It had been weeks since Cale went missing. The Henituse dukedom had noticed the delay Cale was taking to return and they knew something was wrong. They knew Cale was reckless but he of all people would want to return home as soon as possible. There wasn't even a single report of his return from his journey. Truly something that everyone in the dukedom panicked about, especially Deruth.
Deruth sat at his desk, looking over the recent report of ship docking and their dates. "...Last Monday...Friday...no....no...No!" Deruth threw the documents across the room in a fit of rage. This scared his secretary who was sitting by the sitting area of the office. Deruth looked through everything he could, from documents of adventures to reports of shipments. Not one described any of their crew to be as close as Cale. Brown hair, black eyes. Deruth was tired of the endless game Cale was playing. He wasn't even sure it's a game at this point. Cale should have stopped playing by now anyways. Deruth linked his palms together with tears in his eyes, praying for his son to return home.
"..Please"
...Few weeks before :)
Cale returned to the palace alongside the emperor. With only silence within them, Cale had no urge to speak in his presence. He was still embarrassed by the 'papa' situation that occurred that morning. And especially when one of the maids fainted after that. It was a mess with everyone running around and all that medical stuff. Cale truly felt bad for what had happened and blamed himself for most of the damages. He apologised about the incident to Claude and Athanasia but they simply said
"It's not your fault, blame the maid for her medical issues" "You shouldn't be blamed for that, you didn't do anything!"
With both of them clinging onto Cale like a teddy bear. Athy hugging Cale's leg and Claude simply patting his head gently, as they spoke comforting words to him. Cale even struggled to walk with Athy clinging to him every minute. It took Cale almost two hours to shake off Athy back to her room. Even then, Cale had a rough time getting back to the Imperial Palace once it turned dark.
And that brings us back to this moment when Cale bumped into Claude in the hallway. He may not seem like it but Claude wanted to ask Cale something...important. But he knew not how to speak to him about it. Luckily, Cale noticed the unnoticeable questioning look Claude gave to him.
"Do you want to ask me something, your majesty?" "...yes"
But Claude was held back by the sudden question. Well it wasn't the question, it was the fact that Cale knew how to tell his emotion. It...was the same as his mother, who always in some way knew what he was thinking. As if it was natural.
'..He really is your son, Jour'
"Your majesty!" Claude was brought back to reality when he heard Cale's voice calling for him. Confused for a moment, Claude remembered the question he wanted to ask. With that, Claude halted with Cale following not long after. With the two standing in front of each other, Claude kneeled to the level of Cale and held his palms together in his hands.
"..Do you want to be the official crown prince?"