Zalair didn’t leave his room for the next four days. He ate when he was hungry, sneaking out to get something like a small loaf of bread with cheese or an apple.

Keigo spotted Zalair during one of these sneaking trips. Even though he had food and a glass of water in hand, Zalair’s expression was that of heavily depressed. His ocean blue eyes watched Zalair as he turned around the hall’s corner and out of sight.

On the evening of the fourth day, the scholar came to knock on Zalair’s door.

“Prince Zalair,” he called, “Your ride’ll be here in the morning.”

No response came at first, then a soft one. “What time?”

“Seven.”

“Kay.” And then there was silence.

“Are you ill?”

“Yeah.” Zalair answered, wanting to add one another sarcastic line.

The scholar raised a brow, “Should I call for the doctor?”

“No. I’ll be fine once I get home.”

“…Very well.” And hesitantly the scholar left.

Inside, Zalair held his forehead. Since being here, he’d had three more fainting spells. One the first day, and two since. He wasn’t used to dealing with it on his own, but somehow he’d managed to get himself water and food.

Keigo walked over and knocked on the door.

“What?” came the reply a moment later.

“It’s me.” Keigo said.

“Go away.”

Keigo scratched his head, frowning. “I wanted to apologize to you.”

“A wasted effort.”

Keigo lowered his eyes into a glare, trying to not loose his cool. “I’m sorry about the ruby…”

“Drop dead.”

“I’ll try to fix it.”

“Bug someone else.”

Keigo twitched irritation. His fist quivered as he tried to keep cool. “Are you… coming back?”

“No.”

“Why… not?” He had to pause to remain sounding calm.

“You’re an asshole.” Zalair answered. “You have no consideration for others. You shout and bellow your demands all the time.”

“I do not!”

“You tried to kill me several times.”

“…Okay maybe I did that…”

“And you won’t even tell me why you hate me so much.”

Keigo looked at the door confused. He opened his mouth to reply, but no audio came.

“So leave me alone, you half-hearted pretentious bastard.”

Twitch, there came that anger welling up in him again. Without a word, Keigo just left back to his bedroom. Along the way, the sound of something expensive breaking echoed through the halls.