Cinderella AU // OxO // Closed

He narrowed his eyes a little bit. "There's no reason for me to speak with him." he replied.

"I beg to differ. I feel like you would know him much better if you took the time to talk to him." Lloyd hummed thoughtfully. "And it's always good to maintain a good relationship with those around you."

"He's a servant. I have better things to do than to get to know him."

"Like what? Even I have free time. What better to do with your time than to talk to those around you?"

"Read? Talk to people that I actually enjoy being around, instead of a servant?"

Lloyd winced a bit. "Maybe you'd enjoy being around him more if you actually talked to him sometimes. He's very nice."

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "I've talked to him before."

"Has he been rude to you?" Lloyd asked, cocking his head to the side a bit in confusion.

"Does it matter?" he arched an eyebrow.

Lloyd winced again. "I-I mean… I guess not, I just… he's never been rude to anyone that I've seen, not just myself, so it seems… out of character…"

"You don't really know him that well, your highness. i don't mean to offend you, but really. You shouldn't blindly believe him so much."

Lloyd looked away, his cheeks flushed a bit. He seemed rather uncomfortable. "I-I know, I just… I haven't gotten to speak to anyone in a long time, and he seems very genuine, and I… I don't know…"

Anton bit his lip a little bit. "I'm sorry. I've said too much, haven't I? i just meant that…well. You should be cautious about who you believe."

"No, no, I… I'm just naive, aren't I? Blinded by loneliness…" Lloyd laughed weakly, unable to meet Anton's eyes.

(see, now this is what Anton does to people, and i hate him so much)

Anton sighed quietly, running a hand through his hair. "Maybe so, but…I'm sorry."

(Ooft)
To be fair, I've known Ellis longer than I've known Anton… Lloyd thought to himself. "It… it's fine, Anton. Don't worry about it."

Anton shrugged a little bit. "Yeah, maybe. Alright."

"Well, if… if you don't have anything else you'd like to talk about, you're dismissed, I guess."

Anton nodded a little bit. "Alright." he got up.

"Goodbye, Anton." Lloyd sighed, laying back down once Anton had left.

"Bye." Anton replied as he left, already planning out how to keep Ellis busy.

Eventually, Lloyd grabbed a book and resigned himself to read in his room for a while.

Anton gave Ellis a long list of tasks, most of them stuff that he technically didn't even need to do, but Ellis got to work.

Lloyd left his room after a few hours of reading, without his crutches of course. He yawned and stretched a bit as he limped down the hall.

Ellis was busy working, cleaning up an area near Anton's room.

Lloyd glanced around curiously and started slowly heading down the stairs, wincing with every step.

Ellis was still working. There was a bruise on his cheek; Anton had hit him.

Lloyd eventually stumbled across Ellis and waves to him. "Hey, Ellis… how are you?" He asked.

Ellis looked up, ducking his head slightly. "Hey." he greeted. "I'm…fine."

"What happened?" He asked, gently running his thumb along the bruise on Ellis's cheek.