A Short Conversation

“Whew! That could have been a war on the spot if it wasn’t for our kings’ arrival,” Kazuki chuckled, trying his best not to move a single muscle so he wouldn’t accidentally send a wrong idea to the Northerners.

There wasn’t a reply from Yoshiro. The man was at his side but gazed straight. For their coming-of-age, one of the things they had to do was to guard the shrine doors while their kings and the bride’s governor would meet. In front of them was the bridge in where the ladies and children of the royal family were seated in cushions, comfortably attended by their servants under the shade of their tents. However, they were still divided into two columns according to which state they belonged. Towards the side of the bridge and under the heat of the sun, there stood their battalions.

Kazuki glanced at Yoshiro through the corner of his eyes. Yoshiro was frowning and there on his hair still sat the flower ornament. Yoshiro realized Kazuki was staring and glared at him. In a hushed voice, he muttered, “You’re not supposed to speak to me. I’m on duty.”

Kazuki chuckled, “Hey, I’m on duty, too.” He turned his shoulder slightly towards Yoshiro and within seconds, the Northern Army eyed him. Nobu and the Southern Army observed the opposition.

Kazuki quickly straightened himself to prevent further trouble then he laughed, “Seriously, your soldiers are overreacting.”

Yoshiro scoffed, “No, they are properly reacting. War is allowed here, you know that unless you weren’t educated.”

The other man chuckled. He almost wanted to clap at Yoshiro’s response. He smiled, “I might be over educated, if that pleases you. I was the doctor you saved your life, after all. Remember that.”

The Northerner stayed silent for a while before he added, “I paid my debts.”

The Southerner hummed, “You sound guilty about it.”

Instead of answering that, Yoshiro asked, “How are you?”

Kazuki raised his eyebrows and snickered, “Are you concerned of me?”

No reply.

“Aren’t you sweet?”

Still, there wasn’t a reply. Kazuki felt disappointed. He wanted to see and hear how the Northerner would deny it. He let it go and instead, focused on something else to pick a fight with and pass time then he saw it. He smiled mischievously, “Crown Prince, I didn’t know you liked flower ornaments. It suits you.”

From the corner of his eyes, Kazuki saw Yoshiro’s eyebrow raised. The next second, Yoshiro glared at him then a question came: “What do you mean?”

Kazuki playfully smiled and slowly shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, flower prince.”

That only angered Yoshiro. His voice was louder when he asked his next question: “Stop speaking in riddles---“

“You have an ornament on your hair.”

Kazuki glanced at Yoshiro’s reaction---it was so priceless he started laughing but he remembered the situation they were in and tried his best to keep his laugh in. The Northerner’s face glowed red. It seemed like he got ambushed by cheek powder---this thought made it harder for Kazuki to contain himself.

“No one ever told you---“

“No one!” The man shut his eyes then opens it to reveal fiery amber eyes, “how long has the ornament been in my hair?”

Kazuki calmed himself before answering, “Since we’ve arrived---“

“And no one told me!”

Yoshiro fumed. He started to bite at his lips just to contain his anger and himself from moving to remove the ornament. He felt restless and kept glancing at Kazuki through the corners of his eyes. Kazuki kept down his laughter and sympathetically smiled at him. It only irritated Yoshiro.

“Tsk, tsk, who could have done this to you---“

Yoshiro glared at him, “You! What did you---“

“Hold up, flower prince. It was already there---“

The man groaned as he shut his eyes to the point it drew lines on his face and his eyebrows crumpled. He scanned at the bridge and found his sisters smiling and waving at him. Kazuki followed where Yoshiro stared at. He chuckled, “Thank the gods, I don’t have older sisters but my younger sister, Miurio, is still quite a handful and my older brother---”

“Don’t even mention his name!”

The atmosphere between them stiffened and silence followed right after. In the bridge, the Northern triplets were whispering among themselves of who should remove the joke they’ve placed on Yoshiro’s hair. It unsurprisingly fell on Seung-mi because she was the youngest.

When she stood, there wasn’t any reaction from the Southern army. Her lady-in-waiting wanted to follow after her but she refused. She gulped and quickly ran straight towards the shrine doors---even though it was a princess, he still couldn’t risk his brother to any Northerner. Nobu eyed her every move, just to make sure she doesn’t do anything to his brother. He watched her as she goes to her brother. Yoshiro frowned as a greeting at Seung-mi. Kazuki chuckled, lowering his head at the princess as a curtsy.

