This must be Leona's little nephew. The small boy with light brown skin has short red hair with yellow tips. He has large brown eyes and a pair of lion ears with small tail. He wears a yellow tunic with a triangle pattern around the collar and brown pants, as well as a beaded necklace and bracelet.
It wasn't till the boy's eyes rested on Leona that a wide smile emerged on his face, "Aah! Uncle! I found you!"
"Hm?" Grim raised a brow, "Who's this kid?"
"Huh..." Lotus observed the child with a look of surprise, "Uncle, huh... Could he be..."
"Uncle Leona!" The red hair boy ignored everyone and went ahead to climb onto the infirmary bed next to his uncle.
Leona, not too thrilled at the sight of his nephew, drew his ears back flat with wide eyes of bewilderment and the image of imminent defeat as the child struggled onto the bed. He grumbled with a sigh when the kid successfully climbed on and hugged his arm oblivious to the looks his uncle was making, "Ah... crap. Another annoyance."
"Uncle... Leona?" Jack stammered in bewilderment as he stared at the child hugging his uncle's arm not willing to let go.
"Uncle..." Yuu stared at the child in surprise.
"This furball is my brother's son, Cheka." Leona breathed a sigh of defeat and hesitation, "...My nephew."
"Ne-nephew~~~?!?!"
Lotus watched a little dazed upon the sight of the cute little child as the other boys shouted in unison upon shock.
"That means..." Ruggie looked to Leona as he began to clarify nervously, "He's the one who's next in line for the throne..."
"Your match was so cool, Uncle!" Cheka said to his uncle ignoring everyone else with glittering eyes as he got annoyingly close to his uncle's cheeks, "Next time, you're home you've gotta teach me magical shift!"
"I got it!" Leona complied quickly as he tried to move his face away from his nephew, "I got it so don't go shouting in my ear."
Lotus smiled as she watched the sight of the two before looking around the door entrance. Her action didn't lose Leona's attention as he recalled something far more important and lightly scolded the little boy, "Where are your bodyguards? They're probably losing their minds looking for you!"
"I couldn't wait to see you so I left them behind. Hehe." Cheka responded with a childish giggle that could've melted anybody who adores children.
"Ah..." Lotus nodded upon understanding with a smirk, "I see now..."
"Uuh... umm." Jack hesitated as he watched the child climbing around Leona's infirmary bed, "So, the root of all of Leona's pain is..."
"An innocent angel...?" Yuu finished in confusion.
"He's really attached to him, y'know." Grim pointed out in bewilderment.
"Shut up." Leona grumbled looking a little flustered, "...Stop staring at me!"
"Hey hey, Uncle!" Cheka pressed as he crept closer to the Lion guy bombarding the older lion with questions, "When are you coming home? Next week? After that? Ah, have you read my letters?"
"Ugh, I've told you already." Leona grumbled, "I'll go home on the holida-"
Leona's sentence was suddenly halted when Cheka naively began to climb onto Leona's stomach.
"Ouch..." Leona barely managed his words with a painful grimace and wide eyes followed by flat ears, "Hey, don't sit on my stomach!"
"H-he's just casually sitting on Leona's stomach?!" Jack stared at the two with eyes wide in disbelief that the prince allowed his prince nephew to climb onto his stomach without permission!
"Pfft..." Ruggie snickered, "Hahaha! This is rich! So this is why Leona never wants to go home."
Hearing Ruggie's loud voice, Cheka finally took notice of them to which he turned around whilst still clinging onto his uncle's arm with glittering eyes of curiosity, "Are you guys Uncle Leona's friends?"
The pure innocence of his voice matched with his honest clinging action to his distraughted uncle brought a sneer on Ace's face as he stifled back laughter and teased the lion, "Heheh. Yep yep. We're your uncle's friends. Right, Uncle Leona?!"
"U-uncle...! Ahahaha!" Ruggie bursted out laughing uncontrollably when he winced upon feeling the pain in his stomach, "Owowow, it hurts to even laugh..."
"Stop laughing, you bastards!" Leona scowled as he roared at them with irritation before lowering his voice in a warning to the guys, "I'll remember this for later!"
Lotus watched as Cheka continued climbing over his uncle's stomach which greatly pained the dorm leader. Lotus thought for a bit as the others quickly clammed up their mouth yet Ruggie struggled really hard not to laugh. She reached into her bag and took out a stick of candy apple and called over to Cheka.
"Cheka, was it?" Lotus smiled, "You're uncle's not going anywhere. How about you take a seat on the chair next to him? I'll give you a candied apple."
"Really?!" Cheka's eyes almost glimmered as he turned to her before his eyes widen in awe, "Ah! You're the candy haw guy!"
"Candy haw guy?" Grim looked to Lotus in confusion.
Lotus laughed, "I see. So you were there too."
She brought him a stool and a paper plate with the stick of candy coated apple. Cheka stared at the apple on the bedside table in awe and confusion.
Lotus responded, "Just eat it the way you'd eat a caramel apple. The plate will catch the melted sugar."
"Okay~!" Cheka said obediently and started eating it.
"Hey, Lotus." Yuu called out curiously, "What does he mean by candy haw guy?"
