Leo soon again invited Charlotte back into his rooms, saying he was calling it a night and was tired from the banquet. He held her hand and pulled her along, and as Charlotte followed, she wondered if he knew what he was doing.

Holding hands like this, kissing, declaring love with such a straight face... if I were any other girl, maybe I'd have fallen for it.

He dismissed the guards and servants in his rooms, and Charlotte could almost feel them staring at her with interest, as if she were some sort of foreign creature, as Leo ushered her inside.

It must look a little... off—Leo leading a woman into his chambers and making everyone else go away. But Leo was someone who hardly careed what everyone else thought, Charlotte knew by now.

And Leo asking everyone to leave them alone wasn't likely because he had ill intentions, Charlotte thought, the moment they were in the common receiving room and shut the door behind them. It was because he was... anxious. He paced back and forth in the room, fiddling with his vest. Charlotte chuckled, sitting comfortably on a couch.

"It's alright," she said.

"H-Huh?" Leo asked, as if he just snapped from a daze.

"It's not like I haven't been kissed before," Charlotte said, trying to make light of the situation, and guessing what he was nervous about. "Just... uh... warn me next time, I guess?"

"Y-Yes. Sure. I will... N-Not that I'm insinuating there's a next time..." Leo said, and Charlotte caught the way his face turned blush red. "I mean...! That's not to say I didn't like it or that you're not attractive, of course..."

She couldn't help but giggle. Just a few moments ago, in front of all of Nohr, was a stone-cold, utterly confident Leo. This Leo behind closed doors was different, stumbling over his words, less sure of himself. Charlotte found it a bit cute.

Leo suddenly paused and raised an eyebrow, a thought dawning onto him. "So, if it's fine... you're fine with any man just coming up to you and stealing a kiss?"

His tone almost sounded upset, and definitely confrontational, which surprised Charlotte. "H-Huh? Of course it's not fine if it was just anyone else..."

He sat beside her on the couch now, leaning towards her, as if backing her into a corner. If he had been fidgety and anxious before, it was completely gone now. "It's because I'm a prince, isn't it?" he asked.

"Of course," Charlotte admitted, shamelessly. Why else would she be "fine" with what happened? "And if I recall correctly, you were threatening to fire me from the army a few days ago-"

"That's irrelevant," Leo said. "So, you'd refuse the king's advisor, but you're fine with a prince? What if it was Xander making passes, then?"

Charlotte blinked at him, looking confused, but also annoyed. "Are you trying to finish off that Iago's attempt at making me feel... cheap?"

"I... No, I'm sorry," Leo said, shaking his head, looking as if he snapped out of something. He himself looked a little confused, not fully understanding why he grew confrontational. "I didn't mean to come across that way."

"Then what are you trying to get out of me, Lord Leo?" Charlotte asked.

Leo gave a dismissive shrug, not able to figure an answer.

"Oh, I get it..." Her face lit up mischievously, the wary look on her face slowly replaced by her practiced sweet smile. She linked her arm with his, closing the distance between them on the couch. "You want to hear me say that you're special to me~! Lord Leo, you don't need to be so bashful... I'll say it as many times as you like!"

"Oh..."

Leo realized that moment that maybe she did hit the nail on the head-even if she was likely only making a joke. Maybe that was what he wanted to hear-that he was special. He wanted to hear it over and over again-the way she chose him over Xander. The way she stood up for him against his mother. The way she turned down Iago because of him. It was selfish, he knew, but deep down he wanted to hear it, again and again.

"You're the best prince in all of Noooohr," Charlotte said, with some melody in her voice. "...Let's hope Lord Xander isn't around a corner and heard me say that."

It was all lip service, he knew. Sure, it had a way of getting under his skin and making his cheeks blush, but something in it also bothered him. The idea that she'd probably have said something like this to countless other men did not sit well with him.

He wasn't sure if he was upset at her-at how fake, petty, and pretentious it all was...

Or if he was upset because he wished it were all real.

"That's not the way I want you to say it," Leo said, turning to her and looking right into her eyes.

Something in the way he stared, as if searching for something in her soul, made Charlotte drop her guard, to drop the sugary-sweet act that were her defenses. She looked unsure as she stared back.

Leo smiled to himself. This Charlotte-unsure of herself, not entirely sweet or confident, almost vulnerable despite being so strong-maybe this was the real Charlotte. He liked catching glimpses of it, liked drawing it out of her, because he knew so very few people got to see it.

"How do you want me to say it, then?" Charlotte asked.

"...With actions," Leo said, and he reached out to gently cup her chin, closed his eyes, and leaned in to kiss her.

"Oh-"

Niles froze, holding the door open, seeing his liege almost only a centimeter away from kissing Charlotte. The two blondes turned towards him sharply, as if turning towards an enemy on the battlefield.

Leo backed away from Charlotte with a heavy sigh, and Niles could sense the annoyance in it.

Charlotte was red in the face, looking absolutely confused and embarrassed... and almost as if she was about to cry.

Niles looked like he'd just fallen into an enemy trap and was soon fearing for his life. His usual self would have played it cool and started teasing-were this anyone else but his own liege. Who happened to look a mix of absolutely embarrassed and absolutely angry. "I... didn't mean to interrupt-"

"I-It's okay, I had to go anyway," Charlotte said, hurriedly getting up and walking out the door, leaving the two men behind.

As soon as Charlotte was gone, Niles immediately sank down kneeling to the ground, head bowed to the floor. "I apologize. I didn't mean to-the guards were gone. I thought no one was inside. It was my mistake. Please punish me as you see fit-"

"There's no need for that. Get up," Leo said, burying his face to his palm with a groan. "Gods, what was I thinking..."

