Faye also reached out to give Adrien a big hug.
"I'm doing good! Mummy made us a squash soup yesterday, and it was really good!" She explained.
Sebastian chuckled. It was nice that she could take such pleasure in the little things.
"Where are mum and dad?" Sebastian asked.
Faye twirled her little skirt and paused for a moment, thinking.
"Mmm… Mummy is out at the clothes shop buying thread with Lavy, and Daddy is at work. Gatrie is here, though!"
Sebastian smiled.
"Well, may we come in?" They asked.
Faye nodded and led them inside.
Adrien followed Sebastian inside, keeping his smile plastered on his face.
"It's so nice to see you Faye" he commented happily.
"It's good to see you too! Why did you come to visit us today?"
Meanwhile, Gatrie came to the front of the house from working on a little woodworking project.
"Sebastian. Your majesty. What brings you here?"
"We came to discuss certain matters with your parents." He said properly, smiling a bit as he responded to Faye.
He then turned to Gatrie and smiled lightly.
"Please Gatrie," he said kindly "call me Adrien."
Gatrie nodded slightly.
"Is everything alright?" he asked, "You can take some of it up with me, if you need a messenger."
Gatrie was the oldest, and basically took on the role of a third parent. He had always been a bit of an old soul as it was.
"Well, preferably, the whole family would be here," Sebastian added, looking over at Adrien.
Adrien smiled and nodded at this.
"Yes, is it alright if we wait until everyone gets back?" He asked, tilting his head a little.
Gatrie gave a little pause. He figured it must be pretty important.
"Yes, of course. Is everything alright?"
Sebastian nodded. "Yes, it's a good thing. I promise."
Adrien nodded in agreement and smiled, lowering himself onto a wooden chair, where he took the time to look around.
"Tell me Gatrie," he said "how are you?"
Gatrie gave a little shrug.
"Same as always, I suppose," he said, "Working a lot, but at least we have been able to keep everyone fed. That's all we can ask for."
"So everyone has been in good health," Sebastian pressed.
Gatrie nodded solemnly. "Most thankfully."
Adrien smiled most gleefully at this.
"That is most wonderful Gatrie," he said "I've always wished you all the best of health."
"Tell me Gatrie," he said curiously, narrowing his eyes. "What do you like to do for fun? Garden? Build? Clean? Bake?"
Gatrie quietly gestured towards the table he'd been working at. A small wooden carving sat on the flat surface.
"Well, it's not as if we have hobbies. This is as close as I have. But I make some profit off my carving, so it's alright."
Sebastian's mouth curved downward slightly. He glanced away from Adrien, not wanting to say anything. Peasants didn't typically have hobbies or pasttimes. No time. No money. Any extra minutes were usually spent with the family.
Adrien frowned and sighed lightly.
"I think it's going to be something wonderful." He said, nodding towards the carving. "Something unique and special, once you're finished. " He added with a small, sad smile.
"I should hope so. It's a custom piece for someone," Gatrie replied, clamming up slightly at the mention.
"His girlfriend!" Faye announced, dancing around Gatrie.
Gatrie rubbed his eyes. "Not my girlfriend. She's way too good for me. She'd never notice me like that."
"Still pining, huh?" Sebastian sighed, putting a hand on their brother's shoulder, "You should just say something. It's better than sitting back wondering what could have been. And if it's unrequited, you can at least move on."
"How humiliating," Gatrie murmured, walking back over to his working table.
"but it's true, saying something is better than saying absolutely nothing at all Gatrie," Adrien said "if you must know even people of royal blood do the same, they pin and then they never say anything and before I— we— know it, the opportunity has passed to do anything about it."
Gatrie sighed. "If only it felt that simple."
"Oh, it definitely doesn't feel simple," Sebastian agreed, "but never mind that. You'll be better off if you get it all off your chest."
Sebastian looked over their shoulder to see out the window, where their parents and other sister were about to come inside. They paused when they saw the horses waiting outside.
Sebastian's mother practically burst through the door, immediately going to hug him and give him a kiss on the cheek. She did the same to Adrien.
Adrien smiled at Sebastian's mother and in respect, pecked her on the cheek back as a form of gratitude mixed with affection. He then pulled away slowly from her.
"Hello, it's nice to see you all again," He said shyly, blushing a light crimson color and rubbing the back of his neck "just thought we should visit, take a break from the castle for a bit" he said eyeing Sebastian. He wanted Sebastian to be the one to tell them what was really going on. After all, he was their real son in the situation.
"Well, there's more to it, actually," Sebastian added, exchanging glances with Adrien, "We want you to move into the castle with us. And you can do work there. There's finally the opportunity for you to not have to worry about hard winters or short funds anymore."
"Oh, but we couldn't possibly…" his mother started.
Lavenza cut her off. "Sebastian… Adrien… I don't care what they say, we're taking you up on that offer. We are eternally grateful. We can't do this again. We made it through this year, but you two know damn well what happened the last. We can't take it anymore."
"Lavy," Sebastian said with a smile, "It'll be great to finally be able to see you guys all the time again. I've missed you so much. I've been worried sick and haven't even been able to visit in the meantime."
Adrien cleared his throat awkwardly, he had never been one for small talk with his family members, let alone one to tell his sister he missed her.
"well," he said quietly "though you will work and stay in the castle I will let the staff know to take it easy on you, until you get adjusted."
He smiled, then bent in, cupping his hand around his mouth in secrecy "I treat none of my staff like they are below me, I know all of them by name and I even invite them to outings with me sometimes, but don't tell anyone else that, they think it's not kingly enough." He whispered to them all.
Faye had sat there, wide-eyed.
"We get to live in the castle? That's so cool!" she squealed.
Gatrie tilted his head. "That's excellent. What changed that we can now move in?"
Sebastian looked over to Adrien. What exactly had been the catalyst? They knew Adrian would have usually suggested it long ago, but something was keeping him.
Adrien smiled widely and laughed.
"Well between all of us, im king now and my father isn't, so I can move in whoever I wish." He said with a smile.
"I suppose so," Sebastian said with a smile, "It's quite a relief to have a more… benevolent ruler."
Gatrie nodded.
"Mum, Dad?" Lavenza pressed, "Don't you even think about rejecting the offer. This is our chance. It's what our siblings would've wanted. They would've wanted to stop seeing us struggle."
Adrien nodded and formed a small smile.
"I too, would love to see your struggles disappear," he said quietly "that's why I've finally gone through with this offer, but I must admit, I have imagine you all living in the castle with me since the first time I met you all." He explained shyly.
(LOL I forgot there's one more sibling still alive. We're going to pretend he's been here the whole time)
Noel looked across the room to his parents, then Lavenza, then Sebastian. "Regardless of what Mum and Dad think, they are outnumbered," he chuckled, "Thank you for the offer. We gladly accept."
"Noel-" their father, Henri, started. But he knew his kids were right. He looked over to Adrian. "Well, you did promise to put us to work there. Mathilde, dear? What do you think?" He glanced to his wife.
"I'm inclined to agree… Noel is right, even if we did disagree, we are most certainly outnumbered."
Sebastian let out an audible sigh of relief.
Adrien clapped his hands together and smiled widely.
"We will have carriages come to collect you all as well as your things the second we get back to the castle." He said, looking at Sebastian and nodding to the door.
Sebastian nodded.
"Do you need any help preparing?" They asked.
Noel glanced across the room and shook his head. "No, we don't have much that needs to be moved anyhow."
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