The Prophet Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love! [BL]

“How could he be so close to a woman?! He doesn’t even like women!” Mark exclaimed and grabbed a wine bottle. He had just gotten back to Belarus and he had immediately decided to drink his anger away with a friend.

“His highness has a lady now? I guess your days are numbered, Mark.” A friend of Mark’s laughed as he watched Mark drink more and more wine.

“Why the hell would My days be numbered?! You think she can kill me?! She probably doesn’t even have his majesty’s approval!”  

“And you do?” The friend asked and smirked at Mark.

“I practically do. His majesty personally greets me by name when we see each other. And he had even told me that Vitya was going back to Russia after his expedition.” Mark said with a smug look.

“You don’t think that’s just because he thinks you’re friends?”

“Of course not! He had that awkward pained look as if he’s unhappy about it. There is no way he would be genuinely happy if Vitya had a male partner but I’m sure the Queen is forcing him to be civil about it.” Mark smirked.

“Then don’t you think he’d immediately dispose of you if he found out that Viktor had a woman?” The friend countered. He, like many of Mark’s friends, was very aware that Mark was as irrational as they come so giving him a taste of reality was necessary. The look of pure horror on his face was also quite amusing.

“It’s either the wife or the father, pick your killer.”

“She couldn’t kill me if she tried,” Mark argued, trying to cheer himself up.

“She passed the 1st tier exam. And you failed 3 years In a row. She seems pretty capable to me.” The friend laughed and patted Mark’s back.

“ I won’t tell you to quit, but please acknowledge how terribly this will go if you fail to get the Prince back.” The friend said and poured himself some wine.

“I’m going to win him over anyway!”

—

Mai had Yue and Viktor go to their tent to sleep after Yue explained that the skeletons would probably not be coming back and that the Lich was probably not even in the country anymore. Yue didn’t want to sleep, he knew what sort of bad dreams he would be plagued with if he did. He wrapped himself in his blanket and another blanket that Viktor gave him and just laid down, trying to pretend to sleep so Viktor wouldn’t worry.

He silently agonized over whether he’d rather have nightmares or stay up all night thinking about Li Chaoxiang and decided that the best choice was to stay awake. He had much more control over his thoughts if he was awake. And the idea of reliving what had scarred him in the past was painful enough already.

“Are you okay?” 

Yue was surprised when he heard Viktor’s voice and felt him standing over his cot.

“I-I’m fine,” Yue murmured.

“You don’t seem fine,” Viktor said and turned Yue’s head so he faced him.

“I’m just cold,” Yue murmured and tried to turn back to face away from Viktor.

“...Okay,” Viktor said and pulled Yue up and hugged him from behind. He had him sit in between his legs and rested his chin atop his head.

“I’m warming you up some more so feel free to fall asleep, cry, or just do whatever you want to do,”   Viktor whispered.

“What if I want to punch you?” Yue murmured, he didn’t actually want to punch him, it just slipped out.

“Haha, you can do that if you want, I won’t be mad.” Viktor chuckled.

Yue didn’t say anything in response, he just sat in Viktor’s embrace. He wanted to lean backward and get comfortable but he could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he didn’t want to show Viktor more of his crying face. 

“Viktor.”

“Yes?”

“What core level are you?”

“Peak Palladium, I’ll probably reach Ember by the end of the year.” 

Yue stared at his hands for some time. Just a few hours ago he might’ve been annoyed that Viktor was at a higher core level than him but now he couldn’t help but feel relieved. He knew for a fact that he shattered the legendary core that Li Chaoxiang had when they last fought and he knew that cores higher than even gold were hard to find even for the organization the Lich and Li Chaoxiang were in. If Viktor was about to reach Ember he would be fine against the Lich and probably against Li Chaoxiang as well since his natural core was Platinum level.

He didn’t have to worry about Mai because she had Huy to protect her if necessary so he felt a bit relieved. He then felt guilty because he now had so many classmates and he hadn't even thought of how easily they would die at the hands of his enemies. He sighed and turned his body so his ear was against Viktor’s chest. It was mostly to get more comfortable and to just try to sleep and stop thinking about it he became entranced by Viktor’s heartbeat.

He pulled his head away from Viktor’s chest and looked at him with a concerned look.

“Is your heart not beating?” 

“Huh? Yes, it is.”  Viktor said and tilted his head as Yue grabbed his wrist and started trying to feel his pulse.

