Father was far from amused.

Amidst the silence so thick it suffocated him inside out, chills flashed through Aspen's spine at the aggressive way he pressed his quill as he jotted down through the scrolls. Playing with his fingers on his lap, he pulled his lips in a straight line, the corners twitched the moment he confronted his father's piercing and hardened gaze.

He would have said something by now, but he had been dead still for what seemed to be hours; he just filled up papers piling on his desk. Why is he not saying anything? Is he going to get me grounded again?

Aspen could not stop himself from swallowing his breath, while his best friend leaned back on the couch and placed his arms behind his head. Of course, Rey was never bothered at all.

"Third." As if on cue, Father, at last, uttered his first ever word since he entered the room, startling the boy. "This marks the third time you're truant, Aspen... and that's for this month only. The professors did not even bother checking in on you anymore, as though they have accepted the fact you're just going to disappear."

I guess they have given up looking for me.

"As always, perfect attendance in every other class but court lessons... and even stirred some trouble." With a sigh slipping out of his flaring nostrils, Father pushed his papers aside, before he folded his arms and gripped his jaw. "Have you not learned from before? When you both dressed up as the princes, the palace workers thought Prince Ace skipped his lessons to play with his brother? You almost caused a catastrophe if not for your mother and I."

Yeah well, about that... Aspen remembered how much lectures he had to endure from Mother, and Father straight up forced him to help up with his work as punishment.

"For them to mistake us as the real princes, means we successfully impersonate them," Rey had the need to comment. "Isn't that impressive?"

"Reynard, you are not excused," Father said with a stern voice. While his friend did not reply—thankfully—back, he simply shrugged.

Meanwhile, Aspen found the golden star brooch attached on Father's cloak more interesting to observe. It gleamed majestically underneath the sunlight seeping from the windows. If he remembered correctly, the king himself was the one who had bestowed Father that badge as some sort of commendation. Makes sense since he works closely with him.

"Can't believe I'm dealing with not just one, but two problem children," Father grunted, rubbing one of his temples and narrowed his eyes. "Listen, Aspen. Being a knight does not mean they only tend their combat skills, weaponry and swordsmanship, but they also need to—"

"To have ample knowledge of the Elysian laws and understand how the royal court functions," Aspen breathed, completing that sentence he would repeat so many times it was basically stuck to his brain. "Yes, yes, I hear you clearly and well..."

Was it the fortieth time he said that? Aspen had lost count, so it did not matter anyway.

"If you truly did, you'll deem these lessons equally as important," he said as he clasped his fingers together.

"Those are not even mandatory for knights, but you still enrolled me in. They are exclusive to the royal court members like you," Aspen protested, finding himself bolting out of his chair and walking right into his desk. Father jolted his brows, and even Rey shot up from his slumped posture.

Now that he finally brought this up, this was the chance; the chance to uncover everything Father was hiding. A deep breath was all he needed, especially with all of the burst of emotions bubbling up inside of him.

He needed to know it all.

There was no holding back anymore.

"Father, you've always wanted me to take your position, but..." He gripped his jaw, feeling his nails digging into his palms as he clenched his fists. "I don't get it. I don't understand why you have to go as far as to stop me from being a knight. You tried so hard forcing me into these stupid lessons—"

His brows twitched. "They are not stupid—"

"Listen to me first!" Aspen cried, stomping his foot on the floor. "You made it so difficult for me to get my own sword, you're against me watching duels if not for Mother, anything that has to do with swords... you're never happy. You never even attended my first formal spar..." His voice nearly cracked as he grasped his shirt. "Why? Tell me why, Father. There has to be a reason, no?"

Father stared hard at him, all the annoyance contained in his tensed expression disappeared into thin air. At first, Aspen's sharp breaths helped fill in the stunned silence sitting in between them. Perhaps he might have said something wrong, but... how long would he have to wait...?

"I..." Father began but immediately paused. He curled his lips and turned away from his son's drilling gaze, allowing his side bangs to shadow his eyes. "I have my own reasons."

"...What kind of reasons?" Aspen whispered.

"You'll never understand."

"How am I supposed to understand if you never explain them to me?!" He exclaimed, a surge of heat swelled up inside his head. That's right, you never told me a single thing!

"You're still too young. You'll understand more of these issues once you grow up." Father's voice was grim. He was now standing up, staring down at his only child. "I'll let you off, but next time, I want to see both of you attending your classes—"

"Fine, fine, I will go!" Aspen slightly winced at how loud his voice had gotten, cutting Father off once more. He instinctively whirled on his heels as soon as his eyes felt hot and watery; Father should not be seeing this. "...but I'm still going to practice both my sword and renèi, and Rey will help me. I'll still train and go to the official trials, no matter what!"

Father said nothing, although Aspen listened to the faint, defeated sighs escaping out of him. The chair creaked as he plopped back down, never bothered stopping neither his son nor Reynard from marching out of his chamber. Honestly, Aspen wished Father did hold him back—he even stopped by the entrance and gave him a chance, but the squeaks of the door and his own footsteps retorted in return.

He'll always find ways to dodge the questions or give strange responses. Not even Mother could wrap her head around him.

"Wow, your determination is undefeatable, no one's sword would be able to cut it down." Rey commented as both of them walked through the corridor, furnished with white embroidered carpet and crystal chandeliers. "Maybe the gods will have a hard time too."

"The gods?" Aspen said between his chuckles as he rubbed his eyes. "That's an exaggeration..."

They're probably the ones who can stop me.

