Chapter 58 - 57

When Arda left, a mountain of work appeared on her desk that forced Azazel to stay indoors to finish them all. He suddenly missed the days when they didn't have this much work. But they can't help it, they can't trust people with important information.

"Arda, so I just want to- Oh where's Arda?" Kaiden, who just went straight into the room without knocking, was surprised to see Azazel sitting in Arda's chair.

"Luciel sent her out on a mission and while she's at it, he made her take a break" Azazel stretches his arms out before fixing his posture.

"Are those the import and exports of commercial goods?" Azazel noticed the stack of papers that Kaiden had been holding.

"Yes. But I can have it directly given to my father instead" his eyes slightly shifted to the pile of paperwork on the desk.

"No, just hand it to me. I have to double-check it first before passing it with the required paperwork for this as well" Azazel explained the workflow of Arda and skimmed through Kaiden's work.

Once he was done, he fixed up the stack of papers again and stared at Kaiden. It's very unlikely that he managed to finish all of these quickly with concise information added in every report.

"What... no... Who helped you finish this work?" Azazel asks and Kaiden threw him a question before answering.

"Why? Is it wrong?"

"No, in fact, it's flawless. Indeed you could have just submitted it directly to Luciel. Now answer me, was it Gideon?" Well, Gideon is the only other person that Kaiden would allow near him when working.

"It was"

Hearing the confirmation made Azazel be astonished. These looked like the works of someone who had already been in the field for years now. But as far as he's concerned, Gideon's work was mostly chores given by the late Stephen.

"Well, even if it's flawless. You are aware that you just broke the rules and let an outsider see our confidential papers?"

Even if Gideon was temporarily cleared of suspicion since his alibis, Kaiden the prince and Amias, vouched for him. It was still a forbidden thing to do to show him this information.

"I know" Kaiden smiles and Azazel narrowed his eyes.

"You... you're intentionally dragging in Gideon into this?"

"I wouldn't say that I'm dragging him in. More like, I'm letting him choose his own path while I supervise"

"Kaiden, we don't care much about your feelings towards him but I'd like to be rude right now and say that you're insane. We already suffered a sudden loss of personnel and yet you suddenly murdered a person and dismissed another"

"Would you rather have someone who blabbers false rumors running around the capital?"

"Of course not, but what I'm saying is. Control yourself Kaiden. You claim to be different from your father but you're repeating the same mistakes he had done when it came towards Gabriella" Even if it sounded like he was putting Luciel down, he needed to slap some common sense into this kid before it's too late.

Gabriella even asked him to hide her because she was scared of what Luciel would do to her when he finds out that she was pregnant.

"Zel, I know Luciel doesn't love me and that he's only using me" Gabriella looked up at the sky and watched the stars.

For Azazel, it looked like those stars were in her eyes. Yes, you're right. He's only using you.

"I'd like to ask a favor but before I say the reason behind it, please promise me that you'll agree no matter what"

"I promise"

Gabriella smiled and took a deep breath to collect her thoughts to form her words.

"I'm pregnant with his child. What he will do so I just want to hide for a year. Once I give birth, I could only hope that he'll accept this child instead of me"

Azazel felt like his world crumbled. How could this lovable person say those things? But then again, she was right. It was during these moments that he wished that it could have been him instead of Luciel in her heart.

Recalling those memories just made him pity the prince in front of him.

"What I'm saying is... if you like a person, give them their own choices. Don't limit their paths just for your satisfaction"

"I won't" Kaiden left the room and Azazel went back to his usual work.

.

.

.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit my prince?"

"Since when did you start to use flowery words? It doesn't suit you at all Gideon" Kaiden suddenly comments and Gideon smiled awkwardly.

"ever since I got nagged by a few of your servants for calling you by your name" He answered honestly and Kaiden laughed before he takes a sip of the glass of water that Gideon gave to him earlier.

"Just ignore them. They're only bothered because they don't have the qualifications of doing so"

"Then what are the qualifications?" Gideon raised an eyebrow and this made Kaiden smile brightly.

'Qualifications is that you are Gideon' he wanted to say that but of course, he did not. 

After the brief conversation earlier with Azazel, he thought about those words of advice that he gave to him. Was he really repeating the same mistakes as his father? He kept insisting that he was different from his father. And yet, it seems like as time passes he becomes more and more like the king. Kaiden hated this idea.

He thanked Azazel mentally for giving him a reality slap to get his shit together.

"I haven't seen your guardian lately... hasn't she come home?" Kaiden looked around the place and Gideon sighed helplessly.

"Mom is really determined to train the new recruits to be able to get back into the battlefield. It was only thanks to Lady Kassandra that she manages to come home during the weekends"

It was quite a sight to see Lady Kassandra carrying Theodora with one arm.

"So it's "Mom" now..."

"Yeah, I wished I could have called them those early on but it's too late to regret it." Gideon pushed away a few locks of hair that were on his face.

"Just make the most of what you have right now" Kaiden suddenly blurted out and Gideon smiled as he nodded.

"yeah I will"

The two sat in silence for a few moments. Gideon felt a little uncomfortable since Kaiden had been staring at him. This wasn't the first time they were alone together but why is he just staring?

"Is there something that matters?" Gideon asks and Kaiden looked away.

"There's nothing I was only wondering how you managed to figure out my work so quickly... I know they taught some of it in school but it wasn't as good as what you did"

It seems like Kaiden was getting suspicious of Gideon.

"Well I helped manage the income of the bakery back then and I would read a lot of books remember?" He was lying through his teeth and even if it was somewhat true, it still did not answer the question. Kaiden nodded when he heard his answer.

'Did he accept that?'

"Sometimes I forget you're close to my age because you often feel like you're older than me" Kaiden spoke out his thoughts before putting down the glass of water he had been holding.

'Oh no, he already figured it out. That I'm not the original owner of this body. Even though I try to keep him on my good side nowadays, would all of that effort go to waste?'

"What do you mean by that?" Gideon hesitantly asks and Kaiden leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed.

"I just think you're really smart and mature? If anything, you might be more suited to being the prince since you're good looking as well"

Gideon blushed. Was he supposed to take that as a threat or as a compliment? He was certain that he looked pretty average compared to the other people in the capital. And he lacks a lot in the height department for men that he's often mistaken for a female.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just do what I think is right for me. And I'm not that good-looking compared to you" He avoided Kaiden's gaze and Kaiden tilted his head.

"You think I'm good-looking?"

Gideon coughed and fixed his posture. "I think everyone such as Amias and Lady Kassandra, are good-looking people"

"You think they're good-looking? but they look pretty average to me?"

"That's because you see them every day"

The silence was suddenly so loud that Kaiden had to cough to break it.

"Anyways, I'll take my leave since I have to help Azazel with work. If you want to visit the palace, send a message first so I can make arrangements"

"No no you don't have to!" Gideon shook his head and waved his hands. This made Kaiden smile at the sight since Gideon looked really cute.

"I just want to make sure that nobody hurts you" and with that, he bade him farewell to go back home.

Gideon was stuck wondering why would Kaiden go that far to make sure that nobody hurts him.