"Your mother the empress is looking for the both of you." Philip said. "It is your tenth birthday today and you need to prepare for the banquet later."
"Mother is looking for us?" Alphonse replied with surprise.
"Oh no, we are in trouble." Aerith said with a scared expression. "What are we going to do, brother? Our clothes are…" she looked at her brother with worry.
The twins' beautiful clothes are both dirty and soiled with playing in the garden so early in the morning.
"Do not worry, I will fix it once we go back." Alphonse said with a determined look. "Come on, before mother sees us like this." He took his sister's hand and started to run to the direction of the palace.
"Your cousins have arrived as well!" Philip shouted to the twin's direction. "I am sure they are waiting for both of you!"
"Thanks…" Alphonse waved his hand to Philip without looking back.
Philip sighed and shook his head but then smiled. "To think that the future of the empire and the world rests in his highnesses shoulders." Philip said while watching the receding back of Alphonse and Aerith, his gaze at the young boy of ten years old. "I promise to get even more stronger. To support the prince and princess in the future." He said with a look of determination.
**
"Give me your hand Rith." Alphonse said with a hushed voice while reaching for his sister's hand.
The twins were climbing a vine that Alphonse have conjured using his magic. Their rooms were located at the third floor of the west wing of the palace. They were being sneaky because they were grounded until today.
Just last week both were grounded after pranking their teacher in history. They used their magic to make the teacher fall in a pit they made at the path to the palace. The pit was dug and filled with water by Aerith's magic. Illusion magic was cast by Alphonse to hide the pit in plain sight. The remarkable thing was the trap will not activate if other people walk by it, but when the history teacher walked by the trap activated and he feel in the muddy pit.
The teacher was fuming in anger and complained to both the emperor and empress of what the imperial prince and princess did to him. The emperor sighed and the empress was angry on what the twins had done, and because of that the imperial prince and princess were grounded from playing outside. But that did not stop the twins and they were able to sneak out of their room in every way possible like today when their being grounded should have ended.
"Careful in pulling me up." Aerith said after Alphonse grabbed her hand.
Alphonse pulled his sister up in a hurry. Aerith's dress was caught in the vines and was torn while she was pulled by his brother. The sound of the tearing dress made Aerith's skin tingle.
"Oh no, this was my favorite dress." Aerith was about to shed tears while sitting on the floor holding the torn skirt.
"Do not worry, I will fix it." Alphonse said.
With Alphonse magic, his hand glowed and the tear on Aerith's dress started to fix on its own. Together with the tore being fixed, the dirt on both their clothes started to separate from their dress and float in the air. With Alphonse's wave of his hand. The dirt flew out of the window. Now they were wearing clean and neat clothes as if they were never soiled.
"See, we are all clean now." Alphonse smiled to his sister.
"Wow Al, you are really great!" Aerith said with sparkling eyes, at awe with her brother. "I wish my magic could do that. Unfortunately, I cannot." She lowered her head in sadness.
"You are also great with elemental magic. You do not need to envy mine." Alphonse consoled his sister. "You also have things you are good at that I am lacking. We are always together, so we can fill in what we lack with each other. We will not be apart from one another, right?" He squeezed his sister's hand with determination.
"Of course!" Aerith replied full of confidence. "I cannot imagine myself without you Al." The two giggled to one another.
"It looks like the imperial prince and princess have done some mischief again." A voice said.
Alphonse and Aerith were stunned after hearing the voice and were frozen in place. They turned their head slowly to see their father seating on the couch of the receiving area of their room.
"F-Father…" Alphonse tried to smile but it looked awkward. "How long were you waiting there?"
"We have been here for quite some time." Regaleon replied with a smirk on his face. "I am afraid we hear and seen everything."
William was standing by the door trying to suppress his laugh. They were able to see the twins coming in from the window and seeing their soiled clothes until Alphonse fixed them with magic.
"Faaaatther…" Aerith ran to her father cutely. Regaleon had his arms open to catch his running angels. "We are sorry, please forgive us. It is just because we were so bored inside, that is why we took a stroll outside."
