Chapter Sixteen

"I know. We need to talk about my brother's behavior…" Michel recognized, and then he let out an exhausted sigh.

Evan led a hand to cover his mouth partially, trying to ponder on what to say without sounding rude or straightforwardly offensive with this gesture.

"I thought he was going to marry Lady Madeline. Why is he acting like this?" Evan questioned Michel, looking at him with a puzzled and discontented expression on his face.

Michel let out another sigh.

"Evan, if I asked you to keep a secret, could you keep it and promise me you're not gonna tell anyone about it?" Michel asked, he sounded rather serious and secretive, apparently, he was about to reveal something really significant to Evan that he should be cautious and careful with.

"I promise to keep quiet, you know you can trust me, Michel." Was Evan's response.

Michel sketched a wide smile when he heard that, and chuckled lightly. He seemed happy to have his confidant again.

He leaned in closer and made a gesture with his hand so Evan could do the same thing. The redhead imitated this action, and Michel took a quick glance at the couple that was sitting by the table at the right corner, thus making sure they weren't hearing their conversation.

"My brother isn't actually in love with Madeline." He confessed, and Evan did his best to conceal his widened eyes.

He didn't believe what he had just heard.

Lady Madeline sounded like the kind of woman any man, noble or not, would want. She was from one of the noblest houses in Avevia, she was extremely beautiful, her pedigree was flawless, she had received the best education found in foreign countries and, from what Evan had heard, she had a golden heart, being excessively generous with the lower class people and the ones who had less opportunities to achieve their goals than anyone like her.

How could André not love a woman like her? A noble lady who probably was so honored to be his fiancée and enamored with him. Was André a womanizer maybe?

"Why? They looked so perfect together the other day at the gala. Why doesn't he love her?" Was Evan's inquire.

Michel took one last glance at the couple, who were now leaving the tip for their order and getting ready to sit up and leave the place. Then, he sat up straight again, and Evan did the same as him.

"Madeline, or Maddie as we call her, she's a close friend to André and me. I can tell you that we technically grew up together, so she's basically like a sister to both of us. Her father, Lord Theodore of House Blanchard, contributed a lot for Avevia to gain its independence. He's probably the closest friend of my father, and he was his right hand when the independence war began."

Evan's eyes opened widely again.

"What? There was a war?" Was everything he could utter.

"Hasn't Gabrielle taught you any Avevian history yet?" Michel frowned, seeming almost upset at Gabrielle. "The Spaniards conquered the archipelago back in the eighteenth century, they named it "Avevia" after the many birds that visited the islands, "ave" in Spanish is a synonym for "pájaro", which means "bird", that's the origin of our kingdom's name." He explained.

Evan decided to get more comfortable in his chair, seeing a short history class coming. Michel noticed this and smirked. Knowing his friend was interested in his country's history certainly made him happy.

"When the French learned about Spain's recent conquest, they spent many years trying to get here and persuading the Spanish royalty to give in the archipelago that was theirs back then. After the French Revolution, when France was impoverished and struggling, the Spanish monarchs finally decided to give in our land." He continued, staring directly into Evan's citrine green eyes. "The French found a way to sustain themselves by exploiting us and our land's resources, we spent many centuries enslaved by them and getting our native culture erased more and more with every rich Frenchman that managed to get a nobility title here. Although France was already a republic by then, we remained a kingdom, the viceroy being under the French president's orders." He took a short break to make sure Evan was following him.

When Evan nodded and let him know he was keeping up so far, he continued.

"As I've said, many centuries had to pass for us to get our independence. It was 1984 when we got it. My grandfather used to be the viceroy back then, and he noticed our people were struggling. We barely had resources left to sustain ourselves for at least a month. Rich people had a lot and poor people had too little, there was not an in-between class. Our culture got just erased, there were just a few tribes left that worked as laborers in noblemen's manors. The dominant ethnicity was the French, even if they had been born in Avevia, they still considered themselves French. That was disgustingly indignant for me to hear when I learned about it as a kid…"

Evan chewed on his lower lip when he heard that. Seeing Michel this passionate about a topic in particular yet so saddened because of it… That made Evan feel so powerless and made him wish to be able to do or say something that could make him feel even just a little bit better.

