𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐓𝐘 ━ 𝚠𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚙.

Chapter 3.

3一 and he said yes, you know, like liar would

༻𖥸༺

KASSIAN CLAES WAS A SIMPLE MAN, as simple as you can be under Sir Robane's tutelage, but simple nonetheless. Having entered as a squire into the imperial order of Golden Lions at the age of fourteen, he'd given his blood, sweat and tears to achieve his desired knighthood a few years later. (To this day he still did not know what pushed him on this path一 his childhood dream, or the desperation to support his mother and siblings.)

It was just one of those days where things went by at a snail's pace, the afternoon sun beating down on the world with seemingly endless vengeance. He was doing his rounds around the inner main palace when Sir Robane came to him, looking frazzled and a bit desperate, with a request.

("Today His Majesty has called upon me to resolve an important issue as his aide, but that leaves His Highness the Prince without a guard for the day. Kassian, I require you to act as the Prince's guard in my place.")

Honestly speaking, he was shocked.

Because it was common knowledge that Sir Robane had been selected as the 一temporary一 Imperial Prince's Knight since he is the only one that the Emperor trusts with his heir. (He was the only person, besides a few scant staff, that had managed to look at the elusive boy for longer that a subpar glance.)

So Kassian was kind of scared shitless at the prospect of this task, but accepted nonetheless.

(Refusing meant he had motives to dislike being in the prince's presence, and such a thing could not be一 Kassian liked where his head stood atop his shoulders, thank you very much.)

From the rumours circulating around the palace, he would have guessed the young Obelia Prince to be a spoiled brat that knew nothing of the outside world. Given how the emperor favoured him, the knight would say that it was a logical conclusion to draw一 the boy that always been kept away from sight, locked within the main palace, to be held under the emperor's protective gaze.

(His expectations were crushed.)

His Highness Athanasius was so well behaved that it threw the young knight in for a loop. Because that polite incline of his head and that formal greeting was unnatural for a kid that was barely passing the threshold of four years old. (He know how children his age should behave, no matter the background of their family. Personal experience with his younger siblings discerned that this should not be.)

But then Kassian's eyes landed on the prince's own jeweled blue and he was struck with understanding, like lightning crashing through his head.

This was no normal child.

This was an imperial prince, the sole child of the emperor and the late empress and the official crown heir of the Obelia empire. The child who had been guarded like a rare, precious treasure after tragedy struck four years ago.