Sitting in the royal garden, Adelina was meeting up with the prince for the first time since their last encounter at her birthday party.

She brought the cup to her lips to savor the chocolate milk and hummed in satisfaction. The temperature was just right for the early afternoon.

She set the cup down and finally turned her head towards the prince, facing him with a serious expression. "Your highness, I'm guessing you're inviting me out for a reason. Is there something you want to ask me?"

Theodore remained unfazed by the question. "I thought it'll be nice to have a chat, Lady Adelina. We haven't talked for a while."

She deadpanned. The party was two days ago, two days. Why was he acting so strangely?

"Nevermind," she said while struggling to pick the right words to say, "How has your day been?"

He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the chair with closed eyes, "The usual, reading father's letters and paperwork."

"Sounds rough," Unconsciously, she thought of her daily rants about schoolwork with her friends in her past life and talked casually like how she usually did. Worried, she waited for the prince's reaction, expecting to hear his sarcastic remark. When he didn't, she cast a curious look at him and was instead surprised by what she was seeing.

In front of her, Theodore was sleeping while maintaining his sitting posture on the chair, his chin tilted downwards. The soft breeze seemed to gently brush away the strands of his dark hair to one side, revealing his facial features more clearly.

Adelina felt as if she was intruding a moment she shouldn't. She silently observed his face and her stare lingered longer on his closed eyelids, seeing the pair of eye bags sunken beneath them.

Suddenly, he seemed to age a lot faster than a nine-year-old kid.

He must have been working hard...She couldn't help but worry once she noticed his tired state. At this realization, she shook her head.

"What am I doing..." she mumbled under her breath, "Why am I here, chatting with his highness?"

The sound of someone's footsteps brought her attention, and she looked up at the maid who entered with a tray filled with sweets.

"Your highness..." The maid stopped her sentence halfway, seeing Adelina make a silent gesture to keep quiet. She glanced at her sleeping master and nodded in understanding, placing the tray and left wordlessly.

When she heard some noises coming from the prince's direction, she turned back to see him sitting more comfortably, wide awake now.

He was avoiding making eye contact, looking anywhere but her. Red colored the tip of his ears. "Sorry. I must have been tired."

Hmm. A smile curled at the corner of her mouth. Was he embarrassed?

Theodore must have noticed her expression because his face turned wary.

"What?"

"Nothing," she smiled teasingly, deciding to play with him a little, "I didn't know your highness had a strange sleeping habit."

He turned his head sharply at her. "I do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Oh, you definitely do. You see," she made a grand pause for effect, satisfied when he leaned closer curiously to hear the rest, "When you close your eyes...you fall asleep!"

She giggled when the prince came to realize what was going on, judging by how wide his eyes were.

His face flushed. "T-That's...foul play!"

"Is that so?" she smiled innocently when he glared at her.

Yeah, this isn't so bad.

--------

At the return of the young miss, Adelina was greeted instantly by the maids inside.

"Welcome home, milady," they replied in unison as they pulled the entrance doors open. She greeted them back and walked in.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar figure by the staircase and waved. "Mother, I'm back!"

She watched her mother walk towards her in fast paced fashion before reaching for a quick hug. "Welcome back Adelina!"

"Mother, please don't hug me too tight. You're...suffocating me."

"Oh...sorry," she replied sheepishly, looking embarrassed.

Adelina chuckled and hugged her to ease her mother's worries. She could feel the gentleness from her mother when she held onto the comfort of her hug.

By the time they finished hugging each other, she noticed her father's sudden appearance.

"Judging by your expression, I assume the day went well?" Her father noted, observing her reaction.

"Yes! Thank you for letting me meet his highness," she smiled sincerely, "I had lots of fun today."

He nodded in satisfaction and patted her head. "That's good."

She smiled again. "I'll go check up on brother Claude. He must be bored staying in the house all day." She was already halfway on her way upstairs when she heard her mother reply.

"Don't forget to change your outfit first!" her mother said.

"Okay!" she shouted back.

--------

Theodore wasn't sure what to make of the constant smiling his parents were showing in their dinning hall. In fact, he thought the smiles were almost creepy.

After a long internal debate, he set the fork down on the table. "What is it?"

His father, the king, chuckled merrily, a huge contrast from the stoic demeanour he display in front of the people.

"Well, well, I must admit I was quite curious to know the person who you were with this afternoon. Are the rumours true?"

"Rumours? What do you mean, father?"

His father raised an eyebrow. "The rumour about you meeting with the lady of House Corbet."

Theodore stared at him suspiciously. Where was his father going with this conversation?

"I think our son is a bit lost," His mother, the queen, added in. "Your father wanted to know if you fancy the lady."

His face went blank for a moment, before the implication finally hits and his cheeks turned pink. "That's not possible..."

His parents glanced at each other and smiled knowingly.

Noticing the exchange, his cheeks reddened even more.

"Stop doing that!"

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author's note:

Recently, there are a lot more readers and comments than before, and I wanted to thank you all of reading. This was a book I wrote for fun so there might be some errors haha but once again, thank you!

-theorangelover