"Uhh... Say that again?" I closed my eyes in disbelief.

William cleared his throat, "I said that's my little brother. Well... Half brother. Either way, it's a he, not a she."

I still couldn't understand what they were saying, "But... Why would they call her- I mean, him, Ebbie?"

"It's short for Ebel."

"How the hell do you get Ebbie from Ebel?! Shouldn't it be short for Ebeline or something?!"

He frowned, "What kind of name is Ebeline?"

I frowned as well, "What kind of name is Ebel?!"

I looked down at Ebbie, "Did you know you were a boy?"

He stared at me with a innocent expression, "Of course I did."

"So when I mentioned the dresses..."

Ebbie shrugged, "I wouldn't mind trying some on."

I smiled giddily, "Score."

William clicked his tongue, "Are you crazy? You can't dress my little brother up in a dress!"

Ebbie grabbed onto me protectively, "Stupid William! Stop talking to my fiance! I forbid it!"

Ebbie looked at William defiantly. I couldn't help but get caught up in that feisty cuteness.

I snapped out of it, "Wait... Fiance?!"

Ebbie nodded, "Yes. I find you rather interesting. Therefore, I shall marry you. You're welcome."

Seeing his smug smile, I suddenly saw the connection to William. I guess arrogant attitudes run in the family. Well... At least Ebbie is cuter than William when he does it.

William noticed my stare and scowled, "What are you looking at me for?"

I sighed, "I'm just realizing just how cute Ebbie is compared to you."

William was about to shout, but I bent down and pet Ebbie's hair cutting him off, "Ebbie... You're cute, but I can't marry you."

Ebbie frowned, "And why not?"

I replied cooley, "Because I like older men."

William and Dante's ears both pricked up at this. William cleared his throat as he realized he was technically an older man.

Ebbie smiled, "I don't care. You're still going to marry me."

Oi. Where did this child get his stubbornness from?!

I forced a smile, "And why would I do that?"

"Because. I may not be a Prince, but my mother is a duchess. So I still have social superiority over you."

My eyebrows twitched, "Do you even know what those words mean?"

Ebbie smiled proudly, "My teacher taught me."

"Uhuh."

I'm going to have to have a talk with this teacher of his.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry. But I just can't accept this proposal."

Ebbie smiled larger, "It doesn't matter if you accept it or not. We are married now."

I looked to Lona for help, "Lona! Help me!"

Lona clapped her hands together with a serious expression. "Very well. Young master Ebbie?"

He looked up at her, "Yes?"

"I shall prepare a dowry right away. Where should I send it?"

My heart crashed.

TRAITOR!!!

I whined and stomped my foot, "Lonaaaa! You're supposed to help me!"

She nodded, "I am. By sending a dowry."

Ebbie frowned, "Why are you being so difficult? You've already hugged me. Shouldn't I take responsibility by marrying you?"

I squinted my eyes, "And why would you need to take responsibility for that?"

Ebbie looked up at me puzzled, "I once caught my Mama hugging the King in bed and she told me that's how babies were made. She said if I ever hugged someone I had to take res-"

"DIFFERENT KIND OF HUGGING! T-THATS A DIFFERENT KIND OF HUG!" I interrupted while blushing from head to toe.

Ebbie raised an eyebrow, "There's more than one hug?"

William also looked confused, "What kind of hug was it then? I'm confused. Wait... Why was my father even in bed with his mother?"

I blushed further and looked at Dante for help. But he too couldn't connect the dots.

I can't give "the talk" to these kids!!!

I hung my head, "How do you two not know? Aren't you 11? Isn't that when puberty starts for boys?"

William frowned, "Well if you know then explain it already."

"Umm... Well... You see... When a man loves a woman. Or, sometimes he doesn't love the woman at all... Ack. Just ask your parents!"

Lona frowned at me, "And how do you know what they are talking about?"

"Uhhhhh."

I looked around hectically trying to think of a way to escape. Ebbie hugged me tighter and buried his head into my stomach. I rubbed his soft hair as a way to cope with my overwhelming mental anguish.

I changed the subject, "I still can't believe this adorable child is actually a boy. How can he be so girly? He's having tea with a stuffed rabbit!!"

"Hoho~" Joel skipped over from nowhere, "That's because he rather likes girly things. If we don't give them to him, he will throw a tantrum."

