"Truth"

"Love may be a battlefield, but ours will always and will be worth the fight."

Yixing's POV

I received the message of my huntsman, whom I ordered to kill the Southern Prince, from that good for nothing Yifan. Huh, he even had the guts of keeping this piece of crap messenger alive in front of me. The Emperor will not be pleased to hear this.

Now that today is the day the South and the North will have a solid alliance. If only that Southern Prince was killed, we could've had a better chance of filling the sky with arrows towards the two dynasties. But reality just pisses me off.

I got off of my seat and looked in the distance out of my window .

Oh look, carriages full of silk. Must be gifts for the Emperor and Empress to be back in the North.

The tips of my fingers clenched and dug deep down into my palm and I ordered my guards.

"Kill him for me, will you?" I said as I kept my head out of the huntsman's sight.

"Lord Zhang! No Please!"

I turned to him merciless.

"If only you have completed your job, you wouldn't be in this kind of situation."

My eyes traced his body being dragged out of my room with his cry going softer and softer until I heard him no more. Well, serves him right. 

To tell you the truth, I wasn't this cold and cruel tyrant as I am of today. It was way back when my parents were out in the field picking crops for dinner. It was a peaceful afternoon until the sound of horses were heard in the distance. My mother quickly grabbed me by the arm while my father went to get his spear. We were poor so our house is just made of wood, bricks and straw.

All in all, I'd describe my house as breakable. With just a kick on the wall, it would fall down without effort.

My mother hid me behind the bushes near our house. It was the only hiding place out there for us. Scratch that. It was only me who mother was hiding. She went back to the house only to get punched with my father all being tied up.

The back door was open so the nightmare that I was seeing right now was all visible.

 I peaked a little more while my heart began to race and with my eyes bawling salty tears out. I kept my mouth shut while I ing cried myself out.

There were only three men and wore the northern war uniform. What happened next was unforgivable. They my mother while my father watched. My innocence back then had faded.

After my mother, the three of them killed her and my father was hanged. I wanted to slit their throats. I wanted to burn them and bleed them dry. But I couldn't. I ing couldn't. I fled to the palace.

I hated myself back then for being a helpless little crap. I was driven to the point that I enlisted to be trained at a young age under the Western Empire of Yang. Years passed and my hatred for the North grew inside my heart.

But that hatred gave me a position and a chance to burn the North down to the ground. That was when I became the General.

I went out of my office room and searched for Xiumin, my trusted adviser, to hold a war meeting tomorrow with the other officials and with the Emperor himself.

I looked everywhere in the palace. He wasn't in here. Where the hell is he?!

***

Luhan was sitting on a well detailed cloth with Minseok resting his head on the beautiful prince's lap. Minseok smiled sweetly at his lover's cute face. The garden was a nice place to have intimate moments, with Luhan being all clingy to his lover and getting jealous with the hand maidens whenever they flirt with Minseok. With that only thought, it kept Minseok loving him even more. 

"You should stop worrying about Lord Zhang. I mean, he can handle himself." Luhan said while brushing his fingertips on Minseok's hair. He smiled back at him.

"I think I can't do that. You know him. At first, he's this normal guy and the next thing you know it, you'll be seeing him beheading someone right in front of your face." he teased.

"Hey, stop saying those things!"

Luhan pinched Minseok's nose while trying to hold back his grin. Minseok took Luhan's hand kissed it. The look on Luhan's face says it all. He shoved his hands into his flushed face while Minseok rose and hugged him from behind; englufing the pink-cheeked prince.

Back when Luhan was moved in the Yang palace a year ago from practicing the art of dance, Minseok was the one who took hold of him as an adviser before he was given to Yixing. It was like a spark between them.

Starting from that day, when Luhan was alone at the pagoda, staring into the starry skies, Minseok happened to be there too; talking to the sky as if his parents could hear him.

Only that he pretends they could hear him. Luhan accompanied him and started talking how young he was to be an adviser. Minseok laughed; thinking that he was compared to the old geezers back at the palace.

The two of them laughed and shared stories together, either crazy or just imagination. Before leaving the moonlit place, Minseok picked a white lily beside a small spring. He called for Luhan.

When he turned around, Luhan was greeted with a flower that Minseok quickly placed on his ear. 

"O-oh...thank you." Luhan slightly blushed.

"Hey, I've got to get going. I need to finish my letters soon. See you later!" His cheeky grin sent Luhan speechless and red.

That's when all these lovey-dovey moments started with Yixing feeling uneasy and with Chanyeol constantly shouting at them to get a room and that it was too much for him to bear.

***