~ Heine ~

It's just the two of us now, alone in my room with a soft breeze blowing through the curtains.

'Would you care for a drink?'

'I shouldn't really be drinking with these wounds. And this isn't your office; we don't have your stash of Niederglanzreich white wine on hand.'

'Mm. True.'

He pauses for a moment.

'Say, Heine.'

'Mm?'

'I wanted your advice on something.'

I push my glasses up and look at him over the top of the frames. 'It took you long enough. But if it were advice that you were after, don't you have a council for that, Viktor?'

'Yes, but the audience chamber is in shambles, because a certain someone blew it up.'

'This is why we have national insurance…'

'Yes, yes. Anyway.' He finally stops playing with me and he shifts to speak in my ear, in the fading daylight. 'I'll cut to the chase. The kingdom's next centennial anniversary is coming up.'

And I feel those seven words lock into place, knowing instinctively that they've spelled our fate, whatever that may be.

But right now, we're merely suggesting impossibilities, and we can afford to take those considerations with a grain of salt. 'Thanks for reminding me, Viktor. I'd managed to put it out of my mind?'

He lightly pats me on the head, and I flick his hand away. I still have one good arm and he can't get away with that much. 'I know, sorry,' he says. 'I know the feeling. And thanks for the congratulations and well-wishing for the occasion…'

'Fine. Congratulations to the king and long may he reign. Your point?'

'My point is that I wish we didn't have to think about this, but I'm afraid that we don't have a choice. It's not going to be low-key. Orosz, Fonseine, Romano, and other countries are all going to be involved. Needless to say, I have to rethink our security. More specifically, our security for the princes.'

I cross my arms and stare at the stitching of the quilt, my mind already working overtime. 'What do you wish to do?'

'I think you already know.'

'Mm. You're thinking that regardless of this event, given that the princes were just caught up in a political conspiracy, they're going to need personal security for foreseeable future until we're certain the threat has passed. You're thinking they need new bodyguards.'

He says nothing, and I realise that he doesn't know what to say.

I sigh and shake him by the shoulder. 'Good grief. I'm not made of glass. I know princes need proper protection — and especially more so now that we've found out that a single person can't effectively manage the situation long-term.'

He lightly pokes my cheek. 'No, not made of glass at all. More like diamond or marble. I just didn't want to hurt your feelings. Again,' he adds in a whisper.

Then he straightens, and that emotional vulnerability we shared this morning locks away, behind a royal facade, behind the persona of a king. Yet his eyes are still the same when he looks at me, and his smile isn't a mocked-up fake. 'I confess that I turned to you because you were the only person I could trust. Screening new members of the Royal Guard is a lengthy process, and hiring personal bodyguards is even more so. You were the only person I could turn to at such short notice. But now we have choices. So what do you think?'

I raise an eyebrow. 'I suppose I'm not in the running, then? And I was starting to get into the swing of things, too…'

'You'll be my consultant on the matter and that is all, Heine.'

My lips quirk in a half-smile. 'Yes, Your Majesty.'

He sighs, with a weary smile. 'You just can't stay down, can you?'

'Apparently it's one of my selling points. It's a shame that I already have a job and such over-protective friends — I could have gone into business in the personal protection service.'

It takes Viktor a full good minute to respond. '…You can already joke about it? My word. Case in point.'

He rests a hand on my shoulder and takes a sheaf of papers from his pocket, unfolding them and spreading them flat. 'But enough of that. I've made plans to start screening candidates over the next week, and we'll tell the boys at the nearest opportunity.'

I look at him. 'While I don't think that the princes would want me to return to active service either… you do realise that they're going to kick up a tremendous fuss and boot each and every candidate from the palace and possibly bring the entire matter before the council?'

'I'm well aware. Which is why I'm asking around asking my connections for some… alternate solutions. Rossaine has countless acquaintances in the Fonseinian military, and between his and my connections, we should be able to find a solution before the centennial celebrations in six months. We can make a mess of things now, but we have to have this organised by then.'

'I see… So what now?'

'Now…' Viktor looks out the window, and I hear the click of boots on cobblestones and the familiar cadence of the princes' voices. 'Hmm, let's see: now I have to clean up all the political mess we made this week and I have to try and keep you on bed rest, and… oh, yes — I have to try and convince the princes to accept the fact that they have to take on new personal guards and heaven knows that's going to go over well.'

'Want to try and conquer the Western Continent while you're at it?'

He takes my hand in his, gloved fingers locking together with mine as easily as the mechanisms of an old pocket watch, then gestures in a sweeping brushstroke that encompasses me, his family, this palace, and our kingdom. 'Why would I want to? Everything I already love is right here.'

I once told Viktor that if he could reform our kingdom, I'd do anything to live in a dreamland like that.

And I know. That if I had to do this all over again, that I would do it with pride and honour and go in with guns blazing, with even more ferocity than before.

Because in the face of such happiness, for a friend that I love with all my heart, my burdens feel like the lightest that I could ever be asked to bear.

'And everything I love is right here too.'

And right here, in this palace, with this king and these princes, is exactly where I want to be.

Because I belong here.

The Royal Bodyguard has now concluded...

The End

~ Author's Note ~

After 125K words; 63 chapters; 5 drafts; 9 months of writing; 61 days of uploading — and as of March 2019, 10,000 views (whaaa?!) — we have reached the end of The Royal Bodyguard!

Confetti!

