"To the Young Master of the Belmiunde Household..." Pier started to read the contents of the letter.

To the Young Master of the Belmiunde Household,

Greetings, Young Master! I am greatly pleasured to tell you that we will depart towards the Yuko Boundary when the moon shall rise and be at its fullest. Thus, I am requesting for the Young Master to visit the palace for necessary preparations.

His Majesty will be expecting your arrival.

Asher Lumiere

"Huh?" Pier stared at the paper that produced a fragrant scent in his hand.

He was dumbfounded by the letter that he had just read. He had just recovered from the cold he had for the past two days which he got after practicing for days with his magic.

The first thing Pier did was read all of the invitations that were piled on top of his study desk and the golden personal seal of the Crown Prince caught his attention.

"W-What is this?!" He said, horrified with the contents of the letter.

'Next full moon? that will be...' He trailed his thoughts off as he thought about the time when the next full moon will arrive.

"Two days?... Two fucking days?!" He could not help but swear.

"It's already so damn near and he even wants me to go to the palace?!" He was annoyed and he knew his entire day was already ruined by the letter he just read.

It was Pier's partial fault for being sick after exhausting himself with the magic training anyway.

"Worse, he's acting all friendly with me with the way he wrote the letter!" He rolled his eyes at the innocent paper that contained Asher's writings.

He groaned in frustration before tucking the letter back in the envelope and calling the servants.

'Well, it was me who volunteered to go with him to the Yuko Boundary. I just never expected it to be this early.' He sighed at the thought and just decided to get ready.

"Prepare my bath." the servant respectfully bowed before she started to head outside Pier's room.

"Oh, another thing," Pier said as he looked outside the large window from inside. The sunlight was gently touching his pale skin. His frustration and annoyance toned down a level lower.

"Call Martha." Martha was the servant that he had taken in after the burning incident at the gathering upheld by the Crown Prince.

Martha had been working under Pier's command now and she had fit in well with the servants serving Pier.

The servant bowed again before speaking a statement of understanding but Pier did not hear it correctly because he was focused on the small thing that kept lunging itself in the glass of his room window.

Pier found the flaps of its wings and its rounded belly very cute. It was as if the small bird was asking Pier to open the door. He smirked at the young bird as if he was mocking it.

"What are you going to do if I don't open it?" He said and gave the bird a lopsided grin. The bird stopped flapping after seeing his grin and it actually started falling to the ground because of its sudden stop in flapping its wings.

"Holy shi-!" Pier exclaimed before hurriedly opening the window and he saw the small bird start to flap its wings again and thankfully it did not hit the ground.

Since Pier's room was on the second floor of the mansion, it would surely die if it were to hit the ground from that height.

The bird once more ascended in the air. Its round belly was on Pier's full view after he came face to face with it.

"Fine, enter. You will make me feel guilty if you were to die right in front of me." Pier said while grumbling a few incomprehensible words. The bird chirped as it went inside his room and landed on his desk.

'Such a manipulative small, round, yellow bird!' He thought and he added a new adjective to the bird because of its round belly. Little did the young master know that the bird stopped flapping its wings because of the lopsided grin he gave.

"What do you want?" He talked to the bird. The yellow bird chirped and faced the direction of the cookies that were served in a jar at the other corner of his desk.

"You want to eat that?" He thought as he approached the table and gave the cookies a stare.

"You're going to get indigestion if you eat all of this." He faced the small bird. The bird chirped again without care.

He sighed as he took one and broke the cookie into smaller pieces. He handed the crumbles from the cookie to the bird and the bird chirped happily before it started pecking the crumbles.

"Young master, I have prepared your bath and the servant Martha is with me" The servant that came in earlier to heed his call spoke after knocking on his door. Pier left the window slightly ajar, enough for the small bird to get out if it finished eating the crumbled cookie.

"Alright, please come in, Martha." He said and the door opened and the servant from last time entered. Martha was approximately in her mid-twenties based on the maturity on her face. Her brown hair and freckled face were revealed in front of Pier.

