21 Chapter 20

"…And like this, we can kill three birds with a single stone." Derek said, a permanent grin was plastered over his face the whole time, "I can't believe Eugene Rayleigh, that bastard, was a man this shrewd."

"Hmm…" The Crown Prince, Calisto, was impressed. His wish to behead those conniving nobles and aristocrats would no longer remain a dream as long as they succeeded in reaching an agreement with Eugene. It was a good plan but somehow, he was not completely convinced.

"But what if you are only jumping to conclusions and not figuring out the real motive behind his actions? Not punishing a spy is not that big of an issue. It could just be that he didn't want to meddle in troublesome things and it was easier to turn a blind eye to it. What if there is no real reason why he did that? And we don't know for sure that he's the one leading the rebellion in Lativia."

"Even if he is not behind plotting the rebellion, he's also not some naïve brat. For him to survive the fight for throne in the palace, even though he is nothing more than an insignificant bastard of the king…he is more than what's just meets the eye. And even he knows that the flames of rebellion will reach him sooner or later whether he was the one who lit the spark or not. So, I think he'd prefer to be the one who fuels the flames rather than the one who's burning in it."

Derek finished his long speech. There was no way he was going to abandon this brilliant idea that sprang up in his mind! Even if he had misunderstood Eugene's intentions, he would just have to make the king's bastard agree by some means.

"Fine. I'll leave all the work to you then. Take extra precautions. You can never be too sure in present conditions." Calisto gave up. They had been discussing the same thing for more than two hours, going back and forth, and it didn't look like Derek was going to give up even if he refused. He would surely do something behind his back, so it would be better to give affirmation and at least be aware of his plans.

"But what I actually wanted to ask you all this time was," Calisto's tone had suddenly turned cold, "Who is that man and why is he freely touching my manslaughter blade?" the Crown Prince pointed towards the window farther from them and Derek's gaze followed his finger.

His gaze became soft when he looked at the figure of the man with caramel hair standing in a corner and silently munching on some sweets while examining the Crown Prince's sword. To think that out of all the riches surrounding him, Hansel's attention was occupied by an ordinary looking sword, it appeared that he really liked it. Derek took a note to buy one for him soon.

Even though it appeared nothing more than a normal longsword, Manslaughter blade was an heirloom of the royal family of Estonia, passed down through the generations, by the emperors to the crowns to be. It had an exceptional history, belonging to the son of the first emperor of Estonia, who alongside his father had established the empire. When he sat on the throne himself, he gifted the longsword to his son, who then brought the golden age of Estonian empire and the next generations continued to pride the sword in the same way. The manslaughter blade was not only a symbol of authority, it also contained within itself the wills of the past emperors.

Derek smiled fondly at Hansel. He was sure the knight would faint if he got to know it was not just an ordinary blade that he could casually touch but something that had stayed in the royal family for centuries.

The Crown Prince, who seemed bothered by Hansel sniffing around in his royal bedroom, turned his gaze towards Derek to give him a piece of his mind. He had plans to rest all day today and had every intention of not getting out of his bed. He had already cancelled two scheduled meetings and even wanted to ignore Derek, who came uninvited, insisting that he must see The Crown Prince. But ignoring all of his protests, his butler had cheekily brought Derek to meet him in his bedroom.

So, he agreed to see Derek but what he didn't know was that he would also bring his lover along with him and then a whole party of people would suddenly infiltrate his peace.

Calisto's butler, Richard, had brought a line of servants with him, each carrying a different kind of snack with them for Hansel to taste. The Crown Prince's room had never hosted such a large crowd of people together in the decades it had been standing.

There was Derek who was eating his ears since noon, a time he would have preferred to pass dozing off. Then there was a knight he had never seen before, whom Derek had brought over claiming that he was his lover. The last one was his own butler, Richard, who for some reason, had brought almost all of the kitchen staff over to his bedroom, jeopardizing the secrecy these international matters required and still didn't seem apologetic about it.

