AUTHOR’s NOTE: Again in this story same sex marriage or relationship is fine.
WHETHER HE CARED ABOUT MY SHARE GLARE OR NOT, the booger king looked at me with a soft smile on his lips.
“May I have this dance?”
Seven years had passed, but I could still remember how flippantly he could threaten people.
I’m sure he knows who I am. Why is he approaching me?
I wanted to find out, so I accepted his request.
I had to know why he kidnapped me and how he hid himself so thoroughly that even the Duke couldn’t find him. Then after all that, why did he appear in front of me again?
Because of everything I was thinking, I never knew how severely Lucian was glaring at him.
When I offered my hand without answering him directly, he took my hand willfully.
We walked to the middle of the hall, all eyes on us.
As we went, I muttered under my breath.
“Hey, kidnapper. Why’re you here?”
As we reached the center, we faced each other and I placed one hand on his shoulder as he held my waist, then he took my other hand.
Before the orchestra played the music, he leaned forward and whispered into my ear.
“I’m very grateful to you. I never even guessed that my father was someone living in the palace.”
Damn it.
I really didn’t know that it’s going to be this way.
Why did the Emperor accept him as his son?
I’m sure that the Crown Prince didn’t stay still either.
As I contemplated, the orchestra finally began, and we gradually started dancing to the waltz.
I’m a bit confident with my dancing, and so I moved gracefully along with the booger king’s lead.
And I didn’t forget to whisper in return.
“I can’t believe even a kidnapper can turn into a prince. I’m so worried about the future of the Empire that I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well at night.”
I spoke with as much sarcasm as I could muster, but he held my hand tightly and twirled me around as though he wasn’t even affected.
While spinning, I stopped the moment he held me by the waist. Then, a subtle scent mixed with his voice as he spoke close to my ear.
“If it’s like that, then aren’t you a perpetrator who tried to kill an Imperial Family member?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The sauce you poured into my eyes. It’s difficult to eat it as it is, why did you have to throw it in my eyes?”
“…Isn’t that better than pointing a blade at another person?”
I made a rebuttal without backing down. Elliot smiled brightly, grabbed my waist and tilted me downwards as he spoke.
“I won’t do that anymore.”
“How can I trust you?” I retorted as he pulled me back up.
He stayed relaxed as he spun around in a big circle with me.
When did he learn how to dance? I didn’t want to admit it, but he’s surprisingly good at this.
It hasn’t been long since I myself learned, but I don’t know when this guy found the time to learn.
“Isn’t that something a ducal prince wouldn’t say? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to hear you say that. This place is so boring.”
He came so close that the tips of our noses almost touched, then he turned his head to the side—as if he would kiss me—then continued.
“What if I tell you that I became a prince because I wanted to meet you again? Will you believe me?”
“This crazy punk.”
“Pfft—”
Our dance came to an end with me swearing. The pounding heartbeats I heard were very unpleasant because we were still so close to each other.
I didn’t want to admit that my heart ever pounded for this guy.
After curtsying, I quickly returned to Lucian.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───
LUCIAN STOOD BLANKLY AS HE WATCHED the prince dancing with his brother. As he watched his return after finishing the song, everyone around him grew excited and started chattering.
The Imperial Prince and the Ducal Prince danced together during the debutante ball, so this was the natural response.
A young lord(s), both unmarried and each with questionable pasts… They kept saying that it was hard to deny that they matched well.
Lucian, who never really minded what people said around him, quietly clenched his hands into fists as he heard this.
He wanted to dance with him during his debut. He had been looking forward to it with so much anticipation.
But some bastard stole his first dance and took him away. It felt like his eyes had gotten blurred with rage.
Everyone was busy looking at Raphael with venom in their eyes.
If he could, he wanted to kill everyone.
Enzo reacted to his overflowing emotions.
—Do you want me to kill them for you? I detest the Imperial Family.
Lucian was swayed by the tempting words.
It would be easy for him to fulfill his murderous urges with Enzo’s abilities.
Before a black tint almost overtook his brilliant golden irises completely, Raphael came back.
Hugging his arm with both of his, he spoke.
“Brother, come dance with me.”
In fact, Raphael also wanted to have his first dance with his brother.
He loathed the fact that he had to dance with the trash booger king when he could perfectly just go ahead and dance with his bias affectionately. But then he wanted to know what that guy’s intentions were when he entered the palace.
However, Lucian was uncomfortable right now. He’s always lovely in his eyes, but he hated watching his with him.
“Honestly, I wanted my first dance to be with you, Brother.”
