A/N- Please, vote and give your opinion.
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Disclaimer : This is merely a fanfiction of mine.
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Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sounds of metal clashing was heard in the backyard of Rass Residence, a normal occurrence, really. Even the wailing sound from the youngest of the Rass family was considered as normal by all occupants of the residence.
"I'll beat you next time, Kaysian! You're just lucky today." His light blue eyes was burning fiercely as he looked up to his brother, Kaysian De Rass.
To his dismay, his brother merely laughed. "Sure, sure, Sein. Make sure you trained yourself more if you wanted that to happen."
"Tch."
Their conversations however, were halted by the sound of his mother's voice.
"Kaysian De Rass! Carsein De Rass!" His mother, the younger sister of the current emperor, was seen as an elegant woman by others. However, to her sons, she was, scary.
Kaysian sighed, one eyes glancing at his brother. "What did you do again, Sein?"
"Me?" He repeated. "Why is it always me? I've done nothing wrong today." He furrowed his brows as his mother was approaching their spot. "Whatever. We'll find out about it right - now."
"Mother." Both of them greeted, as the duchess strode towards them, her expression was a bit complicated. It's not like Carsein has never seen his mother with this expression, but usually after coming back from the palace, she was a bit happy. That made him curious.
So he asked. "What is it, mother?"
The grim look on his mother's face was hard to miss, that it made him wonder if his mother had some sort of dispute with the emperor. But still, she answered his questions. "The Emperor would like you to go to the Palace tomorrow."
Him? Going to the Palace? While he's the son of Duke Rass, it's rare for him to be summoned so suddenly. "And why do I have to go to the Palace?" He said slowly.
"Apparently, the Emperor wished for the Crown Prince to have a playmate. Someone his age as a companion. And as you're my son, and practically, the Crown Prince's cousin, you're the best choice for that position." She snorted lightly after finishing with her explanation.
His mother may phrased it as an option, but all three of them knew it was a must. An order, more like it. So he nodded. "Fine, then. So I just need to show my face tomorrow, right?"
Despite being cousins, never had he interacted with the Crown Prince beyond mere pleasantries. He neither harbor like nor dislike to the only heir of the Imperial Family, but it seemed that his mother was unimpressed with him.
Well, whatever.
Go to the Palace, chat for a bit, and return home.
Easy. A piece of cake.
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"A piece of cake, my foot." He mumbled as he kicked a pebble on his way, his hands inside his pockets.
He hoped that this is the first and the last playdate he had with the Crown Prince. It's not like there's something wrong, but because of the formalities between them, it's truly awkward.
Drinking tea, chatting about the future of the Empire? What the -
How boring. Carsein who valued freedom and detest the need of formalities, can't help but feel awkward as he recalled their conversation.
"So, Sir Carsein, I heard you wished to become a knight in the future?" Ruveliss Kamaludin Shana Castina said, as he placed the cup of tea on the table. His eyes gazed at his apparent cousin.
"Yes. That is correct." The red haired boy, on the other hand, tried to keep his face straight.
"I also heard you're a genius at swordmanship. Impressive." Somehow, Carsein felt like the gaze the prince sent him was different, despite his mouth praising the red-haired.
"Thank you." He received it nonetheless. It was not wrong after all. He was, and would forever be amazing.
Ignorant of the fact that the boy before him had praised himself inwardly, the prince continued. "How... lucky you are. Having that talent, a treasure of the Castina Empire surely."
Yep. It was truly awkward for a conversations between cousins.
A glimpse of a flash of silver pulled him back from his thoughts. Blinking his eyes, Carsein strode towards the large tree as his eyes met a pair of golden haired eyes, and a figure of the small little lady he met weeks before.
"Aristia La Monique."
The girl seemed to recognize him, as her eyes widened before she exclaimed, "Sir... Carsein?" Just like when he first saw her, she had a doll in her arms. The scene surely bewildered him, but he decided to tease the little princess first.
Their first meeting, was quite interesting that he found himself wondering about the silver haired little lady weeks after the event at his house. It was quite surprising, to say the least, as he was not someone who recognize people unrelated to sword and knight.
"Now, now. What are this tiny little lady doing here? With your companion too." He gave a fleeting glance at the doll in her arms, his hands rested on his side, as he leaned forward. A teasing grin was evident on his face.
The tiny little lady, as he dubbed it, didn't seem to be amused. Her mouth formed into a small pout as she turned away from him.
"None of your business!"
That respond of hers caused a small chuckle to escape from his mouth. It made her pout bigger however which earned herself a much louder chuckle. Carsein swore that there's tears coming from his eyes. It took a while before the red haired boy managed to control himself and raising his arms in surrender.