“I can’t feel anything…” Yue looked panicked and rushed to try and unbutton Viktor’s shirt to take a listen.  He couldn’t hear Viktor’s heartbeat at all. If that wasn't a bad sign he didn't know what was! 

“I’m fine,” Viktor said, a blush appearing on his cheeks as Yue unbuttoned his shirt. Yue couldn’t hear his heartbeat because of Black Tortoise. 

The 4 beasts had a specific ability that was sort of unique to them, it was usually the only ability they couldn’t hide completely in their human forms. For Yue it was his eyes, for Huy it was his wings, for Aylin it has her claws and for Elena it was her skin in general.  “Black Tortoise’s shell” made Elena’s skin unbreakable. Her skin was unbreakable but after significant damage then a black scute pattern would appear and her skin would become even tougher. 

Viktor and Natasha inherited this ability but more watered-down and Nikolai inherited an even more watered-down version. Viktor and Natasha’s had skin that was tough and thick but it wouldn’t become stronger after significant damage like Elena’s and the scute pattern wouldn’t show unless their skin was broken. Nikolai’s skin could become stronger but only for a short period of time or if Elena specifically used her mana on him. The thickness of Viktor's skin made it so his heartbeat was muffled.

“If you couldn’t hear it before, you can definitely hear it now.” Viktor chuckled and smiled helplessly as he watched Yue’s cheeks glowed bright red as he looked down at Viktor’s exposed chest. Yue took a deep breath and put his head to Viktor’s chest to take a listen. He could hear Viktor’s heartbeat a little now and he felt less worried but now he was just embarrassed.

“S-Sorry…” Yue mumbled and looked away, he had definitely gotten carried away.

“It’s fine,” Viktor laughed and buttoned his shirt back up.

Yue’s face only continued to flush redder and redder. He’d never seen that much of Viktor’s skin and he couldn’t get the image out of his head. He wanted to pretend that he was simply jealous of Viktor’s body but his thoughts were clearly more perverted than that. He was now certain that he wouldn’t have a nightmare if he went to sleep, it was now more likely to be a wet dream.

“You should sleep…” Viktor said and patted Yue’s head and got out of his cot. He figured Yue was no longer worried about whatever he had been thinking of before. He wanted to laugh but the situation had definitely sparked lewd thoughts for him as well.

Yue laid down and actively tried to sleep when Viktor went off to his own cot. He knew there was no point but he tried to ignore the lewd thoughts anyway. 

—

Yue went back to his crestfallen mood in the afternoon. He sat in the private bath in the bathhouse and just looked at the wall for a while. He didn’t know what he should do now. If the Lich knows about him and knows that he’s involved with the class and with the Academy then everyone would be in danger. And if Li Chaoxiang knew...He’d come to ruin what’s left of his life.

Yue was certain that even in his weakened state he could defeat Li Chaoxiang again. After all, if things went wrong, he could always leave this “human” form behind and just transform into a dragon. Li Chaoxiang probably didn’t have a high-level core at the moment so he doubted he’d have to get to that point though. Even the Li Chaoxiang who did have a legendary core lost to  Yue’s human form. Of course, that was when he was both stronger and using more of his power than he ever had so there was still a risk of him losing in a similar situation.

The Lich was also a big problem. He should’ve killed them immediately. It made sense that his senses were screaming at him to kill them. That power was dangerous so he’d probably have to get rid of the Lich before doing anything.

“When I reach the Azure Dragon temple, I’ll focus solely on getting stronger,” Yue said and went to the locker room to get dressed. 

‘When should I leave for China…?’ Yue asked himself as he buttoned his shirt. Just at that moment, Mai walked in to start getting changed as well.

“Mai, when we go back to Academy city, are you leaving for Vietnam immediately?” Yue asked.

“I’m probably waiting a week or two,” Mai replied, “why?”

“I was thinking of leaving after a week or so but I wasn’t sure,” Yue murmured.

“Oh come on,  extend it a little more! So you can be with Viktor for a bit before leaving.” Mai teased and nudged Yue.

“...We’ll see…” Yue murmured and went out of the locker room with red cheeks.

The days passed by quickly now that they didn’t have anything left to fight. The monsters were significantly weaker and far fewer in number. Most of the old monsters seemed to have been coming from the dungeon in Scotland so they had either disappeared or been killed by the raid team.

“Do you think they’ll finish the raid today?” Yue asked Viktor as they sat and looked toward the barrier.

“Probably...I haven’t heard any good or bad news though.” Viktor murmured.

—

“Alexei. You can come. But no one else.” Andrei said and looked over the 5 lords. 

