"......"
Cale's expression flipped from confused to irritated to annoyed and back to confused in record time. He had just been heading out of his room with a pack of clothes, when a familiar face appeared directly around the corner.
He nearly bumped into this person, but his reflexes had luckily activated on their own.
"Haaaa."
Alberu Crossman let out a large sigh of relief. It had taken forever to find this slippery bastard who kept moving from area to area many times during the past hour. His eyes stuck to the bundle of clothes Cale was holding, and a little anxiety spiked within him.
Meanwhile, Cale was awkwardly waiting for the crown prince to say something.
'Why the hell is this guy always around? Is he seriously a stalker or what? Not even my own family sees me this often!'
"A, ahem. Young master Cale, It's good that you have recovered somewhat, but you are still sick."
"...Okay, goodbye."
Cale swiftly walked around the corner, sliding past Alberu, who had a strange look on his face. Suddenly, a hand halted his shoulder.
"Mister Cale, I would appreciate it if you participated in a small conversation with me. For a moment."
'??? Why?! Leave me alone, you are drawing too much attention in this hallway! I'm supposed to be a trash! A trash!'
But instead of saying this, Cale furrowed his eyebrows together and tested his luck.
"Agh, and I would appreciate a bottle of wine right now. So annoying, can't it wait?"
Alberu didn't even blink at the rude tone, and responded instantly. "Red or white?"
Cale's expression soured. This was not how the crown prince was supposed to react. But then again...
"... Red, but I'll only comply for as long as the bottle lasts."
He was a bit curious. Plus, finishing the bottle in less than three minutes would earn him a believable drunk façade which he could use to ignore anyone he wanted for the next couple hours.
Alberu smiled a bit, only to realize that A, he didn't have any wine, and B, he was not in his palace right now. There was no proper meeting place.
Cale stared at him expectantly before sighing and walking back down the hallway. It was the same one he fainted in earlier that day. He was better now because of top tier medicines and potions, but he was still experiencing lingering symptoms.
So, his headache and chills were thoroughly ignored as he led the crown prince towards a suitable area for talking, completely unaware that the maids who were eavesdropping had misinterpreted this situation as well.
They knew perfectly well that the room Cale was leading Alberu to was none other than his bedroom.
The short walk lasted for only one minute, but Alberu didn't question what the destination was. He hadn't remembered that he had been in this very hallway just that morning, and that Cale had been wearing pajamas.
And that meant that he did not know that this was Cale's bedroom either.
Click. The door swung open with Cale taking the lead.
Bam! Alberu's memories slapped him in the face. Now he knew what room this was. The layout and furniture had not changed in over seven years.
"Sure, take all the time you need."
Alberu snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Cale's blunt voice. He awkwardly entered the room, closing the door behind him and secretly putting up a soundproof barrier in advance. He could sense a couple maids inching closer to the door and did not want more rumors to spawn.
Cale was already opening a bottle of wine by the time Alberu looked back at him. Gulp. He had to speed through this conversation quickly. There was no time to waste.
"First of all, I apologize. I had no idea that this would happen, but most of it is my fault..."
He had a hard time concentrating while he watched Cale start chugging the bottle like it was water. What a sight to see.
"Anyway, what I wanted to say here was that I will do my best to snuff everything out and clear up any misunderstandings the public may ha—"
Bam!
Cale slammed the half empty bottle on top of a nearby bookshelf. He used his other hand to wipe his chin, which had a thin drip of wine rolling down it, and glared at Alberu with a bright red flush covering his face and ears.
Alberu gulped.
"Hey, can you slow the fuck down? I've~got no clue what you're saying."
"Mm. I was talking about the rumors, but—"
Thud.
Cale slammed his other hand next to the one gripping the bottle. It was extremely fun to act drunk and cut off important people in the middle of their sentences. He suppressed a smirk and shifted his outward expression to one of legitimate confusion.
He was indeed very confused, but that didn't mean that he would pass up a prime chance to fuck with royalty.
"Alberu. Stop talking."
Alberu Crossman became silent. He was really regretting giving Cale a free pass to chug a wine bottle, but he couldn't reverse his decision now. He didn't even notice that Cale called him by his first name.
Cale looked angry enough to punch him. Perhaps it was because of the rumors.
'I don't blame him, since most of them are completely false. I'd be upset too, even if I had his reputa—'
"Only say what the rumors are, or I'll finish this and pass out right 'ere."
"... What?"
Cale raised the bottle to his lips again to prove his previous threat, but Alberu quickly noticed.
"No, wait, you are saying you don't know? About the rumors?"
"I'm saying explain so that I know. Gods, you talk too much."
A short pause halted the conversation. Alberu was trying to figure out how to explain everything in the shortest amount of time, while Cale was walking over to a couch with the bottle held firmly within his grasp.
"... I guess saying it plainly would be more comprehensive. Young master Cale, there are rumors talking about how you and I are involved romantically. That rumor was built upon many smaller rumors which were most likely spread by eavesdropping spectators and people with wild imaginations."
Cale's expression quickly morphed into one of repulsiveness. Alberu gulped and continued talking.
"There are a wide variety of rumors, ranging from ones you already know about, like how you allegedly proposed to me on that balcony, to ones that are completely made from nothing."
Cale raised the wine bottle to his lips again, complete disgust written all over his face. Alberu noticed and decided it was best not to show him the rumor reports which he had stolen from his father's office. The misunderstandings on those papers were a bit too graphic for a drunk man to handle.
"So, like I said before, I will do my best to stop these rumors from spreading, and I apologize for not hearing about this sooner. Although, I highly suspect that the rumors which originated from this mansion were spread by the servants working here. After this I was going to talk to your father about reevaluating the staff here."
Bam! The now empty wine bottle landed firmly on the table near Cale's legs. He sat up straight again and glared at Alberu.