"Alright. Alright. I'm sorry, tiny little la - err... Aristia." He cleared his throat and correcting the name he gave her. A glance towards his surroundings proved to him that there's no one else in the vicinity, which confused him. Where was the Marquis anyway?
He turned towards Aristia. "Well, what are you doing here alone? I don't think the Palace had a dollhouse despite the magnificent buildings inside it."
The girl crossed her arms, trying to make herself look bigger. "I'm not coming here because of a dollhouse. I just came back from a meeting with the Crown Prince." She said the last sentence proudly, causing the boy to frown.
"Meeting with the Crown Prince?" He repeated. But it was almost an hour for his meeting. Did hers was before or after his meeting?
A brief silence came between them, before he broke it. "Well, then." He started hesitantly. "Are you done with your meeting?"
He saw her froze and her lips trembled. But she still answered his question. "I'm done with it. But, no one came to pick me up."
Seeing her tears gathered on her eyes, he quickly patted her head. "I'm sure that there's a misunderstanding, Aristia." He knew that their fathers were busy, but seriously? No one to pick her up? Aren't the prince supposed to order his servants to arrange a carriage for the little lady?
Despite the questions inside his head, Carsein gave the girl a grin, in hopes to cheer her up a little. "If there's no one picking you up, how about you hang out with me for a while? The handsome, amazing, Carsein De Rass at your service."
He was supposed to pick up a sword anyway. There's no harm in having the daughter of Monique family to accompany him. And maybe, he could buy her some ice cream or cakes on the way. Whatever a girl supposedly like.
To avoid being labeled as a kidnapper, Carsein had sent one of the servants to tell Aristia's father about their little trip. There were about to enter the carriage when -
"Young Sir Rass." A cold voice rang behind them. Both children turned back to see the figure, that he recognized as Duke Zenna. Someone both his parents seem to abhor. He heard his father muttering something like 'Why can't he just roll over and die' often when that person was involved. The hatred Arkint De Rass had for the old man prompted him to give a lecture to his sons about the parasites of Aristocratic families that they must avoid.
This man was on the biggest poster her father shown him. And under it, was a small sentence. 'Status, dangerous.'
At first Carsein merely nodded while inwardly wondering about the hatred his father have over the old man, but when he was face to face with the enemy, as his father called it - he felt a chill ran through his back. And, it seemed like Aristia was not fond of the old man. Her trembling hand was clutching on his shirt, as she lowered her head. Unconsciously, Carsein hide the girl with his arm, while staring at the old man with no emotion in his eyes.
"Duke Zenna. A pleasure meeting you." He greeted, though this encounter was far from pleasant in his mind. After a while he added, "And, it seemed like you failed to greet Lady Monique besides me."
He rose his brows as he said that statement. It was simply disrespect to ignore the other, even when that old man was already at age to blame it on dementia. Fortunately, the older man concede.
"Lady Monique." The voice was colder than before. He even saw the old man's eyes glared coldly at the young lady, before turning away.
Aristia, on her part, had managed to replied a simple "Duke Zenna" before he was out of their sight.
Inside the moving carriage, he muttered, "Lets just hope he die soon. I can't imagine how we will live with that old man sneaking around, doing dubious things."
They were on different factions. Carsein was clear enough about that. Hopefully, he and Aristia won't encounter that man anytime soon.
But, what did he do at the Palace? Didn't his path led to where Carsein had walked through? The Prince's Palace right?
He threw that thought away when he saw the slumped figure of the silver haired female in front of him.
"Hey, don't be like that. He's old. We're young. Lets just hope he will just roll over and die before we're of age to work at the Palace." he added. "Now, now. I wanted to but you an ice cream, while getting myself a sword. It won't do for you to cry on this joyous day."
He shot her a grin, causing her to let out a small laugh.
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The next time he met her, was on his birthday. They have been exchanging letters frequently, but it's a bit hard to meet each other face to face. He had his training, and she said she's a bit busy with other kind of training. It did make him wonder, as he didn't exactly thought of her as a Knight, because of her frail body. But it seem that he's wrong.
At that time, he was not aware that she's not talking about her knight training, but something else.
It was his birthday, and he sent her an invitation. It's actually rare for him to do that, as his birthday party were known to be very closed, only a handful of people could come. Most of them were boys, but not all of them was in his good graces. For example, the second son of Duke Verita.
Their fathers thought that they would be good friends because of their similar ages, but they did not consider one thing - compability. Carsein was the 'straight to the point' kind of person, while Allendis de Verita was like a maze, in his thinking and manners. They often clashed, but he did sent the weed an invitation. Just because. At least they knew they didn't like each other.
Currently, he was standing near the front door, welcoming the guests. This year, he did invited several females as he didn't want Aristia La Monique to feel alarmed by the male guests in the party. She was after all, a girl. Girl knew girls better, he supposed.