Alexei simply nodded but the other 4 lords were shocked and hesitant.

“Don’t argue. I simply do not require your assistance.” Andrei said and entered the boss room with Alexei.

The dungeon boss appeared in the center of the room. They were shaped like a man with 2 sets of arms and 2 sets of eyes with lilac skin and golden yellow hair. They were about to speak but Andrei cut them off.

“I’m not here for you. I’m here to see Vsevolod.” Andrei said and waved the boss away.

“But you are not the boy in black clothing?” The boss asked, confusion warping their expression. Alexei and Andrei could only assume the boss was quite young since they couldn’t decipher the connection between Viktor and Andrei. 

Alexei wrote that down in a notepad that was in one of his pockets. A ‘young dungeon boss’ was an odd concept and changed the way they viewed dungeon bosses.

“Oh? You also feel like Vik…How odd.” A voice called from nowhere and a figure in white robes appeared.

“Are you his son? You have less of his aura.”  The figure said and disappeared and reappeared closer to Andrei.

“Vikentiy Ivanov...or rather Vikentiy Evanoff is dead. I am the 9th head of the family he created.” Andrei explained. He was a bit taken aback to hear that Viktor had more of Vikentiy’s aura than him though, that would mean that Viktor was already fit to lead the family.

“Hm? Vikentiy died? What kind of mortal was capable of ending his life?” The figure, Vsevolod, raised their voice a bit as they heard that.

“He did it himself. He refused to achieve immortality and allowed himself to die of old age.” Andrei explained.

“Then what of the young man in London? Who is he?” Vsevolod asked.

“He’s my son.”

A barrier suddenly formed around Vsevolod and Andrei. Alexei couldn’t hear or see anything going on inside the barrier so he was stuck just staring at the dungeon boss that was patiently waiting for their conversation to end. The barrier disappeared after a few moments.

“Hmm...I will take my leave for now. I can’t interfere in someone else’s fight.” Vsevolod said and quickly disappeared.

“They’re up to something. From what I know about my ancestors, it likely isn’t a good thing.” Andrei murmured and turned to the dungeon boss that was getting ready to attack him.

“Alexei.”

“On it.” Alexei immediately responded and attacked. Both of them attacked at the same time and in a flash, the boss was completely destroyed and the treasure room opened.

“That was almost too easy…” Alexei murmured.

“The boss was probably actually a young one...Tell everyone to come in, we have to leave as soon as possible I’m taking Viktor back to Russia.” Andrei said and walked toward the treasure room.

“Huh? What about his expedition?” Alexei asked, worried about what Viktor’s reaction to being taken back to Russia so suddenly would be.

“It will end the second they hear the dungeon was cleared. If it doesn’t and there’s an issue they can bring it to me if they dare.” Andrei said and rolled his eyes.

“And If Viktor doesn’t want to go back right now?” Alexei asked, he figured Viktor wanted to spend some time with Yue before leaving for Russia.

“I’m used to doing things he dislikes. I’ll hear his complaints for the rest of the year if necessary. I just need to bring him to the main house.” Andrei responded. He had paused for a second after hearing the question. It was very likely to happen considering his relationship with Viktor so he decided to prepare himself to drag Viktor out of London if necessary.

—

“We cleared the dungeon…Good Luck.”

Viktor was confused by the telepathic message he received from Alexei but he didn’t ask as he saw the raid group appearing in the distance so he planned to go out there and ask in person. 

The 5 lords stopped at the teleport pad as they arrived but Andrei started walking toward him. This only served to annoy Viktor who was planning to walk around him to get for Alexei but decided not to seem rude in front of the other students who were watching them.

“You’re coming to Russia with us now,” Andrei said and grabbed Viktor’s wrist.

“What?! No, I’m not. I’m staying in academy city for two weeks!”

“Hey! Let me go! Father!” Viktor was practically yelling at a brick wall as he was being dragged to the portal no matter what he did. 

Yue got a translation from Mr. Wagner as he watched the situation with a confused look. As he heard the translation he wanted to reach out and grabbed Viktor to keep him there but he couldn’t just do that. It would be best if Viktor went home after all. And it would be best if Yue went to China as soon as possible too.

“You’re not going to try and stop him?!” Mai exclaimed.

“Well...It’s not like he’s leaving forever…” Yue whispered.

“ And don’t you remember from the shapeshifting dungeon? That man is very strong…” Yue murmured and watched Viktor get dragged onto the teleport pad before they teleported away.