Things didn’t get better. Not for a long long time.

“Why are you being like this?!” Arseny yelled, grabbing Viktor’s wrist as Viktor gripped his shoulder, trying to stop him from going to tattle to Anya—or worse, Elena— about everything Mark was doing to him.

“…nothing is going on. If I wanted to stop it I would.” Viktor’s eyes looked dead as he spoke.

“If you still consider us friends, don’t say anything,” Viktor said and pushed through, leaving the room and Arseny behind.

Arseny chewed on his lip, what could he even do about this? At this point, he was sure Viktor was just letting this happen. Not because he wanted it…But as a form of self-harm almost.

—

When his last year at the military came around Viktor wasn’t sure what he would do from then. Maybe he’d finally be free from Mark? …No…it wasn’t that easy. He had done this to himself, he had no choice but to deal with this.

“Go to the magic academy.”

“Huh?” Those were probably the first words Viktor and Andrei exchanged in the last few months.

Viktor hadn’t gotten angry at Andrei in a while. He had been pretty numb for the past few years and except for some blowout fights because of Andrei’s tiptoeing around his sexuality, they’d been on relatively neutral terms.

“I think you’ll find it more entertaining than whatever you might do here,” Andrei said, looking down at his plate.

Viktor felt his blood pressure rising all on its own.

“Wh—“

“It was my idea.” Elena interjected, “And your grandfather’s.”

Viktor looked at his mother and he felt a little calmer.

“…is there really anything they can teach me?” Viktor looked disinterestedly at his food.

“No. Frankly, there’s nothing. But they’re not just lecture-based. They go on expeditions and actually take action within the continent. It’ll be more entertaining than politics.” Elena said and smiled.

Viktor wanted to act uninterested but he was Interested. He agreed.

 Everything generally got a lot better when he did enter the academy.

Mark was rejected from the academy despite his multiple attempts so Viktor didn’t have to deal with his harassment anymore once he started going to the academy. He felt freedom for the first time in a long time and everyone could tell how much happier he was.

Mark still bombarded Viktor with letters and every time Viktor returned to Russia or Belarus from the academy Mark was there. Viktor didn’t let him take advantage of him anymore though. That didn’t stop Mark from trying though and despite how hard Viktor tried to deny it, a lot of people thought of them as lovers. Including Andrei.

-

“Do you hate that Vitya likes men?” Natasha asked.

“…I don’t…I just wish it wasn’t Mark Delov.” Andrei sighed, ”He’s just so…improper. He’s not good enough for Viktor.”

Natasha was pretty surprised to hear that. She had figured that Andrei was homophobic from how dramatic their falling out was a few years ago.

“…have you told Viktor that?”

“I have. Same as always.” Andrei shrugged.

“How did you say it?”

“‘Why Mark Delov of all people?’ That is basically what I said.” Andrei murmured.

“…” Natasha sighed, she could see where his and Viktor’s endless misunderstandings came from.

“He definitely took that as you not liking that he was with a man.” Natasha sighed.

“That’s not what I meant.” Andrei quickly said.

‘You’re not the best with words, Dad…’ Natasha thought to herself.

This misunderstanding of Mark being Viktor’s love lasted a long time and Viktor didn’t refute it because he “didn’t care”. Only people close to him seemed to “know” so he wasn’t bothered by it. He also knew it was of his own doing, he used to be able to just beat up anyone who made him angry but at the military academy, he was in such a depressive state that he just took anything that was thrown at him.

“I think we all just need to talk everything out…” Natasha suggested before leaving the room to find Elena.

Elena and Natasha basically made an intervention for them and made them not face each other as they sat at the dining table.

“Viktor, go ahead. Tell Mom what you told me.”

Viktor felt stupid. He didn’t want to admit to anything. But Natasha wasn’t going to let him go.

“When I was little I saw Father kissing Lady Zhurov. And one of my teachers at the time told me that was adultery and since then I’ve hated Dad because he was hurting you.”

“Lady Zhurov?” Elena raised an eyebrow and squinted her eyes toward Andrei.

“The woman who moved to a different country because of how you shamed her…for kissing a married man—also known as our father.” Natasha explained and Viktor just dropped his gaze to his feet. 

“Viktor couldn’t see you from where he saw the kiss so he assumed you didn’t know and as much as he hated father for doing that…he didn’t want to hurt you so he told no one.” Natasha explained.

“…Wow. That Ivanov gene has gone very far.” Elena chuckled after a minute of silence.

Andrei seemed surprised and his expression became clearly pained as he recalled how old Viktor was when that happened.

This intervention helped. A lot. Andrei also got the chance to properly voice that he didn’t disapprove of his sexuality but he didn’t say anything about Mark. His thought process was that the conversation was going well and he didn’t want to bring any negativity into it.

