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The Akuma Empire of the great nation, Luxiem, ruled by the Imperial House of Akuma is a nation of prosperity. Under the reign of such a powerful clan, the nation was regarded as the most ideal place in every category.
It was exactly those reasons that made Vox grit his teeth and brace for the moment he ruled over it. He knew just how much pressure would fall on his shoulders once he inherited the crown as the sole heir of the empire, he knew that he'd have to work hard. Even when he grew up with the greatest knowledge given, trained all his life for the throne he'll soon sit upon, he knew he still needed a lot.
If you ask him what it's like to be the sole heir, he'd say that sometimes it was a pain. It's horrible, the stares, the ill intentions, the rumors, it was horrendous. Just because he's of Akuma's blood, just because he'll be the next Emperor, he was regarded as someone that everyone needed to get a favor from. It was like everyone approached him with no other purpose than to use him.
But it seems that it was not like that at all with the boy he met on the streets. On the vast street filled with the hustle and bustle of strangers, the boy dared to look him in the eye with the most innocent smile, asking him if he wanted to try gliding the lantern in the sky.
The boy wasn't from that land. He was a foreigner, an outsider. So it was reasonable that the boy wouldn't recognize the face of the man who would soon rule the land he was standing on. But to the exhausted Vox, he felt weirdly fine. As if he found a place he can finally breathe in. A place he can finally rest comfortably in.
Since then, Vox would sneak out and meet the boy. Both of them were neither strangers nor friends, each not knowing their names, origin, or even their age, yet the two just went ahead and enjoyed the moment together.
Vox found happiness. At last, he wasn't suffocating.
On the fourteenth day of neither being strangers nor friends, they finally managed to disclose their names, and everything else. The both of them finally had the chance to be friends.
“Mysta. I am from the Rias House.” The boy started, fidgeting his fingers as he was afraid that the other boy would ridicule him for his origin.
“...Mysta,” Vox smiled with ecstasy. “I am Vox from the Imperial House of Akuma.”
Truthfully, the raven-haired didn't plan to confess. But something between him and Mysta just seemed too comfortable, he couldn't lie. He convinced himself that at most, Mysta would give him the same smile. But the response he was only reaping at that moment was silence, and it was deafening.
“I have realized from the way you speak and move that you were noble, but I never once thought you'd be far nobler than I imagined you'd be.” Mysta gave a smile, the smile Vox was expecting. “Your royal highness, may I get the permission to call you Vox in private?”
It was the start of young love, leading to a beautiful relationship. However, it was a relationship hidden from the eyes of many, a relationship that only both of them knew. Mysta and Vox knew, that homosexual love wasn't welcomed by the Empire. So under the moonlit street, the street where they first met, Mysta confessed that he was willing. Willing to share Vox with a future empress, but not willing to share Vox's love with anyone else, just like what the raven-haired had promised him.
“It's inevitable, I know. I can't bear a child for you, yet I am so selfish enough to be with you, knowing full well what I lacked.” Mysta held a smile, holding Vox's hands in his. “You already made a place for me as your lord royal consort despite the commotion about my gender, I couldn't ask for more.”
It was the 16XX year when Mysta became the Lord Royal Consort of the Imperial House of Akuma, year 16XX when it was written down in history that he, Mysta Rias, a male, was the first lover of the Emperor of the Akuma Empire, Vox.
The first-ever Lord Royal Consort in the Empire.
Despite the dispute, Vox protected his lover, Mysta. It was a love story that sparked a flame in the nation, a love that goes beyond the laws. It became a hot topic, many proposed the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Year 16XX, 6 months after the marriage, homosexual love became normal with the approval of same-sex marriage.
The Akuma Empire, once more, became an even more ideal place for everyone. Freedom there seemed so free, it was like a safe haven for many. What had happened made the Emperor and his Lord Royal Consort happy. They were in love, and they fought for their love. Everyone else followed them, who wouldn't be happy?
But then came the problem, a catastrophe to the love between them. All the officials seemed to be worried about the next heir, fearing that the current Emperor won't want a child. Even though the Lord Royal Consort is loved and accepted, he's still a man, and a man can't, and will never be able to conceive a child.
“Mysta,” Vox sighed, he was as sad as his lover. “I have to go on a journey to find a suitable empress, it's a rule I can't break.”
