Part 1: Fate
After Ken firmly told Leo to make Yumi happy first before any real physical combat training could begin.
Leo become instantly frustrated to his very core.
"I am not a basic babysitter here."
"I am a proud, seasoned warrior," Leo says, clenching his fists tightly.
"But it is your absolute current training assignment to make her happy today."
"And only after you succeed, then I could think to do something else for your actual combat lessons," Ken says smoothly.
"Uhhhh..."
"Okay, fine, let me just try to do it," Leo says, letting out a heavy, defeated sigh.
"Wait right there, first let me completely transform you into something presentable," Ken says, looking at him up and down.
"Uhh.. what do you mean?" Leo says, narrowing his eyes.
Then, Ken and a group of skilled palace maids immediately do some rigorous experiments on Leo's entire appearance.
Then, after a great deal of scrubbing and changing, Leo turn out to become very handsome now.
His dirty body and the thick layer of sweat built up from traveling were fully washed away in a bath.
And his dirty, torn clothes were completely replaced by a crisp white shirt, a pair of clean brown jeans, and solid brown shoes.
His long hair and his face was also incredibly messy and unkempt before this moment.
The head maid clean him up properly, trimming his hair and wiping his skin till it looked completely flawless.
Now, Leo looks genuinely handsome, matching the high aesthetic standards of the Fate kingdom.
"I honestly never expected that you would look so incredibly great like that," Ken says, genuinely surprised by the result.
"Okay, whatever, I don't know why you make up me like a noble boy."
"But now tell me, where exactly is Yumi located right now?" Leo says, adjusting his unfamiliar clean collar.
Ken simply smiles and shows Yumi's private room's exact direction down the luxurious hallway.
Leo goes there with slow steps and pushes open the heavy doors to enter her room.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw that Yumi absolutely destroyed her own bedding pillow in a fit of rage.
And the pillow's white cotton was spread everywhere across the floor like a fresh layer of snow.
She was violently biting her pillow with her sharp cat teeth to vent her hidden frustration.
Sensing a presence, she then drops the ruined pillow onto the messy floor.
Then, she looks back over her shoulder toward the doorway.
She is tightly tightening her grip on the remaining bedsheets.
And her beautiful face was completely swollen out, especially her puffed-up cheeks.
Leo stood there silently, thinking deeply in his mind about what to do to handle this volatile cat girl.
Then, he slowly comes near to her bedside, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
And he looks at her and says.
"Tell me exactly what you want right now, and what you want me to do for you?" Leo asked directly.
"Who on Tenzu are you, meow?" Yumi says, tilting her head as she stares at his clean, transformed face.
Leo become instantly frustrated by her short memory and cat-like attitude.
"I am Leo, your official designated caretaker for today," Leo says, pointing a finger at his own chest.
"I just want someone who truly loves me."
"I have found absolutely no one in this massive palace who loves me genuinely for who I am," Yumi says sadly.
"Don't your royal sisters love you at all?" Leo asked, remembering Princess Ariel and Flora.
"Yeah, they do, but I want a special someone who could loves me deeply and gave me a cute baby, meow," Yumi says bluntly.
"Where did I just trapped myself into today..." Leo says with immense frustration, covering his face with his hands.
He realized her dramatic desires were far too overwhelming for a normal caretaker to handle.
"Let's just go out to the main street of the Fate kingdom together."
"And we can eat some delicious food and enjoy the beautiful view of nature," Leo says, offering an escape.
"Uhh, okay, that sounds fine to me, meow," Yumi says, her eyes lighting up instantly at the mention of food.
Then, they went out together from the massive stone gates of the royal castle.
And they started walking through the bustling, wide streets of the capital city.
Before they had left, Ken has gave some money to Leo to spend freely on whatever the princess wanted.
Yumi was looking exceptionally happy seeing the open nature and the sky after being locked up for a long time.
"Don't you ever get to see the beautiful nature before this?" Leo asked, noticing her extreme excitement.
