At last I can update again~
Sorry for the delay, I was sick the previous week and I really could not get myself to work on my laptop. I will try my best to update as fast as possible this week.
As usual, thank you for the review :D Someone was asking if Ludwig is going to make an appearance, after reading this chapter I think the pairing will be quite (very) obvious, so I'm just going to answer bluntly, no. I considered it for awhile, but I really don't know what role is good so I scrapped the idea.
Anyway, idk why somehow this chapter is like divided into a lot of small parts. I hope it's still okay though.
That's all for now, I hope everyone still enjoy the story :D Do review if you like it~
It was early in the morning that day and Antonio sat in his room, holding a paper on his hand. It was a letter from his Kingdom, from the King or his father to be exact. He looked at the letter over and over again, a painful expression was plastered on his face. Suddenly, he could hear knocking on the door. Before he approached the door, he crumpled the letter on his palm and set it aside on the table.
He had expected it to be one of the maid or one of his attendant, but the voice from across the door really caught him off guard.
"Antonio, are you there?"
He recognised that voice, that was definitely Lovino's voice. Without even replying, he proceeded to open the door. Lovino, on the other side, was quite surprised by the opening of the door, followed by the sudden hug by the taller prince.
"Lovi, good morning. You're looking for me?"
Lovino did not really appreciate the friendly gesture, his face turns pink immediately. He was really not used to that kind of skin contact. Normally, he would already shouted and pushed him away. However, he knew that it was still very early and he went there not to make a fuss, so he tried his best not to make any loud noise that would attract attention and pushed him back slowly.
"Ah, Yeah. Like… I was wondering if…" Lovino stopped in between words, his attention focus more on trying to push the man away and get away from his tight embrace.
Antonio at last pulled back a bit, creating some distance between him and Lovino. "Yes?" he asked, his voice full of innocence and sweetness. His eyes were staring expectantly, straight at Lovino's hazel eyes. His smile could not leave his face anymore. Regardless of the reason, he was joyful that Lovino had come to see him.
At that moment, time seemed to have stopped for Lovino. He got this feeling, when looking at Antonio's clear green eyes, something akin to nostalgic feeling. He felt that he had seen it before, the bright and innocent smile. His brain just stopped working and words no longer came out from his mouth.
Antonio was brought into the trance as well. When he saw the younger prince, he could not get over the fact of how lucky he were, to be able to be by his side. He felt so blessed to be able to be engaged to such a beautiful prince. He loved everything about Lovino, his brown silky hair, his eyes, his way of speaking, basically he loved everything about him.
Without realising it himself, Antonio took Lovino's hand and pulled him closer. Soon, they were inch between each other and their lips met for a moment, leaving a soft and warm trail on each other.
Antonio broke out of his trance and he realised about what he had just done. He had kissed Lovino, but he did not regret it. Blood risen to his face and the pink coloration could be seen easily on his face now. At the same time, similar thing happened to Lovino. His face turned red, as red as a ripe tomato.
Before Antonio had the chance to say anything, Lovino let go of the his grasp and ran towards the corridor, one hand on his face, trying to cover his embarrassment. Antonio had called his name but Lovino chose to ignore him.
Lovino darted back into his room. He had entered from the study though, preventing himself to be caught by the guard. When he entered his room, he just went straight to his bed and buried his face on the pillow, not even looking at Feliciano who was sitting at the side of the bed. His mind brought him back to the earlier scene.
He could not believe it, Antonio just kissed him. He was bothered by it, a lot to be honest. Yet, it was not the kiss that bothered him. It was the fact that he did not really mind it. He could not stop thinking about the reason why, but the more he thought about it, the more he was reminded of the scene and he could not stop the blood rising to his face again.
Feliciano was a bit worried, he could see from his side of the bed, the tinge of red on Lovino's face.
"Lovi, are you alright? Did something happened with Antonio?" he asked knowing that, Lovino had just met Antoni earlier on the day.
Lovino was once again reminded of the scene and he buried his face even deeper into the pillow, refusing to look at Feliciano, "It… It's nothing! Nothing happened!" he retorted, "I'm alright, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry!" Obvious panic was mixed with his answer, but Feliciano did not press the matter further. He just sat there quietly, making sure that Lovino was really all right.
Gilbert rested his body against the wall, musing about the thing that had happened earlier in the morning. He was too naive after all. He had for the prince to remember him, but it was nothing but a dream. For once, his determination wavered slightly. However, when he took a look at the cross he was wearing, he was once again reminded of his childhood. He could not lost his resolve now. The fact that the prince did not remember anything had nothing to do with it. He was still going to do it, to fulfil his promise from 10 years ago.
He was still a bit lost in his own thought when a figure appear from the corner of the corridor. He had recognised it as Lovino's fiancé, Prince Antonio from the neighbouring kingdom. When their gaze met each other, their eyes were full of hostility. They definitely did not make a good first impression on each other, considering the messy incident the previous day.
"Well, if it isn't Prince Toni? What business do you have here?" Gilbert said, obvious mocking in his tone.
Antonio was not pleased with the greeting, nonchalantly he replied him in a similar tone, "Well, of course, Betty. I need to talk with my love. Now if you would get out of the way."
"At least learn my name properly, it's the AWESOME GILBERT for your information."
After a few moments of another pointless argument, there was silence for a little while. Gilbert's eyes soften as he turn to face Antonio. He sighed, "You are his fiancé right? Protect him would you?"
