Every concubine and servants in the ruby palace knew that Claude is very different and a very strange, peculiar boy.
Unlike the other boys his age who go outside and play, the young prince preferred staying inside instead. He liked taking care of younger children, even if its children of the servants or other nobles, you would always see him walking around the ruby palace with kids following him like ducklings, all of the children in the imperial palace liked him, especially the young duke's son, Felix, who always see the prince as an older brother.
His behavior became so known and prevalent in the ruby palace that instead of scheming to get rid of him, most of the concubines and their servants have a good outlook on him, seeing his behavior as passive and not a threat to their positions.
Despite the fact that he is viewed by the concubines and the servants in a good light, it does not mean that the boys in his age see him as such. They would try to harass or belittle him even if he made a little mistake, key word try.
Although Claude is seen by most people as a motherly figure , especially by the younger children. He is known by his tormentors to be an underhanded fighter and would use any dirty means to fight back.
An example would be a son of the knight stationed in the imperial palace, the boy punched Claude and spit on him, knowing well that he is the unfavored son of the emperor. Even if little Claude didn't fight back at that time, Claude is still a petty person and plans to fight back.
A few days after he punched Claude, while playing with his friends, he is suddenly grabbed by his father, who is angrily looking at him. It turns out that there is a pearl necklace found in the boy's dresser, which is actually the missing pearl necklace of the old head maid of the emerald palace. The boy denied that he stole the necklace but due to both children and adults alike seeing him as a delinquent and a ruffian, no one would believe him- even if he's telling the truth.
He is quickly evicted out of the palace and his father demoted as a gatekeeper instead of a palace guard. Same instances happened to the people that bullied Claude, albeit framing them for different reasons. This caused most of the boys to fear him and leave him alone, even if he's a bastard prince, he is still a cunning prince that would send them out of the palace.
Due to the boys not bullying him anymore, Claude would go out and play in the lush gardens, but instead of playing with other children his age, he plays with the children who he has taken care of. And due to that, one of the important concubines, who has taken a liking to him, has ordered the palace knights stationed there to tighten the security in the garden, to keep him and the children safe.
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It was a typical day for Claude, he is taking the children out to the ruby palace's garden to let the children play in the sun and him looking over them.
