The Gardens and A Very Lonely Boy

The Royal Servant, Jeffrey.

The Crown Prince, Claudius Victor Gregorie, Greg for short. You can always call him G.

Their ties dated way back. They were born on the exact same day, at the exact same hospital.

Greg wasn't expected to be born for another 10 days and Jeff's mother was way too pregnant for her own good.

Jeff's mother, Slyvie, has been working for the royal family as a professional hand maiden for 35 years now with her husband who tended to the gardens.

She didn't think she could get pregnant after 55 years of age but life had other plans. When the boy still wasn't born at the 11th month, she was sure he would never come out so she went to visit her Queen at the hospital to see if she needed anything.

Queen gave birth to the one and only heir of the royal family and Jeff finally decided to be born that day.

Queen liked Slyvie, she's been around ever since her childhood. They put the babies together in the same crib, born on the exact same day, almost like soulmates. And it was quite obvious at that second that they'd grow up together.

Unless they didn't. The boys hated each others guts. They were 8 years old fighting to see who was a better runner (Jeff was), who read faster (Jeff did), who played the violin better (Greg kind of won on that one). They were polar opposites in the worst way.

When they were around 10, Queen watched them fight about yet another thing in the gardens. Maid's boy was looking classy with sharp features, neatly worn clothes and a prideful stance. And Greg was completely covered in mud, chocolate stains around his mouth, screaming like a wild animal.

"My dear," she remembered saying to her husband, The King, "we must've mixed up the kids at the hospital."

The King always had a warm and cheerful laugh, one coming from the belly. "Let the boy be." he said. "He is kind and elegant in different ways."

Queen looked at her son again, now grabbing the hair of the maid's boy, dragging him around. She sighed as she called the Royal Guards to break off the fight.

-

Boys were 12 when the maid died, and 13 when her husband followed, not being able to cope with her absence. The entire palace was devastaded, the women who smiled at them every morning was gone, and the kind man that bringed them beautiful flowers from the garden. But mostly, their one and only son. Jeffrey was strong, he endured everything swiftly and only cried himself to sleep at nights.

Queen couldn't bare the thought of the boy being alone under her watch and offered him a guaranteed job at the palace and the best education he could get. Jeffrey refused, he wanted to move away with her aunt to another country and not burden the family anymore. Queen found it absurd but couldn't convince the kid, so she sent Greg to talk with him for some reason.

"Like he would listen to me??" Greg mumbled on the way, kicking a stone. "If anything he'd want to run away more after seeing me."

He put his hands in his pockets and frowned. "I don't even want him around."

Now, that was a lie but Greg didn't knew it yet. Greg had a lot of cool friends, friends that were shallow and energy sucking vampires, that only wanted to be better than him. But Jeff was different. Jeff competed with him whenever Greg started a fight, but he was never upset when the crown prince won. This made Greg even more ambitious and most of the skills he has today was obtained simply because of his little quirrels with Greg.

"Who's even going to tend the garden?" He mumbled looking around the beautiful path guided with flowers. "Perhaps it's better if he stayed and made sure the flowers are fine." He agreed with himself, flowers were really important after all (he didn't even care about flowers until that day).

He reached the little 2 story house Jeff and his family lived, now Jeff alone. He opened the door with the key he got from his mother and let himself in, he was the prince after all. He walked in and the house was so dark, not like how Greg remembered it to be.

When auntie and uncle was here it was always lively and filled with plants, with life. Now every light was off, TV off, no music, no laughter.

He heard sobs. He tried to find his way by holding on to the wall, fell down once, twice, then he found the stairs and climbed up. The sound was coming from one of the rooms, he found the doorknob by feeling it and inside he found a Jeff that was sitting down next to the window.

Jeff looked at him with panic first, not having heard anyone. Then with embaressment, being seen while crying (that'd be the last time anyone ever saw him cry).

"Are you okay?" Greg asked walking next to him and sitting down. It was silent for a while, moonlight coming in the window illuminated the boys dark hair.

"Sure I am your highness." Jeff said drying his cheeks.

"Cut the act dumbass." Greg rolled his eyes. "You're not fine, you're lonely and upset and I don't like it."

"..." The kid that would later become The Royal Servant, the most trusted companion and advisor of the crown prince, had nothing to say back then.

"See, I like to win over you in everything." Greg rambled. "But there's like no way I can be sadder than you right now so here's what we're going to do, you'll come back with me, and you'll be happy so I can be happier than you instead."

"No I-" Jeff started but Greg already made up his mind. He got up and quickly lifted the boy off the ground and gave him a hug. A lot of people hugged him in those past days. Upset elders, his distant relatives, other staff at the palace and his schoolmates. None of those hugs comforted him. But the prince did.

There were some pity involved but it didn't bother Jeff somehow, it actually made him realized how pitiful his situation actually is. The thing he couldn't admit to himself.

Before he even realized he buried his head on the Prince's shoulder and cried his heart out, told him how much it hurt and how scared he was to face the world on his own. He told him all sort of things, how he didn't like the lunch because it wasn't his mom who made it and how the flowers already lost their bloom. The prince stayed with him that whole time.

And they made it back to the palace together, their hands were intertwined the whole way, even though Jeff realized, as he got out of the privacy of the gardens and saw the beautiful palace, how different his place in there would be than the princes. That realization made him let his hand go, it set the tone for him about how his place was going to be, right next to the Crown Prince from now on.

But his place was going to be there.