Episode 14

Gabriel's parents and their friends just finished listening to their children explain what happened and what things were said to Gabriel. When Gabriel parents heard the thing their son heard, they felt dread and pain for him.

All of them went to look for him but couldn't continue their search, the ceremony was about to begin. They had no choice but to stop and return to the halls. While waiting there, the Emperor and Empress arrived, everyone bowed to them, but they quickly noticed the prince wasn't with them.

A few minutes later, the prince still didn't show up, and the nobles began to whisper to each other, wondering where the prince is, that is until the royal guards had the nobles separate in two sections, allowing a walk space from a door straight to the throne of the Emperor and Empress.

The moment the doors were opened they saw a boy around 10 or so carrying a child of 5 years old. Gabriel's parents and their friends had their eyes widen as if seeing a ghost.

'GABRIEL IS CARRYING THE PRINCE!!!'

They see the boy look confused but still walk forward until he reaches the area the Emperor and his wife are sitting, you can tell the boy grows nervous, he tries to put down the prince, yet he didn't let go of Gabriel and whispers something to him.

Gabriel quickly turns to the boy.

"Are you crazy!? I'm not gonna do that!"

Everyone took a sharp breath, his parents faces paled, imagining their son will end up beheaded for insulting and refusing a royal prince, especially the crown prince.

They got ready to run and kneel in front of the emperor, to beg for forgiveness for their child. But before they can, they felt a bolt of lightning hit them when they

heard the crown prince.

"Are you declining my words, big brother Gabriel?"

'B-b-big brother!?!?!?!' Everyone in that room question if they heard right, and when they see that it wasn't just an illusion, they wondered what that boy did for the crown prince to get so attached to him.

Seeing their son being called big brother, they felt sweat trickle down their back, they glance at the emperor, but see no expression in his face, except maybe a raised brow, but that was all, while the Empress was holding a... a photo crystal?

She was trying to secretly take photos of the children, an adoring smile on her face.

They see their son just sigh and begin walking to the throne of the young prince, but he first goes and bows to the Emperor and Empress, the emperor does a light nod back and the empress waves at their son, while not bother hiding the crystal anymore, now just straight out taking pictures of the boys.

They see their son walk to the prince's throne, he puts the prince there and was beginning to walk back down, only to be stopped by Mihkael.

"Stay."

"I can't, this is where the royalty sit, I have to go back down."

"I'm the crown prince, so what I say goes."

"Wah~ you really just sounded like a spoiled child, I can't believe you actually said that."

"So? No one can say anything against me, so sit next to me."

".... that is the seat especially for the crown prince."

"And this crown prince say you can sit here. So sit."

"Hhaaa~ the moment I took the last few steps, I understood everything. But seriously, who would have thought I ended up becoming sworn brothers with the crown prince? I'm surprised that I'm not actually that surprised when I found out."

"So are you still planning to ask your parents to adopt me?" Mihkael smirks and pokes fun at Gabriel's misunderstanding.

"Hah! I like to live a little longer please, I don't wanna get killed for trying to adopt the crown prince to my family."

The boys joke a bit more, forgetting their surrounding, until they heard a cold humph.

Both boys turn to the sound, an see the emperor stare at them, without saying a thing, but seeing his expression only.

'Are you done yet?'

That's what his expression looks like, causing Gabriel to panic and quickly nod, while Mihkael looks at his father with s raised eyebrow. He then notices Gabriel turning to leave.

He narrows his eyes and grabs him and pulls him to the space next to him. Gabriel feeling the pull, stumbles down and his arms flailing behind to grab something so he won't fall. His hand grabs the chairs armrest, and the other the cushion of the chair. He was able to stop himself right on top of the space that Mihkael left for him and sighed in relief, only to end up fully sitting in the chair when Mihkael pulled him down with more strength.

The surrounding gasped and were just stupefied from what they are witnessing. The crown prince has shared his chair with a child he has just met. Him sharing his chair isn't what surprises them, they have seen him share it with 2 other boys, but those boys were with him since he was just born.

However this boy they knew never made contact with him before today. He was a complete stranger to him, what's more, he is a just a child of a viscount, not even the child of a duke or marquess, but a viscount!?

