(Third person's POV- omniscient)
There was an unsettled aching in Prince Daichi's heart as he saw Rose departing from him with Princess Bianka.
It had been quiet weeks as he went to his chamber and didn't see Rose.
When Princess Bianka took her away, he thought, Rose would come back to him. Or better, he was thinking of discarding her anyway so it was better if she went away.
But what is it?
Why was he so uneasy all of a sudden?
He hated her and he wanted to throw her out of his castle and from his life so he could be with Akio but all of a sudden, this thought didn't sound well to him.
And Akio was with him at the moment clutched to his left arm yet he wasn't feeling good about it. He should be happy that Akio was giving him her full attention nowadays yet he wasn't yearning for it.
"Brother Daichi... Are you angry at me?" Akio asked, catching his attention and he looked at her.
He asked, "Why do think that?"
She made a sad face and said, "Because you don't seem to be happy to be parted with Princess Rose... And I feel like I'm the third wheel."
Tears brimmed around the corners of Akio as Daichi didn't know what to do... He didn't want to make her sad but how would he sooth her when he was sad himself.
And the funny thing was, he didn't know the reason.
All of his life, he only ever loved Akio. He knew Akio loved his cousin brother, Prince Rian who was always the centre attention of everyone and everything but soon, Akio stopped loving him. She told him she didn't want to be the second wife and cried in front of him. He felt sad too but he couldn't do anything since he couldn't give her the desired position as well. Rose was his first wife...even if he could demote Rose, his heart just wouldn't do it.
Whenever Akio was in pain, he felt pained too but...
Somehow, from these days, he wasn't feeling anything about her...
Which was odd...
All ever he could think about was Rose. She seemed to be capturing his mind as well since he was only seeing Rose in his dreams.
He was a little irritated by it.
Even when he was doing his work, he even asked his maids to give Rose food but then he remembered, she wasn't here with him.
Maybe he was just too accustomed to her...
Yes, that ought to be it.
He disregarded his thoughts of Rose and decided, he would only look at Akio from now on.
He said, "What! No... You know, I hate her..."
Akio smiled and said, "Yes, after what she and her father has done, she shouldn't be living well but it seems sister Bianka is taking quite good care of her..."
Daichi somehow was felt glad that Rose was happy there. He just saw her grinning when she was having a chat with Princess Bianka.
He was still mad about that slap but he didn't want to go fight with his brother.
He knew his elder cousin brother had quite the power and even if he was well equipped with power himself, he could never defeat brother Rian. Well, he didn't want to fight with him anyway.
Daichi's father didn't liked family quarrel for the throne as he had always said him, "Don't look for the throne. Look out for your people, they will give you the throne."
He didn't really want the throne himself. He knew the hassles of being an emperor. He already had the whole Kohoshi and Rose's country...
Again, the face of his wife came before his eyes and he halted in his way.
What was wrong with him? Whenever any topic came, somehow it went to Rose and he would recall her right away!
He released a frustrated sigh as Akio said, "Brother Daichi seemed to be really troubled by something... If you tell me what it is, I may be some help of you..."
He said, "Well, it is about the dispute in Rose's country..."
There...again...
He changed the topic and said, "Akio, can you go back to your room. I need to go and have an important work."
Akio seemed a little disappointed at his words but he wanted to be alone for a moment. These days, he didn't like to be with anyone and when the evening came, he was drowning in his sake.
He didn't know why he was so messed up all of a sudden. He wasn't like that.
Akio didn't say anything as she was about to depart but suddenly, one of his men came running.
"Prince Daichi... There is an important report..."
He nodded and said, "Okay. What it is...?"
Akio didn't go as she looked at the man who was bowing to him.
The man glanced at Akio and Daichi knew it was a report on his cousin brother, Prince Rian.
Well, even if Akio knew about his shenanigans, it wouldn't matter since soon, he would marry her and they would be sharing everything.
He said, "It's okay, you can tell."
"It seems a group has came from Toushi clan to Prince Rian's territory. In Shinkyo." He reported.
Toushi clan!
Daichi had a lot of birds outside of his territory to know what was happening. And it seemed his brother has been doing something in Shinkyo.
He could get information from anywhere but he couldn't get anything from Shinkyo. He was impressed that Rian had made sure nothing came out of the city. The people and his men would say nothing even if they were threatened. It seemed Rian had a good skill to manipulate them about not saying anything about what's going on in Shinkyo.
But then he recalled, Toushi was a deadly clan. A lot of lords and Kings outside of Wansai wanted to execute the whole clan due to their bad deeds but some people didn't want them to be perished. Since they made some good things that came handy. For that reason, they weren't executed yet.
But what were they doing here in Shinkyo?
Then he recalled Rose was going to Shinkyo today as well...
His heart thumped wildly. Why was she going there?
He said to the man, "Do you know anything what is going on there?"
The man shook his head and said, "Nothing but we got something like a marriage is about to happen...but it's not confirmed if the information held any truth."
He nodded as Akio asked, "Toushi clan...? Didn't we went to one of them who gave us a medicine a while back?"
Daichi nodded. "Lord Gokudo..."
Akio nodded and then Daichi recalled that Toushi clan members never came out until their clan head called them.
The current clan head was Lord Gokudo who lived far from them. And the last meeting let him know that he wasn't a person to be mess with...
Cold sweat formed on his forehead...
He asked, "Have anyone of your scouts seen what they are wearing?"
The man nodded and said, "Green."
Daichi froze.
Handling both good and bad people, Daichi had acquired many information about people which could come handy later. And that was why he knew that Toushi clan wearing green meant they were on hunt to kill a mass amount of people.
If they were going to Shinkyo...
Rose was there as well...
He knew they would make sure everyone of them died and that also included Rose.
All of a sudden, Daichi froze in his place as his face paled. He didn't care anymore for Rose and if today anything happened to her, it would only make his work easy.
But...
He didn't just want anything happen to her...
He ordered, "Prepare the carriage and prepare around 20-30 men. We are going to Shinkyo."
The soldier looked at him with wide eyes and said, "But Prince Daichi, without the permission of Prince Rian, we wouldn't be able to set one foot in the city."
Daichi glared at him as the man shrunk back.
Daichi said, "We will be setting our feet in that city today. Prepare it!"
The man went away running as he was about to follow him but Akio said,  "B—brother Daichi, would you mind if I come with you?"
He said, "No. It is too dangerous if Toushi clan is there. Go back to your room."
"But I want to help. Please?"
He looked at her and seeing her hurtful face, he couldn't just deny her. He said, "Okay..."
And they immediately went to Daichi's wings.
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A/n : Belated Merry Christmas! XD