“...Huh? What?” Yue actually let more tears fall down his face after Viktor told him that.

“Don’t cry, people are going to think I bullied you…” Viktor chuckled and used his handkerchief to wipe Yue’s tears.

“H-How long have you known?” Yue asked, his heart was beating so fast he felt uncomfortable.

“I found out when I looked at you with insight in Wolfsstadt. I’m guessing you just told me that you had insightful eyes because your eyes are the feature you have from being Azure Dragon.., So you might not know the extent of the information my eyes can tell me.” Viktor smiled.

“I can see how much salt is in your tears.” Viktor chuckled.

Yue was surprised, he didn’t think there was that much of a difference between insight as a skill vs as an innate ability. He felt dumb for not knowing that.

“...Why didn’t you tell me that you knew…?” Yue mumbled and hid his face in Viktor’s chest, hugging him to hide his teary eyes.

“Because you would’ve been like this...You would’ve been upset because that wasn’t the way you wanted me to find out...This probably wasn’t the way you wanted me to find out either…” Viktor murmured and kissed Yue’s forehead.

“I wanted to deal with everyone who has a vendetta against me before telling you...so you wouldn’t be in danger because of me…” Yue murmured.

“You don’t have to worry about that… I’m not only an Ivanov, I’m also Black Tortoise’s son, I’m used to people trying to kill me.” Viktor chuckled.

Yue was quiet as Viktor hugged him for a few minutes.

‘He got taller...and finally gained some weight...Ah He’s so attractive when he dresses like this…’ Viktor thought to himself, he almost had to force himself to stop hugging Yue as his mind started going straight to a dark and sultry place.

“Let’s go before my father decides to come get us,” Viktor said and made sure Yue looked presentable before walking to the dining room.

Aylin and her family and Andrei were all confused as the two of them walked in and Elena just smiled as everyone started eating.

“You two know each other as well…?” Aylin asked and pointed between Yue and Viktor.

“Uh yes…” Yue mumbled.

Andrei stared at Yue, he seemed familiar but he was a bit confused about where he’d seen him. Yue was a bit worried about what Andrei would think if he knew about what kind of relationship he and Viktor had.

After everyone finished eating they all sat down for some time.

“Hmmm, it’s been so long since there have been 4 of us here. I can’t even remember what we used to do.” Aylin murmured.

“Way back when I first came to one of these meetings they were held at every solstice and equinox and we would exchange information about what was going on in our areas and we would plan raids together.” Elena laughed and smiled at Aylin.

“How long ago was that…?” Aylin teased.

Elena rolled her eyes and noticed that Yue, Huy, and Mai didn’t get the joke so she smiled and explained it to them.

“If we remove Andryusha...I’m older than everyone in this room combined.” Elena explained and laughed at the clearly shocked looks she got in response.

“I’m really not that old compared to some of the former auspicious beasts though. The previous Vermilion bird was over 900 years old.”

Mai and Yue were pretty surprised while Huy seemed to already know that. Yue looked over at Viktor, he could only assume that Viktor probably knew all of these things from listening to his mother or something. It made him curious. How much did Viktor know about him and his predecessors?

“We can have meetings at every season if needed...It would also be fun if they can join in our competition.” Aylin suggested and smirked.

“Competition?” Mai asked, and Yue clearly turned to Aylin. Both of them were particularly competitive so the idea of a competition intrigued them.

“We made a rule that only people who haven’t mastered the three arts can participate for the sake of not leveling a mountain or something so for a while it’s just been a yearly fight between Lunara and Viktor,” Aylin explained.

“I doubt I could beat Viktor but Anh might be able to…” Mai murmured.

“...I would rather not test that,” Huy murmured.

Viktor just smiled and chuckled a bit.

“The competition is in mid-December anyway. It already passed.” Lunara murmured.

“Who won?” Mai asked, she had a hunch it would be Viktor but she didn’t know how strong Lunara was so she didn’t want to assume.

“Viktor. As always.” Lunara groaned.

Yue looked at Viktor and Viktor almost laughed out loud at his expression. The words ‘I want to fight you’ were clearly written across Yue’s face, he wasn’t smiling but his eyes were clearly excited.

“The last time someone from my family won was the first time Natasha fought against my son.” Aylin groaned, “Avenge me. Please.”

“Gladly.” Yue immediately answered.

Elena laughed and smiled, looking between Yue and Viktor.

"Facing off against one of us 4 would definitely be a challenge for you. I don't think you'd actually win." Elena said, noting Viktor's confident look.

"I'm sure I could do it," Viktor said and smirked.

"You sure? Andryusha got absolutely destroyed by Azure Dragon's wind ability when he was young and overconfident like you."

Andrei coughed awkwardly when Viktor flipped his head and looked at him with surprise and what could only be called Joy. Yue was surprised, he didn't know what core type or what level of cultivation that incarnation was or how strong Andrei was back then but it was impressive. HE kind of felt bad, his wind power and his power to control nature, they were both practically collecting dust because he never bothered to master them.

"I wish I could've seen that," Viktor laughed.

