“If we continue on this path we’ll bump into Mark Delov.” Anya suddenly said to Yue and Mai. They had been walking back to Yue’s changing room after lunch.

“You’re probably tired from this morning…we should just change directions...” Mai suggested. Yue had been awoken at dawn for what he could only imagine was the standard procedure for events like these. The day before had also been pretty rough with all the preparations but at least he got to sleep in. 

The preparations were like a spa day. From hell. He’d probably been bathed four times and had skincare products applied thrice. And it was only around noon.

But that wasn’t enough to make Yue back down from this confrontation with Mark. It honestly made him feel like it was the best time for it. He wasn’t sure that it’d be a confrontation at all though, he wasn’t really interested in speaking to him but he was curious about what Mark would have to say.

“No. Let’s continue.” Yue said and smiled a little.

“Are you sure?” Mai asked.

Yue just nodded and continued walking. Sure enough, just as Anya said, Mark Delov appeared at the end of the hallway they were walking through. He stopped in his tracks upon noticing them. Anya bowed slightly and Mai just glanced at Yue and followed what he did. Yue kept walking, completely unfazed.

Mark’s anger was clear on his face, he wanted to just curse Yue out but he knew Anya wouldn’t allow that. He didn’t just stay silent though. Just as Yue was going to walk past him he spoke.

“Don’t think you’ve won,” Mark said through gritted teeth.

Yue stopped walking and just smiled. Mai turned to Anya, curious about what Mark had said. Anya quietly translated and Mai sent a glare to Mark upon hearing it.

“What is there for me to win?” Yue asked coyly.

Mark turned around to him, he was sure Yue was trying to embarrass him by making him say that they were love rivals.

“Were we competing for something? Hmm…I don’t really recall that…” Yue murmured, acting like he was thinking deeply about what they were competing over.

Mark was seething at this point and Mai was just grinning as she watched this play out.

“Viktor’s been mine this whole time so I guess it’s not him that we’re competing for,” Yue said and sighed.

“IF HE’S BEEN YOURS THIS WHOLE TIME THEN WHY DID HE--” Mark Yelled.

“Are you sure you wanna try and brag about that?” Anya interrupted, stepping in front of Yue. Yue silently thanked her, if he had finished his word Yue was sure he would’ve torn him apart with his bare hands.

Mark was appalled that Anya spoke to him like that, why was she on Yue’s side? Why wasn’t she on his side? Anya always spoke to him respectfully in the past but now she was suddenly siding with this witch who appeared from nowhere. Witch...Ah yes, that must be it.

“She must’ve--”

“Ah, I’m going to be late… Hey, Delov.” Yue sighed, glancing at Mark.

“When I marry Viktor, I’ll definitely kill you. So do your best to stay out of my sight until then alright~?”  Yue said and rolled his eyes before motioning for Mai and Anya to come with him.

Mark stood there for a while, absolutely baffled.

--

“That was quite satisfying,” Mai said and laughed.

“Not really. I was hoping to completely end his argument but he definitely doesn’t know what he’s done wrong.” Yue sighed as he entered his changing room and began to get prepared for the party.

“Hmm? Who are you talking about?” 

Yue turned to the door where Natasha suddenly entered.

“Mark Delov,” Yue said and Natasha’s face twisted.

“We met him in the hallway just now, he seems to have slipped out of the areas that visiting nobles are allowed in,” Mai explained.

“That guy… I don’t know why Viktor doesn’t just let me do something about him.” Natasha sighed as she sat down next to Mai on a sofa near Yue.

“Don’t worry about it, Viktor won’t stop me from dealing with him,” Yue said and sighed.

“Oh, that’s good then.”

--

“Yue and Mark met..?” Viktor asked.

“Yes, according to Miss Anya they didn’t fight but they did exchange some words.” A servant explained to Viktor.

“Well, that’s good...I don’t want Yue to get his hands dirty on a day like this.” Viktor murmured and waved the servant away.

Viktor wasn’t going through the same preparation as Yue, he was mostly just working on paperwork and reading through letters from people who couldn’t attend the party. He couldn’t concentrate with the servants around so he sent them out and told them they could finish their preparations at night.

The murmur he heard when he was around people hadn’t stopped but it hadn’t gotten louder so he wasn’t too worried about it. He would be next to Yue throughout the whole party so he wasn’t too worried about the noise. During the pact ceremony, he was just fine as long as he was beside Yue. He planned on speaking to his father about it the day after the party. He wanted to see his reaction before deciding whether or not to tell Yue. He didn’t want Yue to be worried at a time like this. He also just didn’t want this to be a sign that he’s getting worse.

“My Lord! You can’t go in the--!” A servant exclaimed as the door to Viktor’s office slammed open. 

Viktor winced as a loud murmur suddenly became all that he could hear. He glared at Mark and then at the servant.

“Out.”

The servant immediately panicked and tried to pull Mark back before he made Viktor angrier but Mark stood his ground.

Whatever Mark was saying, Viktor couldn’t hear it. The murmur was so loud, it wasn’t louder than Mark’s voice but it was the only thing he could focus on. The murmur stopped as Viktor stood up and walked over to Mark. Perhaps it’s because Viktor’s expression softened when the murmurs stopped but Mark was smiling expectantly, thinking Viktor had actually listened to him. The servant fell to his knees as Viktor walked over, profusely apologizing for not covering Mark’s mouth.

“You rude little-!” Mark was going to berate the servant for saying that he should’ve covered his mouth but he was caught off guard when Viktor suddenly put his hand on his chest.

