Praesidium (WMMAP Fanfic)

Chapter 1

"Ambrose de Alger Obelia" Claude declared as he held his son in his arms, tracing the golden baby hair on his head absentmindedly as he stared at the blue bejeweled eyes the same as his

"Thank you, your majesty" Rabia de Auger Gaudin said with a tired smile, she is a princess from a neighboring kingdom sent to be Anastacius' fiancée but as she and Claude discovered his infidelity with Claude's very own fiancée no less, they had become close friends and comforted each other without being in a romantic relationship resulting in her giving birth to Ambrose

Felix was in the background trying to take a sneak peek of the newborn son of his master, he was sure that with Claude and Rabia's looks the result will be deadly adorable

"I will let you rest" Claude said as he passed Ambrose to his mother's waiting arms

"Thank you again... you can visit anytime you want, your majesty" Rabia said softly as she stared lovingly at Ambrose

Claude stared at them for a moment with a small furrow in his brow before turning around and leaving the room... It wasn't the first time he saw Rabia with that look, he often saw her stare at her stomach like that before she gave birth but why does it feel like something in his chest is hurting? Was it because he misses his own mother?

Felix quickly followed him after he took a quick peek at the newborn baby

"Your son is so adorable, your majesty" Felix said cheerfully, recalling Ambrose's chubby cheeks and smiling face

"Felix Robane, take twenty steps behind me" Claude said coldly cutting Felix's rambling about Ambrose's cuteness and leaving him standing in the middle of the hallway staring at his Emperor's quickly disappearing back dumbfounded

🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰🕰

After 5 years Ambrose grew to look exactly like his father at that age causing the palace staff to stare after him, distracted by his unparalleled cuteness and intelligence. It was just a shame for some that he seems to have inherited Claude's demeanor, cold to everyone except to people he holds dear...

"Your Majesty! Please come quickly, it's Prince Ambrose! He's on top of the Lake!" A maid frantically said as she bursted inside Claude's study

Claude frowned, stood up and quickly walked towards the direction of the lake. Felix hot on his heels, tensing his shoulders and walking faster. He was already fingering the fastener of his sword scabbard for easy removal before diving down the lake to rescue the young prince

'What is happening?' Felix stared at the scene in front of him with a slacked jaw

There, floating in the middle of the lake is their one and only Prince. He was calmly floating about and staring at the floating cannibalistic lotuses frozen in the air around him, examining their translucent flowers leisurely as if he was looking through a normal flower garden

"Your majesty, are you seeing what I'm seeing? Or am I hallucinating from hunger since I missed breakfast?" Felix said blankly as he tugged on Claude's tunic skirt with one hand and pointing towards Ambrose like a little kid with the other

"Felix"

"Yes, your majesty?" Felix asked as he met Claude's eyes and flinched when he saw his glare and automatically moved 5 steps away from him stiffly. Letting out a huge sigh of relief when Claude returned his sights on his son

Claude waved his hand and Ambrose was automatically transported in front of him, the young prince looked at him wide eyes in shock since he was so distracted by the beauty and gore of the lotuses he floated around him earlier

"Father" Ambrose greeted him with a customary bow

Claude didn't say anything and just quirked his brow to convey his question about what his only son is doing

"I just wanted to appreciate them one last time before destroying them" Ambrose said with an innocent smile, blue jeweled eyes alight with happiness before snapping his fingers and almost all of the floating cannibalistic lotuses exploded save one.

The maids and knights around them let out a surprised sound because of the sudden explosion. One moment their prince were peacefully admiring the floating lotuses making them worry and the next he was making them explode with a simple snap of his finger, further confirming their thoughts that he was indeed a powerful child worthy of his name and status

"My Prince, I think you missed one" Felix told the young prince with a sigh. He was going to get prematurely grey with these two reckless blondes in his life. He must have destroyed a country singlehandedly in his last life making this his karma in this lifetime, that is the only plausible explanation he can come up with

"Felix, look isn't it beautiful and gory at the same time" Ambrose said excitedly as he shoved the glass trapped sole survivor of the cannibalistic lotus, once dominating the vast lake, towards Felix's face

"Yes indeed" Felix said with a strained smile while patting the excited child's head. He didn't see the beauty in those things at all, because he saw firsthand how vicious those creatures are when they pulled down a maid and tore her apart limb from limb so quick he couldn't save her...  but of course he wouldn't say that to his young prince, he wanted him to have his childish moments once in awhile

"What are you going to do with the one left?" Claude asked his son pulling him back from Felix's petting hands and carrying him in his arms and walking away leaving a pouting Felix a few steps behind

"I'm going to experiment on it and see if I can change it into red or pink"

"Why?"

"Because it's her favorite color"

"Your mother's favorite color is blue, the col—"

"The color of the deep blue sea that is abundant in her home country. I know that silly, father. I mean it's Athy's favorite color" Ambrose said softly as if remembering something precious, making Claude stop walking abruptly. It's the first time he has ever heard the name Athy anywhere, there was no report of anybody approaching his son or a staff within his palace with that name.

"Where did you meet this 'Athy'?"

"I don't know... a dream?" Ambrose said blankly, eyes unfocused as if hypnotized by something. Claude's eyes narrowed and was about to call forth his power to scan his son of spells, but before he could do anything else Ambrose's expression twisted into sadistic expression as he stared at the trapped lotus he was carrying

"... this thing tried to pull Athy into the lake so I got rid of them"