ALL NOVEL Chapter 18: Lonely
Another day of peace had passed, and although Ritt had still been a bit flustered by the events that had transpired at lunch, the Duke’s presence at dinner had forced him to be on alert, which managed to assuage some of his embarrassment about being near Sien. The next day’s breakfast had been a bit easier on Ritt, having had a full night’s sleep to get over his awkwardness and other feelings a little. But when breakfast ended and the Duke left, the realization that he was now alone with Sien, along with the memories of yesterday, all quickly invaded his mind once more and caused him distress.
Thankfully an unexpected visitor came, allowing Ritt a moment of reprieve.
Just as Sien had smiled at him with a mischievous gaze, an impatient knock had come from the door. Without Sien answering, a servant rushed in, hurrying past some of the surprised looking others that Ritt recognized as being not so secret spies for the Duke, and came a few steps inside before bowing dutifully.
“My Lord, the Crown Prince has arrived.”
Sien immediately lost his teasing looks and replaced them with a scowl, and then got up with a sigh before extending a hand towards Ritt.
“Wanna come with me to see a clown, Ritt?”
Ritt blinked in confusion, but he readily accepted Sien’s hand. His residual embarrassment and apprehension towards Sien had all but been blown away by his curiosity at why Sien had called the Prince in such a way.
~~~
Unlike when the Duke had first arrived, Sien just looked openly put out by the flashy looking Prince who smiled down at him.
“Cousin! What, has it been three years since we last met? My, it’s been far too long!”
“...Hello, Reece.”
Ritt was so used to seeing Sien smile, even if they weren’t always the most sincere looking ones, so it was odd to see him frown while someone else smiled blindingly his way. Perhaps the Prince’s smile didn’t seem completely convincing, but whatever emotions it was hiding, Ritt certainly would never have been able to tell what they were.
The Prince nodded at Sien’s weak greeting as if he were pleased, and then turned his attention to the Duke.
“And uncle! I’d like to say I was surprised to find you here, but you’re actually part of the reason I was sent!”
“...So you’re saying the Emperor sent you to remove me from here.”
Seeing the Duke’s grumpy visage, the Prince just chuckled, covering his mouth in a well-mannered way.
“Oh, but it’s not just you; I’m also supposed to bring cousin Sien along as well! So don’t feel too lonely, dear uncle.”
The Duke’s eyes narrowed at the Prince’s words, but the Prince seemed to pay it absolutely no mind as he turned this time to look towards Ritt.
“And you! I should say my greetings to you as well! You must be Sien’s new pet that I’ve heard so much about!”
Somehow the Prince’s words, although jovial in tone, sounded a bit like he was greeting someone’s dog for the first time, and Ritt struggled not to let his discomfort show on his face. However, before he could manage to open his mouth and reply, Sien had stepped in front of him, glaring up at the Prince and cutting Ritt off.
“Don’t talk to Ritt. He’s mine!”
The Prince’s hand once again came up to cover his mouth, hiding it as he chortled. His eyes that were glancing back and forth between Ritt and Sien had almost become crescents from how amused he was.
“Oh my! Look at you, hissing at me like an angry cat! What an interesting development. It makes me want to learn about this pet of yours all the more!”
However, after he savored looking gleefully over Ritt and Sien for just a small moment more, the Prince quickly dropped his teasing looks and delivered his next words with a terribly bored face.
“Alright, that’s enough catching up for now; There’s work to be done. Cousin, put that ‘pet’ of yours away and quickly join uncle Freylan and I in the meeting room so that I may pass on the words of the Emperor.”
Before Sien could respond with anything, the Prince was already walking away, with the Duke swiftly tailing after him. Ritt watched them go for a little while, and then looked over towards Sien to see what he wanted to do. He was surprised to see the overly sour face that Sien was making in their direction, however.
“...Sien? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t like having to be alone in a room with the two of them. Especially not with that self-important liar being there.”
