CHAPTER 354: A NEW DAY HAS COME

[KAWAI]

Tamiko woke up a few hours later, wrapped in Kosta’s caramel scent.

However, even then, the horrors of what he had heard earlier hadn’t left him. He was considering making a run for the palace and hiding for a hundred years or so, just because of the incident with Nana.

He hadn’t been prepared for it in any way, and Tamiko felt like he was about to combust with shame. Embarrassment colored his soft cheeks as he got up, taking in the surroundings.

It was bad enough that he had woken up in Kosta’s nest. Of course, if the situation had been any other way, Tamiko would have been excited, but now, he was just horrified at the thought of what was to come.

His head was swirling with so many questions whose answers he didn’t even seem to have at the moment. It was the one thing that scared him to the core. Was he supposed to announce his presence again? What the fuck was he supposed to do?

"I know you’re awake, young Nakamura! Come down, unless you want me to help you out of that nest!" Nana shouted, and that was all Tamiko needed to hear for him to portal to Kosta’s living room, the horror on his face never leaving.

He wasn’t sure what the fuck he was supposed to say to the woman who had lived longer than he could ever think of. He was scared of the thought that she didn’t approve of him, and for the first time, Tamiko was worried about himself.

He had never gotten to the point of questioning himself or even what he believed in. No one had ever made him wonder what life was like or even what it was all supposed to be like at the end of the day.

But this woman right here had him by the balls even if she was just standing there, smiling toothily at him like this was the best thing that could ever have happened to Tamiko.

This was hell, but was it one that Tamiko wanted to be out of and never come back to?

"I’m here," Tamiko said shakily, struggling to find his confidence as Kosta’s words about the woman coming hit him a little harder than he was ready to accept.

All he had hoped for was a good meeting, and now here he was, standing stiffly like the world was gray and there was never an ounce of color in it, even before this. Perhaps he was right.

This was hell.

This was the kind of hell he would never be able to free himself from.

This was a part of it all and heavens be damned if he survived this, truly.

"So... I heard you when I came in," Nana said.

Tamiko instinctively looked around, trying to focus on anything but the woman who was staring right into his soul. He couldn’t sniff out Kosta, and he wished that his Erasthai was here to save him.

But then again, this was the one person he needed to come to terms with without any weapons and any ranks. This was the only person Kosta considered family and wanted Tamiko to meet.

Of course, a part of Tamiko was certain that this wasn’t how this woman had expected him, but then he had already ruined the first impression. He could only hope that this woman looked at him beyond the crusty little shit that she thought he was.

"I... I’m sorry about that. I don’t know. I’m so sorry. Can we... Can we start over?" Tamiko asked as he cast a spell on himself to make him look a bit more presentable. Of course, he didn’t discard the clothes that Kosta had dressed him in.

If anything, when he cast the spell, he had those clothes in his hands, sniffing desperately like that was the only link between him and his courage right now.

He needed his Kosta beside him, even if this was a battle that demanded that he stand up for both himself and Kosta. Fuck, this was harder than Tamiko had ever imagined possible.

"I’m Tamiko...Kosta’s Erasthai," Tamiko said, hoping that he didn’t have the worst impression stuck on this woman. He needed her to see him as a worthy person of Kosta.

Perhaps it was a tad too long already, but he hoped that she would accept him because, honestly, he wanted to get along with someone that Kosta cared about. Besides, Kosta wouldn’t have brought him here if Kosta didn’t want to introduce him to his life.

"Kosta’s Erasthai?" Nana asked.

Tamiko stared at her defiantly. He knew that she would try to torment him, but he didn’t care. The world could burn for all he cared, and he would still stick to the one identity that meant the world to him.

"Yes. Just his. His Erasthai," Tamiko said, right as Kosta walked in through the door, and it took everything in Tamiko not to run to his Erasthai and breathe him in even more. So, he brought the clothes he had wrapped around his arm to his nose.

"I thought you were the crown prince of Kawai?" Nana asked knowingly.

"I am. But being Kosta’s Erasthai is the only title that mattered yesterday, today, and will always matter first in my life, however long or short it gets," Tamiko said confidently, and Kosta smiled softly.

He was living a dream that he wasn’t even sure had a start or an end. The only thing that was obvious right now was just how obsessively in love Tamiko was with him, and gods, he loved it. He loved that he was loved so fiercely by Tamiko.

"Your father definitely wouldn’t like that response," Nana insisted, as she got up to study Tamiko.

It was almost like she was giving him the chance to run away, to not get any deeper into this. It was tempting, like she didn’t want him for Kosta which was weird seeing as she had walked in while they were fucking each other like rats and deprived souls.

Was there a thing that Nana could say to keep Tamiko away from Kosta?

"No, he wouldn’t. But he knows I would leave everything in an instant for Kosta. If that is what you want me to do so I can be worthy of my Erasthai, then I will do it. Just say the word and watch me leave the world for Kosta.

"If you think I am a spoiled prince who has to work and prove his worth, then I will do it. I will do whatever it takes, as long as it doesn’t end with you taking Kosta from me. Because, respectfully, I will fight you, for him;

"... Even if that is the last thing I do with my life," Tamiko said.

Nana seemed taken aback. She had heard of the things Tamiko had done when Kosta had been kidnapped. She had watched the kingdom be reduced to shambles because of the missing Lycan chief.

Everything had come to a standstill, and the entire kingdom had been repurposed to functioning on finding Kosta and Kosta alone. It was the kind of search party that no one would ever have for their Lycan Chief.

If Kosta had just been another Lycan Chief, the king would have announced him as missing in action or even considered him a prisoner of war and waited for him to be freed. But the king himself had come out of his comfort zone and went to look for Kosta.

That had been the day when Nana had also realized just what her best friend’s brother had been handed. It was the kind that no one would ever be able to explain with words because it was a fiercer kind of love.

A love that would burn down the realm for each other.

It was so easy and yet so dangerous a kind of love.

And that was terrifying yet exciting.

"You’re not good for my nephew, Tamiko. You come with so many troubles. You come with so much weight, so much pressure that he has to deal with. He has to mold himself a thousand different ways just to fit into your little, perfect world.

"That is too strenuous for him, and I’ll be honest, I don’t like it. I know he has told you about the past and the present, so you already know that not even your father will save you from me if you break his heart," Nana warned, and Tamiko smiled happily.

He should have been horrified at the blatant challenge and dangerous declaration. He should have been shaking in his boots like any normal person would have. He should have been trying to find ways to mold himself so that Nana would like him.

And yet here he was smiling at the situation.

"You’re smiling?" Nana asked curiously. She was so used to scaring people, and yet this prince was smiling at her, not in fear or even pride that she was just another subject of his in the kingdom, no.

It was like he had grown another brain cell, and Kosta watched softly as his Erasthai smiled at his sister’s best friend. This was not what he had expected, but a part of him knew that there was nothing that would stand in the way of Tamiko coming to him.

"I am just happy we are on the same page, Nana. I wouldn’t let myself hurt him. And if I break his heart, trust me, that will be the end of my life. Which is why I hope I never have to die first and leave him alone.

"He deserves everything there is to life, and sadness is not something I intend to give him; never..."