Oh, Hello There

Chapter 1

Alberu was out on an expedition to check out the increasing number of monsters at the Roan Kingdom and the Whipper Kingdom borders. He brought the knights from his palace instead of the ones the King recommended to him. It was a three-day journey from the palace to the designated destination. They had stopped by a familiar village that has a bountiful amount of resources; this fact is only known to Alberu and his party. After collecting what they needed, they were off to journey once more.

As soon as they arrived at the border, Alberu had a gut feeling that something was gonna happen to him specifically. It wasn't a good or bad feeling. He feels slightly exasperated but also a bit giddy. He knew that something was gonna happen to him so he took extra caution to set up camp a bit farther from the border than what was planned. After all, his gut feeling was almost always right; it could be assassins or worse, a demonic creature sent to him by the Queen.

The sun had set and Alberu had ordered his knights to patrol around the campsite for anything suspicious. No complaints were heard as his party knew of what their prince had suffered living as the prince whose mother was a commoner.

His title, 'The Pitiful Prince', was full of mockery, sympathy was a foreign concept when nobles talked about his title, and he endured being called that for years . However, he knew that he was the most competent ruler out of his siblings. He couldn't let the kingdom he loved suffer under the ruling of his other brothers, they wouldn't even be able to do half of the things Alberu achieved on his own.

Dinner was a simple beef stew, considering the unknown time the group will spend getting rid of the monsters. Alberu was sent to his tent after attempting to help his party to clean up after dinner. They all took one look at Alberu before collectively scolding him while saying things like "who are we to make our master clean up after himself?", "Your highness, this is our job. Please leave it alone" or, "Your highness will make a bigger mess, so go and prepare for your bath" by his Aunt.

Alas, he was forced to return to his tent and grab his clothes and bathing supplies to bathe in the lake nearby. On the way to the lake, he felt it again, the exasperation and giddiness. Assuming that it was not anything dangerous, he brushed off the feeling.

And then he saw it-

A huge ass cockroach looking at him with its antennas twitching. Of course, Alberu did what any person would do, he ran away while dropping a few of his bathing supplies in the process. He could hear the wings of the insect flutter as it followed him from behind.

'A flying cockroach? I heard that it was the worst type of roach-' his thoughts were interrupted by suddenly hearing a splat behind him. He stopped and stared in the direction where the noise came from, double-checking that the wretched creature following him was indeed dead.

"Huh?" The panting prince was confused by the turn of events. He heard the sound of water susurration and the pitter-patter of water droplets.

He made the mistake of looking toward the location of the sound and saw the most ethereal scene before him. He felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment and shame as he shamelessly gawked at the sight before him. A young man, in his 20s, bathing in the lake. Red long hair covered the temptatious body while wide, startled, reddish-brown eyes stared back at him. The wide reddish-brown eyes stared at him before narrowing at the sight of him and turning cold.

The prince only snapped out of his daze once the bathing male said "Look away" in a cold tone but the slight shakiness of his eyes gave away his inner panic.

The flustered prince immediately followed the order and turned away from the tantalising view.

"No citizen should be able to access this part of the forest, why are you bathing here?" Asked the disguised quarter-dark elf, once he has calmed his frantic heart.

"Why? Ah, I live near here. I wasn't aware that it was closed off to citizens", Alberu could hear the movement of the water while the mysterious male answered.

The answer of the redhead made Alberu a bit dubious. As far as he knew, there were no houses recorded near the border. It's either the male was lying or his house was hidden. Knowing that it was either of the two options made Alberu tense.

He could be a threat.

He's dangerous.

Don't trust what he says.

These were the thoughts running inside the young prince's head. The earlier feeling of embarrassment was now gone and was replaced with hostility and cautiousness.

He observed his surroundings while listening to the gentle rustling of clothes. All he could see were the dark oak trees surrounding the river. No animals were in sight despite knowing that there are creatures that would watch the defenceless male and prey on him. How odd.

"Hey", Alberu turned around at the sound of the other male's voice.

"I'm done bathing, you should probably bathe as well before the water turns colder" He continued.

I can just use magic to heat up the water.

"Right. I should, would you be heading home now?"

"Oh? Do you want me to stay to watch you bathe, like what you did to me?" The prince could see a sly smirk creep up on the other's face, signifying that it was not a genuine question and that the other was just teasing him.

"I- You- Haaaaah, you're driving me nuts", despite knowing it was a teasing statement, it still made Alberu short circuit.

Ignoring the stifled snickering, he placed his items down on a rock nearby and began undressing, leaving his necklace on. He heard a sharp intake of air before submerging his body in the water.

Oh no, he's hot and my type.

The ever-observant red-haired male started to question the disguised quarter-dark elf, "Are you afraid that I'll steal your necklace? It's odd that you haven't taken it off"

Luckily, Alberu's back was faced away from the staring male or else he could've seen the slight shaking of Alberu's eyes.

"It was a memento from my late mother."

Which was the truth, but it's mostly for this stranger not to find out about his true heritage traits.

This single sentence made the strange traveller feel weird, a mix of comfort and sorrow; like his chest was being squeezed from the inside. He blurted out something to get rid of the heavy feeling in his chest.

"My name is Bob , a traveller from afar"

Hearing the stranger's name made the bathing male feel oddly frustrated as he knew that it was not his real name and yet, it made Alberu smile at his attempt at changing the subject.

"Oh? Is that so?" Bob could hear the smile in Alberu's voice as he question him.

"Yes, that's correct." The stranger, now known as Bob , prayed in his head that the gentle sound of water can drown out his rapidly beating heart.

"What a coincidence, my name is also Bob"