Chapter Text
The Part of the Story That Was Written Over
"We're almost there now, Your Highness."
"Young Lord Nishiyama — I'm sorry. I never thought I'd cause you this kind of trouble..."
"Please don't say that. Of everyone caught up in this, no one has it harder than you, Your Highness..."
Young Lord Nishiyama — Yuuki Nishiyama — said this and made a deliberate effort to smile even more brightly than usual. Ever since his days at the Royal Academy, that youthful face and easy smile had won him the affection of many, and given courage to more than a few — but even that face couldn't entirely escape the shadow that fell over it in moments like this one. If he didn't want his own unease to show, there was nothing to do but smile more determinedly than ever.
The new king had moved quickly to consolidate power the moment he took the throne. He'd replaced every key figure in the administration with men loyal to himself, and pushed his own people into the upper ranks of the Order of Knights as well, seizing control of the military in the process. The nobles' council was rendered effectively powerless, and the separation of powers meant nothing anymore.
In the midst of all this, the kingdom's two leading noble houses had chosen very different paths.
House Komori had sworn loyalty to the new king faster than anyone. They'd leveraged their existing ties across the nobility to help him consolidate his grip over the aristocracy as a whole, and were rewarded in turn with considerable privilege and real power. In the process, they'd earned the resentment of other noble houses — but the Duke of Komori paid it no mind. He saw it purely as a chance to revive a house that had been in decline.
House Nishiyama, by contrast, viewed the new king's conduct with deep unease. The purging of every major noble house capable of checking his power had been troubling enough on its own, but his treatment of the other royals sealed it. He'd shown no hesitation cutting down even the late king's most loyal retainers the moment they displeased him — but it was his handling of Prince Yu, above all, that showed what kind of man he really was. Yu: the deceased king's own son, his legitimate firstborn, and — at least on the official register — the new king's own younger brother.
It was only natural for a newly crowned king to regard his own siblings as his greatest threat. So it was true, as a rule, that new kings kept their brothers and sisters under closest watch. But this king had taken it rather further than that.
However much of a threat he might represent, Yu was still, by principle, the king's own brother — a potential heir, a contingency should anything happen to the king himself. And yet the king had put out a warrant for him without a second thought. Find him, the order said — but everyone understood it really meant find him and put an end to him.
House Nishiyama did not consider this a normal state of affairs. Judging that it had become necessary to resist the king, even from the shadows, they'd begun quietly gathering the opposition and moving into action.
One of their chief goals was the protection of Prince Yu.
If a man like the current king held power for long, the damage would spread well beyond the nobility — it would poison the kingdom entire. So the Duke of Nishiyama had reasoned, and had told the members of his own house to keep bowing their heads to the king as they always had, on the surface — but underneath, to act with a single, ultimate purpose: replacing the current king with Prince Yu.
Yuuki sometimes clashed with his father, but on the subject of the king, the two of them were of one mind. To Yuuki, the new king was too weak, and yet cruel with it; ruthless, but never truly clear-headed. A man willing to make a decision that could topple the entire royal succession this carelessly did not strike him as fit to sit at the summit of a nation.
So when his father gave the order — quietly escort the prince and his betrothed to the entrance of the forest region in the kingdom's southeast — Yuuki agreed without much objection.
The southeastern forest was mild enough in climate, but the woods grew so dense that outsiders rarely made their way in. Even on horseback, it was difficult terrain. In short, it was an ideal place to hide oneself from the king's sight.
The trouble was that this made it just as obvious to the king that Yu would likely flee there. One of the very first things he'd done after issuing the warrant was seal off every road leading from the capital toward the southeast and station knights along them.
For this reason, the Duke of Nishiyama gave his son a secret order. House Nishiyama had, since the kingdom's earliest days, taken part in covert military operations across the realm, and knew a great many back roads and hidden passages unknown to outsiders. It was by way of exactly these routes that Yuuki was to bring Prince Yu and his betrothed safely to the relative security of the southeast.
The hidden detour took far longer than the main roads would have, but it was safe. All this way, the three of them hadn't run into the Order of Knights even once.
Yuuki roughly measured the distance still ahead. They were nearly at the border where the southeast began.
