Would you rather live in a life where you feel happy and content, but the people you know lie and keep things from you all the time, or live in a life of sorrow but knowing the bitter truth?

- Garett Rowe

Tick tock tick tock the loud sound the grandfather clock makes that I soon was able to hear slowly and clearly as I woke up. Opening my eyes I saw the ceiling of my room, and turning my head to the side I saw the sunlight coming through the windows. Ah, it's morning already… How long was I asleep this time? I thought before sitting up from my bed, and moved some strands of my long black hair from my face. I then stood up and soon went on with my daily routine: exercising a little, taking a warm bath, and getting properly dressed along with making sure I had the stone of Time with me.

"Hmm… That's strange." I said before checking the time at the grandfather clock in my room. "I was expecting to hear Garrett running in the hallways by now like he always does every morning, but it's unnaturally quiet right now. Not that I'm complaining, but… it just feels off." I then quickly turned to look at the door as I heard the knocking a couple of times. I slowly began walking towards the door, still suspicious of who it would be at this time of hour. And as I was about to place my shaking hand on the doorknob, my other hand grabbed it, regaining my composure once again as I took a deep breath before finally opening the door to be greeted by him, fortunately.

"Oh— Good morning, Al! What took you so long? And where did you suddenly disappear last night? I only turned around for a moment and you were already gone. And there I thought you finally learned how to have fun for once. But I suppose not…"

Shaking my head and closing the door behind me, I said, "You know it yourself that I never liked being the center of attention, and you never kept your mouth shut so what were you expecting for me to do?" looking at him with a disappointed expression.

"Right, right. And here I thought that this morning couldn’t get any worse." Garett cleared his throat then scratched the back of his head and looked away from me. "Anyways, if you’re wondering why I was late this morning, well I… I came across the king earlier and he invited the two of us to have breakfast with him together. Which is— if you’re not fine with it, I could just head over to him and tell him that we’re declinin—"

Without any second thoughts, I began walking away and said, "Let’s go then."

"W-Wait— Where exactly? H-Hey!" Garett said in a surprised tone before quickly following behind me.

"A-Are you… You’re not planning to accept the invite, are you?"

"What about it?" I responded without looking at him. "Despite how long you’ve been fighting for him, I know that you are still not comfortable being around him. So, I’m not going to force you to come with me if you truly don’t want to. And you don’t need to worry much about me, I am capable of defending myself against him just fine."

"I know that you’re strong enough to protect yourself since you’re usually the cautious one between us, but still, it is quite surprising to me that you’re willing to take this obvious risk. And it’s not that I don’t trust your decisions, Al, but I just don’t think that this is a good idea at all..." he said before we both went silent as we continued walking. But soon I heard him sighed and added, "You know what, if you truly insist on going, then I’m coming with you. Besides, it’s rude to turn down a king’s offer…"

I turned to look at him for a moment to look at his expression before looking back on the path. You truly don’t need to force yourself if you don’t want to. It’s written all over your face. were the words I wanted to say to him but left it as a thought instead. I didn’t want him to go back on his words just now, especially at this right moment.

"Good morning, Your Highness." I greeted the king with a bow as soon as I saw him which made Garett do the same immediately as soon as he noticed.

"Good morning, General. And to you as well again, sir Garett." the kind said with a smile looking at me before looking at Garett who looked away from him in silence.

"Ah, yes. Sir Garett has told me about your invitation this morning. It was a bit surprising for someone like us to be invited out of the blue, but regardless, we both came to an agreement in the end to turn up the invite. And, we both thank you as well."

"Ah, that’s good. Now, if you mind me asking…" As ke kept his smile, he slowly raised both of his arms, showing that the pair of the magical golden armlets that I gave him yesterday were still locked on his wrists.

"Why didn’t you tell me yesterday that I cannot remove these magical golden armlets on my own? Did you do that on purpose?"

"Oh, right. My apologies for that, Your highness. I may have forgotten to tell you that part about the armlets." I lied while having a neutral expression on my face. "You know how the stone of Time can make me forget things sometimes. But it did help you very much on having your powers and emotions controlled yesterday, did it not?"

