"Well, you were the one that seduced him," the dragon shrugged, rolling his eyes when Celith crawled into the girl's lap.

The white-haired boy had been attending to her ever since she had stepped down into the cavern. He even heard her coming, waiting at the bottom of the steps for her. Eager to please, Celith made sure to escort her the whole way, even showing her to the makeshift table and seats they had. When she seemed hesitant, he even surrendered his favorite blanket, placing it down on the chair to make it seem more appealing. And since then, he also moved to grab her some water, sang a song for her while she waited for Tia, and had repeated her nickname countless times. Tia was getting sick of it.

"I tried to make sure that did not happen at first! He was the one that - "

"Oh my. A male falling head over heels for a female with little to no provocation?" A sarcastic pause. "Shocking."

"But he's not like me and Celith! I didn't think he would work like - "

"Berry?" the younger boy hummed at the sound of his name.

"Yeah. Like this one."

"Don't kid yourself," Tia huffed, possessively scooting the boy towards himself, "He's not in love with you."

"I didn't say he was."

The blue-haired male gave a low growl, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. He then tensed in anger as Celith ran right back to the (h/c) haired girl, placing his hands eagerly on her own and observing one in great detail. He would lean to the left or right, excitedly bouncing. Of course, he made sure that every now and then to glance up to see if she was displeased. When she made no negative expression, he continued to bounce and rock playfully, as cheerful as he could be.

Tia was right though. Celith, despite his attitude, was not in love with (Y/n) nor did he harbor romantic attraction. That was just how males acted towards females, regardless of if they were interested or not. There were probably a lot of other explanations for why he liked her, too. One of them could have been he was just genuinely happy to see another being like him. Or perhaps he was fascinated that there could be a female version of him. Either way, he was not going to stop his instinctual mannerisms, so she had just started tuning him out.

"What's wrong? You know he's not stronger than you. He doesn't even know what he is."

"No, he doesn't. But he thinks he's a fucking god!"

"Yes. But everyone else thinks he is, too, so that's by design. I don't see the issue here. He meets your qualifications: rich, social status, land, and about as much power as someone can have in the human world. It was the same with the other one. What's different?"

"What's different is that if he dies, he's planning on having me killed!"

The dragon shrugged. He didn't really see the issue. Of course there wasn't going to be a perfect target for her. She could charm just about anybody in the human world into doing what she wanted, rich or not. But the human world had limited power. And there might have been a chance that she could charm her way up the rung in the spirit world, but there was a great chance of her being enslaved for one of three purposes. All three resulted in her having no say in anything, so she might as well remain with the most powerful in the human world. Him taking her with him when he died was just a downside to the other positives he had.

"Then get with the other one again."

(Y/n) narrowed her eyes. She loved Haru. She did. Though she had never planned to and tried to stop it, of course she fell in love with him. He was honest and devoted, loyal and giving. And he never really cared how cruel of a person she could be. He was even pretty uncaring about others. How could she resist? But he had crossed a line. And for the same reason she refused to venture into the spirit world, she could not trust that a person who betrayed her trust once wouldn't do it again. Her trust was a very hard thing to get in the first place, let alone get it back after destroying it.

"I can't."

"Objectively, you can. You're just being stubborn. Like always."

"I'm only stubborn when I need to be!"

"Right. Just like when you refused to look at 'Hashi for a week because you forgot to bring your homework to class and got your first F."

"I didn't forget! My...They burned it in front of me because I refused to eat. And it wasn't just him. I didn't look at anyone!"

"Yes, well, he was the loudest about his discontent. He would not shut up."

"What are you on about?" the girl scoffed, "Narahashi was quiet as a mouse."

"Loud fucking mouse...," A pause. "I don't know what you want me to say anyway. I don't even know why you came to me."

"Fine. You're useless. What a surprise. Guess the only difference now is that you don't smile."

"He smiles!" Emi contested, raising her hand excitedly, "He smiles all the time with us! Maybe he just doesn't like you."

The yukinko thought that was a compliment, or, at least, in some way, helpful. But, instead, the older girl gave a lengthy sigh. At this, Tia glanced over at the white-haired girl and gave a small smile to humor her. She gave him one right back as wide as she could make it. Celith, confused, smiled as well, if only to join in. (Y/n) was the only one not in a smiley mood, still trying to figure out what to do with Orion.

"It wasn't just that," she sighed, "I came back to ask about Etisian. Or his daughter. You must know something. Or else, why have you been stalking us?"

"To tell you the truth, you are all like pandas. If I don't keep an eye on you, you will kill yourselves out of stupidity."

