-a prince's limerence

V

>>>> content warnings for verbal abuse

" 'cause love is a water eroded by the stone / a force as eccentric as yesterday „

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Purple blinked in surprise, eyes widening. "Sorry?" Duke Green gave a humorless laugh.

"I challenge you to beat me in a duel." He repeated. "Of course, if you really don't feel up to it, you don't have to." Purple could almost feel him mocking them. There was no choice; they were definitely going to fight him in the duel, and win.

"There's no need for that, Duke. I'm more than happy to duel you if that's what it will take." The atmosphere grew tenser, and Second swiftly pulled the Duke away from the rest of his friends. They couldn't catch his expression, but they could probably guess.

Most people didn't challenge foreign royals to duels, of course. Not even the kingdom's royalty itself. Purple was no expert on this type of thing, but it usually led to the foreigners getting offended, and could even escalate into war. With the Hollowic Empire and the Nether Kingdom, the relations were rocky enough for the latter to happen.

Despite this, they couldn't find it in themself to be insulted in any way. It was only fair for Duke Green to be angry. Honestly, they were surprised that the Baron wasn't more upset. 'Or moos servant friend,' Purple realised belatedly. Their memory of the previous night was fuzzy, but all of this had stemmed from the Purple and those nobles discussing the Baron's relationship with a servant. They pursed their lips guiltily, having forgotten to consider the servant entirely in their apology.

Wait, the servant was here! Well, most likely here. Considering the fact that Baron Redmond and the servant were supposed to be close friends, and that there were two people here that hadn't introduced themselves with any title, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume one of them was the person Purple was supposed to apologize to.

Beryl and Blue. On first glance alone, they both seemed of relatively high status, with the way they were dressed. However, first glances never gave the full story, and Purple was an expert on stories.

Beryl was fair-skinned, standing out from his peers with flat, blonde hair and a pair of emerald-green eyes. He was dressed like he'd been working rather than chatting with his peers, with a pair of reading glasses resting upon his narrow nose and a simple white shirt. A red scarf was haphazardly wrapped around his neck, the only cover he had despite the cool weather. Even though he was shorter than the rest of his friends, he held himself with such confidence that Purple couldn't help but respect him.

On the other hand, Blue was wearing a dress and a jacket, exactly what the prince would expect for the occasion. The clothes were much more flashy than Beryl's, with flower patterns adorning the bottom of hir skirt. However, Purple couldn't help but notice how messily tied hir ponytail was, brown strands of hair falling from the side as though ze'd tied it hirself. And if they searched, they could see the dirt collected underneath hir nails.

Approaching Blue, Purple unconsciously bit their lip. "Are you Baron Redmond's- servant friend?"

Blue levelled them with a flat stare. "Yes, but my name is Blue."

"Blue, yes, I was just confirming," He replied hastily, feeling a little embarrassed. He hadn't meant it to demean hir, just to confirm he hadn't guessed wrong. "Well, I wanted to apologize to you too. You're not less of a person because you're of a lower rank, and I'm sure you're a wonderful person to be friends with. I'm sorry for implying otherwise."

Blue hummed non-committally, glancing away. "I know. We'll see if you really mean it when you duel Green." Purple was caught a bit off-guard by the answer— contrary to what he'd guessed, Duke Green wasn't the only one who was upset. He couldn't blame them, of course, but it made him want to win even more. He couldn't go making enemies in such a place.