"I'll sleep on the couch." Kaneki offered as soon as they entered their given room.

"What?"

"Is there any problem with that?"

"But we're-" Touka paused, she bit her lower lip. "No, nothing. But you're the king, you should sleep on the bed. I'll take the couch instead." Kaneki chuckled hearing that.

"There's no way I can do that, Touka-chan." He stripped off his shirt and wrapped a towel around his waist before stripping off his pants as well. Touka blushed seeing his body. Hard, taut muscles, there was a big scar on his lower right abdomen. She decided to look away before her eyes lingered any longer.

"I'm going to take a bath first, okay?" She nodded, her eyes were still looking at anywhere but him. Since they weren't planning to stay the night, they did not have any sleeping clothes to wear. So they asked for spare clothes from the innkeeper. Touka snorted when she saw hers. A night dress. It was quite skimpy and enough to reveal a large part of her cleavage, while the length was above her mid thighs. She sighed. Well, it was expected as they were newlyweds after all.

15 minutes later Kaneki went out of the bathroom, he wore a loose silk shirt and a braies. Touka then went in, had a nice bath and changed into the night dress that was given to her.

When she returned from her bath, Kaneki was lying on the couch, reading a book.

"Do you always bring a book everywhere you go?" Her question made him looked up and the seconds he did, his breath hitched in his throat.

In front of him stood his wife, wearing a skimpy purple night dress that would make every guy on earth had a nosebleed. His mind registered that the dress revealed her breasts more than their wedding outfits. And just like on that day, he was having a hard time averting his gaze away.

"Pervert." Was all she said while drying her hair off with the towel.

"What are you wearing, Touka-chan?"

"The innkeeper gave me this. Maybe because we're considered as newlyweds? It's almost two months though…"

"I'll ask for decent clothes for you." He started to stand up and walked but Touka caught his arm, preventing him.

"It's okay, I don't mind."

"But-"

"I'm your wife, Kaneki. It's okay. Unless, you don't want me wearing this in front of you." She stared at the floor. Her face was a mixture of blushing and hurt but it was more towards the latter.

"I-uh- I…" He couldn't answer, his whole face was blushing madly.

"Goodnight, Kaneki." She left him flabbergasted and went to the bed, disappointed with her husband's indecisiveness. 'Ugh, why do I feel rejected?'

Kaneki just lay on the couch, he wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to sound like a pervert, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings as well. Too tired of thinking, he fell asleep soon after.

An hour had passed, but Touka was still awake. She couldn't sleep. She turned her head to see Kaneki sleeping peacefully on the couch. He had always looked like he was deep in thought when he was awake, but when he slept, his face was bare. As if a free child without any problem.

Seven years ago, she was in love with him. He was kind, and gentle, and always did his best to help everyone in need. Including her father when he wanted to battle against other kingdoms. Including Hinami whenever she had a problem reading a storybook. Including her whenever she wanted to practice sparring.

When he gave her a rabbit hair stick as her birthday present, she was so happy. She thought, maybe her feelings were mutual. She was wrong. He was so kind that he even gave Ayato a birthday present too. And every time there was a ball hosted by another kingdom, he would always, always, and always, danced with Rize.

Princess Rize is beautiful, intelligent, and she shared the same interest as Kaneki. Reading. She envied the princess. She wanted to read too but she gave up on the first page. Whenever there was a lesson, the instructor would read the book for her because she just hated reading.

So in the end she gave up trying to catch his attention. He was head over heels for Rize. And she was head over heels for him. When her father died because of him, it left her devastated. He apologised, but she couldn't accept it. She may love him but her father was her life.

When he proposed, that night, she was so happy that she cried. She cried because it was like a dream come true, having your seven years of crush proposed to you, but she also cried because she knew he didn't love her.

She turned to look at his figure again, feeling sorry that he had to sleep on the couch. She still cared for him after all. Whether she still loved him or not, she wasn't sure. But she could confirm one thing- she was falling for him again.

She slowly left the bed and walked towards the couch. Carefully, she plopped herself on it, with her back facing him. Kaneki's eyes opened at the intrusion of his personal space, but all he saw was Touka's hair. And she smelled nice. Feeling a little daring as she was the one who snuck up to him, he wrapped his right arm around her body, pulling her closer then rested his hand on hers. Touka smiled at his action. Finally, she was able to fall asleep.

Kaneki had his left elbow propped up, while his right hand was playing with his wife's light blue hair. Her breathing was constant, and her lush lips parted a bit. His gaze went lower to her exposed neck, so enticing, so inviting. But it wasn't as tempting as seeing her cleavage. He spotted a mole on her right breast, and he gulped.

