"Please... put me down, Prince Licht."
"Oh Heine darling! It's so nice to see you too~" He sings into my ear, making me wince, "I've been looking all over for you. My lady friends want to meet you so much!"
Oh no. Hell no.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness - but I'm regretfully busy." I try to squirm out of his hold, "I've got lessons to prepare for Prince Bruno. Please let me go."
"Aw, that's too bad. Only Teach, Brunie's gone to visit his friend in Orosz, isn't he?"
Right. I forgot.
"That means that Brunie's lessons can wait, right?" Licht starts to walk.
Help.
I think of a thousand different excuses, but none can do. What's worse is that Licht is walking briskly with me flopping on his shoulder like a half-empty sack, muddling up my thoughts in the process.
After taking countless turns and passing several corridors (I'm still not very used to the vastness of the palace) Licht stops. "We are here!" Licht announces cheerfully. I look up from my awkward position to see a door before us.
Before I can get my bearings, Licht pushes open the door, carries me inside and plops me on a table. My eyes take in the barrels and boxes stacked neatly against the sides and the shelves lining the walls.
"The... the pantry?" I weakly ask, my head still spinning from the journey.
Licht grins. "Ten on ten, Teach - You got it right! I happen to experiment here for many different and unique blends of coffee!" He then walks over to a shelf and pulls out a jar, "Want some?"
"Oh yes please. Three mugs will do." I carefully climb down the table onto the chair next to it. Licht laughs, "THREE MUGS?! Should a kid be drinking that much coffee, Teach?"
"That is NOT AMUSING, Your Highness." Also, makes you annoyingly sound like Viktor. I grimace at the thoughts of Viktor's bad jokes about my height, which somehow seem to irritate me more than anything else. Licht chuckles and hands me a mug. So fast?
"Thank you." I take a sip and nod in satisfaction.
Licht has a way with coffee and people. He would thrive even if he was born a commoner. His brother, on the other hand, is a completely different story...
"Hey Teach - I'm thinking about learning how to make desserts!"
I look up from my mug, "Why, if I may ask?"
Licht pours himself a cup as well and sits on the table. I should be intimidated by his height - but frankly, having a tall friend since childhood makes one somehow used to it.
"Well, it's very useful. For instance, people who come to the Cafe often eat a torte or any other cake with coffee."
I nod, remembering the time when I tried it out Licht's recommendation and found it to be absolutely delightful, "Very well, Prince."
"Also, I can impress the ladies with my skills." He winked.
"I have absolutely NO need to know that reason."
"Ouch - you're so cruel, Teach!"
I have taken to visiting the pantry every evening to do my work in there - in order to give Licht some company and also for that, ehem, occasional cup of coffee.
"Hey Heine!"
I look up from the book I was reading.
Licht takes out yet another jar from a shelf and grins at me, "Want to do something fun?"
"I'm afraid that our definitions of 'fun' exhibit polarity, Your Highness."
"Ow, so cold!" Licht playfully snatches the book from my hand and keeps it just out of my reach, on one of the shelves. "Now, pay attention."
"I..." I look up at the hopelessly high shelf, at the smiling prince, then at the shelf again and finally, sigh. I hate my height. "What is it?"
"Why don't you stand up?" Licht cheerfully suggests. I have a feeling that he's not going to give me an option anyway. I comply and stand up on the chair I was sitting on.
Then, going above and beyond anything I was expecting him to do, he pulls out an apron from nowhere. Before I can even protest, he's already tied up the apron's strings behind my back. I try to clear my throat, "P-prince, what is THIS?!" Licht laughs at my furiously red face and says in a sing-song manner, "Nothing much Teach. Just that, you and me are going to bake a cake together!"
"..."
Am I supposed to say anything?
"Ah, there you are!"
I look up from my awkward position on the table, trying to mix a gooey dripping batter and craning my neck to see who Licht has brought in NOW at the same time. I hope that it's not another of his lady friends-
"Professor!"
Oh no. Of all people to see me like this... WHAT IS PRINCESS ADELE DOING HERE?!
I notice Licht grinning cheekily at me as the little figure jumps around in excitement at the door. I sigh, already resigned to my fate.
"Princess, what are you doing here?"
"Professor and Lichie are going to bake cake!" Her eyes twinkle in anticipation, "I want to join too!"
"I invited her, Teach. Of course, you don't mind - do you?" The prince leans against the doorframe as he regards me, a grin still gracing his features.
These Royal brats are going to be the death of me.
"Of course I don't."
"Yay! Shadow, come on - let's make Apple Strudel!" The young princess soon disappears into the vast hallway.
I quirk my eyebrows.
"Her Highness likes Apple Strudel?"
Licht brushes his gloved hands on his waistcoat before nodding, "Among others. She has a paramount partiality to fruit-based desserts."
Fruit-based desserts, huh...
The image of a particularly stubborn blond comes in my mind.
"Speaking of which," I quietly eye the other, "Are there any vegetable-based desserts?"
The prince regards me oddly, then laughs, "I have no idea why you would ask such a strange question, Teach - but actually, there are such confections which use specific vegetables."
My eyes widen, "Vegetables? As in those of the type of ca-"
Loud barking and sloppy pants interrupt us. We turn towards the door, and stare at the scene before us.
"Princess Adele, if I may state so - Sir Shadow looks slightly uncomfortable there."
Slightly uncomfortable doesn't even begin to describe it. The poor canine has a full size apron tied on its body and is panting profusely owing to the smoldering heat this time of the day.
"He is? But," The princess regards her companion thoughtfully, "If Shadow doesn't wear an apron, flour can fall on him... no, he must be wearing it! You're wearing one too!"
Did I just get compared to a dog again?!
"Your Highness, it's not like that..."
After a lifetime of convincing the princess to let Shadow be, she finally let go when Licht offered to make the filling for the Strudel in whatever way she chooses it to be once she listens to us.
"No offense meant, Prince - but," I look up towards the other, who is busy wielding a large wooden spoon, "Isn't that bribery?"
I am their tutor, you know. I can't let them do anything immoral on my watch.
"Not bribery - not exactly. See," He waves the spoon around, "My Sis is happy now, and Shadow is feeling better."
"Which does not hide the fact that it is bribery."
"Hm, no one's hurt, it's a win-win situation - let's call it ethical bribery, shall we?" He winks and turns his attention back to the mixing bowl.
Ethical bribery? Interesting...
I set my sorted dry fruits aside and take up the basket of fruits on the table, "Say Prince, would you like to do something fun?"
He pretends to go in deep thought, then smirks, "I'm afraid that our definitions of 'fun' exhibit polarity, Royal Tutor."
Touché. My words back at me.
"Just kidding, Teach. What do you want to do?" He leans forward in curiosity.
I lean back, "It may or may not include angering one of your brothers."
"I'm in." He looks elated. Too elated, to be honest.
I eye the bottom shelf neatly lined with all kinds of fresh farm produce.
"Well then - let us bake a cake."