Chapter 242 - 240: Prince And Lord’s.

Chapter 242: Chapter 240: Prince And Lord’s.

​"Me too~" Rogard can’t help but say, and gets a glower back at him.

​"I meant because the roads are shit," Drogger deadpans, and Rogard grins as he leans in for a goodbye kiss.

Just a little one, or he might get carried away (again).

​"Me too."

​"...You’re so full of shit." He says it with such audible affection that Rogard’s heart swells.

​"And you like me anyways~"

​"I do." He’s not sure if Drogger’s tired of saying it yet, but he’s not in the least bit tired of hearing it.

Drogger seems to know he needs to, and indulges him this much, at least.

​He finds the soldiers in the exact area they said they’d be.

This part of the city is known for having particularly high quality weaponry and armour, and it’s not too far from the castle so it’s generally where the kingdom’s soldiers frequent when they need repairs or upgrades, or are feeling in the mood to treat themselves to something sharp and shin.

​"Rogard, finally," Montrel complains, as he catches sight of him amongst the crowd, "Gods, it’s about time; thought you weren’t gonna show up."

​"...You didn’t buy anything?" Gandy queries curiously, since the entire reason they’d come down into the city was to go looking for some new gear.

​"Hmm? Oh, no," Rogard deflects airily, "I didn’t see anything I liked."

​It’s a bit of a strange answer since Rogard always sees things he likes, and often buys them even when he doesn’t, but the soldiers seem in high enough spirits not to question it.

​"We got some furs for Khobi," Gandy informs him, hefting up the thick bundle he’s drowning under, "Since the ones he borrowed from Jaga are getting a bit ratty."

​"I’m sure Khobi will like them," Rogard states, even though he personally thinks they are terribly ugly and would never be caught dead in them.

Gandy doesn’t catch the implication though, thank the gods.

​"He better, they were expensive!"

​"Scarf was a good idea," Mural notes, as Rogard falls into step with them.

Apparently Montrel still has a couple of places he needs to drop into; something about some looking for some new gear and needing to get a present for his horse?

"Maybe I’ll have to get one. Winter’s been awful cold this year."

​Rogard self-consciously pulls his scarf a little tighter. It’s good that Drogger dresses so plainly, because it wouldn’t do to have it recognised.

​It would be even worse if he didn’t have it.

He’s been swearing himself blue that he’s got nothing to hide and that there’s no secret special someone down in the city, but if they saw the marks Drogger’s left on his collar there’d be no more denying it.

...

Something is going on.

​A couple of things, in fact.

​Well, it is a castle. It’s almost to be expected.

There’s always something going on.

​It’s just that the things that Binny Sun has begun to notice are very strange .

​The first is that Loac and Khobi are suddenly and inexplicably on speaking terms.

It’s by no means a bad thing –if anything, he’s glad to see that Khobi’s cold, lonely nights on the floor are behind him –but it’s certainly unprecedented .

Khobi can deny it all he likes but he’s shown that he’s the type to begrudgingly make friends whether either party likes it or not.

​Prince Loac, however, is decidedly not .

​And for whatever reason, he’s decided to make nice with Khobi.

For now. Although his way of being nice seems to be by way of barefaced taunts, gratuitous violence and stealing a lot of Khobi’s food.

It’s his castle, and he’s never made trouble with the servants so if he was hungry they would bring him extra food if he asked for it (and have done in the past), but these last couple of weeks he’s seemed to take a great deal of pleasure in demanding that Khobi charade as his personal chef as penance for losing one of their endless battles.

And because he’s a man of his word even when it would probably suit him better not to be, Khobi complies.

The taunts and the violence however, he throws back in equal measure.

More, whenever he can. So while they’re no longer locked in the cold indifference of their old precarious equilibrium, at times it can be difficult to tell whether their relationship is better for it, or worse .

​That being said, anyone who happened to catch a glimpse of them in the corridor today as Binny did; sitting casually side by side and watching the world move by with a plate of food shared between them, probably wouldn’t believe for a moment that there had ever been a time when they didn’t get along.

​And then, seeing Loac laugh, and the face Khobi made when he did, well it would’ve been all too easy to mistake them as friends.

​The second strange thing that Binny has noticed is that Rogard Spidra is sneaking around with the Second Captain.

​And that is almost certainly a bad thing.

​They think they’re being so sneaky, too.

Which is cute, really, although he does have to commend them for having kept it so secret until now.

Binny wonders how long it’s been going on for; either it’s been going on forever and they’ve suddenly gotten careless, or it’s still in its early days and they don’t know how to hide it.

He suspects the second.

Aside from his less than noble status, Drogger Noog has a respectable reputation.

He takes no nonsense, he’s straight to the point, and he doesn’t suffer fools.

​Not very good traits for a liar. And therefore, not a great candidate for a secret affair.

Not if he wants to keep it a secret for very long, at least. And Binny can understand why he would want that.

It’s one of Crade’s worst-kept secrets –if it can even be called that with how openly it’s paraded –that Lord Spidra finds it a dirty great smear on the kingdom that a commoner has risen to such a rank.

His own pristine breeding is a source of great pride, and he would probably take it as a personal insult should he find out that said commoner has gotten involved with his son.