Cloaked Heart

.·:*¨༺ Eight ༻¨*:·.

Corwinn Lee Montgomery was seven years old when his father, Baron Arthit introduced him to the royal court of the beau monde. At that age, all he could gather was the fashionable array of clothes and beautiful faces that surrounded him in every corner that he looks. It was also the coronation day for the prince who will now be crowned as the new King of the Vermillion Empire, and every noble had brought in their heirs to become the King's royal pages of honor.

Arthit gazed down at his son, whose hair was more orange against the sun than copper. As he grew older, that hair's color turned darker and lusher, resembling a burnt sienna. "Win, try and behave this once. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Father."

"I promise after this, you may do as you wish. Oh, look, the youngest brother of the King himself. The Marquis of Vanderveer."

Win looked up to see a tall gentleman with a fashion that no less belong to a Corinthian. He was very handsome, with dark hair and deep-set eyes. The child next to him emulated the gentleman unconsciously and Win couldn't help but found it entertaining that they were very similar even with the way they walk and held their head up high.

"Lord Vanderveer," the baron greeted and bowed respectfully and Win did the same.

"Sir Montgomery," the marquis replied, peering at Win's face curiously. "This must be another Sir Montgomery in the making?"

"Ah yes, this is my son, Corwinn Lee. You may call him, Win."

The handsome noble smiled. "It's an honor to meet your acquaintance, Sir Win."

"It's an honor to meet yours," Win answered politely.

The marquis seemed surprised and pleased. He slightly turned his body to the side to introduce his own child, "This is my son, the heir of Vanderveer, Bright Lucas."

Unlike his father, Bright wasn't too keen to make friends, and even then, Win considered his haughtiness as an affliction. Nevertheless, he politely bowed to the heir but Bright scrutinized him silently, inspecting him from head to toe. Bright wasn't a stranger to Win for he had seen the young lord a couple of times together with his cronies but since he was a noble of the upper court, Win find it prudent not to get too near or overly friendly. On top of that, his reputation wasn't something that someone like Bright would want to get too familiar with.

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─

Not at all impressed and apparently bored of the poshness, Win escaped his father's hold and wandered around the courtyard of the Castle Vermillion. He would've settled himself in the library to read books but he thought he heard a meow and saw a white kitten perched on the statue in the middle of a fountain.

"What are you doing there, Mr. Cat?" Win called, but the animal just continued to purr, the blue eyes regarded him with utmost interest. Knowing that the animal detested being wet, Win looked around and when he was certain that the courtyard was empty, he removed his shoes and socks and proceeded to dip his legs into the fountain, the water instantly froze his skin.

"Here kitty, kitty..." he slowly inched closer to the animal, trying his best not to scare it away.

"What are you on about?" said an angry voice and when Win turned, he found Bright watching him with knitted brows.

"There's a kitten, sir. Look..." he pointed at where the animal was.

"What foolishness," the young marquis spat. "You can call a servant to fetch it instead of swimming into the cascade."

"It's just a fountain."

"You're now wet."

Win ignored the young noble and successfully beheld the kitten. With a smile, he turned around holding it with both hands before climbing out of the ornamental structure.