"Hello, Harumi, we're your new family!"

"My new... family?"

"Yes, dear, you're coming to live with us at the palace! You're going to live every little girl's dream and be a princess! Oh don't look so sad! Remember, a princess doesn't cry!"

As luxurious as it sounded, Harumi wasn't happy about it. Nobody could replace her real parents. Nevertheless, she stood tall and went with it.

She sat in her room, staring at the small photo frame. Tears rolled from her cheeks and fell onto the glass casing. Hurriedly, she scrubbed them away with the hem of her gown. She hated how tight and scratchy it was. But like how her...'mother' had said, 'Beauty is pain, but it's all worth it,'

Looking out of the window, she saw a little blonde boy of her age, with green eyes, walking side-by-side with a teenage girl, with black hair in a bob cut and a red kimono. Her sad pout turned to an icy glare. Not at the girl, but the little boy.

He was the reason her parents were dead!

Gritting her teeth, she went back to her bed and flopped onto it.

All that was going on in her mind was how her parents sacrificed their lives to ensure her safety. A debt she'll never be able to repay.

0+0+0+0

With a gasp, the young princess jolted awake from her sleep. She'd just had the worst nightmare about the Great Devourer. She sniffled, as her parents envisioned her thoughts, and the lights flooded her room as her parents entered.

"Harumi! What happened, dear?"

"Just a nightmare, mother. Sorry,"

"Don't worry, dear. Now, get some sleep, we don't want big bags under your eyes, and wipe away those tears too. A princess doesn't cry."

"Yes, father,"

Now at 17 years old, she stood behind the double doors which separated her from the outside world. Today she would make her first speech ever. Her hand trailed to the small pocket in her dress, and she pulled out a crumpled photo of her parents. Tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away furiously as the doors creaked open. Why?

A princess doesn't cry.