.

The next day, Sebastian buried himself in paperwork out of pure embarrassment, doing as much work as possible without any breaks, and Jylan, with nothing to do since the prince flinched every time he made eye contact, decided to head out to the library once again and scour the shelves for law books. He was especially curious about the notebooks. 

Now he had come prepared. Jylan opened the library doors again and pushed a piece of cloth around his mouth to filter out the ridiculous amounts of dust now going everywhere. 

He grabbed the book about the laws of curses and as many notebooks as his arms could carry. Then he promptly closed the door. 

Jylan sat on the now-repaired railway of the balcony. The last time he had been there was when they had celebrated the prince's birthday together, which had been a treat all on its own. Now he flipped through the notebooks, which were mostly just the prince's notes turned into books. Almost instantly Jylan started seeing little pieces of him on the page, like, 

"Why do you need to know what color the jewel in the emperor's ring is?"

Followed with, 

"How could anyone be so stupid as to let Eclis conquerors take over their kingdom? I'm glad the king in this history chapter is dead"

And a particularly putrid one, 

"Did you lose your brains before writing a book? It's 'You're', not 'your'." 

Jylan tried not to laugh as he flipped through the pages. He did like where this was going, Maybe he'd take some more notebooks later. 

Then he stopped at the words "Prince Sebastian's Publication". Publication was another word for a journal. His curiosity rekindled and now blazing in his heart, Jylan eagerly flipped the page, not caring as it tore a bit at the edge and eagerly landed his eyes on the first line.

Sebastian, 6 years old, was standing in front of a locked door. He was wearing a dark collared suit, which made him look slightly more mature than a six-year-old should look, with his dark eyebags and thin blonde hair that hung over his face like a weeping mop. This depressed-looking hairstyle certainly did match his mood. In his face was a single paper card, folded in half, and inside, with bright crayons, were the words, "Happy birthday, father" in the typical chaotic letters of a six-year-old, Sebastian knocked on the door slowly. There was no reply, so he simply grabbed the latch and slowly swung it open. 

Instantly, a glass bottle was flung across the room, and Sebastian flinched, closing the door just enough for the bottle to shatter against the oak instead. 

"I-It's me…" Sebastian said, and there was no reply. He opened the door a crack more, looking at a one-royal bedroom that was now ruined with cigar burns and empty bottles of liquor, which were both littered around in an abundant amount. Smoke drifted around lazily in the air. Sebastian quickly put the card on the ground and shuffled out, before saying, "I- I, uh, made you a birthday card…" Quickly, Sebastian closed the door and screwed his eyes shut, as tightly as he possibly could. 

As he stood outside the door, leaning on it, he craned an ear to listen through. 

The sound of paper tearing and burning, followed by a stream of curses spoken by a tongue slurred by years of alcohol. And a final sentence made a tear slip down his cheek: 

"That kid should have never been born in the first place." 

Finally giving up, Sebastian turned and scampered down the hall, his footsteps echoing in the loud silence, as a few hiccuping sobs and tears escaped from his mouth.

Jylan, horrified, shut the book with a loud slam, a large cloud of dust billowing out of it. He sat there for a minute, with red and puffy eyes, his breathing heavy and uneven. He was still slumped against the abandoned balcony, but now his back was leaning against the railing. Now there was a horrible pit of realization in his stomach, like guilt mixed with sadness and realization, or how stupid, oh how stupid he had been. He had just randomly assumed that Prince Sebastian had lived in the lap of luxury his whole life. Wiping his nose, he put the book beside him carefully and then used the railing to get up. 

"Maybe I should go apologize…?"