“V-Vitya?” He asked with red cheeks. He smiled a little and was going to get closer but he suddenly felt himself being pushed back lightly.

“Huh?”

Viktor moved him out of the room and motioned for the servant to leave as well while Mark tried to understand what was happening. Viktor then closed the door and both locked it and placed a magic barrier on it.

He sat back down at his desk and groaned, he could hear the murmuring again through the door. 

---

Yue tried not to show his nerves as his hair was being styled. He was fiddling with his ring and glancing at the door. He had hoped that Viktor would come soon but almost every time the door opened it was just another servant or maid.

Just as he was about to sigh, the door opened once more. It wasn’t Viktor though.

Mai and Huy walked through the door and Yue brightened up a little. They both wore clothes decorated with intricate bird embroidery to symbolize that they were a part of the vermillion bird temple.

“It’s been a while,” Yue said and grinned as he watched Huy and Mai. 

“It has,” Huy chuckled, “Congratulations on your engagement.” 

“Thank you,” Yue said and tried not to move his head too much for the sake of the maids doing his hair.

They talked a little about graduation and Mai and Huy’s upcoming wedding before the door opened and more guests arrived.

Aylin and Elena came in and suddenly it was an unintentional meeting of the four.

“Oh, Well it’s good that we all ended up together.” Elena chuckled as she entered with Aylin.

“I know some of you don’t know Russian but don’t worry about it, just stay with us during the party and you’ll be fine. If anyone bothers you just tell us as well.” Elena explained and smiled.

“Got it,” Mai said and smiled.

“It’s almost time, We’ll leave you to finish getting ready,” Huy said and left with Mai and Aylin.

Shortly after they left there was another knock on the door and a maid went to open it. Viktor and Andrei were at the door.

“Aww, you both look great!” Elena exclaimed and smiled.

“Are you both ready?” Andrei asked, watching as Viktor walked over to Yue immediately.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Yue said and stood up, locking arms with Viktor.

“I’m ready but Anya hasn’t-- never mind,” Elena said as she looked to the door and saw Anya waiting there. Elena wore a black dress with silver designs covering it while Anya wore a similar dress with inverted colors and a shawl with the black tortoise temple insignia on it. She was representing the black tortoise temple today alongside Elena.

“Let’s begin,” Andrei said.

--

Mai frowned as she watched Mark whispering around with the people at the party.

“I bet he’s spreading rumors about Yue.” She murmured to Huy and frowned.

“Don’t worry, they’ll deal with it,” Huy said as he heard the music start to change.

Elena and Andrei entered the room and stood at the center landing of the large imperial staircase in the front of the ballroom. Anya had quietly entered the room from the other entrance and stood near Aylin.

“Thank you all for coming to this joyous occasion. We are overjoyed to congratulate our son on his engagement and to welcome a new person to the family.” Andrei said to all of the guests with a small smile. His message was short but that wasn’t unusual for him.

Elena had a bit more to say, “I understand that many of you are concerned that my son is marrying someone who you all don’t know but I can assure you there is no need to be worried. As a fellow saintess, I hold Yue very dear to my heart and I am very happy to have her join my family. The only worry I have would be that my son might not be worthy of her.” 

Elena laughed and many of the guests became confused. Murmurs of the word ‘saintess’ could be heard from all around the ballroom.

Elena finished her little speech and a servant announced Viktor and Yue’s entrance.

“His Royal Highness Prince Viktor and Her Holiness Yue of the Azure Dragon Temple,” 

Yue felt a little shy as he entered the ballroom with Viktor but it didn’t show on his face. Elena and Andrei raised their glasses to offer a toast to them and the other guests took a second before joining them.

Mark stood in disbelief, “How could a witch like her--”

He was cut off when someone grabbed his hand and made him raise his glass, he was tempted to curse at them but he realized it was his brother and kept his mouth shut and looked down.

“Are you done?” Leonid asked, glancing at Mark from the corner of his eye. 

Yue and Viktor were handed glasses of wine so they could join in on the toast.

“Stop embarrassing yourself already.”  He said and took a sip of his drink like everyone else did when the toast ended.

Natasha, Alexei, and Nikolai walked up to be with the rest of the family as the party started back up again.

“Now you just enjoy the rest of the night. It’s official now.” Natasha said to Yue and grinned.

“You look very pretty auntie,” Nikolai said to Yue with a smile and Yue became a bit flustered.

“T-Thank you.” Yue stuttered.

Natasha and Elena chuckled as they watched the exchange and Viktor just smiled. After they talked for a while the first dance started and Viktor held his hand out to Yue.

“I’m still not very good,” Yue whispered as he took Viktor’s hand.

“It’s fine.” Viktor chuckled.

They chatted quietly as they danced.

“It all went well it seems,” Viktor said and smiled.

“Yeah, much better than I anticipated,” Yue murmured, glancing at Mark who was watching them from the crowd, clearly upset but not doing anything.

“Are you happy?” Viktor asked.

Yue turned back to look at him and smiled brightly, “Very happy.”

“Good,” Viktor murmured and smiled, “That’s all that matters to me.”

“... I love you,” Yue whispered. Viktor was a little surprised that Viktor suddenly said it Russian but he didn’t falter.

“I love you.”  He matched Yue saying it in Chinese. Yue just smiled in response.

-

“This the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time,” Elena whispered to Andrei as they watched Viktor and Yue.

Andrei stayed silent for a while.

“...I’ll save him. Don’t worry.”