At this rate, we should reach the destination in a day, maybe two— he was just thinking, when—
A familiar silhouette caught his eye.
"...Yuuhi."
Young Lord Komori. Yuuhi Komori.
"I thought you might come, Yuuki."
Yuuki let out a laugh — a little hollow, a little resigned.
He'd suspected that among the nobles House Nishiyama had reached out to, someone might be secretly in contact with House Komori — a house bound by blood to quite a few noble families, and now, without question, the single most powerful house in the kingdom. He'd considered that someone might have learned of this operation through some channel or another. That possibility was, in fact, part of why he'd insisted on carrying out the mission himself.
Even so.
Of everyone who could have shown up here — I never imagined it would be you.
"Young Lord Komori..."
Yu regarded Yuuhi with wary eyes. He'd never much cared for the intricacies of court politics, but he knew, in broad strokes, who supported his half-brother and who didn't.
The Duke of Komori was, of course, one of the king's strongest supporters — no word had ever reached him of the heir's own personal stance. But they were from the same house. Could the son's position really be so different from his father's?
Beside him, Sogeon — Yu's hand held tight in his own — quietly closed his other hand around the hilt of his sword.
If it comes to it, the young knight thought, I'll cut him down.
"You understand what it means, that I'm standing here, Yuuki."
"......Couldn't you just close your eyes for a bit and let them go?"
"My uncle is already testing me. If I come back having found no one, he'll grow suspicious. And the king already watches House Komori closely, worried we're growing too powerful. If he starts to suspect me, he won't stop at just me — he'll wipe out the entire house."
Yuuki gave a tired shrug. It was, without question, exactly the sort of thing that king would do.
For all he'd said, Yuuhi still hesitated. His dark eyes wavered, fixed on Yuuki. His lips parted and closed, again and again, as though there were something he wanted to say and couldn't bring himself to.
Sogeon's grip on the sword hilt tightened. He held no grudge against the Heir of Komori — but if the man meant to harm Yu, he would cut him down. He had to.
Because I have to protect Yu — the person I love...
Yuuki gave a faint smile and reached an arm out in front of Sogeon, as if to hold him back. Still smiling, he spoke to Yuuhi.
"Capture me, Yuuhi. Bring me in."
"...What?"
Yuuhi's face went white. Yuuki smiled at him again, as if to reassure him.
"Say you ran into me on the road. Capture me, hand me over. And say you found no trace of His Highness or Master Sogeon."
"Yuuki, wait, what are you—"
"If you come back having found no one, he'll suspect you. But if you can say you caught at least one of us — even a king like that won't be able to just wave your account away. Right?"
Yu and Sogeon's faces both froze in shock, even as the color slowly returned to Yuuhi's — no longer pale, but flushed.
"—Stop speaking nonsense!" Yuuhi's voice cracked out, hoarse, as though he'd aged ten years in an instant. "Do you not know what the king is like?! The Nishiyama main house might be able to flee with their private guard, but you, alone, can't! The moment you set foot in the palace, you'll be thrown in a cell without so much as a trial — no, not a cell — you'll be lucky if you're even still breathing—!"
"That's exactly why it has to be me, Yuuhi."
"Yuuki."
"House Nishiyama is doing everything in its power to keep His Highness alive. You know why. If you're still the person I remember, there's no way you don't know why."
Yuuhi didn't answer. But somewhere along the way, his eyes had filled with tears.
"I'm not going to say anything about House Komori's decision. I don't hold it against you. But if you understand how I feel... if there's even the smallest part of you, as a person and not as a Komori, that agrees with what my house has chosen to do — let His Highness go. And take me instead."
"Yuuki, please..."
"I ask, Yuuhi, for your help."
Yuuhi's legs simply gave out beneath him. He sank down onto the cold ground, unable even to make a sound, and wept.
How could you ask something like that of me. You know I'd never be able to refuse you anything.
How could you hand me something so cruel and call it 'asking for help'—
"Yuuhi."
"......"
Without another word, he slowly nodded.
I have to. Because it's you asking.
If this is the one thing I — who can do nothing else — can do for you, then I have to do it.
Because you came all this way to ask for my help...
