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His Highness’s loyal bodyguard is absolutely restless, but rightfully so.
Ever since Prince Kaeya’s departure, Childe has been unusually attentive to every little detail that is going on inside the castle much to the despair of the servants and the knights. Every whisper and gossip from the attendants are confronted by him when he suddenly appears behind them, and every slacking from the knights is noticed by him and his glares.
“This is ridiculous!” one of the knights complained later to the warriors, who seemed to have heard an earful from the attendants as well as they exchanged knowing looks. “He notices every little mistake and resents us for it! As if he expects us to act like those mechanical contraptions from Sir Wriothesley’s nation!”
The warrior snorts at the mention of his name. “Even those contraptions would be more lenient and sympathetic.”
“His training has been awful though, ironically,” Eula says as they make their way to the gathering hall after managing to dismiss all the disgruntled staff. “Shenhe and Chongyun say his sword swings and aims are terrible and their spars always end up with him losing horribly."
Rosaria clicks her tongue at this. “I can confirm this. He almost shot an arrow at me from the training field.” She paused, blew smoke out of her mouth, and made a face. “I was down in the dungeons.”
“Oh dear,” Ganyu says, eyes widening out of concern. “Perhaps His Majesty’s absence really does take a toll on him. It truly is a shame he couldn’t go with the prince and Senior Jean to their important business.”
Wriothesley whistles as he pushes open the door to the hall. “That’s out of the question and we all know why. Not even we can accompany them.”
They enter the hall and see that some of the warriors were already in the hall, and so was Childe. He gives them a blank stare but nods politely in greeting, then goes back to cleaning the surface of his bow. Eula glances at Ganyu, who immediately receives the signal. She clears her throat as soon as she’s in front of Childe and barely flinches when he looks up with the same blank stare.
“Sir Childe, a visitor has come to see you.”
Just as she finished talking, a bird swoops in from the open doors and lands right on her shoulder. Upon closer look, Childe realizes it was a plump little owl whose huge eyes gaze at him with strange intensity. On its mouth it held a cream-colored envelope that seemed to have Sir Childe etched on the front.
Ganyu offers him a smile as he takes the envelope that the little owl shoved in his hand. And, with a tilt of its head as if it’s mocking the bodyguard, it spreads its beautiful wings and flies swiftly out the doors while everyone else gapes after it.
Childe meets eyes with Ganyu again, who gives him another gentle smile before joining the others for their meeting. He carefully opens the envelope addressed to him and grips at the edge of the letter, shaking at the sight of his prince’s all-too familiar handwriting.
To my dearest Ajax, the sun of my moon,
I terribly miss you so. I apologize for leaving without waking you. I somehow knew I would be terribly late had I done so, and this would not bode well with Jean especially when I have to travel on a horse alongside her for hours. I hope you understand.
I write this to you knowing you must also miss yours truly. Rest assured, I shall see you sooner than you would expect. I trust everyone else will keep you company while I am gone, and I hope you enjoy their company as well. But dare not be comfortable without me, Ajax!
I love you the most, dear Ajax. I cannot wait to meet you by the trees again.
From your beloved, the moon to your sun,
Kaeya Alberich
All the warriors secretly sigh out in relief as color starts coming back to the bodyguard’s face. How truly simple, yet passionate is this bodyguard’s love for their Prince Kaeya.
- - - - -
“So you have left him by himself.”
Kaeya snorts as he sends his brother’s owl off. “He can never be alone in my kingdom. My warriors and my people adore him too much to leave him alone.”
Those deep red eyes bore into him as he looked up, and he crossed his arms with a huff knowing well what his brother’s gaze meant. “…I didn’t say he’d feel alone. I said you left him.”
“Why do you say that as if I’ve left him forever?”
“Knowing the bodyguard,” mutters Jean from his other side, sipping on the wine Diluc had offered her as soon as she sat down. “It may feel like forever for him.”
“I’ll have you know!” Kaeya begins, turning abruptly towards his comrade and pointing accusingly at her. “If you aren’t so moody during horse rides, I could’ve woken him up to say goodbye!”
“And why would a simple goodbye take hours? You woke up several hours before we set off.”
“...”
Diluc sends his blushing brother a teasing smile. “I’d like to meet him, Kaeya.”
The prince hums, scratching the basket’s woven tangles with a finger. “I want you to meet him, too.”
