It was a wretched thing, the passing of time amid the freezing months fraught with cold. It was an inevitable, ever approaching crawler, the more one looked upon its looming shadow, the taller its impending arrival seemed. Eyes of gold and flesh of the night, every moment it clawed on and on.

The white blanket of pristine snow covered the mountains surrounding the Divine Phoenix clinic, trees now devoid of their lively green and lush leaves dancing in the wind, bent low; weighed down by the burdens of the snow gathered upon their branches.

Wherever the eyes reached and sight began, white painted the landscape, and dead blades of grass and drying foliage stood low, largely hidden beneath the cover of snow.

It was time, Li Xinyuan would be blind and ignorant to not know that. Liu Mingyun had healed and made a full recovery for a few fulfilling days barely, in the surgeon’s extremely biased opinion.

Rare was it that animals roamed free in the winter, for many of them favoured the comfort of long slumbers instead. Birds gliding across the sky were only as many as the fruits hanging from trees ravaged.

Li Xinyuan stood by the window — open and wide to let the fresh air in — eyes trained on the white and clouded sky and the falling snow. His golden eyes gleamed like jewels, precious hands hidden away in the warmth of his wide sleeves. The clothes on his person were warm and layered thick, a fur cloak wrapped around him like a cocoon made of warm silk.

Slowly, carefully, he let an exhale leave, head dipped and eyes closed, mind of thoughts bereaved. Much like all the winters before, this one, too, ripped away the leisure of autumn and abundance of crops.

With the war still fought by the martial artists at the borders, food and resources were being poured into the men on the frontlines, leaving many of the people scarce. In the cold, not many crops flourished, the sprawling fields of paddy even less so; leaving many wanting.

In these situations, most of the time, the righteous and the demonic faction — the latter under a false brand, of course — donated much of their unused winter reserves alongside the government as well as the Imperial family in the capital. This winter was like any other, if somewhat harsher.

Standing straighter, Li Xinyuan leaned out of the window, reaching to close it shut. There was more than enough fresh air in the room now.

As the window snapped shut, cutting off the last of the frigid air, warmth of the burning coal in the room slithered up the surgeon’s body, compelling him, a man of enhanced constitution, to shed the fur cloak.

"Doctor Baek!" Behind him, standing by the door, with a small grin on his face, Liu Mingyun stood, arms crossed, dressed rather scant for the winter. "What are you waiting on?"

Li Xinyuan’s head snapped to the direction of his betrothed voice, fondness curled in his chest even if the expression on his face was placid.

"My Liege," head inclined, the surgeon offered him a thin smile, the kind far too helpless, "why ask something you already know?"

The Crown Prince dipped his head and stalked forward, his smile faltering only a moment. His hands dropped to his sides, fists clenched loose. Slowly, the white-haired man raised his head again, hooded eyes gazing down at the surgeon.

As he looked down at the brown-haired doctor, tracing the strange, unremarkable face and jarringly bright golden eyes, his heart softened. He could taste the tension curled around Li Xinyuan, like a snake coiled around its helpless prey.

"Xin’er," gingerly, he reached to rest his hand against the said youth’s face, very carefully tracing the false skin covering the one beneath, "rest your heart." He leaned in, voice firm and words enunciated. "All will be" —his crimson eyes held the golden ones, kindness swimming in the molten pool— "well. Had we not known this day would inevitably come?"

The surgeon tipped his face away from the Crown Prince’s hand, lips pursed and golden eyes flicked away. "To know of something’s inevitability and to be able to accept it are two different things, Your Highness." Though his voice may be even, the undercurrents of his tone was anything but.

The response had the silver-haired prince’s eyebrow raised and his lips pressed thin. "Xin’er," his throat bobbed as he urged closer, pulled his hand away, fingers curled into a fist. "I have a duty."

"I dare not hold you back from the duty, Your Highness." The surgeon’s eyes returned to him, a facsimile of a smile on his lips. Nose brushing against Liu Mingyun’s, he squinted, allowing his palm to gingerly rest against his stomach, where the gaping hole of a wound had been weeks prior, he added. "But you must keep in mind what happened before, yes?"

Liu Mingyun tore his gaze away from the molten pools of gold and glanced down, bringing his hand to cover Li Xinyuan’s, able to easily engulf it in its entirety. "By all means, how can I forget?" His handsome visage gave way to a troubled expression. "I must investigate what happened that night."

