After the meal and meeting the Hahn family, Lothar decided that he would take Caspar and that they would spend a day roaming around Herzen.

At first, Caspar was confused with Lothar's weird request, but he decided to comply anyway. After all, it was not like he had anything better to do.

When she first heard that they would be going out, Felizia wanted to join them, and Jakob, knowing his son, also agreed to the idea, after all, he did not want the Prince to end up in some sort of scandal with his son. He did not know how the military had affected Caspar in that aspect. Still, after spending four years away in the war, he did not want to lose his son and push him away anymore, he had already experienced the pain of having to worry if your eldest son is still living.

That did not mean that he had agreed with his son or accepted that aspect of him, but he decided to use softer, more subtle approaches to slowly change his son and see where he stands.

Marie, on the other hand, disagreed with having Falizia join them, she argued that the Prince might have something important to talk to her son about, that's why he came over and invited him.

Marie did not really care who her son decided to fall in love with. To her, he was the baby that she carried for nine months, and nothing would change the love she had for him and her other children and grandchildren.

In the end, Marie was able to convince Jakob and Felizia to leave the two alone, but not before Felizia had Caspar promise that he would take her around Herzen to play at a later date.

-----------------------

Caspar, Lothar, and Carsten had set out to roam the streets of Herzen. At first, they visited the southern market district.

The southern district was full of shops that sold everything from food and baked goods to clothes, and also strange trinkets and gadgets that people invented.

As they walked the wide, crowded streets, Lothar would frequently stop to gaze at some of the strange gadgets or enter a store to look at their new collections of clothes, causing Caspar to respond in schadenfreude.

"Who would believe it if I said that the handsome man acting like a country bumpkin was the Prince that led the army to victory."

Hearing Caspar's words caused Lothar to give a sad, self-deprecating smile.

"Am I really that bad?"

Seeing Lothar's sad smile caused Caspar to reveal a panicked smile and attempt to lighten Lothar's mood while flailing his arms comedically.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"That's not what I meant!"

At this point, Carsten decides to chime in and explain to Caspar the reason Lothar was acting the way he was.

"His highness spent most of his early life in the palace where he was not allowed to leave for his safety. At the age of thirteen, he was sent away to a special noble academy where he was to learn about everything. When he turned seventeen, he was sent to join the army as an officer and rise through the ranks, like his father, King Rainer, did before him. You could say that, until now, at the age of twenty-three, his highness has not properly seen the capital."

Hearing about Lothar's strict childhood caused Caspar to remember his own childhood of roaming around the street and playing with the neighborhood children.

After thinking about it for a while, Caspar decides to take the role of a tour guide and take Lothar with him to experience all that Herzen has to offer. With a determined expression, he grabs Lothar's hand and pulls him along the road to a location he remembers

"Alright then, let me give you a crash course of all the fun things that you could do!"

Having Caspar holding his hand and pulling him along, and seeing the broad smile he was showing him, Lothar is stunned. He reveals a smile of his own as he gets pulled into Caspar's childishness and thinks to himself.

'Honestly, how can he still look so innocent after all that he had experienced?'

At first, Caspar takes Lothar to a small candy shop that he remembers from his childhood. Thankfully, the shop is still open and is also run by the same old man that he would buy his candy from.

Caspar pulls Lothar into the shop, ignoring the stares of the children, who are also there to buy their candy, as he shouts to the old man.

"Mister! Can we have two portions of fruit-flavored taffy."

The old shopkeeper looks at Caspar before grabbing two paper bags from the counter behind him and handing them to Caspar.

"That will be two Mark."

The currency of Urmach consisted of the fenning coin and the paper mark, where a hundred fennings made a mark.

Caspar stands there for a second, remembering that he did not bring any money with him when he left his house. He turns to look at Lothar, revealing a bashful smile that elicits a laugh out of Lothar as he takes out a five mark note and gives it to the old shopkeeper.

"Here you go. What else can we get with three marks?"

Lothar asks the shop keeper as he hands him the money.

The shopkeeper takes the money and hands Lothar a small bar of chocolate. Chocolate was relatively expensive since it needed a particular plant that can only grow in the southern continent.

Caspar grabs the bar of chocolate from the old man as he then thanks the old man and pulls Lothar out of the shop.

"Thanks, mister, I'll come here with more money later."

The old man laughs, maybe remembering a child a long time ago that acted the same way as he replies to Caspar.

"Thank you for the business, and don't forget to come again, kid."

As soon as they get out of the shop, Caspar hands Lothar one of the paper bags before splitting the chocolate bar precisely in half and giving a part to Lothar.

"Here you go."

Lothar laughs at Caspar's miserly treatment of the chocolate, causing Caspar to blush as he tries to explain himself to Lothar.

"What? Chocolate was always expensive for me as a child, so I never had much of it, after all, a small bar of chocolate cost as much as three portions of taffy."

As he explains, his face gets redder and redder while his voice grows softer until he is basically whispering at the end, causing Lothar to laugh even more at his expense.

Seeing Lothar still laughing at him, Caspar gets angry and shoves a piece of taffy into Lothar's open mouth, touching his lips in the process.

Lothar stops laughing as he starts chewing the taffy, licking his lips where Caspar had touched.

"How is it?"

Caspar asks as he gazes at Lothar in excitement, waiting for his answer.

Lothar swallows the barely chewed taffy as he looks at Caspar with a smile.

"Sweat and very delicious."