Niles only looked up, trying to gauge Leo's reaction. He was a cocktail mix of upset, embarrassed, and regretful... Niles tried to figure what the situation had been, what he'd just witnessed. From the look on Charlotte's face when she fled, and from the self-deprecating groan that Leo was giving...

It was obvious that Leo was the one coming onto Charlotte, and not the other way around. Not what Niles had expected at all.

"Lord Leo... You... You like her, don't you?"

"Do I, now?" Leo said. It was his mistake. He got carried away again. Do I really like her, or is it just the idea of someone preferring me, standing up for me, making me feel good? Is it all just my selfish ego, not even pausing to think that I may be frightening her?

"It seems painfully clear to me," Niles said. "I don't think you're the sort to make advances on a woman unless you liked them..."

Leo remembered Iago and Xander's words, likening him to his father. Maybe it was all impulse. Maybe I'm selfish and just want a woman to feel like I'm needed. Then I'd be no different from Charlotte wanting a man for money. "You give me too much credit, Niles."

"You give yourself too little," Niles retorted.

"I... I frightened her. Did you see her practically run away?" Leo said, sounding upset-with himself. "I asked her a favor of me and put her out here and I just... I was selfish."

"You were... never really known for your emotional finesse, milord," Niles said. He knew that in matters of emotion, Leo was not a good conveyor of his feelings. He either came on too strong, cold and methodical-or completely shut himself in, trying to not speak up at all.

For all his academic and battlefield smarts... in matters of the heart, Leo could be a mess.

"...Should I follow her?" Niles asked, trying to offer a step forward on how Leo could perhaps make amends. "It's no good to have her wander the castle by herself."

"Do it," Leo quickly agreed. "...Make sure she's safe. Don't let anyone suspicious near her. Get her back to Camilla's rooms if you can. If she goes elsewhere, if something happens-make sure to tell me."

After a few moments, Leo found himself following Niles in the dead of the night, into the sprawling alleys of the castle town. Castle Krakenburg had quite a population surrounding it, home to most of the servants and soldiers employed in the castle.

It was in one of the houses here where he found Charlotte. After she fled from him and NIles, it was here she went to, perhaps to get her thoughts straight. The house—small but well-kept—had open windows, showing just enough of a view as to who was inside. Charlotte, with an elderly couple, both with the same striking blonde hair.

"Her parents," Niles said. "Her only family, from what I hear."

The woman—Charlotte's mother—was built almost like Charlotte, with a smaller stature, but with defined muscles on her arms. Clearly a woman among the working class. Her eyes were blue, like Charlotte's, but they almost looked dimmer, as if they were dulled down by the hardships of life.

And then there was the man—he seemed older than the woman, with more wrinkles and lines on his face. Leo noticed he stayed on a bed in a corner of the room, and a pair of crutches against a wall nearby.

"That man... he's..."

"He was one of the castle town's craftsmen," Niles said, ready with the information—he'd taken it upon himself to know a day ago, what with Charlotte being near his liege. "When he wasn't working on royal ships, he was working the forge and supplying weaponry to the soldiers. He was working on a ship when he suffered a fall, paralyzing him. His wife quit working to care for him. Charlotte then enlisted for the military soonafter."

"...I see," Leo said, unable to take his eyes off Charlotte. Her smile was too different, her laughter too different. It was too real, not the act she often put on for the world. Another side of her. "Was he working on a royal ship? He should be getting a pension."

"They let him keep his residence here in the castle town. I think that's about it. I heard Charlotte was saving up to have them moved to the countryside."

Charlotte stood beside the home's oven-which showed signs of formerly being a forge-and took out from it a few pieces of bread and pots with various meals. Leo could recognize the food. The excess from the banquet earlier. As a kid, he always wondered where they went, and as he grew up, he figured it would indeed probably be given away to the servants. It still shocked him, though, to see it like this, as plain as day-that his leftovers were someone else's meal.

Charlotte, soot from the oven covering her arms, looked like she hardly cared. Not about the dirt and soot, not about the leftovers. She served food for her mother and went to her father's bedside to feed him herself. She smiled for them, and if her smile did strain, it was not because she was struggling with an act-but because she wished deep down, that she could afford better.

In that moment, Leo truly felt like the pampered, selfish noble that she'd once accused him of being.

"...Process a pension for them," Leo said, to Niles. "Arrange for a royal physician to pay them a visit. And find a nice home in the countryside and arrange for everything to have them moved."

You really like her. Niles smiled. "As you wish, milord."

a/n: There is an alternate version to how this story goes and it deviates here, it's been what I planned for the story for the longest time but I decided to change it, and go with what's here. I'm attached to the original idea, but it's likely because I'm biased to that sort of story.

Like I said before, I find that the Charlotte-Leo dynamic has Leo with more control in the relationship, and I can imagine Charlotte being confused after she drops the act and Leo starts to act like he's the one flirting with her instead of the other way around, which I always imagined was the case after their A-Support.

In Charlotte's support with Silas, she said she'd often watch the nobles parade from her window (iirc) so I headcanon that she lived near them, maybe in the castle town itself, so they were always so near her, but so far too.

Shoutout to Cel, always a pleasure to hear from you, and Andy, thanks so much for reviewing! Welcome aboard the CharLeo ship! I'll try to be less confusing with the italics. ^^;;

Hope you guys liked this update. Reviews give me will 2 live. owob