Horeo woke up together with the sun, for a few seconds his head was still hazy from the sleepiness and stretched in a pleasant ignorance of everything that happened in the Academy during his visiting the royal castle.

"Ngggghhh…! Good morin- ah, you both still asleep…?

"

The gold-haired prince yawned and nodded with a smile at his companions.

…because he certainly wasn't alone in bed…

Veo was sleeping on Horeo's right side in a rather unrefined but captivating manner, her hair was all over the pillow, she was snoring a little and her bare chest was going up and down in the rhythm of her breaths, her arms were motionlessly aligned with her torso making her look completely defenseless and she had a blanket covering just one of her legs and going under the other. Her clothes were put into a pile on the right side of the bed, leaving her only in a cute nightgown.

Patishi was on Horeo's left, sleeping on the side, very properly and very calmly, she was peacefully breathing and the blanket was covering everything except her skinny shoulders so it wasn't all that obvious that she was wearing an oversized white shirt as a pajama.

Her daily clothes were neatly folded and put on the floor on the left side of the bed.

"Seriously, giving Veo a hard time and making her stay up until late because you wanted to request all of us sleeping together… what an innocent request.

"

"…nnnn…!

"

The first prince snickered and reached out his hand to poke Patishi's cheek, making the younger girl frown in her sleep.

As if greatly disturbed by the tease, the sleeping Patishi ended up shifting her position and moving forward, which resulted in her snuggling to Horeo's waist.

"…nnn~!

"

With her cheek smushed against the gold-haired boy's muscular stomach, Patishi let out a satisfied sound and continued sleeping.

"Hey, hey… You won't be able to push it off to mana depletion after having a good night's sleep, silly.

"

The gold-haired prince giggled quietly and gently tousled the younger girl's hair to not actually wake her up.

The previous day was very busy for him, so seeing all that adorable innocence and trust he felt at ease.

Although Horeo was supposed to be only a passive observer during the negotiations, his mother ended up speaking out of turn, giving out seemingly insignificant but very rude comments, making it seem like she wanted to sour the relationship between the two parties, and it was up to his father and him to patch everything up – which luckily they did.

Truly, by that point, it was more than obvious for the first prince that the queen was actively plotting against the royal family.

The problem was, how he was supposed to convince his lovestruck father that his wife isn't just a lovably clueless lady but a straight-up malicious hag?

"…tsk…

"

Horeo ended up clicking his tongue at the idea.

Sometimes he wondered how such a shallow and short-sighted woman could possibly be his birth-mother.

From what Horeo has learned, he was more similar to Surou's mother…

Yes, it wasn't overly well known but besides being born in the same year with ten months between them, the first prince and the second prince had different mothers.

It wasn't supposed to be a secret, but through the years, Horeo's mother ended up coining a web of oddly specific lies.

The first prince's mother was originally only a concubine who was brought in because the original marriage partner of the king was of fragile health and all her pregnancies would always end up in miscarriage.

As soon as the healthy concubine got pregnant she was elevated into the main wife spot and the original wife was put into a separate mansion away from the castle, although the king would often visit her as his affection was quite strong at the time.

Then Horeo was born, a healthy boy with golden hair just like his father, and everyone rejoiced.

The king didn't let go of his first wife even then and unsurprisingly for anyone living in the royal castle, she got pregnant too.

The problem was with that pregnancy her health severely degraded and not too much later news arrived that the previous queen died during childbirth but the child survived.

That child being Surou.

Feeling incredibly remorseful, the king had taken in the child and properly made him the second prince.

After all, there was the possibility of the blue-haired child being as fragile as his mother.

Horeo's mother supposedly accepted Surou without a word and raised him as her own, though it was something unthinkable for someone so cunning…

The more the gold-haired boy thought about it, it must have been some sort of ploy to gain the support of the first queen's faction.

Although, he did realize that his mother never quite liked him and was always treating Surou better BUT only when she knew that Horeo was around to see or hear it…

Horeo shook his head, this was no reason to think about that and sour a perfectly good morning!

"…nnnnnnng…

"

"Oh?

"

With impeccable timing, Veo seemed to wake up – at least partially.

With a sleepy expression, she ended up channeling the enchantments through her arms and lifted herself up to look around, making the gold-haired prince relax and smile.

"Good morning Veo, did you sleep well?

"

"…?

"

Horeo waved his free hand at her and spoke softly, making the older girl tilt her head in confusion.

"…ah, it's this one again…

"

She muttered to herself, rubbing her face against her shoulder, and dragged herself all the way up to the gold-haired boy whose interest was piqued.

"What do you mean by this one aga-mmmnnn?

"

Horeo asked curiously watching the girl get all up in his face – when completely out of nowhere Veo ended up hugging him and going straight for his lips with a very soft and gentle kiss that left the first prince speechless.

"V..! Veo…?! Now hold on – that wasn't the part of Patishi's request – you don't have to…!

"

Horeo gasped once Veo pulled her head away just so she could gaze at his face.

"Shhh… I know I can't have you for real, so just let me have you in my dreams…

"

"NNNN?!

"

Veo frowned and complained in a grumpy voice before going for another kiss- this one much more… intense…

"…ngh…? Hmm…?

"

The commotion they were making ended up waking up Patishi who shook her head and looked up to the rather indecent sight.

"Eh….? EEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!

"