Wolf King And His Fox Consort [BL]

Chu Yun looked between the two of them with a raised eyebrow, but decided not to comment.

"Well, maybe it\'s a good thing the Wise Prince is here since this matter concerns him as well," he said, taking a seat around the rectangular table near the open windows overlooking the courtyard, the fresh spring breeze rustling the leaves on the flowering pear trees outside.

Lieba Chun and Chu Hean sat opposite him clearly expectant.

"I have reason to believe Ru Long is involved in the assassination attempt against Xiao Zai," he cut his eyes directly to his brother. "Did you know anything about that?"

A flurry of emotions crossed Chu Hean\'s face, he frowned, grimaced, and finally sighed and hung his head.

For a moment Chu Yun feared the worst.

He didn\'t know what he would do if Chu Hean admitted his involvement, or even if he tried to lie to Chu Yun and convince him of Ru Long\'s innocence.

"I didn\'t know, but it doesn\'t surprise me."

A breath that had become lodged in Chu Yun\'s throat escaped in a single exhalation. That wasn\'t reassuring, but it wasn\'t the worst thing he head heard yet.

Chu Hean looked up into Chu Yun\'s eyes, his own clouded by a painful emotion. "One of our biggest disagreements was always over you, and his plans for Zui."

Chu Yun sat up straighter. "How so?"

His brother crossed his arms over the table, looking out the courtyard outside the window and the vibrant colours of spring. The mood outside the room didn\'t match the heavy atmosphere that had settled over them like a cloud loaded with thunder.

"He was always vague on the details, I assume because he didn\'t fully trust me." This was something that he resented, even now. Chu Yun could tell by the knot between his eyebrows and the way his lower lip twitched. "I thought that you didn\'t want the marriage to Xiao Zai for the longest time. I mean...you were so upset about it when you left home."

That felt like a lifetime ago.

Chu Yun could scarcely recognise that person. But he knew that Chu Hean was right. He had gone into the marriage with Xiao Zai like a man facing the gallows. Accepting the inevitability of his fate, but not happy about it.

But by the time Chu Hean turned up it was obvious that was no longer the case.

Even if Chu Yun himself wasn\'t willing to admit his feelings at the time, it should have been obvious to Chu Hean.

"Obviously I came around to it."

Chu Hean snorted. "Yes, I did realise that, once I was already here, but then you were so shitty to me that I just wanted to get back at you." He sighed, looking -- not ashamed necessarily, but perhaps contrite. A distant cousin to shame was perhaps the best Chu Yun could hope for.

Lieba Chun let out a loud snort, breaking the tension. "He has a tendency to resort to dramatic solutions doesn\'t he? Reacts about as well to perceived slights as a cat whose tail was stepped on."

That was a very fair assessment of Chu Hean\'s personality. But then again, Lieba Chun had already showed, at length, that he had become an expert in all things Chu Hean in the time they had known each other.

Chu Hean didn\'t appreciate the analysis quite as much. "You can leave now, I don\'t think this conversation actually concerns you."

He chuckled and turned to face Chu Hean, balancing an elbow on the table and his chin on his open palm. "I was thrown in a cell for over a week, I think it concerns me."

Chu Yun interjected, "I think so too."

Chu Hean glared pointedly first at Lieba Chun and then at Chu Yun.

"Don\'t be offended, I think your violent tendencies and bad temper are very charming," Lieba Chun said, touching Chu Hean\'s protruding wristbone with the tip of a finger.

Chu Hean pulled his hand away as if scalded and glared at him. "Anyway," he turned to Chu Yun, ostensibly ignoring Lieba Chun, although the way he kept touching his wrist gave him away.

"It was both the contract from Harmonious Resonance and Ru Long\'s own ambiguous plans that brought me back the second time around, but my goal back then really was to find a way to get out of the contract, and obviously not kill you."

That Chu Yun believed on account of still drawing breath.

"Ru Long had some kind of personal grudge against the former King, so I guess for a time he was satisfied that it seemed that you and Xiao Zai were working against him."

Chu Yun\'s mind went back to those letters they\'d found in the Second Prince\'s estate. Xiao Zai\'s uncle. The child with the same birthmark as Ru Long.

Yes, he could imagine Ru Long held a grudge.

"He wasn\'t happy to hear he had died, or that Xiao Zai had become king," Chu Hean said, bringing Chu Yun out of his thoughts. "It was around that time that we split. He grew more demanding, started not listening to me...," he drifted off with a pained sigh.

He shook his head, wiping away all traces of sentimentality off of his beautiful face. "I guess I was wrong about him, and the two of us were wrong about each other." He met Chu Yun\'s eyes. "So, no, I wouldn\'t be surprised if he was involved in the attack."

Chu Yun nodded. "Well, I\'m having Minister Hu get in touch in the hope of drawing him here."

Chu Hean was shaking his head before Chu Yun was even done talking. "It won\'t work, he\'s better informed than you think. I wasn\'t the only one who spied for him, just the one he slept with," the resentment was back in his words, "but that\'s exactly why I can draw him here."