The two aides were confused but decided to stay quiet and just followed after their Prince, 'Wh-why do we need to ride our horses outside the palace? We entered the main gate already!' Niro thought and glanced over his partner. Sherin just looked back at him and shrugged.
She lowered her back and made her horse go faster to catch up with Caliber, leaving Niro a bit dumbfounded by all the weird questions inside his head for the whole day.
Then he remembered the scene from when they were in the garden, where he thought he was witnessing something he should not.
He blinked, 'Is he rushing to that place to see His Highness, Charles?'.
He laughed and finally understood why they rode the horses all the way to the young prince's secret place.
~~~~~~~~~~
"I know you are still upset, Alec."
The Crown Prince and his personal knight were inside the house of books, while Louis stayed outside in his usual spot in the tree. Chance could not focus reading at all as he kept on shooting a glance at Alec, who was standing still beside the table he was in. The knight's gaze was high up and straight, not even daring to look at Chance for a bit.
The knight's lips opened slightly, "How could I dare be upset at you, Your Highness?" he responded blankly.
Chance felt awkward and he gulped, 'He is mad, I can feel it.' he thought. "You have returned to calling me like a royalty." he said as he heard Alec say Highness. He thought that maybe he would still call him Charles like he did earlier.
"Now that your master is not here, I see no point in calling you by name." he responded, emphasizing the word 'master', making him even more reminded of the lies he had made.
Chance understands that he was upset because of a prince becoming a servant but he felt like it was the right choice to make, depending on the situation.
He closed the book he was reading and turned to him, "I know it was wrong for a prince to be a servant, but I do not know how to make you understand that I had to do it." he said in his sincerest tone.
Alec softened a bit and glanced at the prince, he let out an inaudible sigh. "From what I think, His Highness Louis would not care at all if you had just said that you were a prince from the start." he said.
Chance looked down and nodded, "That was what I also thought, but before I could say it, he claimed me as his servant with a smile on his face." he said. "Before I realized it, I actually kept silent and let him make me his servant." he added.
He could not seem to explain it but when he saw the young prince happy for a bit, he felt like Louis will be disappointed that the servant he chose was actually someone of high status. He will feel bad for the boy as Chance knew that it was not a 'servant' that he wants, but a friend to be with.
"How long?"
Chance looked at him, "What?
"For how long will this Master-Servant act go on?" the knight asked.
It was a question he never really thought much of, he also does not know the answer for it. For Chance, Alec's question sounded more like 'How long are you going to keep lying?'.
Chance sighed, "Until the day I return to Antares or...until he finds out."
~~~~~~~~~~
Chance slowly opened his eyes and yawned, putting his hand near his mouth. He saw the table that he was in earlier from afar, realizing that he had fallen asleep on the sofa. His forehead creased, 'Who put me on the sofa?' he thought. He looked around but Alec was not with him inside anymore.
He was about to stand up but he felt something heavy on his thigh, he looked at it and saw a man lying down on the sofa with his head on Chance's lap. He turned the head gently for him to see who it was and his eyes widened, "Caliber!"
He closed his mouth when he said the prince's name out loud. His heartbeat quickened as he decided whether to stay or go away. 'Why would I want to go away anyways? Even if I do so, he will find me since this is their palace.' he thought and shook his head.
He gulped, trying to not make a sound and went closer to his face. 'This kiss maniac looks so handsome. No wonder Charles could not help but do it with him.' he thought. A little while and he was surprised by his own mind, 'W-what the hell did I just think of?'
He was about to put both of his hands on his face out of embarrassment but before he could put his hand away from Caliber's face, it was grabbed by the prince.
His chest pounded even more as their eyes met, Caliber was staring at him while he was still lying down on his lap and Chance was looking down at him. "You are awake, I see." he said and looked away. 'Why the hell am I nervous, damn it!'
Caliber's hand was still holding his other hand while the other made its way to Chance's cheeks, the researcher could not say anything as he was so nervous that Caliber was touching him. "Charles," Caliber called out.
"What is it?" Chance asked.
"I missed you."
Silence again, though he must admit, Caliber knows how to shake him up. He did not respond, 'Like how am I supposed to say anything to that?' he thought. "Uh, you were here earlier too." Chance said.
Caliber chuckled at his response, "Yeah, but I..." the girl he was searching for suddenly crossed his mind, "...really miss you." he muttered.
Chance felt somewhat happy by his words but he felt like Caliber was not his usual self. Chance grabbed his hand that was on his cheeks and gently put it down, "Is there something wrong?" he asked.
Caliber shook his head and sat up on the sofa, "It is nothing," he squeezed in closer to Chance and rested his head on his shoulder, "I am just having a bit of a problem." he stated and slowly closed his eyes again.
Chance curiosity was getting to him, but besides being curious, he was also concerned. "What problem? Maybe I can help." he said to Caliber, trying to find a way to at least help him.
"You do not have to." Caliber answered, quicker than lightning, even when he was about to go back to sleeping.
The Crown Prince's brows furrowed, "Why? I want to help!"
"For this problem, I am afraid that you cannot." he refused again and it bothered Chance for an unknown reason. 'What is the problem he is talking about?' he thought.
Caliber took a glimpse of Chance and saw his frustrated expression, he smiled and put his arms around him while his head was still on his shoulder, 'How come he is letting me do this? No complaints?' he thought out of curiosity.
Chance turned to the direction of the door as he heard a faint clashing of metal. 'What was that?' he thought and his forehead creased once more. "Caliber, get up first. I think there is someone outside."
The man sleeping on his shoulder let out a grunt, "What a bother, let them be." he responded.
Chance ignored him and stood up, making Caliber fall flat down on the sofa, he sat up straight and was a bit annoyed by whoever interrupted the two of them. He followed after Chance as he opened the door.
The view from the house left Chance in awe as he saw four figures with different poses. They were not moving and the atmosphere was gloomy and tense.
The young prince was standing, holding the book he was reading earlier while staring at the three people in front of him, just outside the house. The three people he was looking at were the knights who looked like they were about to kill each other.
The two aides were pointing the swords at the personal knight of the Crown prince of Antares. Sherin, despite her calm face, was looking at the Antares knight coldly and Niro looked very serious.
Alec was just holding his sword, about to draw it out if ever they started to attack him.
Chance was dumbfounded by what was in front of him.
"What happened here?" Chance and Caliber asked in unison and all three of the knights turned to them.
"Your Highness." "Your Highness."
"Your Highness."
The knights said as they saw their masters come out. They glared at each other and put down their swords, ending the tension between the three.
"He started it first." Niro said and pointed at Alec Valorian. The knight just stared at him blankly and unbothered.
Caliber was still annoyed that his time with Chance was disturbed because of their small fight.
Niro noticed their prince's bad mood and gulped. He looked away but then noticed Sherin's confused face. She looked at him, "Who is he?" she asked, referring to Chance.
"Hmm? Oh him." he muttered, shooting a glance at Chance before looking back to Sherin.
"That is the prince..."
But then he remembered that Louis was with them and it was supposed to be a secret.
'Shit.'