Leonora VS. Leonhard

After Professor Heine concluded Prince Leonhard's and Princess Leonora's combined fencing lesson, the two teenagers went running to the palace gardens for teatime half an hour early so that no one would touch their sachertortes! The Prince and the Princess gobbled up about 6 slices each and finished up their beverage made my Prince Licht and Princess Licha. They had their cooking lesson with Professor Heidi, and they made their unique blend of vanilla and coffee.

While eating his seventh piece of cake, Leonhard asked Leonora, "Since we're the only ones here, why don't you tell me something about yourself?"

Leonora looked at Leonhard with perplexion and muttered with cake stuffed in her mouth, "HUH!? You want to know about me?"

Leonhard scoffed, "Yeah, I want to get father's praise on this bonding assignment, and I promised him and Heine that I will give it my best shot."

Leonora asked, "Okay, what exactly do you want to know about me? You already are aware that I love sports and sachertortes, right?"

Leonhard responded, "True. But there's always more than that. If you don't mind me asking, how are your grades at studying?"

Leonora's eyes filled up with tears, and she yelled, "I don't need to answer you, you moronic dunce!" And she sprinted away without answering the question, clearly embarrassed. Leonhard was offended and felt horrible for the way she treated him while all he did was trying to be friends with her. He remembered what his father instructed him and his brothers to do while the Princesses were residing in the palace.

*FLASHBACK*

The King called out an assemblage in his study on how the Princes of Granzreich and their royal tutor must conduct themselves in front of the Princesses of Cudmore.

The King looked at Kai and stated, "Kai, the second-eldest Princess of Vermillion is also 17 years old, and I expect you to take good care of her and get along efficiently. It is not a very taxing task, and the word says that she's specifically like you. That incorporates her inadequate communication skills, so I expect you to initiate conversations with her, don't worry, the Princess is quite pleasant once you get to apprehend her. Both of you might even acquire an understanding as she has also been misinterpreted to be glaring at personages when she's not. I trust that you will do your best at this bonding assignment."

Kai nodded his head with approval.

The King then glanced at Bruno and affirmed, "Bruno, the third-eldest Princess is also 16. The thing that you have to take note about is that she has suffered from temporary paralysis recently, so you have to make sure that she's calm at all times. Same as Kai, the Princess is also studious and is well-known for her academic performances back in her country, I'm not really sure about the international level. She can walk but can only do so for a short period of time as she's still recovering. I trust that you will do your part to help as well, I expect great things from you, my son."

Bruno replied with pride, "Yes, father!"

The King then looked over at Licht and commanded, "Licht, the fifth Princess is also 14. It turns out that the Princess is just as confident and carefree as you are. I hope that you guys get along splendidly as you both share that fact but you must conduct yourself in front of the Princess. And by that, I mean that you must keep your job at the cafe a secret and not behave like a commoner in front of her. On a side note, you also must keep your carefree and lewd behavior under control. I expect you to do a decent job for your assignment. Do you understand, my son?"

Licht scoffed, "Alright, fine! I will give it a shot!"

The King then glimpsed at Leonhard and instructed, "Leonhard, the fourth Princess is also 15. The task of you getting along with her is not taxing out of what I've heard about her, but you must also find out what type of person she is. She's known as the pink orchid of the Vermillion kingdom and is kind and humble to everyone. If she has high academic marks, then you can learn something valuable from her as she's of your age. I know that you're improving, but additionally, this will be an excellent experience for you. I know that you won't let me down, my son. Unlike the others, I expect nothing less from you than your brothers. You have qualities inside you that you just need to explore and find out, and I know that you will make me proud." Tears filled up Leonhard's eyes as he was so delighted that his father was expecting a lot for him. All his life, Leonhard has been called nothing but a 'dunce' by his previous instructors other than Heine, which wounded his heart in the past.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

Leonhard was touched by the fact that his father expects wonderful deeds from him but is unable to do so. He murmured to himself while running towards the palace stables to look for a horse, "I guess I need a break from all this." Leonhard hopped on his favorite horse named Patricia and went riding into the forest to calm himself down. He thought, "When I'm moving I forget painful feelings. I feel much at ease now, since I'm not running away from anything this time. But still, I feel hurt by what she said. Am I still a dunce? Well... she doesn't even know how hard I'm working for my claim to the throne. How can I expect an arrogant genius like her to actually understand me? Maybe father was wrong about her being kindhearted. If she had a teacher like Heine, she would dial her overbearing attitude down. Perhaps I should go to the back cove, where the fresh air can calm my heart."