Yuuki, with that sunlit smile so particular to him, turned to look back and forth between Yu and his consort.
"It seems this is as far as I can escort you, Your Highness."
"...Young Lord Nishiyama."
"I hope, with everything I have, that you survive — and see your purpose through."
Yu looked at him with an expression just short of tears, then bowed his head and gave him a quiet nod. Sogeon, his own eyes red, offered a light bow of his own — and hurried away at Yu's side.
The two figures vanished across the border into the southeast, and the young heirs of House Komori and House Nishiyama stood quietly, looking at one another.
"Huh. No soldiers lying in wait around here, I guess?"
"...There are only so many soldiers, and the roads into the southeast cover too much ground. Whoever's patrolling nearest will make their way here eventually."
"I see."
The empty small talk ended there. Yuuki turned toward Yuuhi, who was still hiccuping through his tears — his pale face streaked and wet.
"I'm the one being taken away. Why are you crying like this."
"....b-but, Yuuki, I'm the one who—"
Watching him fail even to finish a sentence, Yuuki's own eyes filled for the briefest moment — but he reached out his arms before the tears could fall. Not especially strong arms, but warm ones. He pulled Yuuhi close and held him, and his hand moved gently over Yuuhi's back, as if to comfort him.
"It's alright, Yuuhi."
"Yuuki—"
"I think... I'm glad it's only this much, in the end."
Because it's not just His Highness and his consort I get to save. I get to save you, too, before I'm gone.
To act as bait in the prince's place, if it ever came to that — that had been the role given to me, from the start. It was a life I'd already half given up.
If I get to walk away having saved not just the cause, but you — that's not such a bad trade, is it.
"Don't cry. Smile for me, Yuuhi."
"...hic — how am I supposed to smile, in a situation like this—"
"I like it when you smile, Yuuhi."
Your smile is the cutest thing in the whole world.
Even at that same shameless teasing he'd always had, since they were children, Yuuhi couldn't manage it, in the end. Yuuki didn't press him.
Instead, still holding him tight, he simply whispered:
I've never once resented you.
I hope you get your smile back one day.
May Caelros's blessings be upon you.
What became of Young Lord Nishiyama Yuuki afterward, no one ever learned. No trial was ever held, and with no witnesses present, no one could say what had happened to him. Most people simply assumed — knowing the king's temperament — that he'd likely been beheaded on the spot. With House Nishiyama's involvement all but confirmed, and their own heir found on the very road to the southeast, the reason was plain enough to guess.
Not long after all word of Yuuki ceased, House Komori found itself in the grip of a small and yet a grave incident.
Yuuhi Komori — the previous duke's legitimate firstborn son, sole heir to the house — had thrown himself from the attic window on the second floor of the Komori residence, with nothing to break his fall.
The height alone shouldn't have been fatal, but he'd landed headfirst, and the injuries were severe. He hovered between life and death for two days before finally passing, not even three full days after the incident.
He was said to have wept nearly every day since bringing Young Lord Nishiyama in — and yet from the moment he jumped to the moment he died, his face was, strangely, said to have looked utterly at peace.
A scrap of paper, believed to be his final note, was later found in the attic. It is said to have held only a single line.
[I'll meet you there— soon.]
...And How It Turned Out
"Yu—uu—hiiiiii."
"What."
"Yuuhiiiiii."
"...What."
"Yuuhi!!!"
"......Keep that up and you're getting out."
At Yuuhi's grumbling, Yuuki pouted right back, not about to be outdone.
"But Yuuhi, you've done nothing but work for three days straight."
Duke Komori Yuuhi let out a sigh heavy enough to sink into the floor. It wasn't that he didn't understand the complaint. He did. But did the man think he was buried in work like this because he enjoyed it?
By the king's mercy, House Komori had somehow kept its neck attached — but its standing remained shaky at best. One more chance from the king didn't mean the trust they'd lost among the nobility could be won back overnight. The problems weren't just external, either — internally, things were just as serious. For one thing, the household staff needed a complete overhaul, top to bottom.