"I saw it in the past, but I am seeing the open kingdom streets after a very long time."
"I usually stay hidden inside the castle walls."
"And the guards don't ever let me leave the castle on my own," Yumi says, her voice dropping slightly.
Leo felt a sudden pang of sadness and genuine empathy for Yumi's isolated royal life.
Then, they officially entered the busiest parts of the public streets.
They saw many lively bazaars stretching down the roads.
And there were many wonderful places to sit down and eat street food.
Yumi become incredibly excited seeing all the colorful stalls and sweet aromas in the air.
Yumi then suddenly rush forward towards a local bakery shop on the corner.
And without waiting for anyone, she quickly grap one fresh bread straight from the counter.
And she immediately started to eat it with big bites, completely ignoring manners.
The shop owner was going to tell something angry about the theft.
But the moment he seeing Yumi's breathtaking beauty up close, he completely shut his mouth in awe.
Then, a panicked Leo quickly appears right behind her.
And he deeply bow down his head to say sorry to the stunned shop owner.
In his mind, he was deeply angry on Yumi because due to Yumi's wild actions, he has to be heavily embarrassed in public.
Then, Leo reached into his pocket and started to give the proper money to the owner to pay for the stolen bread.
But Leo suddenly realises that he doesn't understand maths at all due to living his entire life in the wild mountains.
And he doesn't know how much money he should give for the item.
And he has absolutely no clue how much change he would get return from the shopkeeper.
Seeing his total confusion, Yumi interrupts Leo's awkward silence.
And she smoothly help Leo to give the exact amount of money to the owner.
Leo become deeply surprised by her sudden intelligence and financial skill.
"How on earth does you understand complex things like this?" Leo asked, staring at her.
"Oh, my personal castle maid's teach me this math stuff since I was a little kid," Yumi says proudly.
"Oh, that's amazing. Can you also teach me how to do it later?" Leo asked, wanting to learn.
"Yeah, sure, I can do that for you," Yumi says with a cheerful grin.
Then, after finishing up at that bakery stall.
They then started to walk down further in the crowded streets.
And they saw many various shops selling jewelry and exotic goods.
And many passing people were also seeing Yumi's exposed body in a very dirty, lustful way.
Leo notice the disgusting looks from the crowd and become heavily frustrated.
"Yumi, everyone around here is seeing you in a very bad, disrespectful way."
"Don't you feel bad or uncomfortable about those stares?" Leo says, stepping closer to protect her.
"I can't do anything about it."
"It's just a natural side effect of being beautiful, and I have to face it everyday of my life," Yumi says calmly.
Leo feels a deep sense of empathy and respect for her mental strength upon hearing that heavy truth.
Then, they visited many more beautiful places around the capital city.
They eat some savory street foods together from the small stalls.
And they buy some nice clothes from the local vendors using Ken's money.
Then, as they turned down a quieter alleyway, they encounters an old man lying miserably on the hard road.
He was a complete alcoholic, smelling strongly of cheap liquor with broken bottles around him.
Yumi instantly noticed that old man's pathetic condition.
Then, she asked Leo to come there over to the wall with her.
Leo agree to her request and followed her closely.
Then, they come near the old man, looking down at his frail form.
Yumi asked the old man about his current terrible condition and why he was sleeping on the road.
The old man slowly looked up with bloodshot eyes and replied.
"In the past, I had a beautiful daughter and a loving wife."
"And we are a completely happy family living in the kingdom."
"But in a sudden tragic incident, my wife died horribly for a terrible disease."
"And I become deeply depressed from the loss."
"And I began to drink far too much alcohol every single day to forget the pain."
"And seeing this downward tragedy of mine."
"My young daughter feels immensely guilty about my life."
"She mistakenly took all the blame for her mother's death on herself."
"And she committed suicide because she couldn't take the pressure anymore."
"And I then broke entirely inside my soul."
"The only physical thing I had left in this world was just a small house."
"And I also lost that house completely in a sudden wild fire incident recently."
