CHAPTER 315: TOOK DIFFERENT PATHS...FOUND OURSELVES HOME

[TAMIKO]

When he stepped out of the palace with his Erasthai, Tamiko wasn’t sure what to expect, given how unpredictable the Lycans always were. It should have given him comfort to know that his father would never leave without him, but that only got him crazy.

This right here was a different wave of love and life and Tamko adored it. He could see the blush creeping up Kosta’s cheeks and he loved this for his Erasthai too. They both deserved the love they were getting and no one could ever think otherwise.

"Go on, love. Mingle with your friends," Tamiko said and Kosta just nodded. He then pulled a similarly wet Tamiko into a warm gentle yet deep kiss, before he went over to the barbarians who were looking at him like he had struck literal gold.

Perhaps he had because there were so many people who wished to be in a position like his. Not just the Lycan chief position, but to be one of the people the mad king considered family and the people that the mad king would definitely go to war for.

It was a privilege that was bound with so many ties, and yet as the Lycans watched the royals interact with each other and even them, they couldn’t help but pray that this harmony lasted.

After all, happiness was the one thing that they all wished for, it wasn’t that hard a request to the fates, but it was the one request that always came with the worst of challenges out there.

"You are glowing, brother," Danny pointed out and the king pulled his son into a hug.

He didn’t seem to mind that Tamiko was wet or that the weather had started changing. What he cared about was that his son was here and back. Perhaps it was also one of the many things the old man had been looking forward to, right?

"How are you, son?" King Zaffuto asked.

Tamiko looked in the direction of where Kosta was. He could say a lot of things about how he was feeling and honestly, he wanted to scream out to the world that he had spent his rut with the man he loved the most, but he didn’t say that.

Instead, he kept his eyes on his Erasthai, who was interacting with his barbarians.

Kosta looked brighter than he had been before and Tamiko was glad for that. In this moment of happiness, the only thing he wished for was endless happiness for himself and his Erasthai. For his Erasthai to be free and never have to hide.

He couldn’t help but want the best for his Kosta and he knew that Kosta wanted the same for him, the moment their eyes met again, in the multitude of celebrating Lycans.

"Never been better, papa. What is happening here? Why were you not in the palace?" Tamiko asked worriedly. He knew that his father had always vowed to be in the palace whenever he wasn’t out there making people’s lives miserable, so this was now for him.

He didn’t think that he had inconvenienced his father, but at the same time, the fact that the entire palace had been empty was a little too suspicious even for Tamiko.

There was nothing in the Kawai rule books that spoke of the palace being emptied during a rut, and much less the young prince’s rut. Surely there had to be more to this, right?

"You said you wanted to be crowned as the next in line in a few days, so I prepared this for you. It is a celebration and with your rut complete now, you can take over as soon as you wish to.

"As for the palace, you both deserved privacy, son. After all, you have been through with Igor, both of you deserve at least a month of uninterrupted peace. That’s why the celebration would go on," King Zaffuto said.

For a moment, Tamiko strained at his father in shock.

He couldn’t believe he managed to eat his father to be human again.

It was interesting how his father had chosen to give them peace when in reality they could have just cast a masking spell and blocked the routes to the prince’s chambers so everything could have continued as usual.

But then nothing had been going as usual for the moment that Tamiko stepped foot into Kawai.

He was his father’s son and undoubtedly the centre of Zaffuto Hinata’s universe. The boy was quite literally the apple of his father’s eyes and the king would do whatever it took to make sure his son was happy.

He would do anything and everything to see Tamiko happy.

To see his son be carefree and worry-free.

The king was invested in his son’s happiness and if emptying out a four-hundred-room palace was the only way to make that happen, for the next month, then the king would do it without the queen. Hell, he already did it.

"Oh, goddess," Tamiko sighed in realization before he pulled his father into a hug this time.

He hadn’t expected this, honestly and it’s making him feel a lot of things. There was so much that could have happened, so much that could have been done and yet at the same time, the king’s world revolved around Tamiko.

His son.

He could do whatever he wanted and he had started to see to it that his boy was okay. It was a beautiful thing and Tamiko thanked the heavens and the moon for giving him this beautiful chance with his father.

Perhaps there would come a day when life was better for them, and when that day came, they would all be alright, yeah?

"I know I don’t say it much, papa... or maybe never said it, but I’m so glad I found you. I love you, papa," Tamiko said earnestly.

Zaffuto held onto his son tighter. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but he was just glad that his son knew he wasn’t alone anymore. The fact that Tamiko told him he was glad to have found him was the best thing that the mad king had heard in ages.

He had always looked forward to the day his son wouldn’t deal with pressures, the day when everything felt alright, and yet over time, shit hadn’t exactly been going according to plan.

The mad king had been a tad worried that his son would despise him for it. Perhaps that was why he never had any expectations from his son. As long as Tamiko was alive and healthy, the king was alright.

Then again, this right here was the chance the fates were giving them to embrace each other and their new normal. Life was about to get messy for them and it needed them to be on the same side.

Tamiko telling his father that he loved him was all that they needed to know that the bonds that had been forged through war had finally started growing stronger than anticipated.

It was the sound of hope that reigned in the distance and the Lycans watched in awe as the father and son stayed in each other’s arms a while longer.

"My little angel. Papa will always, always love you," King Zaffuto said as he pulled back and kissed his son’s forehead.

"I’m so happy you found each other too," Lord Sadako said.

"Oh, brother. Finally, you’re really home where you belong," Danny chuckled lightly before they joined the party.