I do not own Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine/The Royal Tutor.
...
The work as the royal tutor was more uncomplicated than what he initially thought. Naturally, it was not only happy and enjoyable times and there were few challenges that came into his way.
There was a little misunderstanding because of mistaken first impression of a certain prince. There were some sort of misinterpretation that led to a prince getting his feelings hurt, thus running away miles from the palace. There were some disagreement and clashing of opinions due to the uniqueness of their personality.
Nevertheless, his work was going smoothly and favorably since every trivial case was eventually getting solved and all conflicts were in the end being settled.
Heine strode the wide corridor of the second floor of the palace as he noted of how extravagant the place was. With his minuscule steps, he was probably going to have a long way to travel before he arrived in front of the fourth prince's room where they would have their regular individual lesson.
As far as the time was concern, he was not late. There was still a couple of minutes before the appointed time and Heine could even take a leisure pace walking down the way. However, he wanted to arrived earlier than expected because something had been worrying him since morning.
He noticed that Prince Leonhard had an unusual downcast eyes and he was astonishingly in a trance. He was acting frantic and as though he was panicking inside but not wanting to show it, he was more fidgety than his normal self. He obviously had something on his mind and as his tutor, Heine wanted to coax him into voicing his troubles, though he was nearly one hundred percent sure the prince would not give in so easily.
Deciding to fasten his pace, he took larger steps and hurriedly proceeded his way to the said prince and braced himself for what would come. Finally, he met the intricately designed double doors of his room and audibly knocked three times.
When he heard the permission to come in, he let himself in and greeted the prince with a polite bow. Prince Leonhard involuntary returned the gesture.
As he expected, the fourth prince was lacking his overly zealous nature and like a disconcerted soldier, he was heaving an unceremonious sigh.
"Prince Leonhard, you seem to be in a predicament. May I ask what can possibly be the problem?" Heine asked, sitting himself on his usual spot.
The prince flinched on his seat and looked at him nervously. "What are you talking about? There's no problem at all," he resisted, not at all sounding convincing. "That aside, just start the lesson and get it done."
He pushed it aside, the tutor thought, observing his attempts at regaining his composure which in Heine's opinion was a failure. He picked his pen and started writing something on a piece of paper but as he noticed how the paper was remaining blank after doing a few strokes, he immediately stopped. He frowned at the pen on his hand.
Heine regarded the absence of the inkwell at the table and put two and two together. The prince had not realized that the lack of ink was hindering him from accomplishing his task. It was a proof how absentminded he was.
"Prince Leonhard, is there really no problem? If you deem me worthy enough, I can listen to your troubles." Or more like he was responsible for hearing and helping his students in soothing their uneasiness.
The prince pressed his lips into a thin line and crinkled his brows, a short line wrinkling his forehead. "I already said there's none. Give me that," he uttered stubbornly while snatching the book from the tutor's hand. He opened it at a random page and sticked his nose to it without grasping the fact that it was turned upside down.
As if he could still fool anyone, he flipped the page and nodded to himself in such a guileless manner. If only his worry was not clambering, Heine would had laughed at him.
Sighing, he tried to get his attention by insisting upon his claims, "Prince Leonhard, we won't be going anywhere if you keep this up. You clearly have something in your mind. You can discuss them with me so we can find a solution. Didn't you say you would slowly try your best to fix your standpoint? This is just another step into becoming the person you aspired to be."
The prince seemed to be in an even more uncertainty as his mind took in and processed what his tutor said. He bit the inside of his lower lip and sent a look of skepticism to Heine's way as though he was doubting his words. Ultimately, he heaved a small sigh to signify his submission.
"Fine, I got it." He stood up and in hurried steps, he proceeded to where his study desk was stationed. "Here, look. What's missing?" He pointed to the table, expecting Heine to give him an immediate answer.
The tutor narrowed his eyes and inspected the top of the table as per instructed. He was unconfident on what to say as he had no ways to know what went and had gone there. "I'm afraid I cannot quite comprehend. Did you lose something, Prince?"
"Ey! It was that! That!" The prince fisted both of his hands and swayed them in front of him, grumbling at the lack of cooperation from his tutor. "I lost it, Heine. What should I do? I'm really no good, after all. I'm such a trash," he added, displaying a quick change of emotion. He was now leaning his other arm on the desk while the other was covering his face.
"Can you please tell me what is that?" Although his negativity gave the tutor a rough idea, he wanted to hear directly from him so he tried asking again. This time, the prince looked at him in disbelief and went back from where he was seated.
"Geez. I'm talking about the journal! What should I do? What if someone had read it? They will probably spread it around. I'm doomed, I should die." The prince kept rumbling, whispering more repulsive and hateful words to himself.
Heine thought it would make sense to be in a panicked if his diary of self reflection went missing, but the prince was becoming a little exaggerated in beating himself over it.
Ah, but this is how he is so I guess it's understandable.
"Prince Leonhard, please calm down. Is it possible that you only misplaced it somewhere?"
"No!" the prince quickly replied. "That's impossible. How can I? How can I? No, there's no way." He seemed as though he endeavored into an inner dilemma with himself.
"Then, have you tried asking the maid who always cleans your room?"
If it was even a second faster, the prince would had procured a whiplash with how sudden he turned his head. "Wha-?! Do you really think I can do that?" he screamed ferociously and Heine could almost hear the words 'Heine, you idiot!' coming in between his whines.
The tutor then gave an apologetic look as he was reminded of the words he read from the entry of his diary. 'When the maid brought my melange, I couldn't say thank you again. I'm hopeless, a lost cause. I don't deserve to live.'
