NoGift

INSIDE a study in the royal palace of Albion, one could hear the rustling of pen against paper. Behind a mahogany desk was a young man with a cold temperament. His blue hair was neatly swept back and his ice blue eyes were focused on the documents he was reading. 

The quiet atmosphere was suddenly destroyed by the voice of a certain red-haired young man. "Winter, come on, it's near evening. Stop working and let's go out to have dinner."

Winter glanced at Mishla. "I already told you, I'm busy. Unlike you, I'm not that free."

Mishla rolled his russet colored eyes. "Yes, yes, of course, I couldn't compare to the busy 'crown prince'."

"Stop. That hasn't been finalized yet," Winter said, looking at Mishla with disapproval. "The walls have ears. If someone hear you speaking like that, they might think that I couldn't wait to be that."

"Don't be too paranoid. It's almost a foregone conclusion anyway. Who would the king assign as 'that' if not you? That little brother of yours?" There was almost a laugh in Mishla's voice when he said the last sentence.

Winter didn't comment. But he could understand his friend's reaction towards Vale. After all, out of all the five royal children of Albion, his younger brother was the most invisible. If he didn't show himself from time to time, people might actually forget that a third prince still existed. Their own father couldn't even bring himself to pay attention to Vale. That's how much he lacked presence.

Just as Mishla said, now that the eldest prince was exiled, the eldest princess was imprisoned, the second princess was a girl with no influence in court, and the third prince was a timid boy with barely any presence at all, the only heir left to the throne was him. The king giving him his own study in the palace meant that he was giving the second prince an official duty. It was like indirectly telling everyone that he was planning to officially recognize Winter as the crown prince. 

Many secretly approved of the King's decision. Especially the common people. After the video of him controlling the crowd in Victoria City trended, the opinion of the common people about him became much higher. He stopped a possible stampede and also showed his strong belief to the goddess, Gaia. The latter one particularly moved the people.

Of course, there were still people who disapproved of the King's decision. It's the faction being led by the Queen. That woman would surely not allow Winter to just inherit the throne. Especially since she still had two remaining children who could fight against him. 

That's why what happened at Victoria City was something Winter should be thankful for. It was a huge boost to his image. It probably brought him closer to the hearts of the common people of Albion. 

The main reason why the Temple of Gaia had continuously been a powerful group throughout the past centuries was because of their belief for the goddess. Even before the Temple became the huge religious group it was now, there were already many people who worshiped Gaia. The Temple just took advantage of that belief and used it to their best advantage to make their church's influence bigger and bigger. Until them being part of people's lives became the norm. 

That's why what happened at Victoria City wouldn't be enough to destroy them. As long as their hiding behind the banner of the goddess, Gaia, it would be hard to bring them down. But, at least, with what happened, he believed that it definitely made some cracks in the Temple's perfect image. And that's probably what Argent hoped when he planned that. 

Thinking of the Duke of Hanover, a small smile that he didn't even notice suddenly crossed his lips. 

"But seriously, you really did a good job in that whole Victoria City fiasco," Mishla suddenly commented. "When did you become such a good talker?"

"Why do you assume that I'm not?" Winter simply said, not leaving his eyes on the document he was reading.

Mishla shook his head. Why did he feel like ever since Winter reunited with his mother, this friend of his became more and more loose with his words? But that's a good thing. At least it's better than being a living iceberg that barely spoke. 

Seeing that he wouldn't really be able to take Winter out of his study, he decided to just go home. So, he said his goodbye and walked out of the study. 

He was no longer in any mood to go somewhere. And since he went there by horseback, once he was out of the palace, he simply rode his horse back to the Wakefield Manor. His travel was unimpeded, so he quickly reached the manor.

He just got off of his horse when his valet came rushing towards him.

"Milord, a message came for you," the valet said, almost out of breath.

"Message? Was it so important that you couldn't wait for me to enter the manor?" Mishla said, joking.

"Milord, it's from 'that' manor."

Mishla quickly understood what the valet meant. "What is it? Quickly, tell me!"

"The lady is back."

----------

Mishla was riding his horse towards the direction of Hanover Manor. His heart was beating wildly inside his chest. He couldn't tell if he was excited or scared. But one thing was for sure – he couldn't wait to see Aurum again.

When he received the message last evening that Aurum was back, he wanted to be at Hanover manor right at that moment. But reason prevailed and he managed to stop himself. It was highly inappropriate for him to go there at that hour. Especially since it was quite obvious that she came back to Albion secretly. He only managed to know about her return because he paid one of the gardeners a few weeks back to immediately tell him about any news he heard about Aurum.

He knew it was wrong of him to do that. It's like he's violating her privacy. But what could he do? For some reason, after they talked a few weeks back, Aurum started to avoid his calls. If she wasn't posting on her [Jiffy] account from time to time, he might have thought that something bad had happened to her. That she was in some sort of danger. But it turned out that that wasn't the case. She probably just simply didn't want to answer his calls. 

He didn't know what happened. He wasn't even sure if he did something wrong. No matter how much he racked his brains out, he couldn't think of anything that might have had offended her. So, this was all he could do. But now that she's back, he wanted to know the answer from her herself. 

No matter what it might be.

Mishla chose a path where not a lot of people passed by. It's best if no one saw him going to Hanover Manor. Because it's quite obvious that Aurum didn't want others to know of her return. Probably because it had not been a secret that the King had been clamoring to match her with Winter. But because both the duke and the duchess, even Aurum herself, were not in Albion, he couldn't do proceed with his plan.

Not that it would matter if they were here. It's not as if Winter would agree. Not to mention, the duke. That one would definitely not agree.

Soon, he arrived at Hanover Manor. He jumped off from his horse and tied the reins to a nearby tree. Then he walked towards the manor and knocked on the door. The one who opened it was the manor's severe-looking butler – Gregory. 

"Lord Brightmore," Gregory directly called his title. "May I ask what might have brought you here?"

"Good morning. I'm here to visit Aurum." Mishla saw the imperceptible frown on the butler's face. So, before he could refuse him, he quickly said, "Please, I know she's here. I just need to talk to her. I promise I won't tell anyone that she's here. Please…"

Gregory probably saw how determined (desperate) he was, so he relented and let him in. 

"The drawing room is this way, Lord Brightmore," Gregory said, gesturing for him to follow.

"No, it's alright. I'll just wait here."

Gregory nodded and told one of the passing maids to call Aurum. Mishla couldn't help fidgeting. He felt truly nervous. He didn't even notice how many seconds have already passed. He couldn't care less about his surroundings. That was until he heard that familiar sweet voice.

"Mishla?"