The (h/c) haired girl would have argued, but he was right. They were a bit notorious for their lack of common sense. And though they were clever, it was only in the verbal arts. They could talk their way around anything and convince anyone of anything. Still, she differed from the rest. Maybe it was because she had to learn common sense that she wasn't beholden to their typical air-headed nature. Or maybe, again, it was because she was only technically half-blooded. She would never know.

"I can tell you about Etisian, I guess. I don't particularly care for him one way or the other."

"Even if I'm planning on killing him?"

"I only need one of you alive," the male hummed, glancing down in some kind of gratitude for Celith, "You can find him in the red city. Specifically, Pifae."

"He really is still where he left me. I thought they would have sold him off already."

"Why? He's more lucrative as a breeding horse. Would you like to know how many brothers - "

"No."

"Suit yourself. For the record, though I know you won't ask, there aren't any others besides you and Arcadia. Still, that, in itself, is quite impressive. Two of you, I mean."

"Soon to be one. She's an adult now, so she was sold off, right? To whom? Where?"

A pause. "I don't know."

(Y/n) dropped the glass of water Celith had fetched for her. The white-haired boy also stiffened up, staring aggressively at the dragon as though he had stabbed a knife through his heart. He panicked, touching his chest where his heart would be. The older girl did something similar, clutching at her shirt. A familiar but irritating sensation washed over her as she stood up, gripping at the blue-haired male's robe. As she slowly demanded him to say it one more time, he glanced over, speaking slowly.

"I don't know."

"Liar!"

"Well, that didn't last long. I don't know why I thought it would."

"Tell me the truth! Where is she?"

The dragon scoffed humorously, placing his hands on hers and watching her wince from the cold. She had been down there for about as long as she had lasted the previous time. And though she had little desire to hold back her impulses, it was getting cold enough to lose her mind. So when his ice began creeping up her arms, she jolted back, continuing to glare at the male. He was largely unbothered.

"I did you a favor. I suggest you walk away with the information."

"I will. Once I learn her whereabouts, I'll leave you alone."

"See? Stubborn. But don't worry, I'll put this into perspective for you so you don't get yourself killed. I understand I lied. And I understand that pisses you off. But you're standing in front of a dragon. Your father couldn't lay a finger on me, let alone the barely mature daughter he had with some human woman. You don't even know my name."

"But - "

"No. I only ever tolerated you because of a promise. And that promise was broken. You dying has no effect on me whatsoever."

For the first time in a long while, the girl felt absolutely powerless. As he towered over her, warning her to try anything, she could only bite her lip and back away. And though Celith tried to comfort her, she quickly shrugged him off of her before making her exit. He was right. She didn't even have the power to kill her younger sister without help. So it made it all the more concerning that she had to rely on Orion or return to Haru. And yet, strangely, she didn't even have to make the choice.

As she made her way back up the castle, panic struck as people darted around. They had looks of horror on their faces, telling her something was very, very wrong. She tried to stop three people, only for them to apologize and rush off to whatever it was they were supposed to do. Thus, she stormed into the monarch's study to find Orion, only to see a puddle of blood covering the floor along with the two guards assigned to her that morning. Eyes darting up at right at the prince, the girl assessed him, only to note he was frozen in place.

"No, I didn't - It wasn't - Presley!"

"Of course, your highness," the knight sighed, stepping up to speak for him while staring at the girl, "This is policy. These guards have failed to uphold their duty. You disappeared on their watch. His highness thought you had been taken, too. Their inability to follow orders resulted in his stress. For the first time in a long while, he had a coughing fit. We were also concerned about his heart - "

"You killed them."

"No," Mica intervened, furrowing his brows, "They performed the king's guard repentance themselves because they value honor even despite their failure."

"You couldn't wait an hour? You may not know me very well, but I thought it was pretty obvious I lost them on purpose. Sometimes, I do like to be alone."

"In this case, we did not have the luxury to investigate, I assure you. I'm sure you've noticed the chaos."

"That, I have. What's going on?"

"I regret to inform you, Miss Shiratori, that - "

"No!" Orion protested, flushing white and possessively grabbing onto the older girl, "Everything...Everything's fine! (Y/n), you should go lay down. We can have some sweets together just like we always - "

"Not now," the girl sighed, turning back to the regent, "Go on."

"No! I - It's classified information! You don't really need to know, so just go relax, okay?"

Despite his desperate desire to hide whatever was going on from her, he was a poor actor. He also flinched when she became visibly upset at him for trying to overshadow the whole thing. The male didn't seem to have a lot of nerve. That was probably a good thing. She knew a lot of them typically tried biting off more than they could chew just to see if they could get away with it. The difference was that Orion wasn't used to it, so he was still very poor at acting and lying by omission. It was relieving, in some small way.

"Presley?" she questioned, placing her hands on her hips and staring at the knight for an answer.