Yuuhi had concluded that a house the size of Komori shouldn't have ended up in this state, no matter how incompetent an uncle it had been under — and that the staff bore some of the blame too. The same handful of servants had clung to the same old ways for generations, pooling and stagnating until they turned rotten, which, combined with an unfit head of house, only pushed things further to extremes
To root it out properly meant letting go of the people who needed to be replaced and bringing in new ones — and that alone was no small undertaking. At the level of a ducal house, even hiring the lowliest errand-runner turned out to be far more trouble than it sounded, and hiring resident staff was worse still.
On top of all that, other problems kept surfacing — a full audit of the duchy's finances, for one, which his uncle had left in an absolute shambles. The man was dead now, but Yuuhi still ground his teeth at him every time he opened the ledgers.
Damn old man — if you were going to drink yourself into a stupor, you could've done it without taking out loans left and right like this. I can't even tell what we actually own versus what we owe. And what happened to all the land that used to belong to the house — no wonder, throwing parties and gambling all that time—
So Komori Yuuhi had a great deal of work to do. A truly enormous amount. The kind where you'd take help from a cat's paws if it were on offer.
And yet, in the middle of all this, the thing making it hardest of all was—
"Yuuhi—"
—precisely this: Yuuki Nishiyama, who showed up at the Komori residence like clockwork every single day, planted himself in Yuuhi's study, and sat there watching him with eyes bright enough to have stars stuffed inside them.
There was no question the two of them had mended things between them. It was, in the end, Yuuki — now Duke of Nishiyama himself — who'd played the single largest role in saving the entire Komori duchy. Whatever lay beneath the surface, it had been read as a gesture of reconciliation between houses, and a Komori family, already backed into a corner, was in no position to turn it away. Yuuhi himself, now head of the house, had welcomed it from the start.
Of course, far more important than any of that was the fact that whatever wall had still stood between the two of them personally had now dissolved completely.
...Which led to a new problem.
They'd spent far too long with a wall between them — or, to be precise, it had mostly been Yuuhi alone keeping it up — but going from that to no wall at all, overnight, meant—
This is too good. I'm going out of my mind, it's so good. I just want to be with him all day and it's driving me insane.
That was the honest truth of it. Komori Yuuhi was a man with a strong sense of responsibility and a firm resolve to reform a house that had genuinely come within an inch of ruin — but he was also, still, an ordinary young man of his age. The person he'd carried in his heart since childhood was now staying by his side every single day, looking at him like that — did the man really think he wanted to be staring at paperwork all day?
So Yuuhi called on every last scrap of patience he had and kept his own wants firmly in check.
Just until I've gotten through what's on my desk right now.
There were promissory notes waiting for his signature by tomorrow. The servants left after the purge were so overworked they'd probably all walk out within days. Yuuki had offered to send staff over from House Nishiyama... but Yuuhi didn't want to owe him a debt like that.
So just a little longer.
Yuuki narrowed his eyes at him, watching — then crossed the room without a sound and wrapped his arms around Yuuhi from behind. Yuuhi, suddenly finding Yuuki's breath right against his ear, went bright red and started fumbling — and a voice full of sulking murmured against his ear.
"Guess the house matters more to you than I do, Yuuhi."
...Hey now. Duke of Nishiyama. Is that really something you get to say?
"You're one to talk, you're a duke too—"
"Yuuhi matters more to me than my house does. That's exactly why I'm here doing this right now."
Ah. Damn it. There was nothing to say to that. Yuuhi ducked his head, his face gone the red of an overripe tomato.
A half dozen answers surfaced in his head — House Nishiyama's already stable, you don't need to be here; I'm just not as fast as you at this (Yuuki's speed with paperwork had been legendary since his days as heir) — but Yuuhi didn't say any of it out loud. Because Yuuki had already said all of it himself, at one point or another.
"If you need help, just tell me! I can help with anything, as long as it's not a sensitive matter."
"My speed? It's simpler than you'd think. I can show you how to handle the contracts, if you want."
"Promissory notes? Why didn't you say sooner?! I can put out the worst of the fire with my private money. You can pay me back slowly, whenever."
The reason Yuuhi had stubbornly turned all of it down, every time, was his own pride. Before Komori and Nishiyama, before either name — he simply didn't want to be someone who only ever relied on Yuuki. Even if the name Komori couldn't hold its head up right now, someday he wanted to stand as an equal beside him — as a house, and as himself.
