In the silence, Chance could hear his heart pounding loudly as he trembled out of nervousness to see Louis and the aide staring at them. The young prince's forehead creased and his brow was up, looking at the two men leaning close to each other.
The delight on his face left and his eyes has gone cold. He crossed his arms, waiting for them to talk, "Care to explain?" he said.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked at Caliber and pushed him away, 'Did I actually just close my eyes to kiss him?!' it's like he was not himself, without thinking, he was being pulled to Caliber and he could not stop the magnet between them. 'If I am always with him, I will surely go crazy soon.' he thought.
He returned his gaze back to the prince who was waiting for an answer, he laughed awkwardly while scratching the back of his neck, "Y-your brother was just teasing me. Haha..." he looked away, what an obvious lie that was.
He heard the prince let out a snort, "I guess it is normal for a prince and a servant to tease each other?" he said with a hint of sarcasm. No matter what Chance says, anyone would get a different idea if they were in Louis's point of view. A man leaning on the tree and another man in front of him, close enough to be one and that is just called 'teasing'? 'What a joke.' Louis thought and clicked his tongue.
Chance glanced at Caliber before looking at Louis again, it looks like Caliber has no intention to help him lie to his younger brother. He sighed, "Before you chose me to be your servant, Caliber and I were already frie--
"Lovers."
The other three's eyes widened as they turned to Caliber because of the one word that came out of his mouth. They were all covered with silence that even the flapping sound of wings of the bird were heard loudly when they left the tree.
Even the prince's aide was shocked and his mouth was open, 'Oh Goddess, am I allowed to hear this?' he gulped. He smiled and a tear fell as he closed his eyes, 'I would not be surprised if ever I was to be executed.' For him to hear such a private thing among princes, surely he will.
The young prince seems to be still in shock, his eyes were slightly widened, could not believe what he just heard. "L-lovers?! How come I had only known about this now?"
"It was just recent." Caliber answered with a smile on his face.
Chance was panicking inside, how could Caliber say that lie so calmly?, he thought. He gave Caliber a death glare and he just chuckled. 'You think this is funny? Your brother may get the wrong idea!' he shouted to him but only inside his mind.
Though he only spoke in his head, Caliber already understood what he was trying to say by the face he was making. He wrapped one hand around his waist and stared down at him, 'It is not a 'wrong' idea.' he said through a smirk in a wink, communicating through gestures.
Before Chance could even complain, the aide called Caliber, "Your Highness, you have an urgent business around the Geminga area. They may not wait if we delay." he stated. Caliber released his arm around Chance and sighed. He glared at him and the aide gulped, 'It seems my life is close to end.' he thought.
He lowered his gaze a bit and smiled at his younger brother, "I need to go now, little prince. I just came to check on you." he said and ruffled his hair again which made Louis slap his hand away and fixed his hair.
Before going away, he turned to Chance and went close to his ear, "Let us continue somewhere private later." he whispered and chuckled. His face went booming red with a tickle down his neck, 'He is teasing me again!' he thought and covered his face.
Caliber walked out of the place with his aide who was sweating, nervous to be alone with him. While Chance was left standing in front of the prince who was staring at him to the point that he is getting uncomfortable.
Louis removed his gaze from him and closed his eyes. He turned around and started climbing up the tree. Tried to go to his usual spot on the branch high up the tree, "Be careful! You might fall!" he said with concern, worried that his feet might slip from climbing.
He extended both of his arms in case Louis fell but he got up safely. He sat down on the branch with his legs folded while leaning comfortably on the tree like it was nothing.
Chance took a deep breath and sighed out of relief that he got there successfully. Louis stared down at the servant's face, 'He already knows that this is my place so I am used to doing this so why did he panic?' he thought. He let out a snort and opened the book in his hand, "Weird." he muttered.
He shot a glance again and Chance was still standing there, 'How long will he stay like that?' he asked inside his head. "You there, are you just going to stand?" he asked and Chance raised his head to look at him.
"I am waiting for your orders." he responded and Louis could not help but to giggle. "I told you, you will not be like other servants. Just do you want as long as you stay where I am." he said and smiled.
Chance's face went blank, "Surely, this kid is bipolar." he whispered.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Louis closed his book and waved his hand, "Come up here, Chance." he said and tapped the space on the branch of the tree. It was big so it was safe to sit on with no doubt of it breaking. That was not his only worry but, "How am I supposed to even climb there?" he muttered with a grimace.
He mustered up all courage and tried to climb up on it but he kept on returning back on the ground. 'No, no. You can do it.' he said to himself and climbed back up again.
As he was almost up on where Louis was, he took a wrong step and his other foot slipped. 'I am gonna fall!' he shouted in his head and closed his eyes waiting for an impact but he felt someone catch his hand. "What a troublesome servant you are." Louis said while pulling him up with his other hand on the tree.
Not the kid that you thought he was, Louis is already 14 years old. An intelligent grumpy prince with a cute face. Although he is smaller than Chance, he was pretty strong.
Chance sat on the branch to catch his breath, his knees trembling from when he almost fell down. He cannot even look down anymore, he sighed again, "That was close."
"Stop sighing. It is annoying." the prince beside him muttered. "Sorry. Thank you for saving me, Cole." Chance said with a genuine smile.
Louis turned to him and stared at him. "How did you know my first name?" he asked and narrowed his eyes.
Chance looked away, avoiding to say another mistake, "I read about royal families, haha." he answered.
"Is that so? Then do you know King Cadell?"
'Yes, of course, he is my father.' as if he could say that, "Yes, I have read about him."
"The males that he has ordered to kill, are you like them?" Louis asked. Chance got silent and his blood boiled as he remembered his father's order of execution, his fist clenched into a ball.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you like people of the same gender?"
"No." he immediately answered. Though he denied it, the scenes from last night flashed through his mind.
"Then do you dislike people like them?"
"No, I do not." he responded again, but this time, there was no hesitation. He was sure of his answer.
"Why?" amused, the prince asked.
"I do not understand what makes them so different. They are just like any other people who want to love and be loved, is there anything wrong with it?" he responded. He knows if he says that there will surely be a debate, but that is his opinion.
"Enough about me, what about you? Do you also think they are not normal for them to love their own kind?" he asked Louis.
Louis let out a snort, "Even if they love people of the same gender, they are normal. The abnormal ones are the people who are stupid enough to think otherwise." he said as a response.
His words touched Chance's heart, he never expected it. Judging by his personality, he thought he would be the kind to hate gays too.
"What about my brother, what do you think about him?" the little prince has become even more curious and just asks whatever he wants to ask.
Suspicious, Chance squinted, "Why are you asking that?"
"Brother Caliber said you two are lovers."
Chance flustered, looked at Louis with a flushed face, "You believe that? Your brother does not like me, he is just teasi—" he stopped after feeling Louis's hand on his shoulder, he looked at him seriously,
"My brother does not lie."