My Lord (closed to afkbottle) 18+

[afkbottle]

Jirou watched as Shin lightly stammered. He wanted to say something, but he stopped himself before he could. After all, they didn't have all the time they could get.

 

Therefore, the knight let his prince do what he was instructed to do, before nodding to signal the prince to stop slashing. He had meant the prince to slash just once instead of repeatedly, but in the third slash, he could saw the mark reached the core stick. Barely, but it could still be counted. Jirou didn't want him to suffer longer than necessary, after all.

 

"Yes, you've passed," the older male said. "You could cool yourself down right now before going to your study. Also, I don't think you should take another shower," he said, stepping in to lightly sniff the young man. "You just showered so you smell good, young Shin. Just change your clothes if you're that worried."

[KawaiiNekomimiBoy]

Shin looks at Jirou, tilting his head as he could see in the knight's eyes that he wanted to say something but was confused on why Jirou didn't mention it and just remind silent.

 

He looks at the target and rubs the back of his head as he sticks his tongue out, "I ... guess I hit it too hard," he bit his bottom lip, hoping he didn't damage it fully to get in trouble for destroying the equipment.

 

Smiling a little and nods his head, "r-really? So I am not in trouble for that," he points at the mark on the target. He looks at Jirou but then blinks softly blushing as he heard Jirou sniff him. Looking up at Jirou and nods his head, "alright, see you around," he walks off the training grounds and starts heading towards his room.

 

Taking off his sweaty clothes and walks into the bathroom, picking up a towel and wipes off the sweat from his body. Walking back to his bedroom and takes out some fresh clothes, putting them on and then rubs the back of his head, waiting to be escort to his history lesson.

[afkbottle]

Jirou chuckled at that. How could the prince possibly hit it too hard when it only was scratched like that? Five Shins probably wouldn't be able to wound the practicing target as much as one slash from Jirou. But then again, that was what Jirou was there for, for the prince.

 

"You're good like this," Jirou said. "I'll see you around." With that, he sent Shin off.

 

Shin wasn't the only one who had some schedules after the practice session, he also needed to report to the knight's headquarter. There were some missions they were going to do, and needed to go away from the capital city, for a few days at the soonest, and probably a few weeks for the going and returning trip.

 

Jirou would definitely have a deficiency of his regular dose of young Shin, but that wasn't something new.

 

---

 

Thankfully for Ren, Shin never called him after his morning duties. He had taken ample time to help out in the kitchen, all to get some ingredients for free to make a cake. The head of the orphanage's birthday would soon arrive, and he had this idea to let her eat a huge cake to celebrate.

 

Obviously, Ren didn't know how to bake, but an older sister in the orphanage had been working in the town's bakery. It was Ren's idea, so all he did was to look for the ingredients, then just dumped them to that sister before the day. After dealing with the palace's head cook, if he were to help in the kitchen for free, he could get them as the payment.

 

Ren wasn't a stranger to mindless hardwork, so of course he agreed.

 

That was probably why, the moment he went to knock on Shin's door, he smelled like flour and butter.

 

"Your Highness, your history teacher has been waiting in the library," he said after knocking.

[KawaiiNekomimiBoy]

Shin nods his head as he smiles, "well I am glad I did good." He was looking forward to having his father's old friend teach him and waves to Jirou as he left.

 

---

 

Shin lays down on his bed, taking a breather after training with Jirou. Just as he was about to close his eyes, he perks his head up as he heard a knock on the door. He gets up and could here Ren's voice. Shin stands up and walks to the door, opening it, "alright I'm on my way."

 

He walks out of his room and walks down the hallway, making his way to the library.

 

Once there, he could see his history teacher and walks to him, bowing in front of him before sitting down at the table, "hello there Sensei."