"Well, it did, and I am very thankful for that. But you do know that I don’t need to wear these the whole time. So, if you would please, remove these from my wrists?" he asked once more, but this time, in a bit of a desperate and worried tone.

Garett then looked at me, confused. But I just crossed my arms and shook my head before giving my response. "Unfortunately for you, even I cannot remove them."

His expression quickly changed to a very devastated one as he fell to his knees, and almost sounded like he was about to cry when he said, "Why would you do this to me? I thought we were friends… You’re so mean, Alessio… And it’s only just morning…"

"Well, this is embarrassing to see." Garett commented before scratching the back of his head. "But be honest with me at least, can you truly not remove those armlets?"

I shook my head. "Lady Lucerne was the one who gave them to me a few days ago, and asked me a small favor to give it to him before the battle. She also told me that she cast a Curse of Binding on them, so none of us would be able to remove it except for her, or some mage that knows how to undo the curse." I looked back at the sulking king.

"But I have a strong feeling that those mages went with her as well on their mission. So, there’s truly no other choice but to wait for their return after a couple of days. But… if you truly want to remove them, there is one other solution I could think of that we could do…" I said before looking at Garett and asked, "Do you have your axe?"

The king quickly lifted his head to look at me with the same horrified expression that Garett has at the moment he heard my question. Silence then filled the hallways for a solid five second, before the king suddenly stood up and began waving his hand in panic as he spoke saying and in a staggering tone, "Nevermind what I just said earlier— I can just wait for them to return a couple of days— So, Y-You don’t need to go that far!"

But I kept my silence with a serious look on my face before holding my hand out to Garett, waiting for him to hand me out his weapon despite how I was aware that he isn’t going to do it. The king then quickly looked at him and suddenly began begging at him as well, which made him startled and uncomfortable just by the look on his face.

"I-I know that you may not like me for any reasons that you may have, but please, tell me that he’s joking, please!" the king said before Garett slowly looked at me.

"Al, I know that you have such a grim kind of sense of humor, but it is making me comfortable as well. So, if you wouldn’t mind?" Garett said in a bit of an uneasy tone before seconds later slowly taking back my hand. Perhaps I was taking it too far this time.

"I was just joking with you two." I said in a reassuring tone but my neutral expression hasn’t changed a bit. "My apologies if I startled you both, was it too much?"

"Too much?" Garett repeated in a bit of a surprised tone before his expression changed and tone changed to a bit of a furious one as he approached me. "A-Al! I wasn’t able to tell if you were truly joking at that time or if you were serious! What if I truly—"

"No, you wouldn’t." I quickly responded and interrupted him. "I know and trust you well enough that you wouldn’t let your own hatred towards him get the better of you, and despite how you may act towards him most of the time… Am I wrong?"

"Y-You—" was the only word that came out from Garett’s mouth before he grunted in defeat then looked away from me. I was expecting he was going to deny that, but I suppose I was wrong about that, or perhaps he wasn't able to think of a quick rebuttal.

"A-Ah, right, it was just one of your grim jokes… Though, I don’t understand how I didn’t catch up on that one. I thought that I was already used to it at this point, but I suppose I was wrong." he said with a slight tired chuckle as he slowly moved away from Garett. "But if that is your way of biting back against my teasing towards you most of the time, then I deserve that… Though, if I may ask, may you perhaps lessen it, even—"

"No." I said before approaching him. "Not unless you would lessen your teasing."

"I cannot promise you that, unfortunately. You’re so fun being teased at afterall."

"Then continue to suffer as I’m not going to stop with the grim jokes either."

Despite believing that what I just said wasn’t funny, the king somehow laughed, but I noticed how Garett seemed to be annoyed or impatient the longer we stood here.

Clearing my throat, I then tried changing the subject. "Anyhow, we should probably get going now. Standing here any longer wouldn’t fill up our hunger afterall."

"Oh! You are right. The maids and butler probably served our breakfast already by now." he said with a smile as he clapped his hands once before began to walk away. "And oh, you two don’t need to worry about my mother joining us this morning. She… she never truly accompanies me in any of the feast everyday anyway."

