PeaceMaker

Desilva and Axel turned to Dominic in unison, their angered faces directed at him momentarily before turning away with a sigh.

"Yes, I did ask about your personal guard," Desilva answered with a strained smile.

"That's true… I'd like to know the one in my position," Axel added.

"Well, first it wasn't your position, I didn't even know you that well before the war," Dominic retorted, feeling the need to correct Axel, "he's… a soldier I personally picked."

He purposely skipped over mentioning Boris' background. It wasn't one to be proud of being an outsider in his circle and he didn't feel like listening to any condescending remarks about Boris.

"Picked? Don't tell me he was someone from out of the palace who you brought into the palace?" Axel asked. The only place he had ever heard of the term 'picked' was when he had occasionally been dragged to 'Pleasure Houses' by the corrupted men he worked with.

Dominic hesitated in replying, the option of lying had never seemed so appealing to him. But…

"Yes, he was," Dominic replied. No matter how appealing a lie could seem, and how painful truth could be, compromising his conscience to lie was never an option to him.

"The third most praised position next to the king is taken by an outsider?" Axel gasped, staring at Dominic in disbelief.

Even Desilva looked a bit aback at Dominic's reply, the concept was hard to understand even from Desilva's background. Accepting someone from a completely different walk of life and giving him a spot in royalty was basically an insult to others that were already in line for it.

"Yes," Dominic nodded.

"Isn't it an insult to others in your kingdom, or am I mistaken?" Desilva asked, turning to look at Dominic.

"An insult?" Dominic repeated, echoing what Desilva had asked.

Axel sat back and watched Dominic's reaction. He too was curious about his prince's decision to put an outsider in a high position but he wasn't as rash as Desilva and knew when it was or was not in his place to speak. He'd been in the royalty circle long enough to know his place and be careful when speaking to them. His opinion did not matter in the face of his majesty and he'd rather sit back and watch so he can gather more clues from Dominic's reaction.

"It isn't an insult when I give him something that he deserved," Dominic shrugged with a smile, "in fact… I owe him a lot more than what I've given him. He's from a humble background but not humble in skills and he definitely has shown that to me. One of the reasons why I'm able to focus on the battlefield right now instead of worrying about my kingdom."

'One of the reasons why?' Axel thought to himself. He had been wondering why his highness hadn't asked about the palace in a while but just thought his thoughts were clouded currently and the questions would flow in later. 'It's a different deal when he was the reason why he wasn't worried about it at all.'

"You're indebted to him?" Axel spoke up, careful with his words so he doesn't accidentally tick Dominic off, "I didn't think there was anything on this planet that could make one indebted to the soon-to-be ruler of us all. It isn't like he saved your life or anything right? Because I did that."

"No… he didn't save my life," Dominic answered.

"Then why exact-" Axel began.

"He saved my entire kingdom," Dominic stated with such pride and gratefulness in his voice that Axel only got much more curious.

"Someone that saved… the entire kingdom?" Desilva mumbled, voicing Axel's exact thoughts, "wow…"

"Haha, right," Dominic chuckled, "I have a lot to do for him when I get back."

"I can imagine so," Axel agreed, standing up from his seat and carrying the small cup in which the tonic was once into a tall desk at the far corner of the tent, "I can't wait to meet such a fellow."

"Yeah… me too," Dominic smiled. He hadn't thought about it in a while but now that he had mentioned Boris again, a weight fell on his heart.

The months away from his kingdom had passed by so slowly at one point when he was in battle, each day he rose his sword up and fought enemy after enemy, his adrenaline so high that he was barely able to rest when he switched with others on the frontline. He had often stayed awake clutching his sword tightly, hiding away from the battle in trenches with other soldiers beside him, taking a break before returning to fight and refused to let down his guard for even one second.

Now that he thought back on those long days, they seemed like lifetimes ago. Situations he had barely lived through, bonds he had built while fighting and the sheer thought of being able to stay awake while sleep had clawed at his mind seemed so unreal to him. Like he never went through those situations, to begin with.

He remembered his carefree day at the palace, those long stacks of books he had to read daily seemed like paradise to him at this point. The long tables of food that he only ate a third of on the days he felt starved seemed like a luxury to him now. The large selection of exquisite clothes in a wardrobe that was so wide, the second floor needed another room just for his clothes seemed like a complete dream to him now. All the things he woke up to and easily disregarded were things that he desperately longed for how. 'Was this how he felt?' Dominic asked himself.

'Was this how they felt when they looked up those tall walls at the enormous expanse of the palace from the lowly streets they called home?' Dominic asked himself, 'was this the reason why we were so despised by the people in our kingdom? Was this the reason why he could have hated me before even seeing me?'

The things he never took the time to think about, the life he could have never imagined living, was now his reality. It was frightening.

"Wouldn't he be hated?"