His hands were everywhere on her body, trying to have as much contact as possible. She whimpered, feeling sensitive from the touches he gave her, also from the euphoric sensation of him inside her. He knew her body like the back of his hand, he knew what it took to make her moan, made her whimper with the need of his touch, and he knew how to make her body crumbled underneath him.
He kissed her, sloppily as he couldn't hold it any longer. Not long after, he came, and his hands never left hers. They both panted and lay in each other's arms until both of them fell asleep.
Every time he visited Washuu kingdom, they would end up doing this. Nishiki wasn't sure what to call them. Lovers? It wasn't a first sight love. He was just returning her horse when he realized the rope tying it to the tree was loose. She thanked him for that. Then he found out she worked for Dr. Kanou. He insisted on joining his king whenever there was a visit to Washuu kingdom. He wanted to meet her again. After several conversations and getting to know each other, they found out they weren't able to separate without having a taste of each other first.
Of course his king did not realize, he was pretty slow in sensing this kind of thing. Hide, however, knew, but he did not say anything.
He kept the secret to his death.
Kaneki stood on the rooftop of Washuu castle tower, enjoying the picturesque night view from the high place. He could see his kingdom from up there as the location of these two kingdoms were quite near with each other.
"Hey Kaneki, I knew you would be here." Prince Nimura greeted him when he arrived on the rooftop as well.
Kaneki didn't say anything. He didn't really like Nimura, the guy always seemed so cunning. Like a fox ready to trick its prey anytime it wants to.
"Congratulations on your wedding! But you are dying anyway, is Princess Touka the chosen puppet to carry your bloodline?" He smiled sarcastically.
"Mind your tongue, Nimura." He warned.
"After you die, can I marry her? If I do, Re will be mine. I'll make sure the kingdom will be super peaceful."
"It's peaceful enough to me. And don't you dare touch my wife."
"But she's so beautiful." He pouted. "Pretty eyes, sexy curves. You're her husband, of course you know that. Ahh, I'm so jealous. I want to have her as well."
"Don't talk about her like that!" Kaneki grabbed him by the collar, his eyes appeared menacing. But the prince remained unfazed, as if he wasn't threatened at all.
"Ohho~ what a protective husband you are. No matter what, Touka will be mine after you die. Don't you worry, both she and Re will be in good hands."
"I'll make sure I'll live." That made Nimura perked up.
"So you agree to have the surgery?"
"I'll figure out something else."
"You can't, Kaneki. Dr. Kanou is your only chance. You need to help us conquer V Kingdom, and then he will perform the surgery. Just give up and come to us~"
"I'm tired from the journey. Good night." Kaneki left him alone, having a conversation with Nimura was always useless as the prince really liked to provoke him.
"Tch. We'll kill you during the surgery anyway." He grinned.
The next day, both Kaneki and Nishiki went to Dr. Kanou's place inside Washuu castle as the doctor advised him to have a check-up at least once per two months.
Kimi, as usual, was there as well as his assistant. Nishiki gave her a warm smile, and she sheepishly smiled back, but those acts didn't go unnoticed by the middle age doctor.
"Good morning, King Kaneki. Congratulations on your wedding. Why didn't you bring your wife here?"
"Thanks. She… has other stuff to do." Kanou was very sharp, he was able to see through the young king.
"You didn't tell her." A sigh was heard.
"She doesn't have to know. At least not yet." Kaneki sat on the patient chair, held out his arm to get ready for the blood test.
"Are you sure about that? She might feel betrayed, you know? You married her just for the sake of having an heir, that's so selfish of you, don't you think?" Kanou pulled out the needle, syringe and soft cotton, getting ready to take his blood.
"That's not all the reason why I married her. Just mind your own business, Doctor." Kaneki started to feel annoyed by him. Kanou was always a very cunning man. In fact, almost everyone in Washuu kingdom was cunning, except for Kishou. But his fiancé was cunning too, so Kaneki couldn't cross him off from the list.
"My apologies. So how is your eye doing? How frequently do you have black tears these days?"
Kaneki removed his eyepatch, revealing a black sclera and red iris when he opened his left eye. Even his eyelid was starting to look swollen.
"I think it's gotten worse. I have them almost every week, even when I'm crying."
"How did she react?"
"…"
"Oh. She doesn't know about this too. You're a very secretive husband."
"I repeat. Just mind your own business."
"How long has it been since your wedding? A month? Hasn't she tried to see what was beneath your eyepatch?"
Kaneki just remained silent. His face showed a bit of uneasiness even though he was trying to cover it.
"Ahh… I see. That's not good, King Kaneki. You need to conceive a child very soon. From what I have gathered, and I'm not entirely sure until I have obtained the full result tomorrow, but your remaining six years seem to have been shortened to five years. You should cherish your life to the fullest while you're still living."
"I'll just wait for the result tomorrow. Thanks for the advice." Kaneki didn't seem thankful though, he was annoyed, angry, irritated. 'He should just mind his own business.'