They turn to the boys parents, they wondered if they told their son anything today to gain the favor of the crown prince. Yet, seeing from their reactions, they can see his father and mother just as surprised as they all were

"Maybe they're acting?"

"Hah! If they are, then they are pretty good actors."

Luke and co. Can hear their surrounding, they hear the discussions between the nobles around them and can only stand awkwardly in place.

They were left dumbstruck by the turn of events, but they felt a sense of worry when they see a few nobles looking at their son in a calculated way.

"I think your son caught the attention of unwanted eyes." John narrows his eyes when he notices the same thing.

The others as well, but then they felt the gaze of such people turn to their friends.

"Ha. Looks like they plan to get close to you guys too."

"Damn, just an hour ago they looked at you guys as freaks, now they look at you as prized pigs."

Mike held a disgusted gaze when he sees those men look at his friends as future gains.

"And the bastards are actually coming here."

They blocked their friends from the nobles who actually walked over to start a conversation.

"Excuse me, but your blocking me, I need something to discuss with the Envoys."

"It is truly impolite of you to look at us in that way, we just wish to discuss with them."

John sneered at them without any restraint and let out a mocking laugh at them.

"Hah! As if, the only reason you people want to discuss with them is because you see their son getting the attention of the future emperor, not because you actually have something to say."

"How dare you! Show some respect!"

"I can't believe another noble will speak in such a tone, don't you have any sense of tact!?"

"For people like you? No."

Luke tries to calm his friends, he didn't want them to end up in hot waters because of them, but they wouldn't allow their friend and his family to be used, especially by people who always looked down at them.

John, Mike and Jaydon didn't step back, and their wives didn't say anything to stop their husbands either, showing their approval. They allowed John to take the lead since he has more experience in aggravating a person with his tongue, while the other two were the muscles if needed, just like when they were kids.

If Luke couldn't fix the situation John created with his sharp tongue, them the other two will resolve it with their fists. Luke can only sigh from this moment.

But before it can escalate, everyone felt the air grow cold, frost started to appear in the glass, the air cold enough one can see their breath when they breath.

An internal chill spread in everyone's heart when they heard a chilling voice, holding anger in their calm demeanor.

"Is my son's 5th birthday a joke to you people? I prepared so much only for you fools to cause a disturbance, and not once but twice."

Everyone looked at their Empress, her eyes a crystal clear blue, the depths mixed with a light silver, adding to the coldness of her stare.

"What's more, my son made a new friend, and from what I can see, some imbesiles are already planning things they shouldn't even dare."

Her eyes narrows while taking those peoples appearances, knowing full well who she is speaking of, and they as well.

While making eye contact with her, they would bow their heads and take a step back, to show their submission. When seeing their actions, her eyes relaxed a bit and she eased her posture.

"Now that that is out of the way. Dear."

She turns to her husband, a warm smile, the very contrast of her expression a few moments ago greets him.

"I may have let loose a bit, can you warm the air for me." Her hand gently resting on top of his.

The emperor didn't agree nor disagree but the surrounding grew warmer, the ice that was seen melted away and the atmosphere has changed with the temperature.

They flinched a bit when the Empress clapped her hands.

"Now let's start again, I do apologize that the celebration is quite small, but I was only able to convince this stubborn child to at least allow me to hold his birthday with the nobles in our main area, so do enjoy."

Her face was graced with a smile, her demeanor turning to the warm Empress they normally have seen her as, but now they know there was another side altogether.

"Oh! And let us celebrate my antisocial son making an extra friend, especially when his other friends could not come to such a special occasion."

When Gabriel heard that he looks at Mihkael and asked what happened to them

"One of those idiots got a cold because he stayed up studying, while the other was climbing a tree and ended up falling, so he isn't allowed to move for 3 months."

Mihkael just sighs at the idiocy of his friend while Gabriel can only laugh.

"Now, where is that idiot called Nora."

Mihkael spoke in a loud tone so the surrounding can here him, a man flinches from it and Mihkael notices. He points at the man and moved his finger as if to say 'come here'.

The man shakes but walks over.

