“A room for two please,” Yue said in Chinese. There were people in the inn drinking and eating dinner and some of them were drawn to Viktor’s hooded form. Mostly because of his height, they couldn’t really care less if he was hooded or not.

“How many nights?” The innkeeper asked, eyeing Viktor curiously.

“Just one” Yue answered and passed the innkeeper the money in exchange for the key to the room. 

Yue dragged Viktor, who was very curiously looking around, with him to the room. He immediately got down to business and started changing clothes.

“…? Why are you staring at me? You should be changing.” Yue murmured, helping Viktor out when he finished and noticed that Viktor was just staring at him.

“You look very handsome when you dress like this.” Viktor suddenly murmured and Yue huffed with flushed cheeks. He wore a dark blue and black hanfu, it was very clearly masculine but it was slim and relatively simple so he could avoid being seen as they traveled to the temple. 

Viktor’s Hanfu was covered in white and silver so it was much more conspicuous but the sun had already set so Yue wasn’t too worried about being seen, to begin with. He finished helping Viktor and smiled.

“Well, let’s go,” Yue said and pulled on the veiled hat he always wore.

“Alright,” Viktor said and smiled but then watched as Yue paused for a second and then took off his hat and handed it to him.

“Your hair stands out much more than my eyes do.” Yue chuckled and then they went on their way, abandoning the inn.

—

It took a while but they made it near the temple by midnight.

“Certainly a different terrain than my mother’s temple. But the heavy mana is the same.” Viktor murmured. The temple kind of gave him chills, in a good way. It felt like Yue. Everything felt like Yue.

As Yue walked through the forest the plants would react to his presence and flowers would glow to light up the path for them. The entire lake glowed as they approached it.

When they reached the pavilion in the middle of the lake, the two of them paused when they saw the doors of the temple open.

“My lord?” 

Jinghua came out of the temple. For a second she had thought that Viktor was Yue because his face was hidden but then he watched Yue chuckled and noticed his jewel-like eyes in the distance. She quickly walked over to them.

“I’ve returned,” Yue said and smiled while Viktor removed the hat.

“Welcome back, My Lord….Uh…” Jinghua wasn’t sure of how to address Viktor.

“…I’m not sure what would fit..” Yue murmured.

“Your highness?” Jinghua suggested.

“Oh yes, that would work,” Yue said and smiled, Viktor was completely clueless. He knew a few words here and there but there were a lot of missing pieces.

“Come,” Yue said and brought Viktor along.

“Not many people are awake anymore, you can rest from your travels in peace for a while,” Jinghua said with a smile. She could immediately see what Yue and Viktor’s relationship was like.

“Alright, You should go to sleep too, Jinghua,” Yue said and smiled.

“Goodnight,” Viktor said in Chinese, guessing at what Yue had said to Jinghua.

Jinghua was a bit surprised to hear his voice but she smiled and repeated the words back to them.

Viktor kept looking around as Yue led him to his bedroom.

When they entered the bedroom Viktor was surprised by the pearl at first but he managed to look away from it for a second to look around the rest of the room.

“So? What is this huge thing?” Viktor asked.

“This is the dragon’s pearl. It’s hard to explain but it’s like an extension of my body. It takes on some of the “god” tasks like answering prayers and stuff.” Yue explained and patted the pearl as he walked past it and plopped down on the bed. Viktor followed him and was tempted to tap the pearl as well but he sensed Yue looking at him and wondered if he was allowed to. Yue didn’t seem like he was going to warn him not to or anything like that.

“Can I?” Viktor asked, pointing at the pearl.

“As long as you don’t try to swallow— actually that might not be too bad either…” Yue giggled.

‘He’s still 50% human, he wouldn’t be able to handle it in the way you’re thinking of…also you might regret letting him touch that...’ The incarnation in Yue’s head murmured.

“Never mind, don't swallow it,” Yue said after a second.

Viktor raised an eyebrow at Yue’s words.

“How could I swallow it…?” Viktor murmured, placing his hand on the pearl.

