The Imperial Mentor

Chapter 25: Addition to the palace staff

Since their encounter with Brunia's friends in Cumsta, both the Professors tried their level best to persuade the King of Granzreich to recruit a new royal guard in place of Maximilian who resigned to live with Prince Licht in town. The King happily accepted the recommendation made by the Professors and the four Princes, and the four Princesses were summoned at the palace gates to welcome a new member of their team.

The carriage came rattling down the dusty roads from Cumsta to Wienner and halted in front of the palace gates. Everyone present there were excited to see the new face, especially Ludwig who has grown lonely since Maximilian left the nest. The carriage door swished open with the mighty wind accompanied by the bright white light of the sun. The feet of the man descended the ground to reveal a familiar appearance of the past. Brunia's eyes widened with shock and surprise as the Professors expected. The King stepped forward and introduced, "Princes of Granzreich and Princesses of Vermillion, meet your new royal guard; Oliver Draken, who will be substituting Maximilian!" Brunia yelled, "WHAT THE---- MMRUHPH!!!!" Professor Heidi placed her hand on her mouth before she could speak anything else. Brunia thought, "Good Lord! A Prince working as a royal guard!? How preposterous!"

Licha whispered to Licht, "Damn! That guy is hot!" Licht replied, "Hey! What about me?" Licha answered, "Man! It never hurts to check someone out!" Licht responded, "Yep. Fair point." The King stated, "Oliver has proved to be fit for the post; subsequently I do not desire to hear any arguments on that front. Especially when both the Professors have already approved of him and have themselves recommended him to me. The Princes of Granzreich and Princesses of Vermillion, I expect you to make him feel welcomed. I shall take my leave and resume to my duties." As the King left, the introduction session began.

Licht spoke with confidence, "Why hello, there! I'm Licht Von Gran, and this is my girlfriend, Licha Von Vers!" Licha remarked, "Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that our new guard is hotter than Maximilian." Oliver stammered, "O-O-Okay, a-as y-you w-wish, Your Highnesses." He moved on to the fourth Prince and Princess. Leonhard greeted, "Welcome to the palace, we're thrilled to have you with us." Leonora added, "Yes, indeed--- Wait a minute... I have seen you somewhere!" Licha asked, "Leo!? You too?! I thought I was going crazy!" Oliver quickly replied, "I can assure you that I've never met you before." Kaira related, "Weren't you Beau's friend who joined us for sailing? Right, Brunia?" Oliver's pleading eyes met Brunia's begging her not to break his cover.

After a long moment of awkward silence, Brunia affirmed, "Well... I'm sure that I've not seen this man at Beau's sailing event. Can we please continue with the introductions and put that inconvenient turn of events behind us, please?" Leonora continued, "Anyhoo, it is an honor to meet you, especially that you have a more straightforward name that Maxi... something." Brunia asked, "What are you talking about? When we visited Eina's place a few days ago, you pronounced his name correctly, did you not?" Leonora answered, "Dearest sister, desperate times call of desperate measures." Oliver moved on to the third Prince and Princess. Bruno introduced himself, "I'm the third son of the Almighty Granzreich King, Bruno. We're pleased to see a much more earnest guard than Maximilian." Brunia remarked, "Yes. By puking on me when he was drunk, he made that part of himself very clear. Anyway, lovely to meet you, Ka--- I mean Oliver." Oliver responded, "Yeah, you too." As Oliver moved on, Brunia's eyes still lingered in him, but before anyone could notice, she looked away.

Oliver moved on to the second Prince and Princess. Oliver didn't flinch at the sight of them though their appearance was frightful. He extended a hand, and Kai accepted it, saying, "Nice to meet you, Oliver." Kaira added, "Yes, I hope we all can get along." Licht commented, "Galactic hearts; presented by Kai and Kaira!" Oliver advanced towards the Professors and whispered, "Thank you so much for whatever trouble you two went through to get me this job." Professor Heidi replied softly, "You're welcome. we expect great things from you, Your Highness." Professor Heine added, "For now, guard the palace gates while we proceed with Highnesses' lessons. Don't worry, you're purpose will be achieved, it just has to be done gradually." Oliver nodded with approval and moved on to his training session with Ludwig.

Professor Heine announced, "Your Highnesses, please proceed to the dance studio; as Princes and Princesses of your respective realms, all of you must master the skill of ball dancing." Professor Heidi commanded, "Now, let's proceed, Your Highnesses."

As they arrived at the dance studio built within the palace, Licha complimented, "Man! This studio is off the hook!!" Licht responded, "Actually, I haven't been here before." Bruno added, "Agreed. Since we never had any females of our age coming to the palace regularly, this studio has remained untouched for years now." Professor Heidi announced, "Alright, now if we're all settled down, I'm listing out the partners; Prince Licht and Princess Licha, Prince Leonhard and Princess Leonora, Prince Bruno and Princess Brunia and Prince Kai and Princess Kaira." Professor Heidi instructed, "Your Highnesses, this performance is not preparatory, it is a hands-on lesson. This will allow us to access your creativity in formulating dance moves as partners. This assignment is like a checkpoint to see how far have each of you made progress in bonding with each other. Once this is done, we will be switching age groups for future combined lessons. Alright, Prince Licht and Princess Licha, you're first."

After their performance, everyone applauded, including the Professors' rating of thumbs up. Licht commented, "We make an excellent team, don't we, sweetie?" Brunia yelled, "Alright, your performance is now over, done with and appreciated, so can we just skip with this hippie-dippy stuff?" Bruno added, "Reserve your lewd acts until and after the lesson, brother!" Licha whispered into Licht's ear, "Wow!! Getting onto their nerves is fun!"

After Prince Leonhard and Princess Leonora's performance, the Professors came to the conclusion that they have also made significant progress in their bonding assignment as well. Leonhard spoke, "Go ahead, Heine! Praise me; that your student at least excels in this area!" Professor Heine thought, "His haughtiness doesn't flinch at the sight of the Princess." Leonora added, "Yeah! You praise Eina in an instant when you compliment me once in five months, Heidi, no fair!!" Professor Heidi responded, "Yes, yes. Both of you make a splendid team." Bruno and Brunia praised, "Yes, well done!" Leonhard and Leonora jumped up and down with the sentiment that their dearest siblings recognized their talent.

As usual, Prince Bruno's and Princess Brunia's performance were appreciated by everyone in the room, followed by thunderous applause. Licht commented, "Aww!! The two Brunies look so cute together, don't you think?" Kaira walked over to them and started rubbing Bruno's hand without a word. Bruno was at a loss for words; nevertheless, he asked, "Kaira, what possessed you to grab my hand?" all that Kaira replied was, "Soo soft... so cute... I'm nervous." Bruno reassured her that everything will be alright and she calmed down at the sound of that. Professor Heidi asked, "Did the two of you take dance lessons anywhere?" They both nodded and said that each of them had dance lessons in their academy and they excelled at them, so this exercise came quickly to them. Professor Heidi thought, "I don't know... I feel like there's more to that."

After Prince Kai and Princess Kaira's spectacular performance, a manservant requested Prince Bruno and Princess Brunia to meet up with the King who summoned them. As they arrived at the King's study, they found out that even the Queen was waiting for them to deliver a piece of important news that required consideration.