"What happened in the war? If it's okay of me to ask about that?" Evan asked, feeling bad for Michel but still eager to know more about the Avevian history.

"We had stopped sending France our goods. Three months of constant threatens by the French government passed and, finally, on the morning of the seventh day of October, they bombarded Île Paraíso." Michel swallowed a heavy lump on his throat. "My grandfather died there, I never got to know my grandfather in person…" He puckered his lips at such a memory. "The French designated another man to be the viceroy, Lord Victor of House Blanchard, Madeline's grandfather…" He suddenly emitted a bittersweet chuckle. "They thought he'd be loyal to them, but actually he acted as a double spy. He saw in my father a great potential to rule, but…"

He suddenly paused there, seeing the waitress approaching them with a tray holding their ordered drinks, as well as the nuts and the sweet potato chips.

The waitress gave them a puzzled smile and frowned, looking rather confused as she didn't see André and Gabrielle sitting at the table with them.

"Your Highness, My Lord, here you have your orders, and this is the menu." She said, grabbing four laminated menus and sliding them on the table. "Is everything okay? May I ask where did His Highness Prince André and Lady Gabrielle go to?" She questioned.

"They went downstairs to dance for a while as we waited for the starter dishes." Michel replied, drawing a carefree smile on his face and using an informal voice tone.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'll come to check your table again in ten minutes more or less to take your orders. I hope you enjoy the drinks!" She informed them, bowing at them and turning on her heels to leave.

Evan grabbed his can and opened it. So much time had happened since he lastly took a sip of Dandelion and Burdock, he was eager to know what Michel thought about the drink. Michel did the same as Evan, and then he proceeded to take a sip without further ado.

"Mmh! This is really good!" He exclaimed, clearly enjoying the taste of the rare drink.

"Right?! I really loved drinking it with my friends back in Derby. I remember we'd meet at the plaza and gulp these drinks as I played the guitar and Maggie sang songs by The Beatles…" He remembered those precious moments, and his eyes shone with a glimpse of sweet melancholy.

Michel took another sip and laid the can down on the table, suddenly feeling curious.

"Tell me more about your friends in England, please." He asked, denoting a certain interest.

"Well, my group was conformed by five: James, Kirk, Allison, Maggie, and me. We met in middle school, except for Allison, who got in the group when we went into the first year of high school." Evan answered. "James was like the jock wannabe of the group, he was really into football, but was terrible at it." He said, and both of them let out some amused guffaws. "Kirk was an avid gamer, most of the time he was playing mmorpg's instead of doing his homework, but he was actually really smart; his philosophy went like "I enjoy the day now playing videogames, and when the term ends I take a two-week hiatus to beat the bosses at the dungeon that school is.", or something like that… Honestly speaking, Kirk usually speaks in gaming terminology and it can be a bit hard to understand what he's trying to say at times… Maggie used to say he has a "mob mentality", and we used to tease him a lot with that."

Both Michel and Evan laughed at this anecdote. The prince had never heard of the term "mob mentality", but it sounded funny and he was definitely going to make use of it at some point.

"What about the girls? Allison and Maggie?" Michel asked, already feeling curious about Evan's peculiar friends. He'd have liked to know them, too. He was simply glad he was catching up with his childhood friend after sixteen long years and he was slowly opening himself more and more every time.

"Oh, well. Allison is a true fashionista and a social media addict, she likes to update her status on the media a lot and has a lot of followers. It was a bit of an odd but super endearing process to see her grow... Because when we met her she was really insecure about herself, I remember she was a bit chubby and used bracers, and she felt really bad with herself because of it." Evan continued explaining, and Michel hummed in understanding. "Maggie is a musician, like me, but she's more into singing. She has a great voice and is able to cover any song just amazingly. I really admire her and I can't help thinking she has a bright future ahead. I even confess I feel a bit jealous of her… But it'll be all good at the end, I guess..." He ended the brief introduction of his friends with this last sentence.

