Chapter 2: Have Some Dignity
"I asked for your name, not your role." He spoke quietly.
"I apologi-"
"Furthermore! You are a child of The Empire, have some dignity, speak with your head held straight, you are not 'just a maid'..." He spoke sternly with a reprimanding tone that seemed to be copied directly from the Royal Tutor.
The harsh way he said things wouldn't allow the girl any insight into the fact that in his head the boy was thinking, 'Definitely not just a maid. I've never seen a maid as beautiful as her before...' and was desperately schooling his expression so that he didn't blush while facing her.
"I will forego etiquette this time and introduce myself first, I am Oleander. Does the last name need to be said?"
"That... would be quite unnecessary your highness."
The prince laughed. A genuine expression that finally brought life and youth to his face as he showed a soft smile and his eyes bent, the sunlight making them reflect like the sapphires he was adorned with.
The girl did not share his talent for acting. Her face immediately went red all over except for her nose. 'The Prince is very.... unpredictable.' she thought to herself. Then she quickly made her introduction before the prince lectured her again.
Silver eyes blinked slowly, as she took a deep breath. Before opening with a sense of determination she didn't seem to have before. Her head and spine aligned, her posture entirely free of flaws. Her bow was one fluid motion that made her straight hair sway like water. Big doll eyes gently closed, yet the red lashes never even trembled. The precision was unreal. The girl's presence was somehow magnified by what should've been a display of submission. She spoke the simple words of greeting in a measured tone-
"My name... is Faustina Chronos, blessed be Kairos! In aeternum~"
Oleander was stunned. He was once again under the impression that the girl was a noble, or even a royal. She greeted him with the confidence and grace that an empress should have. Despite her clothing and disheveled look, her every inflection was perfection. Every breath and pause was full of the dignity and strength that he wished to see from a child of The Empire. Everything that he wanted to see within himself...
Straight red strands danced in the wind as they picked up a passing spring breeze. The weight of the world that was on the boy's shoulders seemed to melt away as he finally felt that he could breath. This was what he wanted. She was what he wanted. His admiration overflowed.
"You are the blessing of Kairos, Faustina..."
Despite the fact that he was simply saying the traditional reply to the greeting, the girl couldn't help but feel that his eyes were looking at her a bit too intensely. There was some sort of emotion behind it that she couldn't figure out but it was definitely something more than just repeated words....
"Um...thank you, your highness...." The girl averted her eyes from him while feeling a slight guilt in her heart, 'In truth, you should be thanking my mother for teaching me these things even though I might never have met a royal my entire life' she thought.
"...Did you forget what I said already?" The boy stifled a laugh and made his expression into a cold and questioning look with one brow raised. He wasn't upset, merely entertained by the girl's shyness despite not understanding why.
....but the girl didn't know that.
Faustina panicked for a second. 'What does he want from me now??' she internally cried out. She glanced at him then away, wondering if it would be possible to just sprint away and never encounter the boy ever again. The answer to that question was no but her mind worked quickly and she found the answer to her first question!
Every time she looked away from him, his expression worsened! What did he say before? Head straight, with dignity....
Faustina raised her head and straightened her back before looking the prince in the eyes,
"Thank you, your highness, Prince Oleander~"
Her gentle and polite smile put the performance smile he had been practicing in his room to shame! It was distant, restrained, but unmistakably cordial! Prince Oleander for the first time in his life recognized that he was genuinely jealous of someone.
The boy knew he was bad with his expressions. That's why he practiced them every day....but his practice never seemed to improve his performance. Oleander was the kind of person who could only smile when he was genuinely happy or when he found something funny. He could only frown when he was genuinely sad or uncomfortable. He couldn't fake a smile or a frown to save his life. You might think that wouldn't matter but to deal with the tricky and delicate nature of nobility it was a very necessary skill.
Oleander could not fake his emotions. Much to the dissatisfaction of his teachers, family, and especially himself. So instead he wore a facade of emptyness. He internalized all his feelings and did his best to show absolutely nothing on his face unless it was an appropriate reaction. It was a much easier task for him to pretend to feel nothing than it was to pretend to feel something he didn't.
His dark blue eyes stared so deeply into her that she felt like the prince might want to disect her or something. Faustina knew that she had responded perfectly. Composed and elegant all the way through.
The prince seemed to spend a lot of time...not talking.
It was making her nervous but it looks like that was simply how he is, not any indication that she messed up. And so she remained confident in herself. With the perfect smile plastered on her face, she would wait until the prince was ready to open his mouth again.
It didn't take much longer, as he soon realized that the sun had moved position. He only realized because the light was no longer perfectly illuminating the girl. Her red hair lost the slightly orange glow the sun gave it, only making it appear as an even richer red. The sun was beginning to set. Evening was fast approaching, Prince Oleander needed to go back before the servants started a search party for him.
"Your smile... It's perfect." He said to her stiffly before turning around and walking away with speed, realizing that he was unable to hide the light blush growing on his face.
Faustina was left confused. But she was a simple minded girl who would not worry herself over things that passed. She quickly let go of it and started to make her way back to somewhere she could be of assistance.
For some reason, after interacting with that weird prince, she was strangely relieved...
A few hours later Oleander's First Debut finally started.
As he was an Imperial Prince and there were a multitude of guests who came to see him and The Empire, it was not necessary for him to individually greet every person.