“This is like pure condensed power, I wouldn’t be able to compress it into a size I can swallo—…is something wrong?” Viktor asked.

Yue’s face was suddenly bright red and he looked completely spooked.

“Please don’t touch that again,” Yue murmured.

“Huh?” Viktor looked confused, Yue seemed more embarrassed than he did serious and Viktor became curious because of it.

“Why?” Viktor asked.

“B-Because! That’s a part of me and you touching it feels...” Yue murmured and seemed embarrassed.

“…Is that so…?” Viktor lifted his hand off the pearl but slowly in a way that sent a shiver down Yue’s spine.

“Stop teasing,” Yue murmured, trembling a little.

Viktor chuckled and walked over and sat on the bed.

Yue calmed down after a while and then they both started to actually get ready for bed. 

–

 In the Morning Yue woke up immediately when he felt Viktor wake up. Because he was in his own domain, he was pretty hyper-aware of everything going on around him. They briefly cuddled and just waited for the sun to rise a little higher before they finally decided to get out of bed.

“You’re going to be overwhelmed today.” Yue giggled as he watched Viktor get dressed.

“Why is that?” Viktor asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My followers like to talk. A lot. They’re also pretty obsessive…” Yue chuckled.

“Hmm? My mother’s followers are pretty normal, most of them act like any old servant would.” Viktor murmured.

“Yeah well your mother has been with them for a long long time, I only visited my followers for the first time ever recently. Half of the young ones probably thought I didn’t exist until recently.” Yue giggled.

—

“Welcome back my lord!” The followers exclaimed and bowed to Yue as they watched Yue and Viktor enter the dining room.

They specifically greeted Yue but they definitely acknowledged Viktor. They were a bit shocked to see him in the flesh. They were still unsure of what Viktor and Yue’s relationship was like but the way they sat beside each other gave them a hint.

“Your highness, do you prefer food spicy?” Jinghua asked Viktor. Her English wasn’t perfect but Viktor understood her.

“I don’t have a preference. What Yue gets will be fine.” 

Viktor didn’t know a lot of Chinese but Yue had drilled the pronunciations into his head every time he had taught him so he pronounced every word just as Yue would. Jinghua found this endearing, Yue’s dialect was formed from his travels all around China and Asia so it was cute that he had probably unknowingly passed it on to the person he taught Chinese to. The way Viktor refers to Yue by his name also caught the followers a little off guard.

“We should spar later,” Yue said and smiled as he suggested that.

“Alright,” Viktor said and grinned

“I’m stronger here, but you can’t back out okay?” Yue giggled.

Viktor smirked, “Of course not.”

—

Yue looked over the proposal for the teleport pad as he and Viktor walked over to any area where they could spar.

“My lord, where are you headed?” An elder asked as a group of them followed Yue and Viktor around. Viktor and Yue both carried their swords so they were all a little confused.

“We’re going to spar against one another,” Yue explained and casually flipped the pages of what he was reading.

“S-Should we call a medic just in case for his highness?” The elders asked worriedly.

“He’ll be fine, and even if he did get hurt, why would he need a medic? I’m here.” Yue laughed a little as he heard this. The elders had probably never seen Azure Dragon fight and were very concerned for both of them.

The area Yue had selected for them to spar in was an open area on the second floor. It was wide and open enough for them to move comfortably so they both just prepared themselves. It was a bit awkward to be watched but Yue loosened up quickly.

—-

“You held back,” Viktor said and laughed, he was a bit out of breath while Yue seemed perfectly fine.

“Of course! That’s what you do to me!” Yue giggled, “It’s only fair.”

The followers on the other hand looked shocked. Of course, they were amazed by Yue’s ability but they were also surprised that Viktor was unscathed.

“They both had no intention to kill each other and they still displayed incredible power…Their child would be…something completely different.” An elder with glasses said and observed them.

“It’s fascinating to think that we're witnessing this at our age.”

—

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Viktor asked Yue as he wiped his sweat a little. Yue’s cheeks were flushed red.

“Nothing,” Yue murmured and tried to hide his flushed cheeks a little as he glanced at the elders who were whispering.