an unfortunate change in genre

Part 11

Cale had never really and truly reconciled his thoughts on the Crown Prince of the Roan Kingdom.

In a misguided final attempt to persuade his son to reconsider his sons downward spiral, Count Deruth Henituse had asked Cale to go to the capital instead of Basen for the king's birthday celebration.

That was when Cale knew he'd have to do something really heinous if he wanted his father to finally give up and officially recognize Basen as his heir.

The plan was simple. He just needed to offend Alberu Crossman at any cost. It would be a bonus to offend any of the other royals while he was there but as Alberu appeared to be the future of the kingdom, it was best to prioritize him.

It was a risky move. Cale had to calculate it so that the blowback to the Henituse territory would be minimal and ideally all of the consequences would land on him as an individual. In fact, the more he was able to be recognized as an individual the better it would be for his ultimate goals. Forcing everyone to acknowledge him as the garbage of the Henituse family and not a representative of their will.

And of course anyone he could offend on his way to meet with the Crown Prince would only serve his plans.

Cale's opportunity was seemingly stolen from him with the terrorist incident.

He'd manage to annoy quite a few of the other nobles, showing up drunk and having no regard for proper etiquette, but the others from the northeastern region had done everything in their power to keep him away from the royals.

Even Cale couldn't quite stomach putting up a trash act when people were dying around him.

The heroes of the hour, undercover Princess Rosalyn and Crown Prince Alberu had managed to take control of the scene. Rosalyn using her magic to protect and chase after the terrorists while Alberu organized the counter initiative and arranging for healers.

They really were an obnoxiously perfect couple even before they got together, Cale couldn't help but scoff at the memory.

But Cale wasn't the sort of person who just gave up when plans changed. Recognizing that Rosalyn was the hero of the hour, he waited for the right timing. When there was still attention being paid to the area but the victims were being cared for and the danger had fled.

He'd already insulted Rosalyn once before this, not knowing her identity as a mage or a princess, just one of many people at the event whom he was trying to turn against him. It wasn't hard to come up with trashy things to say, call her incompetent and some foul comment about her appearance, even throwing a wine bottle in her direction.

It had a stronger than desired result. Rosalyn's burned with disdain for him as did the rest of the crowd. Even the Crown Prince came to disentangle the situation, sending Cale a queer look before denouncing his cruel words and celebrating Rosalyn's heroic acts.

It was the perfect time for Cale to slink away. He'd made the desired enemies, there was no way that his father would ever consider making him an heir now that everyone within hearing distance hated him, including the future sun of their kingdom.

He could leave the sickening signs of carnage and try not to think about how terrifying it would be if Basen had indeed been the one to go to the capital. He hated the terrorists right then, not just for the brutal acts they'd committed but also the potential danger they presented to his younger brother.

So Cale hadn't been expecting to run into the Crown Prince ever again after making the worst possible first impression.

"...why did you say those things?"