Paralyzed (Tboah!AlbeCale)

16) Deruth the Bullshit eater

'What?'

Now Alberu was the confused one. What was 'Maybe, your highness' supposed to mean?

Cale knew he was royalty, hence the respectful title, but at the same time he didn't recognize him?

"Can you elaborate?"

"... Well, you may have to remind me of your name."

'Eh? Memory loss, perhaps?'

"I'm Alberu Crossman."

"Ah... Yes, now I recognize you, your highness."

Cale did not recognize him in the slightest. All he could see was blonde hair, fancy clothes, and pale skin. No other defining features. But it would be more awkward if he admitted this, so he chose not to.

After hearing Cale's halfhearted comment, Alberu knew right away that he was lying.

'Is there a problem with his vision? Did the priest check his eyes?'

"Young master Cale, how many buttons are there on my shirt?"

Alberu's shirt had 21 buttons which were a slightly different shade of the shirt color. A normal person would easily count 21, but if there was indeed something wrong with his eyes it would probably be difficult to tell the difference between the colors. Especially in this low lighting.

"Uh?"

Cale thought it was a strange question, but did as the crown prince requested anyway. It felt weird, staring at a person's chest for so long, especially someone above him in rank, but Alberu didn't seem to mind.

It was pretty hard to tell between colors, just as Alberu had predicted. After about 30 seconds of discrete squinting and eye strain, Cale gave up and decided to guess the number. An average shirt like that would probably hold at least 15 buttons, so that was what Cale picked.

"15? Why did you ask me such a question?"

"Haaaa."

Alberu was confident now. For some reason, Cale Henituse now had terrible eyesight. It looked like the priest in charge of healing him was either very bad at his job, or he intentionally left most of Cale's body go unchecked.

Actually, he may have checked everything and yet still ignored his other, less noticeable injuries.

And seeing as how Alberu was the one who hired him, it was not likely that skill was the issue.

'Was it because of Cale's reputation? This could potentially backfire and stick me with a bad image. I'll have to get rid of that priest immediately.'

"Haaa... It's late, and I think we're both tired, especially after today. I must've accidentally fallen asleep earlier, I will take my leave."

As he turned around, he barely heard Cale's mutterings.

"It's only 1, I guess I'll sleep later then."

Cale was talking about how if he tried to fall asleep, he might get hallucinations, so he would sleep when the sun would rise. He could pass off his late wake up as natural, since he was a recovering patient.

But Alberu left the room questioning not only how Cale knew what time it was even though the clock was unreadable because of the dark, and the fact that he had bad eyesight, but also why he sounded like sleeping after midnight was a normal thing for him.

Maybe the red around his eyes was from his constant yawning and watery eyes.

_____

Cale woke up at noon, much to his dismay. He preferred to sleep longer to not have to deal with the aftermath of the terrorist attack and the busybodies running around trying to deliver things.