His Phoenix Eyes

Chapter 5

CRASH!!!

Braeden and Tristan came running through the door when they heard the sounds coming out of Farris's room.

Despite knowing it was only Eris and Farris in the room, both the knights had their hands on the hilts of their swords, searching for an intruder., before their eyes finally landed on the guilty pair. Braeden's eyes widened at the scene while Tristan's face was carefully neutral.

"Your Highness?" Braeden questioned, not entirely knowing how to proceed with their current situation.

Standing before them was Farris, his shirt drenched with what appeared to be... soup.

All around them lay the dinner that Eris had brought for him. There were pieces of his meal everywhere. Braeden swore he even found a small piece of cabbage in Farris's hair. Eris did not escape the catastrophe either. Though he had significantly less soup on him, he seemed to have what looked suspiciously like pork gravy, all over his pants.

All four people stared at each other in silence, until Eris fell to his knees, startling the rest.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness. This is my fault! I'll run you a bath and help you wash and take care of this mess right away!"

"Calm down, Eris. I am also at fault here." Farris quickly snapped out of it and looked at Tristan. "If you don't mind, Sir Tristan, could you arrange for a few maids to help prepare my bath? I'd need a few to help clean my room as well since there's probably soup and gravy everywhere. I understand it's late and mostly everyone has gone to bed, but..." Farris looked guilty, which wasn't that hard to fake since he did feel pretty bad about the mess.

"Could I trouble you further to look for Arabella, Jasmine, Kader and Aria? They're usually the only ones up around this time. I want to trouble the least amount of people as possible." No one doubted his words. Even though he grew up surrounded by many housekeepers ready to lend him their aid, he preferred to do most things on his own, like washing up, getting ready for the day and so on. Those were the few times where he could relax with his own thoughts and without a bunch of people surrounding him to make sure he didn't need or want for anything. Farris knew they were only doing their jobs and that they meant well, but it was also suffocating at times.

In other times, such as right now, it also helped to have attendants he could name drop to distract stubborn knights. The girls lived in the furthest corners of the female servants' quarters while Kader was on the opposite side in the male servants' quarters. It should take Tristan a good amount of time before he could gather them all.

"Of course, Your Highness. We'll be right back!" With a salute, Tristan turned to leave. When Braeden was about to follow, Farris bent down to pick up a fallen plate and Eris quickly rushed to take it from him.

"Your Highness, don't worry about the mess! I'll handle it."

"You can't possibly clean everything up, Eris! And I can't wait for the rest to arrive while you clean my mess up all alone."

"Braeden can help me, Your Highness!" Eris spoke out, his voice a little high pitched, as though he was really afraid at the though of the crown prince falling on his knees and arduously picking up fallen pieces of pork and vegetables.

Braeden frowned at Eris but when he noticed Farris's expectant gaze, he quickly bowed and got to work collecting whatever he could from the ground. 

"I'm sorry again to trouble you, Sir Tristan."

"That's alright, Your Highness... would it be better if I were to draw your bath for you myself? It might be quicker than gathering the servants."

"Ah..." Farris blinked, not expecting this new circumstance, but once again, Eris came to the rescue.