“Father!” Drayce giggled. “Wah, Father is carrying me! Thank you, Father!”

He immediately hugged his father, resting his head on the crook of his shoulder as if wanting to enjoy this moment.

King Theron’s hands trembled after his second son hugged him. Hearing Drayce’s innocent laughter, he could not bring up the courage to push his son away. He patted his back and said, “You should not run like this…”

“I wanted to reach you, Father, before you go away,” he replied with a toothy grin, still hugging his father.

“Hmm,” was all King Theron said before he finally put Drayce down.

“Thank you for the berries, Father,” he said, his bright twinkling eyes looking affectionately at his father. “I promise I will share this with Mother!”

King Throne felt something painful stab his conscience. Red eyes, black hair—none of those resembled his or his wife’s appearance. A bitter reminder of a scar that would never heal, and every time he would look at him, he would always recall what he represented.

Yet could he deny that innocence in those eyes?

‘Whatever happened in the past, it’s not this child’s fault.’

Thinking along those lines, King Theron felt somehow comforted as he awkwardly patted Drayce in the head.

“I have to go,” King Theron said and stood up.

Drayce, being a good kid, didn’t stop his father and stepped back. He remembered his etiquette and bowed to bid him farewell.

Though raised with love by their mothers, both Prince Keiren and Prince Drayce grew up without fatherly affection from the King, barely even given the chance to meet him in person. This was a fact known not only by those within the royal palace, but even by the high nobility who knew the happenings among royalty. That was why news travelled twice as fast within various circles as the eyewitnesses could not help their surprise seeing how affectionate the King was to the Second Prince.

The news of the king showering the Second Prince with love reached the Vermilion Palace the quickest.

Lady Clarisa’s servant informed her about it, and her beautiful face was suddenly twisted in anger.

‘How dare you show love to that bastard but ignore your own son?’

The six-year-old Keiran was sitting beside his mother when the servant came to report, and he asked innocently, “Mother, since Father gave berries to my brother, then I will get them too, right? When will Father get me berries? Is he coming today? Will I get a hug too?”

Lady Clarisa had no answer to it. “This…”

Seeing her reluctant expression, the little boy’s face crumpled. “I see…Father won’t come. He doesn’t love me…”

“No, Keiran. It’s not like that. It doesn’t mean your father doesn’t love you. He just happened to meet the Second Prince by chance.”

“Then I want to meet him too!” the First Prince insisted. “Why can’t we live closer to my father’s residence so I can get to see him too?”

His questions were like arrows getting shot at her heart but she could not show it to her son.

“This residence is good as well. We have a nice garden here,” she tried to convince him. “Ah, your friends are here to play with you. You should hurry and fix your clothes so you can play with them. It’s rude to keep them waiting.”

Unlike Little Drayce who only interacted with the people within the Queen’s palace, Little Keiran had many friends from the noble families as his playmates, thanks to the connections of Lady Clarisa with her ducal family.

Thanks to Prince Keiren’s earnest pleas to his mother, when he went out to play the next time, they chose to do so in the common garden near the Grand Palace, hoping to have a chance encounter with King Theron as well.

It just so happened that it was also the day when Lady Saira brought Little Drayce to sightsee on the lake nearby, as such, both princes came across each other in the common garden.

Prince Keiren was playing a ball game with his friends when he saw Drayce being escorted by his nanny and servants.

“Your Highness, isn’t that black-haired boy your little brother, the Second Prince?” one of the kids asked curiously.

Prince Keiren did not reply, but his expression looked a bit surprised when he eyed the younger prince.

‘He still looks like a doll.’

Drayce was rarely seen by people even within the palace, thus, not many knew his face. However, it was common knowledge that the Second Prince was blessed with black hair and red eyes so it was easy to recognize him at a glance.

As for the First Prince, there were not many opportunities for him to meet his younger brother. If he were to recall when was the last time, it ought to be during the Queen’s birthday banquet, but even then the little prince briefly appeared before retiring from the event with his nanny.

“Why is he here? I heard he does not leave the Queen’s residence.”

“Perhaps he’s visiting the King?”

“Oh, did the King invite him?”

“Wasn’t there a story about how the King shot arrows and got berries for the Second Prince? Maybe they got closer after that?”

Though the kids playing with him were in the age range of six to ten-year-olds, they were all raised by noble families thus they had a vague idea in their minds as they cast looks of pity towards the First Prince.

“But His Highness is yet to even see the King—”

“P-Prince Keiren?”

Though Prince Keiren was a good child, his father only showing favour to his younger half-brother didn’t make him feel good. Jealousy arose in his mind, however, he refrained from showing his feelings to the other kids.

‘Even though we are born from different mothers, we are still both Ivanovs! I must not let them think badly of my family,’ was his young mind’s innocent thought.

He hurried to school with his expression, pretending to be unaffected. “My brother is still so small and weak so he needs father’s help, but I am older and stronger so I don’t need that kind of help. If I were in that garden too, I would have helped my little brother get those berries as well.”

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