Story Snippet:
He fidgeted with his fingers. "But I-I do not... w-want to do s-such things with y-you."
General Haoran banged his hand on the wall with churning fury. Did this guy actually think that he wanted to do those things with him? The nerve...
General Haoran spared him no further glance as he took to his heel, his black robes fluttering to the stringent tunes of the wind blowing from the open bamboo window. Eerily aware of the increasing distance between both their figures in black, one steadily walking away while another stood forlornly abandoned, the General still didn't stop. Even as his hands that held Fu Lin not seconds ago burned, his legs no longer stilted.
"You're going to walk away, Your Grace?"
General Haoran paid no heed. His footsteps marched across the room as he brushed past the door opening.
"You do not care for me any longer– and that is fine." Fu Lin's voice had a shivering timbre to it. "But you do not care for your country either? You dare betray your country by arbitrarily deciding on something like divorce? How absolutely abhorrent of you, Imperial General!" General Haoran stopped himself.
"Do. Not. Utter. Another. Word," he growled.
"No," he continued, his eyes too gone feral. "I shall not continue to stand by you as you go against your own country–in mind and heart–because you've been of the most honourable character–"
Bang!
Fu Lin's voice was abruptly cut off by the sound of the General banging his fists on the wall nearby. The sound of bones cracking was as crisp as the daylight outside.
"What does my honour have to do with the likes of a Silver Mountaineer?!" General Haoran snarled. "And where does this concern for the enemy suddenly come from? From your heart as a fellow compatriot, perhaps? From the sense of loss you felt at having befriended an equally loyal person like yourself?"
General Haoran suddenly laughed, a deprecating, painful laugh. "If that is the case, you need not worry any further. Because as you've put it, I have already betrayed my country by harbouring love for you–in heart and in mind. I wouldn't mind taking an additional step in betraying my country for divorce because I'm already stained."
The General looked at him. "I am stained by the filth of love. Therefore, you're the last person in this world I want to be heard as 'disloyal' to my country! So don't... just don't..."
Hurt me anymore.
The words he wanted to utter, but unable to hang in the air until he turned his face away and stepped forward.
Behind him, Fu Lin staggered. He couldn't believe this was happening.
"This is not a matter of personal motive," Fu Lin cried. "This is not simply a feud of emotional stalemate between you and me–this involves both Empires. If this was simply about us, I would have let you go long ago..."
Every word stung. It ached. General Haoran felt his hands buzzing from the earlier damage of impact.
"This marriage is the token of peace between the empires." Fu Lin's eyes blazed as he explained. "What would you do if both the countries go into war, on account of this rash divorce you're rushing into?"
The General gazed into nothingness. He waited for some reflection and any sign from Fu Lin that would speak of resistance towards the idea of a divorce from whatever his emotion held regarding the General. But no, it was always the fellowship, comradery and loyalty. Things that the General no longer could understand after coming across his affection for Fu Lin. Whereas Fu Lin worried about everything else except for the General.
General Haoran spoke, his heart slowly coming to terms with the fact that Fu Lin was not for him. "If it is the country you worry about, you need not hold yourself back for it. I shall speak to the Emperor and make way for another peace treaty or arrange some non-bloodshed alternative if the divorce were to take place on account of my desire, right now. I'll make sure Silver Mountain isn't harmed in the aftermath."
He sighed. "So... let me go, alright?"
General Haoran felt tired. Extremely tired of all the weight of these feelings that he had nowhere to vent. He wanted to end things such that he wouldn't cause discomfort to Fu Lin or his country. It seems... he had enough.
He smiled slightly as he looked at Fu Lin, somewhat pained. "If you're worried I'll despise you, please do not worry about such notions. I'm physically rendered incapable of despising you after all."
Saying so, he crossed the threshold of the door, a line he had a hard time crossing for a while now. It was extremely strange... not until a moment ago did he find it inextricably hard to take that one step and yet now he found the action almost effortlessly light. His eyes were clear and void–no longer in turmoil as he headed out. However, he abruptly stopped.
Behind him, a hand had extended at his robe, holding him from moving. "Your Highness?" General Haoran's gaze darkened. "What are you doing?"
No reply greeted the General, only heavy silence. Then with a thud, Fu Lin collapsed on the floor clutching at his robe. General Haoran, astonished beyond bounds by what happened and ruminating that Fu Lin must have fainted due to excessive emotional exhaustion, immediately turned around.
But what met his gaze were Fu Lin's moist, longing eyes.
"Don't... go..."
As soon as he uttered those words, the General, as if somebody set his heart aflame, embraced Fu Lin's frail body on his own. As hotness surged within him, and every trail of skin felt akin to sizzling charcoal, every ounce of clarity in his eyes earlier drained out. Its remnants were the half-lidded, drunken eyes of a man who had dark embers of yearning etched in them.
"Your Highness." He held Fu Lin's face in both his hands. "Why do you not want me to let go? Neither Empire is jeopardised, nor neither is your loyalty blemished in the divorce. You'd hardly ever notice anything if it happened. So then why..." He touched Fu Lin's trembling lashes and whispered, "...Do you insist I not leave you?"
Fu Lin refused to answer. He gazed at the General–his piercing eyes shaking along with his lips, on the verge of spilling forth what shouldn't be physically proclaimed in this lifetime.
He hesitantly bit his lips and nuzzled into the General's neck.
![𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 敵の旦那様 (𝐁𝐋) ✔ [COMPLETE]](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/336608755-64-k654318.jpg)