Chapter 5: His Grace

"Young master, you have to get back to bed now, It's already this late"

The butler said at Alexandre who was still wide awake while sitting on his bed staring at his thick blanket.

Well to be precise he wasn't really staring, he probably doesn't even realize that he's staring at anything for that matter. He's so deep in thought to even notice that after all.

"Young master"

"Young master"

He's been saying it repeatedly but Alexandre doesn't seem to have heard it.

"Young master, let's just visit again tomorrow okay? But if you don't sleep now, I won't be helping young master anymore"

It'll be bad if the duchess knows that he stayed up late. Once she catches wind about that, it won't be too long till she'll know about us visting the underground prison.

Alexandre snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the butler.

"Emeri will talk to Alexandre soon won't she, Mr. Graham?"

"Because Emeri doesn't seem to like Alexandre at all"

After everything he said about her definitely going to the birthday party, he sure thought about a lot of things. For someone so young to be worried about things like that, Alexandre sure is pretty mature for his age. He's a kind soul.

Though the butler wasn't so sure about her actually going to the party. She won't be able to go in the first place, she doesn't even have the luxury to choose.

'I doubt that she'd go even if she can though' The butler thought

'Wait..'

But then he noticed something really disturbing.

'Young master's birthday-'

His mind suddenly raced from the sudden realization and he was slightly feeling the chill down his spine.

'And the date of the little girl's execution-- 3 days from now-'

'It's just the day before the 14th day of Stellizra'

It's the worst time that the madame could've picked out of all days and he sure wasn't feeling too good about it.

But for the duchess who probably wouldn't want to have menacing gossips in her son's birthday, and following a noble's logic-- it makes sense.

'She'd be long dead even before young master's birthday'

"What's the matter Mr. Graham? You look like you saw a ghost"

Alexandre said as he noticed that the butler suddenly went quiet. He was turning quite pale and out of it.

The butler shrugged off those thoughts as his attention went back to Alexandre.

'I can't do anything about it. I don't have any reason to meddle with a stranger's fate'

'Whether she ends up dying or not, it's not any of my concerns.'

"It's nothing young master, you should really go to sleep now" the butler said as he tucked him in.

['But']

"Will we visit Emeri again tomorrow?" Alexandre asked as if he won't be able to sleep peacefully if the butler won't say anything.

['I'm worried about young master']

"Yes, yes, so young master has to make sure that he gets enough sleep and not have bags under his eyes okay?"

['I wonder if, I made the correct choice']

He only stared back at the butler, but it seemed like he was content with his reply.

Alexandre nodded as the butler stood their at his bed side.

"Sleep well young master"

['With letting them meet in the first place']

With the feeling of security, Alexandre closed his eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.

~•○•~

"Young master, I know that you probably didn't get enough sleep, but you need to get dressed quick!"

Alexander who felt like he just got forcefully pulled out from another dimension looked really tired and sluggish, waking up from the butler's call.

He doesn't know what was going on, but seeing the maids behind him, it seemed like it'll be another troublesome dress-up rush.

The bed felt like hugging a huge teddy bear with heaters in the middle of winter. So warm and comfortable, he didn't want to get up at all.

The butler on the other hand looked really panicked. " It's the duke! Your father's already outside the gates young master!"

"Father?" What the butler said caught Alexandre's attention. He didn't sound excited nor did he look like he was fond of the news though.

"Yes, the madame asked me to fetch you, the duchess is most likely already outside with the other staff"

Silence filled the room for a moment as Alexandre slowly got out of his bed, walking towards the balcony.

He could see his father's army making their way to the mansion from the gates as the sound of marching and footsteps got more distinct and clearer.

Alexander barely had any memories with his father. As far as he can remember, he was never there for most of his childhood. And even if there were some, they weren't exactly 'good' ones.

'Young master probably doesn't know what to feel about this'

'He doesn't know if he should feel happy , scared, or maybe relief'

The butler looked at him with worry

"I'll get you dressed young master, your mother is waiting for you"

"Mhmm" Alexander nodded and followed the butler back inside.

"I thought father won't be coming home till next month, why is he here already?" He asked while he was getting dressed by a countless of maids.

"The duke has finished his business in Khun much earlier than expected young master"

Alexandre flinched at a familiar word. He's sure that someone mentioned it yesterday too. That they were supposed to take Emeri back to Khun.

From his basic History lessons, he does know that Khun is their neighbouring kingdom and has been in conflict with theirs for quite a long time. But honestly though, Alexandre couldn't have cared less about it.

"Is Emeri from Khun? Then why is she here Mr. Graham?"

The butler was suddenly put in a very tight spot with Alexandre's question. He can't exactly say that she's here temporarily, to get killed.

Or even the fact that the 'business' he meant was the on-going war with Khun.

The duke technically lead the frontlines during the war. So it's not wrong to say that he's partly the reason why Emeri's fate is currently like this-- Why she ended up here in the first place...

"Ms. Emeri is simply staying here for a while. She's taking refugee here because her home country is experiencing some problems"

Alexandre's forehead wrinkled as he felt that something kinda didn't feel right. Though he didn't really ask anything more because he thought that it was a trivial thing to notice.

- A Few Minutes Later -

"The duke will surely compliment you of how much you've grown young master" The butler said as he's looking at Alexandre all dressed up

It didn't look like Alexandre is glad having to wear his formal attire though. It's true that the dukedom only uses high quality fabric, but it didn't matter for Alexandre because they all still felt very uncomfortable.

" Now, shall we go greet the duke young master?"

Honestly, Alexandre has a part of him that didn't really want to go, but he can't just decide that on his own after all. He has no choice for that matter.

He simply nodded as the butler picked him up and started to make their way to the entrance.

Since Alexandre is only 7 years old, the butler carrying him with one arm is quite doable. It's also not rare having personal servants carry the children of nobility around their own mansion or even oustide. You could even say that it's part of their job.

There's also the fact that their house are usually uselessly big so it's hard for young children to travel on their own.

After for quite some time, they finally arrived at the grand staircase just in front of the entrance. The duke and the duchess were both there, looking like they were having a really serious conversation.

The other servants were still there together with them, while the knights outside went off to a different direction-- most probably, to the training ground to drop off some things.

The duchess saw Alexandre and the butler at the corner of her eyes, and signaled them to come over with a smile on her face.

Alexander only kept his eyes fixated at the back of the man standing tall covered with silver armor.

Unlike him and his mother with a blueberry hair color, his were very dark.

He gulped as his heart started racing. He barely managed to keep himself from trembling too bad, just enough that it's not obvious.

The duke slowly turned around as he looked down to Alexander even when he was sitting on the butler's arm.

So tall and intimidating. Especially with the unchanging poker expression that he knows very well from his memories.

His face is well-defined with a pointed nose, but most importantly, his sharp eyes that looked very familiar to Alexandre when he's looking at a mirror. They were glowing like small honey gems even with the sun behind him.

"It's been a long time since you've met Alexandre, right Castellan? He's grown so much since the last time"

The duke looked at Alexander straight to the eyes, while the young child tried his best to not look fearful of him.

Deep inside, Alexander was expecting something from him. That maybe, he wasn't remembering his memories with his father correctly at all.

"I don't know about that..Seeing that he's still getting carried around--"

But no-

"He wasn't any different from when I last saw him."

He's the same person as Alexandre remembered him to be.

~•○TO BE CONTINUED○•~