Ah, so she’s drinking again… It is no longer new information to me, though perhaps it is his reason for inviting us for once. To accompany him and lessen his feeling of loneliness, especially that Lady Lucerne is not here to be by his side and for the couple of days to come. I thought as I kept myself quiet, and looked outside through the windows to keep my mind distracted for quite some time as the three of us continued walking.

Arriving soon at our unexpected destination, I soon realized that the king was taking us to a different place than I expected. Noticing that he soon led us to the open hallway that separates the Royal Training Grounds that was on the right, and on the left where he turned to was the large royal garden that they referred to as Gardenia.

The garden was filled with different kinds of flowers that bloomed gloriously, symmetrically cut hedges, along with the gentle and relaxing breeze that blew by, and the white Gazebo being in the center. And from there, I saw the maids and butlers waiting before soon noticing the king’s presence and bowed down along with their synchronized greetings, "Good morning, Your Highness."

"Good morning to you all as well. And my apologies for my tardiness, and for this unexpected preparation in a quick and short notice." the king said apologetically.

"Oh— It’s no problem at all, Your Highness. You weren’t gone for that long, and we're able to prepare and cook just in time." the brown-haired maid said in a reassuring tone. "May you enjoy it along with your two new companies for today’s breakfast."

"Of course. And thank you again, Lady Elora. You may all take your leave now. I can take things from here." he clapped his hands once as they bowed to him one more time before leaving in a straight line. He then pulled his own chair as he looked at Garett and me with a smile, "Oh, please, do take a seat. Make yourself at home."

Garett then looked at me as I looked back at him before we both pulled our own seats and sat down. Looking at the meals served on the table feels overwhelming. Not as much as I see sometimes in the Great Hall, but perhaps the fact that we are having a meal with someone from nobility does seem off like what Garett said earlier. But…

"Is there something wrong?" the king suddenly asked, which made me look at him. "Would it be better if we used the same utensils from what they used in the Grand Hall? I could order one of the maids to fetch some for the both of you if you’re not co—"

"No, no need. Your Highness. Thank you for the food." I said quickly before putting each and every different kind of fine food on my plate and began to eat.

"Yeah, thanks…" Garrett said in an annoyed tone before began eating as well.

Why do I have a high feeling that this would end badly? I thought as my gaze turned to look at Garett for a while. Was it better if I had tried to convince him to not come with us in the first place? But that would make him misunderstand the situation, making him think that I don't trust him, and things would probably end up worse in the future.

"You’re… You’re staring, Al… Is there something on my face?" Garett asked.

I blinked once before shaking my head. "Nothing. You’re just such a messy eater."

"H-Hey! This is my first time being in this kind of situation. I’m still not used to this kind of stuff…" he scoffed before quickly grabbing the handkerchief, wiping it on his mouth as he looked away. "... And the food was cooked by her so I couldn’t help it."

"It’s fine, Al. You both don’t need to be too formal here. Like what I said, you can do however you want here, I am not that strict when it comes to manners." the king said with a smile before sipping tea from his cup. "And oh— Did you sleep well last night?"

"Ah, yes. I did. Thank you… I also remembered last night how we first met." I responded before looking at my reflection in the tea of my cup. "How time flies by…"

"I agree with you. Despite how we both may have started on the wrong foot, I’m glad that we are able to get along now after a long time of working together, trying to understand each other slowly… along with the times of your attempts on trying to murder me whenever you have the chance…" he said with a smile and a casual tone.

"You were aware and acted calm for a while, but when I had already left the room or was out of your sight, I knew that you were panicking right after. Am I wrong?"

"I… I suppose I cannot deny that one." he said with such a childish chuckle.

And just seeing him like that, a smile then formed in face for the first time.

"W-Wait— Hold on! Al? Are you actually smiling for once?!" Garett said in a surprised tone as the king suddenly looked at me as well, but I shook my head and drank some tea from my cup immediately. "Don’t go hiding it now just because you’re embarrassed! And how are you able to smile when it comes to him but not on me?!"

"Oh? I thought he was more comfortable expressing his true emotions more when it comes to those who are more close to him." the king said in a surprised tone.