[afkbottle]

The butler noticed his employer's tired look in his eyes and the new set of clothes he was wearing. Ren only let out his characteristic not-quite-smile while he accompanied the prince to the library. When with outsiders, the prince should not be left alone with. That knight before was someone the king intrinsically trusted, so no one minded. Besides, they were working in the practicing court, where it was visible from at least three towers. But this time, the prince was to meet the history teacher in an enclosed space. Despite the clear background check, Ren was also there as an observer.

 

Or so the king said.

 

For some reason, Ren thought that it was simply ensuring he would listen to those subjects that the prince was studying.

 

Opening the door to library, Ren stepped inside first, nodding to the history teacher, then stepped aside to open the way for the prince.

 

"Your Highness, thank you for being on time!" the ecstatic-sounding old man with white beard greeted Shin. He was really a typical history teacher, no matter from what angle you looked at. "Have a seat so we can begin? Now, from our last study, I have told you about the complicated matters of our glorious Cridel kingdom---may it prosper forevermore---in the big Scheme of the Andares continent."

 

He opened the book he was holding, property of the palace, and started his lecture.

It went on and on, and there was something about the history teacher's voice that even made Ren yawn under the shade.

[KawaiiNekomimiBoy]

Shin tilts his head as Ren was looking at his clothes in such a odd way. But then he realized that Ren probably didn't know about him getting changed. "Uh.. I got all sweaty during sword practice that I had to change," he told Ren before he left.

 

As he was walking down the corridor, he looks at Ren as he had open the door for him and he enters the library to greet his history teacher.

 

Nodding his head slowly as he had taken a seat at the table, "I am ready whenever your ready." He takes the pencil from on top of the table, getting ready for his lesson.

 

He listens to the teacher as he was telling his lecture, writing down a few notes and looks over at Ren, seeing he was ready to sleep and laughs softly but pays attention to his teacher's lesson.

[afkbottle]

"Frankly speaking, I have no need for your explanation," Ren blurted out before he could stop himself. "...Your Highness," he added later, thinking that he had been quite rude. Shin never failed to grate his nerves, really. Every little gesture, his own existence, even the way he breathed made Ren uncharasteristically pissed off in some random moments, like now. Even a whiff of fresh scent that Ren usually liked from someone else turned into something infuriating when he associated it with the prince.

 

The lecture went on and on, but contrary to the attentiveness from the prince, Ren's focus kept coming back to Shin instead of the lecture.

 

First of all, he didn't need to know any contents of the lecture. The king could pretend anything he liked, but Ren would never put those knowledge to utility. Besides, he also heard real time reports whenever he went to the city tavern. Granted, it had been a while since he went there, and not every information there was reliable, but it was still worth more than the history teacher's overworship towards Cridel kingdom itself.

 

Second of all, even when he was thinking about those stuffs, his eyes kept glanced back towards the prince.

 

Sighs, me and my unfortunate observation duty, he thought. It was infuriating, but Ren thought about how the prince's dark hair looked more fluffy than his own, and the random laugh that made the butler wished he could make that cringy, bell-like sound stopped, in what ways they could stop. Perhaps if he were to choke the prince to death?

 

...Yeah, right.

 

After some time passed, the lecture was over. The historian pointed several books that the prince could read in the library out of the study session, then excused himself.

 

"Your Highness," Ren started after they were alone in the library, "There's no etiquette class today and you are free for the remainder of the day. However, there's a letter from son of Duke of Lipperton. Here's the letter," he said, reaching towards his pocket and took out a scroll sealed by wax.

 

The content of the letter was to invite the young member of the royal family, Shin, to a ball of his sister's coming of age ceremony in the next weekend.

[KawaiiNekomimiBoy]

"But... I am the next in command. Your going to have to learn to tell me stuff when I want to know it," Shin pouts a little. He looks at Ren and lowers his head, crossing his arms as he sighs, "... fine do what you want but once I become king, you better learn to tell me what I want to hear."

 

Shin looks at the professor, glancing over at Ren and could see how he was looking at him, pouting as he goes back to his lecture. He wondered why Ren was a lot more different towards him than the other workers.