Well… wow — people actually enjoyed this crazy little (massive) caffeine-powered 'bodyguard' pet project! Thank you all for reading! Special thanks are below, but first, an announcement…

* ANNOUNCEMENT *

...

'The Royal Garde du Corps Féminin'

2020

...

Because the The Royal Bodyguard needed a sequel, right? Wrong? Either way — BOOM! — it's happening! But as it will likely be 2020-ish by the time I write, edit, and upload it, I came up with some spinoff projects for the interim…

~ Schedule ~

"The Next Steps" A prequel story for 'The Royal Garde du Corps Féminin.' Changes are coming to the palace, but these princes don't take change lying down and everyone knows it… (Set after the events of 'The Royal Bodyguard') (January 2019)

'Alone Together' follows Heine and Viktor as they escape for a night and return to their old haunts in an attempt to renew their friendship. (Set after the events of 'The Royal Bodyguard' and 'The Next Steps') (One-Shot) (June 2019, TBC)

'Mein Schatz' tells the story behind Rosenberg's becoming Prince Eins' bodyguard. (Set during the events of 'The Royal Bodyguard') (One-Shot) (September 2019, TBC)

'Red Banner' explores how Smerdyakov and Dmytri met, as well as their pasts in Orosz. (Set before the events of 'The Royal Bodyguard') (One-Shot) (December 2019, TBC)

And lastly, the conclusion to the Bodyguard Duology: 'The Royal Garde du Corps Féminin' And let's just say: 'All the king's horses, and all the king's men, won't be enough to save these princes again…' (Coming Soon) (Release Date TBA)

After I've completed the TRB series, I will likely go through it all and edit it, and fine-tune TRB further as I... did not actually outline this story. Shock! And the manga will no doubt give me new information to work with, such as Heine's bombshell of a backstory reveal in Chapter 74 (screams), and Eins' new fiancée in Chapter 76 (screams louder), not to mention that they may actually get around to revealing what's up with the Mystery!Queen at some point, but let's not let canon get in the way of a good story! So anyway, if you ever see a '(Revised)' tag on any TRB stories in the future, you'll know that it may pay to check 'em out again!

...

And this is the point in which I insert a shameless self-plug to follow my profile for notifications when these stories come out… * inserts plug *

~ Follow Electrikitty for more Royal Bodyguard and Royal Tutor stories! ~

(Whew, that was embarrassing. Okay, that's my yearly publicity stunt done…)

Next up on the calendar is 'The Next Steps,' which will also contain more info about 'The Royal Garde du Corps Féminin.' I will also be posting progress updates on the sequel on my profile page as well (outlining, writing, editing, official release date, schedule, and so on).

~ Poll ~

And lastly, I (of course) had to do the works and put up a 'Who Would You Want to Be Your Bodyguard?' poll…

Check it out if you're interested! It will go live on January 1st and run during 2019. I'll put the results up in 'The Royal Garde du Corps Féminin' (I'll give the crowd favourite a little extra screen time or something special in the sequel). Have fun voting!

~ Special Thanks ~

Assorted thanks and gratitudes below (as well as life debts involving copious payment of Zachertorte to certain individuals...)

Thanks to BloodthirstyMajesty, CamoflagedForever, Cheesybeans, DarkSeekeer, Duckreb, Elliariz, FanAnt, Kaykay221335, Kitty Snowdrop, LilFireFox09, Linitiff, Llyria, LovingDreamer, MinnniePizzza, MioDraconis, Miss Anime5260, mochimogalina, planters, Seisuke Seirin, Sendigo, shalom.03, snapelouver, SPAWNOFDARKNESS, starofwater, TheFloatingOreo, Very-Dark-Grey-Kitsune, Xx-ashes2ashes543-xX, and YasumireAirtDark for favouriting. Thank youuu :3

Thanks to DarkSeekeer, duckreb, Elliariz, FanAnt, GreenHoneyTea, Kaykay221335, Kitty Snowdrop, Linitiff, LovingDreamer, MioDraconis, Miss Anime5260, Oceanmist19, planters, Sali-space, Samuraiko, Seisuke Seirin, Sendigo, shalom.03, snapelouver, SPAWNOFDARKNESS, Very-Dark-Grey-Kitsune, and Yona1.0 for literally following Heine and the princes through their extremely lengthy adventure!

Thanks to MinnniePizzza, mochimogalina, planters, Samuraiko, Seisuke Seirin, shalom.03, and Very-Dark-Grey-Kitsune for taking the time to review, I appreciate it! PMs of undying gratitude have been sent :) And a big shoutout to guest reviewers (whom I unfortunately can only reply to here as FFN only lets you message account holders). Literally, you guys are all amazing and I need to thank one particular guest reviewer here because they left over FIFTY reviews and they get a THANK YOU in blockcaps and my undying gratitude until the end of time.

And thanks to everyone who contributed in one way or another to the story itself: FanAnt (medical accuracy, historical information, and weapons consultant), shalom.03 (reader of first-drafts), Samuraiko (writer of thought-provoking reviews and generally amazing all around), and Very-Dark-Grey-Kitsune (proof-reader and cheer squad).

And just 'thank you' to everyone in general. I had a blast writing this, and I hope you had fun reading it. As always, reviews, feedback, criticism, and questions are most welcome. I'd love to hear what you thought, and again, just... thank you so much.

Virtual hugs and kisses to you all; onto the next fic, and tchüss, I'm out of here! -Electrikitty