「Rags and Royalty」
amica-ceti
「遙」- This was the both the worst and the best day in Haru’s entire life. He’d been caught stealing from one of the wagons which delivered the food to the castle, which hadn’t happened in quite some time. Haru was good at going unnoticed. He was good at swiftly grabbing an apple or two, or even a cheese or a small loaf if he was lucky. He was good at being poor, if you could even say that.
Ever since he could remember he had lived on the streets, living off of stolen goods, and when things got desperate, even garbage. He’d never steal more than he could handle – more than he needed – but today was different. Earlier, he’d stumbled across a small child. She looked only to be around seven years old. His mind had screamed for him to run – to abandon the girl to survive on her own, but he just couldn’t do it. Hadn’t he been just like her? Helpless and frail? He couldn’t leave her, and that’s why he was forced to act more boldly. To steal enough for the both of them.
And that’s how he’d ended up sitting in the back of the wagon, hands bound behind his back, gaged so he couldn’t scream. He didn’t even try to escape, the ropes were bound too tight, besides, maybe prison wasn’t such a bad thing. At least not when your living quarters was an alley and smelled like trash. Maybe this was actually a good thing.
The wagon eventually came to a stop, and Haru was shoved off. He landed on his stomach with a thud, scraping his bare knees on the stone. He didn’t say anything, just let himself be dragged from the ground by his hair. After all prison was a good thing. But looking around Haru didn’t see any prison. What he saw was the complete opposite, believe it or not. He’d been brought to the castle. The Royal Palace of all places. But why?
The answer came soon enough. He’d been brought as an item, just another one of their goods. They sold him off as a servant. Apparently a spot as the Prince’s personal servant was open, and Haru was lucky enough, or unlucky enough, depending on the way you looked at it, to receive the spot. He didn’t even know what to think. It had all happened so fast. One moment he was a homeless boy, and the next, he served the Prince himself. One moment he was bound and gagged, and the next, he was wearing fresh new clothes, knocking on the Prince’s door with a tray of food in his hand.
This was the both the worst and the best day in Haru’s entire life.
