Chapter 219 - 68 - Attendats' Business [side] (part 3)

Patishi and Veo left the kitchen after preparing the meal – even though they were extremely excited over the luckiest and probably one of the best possible turns of events, they never forgot bout their prince - and went to Horeo's room with breakfast.

They knocked on the door and waited.

Only a few moments later the gold-haired first prince opened the door.

"Ah! Perfect! Hello, Veo, Patishi."

Horeo smiled at the sight of his two attendants and opened the door ajar and stepped to the side to let them in.

"My prince!"

"Good morning, master!"

Patishi and Veo bowed their heads and responded cheerfully as they entered.

But as they were already inside they both stopped for a moment completely surprised.

In place of the desk, there was a semi-circular table with three chairs beside it, the flat side was against the wall.

The shining, clearly brand new piece of furniture surely looked high quality and unnecessarily expensive.

"Master, what is this...?"

Veo blinked a few times and turned to Horeo with a big question mark above her head.

"I've decided that I can no longer leave you to eat whenever you want."

Horeo crossed his arms and made a serious face.

"It came to my attention that both of you were working very hard, often to the point of skipping meals – and as you employer, I cannot allow you to forsake your health for my convenience - from today onward the three of us will eat together breakfast and supper. And yes, that is an order I'm giving you as your master."

He declared in a matter-of-fact voice, as it clearly wasn't up to discussion.

Patishi and Veo looked at each other completely stunned. They both already knew that the first prince had a thing against skinny people but they never expected him to actually go as far as this.

...somehow missing the point that Horeo was just worried about them...

"O-of course we will comply, my prince, but... What is with this table, where did your desk go? Don't you need it?"

Patishi agreed instantly, but couldn't help herself and asked in a bashful voice.

"Nope. I can do my assignments on this just as good."

Horeo shrugged his shoulders and answered with a cheeky smirk.

"I just wanted something that we could sit by together at once."

"!!!"

|B-but that makes it almost like a date...!|

Patishi blushed and started staring at her feet.

"...haa..."

Veo turned her head to the side and sighed without reading anywhere near as deeply into the situation as Patishi was.

"Indeed, but master, where did you get this table anyway?"

"Oh? I bought it, of course."

Horeo responded while shrugging his shoulders.

"And what did you do with the desk?"

Veo shook her head and asked.

"I gave it back to the school staff saying that I don't need it anymore – look, there's barely any space in this room anyway."

The gold-haired prince shrugged his shoulders and spread his arms to demonstrate the point.

"...haaaaaaaaaaa...."

Veo sighed even deeper at her master's immediate answer.

"Master, you are being wasteful with your money – again! The desk would be good enough!"

She even started scolding him!

"Veo, I'm a prince I have standards, you know?"

Horeo snorted and sneered at her.

"...!"

Veo's face became a shade redder.

"Maser, I'm going to tell sir Zoemi about this!"

"...!"

She said threateningly and Horeo gasped.

"You wouldn't...!"

He backed off, raising his hands defensively.

"W-we should eat, right? So the prince won't be late for his class! R-right, Veo...!?"

The atmosphere was getting rather odd so Patishi chimed in to lift the mood.

"That's right! You don't want to make your favorite master be late, isn't that right, Veo?"

Horeo instantly jumped on the idea and walked towards the semicircular table and sat in the middle.

"...indeed... Hmph! We're going to return to this conversation later, master!"

Veo pouted and put the tray with food in front of the first prince.

"Don't be like that...! Come sit down too!"

Horeo groaned and moved the chair to his right and patted it welcomingly.

"Patishi, you sit here."

The gold-haired boy then moved the chair to his left and patted it too.

"...I sometimes think there must be something wrong with me..."

Veo sat down with a grumpy look on her face and muttered under her breath.

"What? Of course not! You are amazing!"

"!!!"

Horeo furrowed his brows and scoffed, shaking his head over the outrageous – in his opinion – claim.