"I heard that it was not just a mere stroll." Regaleon replied while carrying Aerith. "I heard that Philip needed to change out of his clothes because he was soaking wet from waist down." He looked at William.
"I just happened to see Philip when he walked pass by me to go back to his room to change." William said with a smiled. "he is having a hard time finding a new formal knights' outfit for today's occasion because he only has one pair."
"I can help him dry it." Alphonse said.
"That is not the case here Alphonse." Regaleon said with a firm voice. The twins knew that they cannot get away from this now and looked sullen. "if your mother knows about this, I am afraid that your grounding will be extended."
"No! Please no." The twins cried in unison.
"It is really boring not be able to go outside after our studies." Aerith said and hugged her father. "Please forgive us father."
"Then why did you do that to your history teacher?" Regaleon asked his twins.
Alphonse and Aerith looked at each other.
'Are we going to tell father?' Aerith asked Alphonse telepathically. This was one of the few abilities that the twins have, and it was to be able to talk to each other telepathically.
'I guess it will be best to tell father first.' Alphonse replied.
"What are you two talking about in your heads?" Regaleon knew that his twins can talk to each other inside their head. "Come here Al." He waved to his son.
Alphonse ran to his father's open arm and he was carried on the other arm.
"It is because that old fart was talking bad about Atlantians." Alphonse replied.
"It that true?" Regaleon asked.
"Yes, father. He was really rude." Aerith said with a cute voice. "He was passing it as giving history lessons about the war."
"He was sugar coating his words, but I knew what he meant was Atlantians are scum." Alphonse replied. "Aerith and I decided to teach that old fart a lesson."
"Yeah! He got what he deserves." Aerith backed her brother.
Regaleon looked at his children and knew that they were telling the truth.
"Then why did you not tell me or your mother about it?" Regaleon asked his children. "These things should have been handled by the adults you know."
"We thought we can handle that old fart by ourselves. Do not scold Rith, she just followed my plan. I was the one that planned to prank the history teacher." Alphonse said and bowed his head. "I am sorry. I did not want you and mother be troubled by this little thing. I know both of you are busy with running the empire and swamped with work."
"No father! If you are going to give Al punishment, then punish me as well." Aerith said. "I was the one to suggest the muddy pit prank. So, I am also to blame."
Regaleon sighed seeing his twins trying to save each other from punishment.
"If what the both of you said is true, then there will be no punishment because of the prank." Regaleon said and the twin's faces lit up. "But sneaking out while being grounded is a different matter." The twin's faces sunken once matter after hearing their father's words.
"But if you promise me that both of you will promise me not to do it again, then I will not tell your mother about your sneaking out." Regaleon winked. "Just tell us first if ever this happens again. We adults will deal with it. Promise?"
"Yes, promise!" The twins said in unison. Both of the, beamed a beautiful smile.
"Then go to your rooms and get ready." Regaleon said while putting down the twins. "I will call the maids in and tell them to prepare you for your birthday banquet."
"Thank you, father." The twins kissed Regaleon in both cheeks and ran to their rooms. The father had a happy smile seeing his children go to their respective rooms.
The twin's room are parallel to one another with the receiving area at the center.
"William, you know what to do." Regaleon's smiling face changed into a cold and unforgiving one. "You know what to do to that history teacher."
"Yes, your majesty." William bowed his head. "I will make sure that he will get what he deserves."
"Good." Regaleon turned around and walked towards the door. "Do not let Alicia know what happened. I am afraid it will hurt her feelings if she knew that some still are harboring such feelings towards Atlantians."
"I agree your majesty." William replied. "Her majesty has a kind and soft heart. She had worked hard to raise the image of Atlantians together with you. It will break her heart hearing that people will still think of Atlantians that way."
Regaleon and William exited the twin's room. Unknown to them, Alphonse was still listening to them with his door slightly opened. He had heard how his mother will be hurt if ever she knew that some people still think of Atlantians as taboo and filth. This is one of the reasons why he did not want to tell his mother about the history teacher.
"I will also work hard to be a great prince." Alphonse promised himself. "I will make sure that all of the people in the empire will never look down on Atlantians ever again."