During that time they were born, it was a matter of life and death and with great luck given the living won over the dead. The King of Clarines rushed back to his castle as soon as he heard his wife was about to give birth to twins. Along with Izana, the soon-to-be older brother of the twins came rushing to the medical bay to see the woman they've been searching for holding two babies in both of her arms. A white haired boy on her left and on her right a red haired girl, like hers.

When the Queen* was aware of the King's and Izana's presence, she gave a warm smile. The King went by his wife's side with a huge smile plastered on his face, he took the white haired baby to his arms.

"The boy is by seven minutes older than the girl. I think you should give the boy a name, dear" The Queen said.

"What should we name him? Any suggestions? Izana?" The King questioned, as the baby in his arms played with his finger.

"How about Zen?" Izana suggested. "I think Zen suits my younger brother"

"Then Zen it is" The King said then averted his gaze at the girl in his wife's arms. "And my young princess?"

"Victoiré." The Queen said as she looked at the King and Izana. "Victoiré means victory and passion. Her red hair represents passion"

The King smiled, liking the two given names. "Zen and Victoiré, you will be the Second Prince and the First Princess of the Kingdom of Clarines"

- - - -

Deep within the forest, the Second Prince of Clarines escaped from the castle grounds with his younger twin and his other two companions chasing after this irresponsible older twin.

"Can't you atleast slow down, Zen!" The raven-haired princess, Victoiré, yelled as she chased after her irresponsible older twin brother. Sometimes she just wonders, is he really the older twin between them?

Behind Victoiré, the two aides of Zen by the name of Kiki and Mitsuhide chashing after the second prince.

"Do you even realize how slow you are?" Zen taunted, as turned to look at the three people chasing after his reckless self. And when he can look forwards again, it was already the edge of the cliff, before he can stop himself he continued to slide down the steep cliff, screamimg for dear life.

Just how lucky the second prince can be, an abandoned house was built below the cliff. The house already served as his savior for living. Zen fell on the roof, continuing to fall forwards until he fell to the hard ground face first.

"That good for nothing brother of mine" Victoiré gave a loud sigh as she watched her twin slide down the cliff and then turned to the two aides beside her. "Kiki, Mitsuhide were meeting up at that old house that Zen fell on"

Victoiré slid down the cliff, then on the roof of the house, until she safely felt the ground with a perfect form. As soon as she turned around, she saw Zen landed on a certain girl wearing a hood.

"You caused alot of ruckus today, you idiot twin" Victoiré scolded her brother, whacking her brother by the head. And right after, helping the girl wearing a hood. "Are you alright, miss?" Victoiré questioned as she waited for the girl to say her name.

"My name is Shirayuki. And yes, I'm fine" The girl said in a polite tone. A strong gust of wind came by, as the wind pulled back the hood that hid the girl's identities. Victoiré was astonished to see the girl's red hair, and smiled.

"How lovely, that hair you have" Victoiré complimented.

"Thank you. I get that alot from my home country" Shirayuki said, and gave a slight chuckle.

Victoiré heard a groan beside her, her gaze suddenly fell on her twin. "Shouldn't I be the one you're supposed to help, Vic?" Zen said, as he tried to stand up.

"And this would've happened if you weren't so irresponsible" Victoiré retorted, crossing her arms.

"Zen! Victoiré!" They heard someone yell. Zen and Victoiré turned their heads to where the yell came from, only to see Mitsuhide and Kiki. "I apologize for taking too long"

"No worries. Importantly, you're both here" Zen said.

Mitsuhide averted his gaze towards the unfamiliar girl beside Victoiré. "And who might you be, miss?" Mitsuhide asked in a sincere voice.

"I'm Shirayuki." The girl said with a smile.

Mitsuhide returned the smile and introduced himself as well, as not to be rude to the lady. "My name is Mitsuhide. Nice to meet you Miss Shirayuki"

After Mitsuhide introduced himself, Kiki stepped forward to the girl. "My name is Kiki"

"And I am Victoiré, but I prefer to be called Vic." Victoiré said, then pointed at her twin. "And this is my twin brother Zen"

Shirayuki gave a smile. "It is nice to meet all of you"

As soon as Shirayuki finished, droplets of rain started fall down and little by little it was starting to grow stronger. Everyone rushed inside the abandoned house to keep themselves protected from the rain.

"So Shirayuki, what were doing into the forest?" Victoiré asked.

"Well," Shirayuki seemed hesitate to answer her question but did so anyways. "I have reasons why I left my home country"

"And that would be?" Victoiré raised one of her eyebrows at her.

"And that would be Tanbarun" Shirayuki answered.

"I've heard rumors from Tanbarun that Prince Raji was looking for a girl with red hair. And might that be you?"

Shirayuki sighed. "Yes, I am that person Prince Raji is looking for"

"That Raji!" Zen gritted his teeth as he heard the Prince of Tanbarun's name.

As soon as the rain started to let up, the group heard a loud knock from the old wooden door. And curiously, why would someone know of this old and abandoned house?

Victoiré walked towards the wooden door and opened it, revealing a basket of apples on the entrance. She grabbed the basket and went back inside.

