The next day
"Greetings your highness!" Vincent gave him a sparkling smile.
"What. are you doing here."
"You're not even greeting me back." Vincent pouted.
"Answer my question."
"Did you read the file I gave you yesterday?"
"Yes."
"...All of it?"
"No."
"Okay then do you have any questions with what you've read up till now? "
"...Yea..." Arius spoke irritated.
He didn't want to spend even a second with this guy. He always got a bad feeling from him. Speaking of which, if Vincent comes to the Palace, surely he isn't alone...His mother would visit as well.
"Where is your mother?"
"...Is that your question?"
"No. But answer."
"In His Majesty's Office..."
It's not an audience this time. If it's simply an office meeting its probably quite short.
Arius looked at the wall clock.
"How long since you've been here?"
"We just arrived..." Vincent was confused at first, but soon realized what Arius was worried about.
"My mother told me to not go inside his office no matter what, until she comes out. I wonder what they're doing there...together." Vincent teased.
"...probably discussing some important matters."
Right, don't overthink.
"Then moving on to your questions."
"Yea..."
Creak
The maids entered with cookies and juice. As they opened the door, Athanasia was standing beside the door trying to peek inside. Vincent and Athanasia made eye contact and Athanasia voiced her surprise.
"VINCENT!" Athanasia ran towards him to get a closer view.
"It really is you! But- what- " Athanasia looked at his noble clothes and Arius and showed her confusion.
----
It took sometime to explain everything to Athanasia but she adapted quickly.
"But why is the county doing all this?" She asked the same question as Arius had asked.
"We just want what's best for the empire." Vincent smiled angelically.
Athanasia didn't look convinced.
"He said something else to me last time." Arius whispered to Athanasia.
"He said, his mother admires the emperor, and so by helping him out like this...she was hoping he might..." Arius whispered in her ear and Athanasia imagined the same thing as Arius did.
A third mom.
Vincent was casually eating the cookies brought in by the maids as he saw the royal siblings whisper to each other.
"I can hear you, you know." He stated.
Arius and Athanasia gave him a disbelieving look, to which he immediately replied, "Yea, okay , I can't."
Knock
Knock
"Come inside." Arius allowed.
"Your Highness, the young master of the Alpheus Duchy has arrived." Olivia spoke.
Ack! That was today.
"Alpheus? Why'd you call that dog here?" Vincent asked and everyone in the room had horrified expressions.
Arius got up and smacked Vincent in his head.
"You can't say that to someone of higher rank than you!" He reprimanded him.
"Ow...so wait does that mean you can call him a dog?"
" . . . " Silence.
"So that's a yes."
"Ugh, anyway. How long will you be in the capital?"
"For a month."
Arius made a disgusted face.
"Aw , I'm hurt."
"Leave for now. Go meet Gunther and Cadell and explain yourselves to them. I have to go to the duke's son. There's plenty of time for you to answer my questions. Come at a later date and time." Arius told him and then told Olivia to escort the Dukes son to the garden.
"I'm going with Vincent!" Athanasia declared while Vincent was leaving. Arius gave her a weird look and so did Olivia.
"Oh my , princess , have you fallen in love-"
"I was going to visit dad." Athanasia explained while cutting off Vincent.
She signaled Arius to not worry and that she'd make sure to seperate Claude and Vincent's mom. Arius gave her a thumbs up and the two went their own ways.
----
Arius entered the Garden of the Sapphire Palace, scanning for a dog. But what he saw in the garden was a puppy.
Ijekiel was standing with his hand gently touching the petals of one of the roses. A smile on his face as he looked at the rose.
Arius knew Ijekiel had great looks but seeing him in the flesh was just something else.
"Do you like roses?" Arius walked forward, into Ijekiel's view sight.
"Ah, Blessings and Glory upon the first star of the Obelian Empire." Ijekiel bowed.
"You may rise. Greetings to you as well. You still haven't answered my question."
"Not particularly, but my cousin likes roses a lot. "
"Ah are you referring to Lady Margarita? "
"Yes, she's always visiting the greenhouse and roaming around the gardens and asks me to accompany her all the time." Ijekiel chuckled at the memory.
"I can understand, my sister does the same thing. " Arius chuckled when he thought of how Athanasia literally fell in the lake just to get a flower, ah well that flower was a magical creature that specialized in luring people.
"What are your hobbies?" Arius asked as he began walking deeper into the garden. Ijekiel nervously followed behind.
"Uh...Reading! and chess...and" Ijekiel was thinking hard about any other things he might've done during his free time.
"Chess? "
"Yes, Does your Highness play chess as well?"
"Not very often but I do know how to play. How about a match of chess?" Arius turned and asked the puppy-like boy following him.
His face brightened up immediately and he enthusiastically replied, "It would be an honour!"
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The Prince (WMMAP FanFic)
FanficArius De Alger Obelia was the first Prince of Obelia but due to negligence from his father and mistreatment from the staff , he died in the original timeline at the age of 5, and thus wasn't mentioned in the story of both 'Lovely Princess ' 'Who M...