"Time's up. Don't care what you do about rumors, but I'll be the one to talk to my father."
"It's alright, I have no issue bringing it up to the c—"
"You can leave now, your highness."
"... Then I'll see you later. Ah, and try to sober up before you talk to the count."
Alberu walked out of the room and canceled the sound barrier magic. His pride was a bit damaged after seeing Cale's reaction.
'Is the prospect of being romantically involved with me that terrible? Hah, he is probably the only noble who would have the guts to openly show such disgust.'
Yet another reason why Cale was so interesting. He was completely different from all other members of high society, and was the only person who constantly rebelled against what was expected of one.
"Mm, but he is a handful. ...Haaaa."
Cale Henituse really did remind Alberu of an irritable alley cat.
____
'Fuck!'
Cale ran an anxious hand through his hair.
'My reputation could be ruined!'
He was not irritated at anything Alberu had done, but what the rumors might do.
Imagine the trashiest noble in the kingdom proposing to the crown prince! Cale knew that there was a rumor going around about that ever since he met the fake Hans in the Palace of Joy's dungeon, but he had thought that only the fake Hans believed it!
Now that he was told that practically everyone would know, his nerves were shooting up. It would quite possibly raise his reputation into question.
If the crown prince likes Cale Henituse, does that mean that Cale Henituse is not as bad of a person as the rumors say?
If those two are together, are the trash rumors completely true, or is there something we don't know about?
If Cale Henituse and Alberu Crossman get married, shouldn't Cale become the count even if he is known as a trash?
Cale laid down on the floor and spread his limbs outward like a starfish, staring at the ceiling. He could care less about the crown prince's reputation getting damaged. What was more important to him was for his own reputation to stay as it is.
This glob of crazy rumors was sure to spread everywhere because of how unbelievable it was, not even including the fact that the two people involved in the rumor are famous for extremely different reasons. All of the nearby kingdoms would soon hear about it as well because it mentioned the next in line for the Roan Kingdom's throne.
"Haaaa. I might be fucked."
Then, if his reputation was about to be shined down on with a spotlight, he would have to counterattack. And the best way he knew to do that was to drink.
'Damn, it's been a while since I last did this. I was going to stay the night at Eric's to avoid my family, but now... I guess I'll have to avoid them this way instead.'
He stood up and grabbed the bundle of clothes he was going to bring with him to the Wheelsman mansion and put them back in his closet. Then, he took out an extremely expensive outfit and changed into it.
He grabbed his spatial pouch filled with pocket money and healing potions, and checked the time.
2:30 pm, perfect.
...
Cale cringed a bit as broken glass cut his wrist. It was not that deep, so he decided to ignore it for now. He dodged an incoming kick, and purposefully leaned into the next punch. Leaning in made it hurt less, and he could choose where the punch would land.
Cale was getting attacked at the moment, as per usual.
His plan was to act even trashier than normal for a few days to lessen the amount of suspicion he might receive from the marriage rumors. He had gone outside at around 2:45 pm and had visited every bar and inn located in Rain City, including the ones he was officially banned from.
After forcing the owner to serve him alcohol, he would break a chair or a few bottles and then purposefully start a fight with as many people as possible. Gangsters that hung around the outside of some bars would either notice him immediately and threaten him to leave, or pretend like they didn't see him to avoid getting a bottle thrown their way.
It was funny how some of the criminals disliked fighting with him. Their expressions always froze and they would turn their heads in the opposite direction if moving away was not possible.
However, the newer gangsters or ones that didn't believe Cale could put up a fight always started getting physical at the earliest possible moment. That was why Cale was engaged in a fist fight at the moment.
He was outside of a less popular bar, hidden inside a small alleyway. Him and the gangster were tumbling around in there, and had been for the last five minutes. Both were out of breath, and Cale was obviously weaker, but he had more fighting experience.
Finally, he landed a solid punch against the gangster's jaw, knocking him unconscious.
Thud.
Cale leaned against a wall as he brought out a healing potion for his wrist and other small cuts. The outfit he was wearing was a nice red color which hid blood stains very well, so his appearance would not give away how many fights he had been in recently.
On the other hand, the dirt on his face and the sweat beading up on his forehead would not go away, and his hair was messy from getting yanked and rolling around on the ground.
He fixed his appearance as well as he could before stepping out of the alley. Luckily, it was summertime so the sun would set late and there was hardly any mud on the ground, so his shoes and clothes were not too dirty.
"Hoooo. Maybe I should have waited a day before doing this..."
His headache had worsened and he still felt sick, but he did not have a fever anymore. It made fighting annoying, but it otherwise did not affect his abilities.
As he walked through the evening streets, he glanced at a large clock hung above a watchmaker shop.
6:48 pm. The sun would probably start to set within the next hour. Cale had already decided that he would spend the night out here, but he didn't know where to rest. Not many inns would let him stay the night, but he could always pay them with a gold coin or two.
As he walked towards the next bar, little kids would stop playing to run and hide from him, and other people would close their window shutters. It was really nice being a trash, since he could have some privacy without lifting a finger out here.
The Henituse mansion was a different story however. This was another big reason he liked going outside for long periods of time; none of the gossiping maids could follow him out here.
The streets of Rain Ciy that were plagued with gangsters, scammers, and troublemakers, were more private than his own bedroom.
How absurd.
'It's something I can't afford to fix though. Having no gossipers would only make my job harder.'
Cale glanced around, trying to find the nearest bar, when he noticed something in the corner of his eye.
'Hm. Haven't seen him around.'
Standing right outside the bar's entrance was a man pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked quite irritated, but Cale was more focused on the color of his hair.
'Must be a foreigner with that shade of purple.'
A/n: happy holidays
Thx for reading.