Chapter 220 - He Had Given Up
Damien's eyes turned and followed the line of sight of the Young Prince who was standing before them.
The object of his gaze made Damien's green eyes sparkle and it appeared as though he was enjoying the scene unfolding before his eyes.
Prince Fritzen had no clue that he was being watched by someone else as his attention was on the two boys who were walking in the garden.
Taylor was poking Howard's shoulder in order to get his attention back on him.
The midnight blue colored hair fell on his forehead, hiding his furrowed brows in response to his friend's annoying actions.
He tried to shrug the finger poking his shoulder away but it always managed to come back.
Pushing the hair out of his face, Howard turned around and punched his friend on the shoulder as a payback for the multiple pokes that must have already bruised his delicate skin.
Standing at a distance and watching his brother pouting after making a fool out of himself, Topher could only avert his eyes from this embarrassing scene.
He no longer had the strength and courage to watch his baby brother ruining their Ducal family's reputation right before the Royal Prince.
Though, he did not have to bother thinking about that since Prince Fritzen had never once glanced at Taylor.
Instead, Fritzen's entire attention was fixed on the other boy who was with Taylor Tanner.
'Those familiar eyes!' The Prince stared at the boys who had not yet noticed their presence.
Taylor and Howard continued to bicker with each other as they strode away, moving farther away from the little group that had been watching their every action.
Not once did they look in the direction of the Prince and the other two present with him.
Damien and Topher shared an amused glance at each other when they turned around and found the Prince was in deep thoughts.
'I have a feeling that I have seen those eyebrows before! It's… It's…' Prince Fritzen tried to recall who it was that had come to his mind.
He was trying to connect the face he had just seen with the foggy face in his mind.
A silhouette of a tiny face was beginning to appear as he tried to focus on the image forming in his mind.
Noticing the Prince's scrunched up eyebrows as though he was upset about something, Topher felt the need to smack his little brother multiple times.
Damien also frowned when he observed the Prince's strange actions as he had now turned around just to continue gazing at the boys who were leaving the garden area.
He had long realized that Prince Fritzen was staring at Howard which had caused an amused look to take root on his face.
However, now as he looked at the pondering face of the younger boy from the Royal family, it was bringing up strange thoughts in his head.
'Why do I feel that something is going terribly wrong here?' He clenched his shirt where his heart would be as the dubious premonition took over his body.
He stared longingly at the back of the heir of the St. Claire's family as though he was watching someone close to him walking away.
'What the hell was that!?' Damien cringed and felt shivers of disgust running down his spine.
When he realized that he had been staring at Howard's back with longing in his heart, he could feel the goosebumps erupting all over his body.
This was not a pleasant feeling in the least bit which made him want to take a scalding hot shower just to rid his body of that sensation.
'I do not like Howard St. Claire in that way!' He snarled to himself and his brain which had brought such a scary thought to his mind.
As much as he wanted to run to his dorm room to shower, he knew that he could not leave just yet.
The reason for this was the younger boy who stood before them.
"We will not keep you waiting, Prince Fritzen. I hope you have a good time at home." He wished the Royal family member.
Fritzen was about to conjure the mental image of the person in his mind when he heard this brown-haired boy speaking to him.
The anger that rose in his heart when the image vanished after being distracted had to be controlled as he was outside and needed to behave in an exemplary manner.
Comprehending the greeting he had received, he nodded at the boys and began to walk away.
'Must have been someone I had seen here at the Academy.' He shrugged the thought away and hurried to the Academy gates where his carriage would be waiting for him.
He had already spent enough time in making a trip to his dorm room and now, all that was on his mind was to reach the carriage which would take him back to the Palace on time.
Thus, he tossed out this wild goose chase that his mind had gone on and focused on leaving the Academy as soon as possible.
Thankfully, he had given up on his pursuit to figure the person out.
As the person who was about to emerge in Fritzen's mind was none other than Yvonne, the little girl who had saved him when he was drowning in the stream back at the St. Claire fief.
It was a blessing that he had not succeeded in realizing that Howard looked similar to the one who had saved him.
He did not know who she was nor did he know her name or anything else to help him identify her.
All that he could remember about the girl were a couple of her features that had imprinted in his mind after that incident.
Seeing the other boy today had brought up a feeling of familiarity in his mind but he had not yet associated it with the girl who had saved him.
He knew that he had seen that familiar feature before yet he could not pinpoint where it was and who it might be.
This caused the young Prince to have a strong sense of deja vu upon seeing Howard's furrowed brows.
The mild similarities between Yvonne and her older brother's eyebrows and the shape of their eyes were visible only if one paid close attention to it.
Sadly, before he could get a better look at the other boy, he had left the garden.
The Prince's memories of that incident were hazy which was the reason why he had not thought of the girl immediately after noticing Howard.
This was because Prince Fritzen in his moment of panic while in the stream had only caught sight of her hair color and the glowering face.
After he was saved by the little girl, he had lost consciousness and by the time he awoke from his unconscious state, she had disappeared for good.
Hence, he had not made the connection between the two siblings' faces straight away.
To make things more difficult for him, neither was he aware of the identity of the boy he had just seen nor of his relationship to the girl who had saved him.
This was due to multiple factors that were blocking his path to seek the true identity of the horrible child who had rescued him from drowning in the stream.