I frowned in disgust at his smiling face.

He turned to me with a disgusting grin, "I found you~ Hehe."

Ebbie poked his head out and smiled happily at his older brother. Ebbie waved happily and he waved back.

Joel looked around, "Now what's going on here?"

Ebbie smiled at him, "I just got engaged to Seri!"

My face twitched, "I don't remember agreeing."

William glared, "Ebbie! Enough! You can't marry her."

Ebbie looked at William rebelliously, "And why not?"

"Because if she's going to marry anyone, it's going to be me!"

We all grew quiet. We all watched as his head exploded from embarrassment at his own careless words.

Should I ignore that?

Yes. Yes I should.

"Oho~" Joel giggled, "Your face is all red little Willy. Are you perhaps declaring your love for Seri?"

He stomped still blushing, "I-I'm not!!"

He chuckled, "Really? To me it seems like you are."

William looked at me twitching with embarrassment. I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

"AUUUUGH!"

And just like that, William ran away crying.

I looked at Dante, "Aren't you going to chase after him?"

He shrugged, "He's fine."

So much for the loyal Knight.

Joel smiled and clapped his hands together, "Well that was exciting. But we should get to work as the day is passing us by. Now that I found you, we can officially start the etiquette training. I think we should start on your walk. Have you ever-"

"She's gone." Dante replied coldly again, interrupting him.

His mouth drop, "What?! How!?! I only blinked this time!"

Lona sighed, "Next time don't blink."

_____

I wandered the halls of the building.

"Hmm. I wonder where I should go. Definitely should grab some snacks first."

I wandered into the kitchen and saw the familiar cook.

His pudgy face smiled down at me, "Ah! Young Miss Seri! You haven't come to my kitchen in a while..." His face turned green, "Wait... Could it be another poisoning attempt?"

I shook my head, "No. There's no poisoning attempt this time Chef Chub."

He wrinkled his brows and muttered, "Chef Chub...?"

"I'm here for some snacks."

I noticed a decorative cake on the counter. It looked so fancy and exquisite. My mouth watered in anticipation.

He noticed my hungry stare and chuckled, "That's for tonight's dinner. It looks nice, doesn't it? I worked extra hard on it."

I reached out at it and he knocked away my hand, "No touching now. If you want some snacks I have some apples and fruits over here. I heard you didn't eat breakfast so you should eat something healthy."

He turned around to grab some fruit. When he turned back, the cake and Seri were gone. He fell to his knees and started sobbing.

I continued down the hall holding the cake in one hand and shoveling pieces of it into my mouth with a fork in the other hand. I walked down the hall and came across a familiar painting. I stared at it closely.

Hmm... Why do I always get weird vibes from this painting?

As I got closer I felt a slight breeze.

Is that... Coming from the painting?

I poked the painting leaving behind some icing. There wasn't a brick wall behind it!

I pushed the corner of the painting revealing a hole in the wall.

Whoooa! No way! This is some crazy sh*t right here. I've always wanted to find a secret room!

I stepped into the hole giddily, still carrying my cake. I put the painting back to hide the hole once more. A strange luminescent light lit up the hidden hallway. When I looked closer, I realized that the rocks lining the hidden hall glowed in the dark.

"Cool! This must be dracula's house or something. Or is that a different genre?"

I walked through the hallway munching happily on my cake. I noticed a small hole and looked through it.

Queen Luna sat in her office pulling her hair out, "Jasper! Stop giving me so much work!! I want to have fun with my daughter in law!"

The servant Jasper sighed, "My Queen... I can't control your workload. If you finish soon, I'm sure Miss Seri will hug you to congratulate you."

I choked on my cake.

Queen Luna smiled dreamily, "Ahh. Do you think she'll call me mother?"

He nodded, "Yes. But only if you complete your work."

She threw her hands up, "Then I shall work hard." She went back to work with a vigorous energy.

There was a knock at the door. She nodded and Jasper opened it up.

Joel came running in with tears in his eyes, "Queen Luna~ Seri's run away again!"

She frowned, "Stop chasing her away then."

He sobbed, "I didn't do anything! I just mention etiquette training and she ran away!"

"Well there's your problem. Seri doesn't like sitting still. That's what makes her so cute."

He pouted, "Then what should I do?"

