“Someone was quite talkative with the visiting prince last night.” August hummed, fighting a grimace as he skimmed through the pages of the magazine in his hands, fingers flipping through the pages with perhaps a tad too much force. He was trying to focus on the words and images on the glossy pages, truly, but the thought of how quickly you seemed to have warmed up to the prince from the next kingdom over was gnawing at his mind. The pair of you were spending time lounging around in his bed chambers, as today was one of the rare days that you were given a break from your training and usual knightly duties, but you could tell today would be short on relaxing.

You were the prince’s royal knight, and since you’d been with the family for years longer than the other knights, you were made the sole protector of August until the day you either quit or Gods forbid, were murdered by a warring country. Thankfully, the Althan family had a reputation for being peaceful and signing treaties with many of their neighboring Kingdoms.

Due to the amount of time that you two had spent together, with you escorting him to and from the castle, following close behind him during every event and even indulging him when he’d asked you to show him how to handle a sword like you, August had started to develop an attachment to you. What had once been hesitant touches now lingered, awkward silence and the occasional question had turned into late night conversations and playful quips, and where he’d once tried to avoid looking at you, he now admired you freely, noting every contour and blemish on your face.

He wanted to believe that it was simple friendship. Due to his status as prince, he was homeschooled and taught by the many housekeepers in the castle and his only friends were his siblings, who paid little attention to him due to their lack of free time. This, of course, resulted in him finding attention and security in other places, such as you.

It wasn’t until the day that you had practically bared yourself in front of a blade meant for him that he realized it wasn’t merely friendship that he was seeking from you. It was love. He still finds himself growing flushed at the memory.

You had been escorting him through the training field where the knights were practicing their swordsmanship when one of them had swung one too quickly, and it nearly split August’s body in half. He gasped, freezing like a deer in headlights and preparing himself for the blow but no pain came. You’d stood tall and ready, chest puffed out as the sword hit your armor so hard, it chipped.

The thought that your first instinct was to put your own self on the line in favor of August made an unbearable heat emerge from his stomach. From then on, it seemed as though his job was to follow you around. Today was no different as he had insisted on you accompanying him on your day off.

However, you suspect he also wanted to spend time with you today to make up for the time stolen from him by the visiting prince. Or more specifically, the prince of Brugmansia, who went by the name of Clario. You’d spent the majority of his first night here getting aquatinted with him and slowly learning about the abundant amount of interests you two seemed to share. It bothered August to no end to know that Clario managed to garner your affections so easily while he was stuck pining for your affection, not knowing if you’d ever reciprocate.

“He’s quite interesting, isn’t he?” August asked, finally glancing up from his magazine to look at your face, as if trying to see if he could read your mind. Sometimes he wishes he could. You must have such beautiful thoughts. He just knows you’re hiding so many things in that head of yours. He looks back down at his magazine, not wanting to stare for too long lest his chest begin to hurt. It’s usually one of his favorite pastimes but it’s less enjoyable now that he’s aware of the fact you may be privy to someone else.