The greetings were soon over and people rushed up to the prince and his uncle in order to spend some time with them. While that was happening, another group of people was busy doing their best to attract the attention of the two dukes and their wives. This went on for some time until finally, Nicolas announced that the prince and he will now have to spend some time with the host. The archduke took a disgruntled prince Rufus, who enjoyed the attention he was being showered with, to the table where the Sigurdsons and Elinstars sat.

“Duke Benjamin, may we join you?” Nicolas looked like a tired traveler in dire need of rest as he spoke those words.

“Of course my lord, please.” Benjamin quickly offered a seat to the newcomers.

The talks between old friends soon started and the children were instructed to play among themselves. The boys sat at a nearby table and were left alone to get to know each other.

“Your highness it is an honor to sit with you, your brother honored me with his presence at my birthday celebration last year.” Henry did his best not to make any mistakes, this child, sitting across the table from him could one day become an archduke or even the king, if the dice rolled in his favor.

“Lord Henry, my brother spoke well of you, I see it was not just him being kind. One day I hope to see you in the capital. I will be your senior in the academy so be sure to talk to me if you need anything.” Rufus liked Henry from the get go as he showed him proper respect and came from a respectable family.

“I thank your highness, my father and your esteemed uncle told me about their days in the academy many times, and their stories have made me wish for my own admission ceremony to come sooner.” Henry, now spoke with a bit of ease as he noticed the prince's attitude towards him was one of approval.

“Brother Henry, we are of similar age, will I be able to join you in the academy? Mathew started speaking out of nowhere, he also heard a lot about the famous academy days his father and his friends talked about with great affection.

“Of course Mathew, I believe that we might end up in the same class if you work hard enough.” Henry had a soft spot for Mathew so he quickly answered his question and did his best to include him in the talks with the prince.

Rufus was not happy because of this, as he saw Henry as a potential ally in the future, while Mathew was just a boy doomed to become a footnote in the Elinstar's records, at best. He lacked any sense of etiquette or his place at this table. Still he did his best to show a nice face in front of Henry, as he did not want to lower his chances of winning him over.

The talks went on for a while in a friendly atmosphere, to an outsider it might seem like the three were having a good time. Unfortunately these pleasant moments, for the host at least, were not to last. Mathew's complexion was starting to look paler than usual. Reacting quickly Gisela excused herself and her son. As they were leaving the table Mathew grabbed Henry’s hand and urged him to join them. The young Sigurdson, unable to refuse the child, went along while apologizing to the dumbfounded prince Rufus.

‘So you pick this weakling instead of staying with me, huh.’ Rufus was not only insulted but also could not understand why Henry, a strong individual, wanted to have anything to do with a weakling like Mathew. ‘If he stands with that little failure then he is not really worth my time. I will just manipulate him when the time is right and turn him into a pawn. Too bad Sigurdson, you could have become my direct subordinate in the future kingdom.’

***

While Rufus was sulking and plotting his future rule, unbeknownst to him, Henry was doing his best to cheer Mathew up for ruining his guests' time.

“Don’t worry Mathew, I am sure his highness will not be upset with you.” Henry lied, but all he could do now was to make it as easy as possible to the boy before him.

“But I had to leave the table, and even took you with me. Now he is all alone, I will apologize to him properly later, Henry also, please forgive me for my selfishness.” Mathew was truly sorry and on the verge of tears.

“Relax Mathew, I am sure he will forgive you if you properly apologize, so for now, do your best to recover.” Henry was all smiles, but in his mind he feared the same thing that Mathew spoke about. ‘I left a prince alone at a table, that must be a big mistake on my part. Forget about insulting him, if Anna gets the wind of this I will never ever stop hearing about it.’

After about an hour Henry and Mathew returned to the party and started looking for Rufus. One of the maids told them that he was on the balcony so the two went over there. Rufus was standing there, looking in the distance.

“Mathew lets go…” As Henry was about to open the balcony door and step outside, he was stopped by Mathew.

“Lord Henry, may I do this alone?” The at times, timid child that Henry got to know was nowhere to be seen, before him stood a noble who wanted to make amends for his mistake without anyone's help.