"Just bribe her with some cake. She will do just about anything to earn sweets."

Tsk. I'm not that easy to win over.

Wait. Am I?

I took a bite of cake.

She continued, "I heard the cook talking about a cake masterpiece he created. Ask him if you can use that."

I took a bite of the masterpiece cake.

Well. It certainly does taste good.

He saluted her, "Yes my Queen!"

She waved him off impatiently, "Now go."

As he ran out the door, she groaned and held her head. She shook her head in exasperation, "I really need to do something about my husband's infidelity. I can't handle any more idiot children from his love affairs."

I chewed on my cake and continued walking. I came to another hole and looked through it.

What the f*ck?! This is my room!

Kitty Dante stood guard at the door while Kitty Lona laid in the sunlight. My room was in full view. I shivered.

How creepy. Well, I guess it's good to know someone could be spying on me. Although I do wonder who else knows about this creepy hallway.

I continued walking and came to two smalls holes, the perfect size for both eyes. I looked through them.

Oh sh*t. This must also be a painting.

William was sitting on the bed playing with Kitty Millie's paws. Kitty William was laying on his lap sleeping peacefully.

Hehe. So the little bastard did end up liking the cats.

"Why are you pouting?"

I recognized Dante's voice close to the painting. However, I couldn't see him.

Ah. He must be standing to the right of it.

William blushed, "Because I said something weird to Seri! She's probably never going to talk to me again."

"You've said worse."

William fell onto the bed and buried his head into a pillow. The cats crawled onto his back in an attempt to comfort him.

He groaned, "It's so embarrassing... I won't be able to face her again. What am I going to do?"

As William whined with his head buried, I put what was left of my cake onto the ground to my left. I moved the painting and grabbed onto Dante. I pulled him in to the secret hallway and covered his mouth. The painting fell back into place.

I whispered in a deep voice, "If you scream, I will kill you."

Dante glanced at me with blank eyes.

What? No reaction? How boring.

William looked around the room in confusion, "Huh? Where'd he go?"

Dante took my hand off of his mouth. He muttered coldly, "You got icing on my face."

The hallway was light enough to see, but it was still too dim to make out certain features. I squinted in the darkness.

"Oh. My bad." I took my finger and wiped off the icing from his face. I stuck it into my mouth, "Mm. Sweet."

Dante's ears flushed in the darkness. He looked away awkwardly, "What is this place?"

I picked up my cake from the ground and munched on it. I walked down the hall while talking, "I'm not really sure. It's like a secret tunnel. You didn't know about it?"

He shook his head, "No."

"Well, it's kind of creepy. Every room has a small hole that you can stare into from this tunnel. Even my room had one."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Don't get any ideas."

"Sure."

I frowned at his cold unyielding stare. I kind of regret showing him now.

He seemed to have read my mind, "Why would you show me this?"

I smiled haughtily at him, "We are partners in crime, aren't we?"

We continued to walk in silence until we finally came to a door.

My eyes widened, "Oh wow! A secret room. I wonder if there's treasures inside... Ahhh~ I could pawn them for so much money!"

"?"

I coughed at his questioning glare, "Don't ask. Say, could you open the door?"

He nodded and struggled with it for a moment. Finally, the door opened. Dust came pouring out, disturbed from the opened door. I quickly protected what was left of my cake from the dust billowing out of the door.

We coughed as we walked into the room. There was an oil lamp on a table which Dante lit. As the light lit up the room, we both stared at it's contents in horror.

Scattered throughout the room were dozens, if not hundreds, pieces of pornographic drawing's.

I dropped the cake onto the table and shrieked. I covered my eyes in embarrassment.

PORN! SO MUCH PORN!

EEK! I may like erotic novels but this is too much even for me!!!!

Dante picked up a piece of paper and looked at it completely bewildered. "What... What is this?"

I coughed awkwardly, "Well... This is what I meant earlier when I said what happens when a man loves a woman." I refused to open my eyes.

He looked at it with a complicated expression, "But... This one has six girls and one guy."

I wanted to slam my head into the wall.

I cleared my throat and attempted to speak calmly, "And THAT'S what I meant when I said sometimes they don't love each other at all."

_____

Lona walked through the hall and noticed icing on an old priceless painting.

She sighed.

Somehow she just had a bad feeling while looking at that painting.