“I seriously wonder what is wrong with House Ferrer’s etiquette teacher and how they’ve raised her.” Siane said, forcing herself to be calm amidst her anger.

Calisto only smiled meekly at the side as he carefully placed down the marriage proposal letter on the table like it was a bomb. He almost jumped out of his seat  when the letter immediately caught fire and turned to ashes.

The two of them were in the crown prince’s office, with Siane sitting across from Calisto. She pushed up her glasses, taking a deep breath to calm herself as Calisto tried his best to gather the ashes at one spot to prevent it from staining his carpet.

“Marquis Ferrer has been calling for your dismissal because you’re an Alpha as well. Of course I’ve struck down his proposals in Court to focus on important matters of the kingdom.”

“Maybe it’s time for you to fully take over the king’s position.”

Calisto gave her a measured look. “Are you sure? I’d get busier and might not be able to see you that often in the first few years.”

“I can survive, we’re married. It’s not like I won’t see you at night.”

Calisto pouted, feigning hurt. “But I won’t survive without my daily dose of my moon.”

Siane blinked at his baby talk and flushed in embarrassment. “Have some dignity as prince, Cali. This is why they don’t like me…I’ve reduced their prince to a fool.”

Calisto laughed as he stood up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her, releasing some of his pheromones. “I only behave this way with you in private.”

Siane’s ears were red at this point as she stood up, unable to deal with Calisto’s upgraded flirting. “I’m going to my library. Go do your work.”

“Oh? I’m done with work. Can I come with you?”

Siane spluttered, staring at him hard. “You still have some work to do!”

“It’s not that important. I can do it tomorrow.”

Siane only shakily looked at him, knowing full well that she’s not going to have a peaceful reading session in her private room within the library because Calisto becomes too excited when he’s with her in that location, as if challenging the ‘maintain silence at all times’ rule.

It’s like he knew she’s been casting soundproof barriers and has been relentless about their honeymoon phase, since their conceiving rate is lower than normal, as per Casimir’s prediction.

Or that’s what they believed. It had completely slipped Siane’s mind that she hasn’t had her period for a while now, and the surprise will really catch her off guard.

•×•×•

‘Of course I made a fool out of myself!’ Mikael berated himself, embarrassed later that day. He was accompanying the second prince to the private royal library where Fran mentioned that the prince and princess were to relay to them the good news regarding their engagement. He had immediately jumped into a carriage to take him to Tan’s workplace near the Mage Tower and found out what Tan really meant behind the marriage proposal.

To think he had written a flurry of words berating the prince, while awkwardly saying that he accepts the proposal…

If his sister finds out, she’d laugh and tease him for eternity. Worse, she might tell his future kids how he ended up with their father.

The only way he could recover from this is to get back at Tan however he could.

The two passed by the double mahogany doors to the library, seeing neat rows of bookshelves everywhere they looked and large floor to ceiling windows to let ample lights in.

The first floor tables were occupied by mages or scholars from the Tower, while some were students of the Academy that had been granted rare permission to enter the royal library. A handful of librarians were seen flitting about, tapping those who had fallen asleep on their desk or rearranging the returned books.

As they moved on to the second floor, small reading rooms were given to the more serious researchers for the Magic Tower. They even saw a tired looking mage enter one, with a trolley of books to read.

Once reaching the third floor, there were only two rooms amidst the shelves: one that is the crown princess’s room and the other is for the main librarian’s office where they sort out newly arrived books.

Tan made the beeline towards the princess’s room, knocking on it excitedly.

However, there was no response for the first few seconds, prompting Tan to knock again.

On his third attempt, he was already frowning. “Surely they haven’t left already?”

“We should have bumped into them if that’s the case—” Mikael broke off when the door opened to reveal Calisto with his shirt slightly open and disheveled, and his usually well maintained hair messed up. His cheeks were flushed and he seemed to be catching his breath. Behind him is Siane, who’s busy fixing her hair, her clothes a little rumpled and her face flushed as well.

Upon seeing this, Mikael’s expression darkened, not liking the scenario happening in the room before they opened the door.

He may have accepted Calisto as a brother-in-law but that doesn't mean he's ready to be an uncle. When his eyes met with Siane’s, the latter flinched guiltily at her brother’s judgemental stare.

“Is the ventilation broken for the two of you to look like that?” Tan asked and Mikael sharply looked at him.

He's not serious about that question, right? Surely he’s not that innocent regarding this matter?

Even his brother raised his eyebrows at him in surprise.

“Ehm, no. Nothing like that.” Calisto replied as he idly fixed his hair. “What brought the two of you here?”

“We have something to discuss with you.”

Calisto moved away from the door to let them in and sat down on the couch with Siane. Tan closed the door after Mikael had entered and sat across the crown prince and princess, joining him afterwards.

Tan slid a paper towards his older brother, saying with a smile, “We decided to get engaged!”

Both Calisto and Siane froze at his words, and it was Siane’s turn to judgmentally stare at her brother, who then looked away from her. On the paper that Calisto read, he saw that it was penned by none other than Duke Canaels who had given the two his blessings.

“I know there will be lots of people against this engagement, and Duke Canaels has started looking for people who'd support the marriage.” Tan said with a rueful smile. “I was thinking of paying a visit to House Lorens tomorrow to get his support and get him to join the Royalist side now that he had enjoyed the benefits of his son as my aide de camp.”

“And if he continues to be neutral?” Siane promptly asked.

“Well, Javi can drop the Lorens name and start his own noble House as Rojas.”

Calisto shook his head at that. “That would make House Lorens hate us and join Marquis Ferrer’s faction. Don't do that, bunso.”

“Well, the only thing I could think of is a King’s permission to invalidate all of the protests regarding our marriage.”

“You should’ve gone to father then.”

“He’ll force me to marry Eufemia, kuya. You know that.”

“While I do manage the Court as the King’s representative, I’m still the crown prince and not the King himself.”

“The easy solution to that is simply to become King, kuya.”

Silence befell their group, too shocked by his casual suggestion.