Michel frowned slightly at Evan, feeling worried about what he had just said about Maggie and his envy towards her.

"Can I know why do you feel jealous of her?" He inquired, his voice sounded calm, even a bit soothing, but in reality, he felt concerned and wanted to help his friend in some way.

Evan's cheeks turned of a light shade of pink then. He couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed about what he had just confessed to Michel.

"W-Well…" He sighed in defeat. "It's not like I can complain a lot… Gabrielle is a wonderful girl and I'm happy about the fact that her family decided to help mine to go through their awful situation. And I really hope I can fall in love with her someday, too…" He bit his lower lip.

"...But…?" Michel looked at him with merciful eyes, trying to help his friend to find the correct words to express himself, to tell him what was distressing him so much.

Evan hesitated for a moment. He wasn't ready at all to tell his childhood friend about his preference, about what he used to feel towards him back when they were children. He didn't want to ruin the beautiful friendship they were trying to rebuild right now… He was going to be honest, but not entirely.

"...But I had another goal. I had dreams. And I won't ever be able to achieve them now that I have to marry Gabrielle…" He confessed, there was so much bitterness in his anguished voice.

Michel pursed his lips and nodded, understanding what he was trying to say —not liking it a bit, of course, but still being able to put himself in Evan's shoes.

He stopped to think about something for a moment. Something that could cheer him up…

"Evan, back in the camp, did I ever mention when was my birthday?" He asked.

Evan gave him a puzzled look, trying to decipher what he meant with that and, at the same time, trying to remember if he ever mentioned when his birthday was.

"I don't think you ever mentioned that." Was his simple response. And he frowned, confused.

"My birthday is on April the twenty-seventh." Michel informed him.

Evan's eyes opened wide like two plates. That was on Tuesday of the next week!

"Oh my God… Michel… I-I'm so sorry! I don't have a present for you… Let me fix that someday, please…" He tripped on his words.

Michel chuckled, he didn't look upset at all… In fact, you could almost tell that he was up to something.

"You do have a present for me, though." He replied.

Evan raised his eyebrows, shocked.

"I-I do…?" He asked, stuttering.

"Yes, you said you are a cellist, right? I would love to invite you to my birthday party and let you play a piece with a cello. You don't have to do it in front of everyone if you don't want to, we can sneak out to my aviary and have a private concert there." He suggested, a confident smile drawn across his cherubic face.

Evan's face went beet red.

Did he seriously want him to play a piece for him? If it were any other person than Michel, he'd have answered with a round and clear 'no'. But… something about him, about his care towards him and how he showed himself interested in what he did and what he liked… It was definitely worth the try in Evan's opinion.

Evan smiled warmly and determinedly.

"I'll do it. In fact…" He smiled conspiratorially at him. "I never told you this, but at times I like to compose my own pieces for cello." He told him.

Michel grinned widely, his teeth were so perfectly white and that gesture was simply irresistible.

"That's good to know! You can play one of your pieces for me, then. I'd love to hear one of them if that's okay to you." He added, sounding quite interested in these compositions that Evan made by his own.

"I'm not sure which one to pick, I just hope I can impress you." Evan shrugged as he tried to hide a flirtatious grin. He was excessively elated right then.

Michel let out some giggles.

"I'm pretty sure any of them will be great. I appreciate the fact that you'll pick one carefully just for me, though." He said, smirking an ambiguous smile for him.

Evan's mind stopped working for a second when he saw the alluring expression on Michel's face. Was he trying to flirt with him…? That couldn't be true, he must have been simply joking or trying to tease him like usual.

Evan cleared out his throat.

"I think we should go look for André and Belle. My can of Dandelion and Burdock is empty and I'm getting a bit hungry. And I honestly doubt these nuts can do much about it." He informed, getting shyer suddenly. "Shall we go downstairs and look for them?" He suggested.

"Sure." Was Michel's simple response.

And with this, they sat up and headed to the spiral staircase, going downstairs to try and find both the crown prince and the noble lady, who were apparently having the time of their lives showing off their moves on the dancefloor of the pub.