Based on the tradition that had been established since 300 years ago, every prince of Re had to lose virginity by the age of 17 to an infertile woman to avoid having an illegitimate child. Afterwards, they were able to bed any infertile women they want in order to relieve any distractions. Kaneki, however, decided not to follow the tradition. For him, intercourse without feelings was meaningless. He was determined to lose his virginity to the love of his life.

Here he was, on the couch, with his beautiful wife sleeping beside him, wearing the skimpy nightdress that had ridden up a bit, exposing her flat stomach and white panties. She was practically half naked. He could feel some warmth crawling up his skin, and a certain part of his body was growing harder. His gaze averted up to her breast, then her face, and finally to her lips again.

'She's so beautiful... I don't love her but she's my wife... so it's fine, right?'

Slowly, he leaned in closer, and closer, and closer, until his lips almost touched hers.

Then he stopped. He couldn't continue. He was frustrated with himself for taking advantage of his wife while she was sleeping. Sighing heavily, he headed to the bathroom and had a long bath afterwards.

"Hope you enjoyed your stay, Your Majesty. My daughter has a gift for you, if you don't mind." The innkeeper nudged the little girl beside her, and she stepped forward to hand her king a piece of paper.

Kaneki inspected the paper and saw a sketch of him and Touka hand in hand in the market. It wasn't as detailed as professional art as the little girl was merely around eight years old, in fact- it was very simple and childish-like, but Kaneki could feel the adoration she poured in her drawing.

"Thank you, little girl. I'll keep this. What's your name?" He patted her head.

"I'm Saiko. Thank you too for accepting my drawing!" She grinned and bowed slightly before saying goodbye to her king and queen.

"This drawing is lovely. You won the hearts of your people. I wish Ayato could learn from you." Said Touka when they were inside the carriage.

"Well, not all kingdoms have the same situation. Ayato had it rough, having to take the throne at 15 years of age."

"What are you talking about, Kaneki? You became the king at 12. You had it worse. I heard the rumour. You gouged your eye when your mother died... or something like that."

Awful memories suddenly flooded through him. Memories of how his eye became damaged. How his mother died. How hard it was for Banjou and Tsukiyama to pull him back to reality. To make sure he knew that no one would abuse him again.

Touka noticed his trembling form, so she placed her hand on his, trying to calm him down.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that."

Kaneki looked at her hand, then proceeded to intertwine their hands together. He stopped shaking after a while.

"It's alright. Thank you, Touka-chan."

She gave him a reassuring smile before resting her head on his shoulder. Relieved that he wasn't trembling anymore. However, she became more curious about his past. He was hiding a lot of things from her, she could feel it, but she decided not to urge him.

Shortly after, he rested his head on hers as well. Sleep overcame them and they stayed like that throughout the whole journey, hand intertwined with each other.

Once arrived at the castle, Kaneki was surprised to see his, Touka's and Hirako's horses were back in the barn.

'The search team was very fast this time.' Was all he thought of, not knowing the truth behind his High Chancellor's plan.

Three days had passed and just because they slept together during their stay at the inn, it didn't change anything. Back in the castle, they still slept in a different chamber. Tsukiyama was so disappointed. He thought his plan of 'stealing' their horses and asked the innkeeper to give a sexy night dress to his queen would work. Too bad when he asked Hirako the next day, the royal bodyguard responded with a negative answer. He decided to confront his king.

"I'm glad that you two are getting along now. But you're still not sleeping together, right? It has been two months."

"Tsukiyama please."

"What's holding you back?" Kaneki sighed heavily.

"I don't want to treat her like a tool. I want to consummate our marriage when we are both ready and in love with each other. I don't want to force her if she's not ready."

"She's ready, Kaneki. I can see that."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I could see it by the way she looks at you. Kanae used to look at me the same way. She's in love with you."

"Well, maybe she is. But I'm not."

The High Chancellor smacked his forehead. "Are you not straight?"

"What?" Kaneki sounded slightly irritated.

"As far as I know, you are straight. You rejected my confession, so you're not into the same gender romance."

"What are you trying to say, Tsukiyama?"

"Her Majesty is one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen in my whole life. I may be not straight but even I think she's beautiful. And she's ready for you. What else are you waiting for? Our kingdom needs a prince."

"Yes, she is beautiful. I can't deny that. But the feelings I have for her is... merely infatuation. It's not love. I like her because she's beautiful. It's not real, Tsukiyama. I want to fall in love with her for who she is, not because of her appearance."

Tsukiyama sighed heavily and took a deep breath. What he was planning to say may cause his death but he didn't care anymore.

"I apologise for saying this, you may execute me to a death sentence afterwards, but I really need to say it. You're an idiot. You're dying, but you want to have children once you have fallen in love with her. But you are falling for her, you just can't see it. You're running out of time, My King. Please save your kingdom while you can." With that, he left his king alone in his study chamber.

