The two nannies didn't know what these two were planning.
"Your Highness, is there anything…?"
"It's nothing, Saira," Drayce interrupted her.
After what happened yesterday, she was worried that Drayce would fall into trouble once. Since the little prince was special, she knew that she was powerless to stop him if he really wanted something to be done.
Normally, as his nanny, she should be punished for all his mistakes, but thankfully, the Queen was generous and never blamed her, knowing her son was not an ordinary one. Still, Drayce was her responsibility. She didn't want to see him punished again.
Afterwards, Arlan easily became part of the group of those bully kids. As he was a prince of another kingdom with a friendly nature, not only did no one mess up with him, they welcomed his arrival.
Soon, Keiren arrived with his friends. Ever since he learned how badly those three treated his younger brother, he had decided to cut his ties with them. Initially, he wanted to ignore them, but he allowed those bullies to come close because Arlan had joined them.
Keiren was looking somewhere so one kid asked, "What happened, Your Highness?"
"My brother is not here."
"I saw him going that side," Arlan said. He was pointing towards the annex of the Grand Palace.
"Oh, I will get him," Keiren simply said. "He must be lurking around to see if he can chance upon Father."
When Keiren left, his friends dispersed to get sweets for themselves, and Arlan mumbled to let bullies hear, "What is the need to bring him here? What if he burns someone in this gathering?"
The three bullies echoed his concerns, happy to hear someone else badmouth the Second Prince. No one among them knew that the two princes had become good friends.
"That's what we feel too but Prince Keiren doesn't believe his brother is a monster."
"Why don't you prove it to Prince Keiren then? Isn't it your responsibility as his friends? If I was his friend, I would have protected him from that monster. It's even worse since they are brothers," Arlan said.
The three agreed immediately. "What shall we do?"
"Umm…" Arlan acted as if he was in deep thoughts. "Why don't you do the same thing you did yesterday? If you manage to anger him…"
"That's not a good idea. What if he hurts us?"
"That monster cannot harm us because he knows it will anger our families and put his parents in trouble."
"You're right. Didn't he only burn the sheets in our hands? Besides, Prince Keiren will be beside us—"
"Then what are you waiting for?" Arlan asked.
"We need to get paper and ink to draw," one of the bullies said and went to the royal painter who was making spot sketches of anyone that requested his services.
He brought two sheets of paper and paint from him. All three hurriedly drew the exact drawings they had made the previous day.
"It's done!" they said in excitement.
"Will you come with us, Prince Arlan?" the leader of the three, the grandson of the Viscount, asked.
He nodded, smiling lightly. "How can I miss the fun?"
The four boys happily walked towards the annex of the Grand Palace.
If the bullies were any smarter, they should have realized that something was wrong when they entered the Grand Palace without any problems. As per protocol, the royal knights stationed at the entrance should have stopped the group of children, but none of them found this weird..
They hurried towards Drayce in that spacious hallway. "Your Highness!"
Drayce, who seemed to be roaming, turned to look at them with his usual indifferent gaze. He was openly showing that he was not happy to see them.
"We were searching for you, Second Prince," another kid said.
"I am in a hurry. Don't bother me." After saying that, Drayce turned to leave. He acted perfectly, not even giving away the fact Arlan mischievously winked at him.
"Your Highness, please wait. We just want to show you something," the grandson of the Viscount said.Drayce let out a sigh of impatience, but stopped for their sake nonetheless.
The three boys held the sheet of papers they were hiding behind their back in front of Drayce. "Yesterday, we could not draw them well, but today, we took our sweet time to draw them better. See, there is a red-eyed monster and a witch that eats kids. Doesn't it look good?"
Drayce simply glanced at it but didn't react, which made the kids worry about why he was not angry.
"Second Prince, didn't we draw this witch well? See, she looks like the mother of this red-eyed monster. That's why she doesn't eat him and only other kids. That witch is scary. Tomorrow, we will burn this witch and this red-eyed monster together to get rid of them and free this kingdom from them."
Drayce remained unaffected, but someone out there was not calm at all, someone who was standing a few feet away behind these kids and heard it all—King Theron, the King of Megaris. Prince Keiren was with his father as well, gaping in disbelief at how these bunch of good-for-nothing young masters had blatantly insulted the royal family.
"Father!"
Drayce finally ran towards his father whose face was unusually cold, as if his expression alone could turn the air as frigid as the bitterest winter. These kids had called his son a red-eyed monster and his wife a witch that eats kids.
The three boys felt like the sky had collapsed on them when they turned around. Not just the King, but one of the relatives of the bullies, Viscount Rulf, was there as well to witness their offensive act.
Drayce hugged his father's leg. King Theron picked him up in his arms and said to his guardian knight, "Galien, make sure the family heads of these kids appear in front of me right away."
Sir Galien left while the Viscount next to the King was shivering with what his grandson did. He immediately bowed before King Theron. "Y-Your Majesty, I will make sure to punish my grandson!"
The King didn't react and turned to leave with his both sons as his other escort knights followed him. The king ordered again, "Send Prince of Griven back to his family."
The other knight nodded and went to follow his King's order.
Keiren, who walked by his father, looked up at Drayce. "I thought you went to see Father so I went to Father's study."
"I was about to head there," Drayce replied.
Drayce turned to look back at his friend who smiled back at him while being escorted by the knight.
Once King Theron sent his sons away after spending some time with them, he returned to his study where three of his subjects were already kneeling. One was a high-ranking member of the knighthood, another a minister while the third was a relative of his concubine. They knew after what the children of their families did, severe punishment would follow.
The King sat in his armchair and looked at the three.
"I believe you know why you are here."
The three nodded. Viscount Rulf, who had the highest rank among them, opened his mouth. "We are ready to accept any punishment Your Majesty decides. It is due to our negligence in disciplining the children that resulted in such an incident."
"Children learn from their mistakes," the King started, causing the three men to feel inwardly relieved, but his next words made them sweat.
"For the next ten years, those three offenders are not allowed to enter the royal palace, and they are not allowed to interact with any of my sons for any reason. If the punishment is not followed, they will be banished from the kingdom."
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty."
"Thank you for your benevolence!"
"We will follow your decree, Your Majesty!"
It wasn't King Theron being kind. In fact, he too wanted to punish their families. However, he decided to be lenient once to set an example for other children of the noble families. It was a warning for the nobles who are good with his first son while they disrespect his second son. As someone who survived palace politics, the King knew these nobles would sooner or later try to turn the two princes against each other.
Considering those were the kids, King could not punish them physically but this punishment was not a good thing for them when it made them lose the chance of being closer to the princes when they are raised with the goal of serving the next ruler of this kingdom.
"For you three who failed to teach your children the right manners, the royal family will confiscate an asset in proportion to the offence. You can talk to my aide about the details."
The news spread everywhere, and after that, no child dared bully Drayce.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