"Well," the male paused, only to go through with his sentence after all, "This morning - "

"Presley!" Orion snapped, stomping his foot childishly, "You're supposed to be my playmate."

"With all due respect, your highness, the playmate's responsibilities extend to the spouse, as well. Since you have made it clear you fully intend on marrying Miss Shiratori, I have an obligation to take her words as orders, too, as long as it's harmless."

"I-It's not harmless! If you have to listen to her, you also have to protect her! I promised, so - "

"She should be privy to this information. It affects her," the boy's great uncle intervened, met with strong opposition from the boy.

"I said no! I don't care what I'm supposed to do! I'm going to be king, so you have to listen to me!"

Mica froze in place. He didn't know why but his heart began to ache. It wasn't jealousy; he knew that much. He had never ever wanted to be king. But, somehow, it still hurt. Confused, he turned away, hiding his expression. Normally, Orion would have come to regret yelling at the man and have apologized profusely while hugging him tightly. However, this time, he did not. He remained enraged, refusing to budge on the stance.

"This is a new side of you," the girl hummed, giving a disappointed glance to the male.

"No, you don't understand! I'm good, I just - You can't...," A pause as he began to fiddle nervously with the hem of his clothing, "I don't want to talk about this anymore. Can't we talk about something happy? Like flowers! We can go walk in the gardens!"

The orange-haired male tried to hold onto the older girl's hand, only to be shocked and then dismayed when she snatched it away. He slowly and shyly tried once more, only to be met with the same result. It was no surprise when tears sprang up in the corners of his eyes. No doubt he was frustrated, but she wasn't going to give in. It was essential he learned that tears couldn't solve anything with her. Of course, he wasn't acting when he was sobbing.

"This morning," Presley continued at a rapid pace, glancing at the prince to note he was still planning on interrupting him, "Eloise and Bastien Akahito were taken hostage."

"Presley!"

The prince tried punishing the knight by kicking at him and shoving him away. However, he could do nothing to the highly trained individual. It was unlikely he could hurt anyone, actually. The boy was still very weak despite the fact he hadn't been seriously ill in quite some time. Still, he managed to hurt the coral-haired man's heart, if that counted for anything. He'd never seen the male so desperate nor so angry. It was staggering.

The only reason Orion turned away from scolding the man was because the girl he had been trying to keep still had rushed off. He knew she would. Panicking, he followed after her, but, obviously, he could not keep pace. Eventually, he had run to a point where his heart and lungs were unable to keep up. He collapsed, wheezing in pain and grabbing at his chest in tears. His body was stupid. He hated it. Even now that he was better, he was still writhing around in pain by doing something so simple. Presley, concerned, moved to lift the boy back onto his feet.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled, shoving the knight away, "You're awful! You want me to be alone, don't you?!"

"Of course not, your highness."

"Then why did you tell her?! Huh?! You knew she was going to leave!"

"Because those two are close to her. It's a given she would be concerned. It doesn't mean she's going to...elope...with Haru."

"But I never wanted her to see him in the first place!"

A pause. "Orion. You do know that you can't stop her from meeting people, right? She's not a prisoner."

The younger male did not reply. He merely stared at the ground, unable to think about much of anything else. It wasn't fair. The eternal flower gave her to him so that he could be healthy and happy. But now she was running away. He wouldn't have that happiness if she chose to leave. He wouldn't even have his health. In the first place, her presence was the thing that made him better. Strangely enough, this was not an illogical thought.

But how wonderful would it be? To have the older girl locked up away from everyone else? Orion could have spoiled her relentlessly, giving her the title of queen, providing the finest things in life, and even better - a free ticket to paradise. But she wanted to run away. Why? She wanted to keep her distance. Why? She even wanted to return to Haru. Why? Why, why, why?

"Why?!" the male screamed out with all of his heart before collapsing breathlessly on the marble floor.

Presley screamed for help, people rushing around to help the precious prince. His heart began beating erratically, compressing and forcing him to choke, his body spasming. Scarlet liquid began seeping out of his eyes, the boy clawing at his cheek, trying to push the blood back into his body. No matter what he did, it kept pouring out; from his eyes, from his nose, from his ears - every orifice began sputtering blood, and no amount of his pleading stopped it.

The doctors that rushed to him couldn't stop the pain either. They panicked, unable to tell what was wrong with him. Stress, obviously, was causing it, but the reason couldn't have been purely psychological. Or could it have? Orion began fighting against their aid, shoving everyone away and screaming. Even his cousins could do nothing, struggling to get through to him. And yet, when his eldest cousin begged him to tell them what was wrong with him, the prince grabbed onto him desperately. In his eyes swirled inescapable envy and desire, of which drowned anyone that looked into them.

"You have to make Miss Shiratori love me! You have to. Or I'll die!"

And he was right.