When he reached the top of the cliff overlooking the ocean, he sat down on the bare ground quietly; closing his eyes and losing himself to the wind. It couldn't be any more peaceful for him. The combination of the orange and yellow colored gleaming sun that was setting down, followed by the north-east wind allowed him to calm down and perceive his problem differently. Leonhard opened up his disaster diary and started writing about the incident and his thoughts about the subject.

Suddenly, a pig came out on the loose from behind and shrieked, "OINK!" The horse who was sitting down harmoniously was petrified at the sight of the small pink animal. It began to panic and in turn, kicked Leonhard off the cliff! The horse ran away from the area immediately while the pig merely stood there perplexed and while Leonhard was hanging from a thin branch that was off the mountain; his life flashed before his eyes, and he was looking down to see how high he was.

He screamed at the top of his voice in fear, "PATRICIA!!! YOU STUPID HORSE!!! SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!!! ANYONE PLEASE!!" Swiftly, a girl came running at the sound of help and noticed that the branch on which Leonhard was dangling on was almost about to tear apart! The girl observed a string of leaflets that were lying of the ground, tied one end of it to a sturdy rock and threw the other end off the cliff.

She screamed, "Take it and hold on! I'll pull up!" Leonhard fearfully obeyed her command, and the girl pulled him up with adequate force, in turn, eventually saving the Prince!

Leonhard responded huffingly, "GOD! T-Thank you so much for saving me! I didn't really take a decent glance at your face earlier as I was dangling with my life there. How can I ever repay you?" The girl turned around with a book in her hand, thus revealing her physical features while Leonhard's expression darkened at the sight of it. Leonhard glared at her and muttered, "YOU!? What in the devil are you doing here?!"

It turned out it be none other than the fourth Vermillion Princess, LEONORA! Leonora neglected Leonhard's question and asked with tears filling her eyes, "You keep a reflective diary? Or rather I say that this if merely filled with the disastrous feelings of yours."

Leonhard blushed with embarrassment and answered with anger, "Umm... yeah very much! Go ahead! Laugh at me!"

But instead, Leonora responded, "I'm not going to laugh at you. I'm really sorry for the way I behaved back there, I was just flustered to tell you the fact that I'm a bad learner, and my grades are horrendous. I am improving in my studies only because of Heidi, but I have to put more effort into them than compared to my sisters because of my late start. I never put any effort into my academics for years as I always ran away from my lessons."

Leonora continued, "Sometimes I feel that I'm hopeless, a---"

Leonhard interrupted her by completing her sentence, "—A lost cause. Why is it so difficult? Right?"

Leonora took out a book from her pocket and handed over to Leonhard to read it. He read the following pages and asked, "You keep a disaster diary, too?"

Leonora nodded with approval and said while wiping off her tears, "Yeah... well... at least I don't have to hide my true identity around you anymore." They both looked at each other with silence and wind filling the air. They were speaking to each other but not with their mouths but with their eyes. Each of them felt grateful to have found someone who would recognize their vulnerability and help each other to fix them together.

A few moments later, a man came huffing and spoke, "Oh my god! Thank god you're here! Thank you so much, you guys!" The Prince and the Princess turned around to see a man who was looking for his pig!

He asked, "How can I repay you two?" Leonora stammered as she had no clue that the pig was there with them the entire time, "Umm... n-nothing s-sir. W-We're just glad you found your pet. H-Have a nice day!"

The man smiled at them and departed from the area happily. Leonhard responded, "Umm... that was awkward." They both shared a laugh and headed back to the palace on Leonora's horse.

Leonhard thought, "This bonding assignment may not be hard after all. Thank you so much, father. Without you, I would have never met someone who can genuinely understand and help me, and that even I can do the same for her. I'm eternally grateful."