The important business that both Kaeya and Jean had to attend to was a visit to the secret manor Diluc Ragnavindr lives in. For once every four months, they visit the former High Prince in order to check the security of his lodging and to report to him what is happening in the kingdom. In other words, he has been ruling alongside Kaeya ever since his ‘death’ – mostly for underground affairs that indirectly affects the nation as a whole.
Sometimes it would only be Kaeya, most times it would just be Jean, and sometimes it would be the both of them. Today was one of those days they came together, especially after reports of one of the missing Harbingers being sighted in Sumeru.
“Prince Kaveh says his people have it under control and are investigating, but we cannot be too careful,” Jean says and hands Diluc the letters and documents she had received from Kaveh’s people.
“Little Kaveh, is he well?” Diluc asks Kaeya, who pours himself another glass of wine.
“Very much so. Has a thing going on with that advisor of his but it seems to be going nowhere.” He recalls the troubles he caused his Ajax using his dear friend and grins to himself. “Very useful, too, in a sense.”
“Why does he have that disgusting grin on his face right now?” Diluc incredulously asks Jean, who sighs exasperatedly in return.
“Don’t ask me.”
Though Kaeya would not admit it, he is the happiest when he comes to the manor with Jean. It reminds him of a time in his past where everything was simple, every day was filled with the happiest memories, and he is back to his own self where his inner child remained the same.
This is not to say that he’s not happy now, because he absolutely is. His people have given him nothing but love and adoration, exactly how he wants them to give him as he rules their kingdom. It took some time to gain such feelings from them since he was not the prince they were expecting, but such hardships were worth it to be where he is now.
And also…
“Happy birthday, Kaeya!” Several voices sang from the doorway, and when they looked up they were greeted by the cheerful faces of the manor’s staff. The Head Housemaid is right in the center with a cake in her hand, so clearly designed by her love because Adelinde is always ever so expressive with her food.
Diluc looks gently at his brother. “You should celebrate with your people and not this isolated place, Kaeya.”
Kaeya gives him a humph. “We’ve already been celebrating the whole month – ask Jean, she’s been handling all the demands and plans.” As Jean groans at this in reply, he continues, “Besides, it’s only fitting that I celebrate my birthday here when Adelinde makes the best birthday cakes.”
“I’m glad to hear my baking bests your high quality bakers in the castle,” Adelinde hums, placing another plate of food on the table.
Kaeya laughs and gently takes her hand. “You best every food you make! Come, join us to eat!” He gestures to all the manor staff as well and beckons them closer. “All of you! Hurry and come join us! This celebration would not be possible without you. I have nothing but love and gratitude for all of you!”
Diluc smiles fondly as he watches his brother mingling and laughing with everyone. “I’m glad he took the role of the prince after my death.”
Jean huffs, seemingly recalling the stress Prince Kaeya has given her all these years, but she doesn’t disagree. “It certainly is a fitting role for him, especially with the warriors and the bodyguard around him.”
“Does he treat them really well?”
“It’s not really about good treatment but… he genuinely loves them. He doesn’t explicitly tell them, but it’s very clear to everyone who sees it.”
Diluc gives a chuckle. “A love that can bring kingdoms back to the dust whence they came from.” He glances at the senior general, amused at the fondness even she has in her eyes as she watches her prince. “I’m sure he feels the same for you.”
Jean’s features darken at this. “If he stops giving me more work and stress, maybe I can reciprocate it.”
The celebration lasted until the night in joyous laughter. Truly a wonderful and deserving birthday for a boy so loving and kind.
- - - - -
The wind meets his face as soon as he walks past the trees, as if in familiar greeting.
Kaeya remembers running through these woods with Diluc when they were running away from their fathers to escape their studies. They would walk, hand in hand, over tree roots and through old tree trunks as they giggle over their mischiefs. Kaeya believed he would never get lost as long as his brother was with him.
As he walks through the trees with a feeling of tranquility, an arm suddenly slinks around his waist and a hand obscures his vision of the woods completely. Though the touch and hold was gentle and there was no force to these actions, it still brings a chill down his spine.
“…Ajax?”
So accustomed is he to Ajax’s presence that he couldn’t even sense his presence nor have his guard up. If there comes a time that Ajax chooses to betray him, it will definitely be troublesome. But seeing how his lover gazes at him with utmost longing… At this rate, it is nearly impossible for him to be betrayed by this devoted bodyguard.
