Trying to Save my Favorite Character from His Tragic Fate

After Osiath's loss in the first round, the seventh prince is doomed to lose the chance of taking the Midnight Queen back to the empire. No coercion and offer the seventh prince could move Lord Analybe and the paladin's heart. Thus, the prince resulted in underhanded methods. 

If he cannot get it with clean hands, then there is more reason to get it through other means. 

The prince orders to steal the Midnight Queen by breaking into the highly guarded greenhouse. However, to his surprise, once he is just a few steps away from holding the flower, the prince finds out that it is protected by no other than the Analybe's family heirloom. This heirloom is the same relic that erected a barrier that separated the protectorate from the demon continent. And like any heirlooms, only those who have the Analybe bloodline can control the relic. 

Kyrie finishes reading a letter regarding the seventh prince's movements and pinches the bridge of his nose. 

[Who is this unknown mailer? The handwriting is different from any style he has encountered, but the writing structure seems oddly familiar. How does he know so much regarding the seventh prince's movements?]

The Lorian Emperor must have coveted the flower due to the myth of longevity. Like any myth, the flower does not have such effect, but the lure is hard to resist for those who have too great of an ambition. This might also be the reason why the Lorian Emperor sent someone like Osiath to the tournament. Osiath is quite a figure in the Lorian Empire history from Kyrie's intel - fierce, passionate, and loyal. The half-elf has stood beside numerous Lorian emperors due to his promise to the 75th emperor, Tor von Lorian. 

Although the prince brat is annoying, Kyrie can understand where Prince Davis comes from. Born from the emperor's one-night adventure, the seventh prince is bounded to face discrimination and loneliness. He finally gains the opportunity to show his worth to his father. Still, he has never thought that there is a chance of failure when the emperor announces that Osiath is participating in the tournament. Losing has shot him down from the skies, and the falling from so high is bound to hurt. The recognition that Prince Davis craves has become like an accidental drop of fragile glass. Once off the stable tabletop, the glass can no longer be repaired, only stay broken into hundreds of pieces.

"Federline…" Kyrie calls, but there is no answer.

He stands from his desk and goes out of his room. Federline is no longer in the hallways. However, the moving figure of the training ground gets Kyrie's attention. Lemuel is training his endurance and mana flow like how Kyrie has taught him. Watching Lemuel training hard, Kyrie decides to go there to check on him.

Once he is about to turn to the training ground, he stops since he hears Federline's voice echoing in the hallways.

---

Lemuel straightens his back, and his muscle grows stiff when seeing Federline walk into the training ground. He stops his training and prepares to walk away. Federline follows him and materializes in front of him like a ghost. Lemuel inhales sharply and steps back. 

"What do you want?" Lemuel asks while keeping his eyes away from Federline.

Awkward and nervous, Lemuel cannot stop choking from his own saliva. Since there is no answer from the counterpart, he quickly turns in another direction to get away as soon as possible. He can't face Federline still - not when he has done something that could restraint the man to him for life! 

Federline blocks Lemuel by slamming his hand to the wall. Lemuel lowers down, but Federline puts his leg on the wall. So, Lemuel rapidly changes courses and walks the opposite way. Federline pushes Lemuel with his chest to the wall, and the other arm manages to barricade all his ways out. Lemuel timidly raises his eyes to look at Federline's Adam's apple move, and his body starts to shake from the unfamiliar feeling. 

Since they have met, Federline has stuck to him like glue, but he does not mind it since he has never had male friends due to the duchess's strict prohibition. Nonetheless, as time passes by, his heart and mind change to another route, and he just feels disgusted by his own desires. Watching Federline surrounded by his fans has sparkled some enlightenment of what that unfamiliar feeling is. Still, nothing would have prepared him to face that the mark he placed on Federline has been successfully activated. 

This mark is placed on family or partners for a reason - it is for protection. The mark will guild the possessor the 'right way.' The 'right way' manifests in different forms depending on the individual. However, when you place someone who does not belong to the Halinas's bloodline, that person is forced into a life contract. The mark might have been completed when Federline hit his forehead with the blood on his hands.

Lemuel slowly raises his head and sees Federline's hurt expression. Lemuel flinches, and more guilt weighs his chest. Federline usually carries expressions of boredom or indifference, but seeing that Federline expresses something else has tightened a cord in Lemuel's heart.

"Why are you avoiding me?" A deep, rough voice resonates in Lemuel's ears. Federline's caramel scent tickles his nose.

"You are thinking too much…" Lemuel pushes Federline's firm body, but he feels like he just pushed an iron wall. Federline is not budging.

"What are you doing right now then?" 

Lemuel becomes irritated and raises his voice, "Avoiding you!"

"You!!!" Federline exhales a breath of disbelief.

"What are you going to do about it, captain?" Lemuel provokes.

"Why are you like those women? I can't decipher what exactly you want!"

Federline lets out another constipated breath stuffed in his chest.

"What? Woman?" Lemuel snickers, "I am a man, for your information... So, go to your women... You have a lineup."

Lemuel becomes aware of how nasty he is turning once his jealousy gets turned on, but he just cannot guard his tongue when he is irritated! Ah! This will go in a direction that he will regret, but he has pent up so much annoyance that he is about to explode!

"I don't care about them!!!" Federline intensifies his stare at Lemuel so that the man could return some attention.

"That is none of my business..." 

"Why are you mad?" 

"I AM NOT!"

Federline jars when Lemuel raises his voice so loud that it is echoing in the hallways. He frowns and lowers down the arms that barricade Lemuel.