Lotus wore a small smile, "While you guys were dealing with the overblot situation, I was outside taking care of the injured and gave a candy haw to a child because he wouldn't stop crying. That was when I met Leona's sister-in-law."
"Gah..." Leona stared at her in bewilderment.
"Ah..." Ruggie had a similar expression, "You mean... the queen...?!"
Lotus nodded, "She and her husband was pretty worried about Leona and we had a talk, though I didn't come across the king. She also helped me out when I ran out of bandages and saw me hand a child a candy haw. I didn't think her son was there too."
"Seriously?!" Jack grumbled in bewilderment, "The Queen of Sunset Savannah was here too?!"
"Wah..." Ace shuddered, "To think we put up such a game in front of other royal families... I almost forgot about that..."
Lotus laughed as Yuu spoke up, "Do you think he'll climb back up again after he's done?"
Lotus sighed, "He'll probably forget and do just that later, I guess."
She glanced over to Leona who sighed, "There's no doubt about it..."
Lotus smirked as he reminded them, "He is a child. It's the adult's job to be the nagging parent here. Haha... But, we're in no position to nag him from the start."
Leona sighed, "How did they loose him again..."
"They?" Deuce raised a brow.
"Ah, he probably means the bodyguards." Ruggie responded as he recalled the question asked, "It looks like it wasn't the first this happened."
Deuce nodded, "Children likes to explore and run around. My younger siblings were just like that."
Leona grumbled something incoherently to which Lotus telepathically responded, "He wanted to find you and the adults were taking too long to decide whether to come looking for you or not. He ditched them and came looking for you directly. I think his parents will start panicking."
Leona grumbled with a sigh and took out found his bag sitting next to him. He fished out his phone and started calling.
"Who is he calling?" Jack noted curiously.
Lotus sighed, "With his nephew here without permission, he's probably letting the parents know before they start a search of the place."
"That sounds like something that would happen..." Ruggie responded nervously as the thought of it came to mind.
Lotus sighed and took a handkerchief before handing it to Cheka, "Here. There's bits of candy on your face. Are you able to wipe it off yourself?"
Cheka took it and nodded with a wide smile, "Yes~!"
After wiping it, he noticed the pattern on the handkerchief and said in awe, "Wow... It's a turtle! Look, Uncle! It's a turtle!"
"I know, I know..." Leona sighed and patted Cheka's head glancing at the turtle with a nod of acknowledgement and confusion before hanging up his call, "Why in the world?"
Ruggie looked at Lotus with a snicker, "I never knew that you liked turtles."
Lotus shrugged, "Not really, though it's always good to have with me. Turtles live a long life and experience much more than ordinary humans go through. So, everyone from my birth place sees them to be wise sages. My mom packed quite a few in my suitcase before I left. Cheka can have it if he wants."
"Really?!" Cheka cheered in awe.
"Heh..." Ace sneered, "I always thought Lotus liked children."
Lotus laughed, "I've been raised around younger kids before. They'd some things other adults have from what I remember, so I figured Cheka might want it now that he's taken a liking to the turtle."
Ruggie raised a brow and touched the material of the silk before realizing it was now Cheka's and quickly withdrew his hand before turning to Lotus, "It's made of silk... and the embroidery ain't shabby..."
"Thanks for the compliment." Lotus smirked as she felt a little warm inside despite getting at what Ruggie is doing, "I'll let my friends know the next time I see them."
"Th-That's not what I meant..." Ruggie frowned in suspicion, "Silk isn't cheap and the embroidery is like something you'd find on the shelf of handmade materials of skilled craftsmen. This isn't something you'd find at a tourist center."
Lotus smiled, "My friends are nomads, but they produce their own silk. This was something my friend made."
Well, to be precise, it was something she started making a couple nights ago in her ring after she received the dyed fabrics for sampling. So, she got curious as she could still recall her embroidery skills so many years ago and decided to pick up the practice to test out her skills again. The turtle was a little sloppy, but it was her first try in a long time. she had to craft needles for sewing and dyed thread for the embroidery.
After all, these were something she had picked up from other noble women in the kingdom as she was an Empress and need to be able to perform even the most basic requirements such as entertainment, education, and housework. Management of business, government, and agriculture was another she is required to understand as an Empress. She had no king. No father or mother. All she had was herself, her brother, and her kingdom. There was no one the two of them could look up to as a role model and no one her brother could rely on. No women figure that would teach her such hobbies for the first fifty thousand years of her life.
It wasn't till much later that hands began to reach out to her and her brother asking for unity. However, amongst them was one that would toss her down from the heavens much later.
Lotus turned to Grim and smiled, "In fact, they came today for an errand."
"Oh them!" Grim looked up in surprise, "They were certainly dressed differently... It was as if the guy was also in a dress and his hair was long like Lotus's."
Lotus nodded, "They're old friends from my birthplace. I only come across them every one to two times a year. Today was special since I came across them while they were on an errand."
"Heh..." Ruggie looked to her in surprise, "Looks like you still have some rather useful connections..."
Lotus sighed with a small smile, "You could say that..."
Though Ruggie was interested, Leona only continued to narrow his eyes in suspicions but didn't say anything as he was later on preoccupied with his little nephew's antics.