ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴅᴇᴍᴘᴛɪᴏɴ ❅ 𝕽𝖔𝖞𝖆𝖑 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖘

❝𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 2❞

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「GAME START」

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K06 ‖ A Royal Vengeance: Famous Destinations

𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕲𝖚𝖎𝖉𝖊:
Italic words — the thoughts of a character / a foreign language is spoken
Bold and italic words — a lie, only when Princess Caitlyn's around
Bold, italic and underlined words — the timeline of memories, past, hallucinations etc.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Year 2039
Rooftop helipad, Momos Academy

"STOP! I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE MISTAKEN!"

Not once, was there a subordinate who dared to say to Prince Gion of Italy's face that he was wrong in his entire life thus far. Apparently, being at Momos Academy opened up new possibilities that the Italian prince never thought would have happened. He was just about to get on his magnificent, white colored private chopper when the younger boy yelled at him to stop. Least to say, Prince Gion was shocked.

"Oh? How brave for a mere servant," Prince Gion sneered coldly, when he turned to see the mouse-like scholarship student, Alexis, who was panting at the doorway of the staircase exit. Even Livio, the Italian aide, was shocked at the actions of the younger boy.

Catching his breath, Alexis objected, "I'm not a servant!" he said, getting tired of the prince's arrogant attitude of belittling others that do not hold a candle to his superior abilities.

Prince Gion raised a neat eyebrow in question. "So, you're a prince?" he asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer that would come out of Alexis' mouth.

Alexis immediately answered, "No!"

Bingo.

Feeling triumphant, the prince simply concluded, "Then you're a servant." To him, it was a simple logic; if someone isn't a prince or does not showcase any dignified attitude of a nobleman, then he is but a mere commoner. In other words, a servant.

Alexis looked at him in great dismay. Does the world only consist of princes and servants to him? Composing himself, the fourteen-year-old continued, "I said—"

"You said I was wrong," a slight frown marred Prince Gion's handsome features. "Care to explain that?"

Alxis hesitated for a moment before replying in a shaking voice. "E—even if the princes have their own weaknesses, world peace isn't just a dream! I believe that this dream will one day be a reality." Once again, another empty talk about world peace. This irked Prince Gion to no end.

"So?" he said.

The younger boy could not fathom how the prince did not understand what he meant. He was sure that he barely stuttered and was coherent when expressing himself. The other princes shared his vision of peace for the world. It was the responsibility of a royalty to care for their people and what better way to do that than to study and live with them. He didn't know why the prince of Italy could not understand the noble intentions of the princes and this school. "So... err...that...I wanted to say..." Alexis tried to find his words that seemed to have gotten stuck in his throat.

Then, he found his rhythm again. "Therefore, I will save all the princes to achieve that dream!" he declared, patches of flush painted on his cheeks. "When that time comes, you must change your attitude!"

Prince Gion was taken aback. Although he might never admit it, he was a little amazed. Just a smidge.

"So, can you please tell me where they are? Are they far from here?" Gone was the eloquence and pride of the young student for his school and his princely friends. Deep down he was just another cowardly commoner with no background and no power to back up himself and his dream. It was disappointing to say the least.

Prince Ciel came running up the exit staircase and demanded, "ALEX! WHY CAN YOU BE SO FEEBLE?" The French prince ran over to the younger boy. He was annoyed that Alexis would show such unsightly submission that made him and the young boy look weak and inferior to the likes of Prince Gion. "Why did you beg?" Ciel cried out in annoyance.

"I'm sorry," Alexis quivered, "I just wanted to know where they are."

A feeling of adventure stirred in Prince Gion. He covered his face with a hand and laughed in excitement and delight. The prince's aide was surprised by the sudden laughter. "How amusing!" he praised, laughing hysterically at the French prince and his companion. It was all too amusing for him to not laugh. Then his laughter died down and he smirked at the pair of dumbfounded boys. "Very well, let's play a game," he declared. A wicked glint flashed in his cold blue eyes.

"What?" Ciel and Alexis said simultaneously.

The rotor blades of the private chopper started to spin. It seems that the pilot had been ordered to start the chopper. There will only be a short moment before Prince Ciel and Alexis could barely hear the Italian prince over the noise of the spinning rotor blades.

"Each prince is in a specific place in his respective country..." said Prince Gion, "the place that best represents his country's history or culture. You have 72 hours or the next three days." He said offhandedly as if speaking of the time of the sunset and not the time limit of a game that could potentially be the end of the princes' friendship.

Prince Gion's voice was slowly being drowned out by the sound of the rotor blades as his hair and coat fluttered in the wind. He continued calmly, "If you can find all the princes within the time limit, you will be the winner of this game." He walked towards his private chopper with Livio behind him.

While he was calm and casual about it, the other party wasn't.

"What? Only three days?!" Alexis complained.

"So little time?" Prince Ciel added heatedly. "THAT'S RIDICULOUS! How despicable! You planned this from the start!"

Calm and cool as before, Prince Gion carefully climbed up the chopper. He announced, "You'll have to choose, who to save and who to sacrifice." The excited and wicked glint in his eyes became more visible as his lips curved into a smile full of taunt and mirth.

"All the best!" Livio said to the pair before climbing into the chopper himself.

Not knowing what to think or do, Prince Ciel and Alexis could only watch as the white chopper ascended higher and soon disappeared in sight.

Alexis only managed to form the words, "What . . . are we to do now?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

1025 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