It would have been nice if he could say all that out loud — but Komori Yuuhi wasn't built to lay a feeling out honestly in words. Still, some things had to be shown, even if they couldn't be said.
...I have to let him know. That I want to spend time with him too. Just as much as he wants to spend it with me.
Yuuki's already-wide eyes went wider, flushed red, and froze in place, right where he stood. Yuuhi, his own face burning, squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his lips to Yuuki's with a kind of desperate resolve, and wound his arms around his neck.
Please. Please understand what this means.
"........"
".....uh......"
When their lips parted, Yuuhi found himself, privately, a little thrown.
What — why is he being so lukewarm about this?
He'd figured a peck like that would at least get some reaction... but Yuuki just stood there, touching his own lips absently, his eyes gone somewhere that looked distinctly unhinged—
...wait. Unhinged how, exactly?
With a bang, the study chair went sliding straight back into the wall. Yuuhi, still in it, found himself trapped — chair and all — between the wall and Yuuki's arm.
No, wait — this is the guy who scored just as badly as I did on every combat skill exam at the Academy... where is he suddenly getting this kind of strength.
"H-hey, Yuuki—"
"...Do it again."
"What?"
"Don't tell me you thought that was going to be enough."
By the time the meaning of that sank in, the red had spread all the way down Yuuhi's neck.
"Hey, you — I finally worked up the nerve to—"
"If you're going to work up the nerve, can't you use a little more of it than a peck? How old do you think we are."
"Yuuki, that's — I mean—"
"And you still won't even let me into your bed at night."
Aargh!
Komori Yuuhi squeezed his eyes shut, wishing the floor would simply open up and swallow him whole.
Is this man actively trying to get me embarrassed? He knows that just hearing him mention the bed flusters me completely...
"I'm not going to push you into anything that makes you uncomfortable. That's why I haven't pressed you."
"..."
"I just — I'm really having a hard time waiting. Just once. Please?"
Haah.
It wasn't that he didn't want to. He could swear it on the glory of the Silver Stag. It was just that everything felt so long overdue, and was happening so fast now, and it was more than a little embarrassing.
"...Just once."
Whatever. After all, I love him too.
Yuuki's bright eyes curved happily, and he leaned in.
Yuuhi.
...Mm.
I love you.
...Me too.
With shy, whispered words, their warm lips met once again. It was an afternoon with a pleasant breeze drifting through the window.
That day, for the first time, the two of them learned what it felt like to hold the warmth of someone precious inside their own mouth.
After that one proper kiss, Yuuki's face turned into something quite literally beaming — and Yuuhi found himself caught in an endless loop: blush, sigh, back to the paperwork.
By the Silver Stag, I knew this was dangerous, Yuuhi thought. I literally pushed myself into thinking about just pulling Yuuki straight to the bedroom.
...I really do need to cut back on physical touch for a while. Else, my whole schedule's in danger—
And yet, every time he looked at Yuuki—
"Yuuhi."
—every time he saw that smile, well, maybe just once in a while is fine, he'd think.
He likes me this purely. If it makes him happy, I suppose it makes me happy too—
"Hey, Yuuhi."
"What?"
One thing that hadn't changed since their Academy days: Yuuki Nishiyama was simply not the type to let Yuuhi sit lost in thought for very long.
"You know, if it comes down to it, just marry into my house."
"...What?"
"Marry into Nishiyama, and legally dump some of your workload on me. Then I could probably get you into the bedroom a lot faster—"
And one more thing that hadn't changed: Komori Yuuhi had been famous, since his Academy days, for his vocal capability that was almost on par with exploding gunpowder.
"GET OUT!!!!!!!"
Yuuhi, face scarlet, bellowed and hurled a stack of papers across the room; Yuuki, getting chased out the door for his trouble, wore nothing but a delighted grin the whole way.
In the hallway, the newer maids carrying in tea froze mid-step, puzzled, trying to work out what was going on — while the veteran staff, who'd long since figured it out, did their best to make themselves scarce, well out of their master's line of sight.
The Komori residence is, as ever, a perfectly peaceful place today.