“All right, if you need me, I will be here.” Henry was proud of Mathew and decided to let his friend fight this battle alone. He then started chatting with a knight that served as his attendant during this event.

***

Once outside Mathew approached the prince and bowed deeply. “Prince Rufus I would like to apologize for leaving you alone, as you might know my health is giving me some trouble. Will you please forgive me?”

Rufus was not a forgiving person, still, he needed allies, and even a weak child like this one could serve some purpose.

‘While I cannot see this one doing anything of use, he still might serve me somehow. Perhaps his death could be a bridge to get me into Henry’s head.'

Rufus wasted no time. Putting on a wide smile he gave his best impression of a kind and forgiving master. “Do not worry, lord Mathew, there is no need to be so tense. I forgive you, of course. There is not much we can do about our health.”

“Thank you, my lord, so much.” Mathew was elated, he could not believe his luck, this might be a start of a new friendship and someday he might get to share stories with him, just like his father did with archduke Nicolas.

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Rufus was a cunning child, but a child non the less. His side scheme fell apart as he heard Mathew make another blunder regarding his status. “You imbecile! I was willing to let your mistakes slide, but to make two mistakes in the span of mere hours is not something I could just glance over. Maybe if it was done by a commoner, who did not know better, but you, a child of a duke, to call a king’s son a simple lord.”

Rufus snapped and pushed Mathew away. The door of the balcony swung open and Henry rushed outside. He was about to punch Rufus, but stopped himself, deciding instead, to help Mathew get up while wiping away the boy's tears.

“Lord Henry, why do you waste time on this piece of garbage? You have the skills and the brains to be great one day, so why?” Rufus was now letting all of his frustration come out. His attendant only stood there with a smirk, unveiling to stop his master.

With no one to stop him, Rufus continued his tirade, “Just look at him, sniveling after a small push. Truly unworthy of being called a noble’s son.”

“Mathew, don’t cry, relax, I am here and all will be well.” Henry did his best to soothe Mathew, but Rufus was making it difficult.

The prince was now shifting his anger towards Henry, who was obviously ignoring him. “Are you even listening to me you idiot, stop wasting…”

Henry did his best to remain calm, he feared the might of the king, he feared what his parents might say but none of that mattered now, out of pure instinct he stood up for his friend. “Shut up! This child has more nobility in his pinky than you have in your entire body, you want to push someone, how about me? Or is the idea of fighting someone who is more than willing to fight back too much for you, oh noble lord?”

Rufus roared and rushed at Henry, who just tripped him and looked down on the prince.

“Your Highness!” The attendant finally spoke and tried to grab Henry, but he was stopped dead in his tracks as a dagger pressed against his neck.

“Never raise your voice to a Sigurdson.” Henry's attendant gave a quick pointer to the man who dared to insult his lord. Just as he spoke these words another person entered the scene.

“What is going on here?” Nicolas was the first to the scene as he was afraid his nephew did something wrong and wanted to quickly end the commotion. He could not allow an incident, that could damage the reputation of the second born prince, to happen tonight.

The commotion on the balcony now attracted the attention of the people inside as they noticed that the archduke was the first to arrive. The sight before Nicolas was spectacular. His knight was standing frozen and with a dagger under his throat, the prince was sprawled on the ground, blood dripping from his nose and Henry just stood there with a relaxed smile on his face.

The first situation that worried Nicolas was the dagger to his knight's throat, “Explain yourself, to put a knife on a royal knight's throat, you must have a death wish?”

The knight looked at him and spoke in a relaxed manner. “No one raises their voice to our little lord.” This caused Nicolas to just stare at the man, unsure what was going on. A moment later the rest of the people involved were outside.

Henry's father calmly issued his order, “You may stand down, explain the situation to me.”

With no hesitation the knight sheathed his weapon and gave a quick summary of the incident, “This fancy boy raised his voice and tried to grab our lord Henry, the prince pushed lord Mathew and tried to fight lord Henry but ended like that.”

