We Are Lovers ཉ MikaYuu

we are (not) traitors

⠀⠀⠀ "Don't do this. Don't just let this one chance wither away when it's settled right in the palm of your hand. No one suspects a thing— you're the king of this kingdom, a married man, and a respected general. There's nothing wrong with going to this party, and you know that. Just be smart and don't do anything risky, and all will be well." Akane tells him, tone hard as stone. "I— all of us— we see how you are nowadays. We've been witnessing as you kill yourself, never sleeping enough or eating enough some days, for years and years on end. And this is where I put my foot down, with all due respect, my king— I will change it, starting with this letter."

⠀⠀⠀ "I can't," Yuichiro spats harshly, the words leaving breathless lips thoughtlessly. "If I see him, I won't want to let him go— I know of it. The moment we meet eyes, I will only envision and remember of the Mikaela I knew; the one who was a slave, a ferocious fighter, a scarred but loving man. And in that moment, I won't be able to hold myself back from reaching out to him. I would ruin everything, Akane— him, me, our kingdoms."

⠀⠀⠀ Like a rabbit being cornered by its predator, the young servant hisses, a pained look etched on her features. "Don't do this to yourself— you don't deserve it! I refuse to stand by your side and watch as you stare blankly at a wall, twirling a feather pen in your hands as the ink dries, nor will I silently pretend not to notice the way you look out a window as if Mikaela would appear at any given moment. It is agonizing— you are a battle wound that refuses to heal. There doesn't go a day where you're not longing to see him again. I don't know what he means to you, or what you meant to him, after all these years— but what I do know is this: that you two are meant for one another. Mikaela brought you a happiness like no other human could, and I can tell that he felt the same. And don't try to tell me that you don't love him because he left you— you know better than anyone that that doesn't change the way you feel."

⠀⠀⠀ Yuichiro wants to make a remark, but that option was taken away the moment Akane snatched the letter from his hands. A strangled sound rumbles in his throat, but the woman isn't having it.

⠀⠀⠀ "I am passing on the message that you will be attending. I hope you do not attempt to stop me, my king; after all, all I want for you is your happiness and health," Akane says firmly, eyebrows furrowed and cheeks tense with concealed emotion. With one last sorrowful expression, she whips her body around and heads out of the main room with long, confident strides, a gradually fading series of echoing clicks trailing behind her. The large, wooden sun-crisp doors can be heard opening before soaring shut, leaving Yuichiro to dwell within his own silence.

⠀⠀⠀ And dwell the king does, lost in his own thoughts of fear, anxiety, and agony. Mikaela is all that engulfs his mind. Yuichiro knows that if he does go to the party, he would lose himself in the cerulean eyes of the other king like a lonely ship lost at sea.

⠀⠀⠀ And that thought alone terrifies him.

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ུ

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⠀⠀⠀ When midnight strikes, Yuichiro has only one thing circulating within his whirlpool of a mind. In his hand settles a glass filled to the brim with an expensive, sharp crimson wine, one in which was as bitter and exciting as its appearance was. After one long sip, the young king places it down to never be touched again. Still, to this day, he isn't an alcohol type of person. Even as this wine came along with the letter, the taste never satisfied him in any way. Even as Mikaela as the person who gifted him this delicacy, only the feeling of intense agony harbored within his chest.