"Y-y-your H-H-h-hi-highness. My-my ne-ne.."

"Speak without stuttered." Mihkael showed his dissatisfaction and started to tap his finger in his armchair.

"Y-ye-! I mean yes! My nephew had to go home early with my brother, he got in a... scuffle with another boy."

"Tsk! So he ended up escaping. Well, for now." Mihkael narrows his eyes at the thought of what would come to them when he gets them in his hands, creating a sense of terror to rise in the man. Before he can beg for his brother, Gabriel gently flicks Mihkael.

"Don't do anything to them, I'm fine so don't dirty your hands to get revenge for me.'

"Well not like I'm dirtying my own hands."

"Now that sounds like what a second rate villain would say."

"Then should I become a first rate villain by using my own hands?"

"How about you act as a child and not think about revenge?"

"Sorry, but I can't act like a buffoon with no brain."

"You do know your talking about the general population of children your age and maybe even older."

"I never said I wasn't."

"Hhaaa~ I can't speak with you."

"Then don't speak and just watch."

"Should I flick you harder so you would listen?"

"Do you want to be locked up by laying a hand on the crown prince?"

"Try it, before they can grab me, I'll give you a spanking you can't ever forget."

The Empress smiles at the antics of the boys and holds her spouses hand.

"It has been a while since I have seen him joke around with someone, too bad Seraph and Ariel had to get unwell this whole week, worsening Mihkael's mood. But I'm glad he met another friend. The boy seems quite responsible and... more normal that the others."

The emperor can only nod to his wife's words, he remembers how the three boys will cause mayhem and chaos when together, they use their intelligence for mischief. But when he looks at this one, he seems more responsible and may help lessen the future mischief of the boys, so the emperor has quite the impression of the boy.

"But watching this makes me so happy, how about we give Mihkael a younger sibling?".

The emperor freezes and turns away from his empress, his face hidden with his hand while his empress giggles at her dear husband's reaction.

That night ended with many surprises, but in a lighthearted way, after promising to visit Mihkael tomorrow, since he was given a teleportation stone directly to the palace of Mihkael. He waved goodbye to the emperor and empress too, a light nod and a wave was given back.

When he enters his carriage, his parents quickly asked if he was ok, if he was well after hearing about his heritage. Gabriel was surprised that that was the first thing they asked and not of how he got so close to the crown prince.

"Aren't you guys more worried about me keeping the connection with Mihkael, rather than my emotional state?"

His parents felt that they were stabbed in the heart with great guilt, when they hear their sons view of them.

They quickly explained their reasons for how they raised him, how they haven't noticed the effects it had on him, but they will change it and they wanted him to just be happy and don't want him to suffer because of their love.

Gabriel listen to his parents and felt relief to know his parents were never really disappointed with him, that they were always proud of him and just wanted him to go above and beyond for his future.

After that day, he was able to live his life as a child and make friends, he would sometimes hangout with Jonathan and the others when his parents visited or had a group meetup ever 2 weeks.

Gabriel hanged out almost everyday with Mihkael, he actually ended up worrying about Mihkael's grades at a point.

"Aren't you worried about failing or your grades going down?"

"Why would I? I memorize all the things taught to me, even when I didn't fully pay attention. It's all childs play for me."

Gabriel flicked Mihkael in the head a couple of times in frustration and a bit of envy.

But the days went on with relatively no big issues, if you don't add the mayhem they would create. His meeting with the other 2 was a moment to remember too. But that's for another time.

***

While remembering their first meeting and how in it's own way was a chaotic mess, he can only let out a tired smile.

They finally reach the dining hall, the place was as impressive and imposing as the other parts of the palace. He sees his friends getting ready to sit and spots Mihkael taking a seat in the head of the table.

"Haha, it's been a while that we were all together without a need to discuss about documents and political issues."

Gabriel chuckles while lightly patting her highness's back to wake her up.

"When she finally wakes, I'll leave you in your family bonding ok?"

"Then shouldn't you be sitting down to?"

"Huh?"

"Did you forget big brother Gabriel?"

"!!! Ha hahaha! How can I forget. My cute and annoying little brother."

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