“How was my boy?” Completely uninterested in the prince who was hugging his uncle and wailing, Alfred inquired about Henry’s performance.

With a big smile the knight gave his assessment. “Our lord will be a splendid fighter one day, he was calm and collected. He put his enemy down in a single move. If I may add, he has your tongue, my lord.”

“Splendid.” Alfred approached Henry and gave him a pat on the head and a wink.

“Alfred, this is not a small incident, the prince is…” Nicolas was dumbfounded by the nonchalance in Alfred's behavior and could only utter those words before being interrupted by his old friend.

“My lord, I stand by my son and my knight, if anything I congratulate them on their ability to remain calm and not finish off the people who attacked them.” After proclaiming his stance Alfred looked deep into his friends eyes.

Defeated and afraid of the gossip Nicolas asked Benjamin for a favor. “Lord Benjamin, can we use your study for further talks?”

“Of course my lord Nicolas.” Benjamin could only bow and show the people involved the way.

***

“Lord Benjamin, I apologize for my nephew's actions.” Nicolas lowered his head to Benjamin who quickly waved the whole incident away.

After getting that out of the way he turned towards Alfred, “Lord Alfred, your son injured a member of the royal family, a prince second in the line for the throne, there will be an investigation, and a punishment might be required. I will do all that is in my power to prevent it, I know Henry did nothing wrong.” The words he spoke were not easy to utter, but as the archduke he had to say them. He knew quite well who was to blame for the incident and hoped to finish this with a light punishment after he explained the situation to his brother.

Nicolas was a seasoned veteran of the battlefield and a skilled politician who could hardly be surprised by anything, still the next words that came out of Alfred's mouth shocked him and froze the blood in his veins.

“I see no reason for such a thing, back in my days princes did not trip over so easily, nor did they cry so much over a bit of blood.” Alfred spoke these words while restraining his emotions.

“We of course respect the kingdom, but our son did nothing wrong and anyone who says otherwise will have to go through us.” Eleonora was even harsher that her husband, something that no one would expect.

“Such words are dangerous my lady.” Not thinking about how someone might interpret his words Nicolas just spoke them out loud, not as a threat but out of fear of the meaning they had.

“My wife and I share the same opinion, and I do not like your choice of words Nicolas, my wife and son are my only real treasures and anyone who dares…” Alfred’s words were cut short by Benjamin.

“Let me jump in the conversation . If I may, lord Nicolas, the way I see things, young Henry acted in such a way to protect my son, even if he did not, Henry is like a brother to Mathew and I will not let my son lose a precious friend.”

“What are you talking about, the boy injured a royal prince, once his father hears about this, we need to talk about the whole thing and find a way to fix it.” The headache caused by this incident was growing in strength by the minute and Nicolas was finding himself surrounded with no allies.

“That is easy. You remind his father that he should educate his son better. Also tell him that if he can look the other way for the many evils that lurk in the west and the south, he will not push a child defending his friend from a bully any further.” Alfred's solution was an insult to injury and everyone in the room knew it, but it was the stance the North and the East took together.

“My friend you know that my brother would not harm your son, some time in his room and an apology would be the worst punishment Henry would receive, any more and I would intervene. My brother is your friend, he would never do something that damages that friendship.” Seeing the madness that was taking over the people present Nicolas tried to downplay the situation and offer another assurance while also reminding Alfred of his ties to the man he once called friend and brother.

Expectedly his words fell on deaf ears and Alfred repeated his stance once more, “I said my son is innocent and anyone who would say otherwise will have to come to Ul armed and ready to die.”

"Alfred, please, I will do my best to fix things on my end, on your end please do not escalate this any further." Nicolas could now only hope his brother would accept to keep this under wraps and not escalate things any more.

The Archduke understood Alfred and how his mind worked, what's more, he understood that the two men in front of him were the most loyal retainers his brother had and that losing them over a petty fight between children would be stupid. Nicolas left the mansion worried but also smiling, doing his best to think of a way to calm his hot headed brother down before he does anything stupid.

‘Why are those two so similar, must I forever play the role of the peacemaker?’ Nicolas thought about this during his journey home.