Yuki who had already guessed that he was not an enemy, but was still on alert finally relaxed.
She was about to say something when Aki softly spoke, "Onee-chan... gomenasai* It wasn't Onii-chan's fault. It was Aki who was frightened because Aki was in a daze. I'm really sorry. Please don't get angry at him", Aki still didn't let his Onee-chan go, he was a bit afraid that, she will be like the fairy and ignore her because he caused a commotion. It had been over two weeks already, but that thing has become a dark shadow in his memories, even though he knows that his Onee-chan was not like that, the fear he felt was still there, he was still just a kid after all...
Yuki was about to stand and say something to the other child, but he felt the soft tremble of the child in her embrace and her heart softened a bit, she kept patting his back and spoke in a very low voice, "I'm not angry at anyone. I'm glad that you are fine... You are a good boy, you didn't hide the truth and also apologised so, everything is fine...."
The little prince who heard this also gave a nod and smiled at the child who was taking sneak peeks at him from time to time, this child was indeed a good child, nobody could stay angry at him plus, he really thought that he too was at fault.
He also spoke in a similar tone, " I'm at fault too. I shouldn't have startled you like that so, we are even... okay?", the tone towards the end became very soft and tender.
Well, for those of you who still hadn't noticed it, CUTENESS IS JUSTICE!!
Yuki fell in the trap with open hands and the prince was a softie to begin with, who happened to like soft and cute creatures and Aki happened to be in his strike zone.
If he was not being held by Yuki, the prince would have already taken him into his embrace and cuddled him to his heart's content. Even that confused look he had was because he was controlling his desires between embracing him and calling for someone for help, first one was his own need while the second was something he should do on his position.
Aki heard him say this and finally gave him a full view of his face from the crook of Yuki's neck, with crinkled eyes turned into crescents, he gave a dazzling smile to him and nodded at his statement.
It was still a bit dim here and not exactly the place to chat so, Yuki held the clinging Aki and stood up, and said to the boy who was still behind her, "We can go outside and talk", it was still the imperial palace, any person who was here still held some power, even though she didn't care about many things and her father was the Duke himself, she still wanted to formally apologise, in case this person held a grudge against her little brother.
Since, two weeks ago, Yuki had also started doing some weight training, she would like to hold Aki when he needed her rather than wait for an adult to come and help, this kid was thin, to begin with, and was shorter than her as well so, in these two weeks, she could still carry him to shorter distances.
Aki too habitually clung to her Onee-chan and let her carry her, it was one of his privileges and he won't give it away, plus he liked to stay in her embrace, he felt particularly warm.
With a grin, he said to the crown prince, "Onii-chan, will you come with us?"
Makarios was actually planning to take a bath because of the sweating, but with the situation where he didn't even know the identity of the two, he didn't want to miss this chance and so, again for the first time, the clean freak Crown Prince decided to follow them rather than take his bath.
Yuki still didn't know the identity of this person and also didn't know about the layout so, she directly walked out of the room to get that Imperial guard.
Coming out, she finally saw the imperial guard standing by the door.
When he saw the two coming out like that, he was a bit startled and spoke with a bow, "I was called to help out. I couldn't refuse them. I apologise for my conduct...", he had seen the child clinging like that and also asked, "Do you need help----"
He froze when he saw the person who came out with them, he stood straight and gave a salute, "This Imperial guard greets the Crown Prince!", he stood straight with his clenched fist over his heart and the left hand behind his back, it was the formal salute to the Crown.
Yuki who heard his excuse didn't have it in her to say otherwise, she didn't care about the other's conduct, in the end, she was not the master here. It was definitely negligence to leave someone, that too, children that you are supposed to escort in this huge palace alone, though being inside the palace the security was indeed tight, but for a fact, there is Murphy's law, the thing that you least expect to happen will happen so, there is still a possibility of something going wrong and he still left his position, in Yuki's eyes, she wouldn't question his excuse's legitimacy but it was a question on the conduct of an Imperial guard, she expected better.
When he asked to help her, she was about to refuse, but just then she heard his next sentence and directly stiffened.
She jerked her body and finally saw the kid with similar hair and eyes as the Emperor they had met a while ago, even Aki slid down her body and looked at the young boy with wide eyes.
Noticing their gaze, he finally confirmed his position with a nod and, "No matter the situation, what you've done is against work ethos. Go and get your punishment."
The Imperial Guard didn't complain, "I'll call for another guard", saying this he gave a salute and walked back.
Yuki couldn't hear anything after that nod he gave---
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT
PINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG
.....
NOTES:
Onii-chan - Japanese for big-brother. I probably explained it somewhere.
Gomenasai - Japanese for 'sorry', it's the informal version, the formal being 'sumimasen' and another that I forgot.