"Give me the updates about the Earl," he said and Martha nodded her head.

"As you wish, young master." Pier nodded his head before standing back in front of his desk and watching the small bird peck at the crumbled cookie.

"From the information I have gathered, Earl Cornell has ordered his workmen to know your schedule in visiting the palace and the latest information I have acquired is that he had been visiting the palace constantly for the past four days in hopes to meet the young master." Pier nodded his head in understanding.

Martha was like a security system he had unlocked freely after getting hurt. He had acquired countless information from the Cornell Earldom as she was the head maid and had control over the maids there. She can still freely gather information from the other maids and servants as they still considered Martha as the head maid even after her exile from the Earldom.

Pier hummed in response as he broke the other piece of the cookie into crumbles and the bird excitedly started pecking at it.

"Thank you for the information, Martha. Please do continue working hard." Pier smiled and Martha felt her skin shiver from the tone Pier gave. When she had escaped the grasp of the nobles that Pier had encountered weeks ago, she felt like she had finally gotten herself out of the monster's den.

But as she worked for Pier, she had slowly started to realize that the rumors of how the young master can be easily handled were never true. It was as if she had entered a dragon's lair itself.

However, regardless of how cold and cunning her new master was, she was still grateful for him taking her in along with her family.

"Martha, do you know why these cookies easily break even after just applying a little bit of force to them?" Pier asked her. The confused servant nodded her head in hesitation before answering.

"I am not so sure, young master," She replied and Pier chuckled.

"It is because these are well made, of course," He said and Martha was even more confused with the randomness that Pier was showing.

"Well-made cookies are softer than those that were poorly made. When you mix flour with the dough, a substance called gluten forms and binds the mixed ingredients together," He explained and Martha nodded her head. She was astonished at how the young master came into such details.

"What would happen if someone were to add a gluten-breaking down substance?" He asked another question. This time, Martha answered without hesitation.

"The cookie will start to soften until it can no longer hold the other ingredients together, young master." Pier laughed at the answer.

"That's correct, Martha. Well done! Thank you for the information once more, you are dismissed." Pier said before joyfully dismissing the servant. Martha left her young master's bedroom confused and wondering why Pier started talking about a substance called gluten.

After the door has closed, Pier took another cookie from the jar that was on his desk.

"That Earldom is like a cookie, don't you think?" He said and started breaking down the cookie. The bird chirped excitedly as it watched Pier crumble another cookie.

"I can easily break the cookie down with my own hands and feed the remaining parts to my pets." He smirked and ate a big chunk. He gave the remaining smaller parts to the bird and its round belly became firmer after stuffing itself with the snack.

---

"Greetings, Young Master," a servant from the Palace greeted Pier. He gave the middle-aged woman a smile before greeting her back.

"Greetings to you as well." the servant smiled and bowed her head in thanks. Pier entered the Throne Palace and saw the King sitting comfortably on the throne.

"I greet the current Sun of the Taron Kingdom, His Majesty the King." Pier bowed after reaching the bottom of the stairs that leads to the throne.

King Henry smiled warmly at the actions Pier made.

"Welcome, Pier. It is good to see you again." Pier smiled. He was fond of the king as he was one of the very few individuals who truly cared for the original Pier.

"It is good to see his majesty once more." King Henry laughed at Pier's response.

'He's starting to look like you more and more,' He thought.

"That is good, Pier. Prince Asher!" The king called and Asher started to emerge from the doors behind the throne. His red hair was handsomely combed and his elegant strides started to approach Pier's direction.

Pier resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the prince. When Asher reached the side of the throne, he greeted Pier.

"Greetings to the Young Master of the Belmiunde Household. Thank you for heeding my request through the letter," He voiced out and Pier nodded his head.

'Another episode of the 'Why did I even come here' series.' Pier dreaded over the thought of having another meeting with Asher.

