Merlin walked through the hallways of the castle; he had read a bunch of books on how to remove brands like the sort, but nothing seemed to have stood out or applied to this particular case. It was sort of frustrating to have such a presence in the castle and it made him more eager to remove it. Everything he had looked at was very dangerous and would cause the poor knight harm; and Merlin would never allow that.

     "Are you having trouble?" A feminine voice called from the darkness between the pillars of the castle halls, "I would guess so, it is a strong spell for even the strongest of wizards."

     "Morgana," Merlin sighed heavily, "do not make a fool of me; I simply do not want to hurt him." He was telling the truth or else the mark would have been gone long ago.

    Morgana emerged from the darkness and approached the young wizard, "If it were me, I would take it off however I could."

     "But you are not the one the King put in charge."

     "But," the lady sung "you do belong to me." A flash of excitement ran through her pale green eyes as she waited to see the young man's response.

     Merlin blinked, "What did you mean by what you said to Diarmuid?"

     "Ha," she chuckled, "am I seeing jealousy?"

     "I am just wondering, that is all." He shook his head in denial.

     "That was a joke to see if that idiot would respond." Her eyes had rolled at the mention of the witch.

     The male furrowed his brows together, "Youth? You wanted her to hear your 'deceleration'?"

     "Mhm." Morgana nodded slowly, "Hopefully she hears it and comes crawling to me."

      The young wizard shook his head in slight disappointment as she was acting like a child and proceeded to hook his arm around Morgana's. "You have to help me find a way," he stated, "without hurting Diarmuid, that is."

      Morgana laughed and shook her head. There was one way... but it would be hard to get Youth into the castle without a rampage. She took Merlin's hand and led him towards her room, where she had a small collection of books. Skimming through the spines of the many books, her green gaze settled upon one. Leather back with golden writing; The Harmless. She pulled out the book and dusted it off for she had not used it in years.

     Merlin looked at her with confusion as she opened the book and began to look through the pages. She quickly skimmed and stopped here and there to actually read. Her fingers moved fast and so did her eyes, that he was scared to ask what she was doing.

     "Here." She stopped flipping pages and placed the book on her table as she pointed at something inside.

     Merlin peaked in to see what the female was talking about and his eyes raced over the page. He brought a hand to cover his open mouth as he gasped a little, "Morgana..."

     "That seems to be the problem... it is going to be rather hard," she sighed as she noted that the male sat down on the chair with the book in his hands. Morgana rested her own hands on his shoulders and gave him a soft message as she leaned her head on top of his, "I was thinking of it from the start but it cannot work if he even feels the slightest bit of anything for her."

     Merlin shook his head in disapproval, "I do not think this is a good idea."

     Morgana huffed loudly as she rounded the chair to face him, "It is the only idea, Merlin. What else are we supposed to do?" Her voice was strained as she was frustrated at the situation and the man before her.

    "Anything but this," he averted his gaze from hers, knowing much too well that if he looked at her he would give in and this was not the situation in which he would do whatever she said.

     "Then do you suggest that we kill him instead? We rip that off? Burn it off? Cut it off? No matter what we do to the brand, it will grow back, Merlin. He will not be able to get rid of it! If he wants it gone, we would have to kill him, unless..."

     "Morgana, we cannot do this..." He argued, his brows furrowed and he rubbed his right temple.

     "What?" She screamed, "You do not think I am powerful enough? You aren't powerful enough? Do you think that we are not powerful enough for this?" Her voice was harsh and one could tell she had been offended.

     He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation over their poor fight, "It is not that, it is just—"

     Morgana took a deep breath and knelt in front of him as she took his hand in hers, "It is the only way, Merlin." She was calm now, breathing steadily and she held his hand tightly. "We can do it, I know we can."

     Merlin gently tightened his grip on her hand and lifted her from the floor as he stood from his seat, "I know," he mumbled as he kissed her hand, "I know." And that was what scared him more. He wished this was not the only way.

     Diarmuid wiped the sweat from his brow with his forearm as the King poured two cups of water. The sun was high in the sky and he was burning up, not to mention how they had been sparring a little while before. He had already removed his shirt but that was no help at all and he wondered how the King was holding up with the many layers of cloths and armour.

     "How is that brand thing holding up?" The king smiled a little bit sorrowfully as he glanced at the male next to him. The days were getting warmer and it made him think about if his borders were well protected or if he needed to fortify his outposts more and more.

     Diarmuid cringed at the mention, "It is alright, I guess." It had been a few days since he had been summoned into the King's chambers and he wondered when Merlin would have the cure that would rid him of Youth for sure.

     "You know, I have never had a spell on me and I can only imagine how you feel. It must be really hard for you..." the King's voice was soft and pensive, as if he was trying to feel the same despair that the male before him had felt almost his entire life.

     "No, I'm quite alright," he assured, "but sometimes—when I think about my past—I do care about what Youth did to me. Or what I, myself, did. There are times when I regret being such a nice and chivalrous man, but people who are on the right path never have it easy, and I think I have learned that the hard way."

     Arthur chuckled and gave the man beside him a sincere smile, "I guess you are right, sometimes I even have a hard time. It was so challenging for me when I passed the law that anyone could be a knight, it is still challenging since some Lords look down upon me for that. It is as if I am not a King but rather a small child that the Lords think they can discipline without a second thought. "

     "I think that what you are doing is right. Allowing anyone to become a knight is a privilege I wish Ireland had."

