After seeing the second prince, Gianni takes a quick peek at the dining hall. He looks for the prince he serves but to no avail. Thus, he heads to Prince Julien’s room.
As he comes closer to the door, he notices some maids looking at him, whispering. He thinks something is strange, which is worth inquiring about. But he reserves it for another time and continues his way to the first prince’s room.
Upon entering, his olfactory catches the scent of carnation wafting throughout the air. The fresh fragrance of the flower fumes in fickleness. It is a familiar scent to Gianni, perhaps too familiar.
As he goes inside, no one is there. But he hears two people talking and splashes of water. He sees the prince’s messy bad and fixes it. He then goes to the source of the splashing sound.
Behind the folding screen directly on the opposite corner of the prince’s bed is an open door where the sound is coming from. Gianni approaches the door and hears Gabriel and the prince conversing. He enters the room and sees Prince Julien in the bath with Gabriel, who scrubs his back from behind (Gabriel is not in the bath).
“Good morning, Gianni,” Julien greets him. “Nice of you to come.”
“Good morning, Your Highness,” he shows obeisance. He grabs a brush and offers to scrub him. “Where should I scrub you?”
“Here,” he lifts his feet from the water, “scrub my feet to my legs.”
Gianni removes the ring he got this morning, putting it in his pocket. He starts scrubbing the prince’s legs. The bath gives him a relaxing, so the prince closes his eyes.
After a while, both Gianni and Gabriel finish scrubbing every decent part of the prince. The prince bids Gabriel prepare his suit and robe. While he orders Gianni to pour the carnation perfume into his bath.
Gianni gets the bottle of carnation from the prince’s organizer which is at the corner of the small room. He pours a generous amount on the bath. Julien then orders Gianni to scrub his chest and abdomen. Gianni grabs the scrub and obeys the command.
As he diligently scrubs the prince’s chest and abdomen from behind, the prince suddenly grabs Gianni’s hands and directs them.
“Do it gently,” he says as he scrubs his body using Gianni’s hands. From his chest to his bosoms, to his upper abdomen. “Do it like this,” he makes Gianni fondle his bosoms. Gianni complies. The prince lets go of his hands and lays back as Gianni does the deed.
“Now do it here,” he holds Gianni’s hand once more, making him reach down to his lower abs. Gianni scrubs the prince’s hard abs yearningly up and down. He feels as if he is doing it on smooth hard rocks. When he goes down to scrub his belly button, he feels something before twitching the belly button. The prince’s head is hot and stiff, twitching as he nudges it.
“Your Highness,” Gianni feels disturbed by what he touched. “S-s-s-should I s-s-stop scrubbing?”
“Why did you stop?” the prince for the third time, holds Gianni’s hands. He directs them to his lower abdomen below his belly button, where his thing collides with Gianni’s hands. He even made it so that he would surely scrub it. “You feel so good.”
Gianni turns apple red. He strokes the thing intently using his right and using his left to fondle his breast. Suddenly, the door opens, and Gianni jerks back in an instant.
“Your suit and robe are ready, Your Highness,” Gabriel suddenly barges in saving Gianni from the embarrassment.
“Oh, it is?” the prince turns to Gabriel. “Get me my towel then.”
Gabriel gives the prince his towel, telling Gianni to wait outside. Gabriel is aware of the prince’s schemes. He knows that he is doing them to mess with Gianni and that he is not serious, but he cannot express what he feels. He feels envious and stricken with anger. He stays quiet, maintaining his composure as still as silent water.
Gianni gets out of the small room into the prince’s quarters. He grabs Louis’ ring from his pocket and puts it on. Gabriel follows him and the two wait as the prince finishes. When the prince finally comes out, Gabriel helps him with his robe. Prince Julien immediately sees the ring on Gianni’s hand, and angst instantly begets him.
“That ring,” he points to it, “who gave it to you?”
“Prince Louis gave me this ring, Your Highness,” Gianni replies as he stares at the beautiful piece of art around his finger. “He gave it to me as a sign of thanks.”
“Return that to him,” the prince sternly replies. “You serve me not him.”
Gianni wants to talk back, but he holds himself. “As you wish, Your Highness,” Gianni leaves the room with puzzles in his mind. Why is Prince Julien angry with a ring Prince Louis gave me? He does not want to anger Prince Julien any further. But he also does not want to insult and disrespect Prince Louis by returning a gift. He decides to hide the ring in his drawers. Never to be seen in public again.
After eating breakfast at the dining hall, Prince Julien leaves for the library. It is Saturday and their literature teacher is going to be there. As usual, his butlers accompany him.
