The whole night, those words kept repeating in his mind that he only fell silent, never interrupting their conversation. He also did not care.
And so, once he was in the car and sitting in the backseat, while sobering up. In his hand was a bottle of water; he only took one gulp before he held it without doing anything.
The car was in front of a convenience store. Without Savier's signal, Rylan did not start the car to leave. Counting the minutes since they arrived, they had been there for almost an hour now.
Fortunately, it was the middle of the night, and so only a few cars and people could be seen wandering.
Savier leaned against his seat, and the car window was rolled down. His half-lidded eyes stared straight in front of the car, specifically the driver's seat.
Again, Divino's words rang inside his mind. The hand holding the plastic bottle tightened. If not for the lid, the water would have already burst. out.
"Do you have a place in the capital, Ry...Sir Rylan? Or, staying in the royal guards' dorm?"
Out of the blue, those words shattered the silence between them. In reality, Savier was still somewhat drunk and hoped that he could filter the words coming out of his mouth. At the very least, not make it obvious.
Rylan appeared startled at first, but then turned his head and looked at the backseat, immediately making eye contact with Savier. Before he looked ahead once more, his body was leaning more to his right side.
"I have my own place, but I prefer to stay in the dorm." He paused, then smiled. "Your Highness can just call me by my name."
"Hmm..." Savier rested his chin in his hand, which was perched at the window. "I'll call you that, in exchange, you'll call me by name too."
Rylan was taken aback and gave a wry smile.
"How can I call Your Highness by your name?"
The same rigid attitude. This time, probably because he's drunk, Savier did not back down easily.
"Why not?" He tilted his head. "Sir Rylan is older than me; all the more reason to call you with that title. If you call me by my name, I'll drop the title with yours too."
Rylan was indeed older by almost 8 years than Savier. If it were normally the case, he would agree, but this was the crown prince.
"It's not the same..." Rylan pursed his lips and spoke again. "I'm Your Highness' Royal Guard, and I need to be respectful."
A low chuckle escaped from Savier's lips; his expression showed that he was unconvinced.
"What era are we, Sir Rylan?" His eyes turned to the side where he could see outside clearly before returning to Rylan's position. "Unless it's a formal occasion, it's fine calling me by my name."
Of course, calling him by his title was more appropriate in public, and only close ones could call him by his name. It was not an era of strict etiquette where calling the royalty's name could be seen as extremely disrespectful.
Maybe, for the emperor, it was the same, but Savier was only the crown prince and had yet to inherit the throne. Strict standards were not applied to him yet.
Still, considering Rylan's personality, Savier thought of a compromise.
"How about calling me by name when we're alone? Is that okay with you...Rylan?"
Savier licked his lips and waited for the response.
"Is that really okay?"
"Of course. We'll spend time together alone from here on." His tone was light and exuded confidence.
There was a pause.
"I'll try... Savier."
Savier laughed this time, relief washed over him, and his eyes glistened, looking at the figure ahead of him.
Ah, fuck, I really like him. Savier realized it again cause why the hell did someone as big as Sir Rylan look so cute in his eyes?
If this was not because he liked him, then Savier was already crazy.
"Don't tease me." An embarassed tone etched in that reply that Savier almost cursed again.
As though this was a huge blow, Savier bit his lips and lowered his head, hands trembling. He suppressed the ghost of a smile that threatened to appear on his lips.
Goodness, how adorable! Damn, you're the one teasing me! And you don't even know.
Savier cleared his throat and then rolled up the car window.
"Let's go home."
This curt reply was all he could muster. At this, the car started, and they began to leave.
"Rylan..." He whispered the name, which he did not know. He just liked how it rolled in his tongue.
"Yes?"
"Say my name again."
There was a pause, and a sheepish smile appeared on Savier's lips.
"Please?" He murmured, tone a bit coquettish. Savier himself did not even notice it. And because he was drunk, his voice was far huskier than normal.
Rylan's ears twitched, and he bit his lips, feeling this situation strange, but he could not figure out why. He moistened his lips and then took a deep breath.
"Savier..." he called in his calm tone, but due to embarrassment, it sounded amazingly low, tingling Savier's ears.
Savier grinned, and his hand lifted to scratch an imaginary itch in his forehead, or more like covered his stupid grin. His heart was racing so hard that he did not even feel bad if he was called insane right here and now.
He nodded while still grinning like crazy.
Throughout the drive, his mood did not drop, and if he could make Rylan drive slower, he already had. However, he did not yet have an excuse to do that.
After arriving at the villa, the night duty royal guards received them. At his instruction earlier, telling the butler not to wait for him as he would be drinking with friends, no one was awake to attend to him.
Usually, Savier did not really need anyone attending to him after going home drunk. At most, a kitchen staff would prepare some sobering soup. And so, no one found his instructions strange.
Savier swayed, appearing to be too drunk to walk. In reality, he almost sobered up after staying in the car. He was still a dominant alpha that even liquor designed for alphas could at most make him lightheaded or be drunk for a few hours.
Sure enough, Rylan immediately supported him and put Savier's shoulders around himself. Being this close, Savier could almost smell the other alpha's natural scent.
It was a bit disappointing, though, that he had yet to smell his pheromones. Savier closed his eyes firmly and scolded himself.
Don't be too greedy, Savier!
Maybe... soon?
"Let's go to your room, Your Highness."
It seemed he intended to support Savier all the way to his room.
Savier pursed his lips. "My name."
Rylan paused and then looked around, seeing it empty. He looked at Savier, who was watching him, waiting. A helpless smile appeared on his lips. He drew a bit closer, then whispered.
"Savier."
Slowly, a sheepish grin graced Savier's lips, and with his half-lidded eyes, he appeared funny, making Rylan also smile.
The two stared at each other like that for a few moments. But Rylan cut it off and immediately walked with Savier.
Seriously... can we stare like this for a bit longer?
Unfortunately, Savier could not say this out loud. And could only unwillingly move his feet, not wanting to delay. He was not exactly light after all.