 

He lets out a yawn as the lecture was going on, resting his chin on his palm and wiped the tear from his eye as he continues writing.

 

"See you tomorrow sensei," Shin stands up and bows as he looked around the library and goes back to sit down at the table, stretching out his arms and lets out another yawn.

 

Shin slowly looks at Ren and wipes his eyes, tilting his head as he stands up straight, "a... letter," he watches as Ren took out the letter.

 

Taking the letter and opens it up, looking at what it said and nods his head, "alright I will make sure I am ready next weekend."

 

He gets up from the table, "well I am going to spend some time in the garden for a while," he walks out of the library and walks down the hallway, making his way to the garden.

 

Within a few minutes, Shin was in the garden and was glad to finally get from fresh air, especially from being stuck in the library.

[afkbottle]

Ren narrowed his eyes. They were talking about Shin telling the butler stuffs, why did it turn into Ren telling the prince stuffs? He was always a private person, and he couldn't find a reason why he should make an exception to the prince. Especially to him.

 

"Yes, Your Highness," he said, half-mocking, half-polite smile plastered on his face. If Shin found that expression uncomfortable, Ren didn't care at all.

 

Finally, they could go out from the mouldy library. Ren hated old-smelling stuffs, like books or elders with a foot on the grave. Therefore, when Shin decided to go to the garden, Ren grumbled inside, disliking how he agreed with the prince for once.

 

What they didn't know, though, was someone had managed to infiltrate the palace the night before, and made her way in hiding, biding the moment she could to attack one of the royal members; the initiation of her assassin guild. She had no name, only a code: Belladonna. Just like her name suggested, she used poison-laced weapons, and right now, the dagger in her hand was aimed at the prince.

 

In one swift movement, she jumped out of the shade of the building, alarming Ren, who was always a mercenary before this. Without anything to parry the attack, Ren had no other option but to shove the prince out of the harm's way before trying to disarm the lady. His hand chop didn't succeed.

 

"Call for the guards!" he urged Shin before focusing his senses towards the assassin again.

 

She was dressed like a maid, but the way she brought herself was a telltale sign that she was not one of the original staffs. Without sparing any moment to talk, she already rushed towards the prince once again, but this time, she fully expected Ren to make a move. In a struggle of having the upper hand, Ren won.

 

But he had several slashes around his arms and backs, and one was deep enough to rupture a blood vessel.

 

He held the assassin long enough until the guards came. Seeing that she had no way out, she bit her own tongue to kill herself.

 

Ren felt the struggling arms beneath him got loosened up, and at that moment, his strength was also lost. The poison had worked its way up to his immune system. If he didn't get medical help in several hours, he would probably die.

 

And what a shitty way it is to die.

[KawaiiNekomimiBoy]

Shin looks at Ren and lowers his head since he didn't understand why Ren couldn't be more open with him and looks to the side, shaking his head as he slowly crosses his arms, "fine.. do whatever you want. Continue having secrets for all I care," he started to get grouchy since his sleeping schedule was slightly lacking, especially since he was the next in to be king, it was pretty stressful.

 

Shin glances at Ren and narrows his eyes, "I seriously doubt it," he looks to the side with a pout.

 

Making his way to the garden, he was glad to finally have some fresh air, especially since the library really did have a strong smell of books, obviously. But he liked watching the maids harvest the goods and water the flowers.

 

When it got closer to night, Shin looked at the time on his watch and sighs with a relief since it was finally time for bed. He looked at Ren and tilts his head, wondering what the issue was.

 

He gasps as he was pushed by Ren and looks, seeing an assassin.

 

He nods his head as he runs into the palace to the guard headquarters, "please help, we have a intruder!"

 

He leads the guards to Ren and watched the guards surround the area.

 

Shin walks over, seeing the assassin dead and looks at Ren. "R-Ren...," he looks at the guards. "Hurry and get the medic right now!"

 

Within a few minutes, the medic came and drain the poison from Ren's body as well as clean the wounds he got from the assassin.