"Now, I have absolutely nothing left to my name."
"The only thing I could do now is just drink this liquor and wait for my death to take me," The old man says.
Yumi felt very sad and heartbroken for the old man's tragic life story.
Leo checked their funds and saw he currently has exactly 2500 Reo left in his pouch.
Without a single moment of hesitation, she took the bag and gave all the money to the old man.
And she told him to go find a warm place to live happily from now on.
The old man become incredibly happy, his hands shaking as he held the coins.
And he thanked Yumi over and over again with tears in his eyes.
Then, he immediately left the place, running down the street for buying a another glass of alcohol.
Leo become instantly frustrated at Yumi that why does she gave all their remaining money to the old man.
Who at the end of the day is clearly gonna buy just more useless alcohol to ruin himself.
"I know exactly what he would do with the coins," Yumi says softly, looking down the alley.
"But atleast I donated some proper money to him."
"So he would buy his drinks by his own legal cash."
"And he won't become a desperate thief in our kingdom's streets just to survive."
"And I will definitely talk about this old man's living situation later with my sister Ariel," Yumi says with determination.
Then, Leo feels in his heart how genuinely kind and thoughtful Yumi actually is beneath her childish exterior.
Then suddenly, right out of nowhere, a massive crowd of many people completely covers Yumi in a circle.
Seeing Yumi's extreme beauty up close, the citizens began to crowd around her tightly.
They are mostly young boys from the capital city.
They are praising her beauty heavily with loud, annoying voices.
And they aggressively ask her to leave her companion and go away with them to a tavern.
Yumi has her polite royal smile still stuck on her face to keep the peace.
But Leo could easily understand from her shaking shoulders that she is very uncomfortable in this dangerous situation.
Seeing that distress.
Leo didn't hesitate and hold her entire body tightly in his muscular hands.
And he easily carry her up on his hands, lifting her high above the crowd.
Yumi gasp and hold Leo's neck tightly with her arms so she wouldn't fall down.
And she looks down directly at Leo's sharp face.
And during that exact time, Leo looks incredibly handsome under the evening sun.
It looked exactly like a noble prince is carrying his beautiful princess away from danger.
"She is fully busy with me, try your luck next time," Leo told those aggressive boys in a cold, threatening tone.
Then, Leo quickly goes away from the crowded market, running into a peaceful, flat green place outside the inner walls.
Leo and Yumi sits down gently on the soft grass to catch their breath.
Leo then lies back there, looking up at the sky.
Yumi was stretching her hands out, feeling the cool breeze on her fur.
Then, Leo reached into his pocket and gave Yumi a beautiful, handmade flower band.
He had carefully made it by weaving nearby wild flowers together while she wasn't looking.
"This is a gift for you," Leo says, turning his blushing face away.
Yumi look at Leo silently for some quiet seconds, completely stunned by the gesture.
Then, she smiled a very genuine, warm smile.
Then, she took that colorful flower band from his hands.
And she wear that band proudly on top of her purple hair.
And with the flowers resting near her cat ears, she looks even more cute than before.
"Thank you so much, Leo, for everything you did for me today," Yumi says softly.
Leo simply doesn't understand her sudden shift to sweetness, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
After spending some more peaceful moment together in the fields.
Leo and Yumi finally returned back to the royal castle as the night fell.
And Yumi become a little tired from all the walking and excitement of the day.
She stay quietly on her bed, resting her weak legs.
She doesn't even go down to the grand dining hall for her regular lunch or dinner.
Then, Leo personally brings her a hot plate of food directly into her room.
And he gently sits on the edge of the mattress and feed Yumi her food with a silver spoon.
Yumi become very happy and touched by his sweet, caring behaviour toward her.
Then, after some quiet moment of eating.
The knight Ken suddenly entered the room to check on them and saw a shocking sight.
Yumi had leaned forward and passionately kissed Leo directly in his lips.
And Leo blushes a bright crimson red color, freezing completely in his seat as the spoon drops.