It was a peaceful afternoon. With the princess secretly visiting town with her cousin, Alpheus' son and that magician of the Black Tower, the emperor of the Obelian Empire found himself incredibly bored after he completed all of his work for the day.
Fortunately, there were no nobles wishing to have an audience with him, leaving him with nothing else to do.
"You seem to be bored, Your Majesty."
Claude glanced over to his left to find his loyal knight Felix smiling at him. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Felix," he replied in a monotonous voice. The quill he used was safely put back into the ink bottle and all of the documents he had to read over had been stacked neatly.
Felix chuckled lightly, which caught the emperor's interest. Actually, almost anything would pique his interest with how bored he was. "What's with that reaction, hm?" he asked.
"Oh, it's nothing Sire," Felix answered. "It's just that... you were sinking into your seat without yourself even realising it. You looked like an ice cream that's melting from the scorching heat."
"... Oh."
His reaction only made the knight even more amused.
Behind them was a large window that showed the large and lavish imperial garden. Claude and his most precious daughter Athanasia often spent time taking a leisurely stroll around the garden, with Felix tailing them (although Claude would occasionally order him to be ten steps away from them).
... It seemed to be a lovely day outside.
Then, Felix had a brilliant idea.
"Your Majesty?"
"Hm?"
When Claude looked up to see the red-haired man again, he did not expect the guy leaning so close towards him. There was a bright smile on Felix's face, only confusing Claude more.
"How about we take a walk around the garden? Just the two of us?"
***
It was slightly windy outside and some of the leaves from the tall trees in the garden were falling as a result of that. The long robe Claude wore fluttered behind him and if it weren't for him occasionally holding onto the top part of his robe, then his entire chest would have been exposed.
Well, his chest was already technically exposed but Felix didn't want to say anything about it.
Both men walked side by side with each other. Usually, whenever Athanasia was present at least, Felix would be seen tagging along with the members of the imperial family's daily walks around the garden but he'd have to follow them from far away. However, there was no one in the garden except for both of them. The gardeners in charge of taking care of the place were most likely having their break, they can safely enjoy each other's company without anyone spying on them.
"Looks like the flowers are in full bloom for this season," Felix pointed out to the emperor who was apparently in a daze because the man only let out a soft "Hm?" in response. Felix smiled at him. "The princess will surely enjoy seeing this wouldn't you agree, Your Majesty?"
Claude huffed out while running his fingers through his golden blond hair which looked like gold when the sunlight hit it. He noticed a lone flower petal stuck in his hair but Felix was the one who took it off for him. "Yes. Athanasia will most definitely like this... But she'll most likely enjoy seeing this with those... friends of hers."
Ah, was he jealous of Jennette, Ijekiel and Lucas for spending more time with Athanasia?
A soft chuckle escaped the knight's lips.
"What are you laughing at?" Claude asked.
"Oh, it's nothing."
There was something about Felix's grin that... endeared Claude somehow. He looked away from the knight. "Fine. Keep your secrets."
After minutes of walking around the garden mindlessly, Claude and Felix eventually found themselves by the border. The black fence made of iron was the only thing dividing the garden from the outside. While they were busy conversing with each other, Felix's words trailed off after something interesting had caught his eye.
"Oh, the Lapliea flowers!"
Claude raised an eyebrow. "The Lapliea flowers?" he repeated.
There were some bushes that were growing the beautiful flowers and the knight couldn't help but approach them. He crouched down and gently lifted the flowers that came in various shades of pink and purple. He remembered Athanasia excitedly picking these flowers up about a year or two ago.
"Do you like these flowers, Felix?"
Claude towered over the crouching knight, his hands placed over his hips. What was so interesting about these Laplieas, anyway?
"I guess you can say that," Felix replied while smiling fondly at the flowers. Was it embarrassing for him to admit that whenever he was reminded of this flower's existence, the image of Claude just waking up from his nap with a Lapliea tucked in his hair appeared? Along with the expression Princess Athanasia made after realising that she could get in trouble if Claude found out about what she had done.
"May I pick out some of these flowers, Your Majesty?" Felix asked the emperor who simply nodded his head.
"I didn't take you to be the type of man who'd be interested in flowers," Claude commented.
"Oh, I'm not," Felix admitted while plucking out some flowers from its bushes. "However, these particular flowers... reminds me of something that I really like, that's all."
It reminded him of something?
After picking out ten of the flowers, Felix finally stood up. He patted his pants down that had been dirtied by the dirt and grass. "Your Majesty, do you remember the time Princess Athanasia gave you a bouquet of these flowers?"
Claude remembered. If he wasn't mistaken, those flowers had wilted months after that. Back when he suffered from amnesia, he didn't bother to take care of them, leaving them to wilt in his bedroom.
"Of course I do," Claude responded with his arms folded across his chest.
"Lapliea flowers... In my opinion, they're the most beautiful flowers in the garden," Felix admitted. He glanced over at Claude and, slowly, took a few steps closer towards him. "... May I?" he asked in a soft voice.
"What are you..."
Claude stiffened as Felix carefully tucked one of the flowers behind his ear. His jewelled blue eyes widened in surprise and Felix made the most tender expression he had ever seen him doing.
"As expected," Felix said. "Lapliea flowers certainly suit you well, Your Majesty."
"... Felix, you...," Claude's words trailed off, his cheeks a faint shade of red. "If this is your way of flirting with me, it's not working."
"Really?" Felix knew that was a lie. Just look at the emperor, already becoming flustered over his bold act. He grinned teasingly. "I'm just being truthful, that's all Your Majesty."
"... Felix. Ten steps away from me," Claude suddenly ordered while glaring at the knight. Then, after seeing the disbelief on Felix's face, he walked away. "Starting now."
"E-Eh?" When Claude didn't stop, Felix picked up his pace and tried to catch up to him. "Your Majesty! If you're embarrassed, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Ten steps, Felix," Claude repeated.
"Your Majesty!"
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Hello! Thanks for reading this short one-shot I did because I needed to write something to calm myself down.
It has been a long time since I wrote anything for this ship so, instead of writing smut, I wanted to write something sweet for once.
I remembered how pretty Claude looks with the Lapliea flower stuck in his hair so I wanted to write a one-shot inspired by that.
To those who ship them together, hope you guys enjoyed reading this!