"Lucius, wait!" mother panicked.

The man named Lucius brusquely and unlawfully picked me up from my spot and lifted me up into the air.

"You have grown, chii!" he commented.

Who was this lawbreaker and why was he even allowed in here?

"Guards," I called out blankly to the ippótes who didn't know whether to intervene or just stand there and embrace the rock life.

The man before me laughed, staring at me with much adoration.

"I do not know you and if you don't put me down now, an acquaintance of the royal family or not, you shall be rightfully punished," I threatened.

This was the first offense and for the king and queen to let this happen to the prince they deposited willingly under the law— this was alarming indeed. 

The pain was visibly seen in his eyes. He gently placed me down on my feet. 

"Who are you if you don't mind me asking?" I need to know what name I was going to put in my report.

Lucius placed his hands on my shoulders, smiling sadly. This was the second offense. I would now need to ask the servants for a pen and paper next time to write my letter of report.

I gave one of his hands a look of disapproval and swatted it off me.

"I don't blame you for forgetting me. I have been gone for so long but still... ouch!" he jokingly laughed.

"I am not amused. Do not touch me; do not even get a foot closer to me the next time. I do not know you and I will never bother to know a criminal," I stated firmly.

Lucius looked shocked by my blunt statement; nonetheless, he didn't wipe the smile off his face.

"Woah, you turned out to be a grumpy young man. No need to be cold to your own older brother, Lucian," he said with a lowered tone and a dying enthusiasm this time.

I scowled. "I do not have a brother—"

"Yes, you do!" he cut me off, clearly offended before I could even finish. 

I will make sure to add Disrespect to the Monarchy to his list of offenses.

Lucius' expression showed great distress. Once he had touched my face, that was the last straw for me.

I slapped his hand away with the back of mine causing his eyes to widen.

"De Scarlet Austarch lebt timi bhitra... (The Scarlet Autocrat Lives within you…)" I murmured.

Upon hearing my words, Lucius' mouth hung open; his face slowly distorted into that of shock and disbelief. He took a step back. His eyes watered and his hand clamped his lips. He then took a sharp turn to my parents, glaring at them with seething rage.

"You put Lucian in that training, didn't you?!"

The king and queen looked at each other before mother took the courage to speak. “We have no other choice, Lucius. We must protect him from—"

"Rahat! (Bullshit!)" He cut her off. "You aren't doing this for him, you're just being selfish! How can you stand seeing him like this? What have you done to him?!"

So many emotions leeching off from him...

"They are helping preserve my saintliness, would you care to help?" I didn't want to save a criminal, but the Higher-Order was looking for more recruits.

"No, you shouldn't be like that Lucian! You are not supposed to be a heartless being!" he snapped at me. 

"Being heartless saves you from... what you are right now. Do not fret, you still have a chance to change. Would you like to undergo training?"

The man visibly gritted his teeth as anger radiated from him.

"You cannot blame us for wanting him to be safe, Lucius," father told him calmly.

I sat back down and continued to eat my bread even if there was an obvious rope of tension connecting the three of them.

"You...made him into an empty shell. This isn't protecting," he argued back, causing father to sigh.

"Lucian, go to your room," the king ordered.

"As you wish father.”

I ignored Lucius' desperate calls, heading straight to my chamber. The silence healed my ringing ears from the ruckus that that man had caused.

Father should know what to do with him. I will see to it that everything will go smoothly with the jail documents.

I laid down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Just as when I was finally regaining control of tranquillity, the door opened, revealing the offender.

This was getting out of hand.

My father was a useless ruler.

"You should not be here."

"I know...just lend me your time," he assured with a smile.

He sat at the edge of the bed. I scooted far away from him to show my disapproval of him being in here. Where were the ippótes making rounds?

"Thank you for the generous space," he chuckled and lied down. 

He quickly wrapped his arms around me, pulling my form firmly to his hard body and immediately alarming my principles.

"Let go of me, you are not allowed to touch me, you are destroying my purity!" I shouted at him.

This was the first time that someone had invaded my personal space multiple times a day. How could someone be so persistent in disobedience?

I must push him away. I must get rid of him! He will take away my life; he will ruin everything I worked hard for!

His arms tightened around me; the strangulation of being forced into such a position made me cease my breathing.

 "Let go I say!" I wheezed out.

"I will not. Please calm yourself," he gently spoke, reassuring that he had harmless intentions in which I do not believe even if my own mother was at stake.

