That night I couldn't get any sleep, so as soon as I felt the cold breeze of morning, I got dressed for the day. I walked down the hall like I have done for so many times then entered my favorite garden. Everything was quiet except for the soft wind that was blowing to the west. I wonder if Kaoru was in a better place right now, he deserves to be there after all he's done. As I lift my head and closed my eyes to enjoy the breeze, I felt a sense of comfort wash over me. It felt nice to be close to nature since it was the same as being near Kaoru.

"Hikaru?"

I instantly turned around with a serious expression to see Kousei standing at the entrance hesitantly. It was the first I've seen him like this. He must have been shaken up after yesterday. Considering what a surprise that attack was, a lot of people would be feeling the same way.

"Ah Kousei, nice timing. I was going to look for you when I was done here. Once the sun is up, I'm going to start my rule as king by cutting off all those bloody geezers."

I sneered when I said the last part. Now that I was king, I couldn't wait to start using my power to get rid of the pest in the castle. I was going to make sure that this kingdom is on top and continues to grow. Today was going to be the start of a new age.

"Are you alright..sir?"

Kousei approached me, but stop when he was a few feet away. I almost wanted to laugh at how meek he was acting around me.

"What's with the sudden change of addressing me? I don't remember you being so meek before."

"I'm just worried about you. I heard what happened to Kaoru, and I'm very sorry for your lose."

I looked down and stared at the ring that was meant for Kaoru. It was nice to have something to remember him by even though he never received it in the end. Someday, I feel like I'll be able to give it to him, but today is not that day. A bitter chuckle left my lips before I changed my tone.

"I'm fine so don't worry about it. Kaoru wouldn't want me to be sad anyway. He would pinch my cheeks and tell me to move on if I keep moping around."

"Are you sure? There's no need to stay strong behind a mask."

"Trust me, Kousei. I'm not hiding. Kaoru's death just made me more intent of becoming this kingdom's best king."

He didn't look too convinced, so I went over and pulled him into a familiar headlock before pinching one of his cheeks with a small smile.

"Now be a man and call me by my name."

Kousei squirmed around in my grip and started whining when I pulled his cheeks as far as it could go.

"I get it, I get it, Hikaru! Now stop pulling or else I'll get puffy cheeks!"

"Why not get puffy cheeks? I bet Umehito would love to see you with them."

"Hikaru!"

I chuckled a little then released him. When I looked back at the sky, the sun was now nearing its peak. A large smile formed on my lips since it was now time to start my reign as king.

"Come, Kousei. Let's meet with the members of the council."

He nodded then followed me to the grand room where all meetings took place. It didn't take long before we arrived at the room. For some reason, the door was opened a little, so I decided to listen in on the conversation that was going on inside. I held a hand up to silently tell Kousei to be quiet then leaned in to hear the voices of the council members. When I concentrated my senses, I managed to hear what they were talking about.

"What do you think Prin- I mean, King Hikaru has called us here for?"

"Are you an idiot? He's probably going to get rid of all of us. The way he summoned us said so."

"Still, he can't be thinking of cutting all of us now is he?"

"The only reason that brat went through all our hard training session is to get rid of us. I can't believe he was able to accomplish everything in such a short amount of time."

"What are we going to do? Now that Prince Hikaru is King, he has the power to take our job away from us."

"Calm down everyone. All we have to do is mention his father."

A low growl almost left my throat, but I held it down through willpower. I paused for a moment then waited for him to continue.

"Don't you people remember? As soon as I mentioned to him that his father suggested an idea, he immediately goes with it. Why do you think he didn't struggle when we took Kaoru away from him?"

"That's right! As long as the sick king is alive, we can control him like we have all this time."

I straightened up when I knew heard enough then looked at Kousei. His eyes were wide for a moment before he looked at me carefully. I simply smiled at him before entering the room abruptly. As soon as the members noticed our entrance, I was pleased to see that the members were wide with shock. Some were surprise as others started to tremble in fear. Another thing that made me happy was that all of the council members were present. I quietly made my way over to the end of the table before sitting down while Kousei stood by my side.

"Now then. Since we are all here, how about I tell you why I called you all here today?"

After I said that, some people started to take a seat, which made me smile even more.

"Oh, no need to sit down, this won't take long at all."