"It is my pleasure to have been invited by His Highness to the palace" He replied curtly.

'But you did not come for the past weeks, you would usually visit every day.' Asher wanted to say that but he stopped himself. There's no point in letting Pier reminisce about the times he would make efforts to come to the palace every day to meet him.

He had awaited Pier's arrival for the past three days after sending the letter but the noble did not come. He thought that Pier had backed out from going with him to the Yuko Boundary after receiving no response from the noble.

But right now, in front of him was the person he had been waiting to meet. The young master wore a light blue suit that was very calming and pleasing to the eyes of others. There were no traces of expensive rings in his hands and the simplicity was overall perfect.

"Then can we proceed with the preparations for the journey towards the Yuko Boundary, Your Majesty?" Asher asked and the king nodded in response.

"Go ahead. Tell me if you have finished the preparations right after." King Henry commanded and Asher bowed before approaching Pier.

'What? I thought the king would also be included in the meeting?' He questioned himself.

'Did this bastard really make the king as an excuse to force me in coming here?' He said as he was an inch away from glaring at the Crown Prince who smiled at him.

'If it was the original Pier, he would have fainted from the joy after receiving this asshole's smile.' Pier angrily thought.

"Please do follow me to the study, young master. We will discuss the plans there." Asher commanded and Pier nodded.

'Would it be that bad if people suddenly find the Crown Prince dead in his own study?' He gritted his teeth silently behind Asher's back.

"Young master, you can walk beside me. It would be unpleasant if you were to walk behind my back." Pier raised his eyebrows in Asher's statement.

'Now now, Crown Prince, what are you planning, you despicable thing?' He asked Asher in his head but to no avail, the evil image of Asher in his memories did not answer.

"As you wish, Your Highness." Pier approached Asher's side and the two individuals started walking together. The servants that saw them were gasping silently at the scenario. What they saw was a smiling Prince and a young master that had no emotions on his face.

It was as if they had switched places from the last time the servant had seen the two together alone.

"How was your day, Young Master?" Asher asked Pier.

'Unpleasant' Pier stopped himself from giving Asher an unpleasant response.

"It had been good, Your Highness. Thank you for asking." Pier replied and went silent right after.

Asher sighed internally.

'He does not talk right after replying again.' He was still frustrated with the rejection of reconciliation and now it was all coming back with how Pier was talking to him.

He decided not to push his luck any further as he saw the disinterest in Pier's eyes.

When they reached the prince's study, the knights stationed outside opened the doors and Asher went in first. Pier hesitated to come in for he was dreading he won't be allowed to come out anymore.

'I can just use my magic on him, right?' He joked and entered the study.

It was still as clean and organized as before at the gathering. Papers and books were stacked neatly at his desk and other materials were arranged perfectly.

"Call the servants and tell them to prepare tea and snacks for the young master," Asher ordered and the knight bowed before heading out to the servant's quarters.

Pier only watched Asher order the knight. He was baffled at how Asher was treating him.

He never, not even once ordered his knights to prepare tea for the original Pier whenever he visited the palace to meet him. It was always Pier who was receiving the cold shoulder from the Crown Prince and Pier had to sometimes pack his own snacks so he can stay with the Crown Prince for an entire day.

But right now, it was Asher who was ordering people around to serve him with food.

"Have a seat, young master. The servants will bring you the tea and food that I have requested," A smile was plastered on the Crown Prince's face and Pier grimaced at the image. It was those of the typical extremely handsome Prince faces he had read in novels but he found it unpleasant that Asher was treating him nicely after everything that happened.

Pier sat on one of the seats he sat in before but he could not find any of the books prepared for guests now.

'And I even wanted to continue reading them.' Asher watched Pier who had an unpleasant face sit down after not finding any of the books he wanted to read.

'I'd give them to you whenever you request them, Pier, but right now I wanted you to talk with me first.' Asher thought while feeling slightly bad for removing the books that Pier had read last time.

"Then shall we start the preparations?"