Kaneki couldn't concentrate on signing approvals that evening as Tsukiyama's words kept on ringing in his head over and over again.

"The fertilisers from Washuu kingdom only made the crops worse, your Majesty. Almost half of them have withered." Fuka reported.

'Damn it Tsuneyoshi... I shouldn't have trusted you.' Kaneki cursed inwardly.

"Prepare a journey to Sunlit Garden Kingdom. Naki, Nishiki and Fuka, you guys are coming with me. We're leaving early morning tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"What about me?" He turned his gaze to his left where Touka was seating. She seemed upset because her name wasn't mentioned.

He smiled gently at her.

"You need to stay. Rule the kingdom on my behalf when I'm gone."

"You trust me?"

"Tsukiyama is here to guide you. I believe you will do your best, Touka-chan." He squeezed her hand, and she nodded.

"Alright, I will."

"Ihei Shio, please step ahead."

A young boy stepped ahead and bowed towards his king and queen. His hair was white just like his king, but he wasn't that tall. He was wearing a white leather tunic, with a sheathed sword hanging by his hips.

"I appoint you to be Queen Touka's royal bodyguard from today onwards. Protect her at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing your life."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will protect Queen Touka, even at the cost of my life."

"Good. I'm counting on you, Shio."

"He's... very young." Said Touka as everyone left the meeting chamber, leaving them alone.

"He may be young, but he's the best swordsman in Squad 0."

"If he dies I will feel extremely guilty, Kaneki. He's just a kid."

"Touka-chan." He lifted her chin so that she could look at him straight in the eyes. "Do you not trust me?"

"I trust you... but-"

"No more argument. The King's order is absolute."

"But I'm the Queen-"

"Read the rules again, my queen. Once the King has given his order, no one can protest him. Not even his queen."

She grumped but he ignored it, then he grabbed her hand instead.

"Well, you can abolish the rules once I died." He stared at her hand, his thumb drawing circles on her palm. Gloom was all over his face.

"Why do you always talk as if you're dying soon?" Her eyebrows furrowed but she wasn't angry, she was deeply concerned with him.

"I'm the King, Touka-chan. It's inevitable for me to die soon because anything can happen. I told you this earlier, and you said you're accepting me despite that."

"Well, I changed my mind... I don't want you to die." She confessed. "Don't help other kingdoms in the battlefield. Just send shitty Nishiki for that. Don't go to Sunlit Garden Kingdom. Send Naki for our crops matter. Don't go anywhere. Stay. We need you." 'I need you.' She was well aware how selfish she sounded, but she had enough of her loved ones dying. She would try her best to ensure that Kaneki and Ayato live a long life.

"I can't do that, Touka-chan."

"You can. Stop trying to do everything by yourself. Please rely more on others. We all care for this kingdom. We want to help you. We are your pieces."

"Pieces?"

"Chess pieces. You're the King. I'm the Queen. Naki and Hinami are the Bishops. Miza and shitty Nishiki are the Knights. Tsukiyama and Hirako are the Rooks. When all the pieces are attacking, does the King move? No. He stayed behind with his Rook. All other pieces are ready to be sacrificed for the sake of their King. It's the same for Re. When we visited the market that day, I can see it in their eyes. Your people, which are your Pawns, will do anything for you, Kaneki." He sighed quietly.

"This is why I told you our kingdoms are different, Touka-chan. What's the point of being the leader if I don't do anything? I need to protect them, which is why I'm not planning to stay behind. I'm ready to die for them."

His last sentence made her gasped. She looked away from him.

"All this while I wanted Ayato to learn more from you. But right now, I'm not sure about that anymore. My father died protecting you. So I never approved Ayato going into the battlefield. My mother was assassinated. So I hired dozens of bodyguards to keep him safe. I don't want my only brother to die young. And I don't want my husband to die young too. The world has taken a lot from me. Is it wrong to hold on to what I currently have?"

She was trembling, and tears were threatening to fall out of her mesmerising eyes.

With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and pushed her head lightly onto his chest, hoping to calm her down.

'She has suffered so much... and I'm dying soon... Tsukiyama was right. This kingdom needs an heir, else even this kingdom will be taken from her.'

He pulled away to stare into her eyes. They were puffy because of the tears, but she still looked beautiful nonetheless. He gently wiped the tears using both of his thumbs. Her hands reached up to his wrists as she looked at him longingly.

His gaze averted to her red lips, he gulped before leaning in closer. His lips almost reached hers when she suddenly stopped him.

"Your eye... are those black tears?" She seemed shocked at seeing black tears falling from behind his eyepatch.

"Shit!" He wiped the tears away. "I'm sorry. I need to go."

"Kaneki, wait-" He stormed out of the meeting chamber, leaving his wife stupefied.