Curate, connect, and discover
(actually more like kerwin having an unrequited love for greg)
“Loyalty and honesty are two of the most important principles in life.”
Kerwin heard from Greg, a sentence that felt almost like his own. Those words always had characterized the loyal and most versatile knight of the monarch of Niveal. Kerwin knew it, and Kerwin was also… very proud of it.
Seeing a knight as devoted and trustworthy as Greg was something that would fill anyone's chest with a contentment feeling. Or at least that was what the Prince thought.
Nevertheless, the young monarch also felt his chest heavy and clenched with those exact words.
And looking at the brunette through the crowd, so full of pride and seriousness yet with a kind smile and glance- the kind of looking that would make everyone sure that, if needed, he would be the person there to fix whatever could be wrong, the redhead felt a pang of disappointment.
When Greg met him with his gaze, Kerwin held the look into his eyes without hesitation, and that was the very moment when the poor Prince felt his heart squeezed by the pain.
Those gentle eyes suddenly turned into a hateful stare and his warm trusty expression became stern and dark.
Kerwin was raised with principles, not by his father but by his beloved mum who may rest in peace. He knew everything a Prince should know and more, he had been proving his worth and deserve of trust.
He was an honest man, more honest than his father, and more honest than every of those enemies he had been helping the new Monarch of Niveal to confront.
Not only that, but he did that not because he wanted someone in reward, but he did want his dear friend, the descendant of the King that his father had been betrayed and murdered, to be safe and victorious. He wasn't looking forward to anything, but still...
Kerwin felt that, even so, he was waiting for some recognition from Greg.
Not at first, but currently.
The redhead felt insulted every time the confident knight questioned his actions and loyalty with the Kingdom of Niveal, and Kerwin was well aware about the fact that being the son of the Usurper of the Throne it would be hard to be considered trustworthy.
But his friend, the current Monarch of Niveal, accepted him and his loyalty faster than what he thought. And then after so many battles and uncountable risks they overcame together, Kerwin had sworn eternal loyalty to Niveal’s Kingdom and its Monarch.
And even when everyone trusted him from that point on, sooner or later, he still couldn't reach Greg.
Kerwin sighed when nobody watched him, allowing himself to feel that storm in his mind.
“May I deserve him,” he murmured to himself.
It was such a stupid question, he thought, and he was sure it wasn't actually a big deal. But he also felt like he was being twisted between unfair hands.
But his whole life was unfair. Life itself. So what was he whining and complaining about? He wasn't a kid anymore.
“Let's go to the banquet hall,” Talbot said, escorting Niveal's governor side by side with Greg.
Kerwin met his eyes with Greg's one more time when they were about to leave, quietly staring into each other's gaze.
“Greg?” Talbot looked at his comrade with a questioning expression.
The mentioned one, though, didn't stop looking at the heir of Aves.
“What are you two doing?”
“Nothing,” both of them answered simultaneously, and then the monarch chuckled softly.
“Well, then…” Kerwin and Greg felt that cautious look wander over them for a few seconds, “Kerwin, Greg, let's go to the banquet hall before Lance reminds us to do so.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
No matter how hard Kerwin tried, it was clear Greg would never genuinely trust him. And deep inside he knew the knight had his reasons.
However, that didn't mean he was alright with the fact. Being always compared and recalled by him was so frustrating, he wasn't his father… he was his own person, right?
Kerwin wasn't doomed to the same path as his father.
But Kerwin was doomed to fail in his love life the minute he fell in love with the person who hated him the most.