Forgive me for thinking such thoughts, Ajax, Kaeya giddily thinks as he turns around and breathes his lover in. There is that familiar scent of frosted pines.
As his Ajax holds his face, he sighs out, “I’ve missed you terribly.”
Childe gazes down at his prince while caressing the side of his face. “…Did you send that owl knowing I can definitely find you?”
Kaeya chuckles and looks up, but doesn’t quite meet his lover’s gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Childe leans down and gently presses their lips together, much to the prince’s delight. It has only been two days, yet it seemed an eternity since he last kissed his lover.
“Happy birthday, my love,” his Ajax whispers against his lips, letting it linger there before kissing the side. “I couldn’t spend your birthday without you.”
“Really, now?” Kaeya asks him with a teasing smile. “What if you had come later and it was past midnight? My birthday would’ve passed without you.”
“...I couldn’t have been late.” Childe bumps their noses together, then lets his lips hover over Kaeya’s once more. “That would’ve been impossible.”
The smell of the owl’s feathers, indicating it’s well tended to but has freedom in the wild. The tiny saliva it left on the envelope, telling Childe exactly what stream water it drinks from. The intense gaze it gives the bodyguard as if it’s scrutinizing him, and Childe realizes it was looking at his eyes as if he had seen the similar shade of color from someone else’s eyes before. And then the essence of the letter itself, the ink and the paper used, the smell of the perfume sprayed on it– it was easy for Childe to know where the manor is.
…But Kaeya would know that, of course. So Childe doesn’t bother asking him about it. There are things that needn't be asked when you already hold the answers to it.
“Have you come alone?”
“Of course. I made sure of it.”
In truth, as much as Kaeya absolutely loves spending his birthday with his brother, Jean, and the people who had cared for him from birth, he desired to have Ajax with him as well. It had itched him the entire night, as if there was something missing as he celebrated the day of his birth, and he knew it was simply his yearning for his lover to be by his side as he gains another year living in this world.
He knows it was against protocol, and it will be troublesome to reinstate the security around Diluc’s manor since it was infiltrated by a former assassin, but… it’s his birthday. He’s sure they’d be more forgiving. Well, one of them, at least.
“I have a gift for you.”
What else could his Ajax provide for him when his own presence is already a gift in itself? But Kaeya waits patiently as the bodyguard rummages inside his coat, then pulls out a flower that looks like bubbles at first glance.
“Oh?” As Childe placed it on Kaeya’s open hands, its petals glowed brighter. “Oh!”
“These are flowers from Sir Wriothesley’s nation called Romaritime Flower. I asked him for some seeds and he gave me a sack of them to last almost a decade,” Childe tells him, smiling fondly at Kaeya’s mesmerized expression.
“Seeds?” Kaeya looks up at his lover again and almost melts in seeing how Childe stares at him. “D-Does that mean…?”
“I have planted a garden somewhere near the lake. I hear they do wonders for bodies of water, so your lake swims will be more relaxing.” Childe takes one of his hands and intertwines them, then brings his knuckles to his lips. “They also await your return.”
Kaeya has heard of these flowers from the Fontanian warrior, who had planted the same seeds among many for his beloved husband back home. He remembers that they represent unconditional loyalty and unswerving oaths, based closely on the folklore of a spirit so full of love for its god.
Kaeya quietly smiles to himself as he feels the burn on his cheeks and raises the flower to his face, wondering how he could deserve someone as loyal and loving as his Ajax.
“Happy Birthday, Kaeya,” His Ajax tells him again, kissing the space right under his uncovered eye and then over his eyepatch. “May you live a fruitful life… with me by your side.”
Kaeya laughs out loud, but feels his heart thumping loudly in joy. “Ajax, must your blessing have you as a package?”
“So it seems.”
How fortunate is he to be blessed with someone so devoted and loving! With a final kiss to his lover, Kaeya takes Ajax’s hand and leads him to his home, where his entire joyful past awaits him with adoration. He cannot wait for his childhood happiness to meet his other source of utmost happiness.
- - - - -
They (most of all Kaeya) did get scolded and were told off furiously, moreso by Senior Jean than Kaeya’s doting brother. But perhaps that shall be a story for another day.