If Yuu were to base everything in Anastasius' memories, Charles would've found Clarimières Kingdom boring and arid. In the original plot of the story, Charles really did wander off to the East Palace but since the original Anastasius was just an emo little kid in the book, he often stayed indoors away from the balcony and outside the mansion for the scenery he can see from it reminds him of his father whom he hated gravely.

But Yuu, unknowingly, changed everything by sitting by the terrace, smiling and eventually intriguing the tyrant Prince Charming. He didn't know it would change the plot of the story drastically, added the moment where he showed his gentleness by excusing himself to save his younger brother from humiliation in the meeting; his wit and boldness by showing Charles that he understood the fact that the other knw he was lying through his teeth when he said he'd hate harming the Prince with his cold.

The fact that Anastasius (Yuu) can play as good as the neighboring kingdom's prince in the games of subtext and in-between-messages made the other want to know more about him. Which explains the scene right now.

Charles, sitting in front of Anastasius in the East Palace's living room, wearing his unreadable smile that sends shivers to everyone - except someone - in the room.

Lucas, sitting beside Anastasius in a protective stance, ready to jump at anyone who decides to come closer to his older brother in less than 5 feet away, his murderous gaze focused especially to Charles;

And Anastasius who is now calmly sipping his cup of milk tea, not having the slightest clue about the tension that has been bothering almost everyone in the room for a while now.

"I'm going to ask you again. What are your plans for visiting Anastasius' palace?" Lucas repeated his question, failing to make his little voice sound more intimidating. "I am simply checking if Anastasius is already well, young prince. He did had a cold the last time we met." Charles answered, still smiling. 'What an angel!' Anastasius thought, completely opposite of what Charles' servants were thinking at the moment which was 'Please don't fall for it.' Lucas had the most terrible expression in the room though, thinking 'How dare he call my older brother by his first name?!'

"That was so sweet of you Your Highness, but I'm really okay now. I'm afraid I'll be the subject of envy of your kingdom's girls now with your deep concern." Anastasius joked, but still he considers how girls shouldn't be belittled because they hold the upper hand in the game of love and everything that goes along with it.

"I'm sure they will not, or rather I will make sure they'd avoid doing so." Charles stated wearing an odd smile which made Anastasius' head tilt in slight confusion. The servants just just wore a tight smile to mask their fear, just thinking about the things that the Prince Charming is able to do makes them want to flee the prince's side immediately. Just what would happen if this sadist-tyrant prince grows up further? Would there be a limit of what he can do? Such questions rose to their minds but they decided to ignore it for the sake of their position in the palace.

"Oh, I heard young lord Anastasius already finished reading the footnotes of Argacoccia and the views in politics of Irus[1]. Would you care to share some of your thoughts about it?" Charles asked, wanting to test the target of his interest, if he's really worth of his attention or not. But he knew to himself that even if he was proved wrong with his expectations on Anastasius, he would still be engrossed by him.

"From what I had read they seem to meet halfway with their way of thinking, it's just that the other decided to use his principles on philosophy rather than on politics," Anastasius started, without noticing the surprise in Charles' eyes. The older had merely wanted to see if he had read the texts already, it didn't matter if he understood it or not since he's still too young, but seeing how Anastasius could discern how the two texts differ had provided hin an idea of how much the younger knows about it.

"I heard Argacoccia wasn't that fond of the talks of the government. But if you were to ask my opinion about their views I cannot say that I completely agree with them, that power could be imposed on a person and that anyone can be controlled as long as there's force that is being exhibited by the authority.

Because I personally think power is earned, there is always that weakness that makes a person follow a certain order but regardless of the force that was imposed on them, they will not surrender as long as they do not see something that will benefit them in return of following a certain order." He continued.

Yuu loved philosophy in his past life and he used to spend his time observing people around him, seeing what kind of philosophical theory would suit a situation the best, or which of these theory are logical enough to be taken seriously with.

For him, a person would only follow an order if they see a benefit for them in whatever they think would be the consequences of that order. For example, if someone in authority forces a person who has high moral values to commit a murder, they would rather kill themselves than do it despite the amount of power imposed on them. However, if you tell them that the one they'd be killing is a bad person, and by killing them they would be able to save innocent lives, they might consider doing what they were ordered.

As for the benefit that they will receive, it would be the overwhelming feeling of happiness when they think that they just saved a lot of innocent lives for following that order.

To put it in simpler words, the two philosophers believes in Hard Power, while he believes in Smart and Soft Power more. Negotiation is more powerful than anyone would think, it's not simply compromising what you treasure the most but manipulating the other party into thinking that you would compromise the only thing that you have, despite not actually doing so.

Everyone in the room stared at Anastasius as if he just grew another head in a second. They heard that Anastasius is a smart child but they didn't think that he would already master the two textbooks that even renowned scholars fail to study for years. And he is just a nine year old kid at that!

"I also agree with your side on this one, seems like we think parallel to each other. I also noticed some holes on their views if it were to be applied in the society. Their concepts of power would just lead to endless war with its lack of diplomacy, all they focused on was just force and pressure as if they haven't seen the real world at all.

Little do they know that power is much sweeter when applied without force and with just the mere manipulation of thoughts,

making the other person think that they're gaining something through following but actually they're not. Manipulating them into thinking that they like a certain agreement when it actually destroys them deep inside.

After all the art of manipulation lies with the temporary pleasure it brings to the target of power and the sweet, sweet, victory it gives to the real person of authority."

The servants' head now turned to Charles, the way he was able to interpret their works in a real life situation, make comments about it and even notice some holes in it just proves that he is, indeed, a real prodigy.

Lucas just glared at Charles because of his irritation, the fact that he was not able to join the conversation makes him flustered and annoyed. The Prince Charming and the Young lord continued their deep talk about prominent philosophers and sophists as well as their views in different fields of everyday life until the sun set.

🔹🔷🔹

The painstakingly tension-filled tea time just ended, the servants looked more relieved than ever. Charles is now about to leave the East Palace with his own servants and is currently being escorted by the two prince; Anastasius and Lucas.

Well, Lucas doesn't really want to see him off but he wanted to protect his older brother from the big bad wolf so he agreed on going with Anastasius to send their farewell to the prince of the neighboring kingdom.

"See you soon Lucas, and of course, Anastasius. I hope I would be granted a day with you... alone, without other people to distract us with our arguments and discourse about things. I must say it has been a very long time since I was involved in a meaningful conversation like this."

"The pleasure is all mine Prince Charles. I enjoyed our discourse today too, I am looking forward for our next meetings." Anastasius replied, giving the Prince Charming his unrivaled enchanting smile.

Charles left Clarimières kingdom with a smile on his lips. Not only was his expectations were proved feasible but it was even surpassed by the young boy's intellect. Now he's more than sure that he would do anything to take the boy and let him stay by his side without anyone interfering his plans.

-- Author's Note:

[1] yeah I just made that up, the names, some part of the views etc., I can't just cite a real source about politics and philosophy since this book is only fictional and I'm not knowledgeable about it enough to tackle about it in a broader sense. Let's say I just used the different types of Power (this one's real) as a blueprint to make this up.