If Yuichiro could describe his life in one word, he would pick 'miserable'. Coming from a poor, low-class family meant that Yuichiro was constantly a servant to others, without pay. The only thing Yuichiro gained was stale food, an uncomfortable bed to sleep on, raggedy clothes, and a scary dungeon-like space to live in.
The real luxury was up a few levels where the Royal vampire family resided. Yes, Yuichiro was a servant to the royal family. Well, technically he was assigned mainly to the crown prince, Queen Krul Tepes' son. But Yuichiro hardly ever caught more than a glance of the vampire prince.
The Royal family employed multiple servants, both being humans and vampires. It was expected that the human servants provide their blood for the Royal family members they are assigned to, if they are thirsty. Yuichiro was lucky enough to never come in direct contact with Mikaela, the crown prince. Yuichiro would end up losing his job by denying the prince blood, and his family would never forgive him. Of course, they didn't know what it was like to be Yuichiro. Constantly fearing that the vampire prince would be hungry and sink his fangs into Yuichiro's neck while he was sleeping.
But despite his horrible situation, Yuichiro forced himself to keep living, despite finding the idea of throwing himself into a fire more appealing. Yuichiro still had friends, like Mitsuba, Shinoa, Kimizuki, and Yoichi. They were all humans, which comforted Yuichiro immensely. They were so close that Yuichiro referred to them as his family. His real family was back at home, scraping by. His father was working in the mines and his mother was a baker. His sister was too little to help the family, but she would clean the homes of wealthy families for pay, despite being so young.
As long as they were alive and well, Yuichiro was happy. Yuichiro just wished they hadn't agreed so easily to give him away to the Royal vampire family. Perhaps it eased their minds to know they would have one less mouth to feed. Yuichiro's heart gave a painful tug at the thought, and he pushed it away. He wouldn't think like that. His family loved and cared for him.
But at least Yuichiro had a new family. It was difficult at first for Yuichiro to make friends amongst the servants, mainly because he had to keep an eye on them to determine if they were vampires or not. The eyes were a dead giveaway, so Yuichiro normally looked for that. Yuichiro was lucky enough to find four friends who were human, since Yuichiro never wanted to befriend a vampire.
Vampires were considered the most wealthy, except for the few that were servants for the Royal family. Other than that, they lived in wealthy neighborhoods with riches galore. It was the humans that were poor. Ever since the Royal vampire family took over, humans lived in poverty and became known as livestock for the wealthy vampires. It was terrible the way that life changed so quickly for Yuichiro. Yuichiro hadn't felt safe in so long.
That was why Yuichiro hated the Royal family so much. They were cruel and didn't care for the lives of the people who fed them. Yuichiro hated them with every bone in his body, and he would never give his blood to them, no matter the consequence. They could starve, just like he had for so long.
~
Yuichiro was cleaning the floor with a rag and a bucket of water when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. Frowning, Yuichiro stole a glance at Shinoa who looked equally confused. Couldn't the person see that they were cleaning the hallway floors? Yuichiro secretly hoped it was a vampire so they would slip on the wet floors and fall.
A figure finally rounded a corner of the hallway, seeming to not care whatsoever that the floor was wet as they walked with ease. When the figure got closer, Yuichiro felt his blood run cold. He recognized the blonde locks and bright red eyes of the crown prince he saw only briefly a few times, yet still never forgot the look of. The vampire butler was following behind the prince, desperate.