Everything had been going well! At least, until a tall and lanky man in a well tailored but dully coloured suit approached him...
"Hello little one~"
Oleander wasn't blind. It was obvious the man had come over specifically to provoke him.
He knew events like this would happen throughout the celebration but knowing and experiencing were two different things.
It was a great disrespect to be treated like a small child by a stranger during your First Debut. This was a milestone of great significance. One of the most important marks of maturity in the Kairos Empire.
Not only did the man blatantly infantilize him, he also entirely ignored the difference in status between them. How could he speak to a member of the Imperial Family in this way?
The boy was frustrated. It was his first time ever meeting people who weren't his family or servants. It was his first time ever meeting so many people. ....It was his first time ever being intentionally disrespected.
This was incredibly uncomfortable for him.
The boy knew he wasn't good at performing and yet here he was, on the first night of a 2 week long performance. His first performance ever. Being watched by countless observing eyes....
His head hung down as he kept his eyes away from everyone. Trying to calm his breathing and make sure his expression was flat.
Oleander couldn't keep from laughing at himself. He felt ridiculous now. How could he be such a hypocrite? Telling that girl to hold her own head high as a mere servant... yet allowing himself to even consider making the mistake of letting these vultures think they're above him?
The boy chuckled coldly. The empty laugh had a deep tone to it that shouldn't belong to such a young child.
Everyone was so caught off guard by it that they didn't even notice the way his hands were trembling behind his back. But of course the boy himself was aware of it, he covered his fear with laughter that mocked himself and hid his shaking by making a fist and digging his short nails into his own soft skin.
As he lifted his head the offending noble completely forgot his lines. He was meant to mock the child further, testing the kid's patience but...
The boy was too imposing, too intimidating, too much of a son of The Keiros Empire....
"i...i am the one at fault, your highness i apologize..." The grown man stuttered and licked his dry lips nervously as he acted out the traditional apologetic bow of the Empire, wishing those deep blue eyes would look away from him as he lowered his head even further down. After holding that posture for a bit he switched to the proper greeting posture. His head also remained looking down in the greeting. He stared at the floor and waited for the Prince's response. The part of the greeting where the other would wish him well and he would be able to stand up and take his leave.
....but it didn't come.
Oleander silently watched the man bow.
Everyone around them was also silent. The musicians and bards also couldn't bring themselves to play instruments and sing cheerful music in this sort of atmosphere. So Oleander watched the man and everyone else watched Oleander.
'How is it possible for a noble, even if low ranking, to seem so undignified compared to a servant girl?' he thought to himself, 'I witnessed her greeting and truly felt the welcome of the Empire...surely even her apologies would be much better than this man...'
The boy's eyes were cold and emotionless. The same, out of place smile continued to make everyone uncomfortable as it stuck on his face while he stood motionless. No one knew that in his mind he was imagining the perfection of a little servant girl's bow.
'The 3rd Prince of the Kairos Empire.... He might even become more terrifying than the Emperor himself...' was the thought that everyone present shared.
This sort of humiliation wasn't uncommon amongst nobility but for a child to do it to an adult on their first day in public without batting an eye.... It was truly unheard of.
The man bowing audibly swallowed. His mouth growing more dry by the second. He stared at the floor and started to see the straight lines of the marble tiles wobbling as he became dizzy from the stress. A bead of sweat dripped from his nose to the tile floor.
....It seemed the young prince wouldn't let him get away with his offense?
...Should he bow on his knees?? What more did the boy want? It shouldn't have even been this serious anyway!
The man was about to stand up on his own, without permission, regardless of the consequences. But just as his head started to lift an immature voice spoke,
"Is that your wife? And your child?"
'I wonder why they look so nervous...' In the boy's mind, there was nothing apart from innocent curiosity.
The man's head immediately snapped up to look, but before he could even think to say anything the woman spoke.
"Ah yes...I am his wife, your highness...I-"
"Both of you, come greet me."
'So they are! Let's see if they're all like this or it's just his attitude!' the boy worked hard to keep his expression unchanged but his new determination showed itself in his eyes.... And scared everyone present.
.....!!!!!!
The expressions throughout the hall were full of shock.
Everyone has their pride. Whether it came to royals, or even nobles, who had ever been blatantly ignored? Just to have their family brought into the mess?? This was the sort of thing that wouldn't be seen in these circles, it was done away from prying eyes, to servants and peasants who had absolutely nothing.
Etiquette was drilled into the heads of every royal, and noble, and even servant, of the Empire. Manners were the most important thing. Subtle slights would always occur but to openly demand a greeting was....
"Do your feet hurt already? The night has just started. Greet me first."
The Prince's expression remained dull and uninterested. Only his eyes showed a hint of determination that no one could understand.
'Ah, does their land not have shoe makers? The heels are so high that their feet look awfully uncomfortable. Let's get this over with so they can go sit~' But the boy's genuinely good intentions were fed to dogs, completely wasted as everyone in the area only saw his blunt words as vicious mockery...
....The heartfelt opinion in everyone's heart at the current moment was that the young Prince Oleander was already a tyrant!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
That_Little_Prince
That_Little_Prince I love unintentional humour. Sorry to my baby Oleander that the funny misunderstanding is at the expense of his reputation (￣ヘ￣;)
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