"Patishi, don't be shy, the food tastes better when we eat together, right~?"

"Y-yes, my prince...!"

The gold-haired boy turned to Patishi and beckoned her to sit down already – which she did while her face became as red as a tomato.

Horeo split the food between the three of them and they started eating.

Patishi was the first one to finish but as soon as her hands and jaw stopped moving, Horeo took a portion out of his own plate and placed it on the young attendant's empty plate.

"M-my prince! I-I don't need it, you should...!"

Patishi tried to stop him but Horeo only took a slice of bread and put it in the girl's mouth.

"No, no complaining, you are a growing girl, what if you faint? I've heard that girls worry about their weight but that's ridiculous, same to you Veo – you lost weight recently didn't you? You don't have to overwork yourself, take care of yourself first."

He said calmly and patted Patishi's head before turning around, taking another slice of bread, and putting it in Veo's mouth.

"Mashta, yu pehfeft...!"

"...nnn..."

Veo muttered with her mouth full, Patishi didn't even say anything she just kept on nibbling on the slice of bread that the prince gave her – but deep blush showed that she shared Veo's opinion...

...and didn't really mind it either...

"A what?! Huh?! Why?! What did I do?!"

Horeo gasped, shocked to the core and his eyes widened.

-----

The rest of the meal passed in peace and when they were done, Patishi cleaned the table and Veo picked up the tray with empty dishes.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Horeo smiled at them, making both Patishi and Veo were crimson red from embarrassment.

"Ah! That's right – Veo, we will be returning to the royal palace – it will be Ptishi's first time going there too, so that calls for a present!"

The gold-haired prince spoke up, right as his attendants were about to leave the room.

"E-eeeeehhhhh?! I'm going too?!"

Patishi flinched and cowered in panic.

"Of course you do, you are my attendant now – in training, but still."

Horeo nodded his head with a serious expression and patted the girl's head.

"It came to my attention that you don't have any dresses in your wardrobe, even though you seem to like them very much."

"!!!!"

The first prince said and his expression softened as he recalled seeing the younger girl trying out Veo's maid's uniform.

"My prince – no...! There's no need! I don't deserve any presents – I barely started serving you, it's Veo who should receive another o...!"

"Shush. Listen to our master, you silly girl."

Patishi gasped and started backing off while shaking her head – but because of that, she ended up bumping into the older girl, who raised her hands and put them on her shoulders while smiling at the younger girl.

"Also relax – I am not going to give you a ballroom dress – just something practical – like Veo advised me to do."

Horeo raised his hands and waved them to calm his attendant-in-training.

"You are in on this?!"

Patishi gasped and turned around staring wide-eyed right into Veo's eyes, since to begin with, they were basically the same height.

"Just listen to our master – you will simply receive a maid's uniform just like mine, only with a bigger apron so that you could still use it while cooking"

Veo's smile widened and she nodded without any shame.

"Wait... like this one?!"

Patishi's expression suddenly changed from complete panic to excitement once she actually heard what she will receive.

"You will love it – is much cuter than this mine, actually."

The older girl laughed and added happily.

"Oh, that reminds me – Veo, you are getting a new maid's uniform too, to match Patishi."

"...eh...?"

Horeo nodded in realization and declared calmly, making Veo open her mouth in confusion.

"Master! You are paying for them from your own pocket! That's a waste of money! This one is still good!"

She ended up shaking off the initial shock and furrowed her brows, glaring at the blond-haired boy while stepping away from Patishi to show off her current dress.

"That's not accurate – even an old dress will look good on a cute girl, you are getting a new one and that's that, alright, I'm off to the lectures."

Horeo shook his head and waved his hand dismissively before leaving his stunned attendants.

"...Veo...?"

Patishi slowly approached the older girl who...

"Stupid prince! And he dares to say that sir Zoemi is dense!"

...blushed so hard that her face turned crimson, and slumped down because she literally got weak in her knees....