The full result had been analysed the next day, and Dr. Kanou was right. Five years. At most. He would die before even reaching 30. His kingdom, his people. If he died without leaving an heir, some other kingdom would try to take over. And God knows what would happen to Touka. She would either be forced into a marriage, or be a concubine, or imprisoned, or even worse, sentenced to death.
He made a promise to King Arata that he would take care of his daughter. But he has been avoiding her for almost a month now. She hasn't forgiven him, and that made him scared. Thus he kept on avoiding her. 'God, what should I do?'
"The crops are still dying, Your Majesty. If this continues, we will run out of them very soon." Fuka gave his weekly report to his king.
Kaneki sighed. They have tried to treat the crops, but they were still dying. He ran out of ideas. Maybe he should start trading their goats with other kingdoms to obtain more resources.
"Let's try to use another method. Change the fertilizers to the one that Washuu kingdom gave us. Inform me of the result next month."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"The meeting today is dismissed." With that, everyone left the meeting chamber. Except for Tsukiyama. Kaneki didn't mind though. As the High Chancellor who has known the one-eyed-King for more than 10 years it was normal for Tsukiyama to stay and gave his opinion and advice after the meeting ended. Today, however, he pressed on a different topic.
"I heard you two aren't sleeping together."
Kaneki's hand stopped from signing approvals for a moment, but he ignored Tsukiyama and continued signing them. Tsukiyama placed his hands on his hips while standing directly in front of his king.
"You're dying."
"I still have five years-"
"At most!" Tsukiyama interrupted him. "At most, Your Majesty. For God sake, you could die tomorrow and no one could have expected that."
"Then what do you want me to do?" He turned to look at him. Eyes annoyed.
"Leave an heir. Don't you care about our future, Your Majesty?"
"I do care. But I didn't marry her just so that she could produce babies just like what our goats do. She is way more than that."
"Then why did you choose her? You do know in the end you have to sacrifice her happiness, don't you?"
"I know. I just…"
"Don't tell me you love her? Do you?" His voice cracked, it sounded more like a whimper.
"I- I don't." His eyes avoiding him.
"I saw the way you looked at her on your wedding day. You looked very fascinated by her."
"I supposed. But I don't love her."
"If I were a female, I would have offered myself, Your Majesty. You know that."
"Tsukiyama, I thought we're done talking about this." He glared, he was clearly annoyed by that topic. After Rize rejected him three years ago, he whined to Tsukiyama about it, but in the end he got a love confession instead. That shocked him and he told the High Chancellor to never bring it up ever again.
"I'm sorry. But you have to consummate your marriage soon. I don't want other kingdoms to attack us because you don't have an heir. She'll understand."
Kaneki sighed.
"I hope she will. But give me some time. I want to fall in love with her. Then maybe, I'll have the surgery, if there's no other way."
"I understand. Good night, Your Majesty." With that, he left the chamber, leaving Kaneki alone.
Touka couldn't stand it. For a month, she felt so alienated by her own husband. Tonight, she decided to confront him using a different method since that shitty Nishiki always drove her away.
She leaned against the wall outside his study chamber, waiting for the servant to bring coffee to their king. Upon seeing the servant, she approached her, offering to bring it to the king herself. The servant had no choice but to obey her queen. To her luck, Nishiki wasn't guarding the door, probably because it was past midnight, and Kaneki would not expect his wife wanting to meet him that late.
She knocked slowly on the door.
"Come in." Kaneki said without even looking at it. Touka went in, placed the coffee beside a stack of untouched documents on the desk, and after saying thank you Kaneki gave a hand gesture for the servant to leave him alone.
But she wasn't moving at all. He turned to look at her and surprised to see his own wife standing there, arms folded across her chest, her face was scowling.
"…Touka-chan." Was all he managed to say.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
"…I'm sorry." She raised her eyebrow, waiting for more explanation but Kaneki didn't continue his words.
"That's it? You left me hanging on our wedding night, and I couldn't reach you. You asked that shitty Nishiki to drive me away every time I tried to. I couldn't even see your face."
"…I thought you hate me."
"I don't. I haven't forgiven you, but it doesn't mean I hate you. And if you continue treating me like this then I will."
He stared at her. Speechless.
"What am I to you? You avoided me for a month. I wanted to see you last week but you went to Washuu kingdom? Without even telling me? Am I just a puppet, Kaneki?" Hearing the word puppet reminds him of Nimura. Guilt and rage started to boil in him.
"I'm sorry." He sounded a bit too harsh and that irritated her more.
"…You don't sound like you are."
More silence.
"I was lonely, Kaneki. I don't know anyone here, except Hinami. Why are you doing this to me? Why did you even marry me? You said you want to fall in love with me, you gave me hope when you said that, but now, I don't know if I can trust you anymore." Tears fell from her eyes, she felt so stupid for thinking this marriage could work.
"You took my father away from me. By doing that you took away my happiness as well. And now you want to take away my freedom? How much of a greedy person are you?"
"I didn't-"
"I don't think this will work, Kaneki. I want to leave this place. I'm not happy here." She wiped her tears using her handkerchief, her face looking determined.
"What? What do you mean by that?"
"I'm going back to Anteiku tomorrow."