Though what Calisto was more perturbed about, was how Richard was showering Hansel with attention when it was obvious that the one needed to be taken care of the most was the Crown Prince himself. It was his fault in the first place that Calisto was forced to be bedridden and it didn't look like Richard was going to take any responsibility for his actions. All this chaos coupled with his lack of sleep, were draining his energy faster than he could tolerate.

Just when he was about to tell Derek to take his leave along with his lover, his eyes caught something. It was really subtle, but it was an obvious change. Derek's eyes were twinkling and his expressions changed conspicuously as he looked at Hansel on the other side of the room getting flustered talking to Richard.

"Don't tell me he is that apprentice knight you were frustrated about?" Calisto asked the obvious. He knew but he asked nevertheless, thinking it would be more interesting to hear Derek's response.

"Eh?" Derek remembered how his agitated-self had blurted all out to the crown prince, "Ah! Yes, he's the one. We are a thing now." It looked like he was bragging, and he was!

"You're a thing? Has he even agreed to it?" Calisto was shocked. No matter how serious Derek's intentions were, he had never expected such a quick development in their relationship.

"He will. Sooner or later." Derek smirked. Even if Hansel was slow at matters of the heart, there was no way he could escape Derek's clutches. And Derek would absolutely make that happen!

"The way you were agonizing over him, I thought he'd be someone exceptionally beautiful. But he's rather plain."

"Well, he's beautiful in my eyes." Derek smiled fondly.

"Wha-?" The Crown Prince made a face that said he wanted to barf after hearing Derek say such a cheesy line.

Hansel felt someone's gaze at him and his eyes instinctively shifted to that direction, only to find two of the most handsome men of Estonia watching him. One of them winked at him playfully while the other looked at the first as if he couldn't believe he was alive and watching it him actually do it!

Derek waved his hand at him to come near. He fidgeted once he saw Derek calling him but then complied.

"I would like to introduce you to-" Derek said, pulling Hansel to his side when he was a hand's distance away from his chair, "The Crown Prince of Estonia, Calisto Herschel."

Hansel's eyes became wide. He had never even dreamed of seeing someone from the royal family but now he had been in company of the most important one for hours (unknowingly, though)! But no matter how surprised he was, he realized it was still discourteous to keep staring at the prince.

He quickly got down on one knee with his head hung down in respect and his right hand clenched to his chest. "I, Hansel, greet the future sun of the empire."

"Rise." The Crown Prince laughed watching Hansel dare not meet his eye. It seemed to him that the apprentice knight of Winterns was as simple minded as he appeared. He was a complete opposite of the calculating Derek and it was understandable why he fell for a someone like him.

"It's okay. It's just a casual meeting. You don't have to be so serious." Derek stood up from his chair to pull Hansel up on his feet. Now that they were closer to each other, Derek noticed a few crumbs of the cookies Hansel had been eating before, sticking to the corner of his mouth. He picked the largest one of them and put it in his mouth.

"Sweet!" he whispered in Hansel's ear.

His low voice rang inside Hansel's head, quickly bringing the memories of the last night to his mind. When Derek purposely grazed his lips on Hansel's ear while speaking, that slightest touch made Hansel's body tingle. He blushed hard, unable to comprehend how his master could do something so bold in front of the Crown Prince.

The room went silent.

The red tinge on Hansel's cheeks and a mischievous glint in Derek's eyes was visible to everyone in the room. Thankfully all the servants had been dismissed so it was only Calisto and Richard besides them.

"Then I will take my leave." Derek, who had never cared about courtesy, swiftly took Hansel's hand and left Calisto's bedchamber, "I have other important matters to attend to."

"Yeah. Yeah." the Crown Prince waved his hand at their disappearing figure. It was clear what the urgent matter was.

"Postpone all the other meetings today and I will not entertain any visitors as well." Calisto fell back on his pillow and smirked.

By how impatient Derek looked, he knew their way back to the Wintern estate wasn't going to be easy for the caramel haired apprentice knight!