Royal Thief

Chapter 19

"Hah!" he let out a loud sighed after he drank the last liquid from his glass, he pressed his lips together as he savored the taste of the wine he tried.

His tolerance is not that high, but he is confident to drink different types of wine as he wants because it was the king's party. His friend knew how terrible a drinker he is, so the king purchased wine overseas, the tastiest but mildest wine somewhere. So, rest assured, he'll be fine.

He placed the glass on the tray when a server approached him and pulled out the pocket watch from his coat to look for the time.

Midnight.

He looked around and saw how a couple of people approached each other and bid their goodbye's. He tried to remember if he still had paperwork to do, calculating if he should go home to take a good sleep for his work tomorrow. Idris scratched his nape after thinking, I don't have many, but Rufus has, for sure.

"My lord."

He took a glance at Rufus before signaling him to follow him, "Let's go bid our goodbye to the king."

"My lord, are you drunk?" Rufus' asked from behind.

"No, no. I am fine, those drinks are not strong."

"Sure, but you reek of wine."

His mouth fell open and his ears felt hot, he didn't look at Rufus, he didn't want to show his embarrassed face. The wine smells good for him though, that's why he doesn't know why Rufus told him that he reeked.

"Your majesty." he lowered his head after greeting, "We should get going now, we still have duties to do for tomorrow so yeah, I'm sorry I won't be able to join until the end."

His friend gave him a smile, "It's fine with me, my lord. Your presence here is more than enough, I do not wish to bother you more. Thank you for attending."

"Yes. Thank you also, your majesty. We'll be on our way now."

"Take care, please spare a time to visit me again."

"Surely."

The two of them walked towards the carriage and got on silently.

The awkwardness is invading the whole carriage again. He took a glance at Rufus and saw the man looking outside the glass window.

"Earlier, it's not what you think it is, my lord."

Idris gasped silently, "Uhm, what do you mean..." he asked nervously, "I'm not even thinking of anything." he lied, defending himself.

Rufus stared at him, and he became anxious, "You're too obvious, my lord. It's written all over your face." the man said plainly. Using the don't-try-to-trick-me tone.

"So, you and the marquess are lovers." he stated bravely, he's not going to stop himself this time, he's going to feed his curious mind.

But the man stayed silent.

He started to sweat bullets; he can't stop but to overthink again looks like he won't get anything from the man.

"We are not."

Rufus' answer made him raise his brow, "But you two kissed." he said suddenly.

Damn, I better shut my mouth.

"Doesn't mean that we're lovers and I didn't kiss him." the man defended.

"If you are too shy to admit that you belong to the third gender it's completely fine with me. I won't judge you. I don't really mind my employees' sexuality, you know." It's true, he's not the type to judge based on someone's sexuality plus he's trying to show how kind he is to Ruf so the man would be comfortable enough with him to open up... or he just really wants to pry.

He looked at Rufus and he was shocked to see another expression from the man, he looked annoyed and pissed. And somehow, Idris likes it. Seeing a different expression from the man who commonly has a blank face no matter what the situation is.

"Iam not shy, my lord."