Venus Rouge

Nature Versus Nurture

¡¡SEE IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT END!!



Leon was not hiding.

He just made a very wise decision to retreat to a secured area to hold council with himself.

The fact that said “secured area” was the linen trunk at the foot of his bed was irrelevant.

He was most definitely not throwing a tantrum, no matter what Veronica says.

He was stronger than that! He didn't cry even when mother turned her back on him, so he certainly wouldn't do something like sulk because of how Mama was too busy for him lately. He's already nine years old. Nine! That's almost an adult, so he can't cry like a child!

He sniffled and hugged his knees tighter.

'Even when my birthday comes, Mama will still be doing work,’ he'd thought bitterly. Maybe it was his own fault for getting so comfy here. Though, getting comfy wasn't exactly that hard compared to living in the palace. Back then with mother's urgings, father's disinterest and the suspicious gaze of everyone besides big brother, it always felt like he was walking around with an indescribable weight on his shoulders.

Mother wanted him to be king; it was no secret to anyone at court that she wanted to put him on the throne, but big brother was in her way. The only time she would smile at him was the rare instances he managed to outdo his older brother at anything.

She expected Leon to outshine his brother and prove to Father that he was the better heir candidate, but he…

Leon never quite understood why mother was so cold and sharp when it came to big brother, even when big brother was perfectly polite to her. He wasn't very old when he realized (because it was hard to stay naive in the palace) that big brother wasn't mother's son.

He'd seen a portrait of the First Queen once, and big brother was there, clear as day in the smooth features and pale blonde hair of the beautiful woman in the portrait. Queen Lucia was first in father's heart. Even though mother could twist father here and there, he was firm in the matters of succession, that his and Queen Lucia's son be the one to sit on the throne.

Brother is Crown Prince.

Mother was the Second Queen and Leon is the Second Prince.

Brother did not have to bow to her.

Mother hated Brother.

Father was… more of a concept than a person to Leon. He saw the King less often than he saw the same foreign dignitaries and they lived under the same roof! Even if said roof was extravagantly wide and high. His impression of “Father” was therefore gathered from others. The help considered him a fearful and lofty figure, some of the courtiers considered him someone easily swayed to their needs and mother considered him a muddle-headed fool in her way. Brother… was oddly closed mouthed on the subject of father.

Leon's impression of him was ever changing because of this, but the bottom line was that he was sure that man didn't even remember he exists up until that whole debacle before he left.

His feelings for his father were nonexistent, his feelings for his mother were… strained and conflicted by her scheming, but Leon loved his big brother. That was for sure. Aside from his mother, his older brother was the only one who gave Leon the time of day. Fabian was the only one to offer him affection without expecting anything in return.

Leon's big brother was the only bright spot in his life at the palace since even before he was too young to be of any use to Mother, his brother was there and wouldn't turn his back on Leon when Mother kept trying to use Leon to harm him. Fabian was still a very good brother to him anyway.