They instantly stopped in their actions, and I couldn't help but laugh at how scared they were. They tried to make their moves very precise and delicate so that I wouldn't feel provoked. To bad that the wire has already been crossed.

"From this moment on, all of you are banned from the court and exiled to the far away land known as Hawick. Kousei here, will be the new head of the council and my right hand man. Also, Umehito Nekozawa will take over his old job as the keeper of the library."

"Now see here-"

One of the members slammed their hands on the table and started talking out of line, so I threw a knife at him deliberately missing his hands.

"The King is speaking, you will do well to shut your mouth."

I made sure my voice was cloaked in venom when I stared at the member with hatred. He instantly backed down with his head hung low. Some of the people around him did the same.

"Now then, I will be kind and give you twenty four hours to leave this place. If for some reason, you are still in this kingdom, you will be sentenced to death for disobeying the king. Any questions?"

The members looked at each other with wide eyes then back to me. Most of the weak ones still hung their head in defeat. However, I could see that their were some others who wanted to talk back to me. I felt no remorse for them since they were deliberately toying with the future king. In my mind, they should be hanged for their crimes, but I decided against it. I wouldn't want their families to grieve in sorrow. Even though most of them lived by themselves and only had mistresses to comfort them.

"Good, you are all dismissed, permanently. Thank you for coming."

They all quietly moved out of the room one by one like little ducklings. Isaac looked at me with cold eyes which I returned with a heated gaze. It was wonderful to finally be able to bring these people down with my own power. After waiting for many years, I have been able to get rid of these people. Soon enough, the room was quiet with only the two of us in it. Kousei took a seat on my side then looked at me hesitantly again.

"Um, Hikaru, if I may speak?"

"Go ahead."

I softened my gaze when I looked at him so he visibly relaxed his shoulders.

"Why did you appoint Hito wan wan as the new keeper of the library?"

"Well now that you're my head advisor, you're not going to have much chances to go see your lover. That's why I gave him this job. So that he can be closer to you."

"But what about his family? Won't they miss him? He's also their heir."

"Oh don't worry about that. It should be here any minute."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, someone knocked at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal Mori who bowed his head at me before coming in.

"Sir, here is the response from Lord Nekozawa."

"Thank you Mori, you're dismissed."

He bowed again before leaving the room. I opened the letter then scanned the contents of it. A smile formed on my lips since I was pleased at what I was reading. When I was done, I handed it to Kousei.

"So it seems his father is fine with it since they have Umehito's little sister, Kirimi, marrying your younger brother."

"But I don't have a brother."

I chuckled a little then poked Kousei's nose with my index finger. It was nice to be the one teasing and making fun of him instead of the other way around.

"Well there was actually an accident in the mail during the first few years of you tutoring me. It seems your father has sent word that your mother gave birth to a son."

His eyes instantly widened.

"Why haven't I been told about this?"

"Hey, I didn't even know about this till a few weeks ago when my mother found a letter addressed to you on the King's desk."

"And you're just telling me this now?"

"I wanted to surprise you after getting rid of those pesky council members. Besides, aren't you happy that Umehito will be closer to you?"

He opened his mouth to say something, then it looked like his brain finally took in the situation. His lips instantly formed into a smile before he jumped up to hug me. I returned the hug and patted his back.

"Yes, I am. Thank you, Hikaru. You're really the best."

"Yea, no problem. Now go get a feather and paper, we have work to do."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A long sigh left my lips as I laid on the couch in the library. At one point, we moved from the grand room to the library to have a more comfortable change in scenary. The whole day, Kousei and I were working on new decrees to outstretch the growth of our trading and find new kingdoms to become potential allies for future wars. To say the least, I was dead tired. We did take a break to eat lunch and dinner, but it didn't last very long since I wanted a lot of things to be done. Kousei didn't look any better than me, but he instantly got all his strength back when Umehito came in on the first day of his job.

Right now, Kousei was awaiting the return of his lover who was getting something sweet for all of us to eat. I knew that Chef Richard never went into the kitchen at this time of night, so Umehito should be fine going all by himself.

"Hey Kousei, are you alive?"

"Yea, I'm all~ good."

"Well be prepared, this is how things are going to be for the next few weeks."

