a Lout and a Prince

Part 4

"Isn't it better to protect?"

The young noble had muttered it under his breath as though he hadn't expected to be heard at all. Alberu's sharp hearing couldn't possibly miss it though.

He also didn't miss how the slurring was mysteriously absent from the whisper.

"What do you mean?"

Cale Henituse looked stunned, he really didn't mean to be heard after all.

Alberu had been giving a somewhat trite lecture on the importance of maintaining the dignity of nobility. Some of it he believed, some of it was complete bullshit.

The young Henituse had been a good excuse for him to escape the debutante without leaving a foul impression on anyone. Instead of making his desire to avoid the potential marital partnerships obvious, he was able to leave the main hall under the guise of helping a young man find the right path.

It was also liable to earn him brownie points with Count Henituse which was always a bonus.

Despite how rowdy he'd been in the dance hall, Alberu noted that Cale had come without much complaint. Perhaps in his drunken stupor he still knew better than to cause an incident with royalty.

Who was to know?

Alberu didn't have all that much interest in getting to know him. He knew what he needed to know about Cale. He was a young, impulsive, and incredibly rich noble infamous for causing trouble. Clearly he was beloved by his family otherwise he would have been sent away quite some time ago.

The typical spoiled youth who had yet to create proper boundaries or develop a proper moral backbone. Honestly, the only thing that really separated him from other nobles his own age were the public nature of Cale's incidents.

Perhaps Alberu just had a dim opinion of the nobility but who could blame them? They'd never given him a reason to view them highly. Their grasping hands that clawed at him for political power and social sway–sometimes it left a person sick to the stomach.

Cale was frowning but then let out a drunk little hiccup, swaying in the air. The water that Alberu had presented him with earlier sloshed in his grip.

The timing was almost too good. If not for the flush in his cheeks, Alberu would be sure that he was sober.

"Just... isn't if fucking dumb?" He asked, his voice swaying in that same drunk way from before. "What the fuck is the point of maintaining fa-faaa–fave? Face–if you can't protect anyone? Seems fucking dumb."

It could be taken as the drunken ramblings of a youth who didn't know anything. That's probably how Alberu should have taken it.

But there was this throughline of sincerity that caused Alberu to feel that Cale really believed it. Under the drunken stupor, this was his truth.

So Alberu offered his own honest answer.

"Can't maintaining a persona publicly be used to do just that?"

He didn't know why Cale started laughing so hard, a snorting, laughing, mess of a man who actually slapped Alberu's back in his enthusiasm.

"Yes! You get it, don' ya? Yer highness?" He was grinning ear to ear as he looked up at Alberu with reddish brown eyes that danced with happiness. "Exactly that!"

How weird. Alberu knew he'd been disagreeing with Cale. Being a proper noble was the best way to protect those one cared about, to obtain one's goals. Those were Alberu's own beliefs that he couldn't so easily let go of.

Had his phrasing been too ambiguous?

He didn't really want to correct whatever misunderstanding Cale was under though. His smile was startlingly bright.

Who would imagine that the sour looking youth had such an inner glow?

He let out another drunk giggle. "Dun worry, yer highness." He rested his chin on the palm of his hand, leaning against the terrace as he stared out at the scenery. "I think your way is fine too."

Had he understood it? Were these just more drunken mutterings?

Alberu didn't know. Didn't really know what to make of Cale Henituse. There was certainly more to him than the surface but what exactly was underneath remained a mystery.

He knew that the lout of the Count's family had certainly made an impression.

It wasn't a night that Alberu would soon forget.

Ah.

This was a disaster.

Alberu's feet moved instinctively forward towards the flipped table, his thoughts centered solely on unwinding this situation as quickly as possible in order to return to the primary order of business.

The family head of red hair shouldn't have caught him by surprise but it did.

He was really striking.

Cale Henituse was doubtlessly a handsome man but he wasn't the sort to stand out solely on that merit. But Alberu couldn't help but feel that this was somewhat understated.

It wasn't that he was a breath-taking beauty, but he was just striking. The sort of man who stood out in any room.

Right now he stood out because of the table he'd knocked over.

Alberu was by his side in an instant, holding him back in a way that would look to most as though he was helping him stand.

Strange, he didn't' see the telltale flush that Cale was known for during his drunken fits. Nor was there the stench of alcohol.

Sharp eyes locked onto his and Alberu was momentarily taken aback by how truly coherent Cale looked.

Well, that certainly wasn't going to stop Alberu.

"Are you alright, young master Cale?" Alberu asked, his voice theoretically louder than necessary. "It's been a long time since we've met. How have you been?"

He could control the flow like this. Especially with how taken aback Cale looked over his reaction.

Ah, there was some of the flush he'd expected.

"Come this way, I'll help you clean up."

His magnanimous smile and gentility in the face of chaos calmed everyone down significantly. Luckily there was some time before the celebration started in earnest. All he'd need was to find a spot to leave Cale and then–

"...you can let go now." Cale's voice sounded small, like he'd swallowed something strange.

Alberu realized that he'd unconsciously begun to guide Cale by the hip. It was a bit embarrassing, but he didn't let go.

"I can't do that." He said, smiling with that same large fake political smile that put everyone at ease. "What if you were to fall over again?"

Cale's expression was complicated. Knit up with displeasure, unease, and something else that Alberu couldn't recognize.

He dismissed it all.

Today had to be perfect. His persona had to be perfect as well.

Alberu was not the sort to let a tiny hiccup like this get in his way.

He was so focused on his goals that he didn't notice the way his actions were affecting Cale in the least.

For such a meticulous man with such a bright mind and observant eye, he could be a real idiot sometimes.