When they arrive, the second prince and the first princess are already here with their attendants. In a corner of the Grand Library stands a round table, where the leaves of litterateurs’ light and love. Prince Louis and Princess Camille sit across each other at the round table. While their teacher wears an illustrious ornate gown, beautifully made to match its wearer. Just like a royal, she sits straight in a magnanimous manner. Her flawless beauty exceeds her overflowing poise. Her eyes sparkle like the Mediterranean and her lips are redder than the reddest rose. She is the picture of immaculate pulchritude.
Before finding his way to his seat, Julien goes to their teacher. He kneels and kisses her hand, “Gracious day, princess.” Afterward, he goes to his seat, across from their instructor.
“Who is she, Gabriel?” Gianni whispers. “Is she a princess from another kingdom?”
“Yes,” Gabriel concurs whispering, “she is Princess Ariana of Inglatera. Queen Sophia is her godmother and Prince Julien is her fiancé.”
“Fiancé?” Gianni’s expressions fill with aghast, “that perfectly beautiful princess is Prince Julien’s fiancé?” Gianni cannot help but feel happy for the prince. An eminently beautiful woman is his fiancé.
The day delicately smiles,
At your perfect eager minds.
Even I traveled for miles,
To witness what my heart finds.
Princess Ariana begins speaking.
O, the carnations waited,
Only to you, they wavered
And even if time is wasted,
Their beauty never lasted.
Princess Camille continues.
In the great halls of knowledge,
Isolated from fall’s chills,
Ignorance falls to the edge
As her precious sweetness fills.
O, how long have I waited
To see carnations waiver?
Wasted not, they were never.
Prince Louis looks through the crystal windows and to Ariana as he speaks.
The carnations have waivered,
Yet my heart never yielded.
Why do I feel like tampered with?
Doctors are what I needed.
Prince Julien replies then laughs.
“What was that all about Lord Brother?” Princess Camille reacts in disgust. “It is the first time I think your poetry stinks.”
“I think it was great,” Prince Louis replies.
“It was splendid,” Princess Ariana calmly speaks, “to ask why your heart is different. Your poem underlines your smitten heart and why it has become so different. You need someone to heal your heart. But let me ask this, why do you need someone to heal your heart when love is beautiful?”
“Because it is a forbidden love,” Prince Julien replies.
“Ah,” Ariana replies knowledgeably, “no love is forbidden for only the people around us make love forbidden.”
Silence follows her statement. “Love is like a flowing river. It overcomes all its obstacles. Stones and boulders may block its path, but those hindrances will never be a match. Sometimes, it violently rampages and rapidly proceeds. Sometimes, it becomes still and silent, yet it continues to flow. It also separates to make room for more. However, all rivers end up to the sea, where all life is determined by the forces that govern it,” she continues.
After eating lunch, the princes, and the princess along with their attendants return to the Grand Library. Beyond the center from the entrance is a space that has chess tables. It is on the opposite corner of the round table and is said to be the most comfortable part of the library according to the librarians.Upon arrival, they see Queen Sophia already waiting for them. She has her maids arrange all the chess tables with their pieces. The adviser and some scholars are also present.“Your Majesty,” all bows to the queen as they approach.“At ease,” she sits on the chess table nearest to them. “Camille, dear, let’s play, shall we?”“Me?” she turns to her brothers, the adviser, and the scholars but all shifted their focus elsewhere. “Fine.”The queen and the princess start their game. Meanwhile, Prince Louis approaches Prince Julien to ask him for one game. Julien agrees and the two p
The door to the prince’s room suddenly opens. The two who are in a seemingly awkward position on the bed pervades with aghast. It is Gabriel who carries a tray with a pitcher full of water and glasses. When he enters, he fails to notice the two on the prince’s bed, as the curtains that hang from its pillar keep the two from being seen from the door. Gabriel places the tray on the prince’s study table.Quickly, Gianni jumps out of bed and closes the buttons of his shirt. The prince, meanwhile, just pretends to be asleep.Gabriel knows something is going on. The loud silence of the room is strange. He checks the right side of the bed and sees Gianni in the act of buttoning his garments.“What are you doing?” Gabriel says as he approaches Gianni.“G-G-Gabriel,” Gianni quickly finishes, “two of my buttons got loose.”“Oh,” Gabriel has his doubts and sees the prince sleeping on his bed, &
