In The Imperial Palace~
"Your Highness!! Do you know how scared I was when you left me behind?!"
"Do you?!"
Cathain pressed his thin lips tightly in a line as he continued to walk while ignoring the blabber mouth behind him.
But Brayden felt wrong as he kept getting ignored by his superior.
He was still his highness's best friend till this morning and now the crown prince has forgotten about his best friend after falling in love!
'Wait… In love?'
'His highness and love… with whom?'
Brayden paused on his steps as he finally discovered something and instantly, he stood before the crown prince to stop him on his tracks.
"…"
Cathain crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the person who has blocked his path with an annoying expression.
"What now, Brayden?"
He asked impatiently as he kept his red gaze glued on the violet eyed boy with beige hair before him and waited for his reply.
"Your highness… D-Did you perhaps…"
Brayden gulped his saliva as he started and paused briefly before he risked his neck to satisfy his curiosity.
"Don't waste my time, Brayden Hill…unless you want to turn your family villa into a mountain hill;"
Cathain exclaimed with an impatient tone as he has to plan every single thing he remembers from their past lives.
He has to fix things before they get worse.
Sensing the seriousness on the crown prince's tone, Brayden lets out one deep exhale before he finally decides to be fearless and asks.
"YOUR HIGHNESS; HAVE YOU FALLEN FOR THE CROWN PRINCE?!"
But as soon as those words left from his mouth, Brayden's violet pupils widens as the crown prince suddenly covers his mouth before pinning him against the wall.
Cathain's large hands were covering Brayden's mouth as his red eyes were widened in disbelief.
How could he say such a word so loud?!
But right then, a thud sound of something dropping on the ground was heard and both of them turn their heads to see a shocked marquise Hill and the emperor.
Their mouth was hanged open; especially Marquise Hill's expression was filled with horror.
"I- We haven't seen anything!"
The emperor exclaims and Cathain immediately moves away from Brayden; who was panting hard, making everyone misjudge the situation even more.
The marquise and the emperor seem to discuss about something as they walked through this path before they encountered the crown prince on their way.
"T-This… It's not like what you think!!"
Cathain explains with a red face, but the more he tried to explain the more he found himself embarrassed by this.
"Yes, Your Majesty! The Crown Prince was talking about his love for the-"
Brayden's face turns pale as Cathain stomps on his feet to close his mouth before glaring at him dangerously.
"So this must be why you didn't like lady Dalton…"
The emperor speaks with a sigh as he fakes a sad expression while shaking his head and Marquise Hill stares at the emperor with disbelief.
He was disgusted by the emperor's poor acting skills as he was used to it.
"No- Why would I dislike her-?"
Cathain hurriedly denies and the emperor also continues with his words.
"Then do you like her?"
"Of course, I like her-"
"…"
Silence
Their surrounding turns mute as Cathain's cheeks flushes red and a grin appears on the emperor's face.
He knew it, he was sure that his stubborn son liked her!
Did he really think he was the only one stalking after her?
As his father, he also has the responsibility to look after his son.
The emperor truly felt like a father after seeing his son blushing like that and recalled he was once the same while facing his wife.
His empress, Catherina… his Cathy…
'Are you watching Cathy?'
'Our silly son finally realized his feelings; he has grown up so much…'
The emperor chuckled as he pat over the crown prince's shoulder and smiled at him.
"I can give you tips about how to win over her…"
"Father!"
Cathain felt even more embarrassed after hearing his father's words.
How come he never knew that his father was such a chatty person?
All his life, he only thought that his father was a person who liked to keep things under his control and rarely talked with people or show his emotions.
Then was he wrong?
'Maybe I was… Did I even try to reach out to him at the first place?'
This thought made him feel guilty and he finally understood how many things he has missed out till now just because of his own mistakes.
He was so focused on proving himself that he lost everything in the process, even this empire.
"Haizz… but I can't save you if you get caught by the duke while trying to steal his daughter. That man doesn't look like it but he is actually hellish possessive about his daughter."
The emperor exclaimed in a teasing tone before walking away and Cathain once again recalled the scene from his past life.
[A/N: Reference to CH 05, Season 01: Saving The Abandoned Empress]
He was actually surprised to find the empress still attending the board meeting after everything happened.
He knows no one will believe it, and he also finds it weird that he does something and then has no memories of it.
He has brushed it off all this along but yesterday he finally got a strong proof after visiting the empress at that abandoned mansion.
There is no way that the empress will move there without any solid reason and the emperor wouldn't know.
And Brayden is someone who will never lie to him.
That's mean it was indeed him who has given that order for her to move out from the empress's palace.
But why?
He knows how risky it is for the empress to live unguarded.
Especially after those two unfortunate events of her losing their baby, she should have more protection.
And just like that, the whole meeting proceeds with him staring at her face deeply and regrets his actions from the other night.
Unlike before, she looked tired and sad.
Especially her jewel blue eyes looked like she really needed a proper rest.
'I should fix this mess with my health first, the doctor's said I only forget things for the stress but this is just too much… something is terribly wrong with me.'
'Then I should also do something about that eyesore mistress queen of mine, before I finally sort out things with the empress.'
'But will she… understand my situation and trust my words after everything I have done to her?'
Just as the emperor was lost in thoughts and the empress was shuttering about the answer she was supposed to give to Marquise Rosalie, the meeting room's door burst opens with a powerful force and Duke Dalton enters the room.
No matter how much rudely the duke behaved, the emperor let it slide but he lost it completely when the duke finally got on his nerves with his words and the emperor roared.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY TAKING THE EMPRESS AWAY, DUKE DALTON?!"