Of course, this didn’t mean everything was suddenly perfect. Viktor and Andrei were still rough around the edges and generally pretty hostile. The main cause of that was, of course, Mark. Andrei tried to accept Mark as Viktor’s lover and Viktor continued to try and tell people he LOATHED Mark.

Of course, things suddenly changed in Viktor’s last year at the academy.

“Huh? Vitya went to the Paris auction?” Mark asked the maids in the Ivanov manor when he was suddenly told Viktor wasn’t there.

“Instead of coming home to me?!” 

Mark threw a tantrum in the middle of the hallway. It was too late for him to go to the Paris auction. Even if he by chance got access to an auction he didn’t have the money or status to be anywhere near where Viktor would likely be.

He brushed it off— after writing a whiny letter that went unread as all of his letters did— but he didn’t realize that this was the beginning of the end for him.

———

Yue had heard the full story from Viktor and as angry as he was at Mark’s audacity…he knew that this would be more painful for Mark than death.

Throughout the competition—which was an overwhelming win for Arseny—Yue purposefully fanned the fire of his pregnancy rumors. Right in front of Mark’s face—even coyly confirming it.

It was therapeutic almost, watching Mark fall into despair. 

Viktor, on the other hand, felt nervous. He was worried about how Mark would lash out, he seemed to have a sick look in his eyes as he stared at him and while Mark was physically weak—he could still do a lot of damage. Especially if he ever found out Yue was a man.

“Welcome back, Mother.” Viktor and Yue both said and bowed to Elena during the party to celebrate the end of the competition. 

The party was quite crowded as it was held by the royal family and was a celebration of Arseny joining the Lords. Many lords and nobles and common mages were present. 

Yue was still playing up his pregnancy despite not formally announcing anything. And people were definitely talking about it. They were also talking about how Elena was back after a week of missing the competition for business in Russia.

“I’m a little sad that I missed the action but I’m glad the result was favorable.” Elena chuckled, she was surrounded by noblewomen.

“That reminds me, I brought gifts for you two!” She quickly said to Natasha and Yue.

“Oh? You didn’t have to get me anything!” Yue was genuinely surprised, he hadn’t been expecting anything, he actually didn’t know why Elena was in Russia for that week, to begin with.

“I had to. It’s tradition!” Elena giggled and had Anya hand both Yue and Natasha gift boxes. Yue’s was a bit bigger.

Yue was a bit puzzled by this public display but he thanked her and opened the present alongside Natasha after lots of nudging.

He was surprised to see two fluffy white winter coats.

“Aww just like Kolya’s…” Natasha looked at the fur coat in her gift box and cooed.

“Yep! I didn’t tell anyone what I was up to because I wanted Yue to be surprised.” Elena chuckled, putting her hands on Yue’s pink cheeks.

While everyone around them started actually analyzing what the baby-sized coats meant, Yue actually forgot his original plan for the party for a second, staring at the two coats.

“When I became pregnant with Natasha I went hunting and had a coat made for her with the finest fur from my hunt. And every time she outgrows it I have a new one made. I do the same for Viktor and I started doing the same for Nikolai when Natasha was pregnant with him. I wanted to continue the tradition.” Elena chuckled. 

Yue was reminded of the fur coat Viktor had him wear when he first went to Russia at the beginning of the year and then he looked down at his own version of that and as much as he tried not to feel overly mushy about it…It was still so nice to feel like a part of a family.

Not many people heard the explanation of the coats but that was fine. Near the end of the party, Elena and Andrei took the stage with some final statements, Yue and the rest of the royal family — including Anya, Arseny, and Erik– stood beside them.

Yue had regained his confident and coy attitude and looked right at Mark–who had been staring at him and Viktor the whole night with his bloodshot eyes— as Andrei and Elena spoke.

“We are very glad to have everyone come together to celebrate not just our New Lord but also all of the strong mages and knights of Belarus who aspire to protect their people,” Andrei said and raised a glass.

“I hope that Belarus continues on this path and becomes even stronger in the future…so that hopefully, we can soon bring the native Belarusians back to the place where they once called home.”

Andrei finished his speech but shortly after, Elena asked for another toast.

“I would also like a toast to the future of Belarus, I’m very happy to be welcoming not one but two new grandchildren into the family soon. I hope to see you all next week for another separate celebration for that though.” Elena giggled and winked as she raised her glass. 

The toast was barely a toast though, there was so much talking and excitement over the news that only the royals ended up raising their glass.

Yue was a little disappointed that Mark did nothing but stare and Vitor just shook his head a little.

“I know you want to get back at him but we’re better off if he DOESN’T cause a scene,” Viktor said and wrapped his arm around Yue’s waist as they left the ballroom. 

“...Barely.” Yue sighed, “I want him to slip up already.”