"I am calm. Why are you here?" I questioned. My tone was slightly higher than usual.

What?

I froze in place when I felt him place a kiss on my forehead.

"Because onii misses his chii," he whispered.

I snapped out from my stupefaction, narrowing my gaze at him. "I do not know you," I deadpanned.

"Yes, you do, they just erased your memories of me," he pushed on being a lot calmer this time compared to the first time he arrived.

"Relinquo (Leave)," I ordered. "Your visit here is meaningless."

"You're meaningful to me. Stop pushing me away.”

"Stop being in my way," I retorted and continued with my struggle within his steel grip.

"Lucian, this is getting childish. Look at me," he demanded.

"I refuse."

His fingers pushed my chin up. I tried to resist the force and backed away; however, his arm prevented me from making a distance.

He placed a heavy leg to trap my own two legs and pushed my body further to his own, crushing me in his embrace. I gave up and let him lift my chin only for him to meet closed eyes.

"Otrolig… (Unbelievable…)" he groaned.

For a few seconds, the criminal became silent. He leaned his forehead against mine before sighing in resignation.

"If only I came home sooner...this wouldn't have happened," he murmured regretfully. "They must have deprived you of love and affection..."

They did the right thing. They made the right choice.

"It must be done," I told him. If they showed such weakness to me, I would be fragile.

"It shouldn't have been done!" he protested. A wave of silence followed thereafter.

Lucius' tensed form relaxed moments later while I was devising plans on how to speed up the process of putting him behind bars for one-hundred blue moons. I would also make sure that the ippótes assigned in this wing shall meet consequences for not being in time to arrest this man.

"Have you tasted cocoa seeds?"

"No and never, taste buds retrieve emotions. I advise you to stop piling more offenses to your list but for the sake of speeding up the process of you being tossed in jail, please, go on.”

A second later, something soft pressed against my lips. I had to purse my lips to prevent whatever it was that he was forcing in.

Lucius poked my side and my body reacted negatively to it. My mouth opened; the small and soft object was shoved inside of my mouth. He immediately pushed my chin up, covering my lips with his hand.

"Chew it or else I will never leave you alone," he threatened.

You shall pay for this, farbrekher (criminal).

I clenched his arm tightly, chewing sluggishly. My strength was drained from dealing with him. The soft seed ruptured; something thick and rich coated my mouth. My eyes opened in wonderment.  I met blue eyes that were darker than my own, waiting in anticipation. He let go of my lips; the taste stayed in my tongue as it dried up and thirst spread across my cavern.

"What is it?" I questioned.

It tasted better than the bread I eat every day.

I will have to confess my crimes to the Higher-Order once this man was out of the way. The punishment will be lesser in my condition because I was forced.

"It's chocolate, what you tasted is sweet," he explained.

"I shouldn't have tasted that. It will—"

"Hiberent! (Stop!) They have lied to you. Emotions show the beauty of life. If you lock them away, you learn nothing. Your selfishness will hurt the people around you," he scolded.

He raised my face further, forcing me to look at his eyes that pinned my attention in place.

"You are beautiful, Lucian, but you are nothing but a monster inside. I will train you on how to use your heart. You will come with me the next time I go out."

I gave him a defiant expression. I was trained to show expressions of disapproval when it came to unreasonable simpletons.

"It's better to hurt than to be hurt. You are blind if you think otherwise," I told him.

Lucius held my face firmly; disappointment was traced from his tone of voice.

"It's better to not hurt at all. You are a creature of life, not death."

He pulled my body up with him and went to my closet. Did he really believe I'd come with him? What made him think that the kingdom will allow him to take me?

"Your clothes are all black and white," he commented as he rummaged through it.

"It must be done," I stated.

His head popped out from the hanging clothes. He pointed his finger at me with a displeased face.

"No, it shouldn't. When you were a child, your clothes were colourful. What happened?” 

I was enlightened.

"I grew up and... It must be—"

"That's it, we leave tonight!" He cut me off out of frustration. 

He grabbed a bag, stuffing my clothes inside. I watched him blankly as he caused a rampage. He was too raucous. If I was sensitive like my mother, I could have whacked this man's head. Once the dullard was finally done packing my things up, I took the chance to speak.

"I refuse to come. Please return my clothes to where they belong. I will add Invasion of territory and Damage to property into the list of your offenses. Aren't you wealthy with years in jail?"

"Otrod'ye…(Brat...)" he hissed.