The Princess and The Devil - Karma Akabane x OC

T H I R T Y - F O U R : Exams?!

Hime's POV

-Time skip-

I stifle a yawn when my alarm clock goes off at slightly over 4 in the morning. I groan and rub my eyes. I don't feel like waking up. It has already been slightly over a month since I'm here. I stretch a little and scratch my head. Oh god I thought as a sound that resembles a whale escapes me. My body feels so sore and my neck hurts. I place my right hand on the right side of my neck and give it an experimental turn. It certainly did not do me any justice as the ache is even 3 times worse. I sigh and look around my apartment and give it some time to adjust to the low light setting of my room.

Today, I am in the palace with a completely different reason from the reason I was brought to the palace in the first place. Turns out, the elite school father was planning to send me off to heard about my records in Kunugigaoka and are obviously not amused with the 'crimes' I've committed. If I were them, I wouldn't even think about giving myself another chance. Why would they, anyway? An honour student with good grades suddenly thrown to Class E for disciplinary actions and once I was accepted back to the main building, I ticked some nerves off and once again got kicked off to Class E.

And so now, father has been filling my days with lectures and lessons on all sorts of things to prepare me for the elite school and also to tire me out. Suddenly, tutors and scholars from all over Japan are turning up at the door of my apartment with different reasons. It varies from the normal curriculum I've had in school to the extra curriculum such as horse riding, fencing, how to walk and talk properly, how to dance and play the piano. My schedule has been tight since the first day father got word of reply from the school in England.

Knock knock

I groan. I know who that is and I know what he wants.

"Princess," Hirase Kaji, the palace butler calls out before knocking on my door again. I sigh from my couch. I don't want any more lessons. My thighs are still aching from yesterday's horse riding and my feet are killing me due to a six hour worth of waltzing and did I mention of my sprained ankle from tripping over my own foot during waltzing? And this area where it connects my neck and shoulders! Don't get me started on them. "I know you're awake. You have 30 minutes to get ready before your lessons start." I sigh.

This is my life now. My days start as early as 4 in the morning to complete the normal school syllabus and it will end at around 10 or 11. Of course, I will have breakfast at 7 with the whole family, mother excluded for she has always been at Sakuragi Couture or Paris trying new things and getting new inspirations to sell her clothes at the same level as designers such as Versace and Alexander McQueen. And then I will have a 40 minutes break time right after my classes finish to get ready for my extra curriculum activities. I usually have 3 or 4 different curriculum a day which will end at 8 or 9 at night. I will have to study afterwards and get ample of rest before 4 a.m the next day for the whole cycle to repeat itself.

"Princess." Hirase's voice is heard again as he knocks on my door more vigorously than before.

"Alright, I'm awake." I roll my eyes out of annoyance and the knockings stop before the door knob is pushed down before both doors open in such a grandiose manner that make you wonder why. He has been doing this for a while now so I settle on thinking that he's obviously doing this on purpose. 'Liven up the spirit' as I would say. Stepping into the low light of my room is the head butler himself. He has a silver tray on his right hand with a cup and a teapot of the same design. He places the tray on the coffee table in the middle of the apartment before looking at me straight in the eye as he smiles.

I observe the way he's dressed and notices a missing accessory on his normal butler suit. He has the typical butler suit but the vibe is somehow different now without his pocket watch. Sometimes I wonder why father didn't make him change his name to Sebastian or something since he's too good at his job. Also, he has been getting on my nerves for being extremely loud early in the mornings. I don't need to look at his face to know he has that triumphant smile. I reply his smile a little before rubbing my eye.