Their little tea date ended not long after the King showed up for a brief visit. And during that time, Adrien finally understood what Mikyle had meant earlier when they had first bought the cakes.

Before the King could leave, he was force-fed a bite of cake from each Queen. The Queen Regent had smirked playfully as she placed the fork underneath the King’s nose, while the Queen Consort had an innocent look on her face when she offered her husband a bite of her own cake.

It had certainly been a site to behold. One that Mikyle and Lianna seemed used to.

The two of them were now walking along the winding path that led to Mikyle’s palace. The position of the sun in the sky indicated that it was around noontime and the sky was bright and clear. The fragrant scent of flowers and grass filled the air.

Mikyle’s hand was wrapped around Adrien’s as they walked at a leisurely pace. "How does it feel knowing that you have my mothers’ approval?" Mikyle asked, knowing that Adrien had been not-so-secretly afraid of their opinions of him.

"I won’t lie, but I really thought that her majesty, Queen Paulina, didn’t approve of me." Her soft words had sounded harsh as Adrien and everyone else had taken them wrongly, misinterpreting them by taking them at face value.

He was glad Queen Regent Sarina had been there. Her laid back attitude and the teasing tone in her voice were reminiscent of Mikyle’s, which made her comfortable to be around. Not that he hadn’t been comfortable around Queen Consort Paulina, she just had a completely different vibe from the Queen Regent.

"Hmm. I will admit that my mother has always been bad at voicing her words. The meaning behind her words have been misconstrued before."

"She did actually like me though, right?"

Mikyle nodded, his blonde locks glinting in the sun like melted gold. "She did." He took a quick step in front of Adrien and spun around until he was facing him. "She saw how happy you make me, and that’s all that matters to her."

Adrien found himself relaxing as he gazed into Mikyle’s heartwarming smile. His eyes shined brightly and earnestly as he peered down at Adrien.

Adrien found himself smiling as he allowed Mikyle to swing their arms back-and-forth. He had a feeling that this trip will become a fond memory in the near future.

Mikyle gave their arms one last final swing before falling back into place beside him. They continued on their way. Mikyle would occasionally point to something and tell Adrien about it; like the fountain in the distance which his great-grandfather had built as a wedding present, or the saplings that the Queen Consort had planted for each of them– which was apparently a tradition among her family.

Before long, they came upon the Ruby Palace. At first glance, Adrien was unsure of how the towering white palace had received its name until he saw the various sized rubies embedded into the golden roof and on the bases of the pillars.

Mikyle showed him around, taking him to some of the rooms before leading him up the winding staircase. Adrien was surprised to find that the palace was nearly bare of servants, which probably made sense since Mikyle stayed in the Academy’s dorms most of the time.

One of the servants that was present opened a large, intricately carved door. "This is my personal library." Mikyle introduced the room with a flourish of his hand.

Adrien’s mouth fell agape as he stared at the floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with books. The library itself was as massive as the one in the Academy.

"You’re more than welcome to become intimate with this room," said Mikyle with a slight raise in his lips, "in the future."

The next area that Mikyle led Adrien to was his bedchamber. Adrien found himself eyeing the massive room with envy. The large canopy bed was big enough for five people to sleep comfortably on.

And according to Mikyle’s wishes, Adrien was shown to the attached bathing room. Yes, a bathing room.

The area was almost the same size as the bedroom. In the center was a large, circular tub that could easily fit ten people. It was encased in marble, allowing for one to easily sit on the ledge without worry of falling off.

Mikyle leaned down and whispered softly into Adrien’s ear, his voice thick with a smugness that had Adrien wanting to groan– or at least slap him in the arm. "I have been dreaming about having you in this very room ever since I saw you sprawled on the shower room floor."

* * * * *

Lior was standing at the bow of the ship, swinging his sword down in quick, practiced motions. He adjusted his stance every time the ship bobbed against the waves.

Edgar, who had joined him for practice, now stood off to the side. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel.

"You really should take a break, Your Highness." Edgar’s breathing was uneven and ragged. Training on solid ground and training on a rocking ship were two completely different things, and Edgar was honestly finding it quite hard to do since it required one to constantly change their stance and tighten different muscles depending on if the ship was bobbing up or down, or jerking from side to side.

"There’s nothing much to do except for this or to study. And honestly, I quite prefer this." Lior’s words came out even and full of energy.

Edgar found himself frowning at his friend’s response, secretly envying the amount of stamina the young prince seemed to possess.

"At least take a drink. It would not be good to become dehydrated when we are surrounded by water."

Lior burst into laughter upon hearing Edgar’s words. "Bien. Bien." He had been trying to supplement the Castellon language into his daily life, but Lior was only confident in a few words and phrases at the current moment.

Lior sheathed his sword and was taking a drink of the freshly squeezed orange juice that the kitchen staff had prepared for him and Edgar. It was apparently a good way to keep up with dehydration while keeping his vitamin c up, at least according to his mother. After sixteen years of living, he still had no clue as to the meaning behind some of the things his mother would occasionally say, but he still tried to follow them.

The distant sounds of a bird cooing grew louder. Lior looked up from where he was taking a drink of juice to find a pigeon steadily approaching. The pigeon’s directory changed sharply as it dove toward the ship. It landed on a ledge right in Lior with a loud coo. There was a leather strap tied around the bird’s leg.

"A carrier pigeon?" Edgar asked as he eyed the bird. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Lior walked up to the bird and untied the leather strap and gently took out the letter that was rolled up inside. He had no doubt that the letter was for him since the bird had flown directly to him.

He unrolled the letter and read it. The expression on his face went from unreadable to shock to incredulous the longer he read.

"What is it, Your Highness?"

Lior looked up at Edgar with wide eyes, the red orbs in them shaking with visible shock. "Brother Kyle has found a lover?" His statement sounded like a question as he was unsure if what he had read was real or not. "It says he’s bringing his lover over on the weekend."

Lior looked up at the sky as soon as those words had left his mouth. The bird had taken a few days to arrive to him which meant that it was now currently the weekend. Brother Kyle and his lover are at the palace right now. He suppressed a groan as the thought hit him.

In truth, Lior had believed that Kyle would never willingly look for a partner. So it irked Lior that he was not at the palace for this momentous occasion.

"Oh? I wonder if we can trust what’s written on it?" Edgar mused knowing that it would not be difficult to forge a letter.

Lior released a shaky sigh. "It’s from my mother. Her seal is on it."

"Oh. That’s unfortunate since today marks the start of the weekend. Try not to be too bummed about it. Did you not want to show your fiancée a smile?" Edgar said as a way to try to take Lior’s mind off of the surprising news.

"Your’e right." Lior looked away from the sky, a smiling curling the corner of his lips. "I can always meet my brother’s mysterious partner at a later date."

* * * * *