"It was long before you were even born. Two incarnations of Azure Dragon have passed since then." Elena giggled.

'Immortality huh... I guess not every incarnation of me cares for that kind of thing.' Yue thought to himself as he heard that.

"Though the kids of the 4 can get pretty strong too...It's more hit or miss with them. The previous Vermillion Bird's son couldn't even make a proper flame while the son of one of the former Azure Dragons leveled mountains for fun in his youth." Elena explained.

"That probably has something to do with genetics though," Andrei murmured, obviously very proud of his own core and the cores and magic power of his children.

"Hmm? Not necessarily. YuanJun married a woman with a wooden core."

"There they go again, talking about things that happened before we were even conceived." Aylin chuckled and Viktor nodded and rolled his eyes.

"YuanJun..." Yue murmured.

"You know of him?" Elena asked with a shocked look.

"A lot of the books in the Azure Dragon Temple were written by him," Yue explained.

"Oh..." Elena murmured, that was made a lot more sense than what she had been thinking. Fei Xiang would probably never tell Yue that his father was one of the former Azure Dragons.

They all talked for a while longer until it got close to 2 am. That meant it was almost midnight in Belarus so Elena and Andrei had to go address their country for the New Year. As everyone started walking out of the dining room, Viktor snuck out to the follower's hall with Yue.

"Are you going back to the academy soon?" Viktor asked, his arm wrapping around Yue's waist and pulling him close.

"Yes...Our break ends on the 10th so I have to..." Yue mumbled, they were pressed together so Yue felt a bit awkward.

" Then... Can you spare some time for me on the 4th?" Viktor asked, smiling against Yue's shoulder.

"Yes...Why?" Yue asked, shyly wrapping his arms around Viktor's neck.

"My birthday," Viktor said and pecked Yue's lips.

"What?! Why didn't you--?!" Yue exclaimed, panicking because he didn't know and it was already the 1st.

"I don't need a gift, you being with me is enough," Viktor said and kissed Yue more deeply.

Yue kissed back for a bit, he couldn't resist the urge to kiss him at least a little before pulling away.

"Aren't you going to have some sort of huge party? You're a prince..." Yue mumbled.

"It's nothing too big, I'm just turning 23, it's not that special. The people attending are mostly family." Viktor said and licked his lips a little.

"What color do I need to wear...?" Yue asked, blushing as he watched Viktor.

"You don't have to worry about that, I already have a dress ready for you," Viktor said and grinned.

"You already planned this before I even said Yes..." Yue murmured and smiled a little.

"I doubt you would've said no, especially not if I told you it was for my birthday," Viktor said and smiled before kissing Yue again. They kissed until they remembered people were probably waiting for them. Even then they both hesitated to pull away.

"Just go to Russia on the Chinese teleport hub and I'll get you from there," Viktor said and kissed Yue's cheek.

"O-Okay."Yue mumbled, out of breath from their kiss. He quickly put his mask back on and tried to breathe normally.

--

"Did Viktor seriously already seduce him?" Aylin asked Elena through telepathy as Elena stopped her followers from going to the dining room to clean up since Yue and Viktor were still over there.

Elena just smiled in response and let the followers go as she saw Viktor and Yue walking out of the hallway where all of them came from. She had kind of expected Yue and Viktor to come from the follower's hall and be all embarrassed when they were questioned but it seemed like they had more sense than that.

'Good job cleaning up, You almost can't tell you were canoodling in the follower's hall.' Elena teased Viktor through telepathy. Mai said something similar to Yue through telepathy.

'What do you mean almost?' Viktor asked and rolled his eyes.

'Your boy is bright red, anyone with a brain can assume what you did. Oh well, maybe not Andryusha.' Elena responded and glanced at Andrei who had yet to put two and two together.

"Well, I guess we'll see each other in March," Aylin said and waved before she, Lunara, and Erol left through a portal she opened.

Everyone else left soon afterward, with Elena staying a bit longer to keep the portal open for her followers.

--

Yue's followers immediately noticed his red cheeks and were concerned. Did he drink? Did he suddenly catch a cold?

"My Lord? Are you--" Jinghua was cut off by Yue.

"Do you all have anything you really need or want me to do before I leave? I'm leaving on the 4th." Yue asked them and fanned his face a bit, removing his mask.

The followers were all shocked and didn't know what to ask for. They didn't expect him to just make an offer like this.

"...You can think on it more...I'm going to bed," Yue murmured when he saw that they seemed to be out of ideas.

Yue plopped down on his bed not minding the uncomfortable feeling of laying his head down with hair accessories on. He stared up at the moon through the skylight and just listened to the sound of the waterfall outside.

'It's not like all my problems have disappeared but I'm suddenly so happy...' Yue thought and held a pillow to his chest.

He kept imagining him and Viktor together, both wearing Taoist robes in China or both wearing suits in Europe and it all made him so happy but the fear of losing everything as he finally reaches his happiest moment creeps back. He stares at the image of loss that appears as he thinks about what happened the last time he was so happy and somehow this time he doesn't feel depressed.

'I'll protect it with my life this time.'