Ritt crinkled his eyebrows slightly, not quite understanding. He knew that Sien seemed to find the Duke’s company uncomfortable, but he wasn’t sure what the Prince had done to warrant such harsh words. Ritt didn’t think that the Prince had spoken any lies during their short meeting just now, at least.
“How is the Prince a liar?”
Sien scoffed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, almost looking to Ritt like a disgruntled teen.
“What else should I call someone who pretends to be close to me like that but keeps me at arm’s length at almost every opportunity? He pretends alllll the time, but I’m sure he doesn’t care about anyone else, let alone me.”
Ritt stared at Sien’s face, frowning slightly. He didn’t like this closed off, upset look that Sien was wearing. It was all wrong, completely wrong. The Sien in Ritt’s head was always smiling, even if he didn’t really mean it. A smile was what suited Sien best, not this expression that made him look so isolated.
He came a step closer, putting his hand on Sien’s arm gently, in a way that he hoped conveyed how much he cared for him, and how much he was there for him, too.
“...It must have felt very lonely.”
Sien’s eyes immediately fell onto Ritt’s caring hand, and then swept up to scan over Ritt’s face, before wandering to search embarrassedly through the distant woods. His voice came out soft and a little grumbly, as if he was being forced to unwittingly spill out his feelings.
“No… He might be annoying, but that guy couldn’t possibly make me feel lonely. Maybe uncle could, though. He does sometimes, maybe I should say. Still, I prefer my straightforward, bigoted uncle to that guy, any day.”
“Oh… I see.”
Ritt watched Sien’s steadily growing bashful face for a while, contemplating what he needed to do to help his one and only friend feel better in this moment. But before his slow mind could figure out a single thing that might help, Sien forcefully grabbed Ritt’s hand and began to tug him away, silently marching the both of them off to Ritt’s room.
~~~
Ritt, now left all alone in his room, had sprawled himself out to relax on his bed, letting his mind overflow with his thoughts and worries. He couldn’t help but think about what Sien had said to him about how lonely the Duke made him feel, and it brought to mind Sien’s relationship with the Duke, and how the two of them must have truly been close once in the past, even though their relationship had grown to be so strained. Ritt felt greatly uncomfortable that he’d been the cause of yet another wedge being driven between them. Sien had even decided to threaten the Duke, who he’d once cared for, because of him. The weight of the guilt was almost enough to make Ritt feel nauseous the more he thought about it.
Trying to console himself, Ritt reminded himself many times that Sien and the Duke’s relationship had already deteriorated before he’d ever even arrived, although he wasn’t quite sure what the cause of it all had been. Surely, from what he’d heard from Sien, the Duke must have once been a kind and caring uncle towards him… Knowing the Duke’s great hatred for the Fae, perhaps it was Sien’s mother being taken away a second time that had caused their relationship to become so strained. The Duke did seem to have a rather large hang up on the Fae taking people away, or at least it seemed that way from the conversation Ritt had had with him.
Ritt sighed. He wanted to help the two reconcile and be close again so that Sien wouldn’t have to feel lonely any more because of the Duke, but he wasn’t sure that there was anything he could do to help them rectify things. It would be especially impossible with his lack of social skills. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that there really wasn’t much of anything that he could do to help Sien with anything at all! Sien was already stronger than him in both swordsmanship and magic. Perhaps Ritt could offer his healing abilities, but someone as amazing as Sien wouldn’t ever have a need for such things…
…Really, the only helpful things that Ritt could do for Sien was to be teased.
Well, that, and to do more of those embarrassing things like Sien made him do yesterday…
The innocent Ritt immediately blushed, squirming uncomfortably on his bed at the thought of yesterday. The memory of himself kissing Sien’s cheek made him want to die of shame. If it was to make Sien feel better, he wanted to boldly believe that he could do such things 100 times over! But actually doing such an embarrassing action towards a friend was…
Ritt was sure he would blush himself to death out of humiliation if he had to do anything worse than that!