A few weeks after the incident had passed peacefully, Cale still often came to the Prince's study, sometimes Alberu would teach him difficult things to understand about politics making Alberu impressed with Cale's intelligence.
Cale still often fed Alberu when he became too busy, Alberu knew it was just an ordinary innocent intention but why did he feel taken advantage of?
Even so Alberu still accepted the food Cale had given him because he didn't want to receive the death stares of his scary fiancee's maid.
It was now afternoon, Cale and Alberu were sitting by the window of Alberu's study while drinking tea with some textbooks.
Looking out the window, the white snow was a stark contrast to the red sky from the setting sun.
"Prince, I heard there will be a storm tonight."
Cale started a conversation with Alberu who was turning the pages of the book while sipping his tea.
"Hmm."
Very short answer solid and clear.
"How about sleeping in my room?"
"Cough!"
Prince coughed, Cale thought maybe because today's tea was a little sour.
"Hey, what are you planning to do?"
The prince frowned and looked Cale in the eye.
"We'll sleep in my warmer room, unlike yours which looks like it's about to freeze, Ron has put in some new heaters in there."
Well, what to expect from this kid?
Cale was only ten years old, unlike Alberu who in a few months would be sixteen.
Not long after winter had passed was the anniversary of his mother's death, and welcoming spring was Alberu's birthday, unlike Cale who was born in early winter, Alberu was born in early spring.
Alberu saw Cale's hopeful gaze, is he lonely in the palace? Well, Cale only had two waiters, one was cold enough to stay in the kitchen while the other definitely couldn't be considered a playmate.
"Okay."
It wasn't a bad idea, of course Alberu agreed not because of Cale's pleading gaze.
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Finally the sky started to get darker, just as Cale said, outside it started to rain snow and strong winds.
Now Cale and Alberu in their pajamas were sitting on the thick carpet in the middle of Cale's room with a blanket, hot drink and cake.
Alberu looked at Cale's entire room, all the old things had been replaced, one part of the wall only contained wooden shelves filled with books.
The entire marble floor that previously looked ghastly was now covered in a special layer with a simple but beautiful pattern and most of the floor was covered in velvet carpet.
Oh, there were also some thicker and furry rugs by the window and a bookshelf with lots of pillows, Cale seemed to be lying there often reading, that's why the maid put thicker and softer pillows and rugs there.
There were magical devices that warmed the room in every corner, canopy beds with special curtains that acted as mosquito nets that kept the cold winds from hitting the people inside.
Everything looks simple from the outside, but with the best quality. Alberu wondered how much money the Count had given his son.
The Count seemed to replace all his attention with money.
"Did your servant prepare your room?"
"Yes, Ron prepared everything."
As Alberu expected, it was the servant who prepared it. He made the whole room look simple to fit the atmosphere of the palace but was definitely very comfortable for the owner.
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Lightning rumbled outside, the two of them unwittingly realized that the wind outside was starting to get stronger, and more snow was falling. Alberu simply drank the warm drink in front of him while turning the pages of the book he found interesting from the hundreds of books towering in Cale's room.
Then Alberu felt something stick to his side.
Cale sank into the blanket, slightly clinging to his side while holding the cup filled with hot chocolate.
'But why is he sticking?'
Cale didn't do anything else, just stuck to his side with the blanket. Then Alberu remembered something.
"How did you know today would be a storm?"
Cale finally turned to look at him after only lowering his head all this time.
"My friends said it."
"Friends?"
Cale nodded, then lowered his head again towards the cup.
"That, my friends...uhm..."
Alberu saw that Cale was slightly confused, then he felt something familiar.
A sudden gust of wind seemed to caress his face, Alberu knew this wind.
"This... how did you-?!"
Cale just kept looking him straight in the eyes.
"They also say the Prince is not fully human, that seems to be true..."
"I told you this Prince is not a real human!"
"So you mean he's an fake human?!"
"Aigoo, this prince is mixed blood."
"I guessed it when I peeked out the window!"
Several wind elementals were now starting to swirl around Cale and Alberu, of course Alberu couldn't hear what the elementals were saying.
"Are you an elementalist?"
Alberu asked, even though he couldn't see them, he was sure these were elementals.
"No, but I can hear them under certain circumstances-"
"What did they say?"
Alberu cut off Cale and looked back into his eyes.
"Yes?"
"What did they say?"
"Uhm, they used to peek at you from the window, you just kept on working and studying all the time except sleeping and showering, and you..."
