Trapped In Hisstory

"Pardon? My name is Clifford, not Theo, Your Highness." 

Clifford looked at the Crown Prince, puzzled by the unfamiliar name he had called him. Since when had he become a person named Theo? He thought.

He wondered if the Crown Prince just made a mistake, but Theo is too far from his name, Clifford.

Chance put his hands on his mouth, surprised by his own words, and has gone to a daze. 'T-theo, I called him Theo.' he thought. 

He has no idea why Theodore Hill's name came out of his mouth. Moreover, calling the son of the Duke and Duchess as Theo.

'I must not have been in my right mind. Is it because I was thinking about what Theo said about the son not dying in a fire? That's why I subconsciously muttered his name?' he thought, but that only sounds like an excuse.

'Or maybe because Clifford gives out Theo vibes?' he thought again while staring at the perplexed Clifford Lockhart.

"Could it be," Clifford muttered, making Chance snap out of his thoughts to listen to the Lockhart. "Your Highness has forgotten my name?" he asked.

Chance stared at him awkwardly as Clifford bob his eyebrows up, waiting for an answer. Chance laughed. "Haha, of course not. How could I forget the name of Duke Matthias and Duchess Frances's son?" he answered.

Clifford furrowed his brow. "Then how come you called me using a different name?"

"My apologies. You remind me of someone I know. He is somehow like you, and his name is Theo." Chance said, with the hope that Clifford would just agree and let it pass.

"I see." Clifford muttered, asking nothing further, and Chance was relieved.

'I have not met anyone among the ranks, taking the name of Theo. Unless it is a commoner?' Clifford thought, trying to guess which friend does the Crown Prince has with that name.

"I thank Your Highness once again for the time. May you be in your way with the blessing from the Goddess." Clifford uttered politely with a bow.

Chance turned his back and immediately headed back to the library in shame for calling Clifford Lockhart by another name. Especially a name that is from his time.

'That was close. He almost knew that I did not know him.' he thought while patting his chest to ease his nervousness.

Just as he entered the Royal Library, he saw Alec Valorian looking at him. As if he was already staring at the door even before he had arrived. 

"How did it go, Your Highness?" he asked as Chance stepped inside. "Have you caught up with the one you wanted to talk to?"

Chance nodded. "Yes, I have. He already left," he answered.

"Why did Clifford not come inside, instead of hiding behind the door?" Alec knight.

Chance was surprised, 'He knew who I went to talk to all along?' he thought. 'But he never went out of the library.'

"I had already seen him before you did, Your Highness." Alex said, knowing what he was thinking by the obvious look on his face.

"Oh, he..." he cut himself off and looked around to see if Clayton was still in his spot. Seeing that he was still reading there, he leaned over to reach near his knight's ear, "He wanted to know my brother." he whispered.

Chance backed away and Alec stared at him. "Your brother-?" Chance leaned to his ear again. "Prince Clayton."

Alec nodded, "I see..." he muttered, "But why are you whispering..?" he asked, looking at the Crown Prince with his blank face.

Chance immediately stepped away after hearing his question. "Well, he might hear," he said and slightly gestured to the racks where Clayton was. He was still reading, but Chance felt like his expression became even more serious as he read.

"It is all right. I do not think His Highness would hear it by that far."

Chance smiled as a response and walked back to the racks to check if he could find a book about the war against Animalia. 

He sighted each rack from the top to the bottom, looking at the titles that would lead close to Animalia.

He went to another rack, and another, another, but there was nothing he could find about Sherin's tribe.

He crossed his arms, elbow resting on another arm as he pinched his chin with his fingers to think, 'Strange. The war of the Star Kingdoms and the Animalia Tribe was in 1879. A decade has passed, and no one has written about it yet?' he thought.

He was expecting that there would be a story about it already, considering how proud the royalties were with themselves. Something like 'Write a story about our victory! We have wiped out the whole tribe with our power!' or something like that. 

"What a shame, hmm. Maybe I could write more about it when I meet Sherin again." he muttered as he continued to go through the books.

He went to another rack, but he did not notice that it was the rack where Clayton was in. 'Oh no, by seeing me, he would surely be in a bad mood.' Chance thought.

"Oh, uhm. Read well, Clayt—

"Does Your Highness find it fun?" Clayton said with his eyes still set on the book he was reading.

Chance did not know what he meant by what he said, so he assumed it was about books. "Oh, yes. I was looking for—"

"Your Highness seems to enjoy going around the palace telling people that I was a child of a concubine, huh?" he said with a smirk on his face, obviously stating it with hate.

Chance looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"You act all innocent now, Your Highness?" Clayton closed his book and looked at him. "It was just a few minutes ago yet you have already forgotten?"

"Clayton is the Second Prince of Antares. The son of His Majesty, King Cadell, with his concubine, Her Highness, Melanie." 

Chance remembered what he was talking about. 'He must have come at the wrong time and walked away, not listening to the following words.' he thought, wanting to facepalm but he was in front of Clayton.

"No, Clayton. You misunderstood me." Chance said, waving both of his hands left and right, denying it.

Clayton let out a snort, finding his words ridiculous. "I clearly heard it, and yet you deny it. You must think I am a fool?" he said.

Chance did not know how he could explain it. He was just trying to tell Clifford who he was, but Clayton hearing it changed his intention. "I do not think you are going to believe me anyway if I told you the reason." the Crown Prince said in a whisper, but Clayton could hear it.

"What may be the reason?" Clayton asked, narrowing his eyes. 

"Someone is...curious about you." he said. Silence surrounded them and left them both staring at each other. "Hehe." Chance gave him a teasing smile.

Clayton saw a weird expression on the Crown Prince's face and he stared at him with disgust, "W-what is with that look of yours?" he asked.

Chance's smile became even wider when he remembered the shy look on Clifford's face, while Clayton's disgusted look worsened, seeing his brother's smile, 'Charles...smiling. I have never seen anything creepier than this.' he thought.

"This is ridiculous. If you are going to find an excuse, make it more plausible." Clayton said, not believing a single thing he said.

"See? I was right, you will not believe my reason."

"Because your reason is hard to believe."

"Why would you think it is hard to believe?"

"No one would be curious about a nobody like me."

"How are you a nobody? You are literally a prince."

Clayton clicked his tongue, "An insignificant prince borne by a prostitute concubine! I have always been in the dark. While would someone be interested in an unknown prince like me?"

Chance put both of his hands on Clayton's shoulders and shook him, startling the hell out of the Second Prince. "Stop using the concubine and your birth as a reason to hide from the world!"

Clayton was stunned. He had never seen Charles mad and concerned at the same time about him. He has always been far...so far from him.

"Unlike you and Carmilla...I am nothing. Carmilla is the sun I, the moon, will forever follow behind." he said, lowering his gaze, "And making you even brighter."

"Well, heck, I love the moon!"

Clayton's eyes slightly widened and looked up at his brother's face. "W-what?" he asked, flustered. The way his brother talk changed and he never would have thought that he would say...love.

"You see yourself as the moon, but do you know there are a lot of moon lovers there like me?" Chance said, a bit annoyed that Clayton makes it seem as if the moon is not as beautiful as the sun and the stars. 

Clayton looked away, "You...are so weird." he whispered.

"One day, you will come across a person," Chance said as he leaned on to the sitting prince, "Who will break the walls you built.." he whispered.