Then, his eyes caught the familiar insignia on a carriage, and a familiar silver haired girl came out from said carriage. He shot his new guest a grin as he bent on his knee to take her hand, and said, "Thank you for accepting my invitation, Lady Monique." Then in a whispering voice he added, "I'm glad you come, Aristia."
The girl smiled in return, as she replied, "Thank you Sir Carsein." Before she could enter however, Carsein pulled her to his side.
"Just two more guests left. Please, allow me to escorts you to the party. It would be more comfortable for you, I guess." Carsein felt impressed that he could maintain such a formal decorum. He didn't like it, but he can't just be informal in front of a lady. Unless she's his friend of course. The lady besides him, he wanted to be her friend. But it needs time.
It took only a few minutes before the final guests arrived. Carsein offered his hand to the younger girl as they entered the room for the party, which earned them a teasing stare by the Duke, a raised brow of the Duchess, a smug grin from his brother, indifferent expressions on some guests, and a few shocked looks from the others.
After all, it was known that the second son of Duke Rass lacked decorum. There's a little chance that he would willingly escorts a girl to his own birthday party. Aristia also seemed a little agitated by the attention, but Carsein could only squeezed her hand for a little while, as a sign of comfort.
Thankfully, she seemed fine after a while. Aristia La Monique seemed to be quite well versed in the art of proper manners, as she did better than others older than her by a few years. Carsein was quite impressed. At first, he thought that she would become a Knight, but found out later that she was sick, and couldn't participate in such strenuous activity. It did disappoint him but the reason was understandable. If her body was weak, the training would only make it worse.
He kept her by his side as they mingled with other guests, which was ordered by his mother, Duchess Ernia. It's not like he hate smiling, but a few people were conversing and suddenly acting close, which disgust him. He just wanted a private party and have a duel after that. This kind of thing, was not for him.
"Carrot." Here comes trouble.
"Weed."
"And who might this little lady be?"
"Before he could answer, Aristia interrupted him." My name is Aristia La Monique. It's a pleasure to meet you, Young Sir Verita. "
Ahh, she knew the weed. Carsein was quite impressed with her eloquence despite her young age. So he remarked dismissively, "Now that your curiosity has settled weed, why don't you just scram?"
Then as if he's remembering something, he added, "By the way, where's my gift?"
His attitude seemed to stunned the lady besides him, but the green haired male merely shook his head.
"Manners, carrot. This little lady was quite taken aback by your barbaric attitude. But I supposed someone like you held no care for delicate things such as manners, not that I'm surprised."
Carsein gritted his teeth. "What do you mean barbaric, weed?"
Then, he felt a sharp glare were sent in his way, and turned around. His hunch was correct, as he came face to face with sharp blue eyes of his mother who stood besides his father near the stairs, as they talked with the other guests.
Her message was very clear, however.
'Do not cause trouble.'
"Tch. I'll let you go this time weed, count yourself lucky. " Carsein said, but frustration in his eyes were clear as the day.
To his dismay, the weed only chuckled in response. "Scared, Carrot? Well, not that I mind. I have better things to do. Goodbye then, Carrot." He turned towards Aristia. "You as well, Lady Monique. It's a pleasure to meet you. "
With that, he's gone.
Aristia was the first one to break the silence. "Carsein..." Her golden eyes met his light blue eyes. "You sound...different."
"Errr..." Carsein blinked his eyes, finally realising the fact that his formal manner has disappeared when talking to the Weed. Well, in the Palace he did showed his true manners a bit, ut it was not that much. Then, Aristia burst into fit of giggles, with tears in her eyes.
"Sir Carsein, I was already aware of your lack of tact actually." A hint of amusement flickered in her eyes.
"Wait, you already know?" Carsein gaped at the statement. "Then does that mean I'm wasting my time and effort talking like that?"
All this time... she already knew. He was taken aback, but later shot her a grin. "Well then, should I introduce myself to you once more?"
He only got a formal bow and then, "My name is Aristia La Monique, the proud daughter of Marquiss Keiran La Monique, the one who command the second Squardron of the Imperial Knights."
His grin went bigger. "My name is Carsein de Rass, and I will be the youngest person ever to be knighted. " He gave her a wink and said, "I'm a swordfighting genius that has yet to be acknowledged, but still, I'll beat them all when the time comes."
He tilted his chin higher, and placing both his hands on his hips, as he silently waited for her praise. When he sense no reaction, he opened his left eye to see her gaping at him.
"I've heard the rumor, but I can scarcely believe it," she said before shaking her head. "However, I sincerely wished you the best of luck, Sir Carsein."
They exchanged yet another smile as they finally came to an understanding. They didn't even notice a few glances that were directed at them.