"Apples?" Zen asked as Victoiré gave a slight shrug, placing the basket of apples on the table. Shirayuki examined the apples when she saw a note inside. Her face suddenly flushed.

"What is it Shirayuki?" Zen asked, walking towards her. Having an advantage being taller than Shirayuki, he took a peek by her shoulder and his expression instantly changed.

Zen hastily grabbed the note, rage consuming his usual calm demeanor. He grabbed an apple inside the basket, examining it carefully.

"I should take a bite. Poisoned or not" Zen said. Victoiré and Mitsuhide was about to protest when Zen gave them a look.

"But Zen! Let me do it instead!" Victoiré pleaded. Zen smiled at his younger twin and ruffled her hair.

"Let me do it, Vic. I am the older twin afterall" Zen said and took a bite from the apple. In a matter of seconds, Zen fell down from his knees, the apple sliding out of his hands. Victoiré and Shirayuki immediately rushed beside him.

Victoiré grabbed the apple, as she noticed something different about it. There were purple linings inside the apple, and it was only one thing, the apple was definitely poisoned. Suddenly guards from Tanbarun came inside, Victoiré tried to protect Shirayuki but an unknown scent filled the room. She heard a thud from her side and saw Mitsuhide and Kiki fell unconscious. She felt her knees grow weak, as she fell to the ground. Before her vision begin to fade, last thing she saw was Shirayuki being dragged by the guards, shouting her name.

Several hours had passed, Victoiré regained consciousness, seeing Mitsuhide and Kiki with a worried look, and immediately rushed by her twin's side.

Zen opened his blue orbs to meet her sister's similar blue ones with tears that she refused to let fall. Zen chuckled to see his strict sister like this, being worried and all. "Stop that. It's not like I'm dead"

"What are you saying? I'm not crying" Victoiré denied.

"Where's Shirayuki?" Zen asked.

"They got her"

With that said, he immediately rose up from her sister's arms but only resulted to falling to his knees again.

"Zen, you shouldn't. Mitsuhide, Kiki and I will find Shirayuki." Victoiré said, repeatedly tried to persuade her twin to rest.

"No," Zen said. "I will not let you go find her by yourselves, despite my current condition. I'm coming with you. Please, Vic"

Zen gave her a look, it was fierce and had determination. She hadn't seen her twin become like this at all.

"Understood. We need to head out now" Victoiré said. "Let's head back to the castle immediately to grab our horses and head out"

The forest was near the castle grounds, an advantage for them. Without wasting anymore time, they rode their horses and head out going to Tanbarun.

Arriving at the castle of Tanbarun, Zen went down from his horse and ran inside the castle. The castle gates had armed guards that were ready to attack Zen, but Victoiré, Mitsuhide and Kiki were able to repel them.

"Zen! Go to Shirayuki! We'll handle this" Victoiré shouted as Zen continued to run forwards to the castle.

Zen continued to through the castle's maze-like hallways, just then he heard voices. He kicked the door, to see Raji touching Shirayuki's red hair.

"Don't touch her!" He growled, as he glared at Raji that could pierce through his skin.

Raji felt shivers down his spine. He knew who this person was. "The second prince of Clarines?!"

"P-Prince?" Shirayuki muttered under her breath, removing herself from the Prince Raji's grasp.

"That is right. I am the second prince of Clarines, Zen Wistaria. And you have poisoned someone with royal blood. Unfortunately for me, I am able to withstand poison over the years." Zen said, a smirk forming on his lips. "Prince Raji, you've caused enough trouble. If you want to keep this between us, then be my guest. Release Shirayuki and give the antidote"

Once Victoiré, Kiki and Mitsuhide arrived, they saw Zen and Shirayuki together. Victoiré knew that her twin brother finally took a liking to a girl, how adorable.

"Victoiré-san! Kiki-san! Mitsuhide-san!" A voice called out, making Victoiré snap out of her thoughts. "Zen's fine now"

They gave a nod. "Thank you for saving my  brother" Victoiré said.

"No, no. And I'm sorry for causing you trouble" She said, her eyes becoming teary.

"You don't have to worry, you didn't cause us any trouble." Victoiré gave her a reassuring smile.

"And if you'd like," Zen begun. "You could come with us to Clarines" Victoiré continued.

"And would that be alright?" Shirayuki asked.

Victoiré and Zen chuckled. "Then, we would've have ask you if it wasn't!" They said in unison. The twins paused and glared at eachother, because they were always in sync of what to say and it irritated them. But what can they do, they're twins afterall.

* Queen Haruto Wistaria — instead of having blonde hair, in this story she will have red hair.

〜〜〜〜〜

Hello friends! Its Izzy, sorry it took to sooooooooooo looooooooong to edit, but i tried my best to fix this book but i hope you enjoy it!

Also another thing, i will be replying to your comments, i know some of them are already from about a long time ago and im sorry for not replying i have been really stressed and everything during that time. anyways i just want to say that lol

have a great day! love yaaa xx 💕

ps. did i mention i started studying japanese to be able to watch anime without subs lmao 😹