Ah, that's right. He couldn't give his thanks to a maid, much less hold a conversation. It was the first entry Heine read in the diary so he should had already perceived it. The prince's way of throwing a fit was very much childlike but since he had a valid reason for it, the tutor didn't found it irritable. Actually, it was kinda cute how he practically implored his tutor's sympathy.
"If that is the case, shall we find it together? It will be useful to have more people."
Upon hearing the offered help, the prince instantaneously brightened up and his eyes that were glistening from tears created an exquisite sparkle to them. Thinking back, Heine decided he was not cute, he was borderline adorable.
"Really? Heine, is that true?" the prince asked, blinking to him as if he couldn't believe that someone was willing to lend a hand to a lost cause like him.
Heine swallowed the mirth he felt from being the one to bestir such emotion out of the prideful prince. He gave him a small nod that indicated the affirmative. He thoughtfully wished the prince would confide and rely to him more.
"That being so, please try to remember where you put it last." He got up from his seat and leisurely paced around the room until he reached the study desk. Giving it a good scan, he saw some books neatly piled up on the corner and a familiar-looking one beside a stack of academic materials. There was an odd feeling about that book as though it didn't belong there.
"Here. I was sure I put it here," the prince said, tapping atop the desk. "And then I went to return the books Bruno-nii-sama lent me. When I got back, it was gone."
Oh, could it be...?
"Prince Leonhard, did you look at the books you handed to your brother?"
"What? Of course, Bruno-nii-sama specially lent them to me so naturally, I treated them with care." The prince inadvertently lit up with the mention of his dear brother but his mood immediately reverted back to gloominess.
"Then, is this book yours?" He picked the incongruous book from the desk and presented it to him.
"Huh? It's nii-sama's book. What is it doing here, I already gave it back to him." He stared offensively at the book and shifted his gaze to his tutor. Likely comprehending his mistakes at last, the prince's eyes widened animatedly and without a second thought, grabbed the book from his hand and sprinted in the speed of light.
Heine couldn't help the smile from forming on his lips at the amusing act of the fourth prince. His childlike behavior and simplistic way of thinking resorted him to take impulsive and spontaneous measures. It was objectively refreshing to watch.
Just like a little child, Prince Leonhard could put a smile to everyone's faces by simply being true to himself. He had an instinctive charm with him that made him lovable to anyone. However, Heine hoped he would stop despising himself and then suffering from extreme self-loath.
After a few minutes had gone, Heine sensed the door being opened and the prince setting foot to his room with a smile plastered on his face. He held the misplaced object, which was the source of his distress just a moment ago, and upon meeting gazes with his tutor, he displayed a delightful look of triumph.
"You finally found it, I see. Isn't that great?"
The prince slumped on the sofa as he kept on catching his breath. "Yeah," he answered. After calming his nerves and eventually settling down, he averted his gaze from the tutor and a faint blushed grazed his cheeks. "T-thank you."
Heine chose this time to express his thoughts about the incident and provide him the lesson he should receive. He went in front of the prince to fully grab his attention and started his lecture, "I have one thing to say about this episode, Prince Leonhard."
The prince faced him without defiance as he recognized the seriousness of his voice. "W-what is it?"
"You should not bottle up your problems to yourself. If I hadn't pursued you into speaking of them, you would only keep them to yourself, would you not? Sometimes, it is only appropriate to lean on other people. It is not a sign of being weak, asking others for help is also a way of showing your trust to them. Not just what happened earlier, you can talk about what has been bothering you to someone you are comfortable with, perhaps one of your brothers.
Share some of your worries to them, learn to trust them so they can trust you, too. Listen Prince Leonhard, if you keep on hiding them inside of you, they will only feed your fears and anxieties. Eventually, you will be reduced to an empty shell of negativity. Besides, having more people is always convenient to solve a problem. I'm sure they can help you with anything."
The prince lowered his gaze as he appeared to be deep in thought. It was good if he was properly absorbing and thinking about it, but it would be better if he heed his advice.
"But..." the prince spoke, hesitation visible on his eyes. "I don't want to bother my brothers. Kai-ani-ue, he was always thinking about us, I don't want to add up to his concerns. To Bruno-nii-sama, I don't want to be a burden to him and I don't want him to detest him. And Licht, I don't want him to think that I'm unreliable as an older brother."
The tutor couldn't say he had expected the prince's respond to be this deep. He apparently had already pondered about it and he really thought about his brothers with so much consideration. Heine suddenly felt as though he rubbed a salt to his gaping wound.
"Prince Leonhard, I truthfully do not think your brothers will detest you because of that. I am certain they are willing to help you as they all accept you for what you are. But if you are decidedly disinclined in confiding on them, then I will gladly offer myself."
The prince stared at him with great intent as he continued proposing his sentiments. "I will not judge you, I will not detest you, I will not be encumbered by your fears. I will help you, support you, guide you. I will relieve your worries. You said before that you are going to try hard to stop from running away. Then, I shall ask you for the second time, if you want to build trust and communicate with other people, won't you take my hand and try, little by little?"
Heine reached out his hand to the wide-eyed prince and waited patiently for him to respond. It took a while for the prince to figure out what to do as they exchanged a staring battle that looked as though they were attempting to read each other's mind.
In the end, Prince Leonhard extended his hand to him and Heine let out an involuntarily chuckle when the prince repeated his answer from that time. Except, instead of clutching at his index finger, the prince grabbed his index finger as well as his middle finger. He didn't say a single word but his blushing face was enough for the tutor to understand.
Seems like I still have a long way to go.
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I'm accepting any forms of reaction, from calm and normal to bloody and trashy, just send me a review if you have some. Thanks a lot for checking it out!