THY KINGDOM COME ; wmmp

UNWANTED ATTENTION.

There was no one.

Claude looked at his son before looking away, "I see, good."

'I can literally see from your face that you didn't like the fact that I have been studying about the Emperors that came before you,' thought Cyrus.

Raising his arms, he put on the best smile he could show and started jumping up and down in fake excitement. "I also had a lot of fun making a flower crown, Papa! I did great and Athy complimented me. Will Papa compliment me too if I make you one?"

The twins already had met the Emperor twice already after his announcement at the audience chamber that he would take care of them. They had some sweet — and scary — family bonding time with cake drenched in tears and milk filled with sorrows.

And the children noticed that no matter how immature and insolent they behaved, Claude didn't seem to mind it and didn't seem that he want to kill them.

On the contrary, the more they behaved like scared children, the more formal and boring their answers were, the more emotionless his face became.

Well, it didn't really matter since Athanasia was still scared of him despite whatever he do and Cyrus felt uncomfortable around the man.

He had a dream once, and it was about the Cyrus in the novel. In the dream, he saw the Prince crying quietly at the corner of his room, wishing he had never been born and became the Crown Prince of the Empire. He described how much he hated training and how he couldn't stand the sight of the nobles who belittled him.

When Cyrus woke up from the dream, he was crying and began to wonder. What did the nobles do to the Prince that it made him not want to see them?

As far as he knew, the Prince was considered as the Crown Prince, the next in line to the throne and the future Emperor. No matter how you look at it, he should have the highest respect next to the Emperor.

What could've happen to the Prince in the novel?

He didn't know what happened that made the Prince think that way because there were no scene like that in the novel.

"Cyrus, what are you thinking about?"

Cyrus was shook out of his thoughts and he looked up at the tall man. He must've been thinking about his dream too much that he didn't realized that they were already by the lake and Athanasia was already on the boat.

"Huh?" he was confused. When did they get there? Weren't they talking about compliments earlier?

'Maybe I was in auto-pilot while I was thinking about that dream.'

"I was thinking about how handsome will Papa look if he wears a flower crown! I'm sure you'll be the most handsome man in the Empire!" he exclaimed, lying through an innocent smile. "You're already strong and then you'll even become the most handsome man, Papa is really great!'

'What a great liar!' thought Athanasia, looking at her brother in shocked.

"If that's what you think, I won't object," said Claude and looked back at Athanasia.

'Be honest. You're happy that I complimented you, right?' the Prince maintained the smile.

"Do you want to join us on our ride?" the man asked, turning back to the boy.

"A boat ride?" He innocently tilted his head to the side a bit.

"Coincidentally, I planned to go on a boat ride today."