     "Are you not scared that I will exile you?" Arthur raised his eyebrow, "You cannot mention Ireland." His tone was solemn, a little sorrowful if one heard it correctly.

     Diarmuid bit his lower lip and shook his head, "Forgive me, my King."

     "It is alright. I know how much you must miss Ireland, but you cannot forget which of the countries are being merciful to you."

     "I would never forget the mercy that Camelot has showed me, I will always thank you for that, your majesty. Forgive me."

     Arthur patted the male's head and gave him another smile as his had dropped at the mention of the other country, "I know, my Lionheart."

     Diarmuid lifted his head and furrowed his brows, not understanding the statement, "My King?"

     "You will be my Lionheart, yes?" He chuckled, "Because I already have a lot of knights, it is not like I need another simple one."

     "If my King so wishes," He nodded with a smile on his lips, relaxing his brows and taking a deep breath. He had felt very relieved at the man's words and he even had to retain his smile so that he did not seem too overjoyed.

     "Good, because I am in need of another loyal Lionheart. Hopefully that brand does not cause you to disobey me."

     "I will never allow that, sire."

     "Of course, I never have doubted you, Diarmuid. But enough talk about loyalty and knighthood; give me your advice because I know how you have had it with women, so I have to ask for your help." The short male rubbed the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment.

     Diarmuid's eye grew wide and he nodded quickly, "Of course, anything that my King wishes."

     "Arthur," he corrected, "Well, I am engaged but I really have never been close to a female other than my sister, and well my sister is something else; I hardly even consider her a female."

     "Arthur," his tone was confident and he liked that the king was so familiar with him, "A lady is always a Lady. You may not see your sister's feminine side often, as she is very comfortable with you, but no matter appearance or personality, a lady is a lady."

     A smile graced the young king's lips, and he licked them to try an avoid it. "Alright, I guess so. But what I mean is... well, my Fiancee invited me to a picnic, and since I have no experience with women, I have no idea what to do," Diarmuid chuckled and the royal gave him a glare, "Do not laugh at me."

     "I am not laughing at you, my king, I am laughing at myself because I too do not know much about women. My encounters have been brief and quite horrible... except for one, but that was long ago. I had fallen in love once, not the love under a Geass, but real love. We were to wed when I was younger but she fell ill... I saved her life but at the cost that we could not be together. Then Youth came along, cursing me and finally Gráinne that lead to my death."

     "Oh, I thought that you might have had a better way with women but I see that you are worse than me."

     Diarmuid laughed and nodded in agreement, "Yes, that is rather true... But what about Sir Gawain? How is he with romance and whatnot?"

     "Gawain? He is a ladies-man, but when it comes to his morals...well, he will probably tell me to take up a mistress."

     "Oh, do you not love your fiancée?" He did not know why he had asked, but the words had just decided to leave his mouth without warning.

     Arthur took a deep breath, "A king's duty is to his country." He confidently stated, no sign of disapproval in his voice; as if he rehearsed it in front of a mirror everyday.

     "But surely that does not apply to love?"

     The royal ran a hand through his hair smoothly, "It is but a marriage out of convenience, if I daresay, everything a King does is for his people."

     The Irishman furrowed his brows and tilted his head, "But you are a just king, and I would think that you would marry out of love, since your ideas are quite liberal themselves."

     "What I did with my Knights is a little different because I still did it for the people of my generation and onwards, my marriage to Guinevere is the same, I only aid the future generations. A King's duty is not pardoned for one being a just king, I have to marry her for the good of my people because everything that I do is on their head. If I shall marry out of love, what then would my people endure?" He licked his lips and then stood, "Shall we pay Merlin a visit? He should have something up his sleeve by now."

     Diarmuid followed after the king, after placing his tunic back on, that is. They both made their way to the castle halls and proceeded to Merlin's office, which was on the right wing of the castle on the second floor. Although it was quite a bit of a walk, Diarmuid was only eager to get the brand off himself.

     It was clear that Merlin and Arthur had a strong friendship, because the king was not even announced when he entered the young wizard's office. There was some shuffling before Diarmuid followed behind and he saw Morgana seated on the wizard's desk, her pine green dress fanning around her and bringing out her beautiful eyes. Her black hair was still cascading down her her shoulders, even if the flowers and gems she had to decorate it looked as if they were about to fall, like leaves flowing down a river.

     "My King," she nodded at her brother and then glanced at Diarmuid, behind her was Merlin kneeling next to the desk.

     "No kneeling," Arthur smiled at his friend, "Anyway," he began as the male stood to his feet, catching a glimpse of red on the wizard's cheek, "I am still not comfortable with your relationship... But, we actually came here for the solution to this brand thing."

     Morgana almost let out a chuckle and then composed herself before slipping off the desk and walking over to Diarmuid. As she stepped closer, her pupils would narrow themselves, and then she gently ran her hand—and nails—along his jawline, "There is one way," she retracted her hand and dug her nails into her own palm.

     "And that way is...?" Arthur raised and eyebrow at his sister, not really understanding why she was being so familiar with Diarmuid.

     Merlin rubbed his neck and bit his lower lip, "Not a very good idea."

     "But," Morgana raised her voice a little and turned back to Merlin, "it is the only way, if you want to get rid of it for sure, along with that love spell as well."

     "And that way, again, is?"

     "Lure her in, and then kill her." Morgana stated it as if was as simple as biting an apple, her tone sending both Arthur and Diarmuid chills down their spines.