"So, Mister DP, what is the urgent matter?" Angel asked, the loud splashing of the stone fountain echoing behind him.

  The Prince sighed. "I am Arthur’s real father."

  Suddenly, the splashing of the fountain was gone.

  The distant cheers from the graduation gymnasium faded into a dull, hollow ringing.

  For Angel, the entire school vanished.

  The world shrank until there was nothing left but the unblinking man standing in front of him.

  "Excuse me... what!?" Angel stepped back.

  "I know it is a lot to process," The Prince said calmly, not a single muscle in his face twitching.

  "If I were in your place, I would react the exact same way."

  "Look, DP, you have my full respect," Angel said, his voice tightening.

  "But trying to claim my son is something I will not tolerate."

  "I understand your feelings. But he is not your son."

  "He is my son!"

  "He is your adopted son," The Prince corrected gently.

  Angel’s hands balled into fists at his sides. "Let's say you are his father. Where were you when he got hit by a motorcycle? My wife and I took care of him! We didn't sleep for weeks!"

  He took a step closer, pointing a shaking finger at Daniel's chest. "Where were you when he hit some bully at school, and the kid's father tried to sue us? Where were you, Mister DP?!"

  The Prince didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He just stared back with that polite smile.

  "I was fixing something you wouldn't understand." The Prince adjusted his collar.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "And I thank you for taking care of my boy. But I finally have everything sorted out, and he is coming with me.”

  “But I genuinely don’t get why you are so attached to someone who isn’t even yours."

  The Prince tilted his head. "You had to know that what you had was temporary. I was always the real father. You were just an unpaid carer."

  Angel stared at him. “Why are you so cold about it? You talk about him like he's a piece of cargo, not a person.”

  “You just move him from here to there, and he doesn’t get to choose?"

  Angel stepped right into the Prince's space. "Look at yourself. You might share his genetics, but your lack of reaction is tragic.”

  “You are like a robot who can’t even get angry about his own son.”

  “Animals abandon their young, DP.”

  “But we aren't animals."

  "I raised that boy," Angel continued, his voice cracking. "He came to me as a little kid, screaming about his father leaving him.”

  “He cried until he couldn’t breathe, and you weren’t there. He spent nights awake, calling himself a loser, saying you left him because he was weak.”

  “If that is the part you are so proud of—if that is your reason for taking him—then I am the real father. You are just a stone that shares his blood."

  The Prince cracked his neck, the bone popping with a sharp, hollow sound. "I simply do not get angry over things that make no logical sense.”

  “Look, Mister Angel, you are just being overly emotional about this."

  "Emotional!?" Angel shouted. "It was always about emotions! How can you live without love, without sadness, without happiness?"

  "I have feelings, Angel," The Prince replied, his tone perfectly flat. "I simply reserve them for the right things at the right time.”

  “You are getting hysterical over a transaction that doesn't require it."

  Angel opened his mouth to scream, but the Prince cut him off.

  "Besides. I have already told Arthur that I am his father."

  Angel froze. The breath caught in his throat.

  "He was very welcoming of the thought of living with us," The Prince continued smoothly.

  "In fact, he was just worried about how you would take it. I respected his hesitation.”

  “That is why I left him with you for two more years.”

  “I stayed in New York just for him. I think that demonstrates love, respect, and sensible parenting."

  The Prince stepped closer. "I know it is disturbing to have him taken away from you.”

  “That is a completely sensible reaction. When I was forced away from him—and it was not by my choice by the way—I was ripped apart.”

  “Not seeing my son grow up in front of me was an agonizing thing."

  "You talked to Arthur… and he was welcoming?" Angel whispered.

  "Yes," The Prince replied. "He was very receptive to the fact that his real father had finally shown up."

  "You are lying," Angel whispered.

  "He’s not lying, Dad."

  Angel turned. Arthur was walking toward him from the courtyard entrance, his eyes already welling with tears.

  "I… talked to him," Arthur stammered, looking down at his shoes. "I don’t know what to say."

  Angel just stared at the boy.

  And then, for the first time in his entire life, he slapped Arthur.

  The crack echoed loudly over the silence of the fountain.

  The Prince didn’t flinch. His face didn't change one bit. He just watched.

  Arthur put a trembling hand to his bright red cheek. "I am sorry, Father," he choked out, the tears finally spilling over.

  Angel pulled the boy into his chest and cried with him, hugging a piece of his own heart as he watched it get ripped away by a surgeon.

  The Prince just smiled.

  Beside him, Daniel watched like a man witnessing the first nuclear bomb drop on a city of civilians.

  "You aren’t human, Prince," Daniel whispered.

  "I am. I am simply much smarter than the rest of you."

  "What now?" Daniel asked, his voice shaking.

  "They will continue to cry for a moment, and then we will take him and leave."

  "But Angel...?"

  "Angel is a sensible man, and Arthur has made his choice." The Prince adjusted his cuffs.

  Daniel stared at The Prince. “I have stayed with you for more than four years now, but I still don’t get how you can cry, and then smile like that."

  The Prince looked at the weeping father and son, his polite smile never wavering.

  "Neither do I, Daniel."

  (The Ghost editor here: This mofo told me this chapter was going to be peaceful. Yeah, I can really see the damn peace.)