The Gift of Friendship

The dusk came and blessed Landroich with a warm sunset, everyone in town was invited to the palace for the celebration, every individual was excited to see and meet the young grand duke. They carried gifts on the way, as they walked the path to the palace. Some children were eager to see how cool the palace is, some were eager to taste some luxurious foods. Neither of them are like Elias.

Elise bought new clothes for Elias, as for them— they both wore their old and unused clothes for any occasion. Elise was quite anxious but Tobias assured her to trust her guts. Elias was excited to see the duke until they reached the gates, wide open and welcoming them. There was a lot of catering and there were a lot of seats, it seems like everyone was able to eat with the royalty today. 

Elias tugged at his mom, urging her, "Mother! Mother! Mother! Can we see the duke now? Can we? Can we?" Elias looked like a puppy that's wagging its tail uncontrollably.

Just in time, Kaiser and Karl went outside the palace, welcoming and greeting their commoners visitors. Karl went to the opposite way to assist other guards on arranging the seats, to not make it troublesome for the guests and Kaiser stood by the stairs, waiting for his friends to approach him. 

In his mind, the people that he invited would approach him and ask, "can we be friends?" like so. But he didn't know the title he held at the moment, and no one dared to approach the Grand Duke, even if he was still a child.

"Mother look! That's the Grand Duke right?" Elias jumped. 

Tobias was worrying about his son misbehaving because of too much euphoria and excitement in him, he hushed Elias, "Behave yourself Elias." and he held Elias's small hand, to prevent him from running. But this kid is stubborn as fuck, he won't stop asking if this or that was the Grand Duke, so Tobias had no choice but to tell him the answer to shut him up, he lowered his voice, saying gently, "The Grand Duke is that," he pointed, "the one who was standing on the stairs at the grand door. the one who has long, black hair." 

Elias's eyes widened upon identifying who that kid was, once his eyes scanned the place, his blue eyes glued to the Grand Duke's figure. His eyes widened in awe, he loved his lips and whispered, "Beautiful."

Coincidentally, the Grand Duke saw him, the Grand Duke smiled and waved at him. Elias thought the Grand Duke was beckoning him, so he gripped his father's wrist and twisted his hand to loosen it, then he sprinted forward to the Grand Duke's direction. Elias was a sly little tyke. 

Tobias panicked when he felt that his son's hand left his grasp, an uneasy feeling washed on his body, he yelled, "Elias! get back here!" but it's too late, Elias was already stepping on the stairs, though the little kid was struggling, he was still fast on climbing.

Tobias cussed into the depth of his heart, his hand turned into fist as he subconsciously pressed his fist against his lips in frustration and nervousness, he just couldn't get his son in front of the Grand Duke, the guards might seize him— but his son might not.

Kaiser "Oh!" sound when he saw this kid, younger than him who was rushing on the steps, he reached his hand out, "Here, take my hand, be careful and watch your steps." 

Elias clumsily stepped at the same time he finally reached Kaiser's hand, Kaiser pulled him up and they both stepped on the entrance of the grand door. Elias was panting, he just sprinted from the platform and climbed the stairs.

Tobias saw this scene to his eyes, he couldn't help but close his eyes and furrowed his brow, This kid will have a spanking at home! and cussed underneath his breath. Sooner Elise found him, she tapped Tobias's shoulder, she asked, "Tobias? Are you alright? W-where's Elias?" 

Tobias didn't answer but made a deep sigh, "Elias is at the Grand door, he met the Grand Duke."

"Hello Grand Duke!" Elias said, he greeted happily, "Happy birthday!" 

Kaiser was taken aback when Elias held his hand again, squeezing it tight, 

"T-Thank you.. what's your name? and how old are you?" Kaiser thought nobody's going to go and approach him like he wished, yet this little kid did which restored his hope of making friends. 

"I'm Elias Acker, I'm 1 year old!" said the boy, "oh yeah, I have a gift for you!" He's very confident of this gift. 

Kaiser couldn't help but smile, "And that is..?" he asked, he noticed that the boy doesn't have any basket or a thing he carries, he became curious about the situation.

"It's friendship! My gift for you is a friend, and that is me!"