Purely An Act of Survival

meet your new responsibility

Surprisingly, Prince Alberu didn't mind. Suspicious. Sir Roksoo definitely tugged a few strings, he can tell, and finding out about it was just old news.

During his time in the palace, not a single hair on Prince Alberu was seen. That's because Cale's fever was so bad, so bad that Cale missed the times when he was healthy and could breathe properly. It was all thanks to this bad fever, Alberu has to be thankful to the saltwaters.

Who knew what he could've done the moment he was teleported to the castle?

Things.

Just, things.

—

Cale's fever simply vanished the following days.

He was seen taking a silly walk in the garden around 8am, and he acted like himself.

Everybody knew that Cale was a lout. He had built that kind of reputation around him since he was eight years old. At eight years old, mild tantrums and property damage were the only things he could do.

Sometimes, Cale would catch frogs and toads from the ponds and scare the newly hired servants. And other times, Cale filled up buckets of water and placed them on top of entrances. The most memorable of all, taken from Ron's words, was when the Young Master Cale played with matches that he somehow had at some point, and accidentally set fire in his dressing room.

Count Henituse paid for the expenses.

But he did not discipline the child. Rumours spread like wildfire that the Count Deruth was a fool for his eldest son.

The Young Master Cale also used to wreck the entire estate, jumping on beds, smashed glasses onto the floor, writing on walls, and when his father comes into one of the rooms— a bucket of water splashed on him. But Count Deruth did not get mad, instead, Count Deruth only continued to spoil the young child.

At the age of fifteen, Cale started drinking alcohol. It caused an even more inconvenience the first time he caused a ruckus at a tavern, and the more he did, the more his reputation circulated and grew.

No matter how much Count Deruth tried, the rumours surrounding Cale did not quieten down. Rather, it increased rapidly until the entire Roan Kingdom knew who Cale Henituse was. A lout of the Count's Family. The Trash, the Disappointment, and his fucking reputation.

Alberu puts down the document in a daze, and began to question his life choices.

Kim Rok Soo. You left your responsibility here, please pick him up as soon as you can.

Alberu sighed.

And then he got up, it is now lunch time.

Alberu usually had his lunch in his office. However, his aunt noticed that he'd been holed up in his room ever since they had Cale. It's been a week, and she told him to go outside and touch some grass.

Starting with lunch, of course.

Aunt Tasha excitedly dressed Alberu up and brought him to the dining hall where servants lined up on the sidelines. Alberu's face twisted to his everyday mask when he saw them as he walked and sat down on the chair at the end of the table.

The dining hall was silent except for the loud noises outside the entrance.

Wait, what?

Before he could take one bite, Alberu looked up.

“You're fucking serious?? Get the hell out!!”

Cale's voice was audible, loud and crude, and he forcefully pushes the door open and stormed inside.