Mysta's ears twitched when he heard the word rule , the only thing he hates. Like usual, he smiled. “It can't be helped,” he says with a throbbing heart. It was painful, but Mysta knew that day would come. It didn't matter anyway, because he knows that Vox will only be his, that Vox will only love him as Mysta will only love Vox.
The Emperor has always given Mysta the assurance. So the catastrophe was nothing for Mysta, as he was assured that in that lifetime, Vox will only love him despite being tied to another one. With that in mind, the Lord Royal Consort escorted the Emperor to his carriage, he escorted Vox to meet someone who will be the Empress of the raven-haired.
Finding suitable individuals to become Empress of the Nation should've only taken six months. But it has been a whole two years since Mysta last saw his beloved, his Emperor. Seven hundred and thirty days, seventeen thousand five hundred twenty hours. Each time the clock ticks, Mysta would count.
And on the seven hundred thirty first day, Vox finally came.
No one was able to describe the happiness, the excitement Mysta had. He was expecting a lot, he wanted to hug and kiss Vox to make up for the years they missed. But it seems it was only him who was missing the other.
No Vox Akuma came on the doorstep of his palace.
Mysta tried to convince himself that Vox was probably busy, that the Emperor had tons of work he had to finish before he came to Mysta. But seven hundred twenty hours had already passed, and there was still no sight of his lover.
Mysta couldn't sit still by then. He grew the courage to visit the Emperor himself. However, on the way to his beloved, he heard things he wanted to believe were lies. The Lord Royal Consort, he didn't care anymore about courteousness. He ran fast, he ran until he was out of breath. He ran like his life was on the line, and he wished he died while he was running then.
Because when he arrived, he saw the Empress with his lover, the Emperor.
Because when he arrived, everything that he shared with Vox seemed like a lie. He couldn't believe it even though it was right in front of him, the truth was right there slapping him hard, yet he couldn't, he didn't want to believe such a fact.
“Ike Eveland will be appointed as the Lord Empress.” It was a firm order, not once did the Emperor stutter nor hesitate. “Anyone who dares objects shall be dealt with. As for bearing a child, my cousin, the late second prince's son, will be the next in line.”
At that point, Mysta just couldn't recognize Vox anymore.
That day, the Lord Royal Consort left the court in silence, not grieving, not wondering. He just went to his palace and locked himself up, soul seemingly lost in a vast void.
It took twenty hours. Twenty unmoving hours for Mysta to finally shed tears. For twenty hours, Mysta recalled every memory he had with the raven-haired. Every memory he cherished came crashing right back at him.
“I might have to appoint an Empress, but know that my heart will forever be yours to embrace.”
It was a promise, a vow that was made for him. Mysta couldn't help but blush, pushing the raven-haired a little. “Your father would rage if he finds out what you're saying to me, Vox.”
“My father isn't the one to decide whom I fall in love with, though?” Vox chuckled and kissed his lover, gazing at his promised partner. “I love you, Mysta.”
Idiot.
Mysta laughed. He couldn't mutter a single thing, he couldn't do anything other than laugh. Laugh at how his tears would've been a river, laughed at how he waited for someone who eventually forgot his lover.
“Self-confident individuals are interesting. I admit that I like it when someone's confident, but Mysta? I love you no matter what. Even if your self-confidence hit rock bottom, rest assured that I'd be there for you, I'd be there to pull you up because you deserve everything.”
Well, Vox? In the last two years, in the last two months that you never visited Mysta, he was beyond rock bottom.
Where were you?
Mysta was never a self-confident person, Mysta was never someone capable of great power such as ruling over the nation. If by chance he was given a chance to be the Empress, he'd work harder than anyone. But Mysta knew it was impossible because after all, the Empress can only be a woman.
So what is happening?
Ike Eveland. That man, what did he have that Mysta lacked? What did he have to be worthy of sitting beside his beloved? What did Ike have… for Vox to break the law and appoint a man as his Empress, as his Lord Empress, when Mysta has always been waiting for him to come home?
But Mysta still wanted to believe in the promise. He still wanted to believe Vox, even just a tiny bit. He wanted to have hope. But all of his hope became hopeless soon when Vox gave everything, everything he once gave to Mysta, to Ike. Except that those everything surpassed everything Mysta once had.