"Have to respect that, you're all set for the future. I don't even know what I wanna be." His best friend suddenly smacked his fist and threw his usual smirk. "Oh! Maybe I should be His Majesty's advisor, so I can finally tell him to stop being so uptight and just relax."

Aspen shook his head. "You'll be dead on your first day, that's for sure."

"Nu-uh, obviously I lied. Who wants to work near an ill-tempered old man like him?" Rey waved the back of his hand. "He acts like he's the most awesome king ever, when he probably hits his own kids."

"Hush, Rey!" He immediately slapped his shoulder. "I know you do not like His Majesty, but that's definitely treason, you're making false statements at this point! What if someone hears that? Also, there's no way the king hits his own... sons...?"

Aspen's voice quickly faded, and so was the certainty in his tone. Rey—the boy who would playfully refute all of his arguments and never took anything too seriously—completely stood still in his tracks. His frown only grew bigger, and the mischief that often danced in his green eyes disappeared, now solemn and blank, gazing into nothingness.

"R-Rey?" he gulped. What's going on? He's never like this before.

"...Let me tell you something, Aspen," Rey murmured, turning towards his friend. "The moment you are knighted, be prepared to hear secrets we're not supposed to know, hidden by His Majesty, his family and those in the court. Secrets that could ruin lives... or even the entire empire."

Ruin... lives? Aspen's heart was still recovering after his fight with Father, but with Rey losing his jolly self... it pounded against his eardrums. Moreover, the lack of guards patrolling in the vast empty hallway was not helping at all. He's actually scaring me.

"Wha... What do you mean? Family secrets?" He took a step back. "Rey, you're just joking right...? Because this is not funny."

However, instead of easing off Aspen's looming worry, his best friend abruptly snapped his head towards the end of the hallway. Following his gaze, his stomach dropped to the bottom when something—no, someone, was sprinting towards their direction.

No, did we get caught—?!

Thankfully, rather than a guard who was charging at them, it was just a little boy; perhaps the same height as Aspen. His black cape glided through the air as his raven black curls, running down until his neck, bounced at every rapid step he took. His bangs were rather long, covering half of his face, but the other half was shielded by both of his arms. And to add more, he let out a series of sniffs, as though he was sobbing quietly.

The child never took heed of the two boys in front of him, so before Aspen could even register what was going on, two different yelps pierced throughout the vicinity the moment their bodies slammed against each other in a loud thud. A second later, they were both sprawled on the ground, his nose and chest throbbed and ached.

"Aspen!" Rey screamed. "You alright?!"

"Y-Yeah, I'm good, I'm good!" Aspen grunted and rubbed his head, but that was not his concern; this was a pinch in the arm compared to his combat classes.

On the other side, the black-haired boy gasped before he frantically scrambled off to the side. Promptly raising his head, a pair of eyes like that of darkened, earthy soil after a heavy rainfall, peeked from underneath his curls, but they were pooling with tears... and that hurt him even more than his own pain.

"Excuse me, Your Highness," Rey snapped as he marched towards the boy. "Forgive my lack of manners, but it will be in your best interest to learn how to use your eyes properly—"

"Rey, Rey, it's fine," Aspen dismissed, raising his hand, before he cast the trembling boy a smile, lending his hand. "Hey um... are you okay, are you hurt anywhere? Do you need he—"

He was spared no chance to complete his sentence; the boy was already on both of his feet, scurrying into the distance without giving neither the children any more attention. And as fast as he had appeared, he vanished into the corner at the end of the hall, leaving Aspen with his heart heavy and an empty hand. Why was he like that...?

"Wow, wow, no apology after running into you like some rag doll," Rey grumbled and crossed his arms. "Surely a princely behavior right there."

"Princely?"

"Yes." Rey nodded, watching as Aspen stood up and brushed his pants. "For he is the youngest one out of the three, Prince Ira Emerson Elysian. The one who's always standing behind His Majesty when he makes appearances and announcements."

"Ah, Prince Ira?! Good lord, I hope I wasn't rude to him earlier..." Aspen scratched his head, before he looked back at the spot where Prince Ira was last seen. Father and Mother always made me attend those public appearances with them, but I never paid too much attention so I did not know much of what the princes looked like...

"He's more focused on tending himself rather than your behavior. Don't worry," Rey responded.

"But he was about to cry, and he didn't look so good..." Aspen murmured, placing his hand over his mouth. "I wonder if something happened to him."

"Who knows? Perhaps his parents got something to do with it, but that's beyond our concern." He shrugged as he started walking off, while Aspen trailed close behind.

Yes, it was not his business to pry into their personal lives, but that pure devastation engraved all over Prince Ira's teary expression latched onto his mind. No matter how much he tried chasing the memory away, it would come back.

It was like he was telling him something... something behind the scenes of what seemed to be the powerful Elysian family who seized back the kingdom from the hands of their sworn enemies—just like those old tales Mother would often talk about before bed back then.

"The moment you are knighted, be prepared to hear secrets we're not supposed to know, hidden by His Majesty, the family and those in the court."

And the more he thought about it, the more his best friend's statement made all sense.

Why would they be withholding such information from everyone, though? What kind of secrets... would be so life-threatening? And as for the knights who swore the oath to prioritize and protect the kingdom until their deaths, would they also be forced to bury those secrets?

Unfortunately for Aspen, these questions conjured up more headaches rather than answers.

***

A/N: And that's the first official appearance of my favorite character from FoE! <3

Thank you so much for your support by reading this fanfic! I'm currently trying to keep the lore as close as possible to the canon story, and I hope I nailed it off :D