“You---“

“I’m so sorry, brother!” she took off the ornament and crumbled it in her hands, “We totally forgot you were on duty today---“

“Well, you should have remembered---“

“Oy, Yoshiro,” both of the Northerners gazed towards the Southerner near them, “You shouldn’t be shouting at your sister like that. That was just a harmless joke, wasn’t it, princess?”

Kazuki winked at Seung-mi. The lady shifted and turned her head to hide her blushing cheeks. Her brother raised an eyebrow, “Seriously?”

He glared at Kazuki, “Could you not flirt with my sister?”

The man raised both his eyebrows and smiled impishly, “Jealous?”

“Get lost.”

Yoshiro bobbed his head to his sister, “You, too.”

The lady curtsied but glanced at Kazuki before leaving. Yoshiro watched her as she quickly made her way back to her tent.

“My, my, women just can’t help it when they’re around me.”

“Could you please die?”

Kazuki held in his laughter but a few of it escaped his mouth as snorts and gurgles. He decided that he liked the North’s Crown Prince and making him suffer with insults and jests. The other man frowned as he endured the Southerner’s mockery and counted the seconds before the meeting was over.

....

A man curtsied as he handed a scroll to another man. The man stared at the scroll for a while, just to make his enemy raise his arm longer. He smiled as he saw the forced smile and irritation in his eyes then when the man was about to drop the scroll, he finally accepts it. He chuckled as he unfolds the scroll.

The giver commented, “You haven’t changed a bit, Southern King Hiroto.”

“Neither have you, Northern King Jaeseok.”

Governor Cha gulped and by that, it reminded the two men that he was stuck there in the middle. Jaeseok smiled at him and nodded once just to reassure the man. He returned his attention to Hiroto, “That is our bribe. Do not attempt to try and burn Yeochun as vengeance for not being chosen.”

Hiroto chuckled, “Well.”

Cha shifted in his place the moment he realized how simple things went. With the hassles of bringing an army and having two princes guard the doors, he thought there would be some disagreements. He turned to the Southern King to check if he wasn’t being sarcastic. Apparently, there wasn’t a tinge of---

Hiroto eyed him and smiled. Never mind, Cha avoided eye contact, not out of respect but of guilt. Not being chosen as host state is comparable to being rejected by a lover you were courting for so long. Jaesook understood this and decided to quickly end the meeting:

“Well, now, Southern King, this part of the meeting is over---“

“Who knows if we change our minds?”

Jaesook inhaled deeply. He remembered the last time a region decided to choose the South. The South bribed them; they accepted but the following days, the Northern Army burned that region to the ground. No logical reason is needed. Since then, this has been regarded as common.

However, knowing the man, he shook the topic off and opened a new one, “We’ve heard Kaisen’s governor have met you in secret.”

Hiroto shrugged his shoulder, “Eh, now that you know that, it isn’t a secret anymore.”

Yeochun’s Governor appeared to be calm on the surface but inside, he grumbled as the meeting lengthened. He only wanted to return home to Yeochun.

Jaesook smiled, “News of Yeochun didn’t escape you either.”

“Hm, I guess we have to get rid of spies in our sides,” he turned to the Governor, “What do you think?”

The Governor was startled as he was dragged into a conversation he didn’t want to be a part of. He quickly nodded without even giving thought to the question, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Hiroto laughed and glanced at Jaesook, “Yeochun’s Governor Cha suits being under your care.”

The Northern King scoffed, “Why is that?”

“Both of you are docile.”

The room temperature dropped as Jaesook tried to calm himself. If he gives in to his anger and uses his sword, war would follow and there wasn’t any sense in risking his son’s life today. The Governor watched how deep and slow the Northern King’s breathing was. He glanced at the Southern King to see a mischievous smile on the man’s face. The Southerner simply waited for a comeback.

Then Jaesook laughed, “You’ve never changed, Hiroto,” then he poured sake into his cup and Cha’s cup, leaving out the other man’s cup dry and empty.

Cha bowed his head as the King poured into his cup. He eyed at the Southern King and because he couldn’t take the atmosphere, he poured wine into the man’s cup. He only heard a chuckle for a response.

The North and the South raised their cups, “To the best state,” and drank.

Timidly, Governor Cha raised his cup and drank it all in one swig. In his mind, he said a prayer: Thank the fucking gods; it’s over and no one died.