degree turn. How do I get out?

Turning around, you try to mimic your steps, but ultimately fail to do so seeing that you can't remember where you've been. Suddenly, you hear rusting from another part of the maze. You freeze, listening on intently for the noise again. The leaves rustle again, louder this time, and you start to breathe harder. A maze is a perfect place for someone to corner you! You think, worrying a lot.

The leaves rustle again: even louder. Crouching on the ground, you shut your eyes and bring your knees in close, and lean your back against the hedge wall, just wishing to disappear. Usually, after your stepmother screamed at you for a good amount of time, you would do this because it usually gave you a sense of security- this time, though, it wasn't working.

Footsteps. Your heart beats even faster. Louder and louder they get. You hug yourself tighter. "What are you doing,?" Says a curious voice; and the sound of another person makes you jump with fright.

Looking up, terrified, you see a tall boy with auburn hair standing over you, watching you intently with his green eyes. "Are you ok?," he asks, and with that he reaches out his hand towards you.

Voice shaking, you respond "I'm fine," and you stand up, terribly embarrassed. The boy, who is dressed in a blue polo dress shirt and jeans, stares at you for a moment and you stare back. To your surprise, your heart starts to beat a lot faster and you feel your cheeks heat up.

"Are you sure?," he says, then adds, "your cheeks are getting really really red" dismissively. "Hey!," you blurt out, "you don't tell somebody something like that? That's mean." Shrugging his shoulders, he looks to the side for a moment, and meets your e/c eyes again. "This is boring. Let's play a game," he says, a devious smile crawling on to his face.

"Did you not hear what I just said?," you say, clearly annoyed, and the feels of unknown terror that were felt just a moment before have completely dissipated. "Yeah, I did, but I want to play a game," the boy says again, still wearing that smile that gives you a sense of unease. "And your cheeks are still red."

Sighing, you say, "fine, I'll play your game if you help me get out." "Really?," he says curiously, to your surprise. Nodding your head yes, he says "let's play hide and go seek and then I'll help you out." Though you are kind of annoyed at this, at least this guy knows how to escape.

"But I don't even know your name," you say to your surprise. Why do I need to know his name, you think, and with that your heart beats even faster.

"I'm..." he says, then pauses for a moment. "I'll hide first!" With that, he winks and you and runs off, leaving you behind and very confused. Guess I'll just have to play...