"Do not worry about that.. I have more than one empty room in my chamber." of course, you have the ruby palace after all!
'I don't know what your plans are, but I will not let you succeed. I am going to keep my eyes on you all the time.'
"Oh, then I will be here with my mother and help her with her duties. I am good at reading letters now and I can even make notes for you.`` After all, you have forced me to do that all the time, making sure that I would get thoroughly punished if I didn't do it well.
His heart filled with hatred yet his eyes continued to shine brightly flattering her. If he wanted to change the fate of his brother, he had to keep an eye on her and those concubines all the time.
What was her name, felyn, fenile, phenyl? Aah! He never knew she existed until the crown prince died, and then she was executed the same day. As if it was a well thought out plan. Till the end, he was sure that there was another mastermind behind it but it is fine, he will look into the matter now deeply to make sure it would not be repeated ever.
"It would be better that you do what you can. Go and play now. I have work to do." In other words, stop being noisy and leave me alone.
With an embarrassed look on his face, he could only give another flattering smile before leaving.
"Aah yes, then I will go and study. I will not disturb your work anymore. But rest well mother, you know that I love you and care for you most!" Since I can not kill you and get rid of you, it would be better that I get your grace and let your guards down.
His eyes fell on her cheeks. He had never done that before, but he had read somewhere that women get emotional if they have physical touch.
Should he.. Try? He gulped as it felt harder than drinking poison. It felt harder than killing a bunch of knights alone.
"Thump"
"Thump" he took a step closer and closed his eyes as he gulped again.
Just one more step.. One more step and I would be able to do it.
He leaned his head closer but still did not feel the warmth of her skin. Could it be that her skin was cold just like her dead eyes? But he did not even feel cold, just air?
He opened his one eye to peek when he found that his mother was still two steps away and now were staring at her with a look that said "have you gone crazy? What kind of pervert act are you doing while kissing the air?"
"I.. I saw a bug there! Haha!" really! A bug? Has your mind shrunk to the level of a 5 year old kid too? What kind of excuse was that to make such a face?
"If you want I can introduce a few daughters of noble families. You should not pay much attention to a bug!" What kind of reply was that? Who asks his 5 year old son to meet girls?
And what does she mean by not paying attention to bugs! I was going to peck you on the cheek alright?'!! Feeling utterly wrong and humiliated, his face turned red but he was not able to justify his actions since accepting that he was going to kiss her cheeks sound more embarrassing to him.
In the end, he just nodded and left the room with his head bowed low. Well at the very least he was able to get success in his mission of keeping an eye on her.
That thought brought another deep smile on his face. He walked towards his palace to ask the maids to prepare for his shifting but just as he entered, he felt that the behavior of the maids was a bit odd.
There seemed to be a tension in the room which confused him.
"Have you finally decided to come back, my prince!"
"Thud!" His steps halted when he heard the mocking voice and turned to the left to see his teacher sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed one over the other.
"Marquis Lotteshire!" in the excitement over many things. He had completely forgotten that when he was 5, he used to take many classes at home. One of them was politics and history, and that was taught by one of the best politicians and vice chancellor of the royal court, marquis.
But the man hated him. He was a distant cousin of the old empress, uncle of the crown prince lord Lennox and therefore he had always taken him as a threat.
A threat he wanted to nip in the bud. His hatred and coldness towards him was also one of the reasons why Katherine turned blind eye to the plotting against the crown prince.
When asked, she justified that their side was the first to take her and her son as an enemy and with his back filled with marks of assault in the name of punishment, he was not able to defy that even when he knew it was not the fault of Lennox.
If he continued to behave like he did in the past, he would be troublesome to deal with. His mother had already asked twice to change his teacher but his father never relented so he was sure it was not going to happen even if he would go and request.
So, all he could do was to charm this man or make sure that he would not get a chance to punish him.
"I apologize for being late since I was learning swordsmanship with my brother. You must have been there, he was looking like a real knight when wielding his sword!"