Chapter 1: "Mother asked me to be your friend."

"Kai, go on, and don't be rude. You have to be friends with the prince, okay?" A glove-laced hand pushed the petite shoulders of the little boy, fortunately, he didn't stumble.

The child named Kai held an apathetic expression as he faced the other kid. Contrary to his ordinary appearance, the prince had striking sky-blue hair and haughty yellow eyes. He saw the arrogance exuding from him as clear as day; he turned back to the black-haired woman with a face of reluctance, only to be returned with a sharp glare.

Kai turned back around, facing the arrogant prince with a strained smile he reached out his hand. "Hello...My Name is Kai Idunn. Mom wants--I mean, I want to be your friend." Behind him, he heard his mother letting out a soft sigh.

Kai stuck his hand out for a long time but received no good gestures in return. He lifted his head to look at him, the strained smile on his face dropped and Kai stared at him without any expression. Inexplicably, the other boy flinched and took a step back, a tight frown appearing on his face while he scrutinized him.

"You...You make me feel uncomfortable. I don't want to be friends with you."

Uncomfortable?

Kai took his hand back, his gaze stubbornly fixated on the prince. "Wha...What are you staring at? You're so bold to be so presumptuous! Stop staring at me!" Kai suddenly took a large step forward, forcefully taking grasp of the prince's hands and pushing his face neck to neck with him.

"Are you a coward? Scared of being friends with me? You're not brave at all." Kai sneered, harshly criticizing the young boy under his breath, quiet enough to where only they could hear.

The prince pushed him away, his face turning red at Kai's words. It's no lie to say he was stimulated and made flustered; he glared, squinting his bright amber eyes too. The bright surface reflected Kai's face. With black hair and eyes and skin as white and smooth as porcelain, the prince's first impression of him was like a doll. But when that doll stared at him, with those big black eyes and expressionless face, all he felt was a chill; when the doll spoke it wasn't elegant or delicate like his pretty face at all, but direct and without poise.

Not to mention having the guts to call him a coward.

"I'm not a coward! I can be friends with you, anybody who's scared of that face is a coward! Which I am not!" Seeing his reaction, Kai gave him a blank expression and nodded.

"Well, I don't want to be friends with you. After all, I don't even know you're name."

"Name? Everyone should know my name! I'm the First Prince of Alkibaides, Esmond Aethalweald. The future crown prince! You should be kneeling to me!" Kai's expression became more disinterested the more Esmond spoke, barely looking at him at the end.

"Hey! Why don't you look at me? You have some nerves ignoring a prince like that! Hey! As my friend, I order you to look at me!" Kai tilted his head back to look at his mother. His wide black eyes looked at her with a bit of pleading behind them.

The woman glanced at him and shook her head, mouthing towards him, "Listen to him."

Kai could only resign to his fate, staring back at Esmond with neither a smile nor a frown. "How about we play a game?"

Esmond suddenly stopped talking, staring at Kai with an expectant expression. A little taken aback by the abrupt shift he couldn't help but look away for a moment.

"Yes, a game of hunting. I'll be the hunter while you be the prey? You have 1 minute to hide while you can't let me catch you." Kai pushed him in a random direction, watching the prince's flustered appearance and stumbling to run away. Once he disappeared into the distance, Kai turned around and stared at the pair of elegant women who were watching from a distance.

One was his mother and the other had the familiar blue hair of the prince. That was the Queen, Amalthea Aethalweald. His mother was giving him a cold look, warning him to not do anything rash and the queen just looked on in amusement.

Seeing as he couldn't go against his mom, Kai reluctantly followed after the direction Esmond went. He planned on just leaving after fooling the prince to leave, but it seems his mother saw through his schemes already.

"Tsk."

"You're kid is so amusing, Nanaia. Look how he easily took care of my son. I think they'll get along very well in the future, haha." The woman with black hair rubbed the bridge of her nose, a look of exhaustion on her face while turning to her friend.

"Oh, Amalthea, I don't know how to handle him sometimes. He's become more unpredictable these days and I'm just about my wit's end. He hasn't made any friends or connections, even going as far as calling the children of those other nobles 'Too stupid and unworthy of his attention'. Seriously, I don't know where he learns it from."

Amalthea giggled, pressing the fan against her lips as she smiled with great joy. "Well, it sounds like he'll be an interesting one for sure. Maybe my son can help him with that, you know, despite his arrogance at times I still try and teach him some good morals."

The two children had already disappeared and they were the only ones left in the large garden, sitting under the gazebo. With a breeze from the air, silence engulfed them.

"Amalthea...I miss them. I want to see them again." Nanaia clutched the pendant around her neck; Amalthea watched her from the corners of her eyes, she stayed silent but moved her hands to reach for her other palm that was resting on her lap. She squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort her.

"It's okay, Nan. Kai still needs you here, so don't leave."