{Note:- Readers discretion advised for content that can make you a little uncomfortable. I will mark it with A/N at the beginning and end if you want to skip it}

The Past

Xian let's go of YiJun reluctantly and cleans both of them up.

In silence, Xian dresses YiJun in his royal robes and combs his hair. Placing the royal pin to hold his hair in place, Xian turns YiJun to face him.

"Remember your promise, Jun." Xian sighs before adding, "Now go be the prince you were born to be."

Xiao Xian bows to YiJun in a mock display of respect, and YiJun frowns.

"Awww...Jun, don't pout. Smile. You look beautiful when you smile." Xian says, kissing YiJun's cheek and pushing him out of their hideout.

YiJun keeps turning to look back at his lover till the hideout disappears from his line of sight. Finally, with a desolate look, he squares his shoulders and makes his way to the palace to quietly get ready for the ceremony. He doesn't realize it, but two pairs of eyes follow him from the time he leaves the cottage till he reaches the palace.

Even though the palace would be celebrating a marriage in decades, it looks more like the servants are preparing for a wake. Everything looks perfect on the outside, but the mood inside the palace walls is dark and depressing.

As the wedding time draws closer, the guests start to pour in. The servants show the guests inside, and YiJun's uncle welcomes them.

YiJun sits in his room, waiting. He expects his uncle to call him at any moment. So when there is an abrupt knock on the door, he opens it immediately, expecting it to be a servant or his uncle.

Shock and pain cross YiJun's features when he comes face to face with his lover, bruised, beaten up, and bound.

"Xian!" YiJun exclaims, catching Xian in his arms, breaking his fall.

"Jun, I am sorry. I couldn't get away from them. Sorry," Xian mutters under his breath loud enough only to be heard by YiJun.

The lady who had pushed Xian so ruthlessly says in a high-pitched sarcastic tone, "So, the prince has a lover. Who would have thought that the mighty warrior would be a cut-sleeve!" A menacing laughter follows the words; YiJun grinds his teeth.

The lady is none other than YiJun's future wife. She smirks, and a few guards enter the room. They close all the windows, plunging the room into semi-darkness.

"Your lover is a beautiful man. If I had seen him earlier, I would have planned differently." The princess says, walking closer to Xian and bending down, trying to touch his cheek.

YiJun pulls Xian closer, shielding him from the woman. "Princess! How dare you!?" YiJun bites out, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, my dear future husband, I dare to do more than this." The Princess turns.

"You can't get away with this. The guests have started arriving. Friends and allies will stand with me." YiJun says confidently; the woman laughs again. "Prince, no one will stand with you today. I have made sure of it."

"What have you done?" Fear grips YiJun's heart.

"Nothing. Nothing that you need to concern yourself with; they were useless anyway. After all, our union doesn't depend on them."

'What has she done? What does she mean by union?' YiJun panics internally and holds Xian closer.

"Are you still under the impression that your love story will have a happy ending? If you still think that, then you are a fool."

Anger crosses her face at the possessive way the lovers cling to each other.

"Guards!" She commands, and ten well-built men walk in and snatch Xian from YiJun's arms.

Half of them restrain YiJun, who is struggling.

"Give it up, prince. You are mine now. Struggling will get you nowhere."

She walks closer and cups Wangji's face.

"Now, choose." She orders.

"You can kill me right now," YiJun says, without hesitation.

"Oh, sweetheart, you are mistaken. How can I kill you? You are mine."

The princess laughs again, "I want you to choose between his life and death. If you choose to continue wanting him, I will kill him. But if you choose to end your relationship here and accept me, I will let him live. So my dear future husband, what will you choose?"

The Present

"Uncle Shen, is the body ready?" Wangji asks the tall, good-looking gentleman standing at the door.

"Mn. Everything is ready. Here." Shen says, handing over a dark overcoat and gloves to Wangji.

"Thank you, Uncle." Wangji gives a small courtesy bow to Shen before wearing the overcoat and gloves.

They take the elevator to the P2 floor.

As the door opens, the stench of dried blood hits their senses; both men stiffen for a few seconds before entering a room, which looks like a cross between an operation theater and a morgue.

"YiJun, you know you don't have to do this, right?" Shen says, putting his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

Wangji sighs, "Uncle, how many times have you asked me this very thing? Give up already. I can't let you carry the burden of my sins."

Wangji walks inside and picks up a scalpel from a collection of numerous surgical equipments on display. He looks at the table in the middle of the room. A man's naked torso is visible. Shen follows Wangji inside, but stops as soon as he has taken a few steps inside the room.

"Are you comfortable?" Wangji asks, not coming in the line of sight of the bound man on what looks like an operating table.

"Who are you? What is this place? What do you want from me?" The bound man asks, pulling against the bounds. He winces.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Wangji says, moving closer but still out of the other man's sight.

{A/N for language and content}

"Answer me, asshole!" The man bites out.

Wangji smirks. "Language," he says, walking closer still.

"As for your questions, I never said I wouldn't answer them. Did I now, hm?"

"Then answer me." The man stops struggling and calms down.

"Good boy," Wangji says, ruffling the bound man's hair as if he were a small child.

"I'm someone who is going to fix you. You are at my home, and as for what I want from you, well... " Wangji finally steps in front of the man and leans down to whisper in his ears, "I want to eat you..."

His voice is like honey, but his words are like knives.

The bound man looks up with an innocent smile on his face. "You can take whatever you want from me. Please, fuck me." the man begs.

Wangji remains expressionless for a few seconds.' I need to tone it down a little.' he tells himself.

"Uncle, have you taken care of the other matter?"

"Mn."

"Thank you. Please leave." Wangji's tone is gentle, yet his words sound like a command.

Shen walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.

A few seconds later, there is a scream from behind the closed doors, and then there is silence.

A few minutes later, Wangji walks out, looking as expressionless as ever. The scalpel lays abandoned with the rest of the equipment, with blood dripping from it.

{A/N end of mature content}

Wangji removes his overcoat and gloves and discards it in a bin, before lighting a match and throwing it into the trash.

He watches the fire burn all the evidence of his sins before taking the lift back to his room: where his Xian is waiting for him.

{Note:- Word Count 1239

The past arc has happened roughly 400 ago.

The present arc is happening now.

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Thank you for reading.

Have a nice day.}