Meanwhile, Lunarsion was both irritated and downhearted. He had tried to clear his mind by strolling through the palace gardens and enjoying tea in his favorite pavilion—but it did little to ease his mood.
Today, Lunarsion had come to the palace to finalize the wedding reception’s ceremonial attire and decorations. Although he’d been looking forward to this meeting, circumstances forced an abrupt end. The palace tailor—renowned for his flowery yet honest way of speaking—had told him, essentially, “Don’t select your festive garments when you’re upset and unable to concentrate.” Though Lunarsion tried not to show it, the tailor, with many years of knowing him, had seen right through his suppressed feelings. Lunarsion was upset with himself—feeling both pathetic for causing trouble and indignant that it wasn’t entirely his fault. It was highly unusual for his personal feelings to interfere with his public duties, and those around him remained silent on the matter because, as everyone knew, what had happened ten days ago was utterly harsh.
Moreover, the person responsible was none other than a family member.
The culprit was none other than the Second Prince, Sanrayan—a robust and striking man with lion-like, rich blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Though only twenty-five, the scars from the battlefield made him seem a decade older. Lunarsion had always felt uneasy around this elder brother. Not that Sanrayan was a bad person—Lunarsion neither hated nor disliked him, he even held a measure of respect for him. However, Sanrayan’s lack of tact and impulsive, clumsy behavior were perpetual sources of annoyance. Whenever Sanrayan caused a scene in public, both Lunarsion and their eldest brother, Skyred, had to deal with the fallout. Nowadays, as Sanrayan matured to a certain extent, he enthusiastically accompanied inspections of battlefields and the royal lands—so he no longer caused as many problems.
In fact, just ten days ago, after Sanrayan had gone on an official inspection tour of the royal lands, he’d returned to the palace and dutifully reporting his findings. He’d then requested a meeting with Lunarsion, citing a gap before his next inspection as his reason for them to meet up. Lunarsion, who was already at the palace, reluctantly agreed.
Their reunion began with cheerful banter:
“Long time no see, Lunarsion! You’re still as skinny as ever—are you eating well?”
“Prince Sanrayan, it’s been a while. Thank you for your concern. I am doing fine.”
Sanrayan, eager to give a friendly pat on the shoulder, was gently sidestepped by Lunarsion as they exchanged greetings.
“……Geez, you’re as cold as ever. I’m really happy to see my precious little brother!”
Even Sanrayan’s downcast face was innocent, and Lunarsion couldn’t help but smile wryly, thinking that despite everything, Sanrayan was not entirely unpleasant.
“I’m glad to see you well, Brother Sanrayan. Hope you don’t have any injuries?” Lunarsion changed how he addressed him.
“Nope! Those pesky monstrous beasts were troublesome, but one solid punch from me did the trick—and the forest wasn’t too badly ravaged either!”
Their hearty laughter filled the space as the siblings, who weren’t really on bad terms, got carried away for a while sharing tales of their battle exploits and recent updates on their lives.
Suddenly, Sanrayan remembered: “Oh, I nearly forgot—here’s a wedding gift for you, please accept it.”
He presented a fairly large and weighty box wrapped in shocking pink paper with a golden ribbon tied around it.
“Thank you for going through the trouble even though you’re busy,” said Lunarsion, visibly touched. This brother, giving a gift with consideration for others was something he basically never did.
Sanrayan grinned broadly, “Don’t worry about it. I just wanted to congratulate you myself. I was surprised when you got married—but hey, you’re happy, right?”
“Yes. I’m happy.”
“Seeing your face tells me all I need to know… Ah, although the size might not be quite right—go ahead and open it and check for yourself.”
“Size, you say? Understood. Please wait a moment… okay…”
Lunarsion hesitated before slowly opening the box. Upon its reveal, he froze while Sanrayan smiled broadly.
Inside the box was a phallic mold… a sex toy shaped like a penis.
“Are you lonely without him? I heard his dick is huge and crazy, so I made it a super-sized demon model. I even added some bumps. If you order again, you can change the size and shape even more…”
“Get out of my sight right now!” Lunarsion snapped.
Sanrayan stuttered in surprise—“Eh? Lunarsion? What did you say… Ouch!”—as Lunarsion hurled the contents of the box, which struck Sanrayan on the forehead.
“Take this disgraceful thing with you and vanish! How utterly vulgar!”
Furious, Lunarsion kicked Sanrayan out of the place.
Later, after being scolded by his subordinates and other family members, Sanrayan reflected on his actions, coming to apologize repeatedly until he left three days later. Yet Lunarsion refused to accept his apologies. After he left, apology letters arrived every day, but instead of reading them, Lunarsion burned each of the letters without reading a single one.
Never before had Lunarsion expressed his anger so openly toward Sanrayan, but he could not forgive him.
Not only was the gift in poor taste, but Sanrayan had also mocked Dagan’s physique—a jab that struck a particularly sore spot, though he didn’t mean any harm. At the same time, it was unpleasant to feel like he had seen through Lunarsion’s current situation where he was desperately missing Dagan.
Inside, Lunarsion fumed silently:
(Sanrayan, you idiot! So insensitive! The worst—forever a child! I’m the only one who should be thinking about Dagan’s precious body!)
Gazing at the flowers in the palace garden, he continued to endlessly curse Sanrayan, yet his mood remained heavy, and a deep sigh escaped him.
At that moment, an unpleasant, affected voice rang out.
“Oh! There you are, my beloved!”
Author: Yohan O
A bit of this, a bit of that, a bit of everything except straight
