“What do you mean, the princess is gone??!”

“She vanished. Disappeared. Taken leave. No where in sight. Ran away. Poof!”

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!!”

“H-have mercy, your highness!! We shall do all that we can to find the princess immediately!!”

“THEN WHAT ARE YOU STILL STANDING HERE FOR??!! WHY AREN’T YOU OUT LOOKING FOR HER??”

“Yes, Your Highness!! Right away, Your Highness!”

“… *sigh*… I knew I should have told her about the engagement after I got her to the altar…”

“… Uh… pardon me, O’ Fearless Leader…”

Chiaki scratched the side of her head as she opened her mouth to that typical sarcastic tone of hers. She was trying very hard to be sincere, but lack of patience for her current position was really eating her up. Seeing as she had somehow fallen behind again, she picked up her pace and hurried to catch up with her huge demon companion, as they steered through the dark forest.

Who would have ever thought this forest was so big?! And what was up with these trails? They seemed to lead around and around in circles, having no real beginning or end…

“I have, um, reviewed our situation––” the young princess continued once again after she had re-positioned herself a couple paces behind the demon prince, “––And I am happy to inform you that I have used my highly effective analyzing abilities to come up with this intelligent hypothesis –– WE’RE STILL LOST!”

“… We are not lost.”

“Oh, please…” Chiaki rolled her eyes. “We’ve passed this place six times already! The forest animals are starting to look at us like we’re planning to steal their winter nuts or something.”

“… I know where I’m going.”

“Right. Sure. Uh huh. Next thing you known you’ll be walking us right off a cliff.”

“… Don’t make me turn around, wench!”

Zenki had completely run out of good threats, patience, and energy, having been stuck with this insolent little twerp of a creature for almost three hours. For the first part of their attempted journey to exit the damned forest, the little bitch had actually taken the time to make sure that she didn’t offend him or anger him in any horrible way. But after a while, that motor mouth of hers just started to run again as if it had a mind of its own.

“Geez, what is up with you masochists…” Chiaki sighed. “Would it really kill you to just admit that, even though I, a super genius, had advised you to take a look at my map before we started wandering around like a couple of blind chickens, you still refused — due to your weird sense of logic, which dictated that we didn’t need one — and ended up getting us even more lost than we were in the first place?”

“Chisako…”

“Let’s just stop and take a look at this nice wonderful map I’ve got, and maybe we’ll be able to —”

“Chisako!”

“What?”

“Shut up!!!”

Chiaki reluctantly shut her mouth and followed the demon, whom the princess was convinced had no clue whatsoever where he was going.

Even though as a princess she had not been brain-washed by fantasies of Prince Charming’s coming to her rescue, she was currently praying for someone… anyone to come and sweep her away from Mr. I’ve-got-big-muscles-I-don’t-need-a-brain.

… Perhaps running away wasn’t such a good idea after all…

After trotting up and down dozens of trails and rounding millions of dead trees and getting absolutely no where, the princess was beginning to feel extremely dizzy and tired. The night could be dreadfully long when one was trying to walk, stay awake, and put up with a runt of a demon all at the same time.

Finally, the princess’ legs could take no more, and she slumped down beside half a dozen dry, fallen tree trunks.

The prince noticed the lack of soft footsteps sounding behind him, and he turned, seeing that the tired girl had fallen into a weary half-sitting half-laying position against a tree trunk.

“What are you doing now?” He frowned his disinterest.

“I’m laying an egg…”

His frown intensified. Even near unconsciousness, she still did not forget to mold each word as insultingly as possible. He snorted and walked back a few steps, thumping down beside the girl.

The dark, almost raven-ish, violet bangs hanged over her closed eyes and trailed in contrast against the soft whiteness of her cheeks. Her bosom, hidden beneath the malleable cotton fabric of her simple dress, swelled and dropped slowly in the rhythm of her breathing.

It took him a couple of seconds to realize that she had already fallen into a deep slumber.

Having never been this close to a human without physically hurting it in any way, he resorted to simply staring at her, studying this creature, which he had always deemed too weak and unworthy to even look upon.

Her form was ridiculously small in comparison to his own. Delicately shaped and carefully sculpted, he couldn’t help but wonder exactly how such a petite creature composed herself without falling over on those dainty feet and breaking her fragile limbs.

What also puzzled him was the fact that such a small being had such great power hidden within her. Simply thinking about the spell she had summoned earlier was enough to make his stomach churn.

The round fullness and soft curves typical to females seemed even more apparent on her. No claws extended forth from her slender fingers; instead, clear translucent nails shielded her fingertips. No horns emerged from her head, leaving her tiny skull unprotected and instantaneously crushable. No fangs protruded beyond her lips; however, knowing how sharp her tongue was, she probably wouldn’t have had use for fangs anyway.

Gods, he never knew talking to someone could be so… tiring!

As soon as the word ‘tired’ entered his mind, his eyelids involuntarily dropped closed, and his consciousness entered the world of dreams; the one and only place where he could seek temporary sanctuary from that brazen, yet somewhat intriguing, vixen.