Explaining the Concept of a Boyfriend to a Clueless Prince

"Boyfriend?" Noir asked with a frown. "Didn't you say that your family wouldn't believe if it if you brought in any friends?"

Solis was dumbfounded as he realised that Noir had absolutely no idea what a boyfriend was. He merely took the words as having its literal meaning – a boy who was a friend.

Such naivety was endearing as well as frustrating, Solis realised.

"A boyfriend is not just a male friend," Solis said.

Noir blinked. "Then what is a boyfriend?"

"A person you are dating," Solis told him.

"Dating? As in…marking on a calendar…?" Noir's face was scrunched up in confusion by now. "I'm sorry, Solis. I don't understand."

Solis sighed. "What do couples in your world do before they get married?" he asked.

Noir's brow cleared. "They get engaged," he said.

"And before they get engaged?" Solis continued, finally feeling like he was getting there.

However, his hopes were dashed when he heard Noir's innocent reply of, "Their parents get together and fix the betrothal for them."

"Aren't there any people who choose their partners for themselves in your world?" Solis demanded, a tinge of annoyance leaking into his voice even though he was fully aware that it wasn't Noir's fault that he didn't know these things!

"There are," Noir replied. "When people like each other, or when someone catches their fancy, they either tell their parents to meet the other party's parents to fix their marriage, or they approach a matchmaker when the families are unfamiliar with each other."

"How do people decide that they like each other? It's not always at first glance, right?" Solis pressed.

Noir frowned. "I don't know."

"Before they get engaged, do people get together and do romantic things together?" Solis asked.

Noir's expression turned horrified and his chocolate eyes filled with tears. "You won't take me as a servant to see your family, but you want to present me as a prostitute instead? I've never even experienced the taste of love, and you want me to…" He burst into tears.

Solis looked at the crying young man in front of him and his chest felt tight again. He rubbed his temples, which were also beginning to throb.

"That's not what I meant," he said softly. "I'd never disrespect you like that."

Noir looked up at him pitifully. His liquid eyes were red-rimmed and his fair cheeks were flushed. "But…but you said…"

Solis sighed. "In our world, parents don't always have a say in their children's marriage. It is quite common for two people who are attracted to each other to start dating – that's the time when they are committed to each other and do 'couple things' together, but not be officially engaged or married. It's like a trial run or an experiment to see if they are compatible, so that they can decide later if they want to get engaged and get married."

Noir's face lost all colour. He looked utterly scandalised. "How…how immoral!"

"It's not immoral in our world," Solis explained patiently. "It's perfectly normal. After all, you try on clothes or jewellery before you buy them…choosing a life partner is so much more important – isn't it unfair to be stuck with someone you don't even know just because your parents or a matchmaker thinks they're suitable for you?" He wondered for a moment if he should explain the concept of a divorce to the clueless young prince, but decided against it. He'd get to it slowly…or better still, he'd give him a bunch of books to read. It was quite fortunate that this ancient prince was perfectly able to read their modern books perfectly well.

Noir didn't look very convinced. "So…you 'date' a person to see whether they are suitable for you or not? How do you choose who to date?" he asked.

"There are many ways," Solis said lightly. "I'll give you some books to read later, and you'll be able to understand the concept."

"All right," Noir said.

"Anyway, the point is…a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, is a person you are dating," Solis concluded. "Do you get the general idea now?"

Noir frowned slightly. "So…in your world, when two people like each other, they start doing 'couple things' right away and that is called dating, and their chosen partners are called boyfriend or girlfriend, and then, if they think they are compatible, they can later get engaged or married?" he summarised.

Solis nodded, satisfied. "Exactly," he said. "You're very clever."

"But I still don't understand," Noir murmured. "You said that you wanted me to be your boyfriend when I meet your family."

"Yes," Solis said. "It's all right – I don't expect you to be my real boyfriend. It'll just be a pretence."

Noir shook his head. "But how can I pretend to be your boyfriend? You're not a girl," he pointed out. "Even if dating is a trial run or an experiment with marriage as the ultimate goal, the purpose of marriage is procreation, which means you need one male and one female for the relationship, right?"

Solis's head throbbed for real this time. "In our world, it is perfectly fine for two men to marry each other or for two women to marry each other," he said curtly. "Love is love, what does gender matter? You're free to love whoever you want to!"

"But what about children?" Noir insisted.

"Not everyone wants to have a child," Solis snapped. "And there are always other options like adoption or surrogacy."

Noir frowned. "But adoption only works within a family, right?"

Solis buried his face in his palms and sighed deeply.

Noir was immediately concerned. "Do you feel unwell?" he asked anxiously.

"No," Solis groaned. "Noir, just sit down. I'm going to explain some very important things to you that are really basic in our world. The things you said to me right now…don't ever say them to anyone outside, or you'll be accused of discrimination and be punished by law for it."

Confused but willing to learn, Noir obediently pulled up a chair next to Solis's bed and sat down.

Two hours later, Noir's world view was toppled, but it also brought him a sense of happiness and delight that had previously remained obscure.

In this world, if he could find his Master – or if he could awaken Solis's memories in case Solis really was his Master – Noir could actually marry Master and they would never have to be apart! And they could even have their own biological children if they wanted! How amazing was that! How wonderful was that! If only…

How many times had Noir wished that either he or his Master transform into a woman so that they could marry each other and spend their lives together…? How painful had it been for him to keep his affection under wraps for all those years? And the disgust he'd felt when all those marriage proposals had started pouring in…

Noir suddenly felt that this modern world was really beautiful!