"What?"
Cale was nervous about the look Alberu was giving him but still didn't leave his side. Cale hesitated before saying.
"They said you were an fake human?"
"See it? Our little Cale agrees with me!"
"Hah..."
Alberu just sighed as he shook his head.
Alberu was a quarter of a dark elf, but there weren't many records of dark elves left, and if anything, only scary things were written there, and it seemed Cale didn't really know what Alberu was.
"So, what do you want?"
"What?"
Cale asked back with an innocent face.
"Hah..."
Alberu sighed again, what did he expect?
"Never mind, don't talk to anyone including your servant about it."
Cale nodded, burying himself even further in the blanket, and again shifted closer to Alberu.
Alberu saw more and more lightning flashes outside, the sound of the wind and snow falling outside was also getting louder, is this kid afraid of storms?
Now that Cale was actually clinging to him, at this distance Alberu could smell something, it wasn't a smell that humans should give off, and the elementals had started to drift away, pheromones? After all Cale was an omega, but was still too young to give off pheromones.
Smells unusual, like sea rocks or coral? It can't be confirmed because it's really weak and doesn't fully fuse into its body.
Knock knock
"Young Master, time to sleep."
Ron reminded him from outside the room without opening the door, as usual Alberu didn't notice his presence.
"Okay!"
Cale answered and immediately pulled Alberu into his large canopy bed, too big for even an adult to sit on.
The magic lights gradually went out on their own leaving the dim light of the few still alive, apparently designed to ensure their owners sleep on time.
They were already in the middle of the bed, the curtains covering the canopy made it difficult for more light to enter, Cale wrapped himself in the blanket again, this time a really big one, and clung to Alberu again.
Alberu who had sensed the strangeness from earlier asked.
"Don't you like storms?"
It's been a few weeks... almost two months, this kid came here but Alberu still didn't know much about him.
"That, I just-"
Cale stopped and hesitated for a moment, since those elementals Cale already knew the Prince's big secret, so maybe it's fine?
"I don't like it because my mother was out in a storm that day..."
Ah, Alberu knew where this was going, he let Cale cling to him and didn't ask any further questions, the lightning and thunder kept blaring outside even so Cale just clung to him and wasn't fussy like a normal kid.
"Do you want to go back to your father's house?"
Alberu asked the thing that had been bothering him for a long time, about taking care of Cale. Alberu had nothing to take care of here, even Cale had to support himself with his father's money despite living in his Palace.
Cale looked back at Alberu making Alberu wonder how his reddish brown eyes could still be seen in the darkness.
"I thought everyone would be happier I didn't come back?"
Cale paused for a moment as if thinking about something and continued.
"Everyone seems happy, they are happy, if I'm there it seems just like a stranger..."
Cale thought of the sight of his father and his new family, there was a very cute child, his father, and his wife.
Images of them walking hand in hand at the gate to go out for a walk, then when they were at the dinner table....
There is no place for him anymore.
Of course they would still consider Cale his family if he came back, but it would still be different.
Because no matter how good a person is, loving her husband's ex-wife's child and her biological child will still be different.
Even if it's not visible from the outside, even if they say there will be no difference
No matter how many lips say everything is the same, there will be a little, very little.
The difference in her heart that even the owner wouldn't notice.
Cale didn't want to spoil the happiness of his father's new family.
"I have no intention of returning, and if the Prince wants me to one day leave I have a place for it."
'How can this kid say it so easily?'
And there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding.
"I'm not trying to kick you out, I'm just... if you don't like it here you can leave, I won't hold you back, no need to worry about the King's orders, I can handle it."
After all it wasn't once or twice that Alberu had argued with the King.
Then Alberu got Cale's answer.
"I don't want to go anywhere for now? Although I don't know later..."
Alberu thought of the moment Cale left the palace, something felt throbbing.
"You can continue to stay if you want."
"Is that true?"
"Yes."
That night Cale fell asleep still clinging to Alberu, with the sound of the storm outside in the background.
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March 3, 2022
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I'm not sure if there will be any updates over the next week as my Midterm Exam starts tomorrow.
Wish me the best score in the Exam!
I wrote the date according to my country's time, I don't know if there is a difference in your place.
by the way i wrote this chapter since days ago and thought to make Alberu's Birthday in Spring in this fic, and who would have thought that Alberu's Birthday really was spring!
The third side story shows that Alberu's birthday is in the spring and his mother's death is before his birthday.
Once again, please pray for my exams!
Continued.