Early in the morning, Gabriel, and Gianni packs for a three-day trip. The prince orders them to do so, saying it is a special occasion for the royal family. Gianni does not have any bags so he asks Gabriel if he can borrow one from him. But Gabriel has only one bag, so, he proposes to share the bag between the two of them.During packing, Gabriel is a minimalist. He only puts what he needs inside the bag. Gianni, meanwhile, puts voluminous stuff inside which already makes the bag full even without his clothes. Gabriel is taken aback by what Gianni places inside. There are fruits and even pickles. When he tells Gianni to pack only what he needs, Gianni laughs at the thought. He used to have so much luggage back when he was young because he has people carry it for him.Of course, Gianni belonged to the prestigious Saint-Amour family, he was born with a silver spoon, Gabriel thinks. However, Gabriel insists that he put only his clothes and things for hygiene. Gab
Shocked at what Louis declared, Camille insists that he lied, and he did bump their table. Julien slams the wall with his fist, ordering his sister to look at the tables.Louis explains what Julien demonstrates. The direction of the spill from their table is similar to the spill from the third table, which has its force originating from under the table. While the setup, which has been purposely bumped shows a different spillage direction. Even after hearing Louis’ explanation, Camille still insists that it is Gianni’s fault. She brands him a liar and clumsy.Annoyed and angered by her irrational sister, Julien slaps Camille definitively shutting her up. The slap comes as a great surprise to the young princess that she instantly feels humiliated. Her Lord Brother only argues with her, not once harmed her. But this time, she knows she went too far. Aghast storms the emotions of everyone present in the auberge. Camille storms off grabbing Ethan’s hand.
The carriage comes back for them as soon as it got dark. The coachman arrives to escort them back to the chateau. Gianni is about to stand and leave when Louis bids him wait for a while.“Can I trust you?” the prince suddenly asks. “Can I trust you, Gianni?”“Yes, Your Highness. You can trust me.” Gianni obeys the prince, attentively listening to every detail that is about to come out of his mouth.“I’m in love with Princess Ariane,” Louis outrightly confesses. “All of the poems and songs that I made are all dedicated to her.”Gianni’s shock is unmeasurable. He does not know what his reaction should be to what the prince tells him. Should he be happy? Should he tell the prince that the marriage is already arranged? Should he support him? A lot of questions furiously fill his mind.Louis begs him to keep his confession a secret. Gianni finds it in his heart to keep Louis’
Gabriel wakes to the sound of a knock from the door. He feels Gianni’s hand on his back and his foot on his. He stands up and wants to answer the door but realizes he is naked, and his extra bone is standing. He grabs his clothes from his closet and finally gets to the door.As he opens it, Princess Ariana appears giving him an early morning surprise. The princess is direct and expresses her interest. She has a favor for Gabriel and Gianni. Since Prince Julien orders Gabriel and Gianni to follow Ariana’s orders, he must follow what she is going to say.Princess Ariana tells Gabriel that she lost something at the city park, and it is very dear to her. The item has great sentimental value to the princess. Gabriel immediately promises to the princess that he is going to find it and return what the princess lost as soon as possible.“I lost my hairpin,” Ariana says. “It has magnolia flower designs.” Gabriel accepts the princess&rs
A week after the Harvest Festival, everyone in the palace staff is busy. The wedding between Prince Julien and Princess Ariana is just around the corner. The king and queen are sending invitations to nobles and royals through the continent and across the seas. The wedding shall be at the cathedral in Rimes, three weeks from today’s date.The day marks the arrival of an envoy from Inglatera. They represent the Royal Treasury of Inglatera, which shall take care of half the wedding expenditures. They present themselves in the court, working together with Queen Sophia for the wedding.The queen takes all matters into her own hands. She sends invitations to the best tailors across the continent to present to her the perfect wedding formal for Julien and the wedding dress for Ariana. Queen Sophia keeps a tight hold on the information, making sure that everything remains a surprise on the wedding day. She forbids Julien’s butlers and Ariana’s attendants to d
A day after the matters with Princess Camille, the captain of the royal guard assigns knights to Prince Julien as his personal bodyguards. The royal army expects danger to come close because of the upcoming wedding. The wedding symbolizes a deeper and stronger relationship between Gallia and Inglatera. The neighboring hostile kingdoms would want to prevent the wedding from happening as much as possible.After they finish preparing for their duties, Gianni and Gabriel go to the prince’s room to help him. When they arrive by the door of the prince’s room, knights stand by it blocking their way with their spears. They demand to state their business.“We are the official butlers of the Crown Prince, Julien S. Montmirail,” Gabriel says. “We are here to check up on him as part of our daily duties.”“Understood,” the knight on the left replies, “we will let you through after a security check.”The knigh