The doors open to reveal various people from the staff and they slowly trickle in, eyes wide and nervous. Felix is patiently waiting until the last person enters the room and the doors close behind them. Once they do, Hyunjin addresses everyone in the room. "So," He begins, letting the tension in the room grow. "There's something that I heard that one of you was rude to Prince Felix's staff. Come clean and apologize." His eyes flicker over to Felix. He looks quite intimidating. 

Felix crosses his arms and the sunshine personality that you know is gone. "I want this alliance to work but I cannot have anyone disrespect my staff." He searches everyone's face. Almost all of them are confused as they're the ones who have been respectful and quite friendly to everyone.

Unfortunately, your eyes happen to catch theirs...

You shrink back at the look they give you. You still have no idea what the hell you did wrong! You simply make sure that your gaze doesn't meet theirs.

It's silent and after a minute or two, Felix sighs. He gets up, his imposing presence makes the staff worry in fear. You simply watch on as Felix stops in front of them. "Who is bold enough to tell me who it was?"

The confused faces are still apparent on all of them but now fear is starting to slip through the cracks.

"Do I... have to repeat myself?" Felix's voice goes a tone deeper.

It's silent. Until a random member of the staff is quick to step forward. You can see that person openly glare at the staff member. It's all in one jumbled sentence but you can see how scared they are of admitting it.

Felix smiles brightly, thanking them and the rest of the staff is quick to leave the room. The one person stands there, eyes cast downwards and Felix stalks forward. "Lift your head," His voice has a dangerous edge to it.

They do so, eyes shaking nervously and their hands grip the edge of their uniform.

"I would appreciate it," Felix says, there's an edge to his voice despite his generous sentence. "If you would apologize."

"I-I apologize," They bow, knuckles turning white from how hard they're gripping onto their uniform. "I was out of line to be rude to our guests."

Felix stares them down. "That sort of sucked as an apology but I'll take it. More importantly," His eyes lock onto yours. "Does the apology suffice?"

You're dumbfounded for a moment before you hastily figure out what's going on. "Oh, yes, Fourth Prince." You bow.

"Then it's all settled!" Felix turns to the staff member one last time before giving his full attention to Hyunjin. "If I may request one last favor from you."

"Go ahead." Hyunjin replies. Even from here, you can see the twinkle of amusement in his eyes. He's clearly enjoying this.

"I don't want them to work in the castle for the duration of my stay." Felix drops the statement just like that.

Hyunjin raises an eyebrow but agrees nonetheless. "Of course. Anything to make your stay comfortable here." With a snap of his fingers, another maid comes rushing in. "Make sure that this one doesn't work here for the remainder of our guest's stay."

"Yes, your highness." The maid replies and escorts the person out of the room. You're met with one last glare before the doors close on them. Your eyes flicker to Felix who stares at the door for a moment longer before turning to Hyunjin. "So, shall we continue with our business?"

Hyunjin agrees and they both take a seat, discussing some matters. Meanwhile, you're left to your own thoughts. Felix is truly a kind person, isn't he?

Later in the night (it's actually almost close to midnight), you softly knock Felix's door as he requested you to attend him for the night. "Prince Felix?" You call out.

"Come in."

You open the door and close it once you step inside. The soft candles make the room quite cozy, you take note. You pad across the room, analyzing how Felix lies across a couch like a cat. Once you're closer, his eyes immediately look at you.

"How can I help you?" You ask, awaiting for whatever task he gives you.

"I would like to apologize for earlier." He begins.

But you simply blink at him in confusion before you slowly connect the dots. Was it about that staff...? But you don't understand why he's apologizing. So you state your thoughts out loud.

He gives you a small smile and sits up. "I didn't think about this before but... I sort of put you on the spot, right?" He gives you a sheepish grin. "I wasn't thinking clearly and failed to think of the consequences of my actions. I apologize."

You're a bit... shocked? Is that the word you're looking for? "It is quite alright, Fourth Prince. You don't need to worry."

Felix sends a smile your way. "I do worry about everyone." Then he casually stands up and takes a slow pace right towards the window. From his room, it grants him a view of the ocean. The moon reflects off the midnight waters and once again you're in awe. He turns his head, looking over at you with a big grin on his face. "Is it wrong to ask for a drinking buddy again?"

And for that night, you blamed it on the way Mother Nature had decided to illuminate all of Felix's wonderful features. It could have not been the fact that you might have started to let your feelings bloom for him.

"I would be happy to join you for a drink, Fourth Prince." You reply earnestly. One of Felix's eyebrows raise and you simply chuckle. "Sorry, I mean Felix."

"Much better." Then his eyes sparkle with excitement. "Do you think... can we grab a bottle of their specialty alcohol?"

You nod. "I'll ask about it."

"Thank you!" He says and off you go in search of a bottle of alcohol. It takes you a bit to find someone and it seems that Felix's words still hang above their head as they're overly enthusiastic about helping out. Even grabbing some of their better glasses to give you. They don't even question on why the Fourth Prince wants two glasses at night which is a good thing as you don't have a brilliant excuse.

You return to his room to find him still staring out the window. It seems that he's focused and can't hear when you open the door or pop open the bottle of alcohol. When you finally pour both glasses full, you softly call out to him.

He turns around and smiles. "Thank you." He says again and takes a seat at the small table. You sit across from him and bring your glass to your lips. The scent of nothing hits your nose but you find that the liquid is very bubbly. Once you taste it, you're not sure how to describe the taste but apparently there's quite a bit of alcohol in here.

Felix scrunches up his nose when he tastes it. "There's a lot in there." He comments.

"There is," You pause but continue your thought. "Did you want another one?"

"This is fine unless you don't like it?"

"It tastes quite good." Honestly, you don't care about it but you have a feeling you're going to be here for a while so might as well get comfortable.

It's silent as the two of you drink more and it's when Felix swishes the liquid around in the glass that he finally speaks. "Do you think... Prince Hyunjin will agree to an alliance..?" He stares at the liquid. Right now his voice sounds emotionless.

You bite your bottom lip. You obviously don't know the first thing about negotiations and feel like you have no say but you still answer him. "Personally, I don't know anything about all... this," You make a gesture with your hand. "But I do think that Prince Hyunjin will come around to it. He seemed to be interested in talking with you and let you, well, um." You're hesitant to mention what happened with the staff.

Felix chuckles. "You're probably right. He did let me say something to his staff, huh?" He mentions it off-handle. There's a moment of silence before he slowly nods his head. "Yeah, I think you're right!" He smiles so brightly that you immediately think it's the most beautiful thing in the world.

Your breath is caught in your throat. His gaze is so soft and he raises his glass towards you. "If I may ask," He takes a dramatic pause, the alcohol already painting a pretty blush on his cheeks. "Can I ask that you'll be a friend?"

There's no hidden intentions in his voice and it doesn't take a second for you to agree. It's when you clink your glass against his that realization slaps you in the face. Your eyes roam his face. It should be fine to have the tiniest of crushes of the prince, right? As long as you don't reveal them, you'll be satisfied for life.