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“Your Highness, we, ah… we have some logistical concerns about your wedding that we need you to address.” Guang Hong held out a piece of paper, and Phichit took it with a frown. The logistics of his wedding were what he had hired Guang Hong to figure out, because he had just unexpectedly become heir to the throne and needed an intensive crash course in his new duties, because tradition demanded he become junior ruler at the age of twenty-two. That gave him a year and a half to learn everything his elder brother had been learning since he was eleven.
At least his father was seeing reason about this wedding. Sure, Phichit would be expected to take a wife who could be an empress and mother to his heirs, but it was expected and part of their diplomacy to have concubines as well. Phichit would hardly be the first to have male concubines, or to have one as his favorite. It wasn’t even a problem that this wasn’t a diplomatic match, that his new concubine didn’t bring royal blood or money into the marriage. Phichit’s father only wanted to break it off because typically, the empress-to-be should be first to clearly establish her place at the head of his harem, but he’d agreed eventually that a male concubine was no threat to the empress’s place.
The first part of the message was a threat to the wedding. This was to be taken quite seriously, as Phichit’s elder brother Thongchai had been killed at his wedding, the work of an assassin employed by his father’s exiled half-brother who thought that as the firstborn son, he deserved the throne, even though his mother was a concubine and not the empress. As Thongchai’s bride had been spared, his father had already started the talks to simply switch the marriage to Phichit instead, part of which included hiring personal bodyguards for Phichit and his bride, in addition to heavily increasing security at the wedding itself. For this wedding, they hadn’t thought it was as big a deal, but apparently Kulpat disagreed.
Which made the second part of the message easily foreseeable, and Phichit had to laugh. “Guang Hong, I’m well aware that my usual bodyguard will be unavailable to protect me at my wedding. He’s going to be a little busy. Not understanding the problem here.”
“Well… your father is insisting that after the fit you threw when he suggested hiring a younger bodyguard for you and you refusing anyone else’s protection, he says you have to personally acknowledge and sign off on hiring a different bodyguard than usual. Even if it is Yuuri.” As the person usually hired when Phichit needed round-the-clock supervision that made it a two-person job, Yuuri was the obvious candidate here. It also helped that Yuuri and Phichit had become best friends. Guang Hong watched as Phichit wrote the acknowledgement on the letter and signed it. “There’s also another problem. Celestino finds it an insult to his skills…”
“Oh, for… come on.” Phichit got to his feet and stormed off. Guang Hong followed, allowing the conversation to continue. “Is Leo available?”
“He is, or Otabek said that he’d do it. Your uncle has no reason to want Yuri dead or harmed, after all.”
Phichit shook his head. Otabek and Celestino had been a bad fit when Celestino tried to train him, and he already had a full-time job guarding a foreign prince who was staying at their court in exile. “Leo’s better for this job. Dad says his spies have reported some contact between Kulpat and Lev, and we don’t know the details.”
They arrived at Celestino’s room, and Phichit knocked. As soon as Celestino opened the door, Phichit had some words. “You’re an idiot.”
“I’m insulted. You know I’m the…”
“You’re the best bodyguard we’ve got. Yes. I know.” If he weren’t, Phichit wouldn’t have had to sign the paper. That wasn’t the problem. “You are going to be a bit busy, and if you’re not distracted for at least some parts of the wedding, I am going to take that as a personal insult. If they go after you, say, during the kiss?”
“Tight security protecting the event itself and, I assume, Yuuri will be right there. I won’t try to interfere in Yuuri’s protecting you, but between those two, I’ll have enough warning to be able to protect myself,” Celestino argued. “I’ve been doing this for so long, I can only control the instincts so far, and bodyguards make the worst clients for exactly that reason. Whoever you get to try to guard me is going to be distracted trying to keep me out of the way.”
“You and Leo have worked jobs together. He knows how to work around you.” Phichit crossed his arms. “Come on. Don’t give Dad a reason to make us wait until things are settled with Anchali’s family or we’ve been able to remove the threat from Kulpat.”
Celestino glanced over at Guang Hong. “You promise it’ll be Leo?”
“I’ve already talked to Leo and he agreed as long as Phichit could convince you,” Guang Hong promised.
“Fine. I can work with Leo.” Celestino let his arms drop and smiled. “Anything else you need from either of us, or can Phichit and I take advantage of him needing to have taken a break from his studies already?”
“Not for long, but I can give you until I’ve gotten Leo’s official signature on the hiring contract. Use it wisely.” Guang Hong hurried off, leaving Celestino and Phichit to get some practice for the wedding festivities.