Raphael also wanted to reject the booger king’s invitation to dance. Looking up at Lucian, who was quietly staring at him, he whispered quietly.
“Do you remember when we were young? We went to a banquet and danced together in the garden.”
“…I remember.”
Lucian remembered those memories from more than seven years ago.
At that time, he still thought of Raphael as someone troublesome. So even if they went to a banquet hall together, he headed out to the garden and left him alone.
But then Raphael followed him out.
The full moon was bright, so he could remember Raphael’s face clearly.
His flushed cheeks, his lovely smile that reached his eyes, and his shy hesitance as he held Lucian’s hand tightly while they danced.
Everything was clear, as though engraved in his mind.
“I remember.”
Lucian looked down at Raphael and saw the loving gaze that never changed from when he was younger.
He gulped. He had to restrain his throat that wished to let out a growl.
He covets him. He wants him. He wishes to be the only person who can see him.
All kinds of emotions swirled within him, but his expression did not change.
“Please dance with me, Brother.”
As he pleaded again, Lucian grabbed his waist.
There was a young lord who was about to step up and ask to dance with Raphael, but he immediately backed down and lamented.
Because they were family, these men did not consider Lucian as competition anyway.
Lucian led Raphael to the dance floor. As they stepped towards the center, he began to move according to the orchestra’s melody.
Originally, they had to hold each other’s hand, and the shoulder or waist with a proper distance between them—but they moved closely together.
Raphael’s cheeks glowed pink, but he continued to draw him closer to himself.
He wanted them all to know.
They weren’t family. Yet.
“Ray.”
“Yes?”
Perhaps he wasn’t completely used to him yet. The moment he leaned on his shoulder and looked up at him, Lucian’s heart skipped a beat.
“My first dance is with you, too, Raphael.”
“Really?”
Yes. If it weren’t for him, he wouldn’t even be interested in attending a banquet.
Without him, he wouldn’t even be in the same position.
When the Duke had separated him from Raphael, from some point on, he began his successorship lessons.
Starting from the day the Duke told Lucian to stay away from Raphael, Lucian’s attention was solely turned to attaining more power.
But it’s funny.
Doesn’t Lucian just need more power so that he could hold onto Raphael tightly?
No matter how much he thought about it, his father was too lenient. Even though his father hated him so much, Lucian was given all the lessons that an heir must learn.
And yet, there were many times when the gaze that his father had for him would be filled with contempt or reluctance.
Lucian was aware that the Duke was projecting the previous Duke’s image onto Lucian.
That’s why he went ahead and tried to imitate his grandfather who he couldn’t even remember clearly. He wanted to engrave this loathsome silhouette in his father’s mind so that his father would be more fearful of him.
The desire for acceptance became a desire for dominance. The more he became greedy for Raphael, the more he saw his father as a bothersome bug who dares interfere.
To match the increasingly intense accompanying music, Lucian turned with Raphael in his arms sharply just in time to the beat. He took his hand.
As if he had planned it, he embraced him tightly and kissed him on the cheek.
From the lips that touched his skin, a thrilling sensation emerged. He could feel bliss stirring within him.
“Congratulations on becoming an adult.”
With his heart moved by many different emotions, he congratulated him. He was truly happy that Raphael had become an adult.
From afar, Lucian and Raphael were watched.
Elliot stood languidly against a wall. The young ladies around him kept trying to catch his gaze, but the only one in his sight was Raphael. Raphael had been a scrawny kid the last time he saw him, but now, he grew up as a fine Young Master.
He unconsciously lifted a hand to touch under his right eye.
“I experience hell because of you.”
He had witnessed others falling into hell. He even laughed at them because he had nothing to do with them.
“But I didn’t know I’d have to experience it, too.”
Maybe that’s why.
The reason he couldn’t forget that boy.
Wasn’t this only natural? His eyes still felt like they were on fire.
Otherwise, there’s no other reason why he wanted him so badly.
Elliot covered his lips with one hand. He stood with his posture upright to continue showing the demeanor of a prince—but underneath his palm, he couldn’t hide this wretched desire.
“Hmm, how suspicious.”
His purple eyes swept sharply towards Lucian, his hand gravitating to the place under his right eye again.
Just like Elliot, that person’s golden irises that were full of greed would not look away from Raphael.
Having to behave like the Emperor’s son was annoying, but he had to bear it all for power. There was no better position for him to be able to deal with those nobles.
The reason why he came to his father, who never even thought of meeting him again, was just so he could get what he wanted.
And he always got what he wanted.
Of course, this time, it will be the same.
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