It's been a year since Vox came home to the Empire. Not once did he visit Mysta, as if forgetting that he had a lover waiting for him to come home. A lover whom he promised he'd only love. But it was enough. Mysta had enough. Vox has given him enough time to consider, and Mysta is grateful for it. So with his own, trembling hand, he wrote what he never thought he'd wish for. For the first time in his life, Mysta, he wanted to let go of Vox.
It was written in big, black, bold letters. SEPARATION.
The moment that letter arrived to Vox, it seemed he remembered the lover he left three years ago, the lover he never once visited since he came home.
“I'm sorry,” It was a painful knife stabbing Mysta directly in his heart, a knife he never wanted to get.
Three years. Three whole years, and the only sentence he'd get from Vox was an apology, a simple I'm sorry. He didn't even bother explaining. He didn't even bother begging, he didn't even bother saying anything else. But Mysta was fine with it. After all, Vox is the Emperor. And the Emperor needed not to explain himself.
However, even if Vox was the Emperor, only an insane person would forgive him. Mysta didn't respond. He only sipped his tea, stood up, smiled at the man he had never seen for three years, kowtowed, and then left the room alone.
Mysta wasn't self-confident, but he wasn't a fool, either.
For three years, he hadn't heard Vox's voice. For three years, he hadn't seen Vox. For three whole years, not a word, not a sight was caught. Everyone around Mysta talked ill. They talked about the things Mysta and Vox once were, they talked about the couple who sparked a flame in everyone's heart. Mysta was surrounded by all the remarks, all the pity, mockery, he had heard it all.
But what about Vox?
Mysta doesn't know about the things the raven-haired heard. All he knew was that the one beside Vox is no longer him, but someone else. He doesn't want to admit it, but the pain of knowing how Ike was standing beside Vox in the place he once stood upon, the pain of knowing that the role he had in Vox's life is no longer his, was like cutting his flesh slowly until he dies.
In the bed that they once shared warmth with, Vox is sleeping with someone else other than him.
What hurt Mysta the most was the fact that the years he had with Vox seemed so easy to replace and forget for Vox. It hurts him that the promise he held onto, the promise that he hoped would be eternal, was also discarded and forgotten, like himself.
Mysta already knew that Vox, as an Emperor, will never be his alone. But Mysta had always thought, that just like what Vox had promised him, Vox will only be Mysta's in terms of love alone.
But the one who promised him no longer remembers those words.
And Mysta isn't a fool to still hold onto a promise that will never be fulfilled.
Since the day he proposed separation, Vox seemed to remember that he once had a lover. The mighty Emperor, with his red and golden dragon robe, visits Mysta day by day to convince him to not separate. But Mysta already had his mind set on it, there's no more stopping him. So every time the Emperor comes, Mysta would give excuses and not meet Vox.
And if they ever meet accidentally, or if it was inevitable, Mysta would put on a smile, a smile that no longer shines brightly than when Vox first saw it. Mysta, even though he was near, became so far away in an instant. With a tired smile, he'd beg the raven-haired. “Your Majesty, please let this subject go.”
Let me go.
But Vox didn't want to let go. He couldn't let go. And Mysta is just a subject of the Emperor, so he could only obey when Vox rejects it.
The cycle just repeats until Mysta felt suffocated enough, he felt like an absolute worthless tool. He just can't go on anymore. When the clock hit the designated time, Mysta walked away from the Empire. Nobody could stop him. Nobody had the heart to stop him.
He walked alone, in a robe that no longer signified his role. He was just Mysta, a commoner, walking home. He was not the Lord Royal Consort, he was not the Emperor's beloved anymore. But when he came home, the only one to greet him was a servant of his house.
Mysta broke down as soon as he learned that his mother died one year ago. Without his mother, the last family he had was now gone.
He could not go on anymore.
He doesn't have anyone, anything, any will left to live on. Everything was already gone, everything he had once had is already gone. Nothing, nothing. He has nothing anymore.
Nothing to live for, nothing to hold onto.
Mysta always thought that people who choose the last choice were unfortunate. He thought of that as well for himself, as he rushed through the crashing waves, submerging himself in the water, drowning himself deeper.
Every bit of air gradually left his body. He could feel the stillness, the frigid touch of the ocean, the light slowly disappearing.
The last memory he had was him being swallowed by the dark.