During the whole carriage ride home, Kristof hadn't spoken to Armin. He just stared out of the window. Armin tried to kindle some conversation by saying that the weather was nice today, but he got no reaction.

On their way to the mines, it was completely different. Kristof wouldn't stop talking then. But now he just sat there, looking displeased. What was it? Was he angry? Because Armin insulted him again? What did Kristof expect from him then, that he would have lied? Kristof seemed to encourage him that it was okay to tell the truth, so why was he acting like this now?

Kristof had his head partially turned to the window. With the angle that his head was turned, Armin could not see the scar. He looked at the older man, at his face. At his nose, cheekbone, jaw, lips, and eyes with their long black lashes. Kristof's hair was thick and shiny, with a bronze glow around it from the sun rays that came shining through the window. His skin was smooth and seemed soft. It was the first time Armin properly looked at the man without having his attention drawn to the pink gaping cut on his other cheek.

When the carriage stood still in front of the castle, Armin had to stop with his examination of Kristof's face when the man stepped out and, without saying a word, went inside the castle and walked up the stairs.

The servants seemed to know not to bother him because they just bowed their heads and didn't say or ask anything. Adam saw it too and he walked over to Armin, who just came inside.

"Did the meeting with the King not go well? Did something bad happen?"

"Why would you ask that?" Armin asked.

"Well, Sir seems to be angry. It doesn't happen often that we see him like this."

Armin didn't give any reaction but went after Kristof. He'd had enough of this weird behavior that Kristof suddenly had. He chased him up the stairs and through the long hallway, where he saw Kristof enter his chamber. Armin wanted to follow him inside but got the door slammed right in his face.

He banged his fists against the door. "Open up!"

No reaction.

He then pushed the door open himself, which wasn't locked. Kristof was pacing front and back in his room. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Armin yelled as he entered.

"What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you?" Kristof barked back.

Armin calmed his voice down. "Look, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings, but I had to be honest."

"You think I am angry about that?" Kristof shouted. "I couldn't care less about that. You... You were so STUPID back there! How can you be so reckless? Do you know what he could have done to you? Anything! Break your legs, torture you. You could have ended up with a nice appearance, just like myself, if he would have decided to cut your face up! You could have been hanged at the gallows. YOU COULD HAVE DIED! And you don't even realize it. Talking to me about the weather!" Kristof ranted, clenching his jaw twice.

"Excuse me? He asked me the question himself! He asked if I thought he was beautiful and I don't think he is. So I spoke the truth. I said no!"

"But you...you—It's the King! You don't—Argh! Just leave me alone for a while. I will come to see you when I have calmed down!"

Then he turned his back to Armin and faced the window.

Armin, on his turn, stomped away from the room and slammed the door shut with a bang. He saw the servants looking at him with wide eyes.

~~~

"I think you should talk to him before the day is over. Otherwise, you will have another horrible night. And he will too," Adam said.

He was with Kristof in his room, listening to what his friend had to tell him. It was clear that Kristof needed to get it off of his chest.

"But what do I say? I threw the door in his face and yelled at him. I called him stupid." Kristof sighed while rubbing his fingers over his scrunched forehead.

He knew Adam was right, though. They'd better talk it through now. The sooner the better.

A couple of minutes later, he found himself standing in front of the younger's door.

Armin laid on his bed when he heard a knock. He raised his head and looked in the door's direction. Momentarily, the temptation of ignoring the knock crossed his mind, but he walked to the door anyway. He opened it and took a step to the side to let Kristof enter the room before he closed it again.

"I'm sorry I ignored you on the way home. I'm sorry for yelling at you and for throwing the door in your face. And lastly, I'm sorry for calling you stupid. I shouldn't have done that. I was just so frustrated with your behavior, but I should have handled it differently. It just scared me so much that you put yourself in trouble. It went right this time, but it could have ended so differently. I was so scared that he would punish you..." Kristof looked at Armin with pleading eyes.

"You're not my boss. You have no right to say what I should or shouldn't do."

"I know." Kristof sighed. "Please accept my apology."

"Okay... I accept it... I- I was scared as well. My heart was hammering inside my chest the whole time."

Kristof walked further into the room to sit on the chair near the window. Armin followed and sat on the other.

"Why didn't you just tell the King a little white lie as everyone else does?" Kristof questioned Armin.

"I didn't want you to think of me as a hypocrite..."

Kristof looked surprised. "What do you mean? Why would I think that?"

"I don't know. I can't explain..." Armin thought about how he could put his feelings into the right words. "I guess because if I could lie to the second question, why couldn't I lie when he asked me the first question?"

"About me, you mean? I don't understand."

Armin felt uncomfortable talking to Kristof like this. Not even once, he could look Kristof in his eyes. "I just don't know, okay? They mocked us, laughed at us. Didn't you hear it? It just irritated me."

"I'm pretty sure they just mocked me," Kristof replied before letting out a little chuckle.

"It wasn't funny."

"No, this day wasn't funny at all."

There was silence for a moment as the two men just sat opposite each other, Kristof looking at Armin, and Armin looking out of the window.

"I was happy when you told him you thought of me as a kind man," Kristof said with a smile on his face.

Armin could see the man's smile in the reflection of the window. "I was impressed when I saw the mine today."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me... uh- actually I wanted to ask you something."

Armin looked away from the window and faced Kristof now.

"Tomorrow I'm free. Would you like to go with me somewhere? If you don't want to, it's okay, of course, but I thought we could go for a walk or maybe horse riding? At least something in nature, just out of the house, enjoying the nice weather outside. Maybe you could paint in nature, or we could go fishing."

Kristof hoped with all his heart Armin would say yes. Tomorrow, he wanted to have some time with him alone. Just the two of them. He wanted to show him all the beautiful spots on his property. The waterfall, the view in the mountains, the flower fields. Kristof owned an enormous piece of land that surrounded the castle.

Armin thought about it. What should he say? He wouldn't mind going on an excursion around the land, instead of sitting at home all day. All his friends lived a couple of hours away. So he couldn't just visit them. And he did promise Kristof he would make the best of his last three weeks...

"Yes. I'll go with you."