Lapliea Season // WMMAP one-shot

Lapliea Season

  It was a peaceful afternoon. With the princess secretly visiting town with her cousin, Alpheus' son and that magician of the Black Tower, the emperor of the Obelian Empire found himself incredibly bored after he completed all of his work for the day.

Fortunately, there were no nobles wishing to have an audience with him, leaving him with nothing else to do.

"You seem to be bored, Your Majesty."

Claude glanced over to his left to find his loyal knight Felix smiling at him. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Felix," he replied in a monotonous voice. The quill he used was safely put back into the ink bottle and all of the documents he had to read over had been stacked neatly.

Felix chuckled lightly, which caught the emperor's interest. Actually, almost anything would pique his interest with how bored he was. "What's with that reaction, hm?" he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing Sire," Felix answered. "It's just that... you were sinking into your seat without yourself even realising it. You looked like an ice cream that's melting from the scorching heat."

"... Oh."

His reaction only made the knight even more amused.

Behind them was a large window that showed the large and lavish imperial garden. Claude and his most precious daughter Athanasia often spent time taking a leisurely stroll around the garden, with Felix tailing them (although Claude would occasionally order him to be ten steps away from them).

... It seemed to be a lovely day outside.

Then, Felix had a brilliant idea.

"Your Majesty?"

"Hm?"

When Claude looked up to see the red-haired man again, he did not expect the guy leaning so close towards him. There was a bright smile on Felix's face, only confusing Claude more.

"How about we take a walk around the garden? Just the two of us?"

***

It was slightly windy outside and some of the leaves from the tall trees in the garden were falling as a result of that. The long robe Claude wore fluttered behind him and if it weren't for him occasionally holding onto the top part of his robe, then his entire chest would have been exposed.

Well, his chest was already technically exposed but Felix didn't want to say anything about it.

Both men walked side by side with each other. Usually, whenever Athanasia was present at least, Felix would be seen tagging along with the members of the imperial family's daily walks around the garden but he'd have to follow them from far away. However, there was no one in the garden except for both of them. The gardeners in charge of taking care of the place were most likely having their break, they can safely enjoy each other's company without anyone spying on them.

"Looks like the flowers are in full bloom for this season," Felix pointed out to the emperor who was apparently in a daze because the man only let out a soft "Hm?" in response. Felix smiled at him. "The princess will surely enjoy seeing this wouldn't you agree, Your Majesty?"

Claude huffed out while running his fingers through his golden blond hair which looked like gold when the sunlight hit it. He noticed a lone flower petal stuck in his hair but Felix was the one who took it off for him. "Yes. Athanasia will most definitely like this... But she'll most likely enjoy seeing this with those... friends of hers."

Ah, was he jealous of Jennette, Ijekiel and Lucas for spending more time with Athanasia?

A soft chuckle escaped the knight's lips.