A long sigh left his lips then was accompanied with a small whining noise. I chuckled tiredly, then shifted my position on the couch to get more comfortable. My eyes then landed on Kaoru's ring that was still on my finger then smiled. I also planned my brother's funeral and made sure that it was going to be beautiful. Plus, I wanted everyone not to be grieving in his funeral but be happy that he was in a better place. I'm sure that's how he would do my funeral if I died.

Each and every time I looked at the ring, I was reminded of Kaoru's smile. I held my hand up then clenched my fist as if grasping the air in front of me. A small smile formed on my lips as I looked up at the ceiling with a determined expression. I was hoping that Kaoru was smiling down on me from heaven and was happy that I'm doing my best to be king.

In the corner of my eye I saw the door open then Nekozawa came back in with no desserts in his hands. Instead their was a letter while a frown plagued his lips. As he approached us, he kept his eyes locked onto me and I could see how serious he looked.

"I was given this letter while I was walking through the castle."

Nekozawa handed me the letter which I opened while wondering what could be inside. Kousei and his lover looked at me closely while I took out a piece of paper. There were only a few sentence on the paper so it didn't take long for me to read the whole thing. Once I took in what it said, my eyes widened and a growl escaped my lips.

"What does it say?"

I threw the letter at Kousei then stood up while clenching my fists.

"'Prince Kaoru is still alive, if you want it to stay like that, then let us have a trade. Give us the King, and in exchange, we will give you back your precious prince. If you do not reply in three days or turn in the King, then Prince Kaoru will be killed. If you do decide to respond, have someone deliver it to the pub in town. Time is ticking."

When he read it out loud, I gritted my teeth to calm myself down. It felt worse hearing it twice. Although I was glad that Kaoru was still alive, I hated how these people were now using him as bait to get me to come out into the opening.

"Kousei, start writing a letter saying that I'll go-"

"Hikaru, shouldn't we think about this?"

"What's there to think about? My brother is alive, and I need to go get him back."

I looked at Kousei with a heated gaze which made him put his hands up in surrender.

"Hey first, you need to calm down. We're dealing with dangerous people right now, and we can't be sure that they're telling the truth. What if this is just a set up?"

"I don't care, if there's a chance that my brother is still alive then I'm going to take it."

I took a step forward to add emphasis to what I was saying. Nekozawa instantly stood in front of Kousei.

"You're highness, I understand that you want to save your brother, but you have to think of the advantages and disadvantages to this. It might hurt you if you don't think this through."

He took another step forward and boldly put his hand on my shoulder.

"I know how much you love him, but remember that you're the king now. You have to think of Prince Kaoru as well as your people."

I exhaled a long breath which calmed my senses a little. It was a good thing these two were here when I received the letter. I might have done something I would have regretted otherwise. Suddenly, Kousei jumped out of the sofa he was sitting on, and stood beside us.

"How about we talk about this tomorrow? We think better after a long night's rest right?"

I nodded at the suggestion then felt myself being dragged out of the library by Kousei. Nekozawa on the other hand lead the way to my bedroom while holding a candle to light the way. In a few moments, we arrived at my room but they didn't leave once we were inside.

"Are you guys going to watch me change or something?"

"Oh no Hikaru, we just felt that you might need some company. After all, you were given quite a shock."

"That's not necessary. Besides, you probably want to enjoy this night with your lover don't you?"

"Yea, but I don't want to leave you alone."

I chuckled then patted Kousei's hair.

"You're very kind Kousei, but I can handle this. How long do you think I've been sleeping without company?"

He pouted then puffed his cheeks. It didn't look like he wanted to leave any time soon, so I looked behind him at Nekozawa then pointed at Kousei. Nekozawa nodded then went over to his lover before nuzzling his neck and whispering something into his ear. Suddenly, a bright red color washed over Kousei's face which made me smirk.

"I'll be taking Kousei back to our room now. Goodnight, your highness."

Nekozawa lead a gaping Kousei behind him then shut the door to my room. I sighed in relief then changed into more comfortable clothing. Then, I went over to my bed and tucked myself in. When I looked at my nightstand, the orange rose Kaoru gave me was still in its vase but was now wilted. I felt mixed feelings staring at the flower, but in the end, I smiled.

Instead of the constant worry that was going to keep me up all night, I felt a sense of calmness fill me. I touched Kaoru's ring to remind myself that it was still their, then shifted my position again. When I closed my eyes, I continued thinking of Kaoru and the good memories we had. The smile never left my face even when I was plunged into the land of dreams.