Garett looked back at him as he crossed his arms. "Well, unfortunately that wasn’t the case at all. I would understand if he wasn’t able to do so during the first few months he stayed with us because of what he had just been through, but even when we were both old enough and was working already together as mercenaries, not even once had I ever seen him smile or even laugh at my jokes… And I couldn’t understand why or how or what I should even do just to see him being genuinely happy for once."

"Well, if you want me to be brutally honest with you…" Placing my cup down on the table, I slowly looked at him and said, "Your jokes weren’t even that funny at all."

Garett gasped. "E-Excuse me?! All of the jokes I’ve told were laughed at by others but not by you? And I even tried making grim jokes once and it still didn't work on you!"

"Could you blame me for being such a straight-faced person most of the time?"

And after that response from me, I heard the king laugh right after which made Garett annoyed even more and suddenly looked at him as he looked back at him.

"Oh, please, don’t mind me!" he said in a reassuring tone while waving his hands around. "It’s just that… despite how you two may seem to argue a lot of times, I could see that your brotherly relationship is stronger than I expected seeing it up this close."

Garett looked surprised, and seemed to have calmed down a bit for now. But I have a high feeling that he will snap easily any time now if the king’s tongue slipped up.

"Well, of course we are… We’ve been through a lot of things afterall." he said.

The king’s smile then widened, "Ah, that’s good then. Seems that we’re not going to have that many issues in the future, if ever that day comes… Well, you were not that problematic to begin with anyway," before looking down at his cup of tea for a while.

"What do you mean by that?" Garett asked in a slightly demanding tone as he suddenly stopped from taking another bite. "What are you planning on doing with Al?"

"Garett, please, keep your voice down." I said before continuing eating.

"Well, it’s not that much to be honest, and it was just a suggestion I gave to Lady Lucerne one time…" he responded as places his cup gently down on the table before looking at me with a bigger smile on his face. But the way he looked at me this time suddenly makes me eerie of what he is about to say next. "... If anything were to happen to me one day, and Lady Lucerne would take the throne, I suggested that our dear General Alessio would be great if he’ll be the Grand Duke to rule by her side one day."

After hearing that last part— an unexpected response I never thought I would be hearing from him— I ended up choking mildly in surprise for a short moment, but it was enough to get Garrett worried. I then quickly tried reassuring him, "I-I’m fine— I’m fine, Garett... I just need some water," and carefully took a glass of water and drank it.

The king slightly tilted his head as he asked, "Oh? Were you truly surprised by that? I thought you already knew that by now. You do have the stone of Time afterall."

"H-Hey! Don’t you think that it’s way too early to be thinking of things like that? I mean, I could agree that him being with Lady Lucerne is not a far thought— but if he does become the Grand Duke, then who would take his place as the Head General?"

"Well, you would do great as the next Head General, don’t you think?" he said.

Garrett blinked twice in surprise and confusion from hearing that next response.

"W-What— Me? A Head General? No— No, I don't think that would be possible for me to be…" Garett looked away for a few seconds before shaking his head then looked back at him again with an annoyed expression this time. "Why are you even telling us any of this in the first place? Are you just messing with us right now? Is this your purpose for inviting us over to your little tea party? Do you think this is funny?!"

"You must have misunderstood. All that I said are just speculations, they're not set in stone and a lot of things could change in the future. But still, I do believe that you have the potential of becoming more than what you are now. General Alessio told me—"

"And what do you know about him? What do you know about me? We are nothing more than pawns to you, aren't we?! So stop pretending that you actually give a damn!"

"Garett that's enough!" I snapped as I slammed the glass cup against the table, almost breaking it. Then there was a moment of heavy silence filled in the air as I was breathing heavily, but not for long when I heard Garett stand up from his seat.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for raising my voice, and for ruining this morning for the two of you." he said as he placed the handkerchief on the table a bit aggressively. "I don't know what you see in him, and how you're able to look him in the eye, despite knowing fully of what he's capable of and what he has done in the past, but if you're willing to continue living in lies and acceptance, then I suppose there's no point in stopping you."

I didn’t say a word and instead I lowered my head as I heard him begin walking away, but stopped when he said those words under his breath.

"I just hope that you don't live to regret your choice… Al."