Li Xinyuan ducked his head, teeth worrying on his lower lip and eyes narrowed. What really was there to investigate? To him — from an outsider’s perspective who knew much of the world — it was clear as day what resulted in the Crown Prince’s grievous injury— the World’s Consciousness.

And its interventions and meddling.

But he could not possibly tell Liu Mingyun that.

In fact, much of his worries were circled around ways to, perhaps, protect the Crown Prince in case the damned consciousness was to strike once more.

In all its unlikeliness, he could not push away the venomous threads of what if? What if? What if?

"Your thoughts become loud once more." Liu Mingyun murmured quietly, crimson eyes hooded as he watched him. Then, with a gentle tug, he raised Li Xinyuan’s head, fingers resting under his chin, thumb caressing the bone ever so gently. "But so wholly unintelligible."

If Li Xinyuan was to acknowledge it, surely, he would hear the faint, nearly imperceptible undertone of complaint in his words.

"What do you think so loud and incoherent to me?"

Li Xinyuan looked up at him, lips parting subconsciously as he looked into the Crown Prince’s ruby-like eyes, breath stuttering in his chest. What was he supposed to say?

That he suspected the world wanted him injured? Incapacitated enough so his meeting with Namgung Jihye would be a possibility?

That Namgung Jihye — despite not knowing much of him at all — was still drawn to him, in all his unremarkable disguise?

What was he to say?

Whilst the surgeon searched for an answer within himself, the Crown Prince observed the tremble of those golden irises and breathed out a soft sigh.

"Let it be," Liu Mingyun released his chin, hand dropping to his side, fingers curling against Li Xinyuan’s waist, "you needn’t share if it pleases you so. I shall find it myself, eventually."

Li Xinyuan glanced at the hand on his waist and put his own on the side of Liu Mingyun’s neck. What if I don’t want you to? Will you still find out?

"Stop thinking," the Crown Prince demanded, voice even, eyes narrowed, and seemingly endless patience thinning in petulance, "give me your thoughts, Xin’er." He spun the surgeon around, slowly walking him back towards the bed, eyes never leaving him. "Before this night ends." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Li Xinyuan swallowed, eyelashes trembling. "Before the decree from His Majesty arrives?"

"Before the letter from His Majesty arrives." Liu Mingyun nodded, pushing him to sit on the end of the bed as he bent forward to press his lips on his forehead, silver hair cascading. "Before I leave for war."

"But the night is ending, daybreak is nigh, My Liege." Li Xinyuan tipped his head back, eyes hooded and gazing at the column of the Crown Prince’s throat. "Let me go with you."

Briefly, tension doused Liu Mingyun’s body, rendering his muscles taut as his hands on the surgeon’s person tightened, fingers splayed against his head tensing. Against Li Xinyuan’s skin, he exhaled, lips parting to whisper his words.

"That," he pushed close, barely. The cascading silver waterfall of his hair trembled, pulling away a breath, he looked down at Li Xinyuan’s handsome face, "you shall not ask of me."

"Why not?"

"Anything but that."

"Why, My Liege?" Li Xinyuan pushed, heart sunken to his stomach.

"You know well." Liu Mingyun buried his fingers into Li Xinyuan’s raven locks, eyes narrowing. "You know why."

"I insist."

Slowly, the Crown Prince’s hand slipped down from the surgeon’s waist, tracing a gentle line down his body to rest upon the bedsheets. Veins rising under his flesh, he grabbed a handful of the fabric, limbs trembling with something unknown. Unnamed.

Fear.

"You still have a hefty bounty on your head."

"They won’t find me."

"Xin’er," Liu Mingyun’s voice hardened, words thickening with restraint, "you know better than this."

Li Xinyuan’s lips pressed thin, fingers stroking the column of the former’s neck, he replied, unfettered. "I can protect myself, My Liege. You need me."

"For what?"

Harsh. But needed.

"To survive."

"I need you? To survive?" Perhaps I do.

"You know well." Yes, you do.

"This Prince begs to differ."

Li Xinyuan licked his lips, swallowed the lump in his throat and leaned close, brushed his lips against the Crown Prince’s chiseled jaw and whispered into his ear.

"Then beg, Your Highness." He tugged Liu Mingyun close, his other hand going to the latter’s waist. "Like the night you came here, bleeding at death’s door."

"Li Xinyuan." Do not cross the line.

"Your Highness." I will, if I must.