Antonio was taken aback a bit, he did not expect Gilbert to say that at all. Even he could detect the concern in his voice and he was convinced, after looking at his expression, that his feeling was genuine.
"I would not be able to protect him for every seconds. When I'm not here, protect him for me, would you?"
Their eyes met for another moment, but this time, all the hostility was gone. There was something akin to mutual understanding that was build upon their short exchange of words. Both of them acknowledged each other's concern and care for the prince.
Gilbert straightened up, assuming his position as a properly trained and professional bodyguard, "He's inside. You can call him."
They exchanged smile before Antonio approached the door to Lovino's room and knocked on the door.
"Lovi, it's me Antonio. May I talk to you for a bit?"
Lovino twitched when he hear that voice. It was Antonio's he was sure of it, but he did not want to see him now. He had not settle his own feeling, how can one expect him to face him right now? He stayed silent, face still buried in between his pillow, not planning to let go of it any time soon as his face had once again turned to a tomato.
Another knocks were heard. Feliciano started to get worried. He wanted to answer it for Lovino but he was there in the room and he felt that he should not do anything when Lovino was there.
"Lovi, it's Antonio. Why don't you answer him?" Feliciano whispered to Lovino, nudging him softly at the same time.
Lovino did not budge too much, he just mumbled, "You see him," his voice muffled due to the pillow, "I'm tired, I woke up early today, let me take a rest."
He actually had forgotten that he could just say no to his request. Lovino tried to make up a reason for not meeting Antonio now. It seemed like a plausible reason or at least, Feliciano bought it.
Feliciano approached the door and answered in Lovino's place, "I heard that. What is it about?" his impression of Lovino still did not make it to the cut, but at least he tried.
Feliciano came out of the room and Antonio greeted him with a shy smile. They moved on to the guest room upon Feliciano's request as Lovino was in the room and he could not get people to see the two of them together at the same time.
They moved on to the guest room, Gilbert followed them as they proceed. Upon reaching the guest room, both of them settled on the coffee table near the window and Gilbert was asked to wait outside the room.
"Lovi, about this morning…" Antonio started.
Feliciano tried to think for a while, Lovino had mentioned nothing about his little rendezvous with Antonio this morning, literally nothing.
"That was… nothing..." he muttered, trying to avoid the conversation about what happened.
Antonio was disappointed by his answer, to be precise, he was utterly disappointed. He had wanted to ask the prince about that and confessed his feelings along with it. He had thought that his advances was a bit too fast, but he did not expect Lovino to brushed it away like that. Yet, he knew that it would not be wise to press the issue when the other party clearly did not want to discuss it.
He managed to brush it off and they ended up spending the whole afternoon chatting about stuff, mostly actually Antonio telling stories to Feliciano about his life. Feliciano tried his best not to say much, especially regarding himself, he knew very well that Lovino and himself were pretty much different in the inside and he did not want to give the wrong impression or anything to other people about the true prince.
Antonio actually realised something different with the prince during their chat, he somehow gave off different aura from this morning. He quickly brushed it off though, thinking that it was because of the morning mood or something similar.
Just ten minutes before the clock hit one, a knock was heard on the door. Alfred was on the other side, calling for Prince Vargas to attend a meeting. Feliciano was suppose to substitute Lovino for the meeting, so he stood up, bid his farewell to Antonio and proceeded to the meeting room, Gilbert and Alfred followed suit. He had been briefed about it before by Lovino that he just needed to listen to the elders and deliver a short speech. The speech itself was written down report so he basically just need to read out the script from the paper. But to be honest, he was very nervous.
All eyes were on him the moment the trio entered the meeting room in the castle. At that time, most seats were filled already, by the elders, advisors and the ministers from the kingdom. The King was there as well, sitting in the middle of the round table, his attendant, Roderich, faithfully standing beside him. Soon, the meeting started and the ministers started their discussion. Feliciano could not understand the discussion at all, they talked about complicated stuff and Feliciano was not one to deal with difficult stuff.
Suddenly, the prince was called and it was Feliciano's turn to read the so called report. Out of nervousness, he stood up too quickly, stumbled on the chair and fell backwards. It was a feat that people would think impossible to happen before seeing it with their own eyes. Feliciano quickly stood up again and he scrambled around to get the papers.
By that time, the room was quiet and all eyes were on him. By that time, he was very scared. He had messed up. His face now flushed and teary. He did not know what to do anymore, not after he messed up. He just wanted to run away, but he knew he could not. He started to stutter and breakdown when he felt a warm, big hand on his right shoulder.
"Calm down, it's okay, Lovi." a soft voice whispering near him, "Take a deep breath, straighten your back." He could feel a soft push on his back, encouraging the correct posture on his cowering back and he abide to it, straightening his back.
Feliciano took a deep breath. Two deep breaths.
"You can do it, Lovi. I know you can do it."
Those words of encouragement somehow gives a warm feeling in his heart. It's not even his own name, but he felt safe. After another deep breath, he then proceeded to read out the report and he did it. No stuttering, no hesitation, the speech was well read.
The rest of the meeting proceeded smoothly, no one seemed to be fazed by what happened and at last after a very long debate about the economy, the meeting was concluded and everyone was free to leave. The King was the first to leave and Feliciano left after him. Just outside the meeting room, Feliciano turned to Gilbert.
"Gilbert, just now…" he smiled, expressing his gratefulness sincerely, "Thank you."
That sweet smile brought pink coloration to Gilbert's pale cheek and he grinned back to the prince. Inwardly though, he cursed himself. He was not supposed to fall in love again.