Chapter 14: Responsibilities

(Omniscient POV)

Warnings: None

—

"…Can you take over the kingdom for me?"

"Wait, what…?" The lovers stared at each other blankly, dumbstruck by the question posed to them.

"I am serious when I'm asking you son."

The prince and his lover looked at each other hesitantly and awestruck by this news.

"Wait are you serious?" Kaito asked.

The king prompted, "Yes, Kaito I am serious."

Kaito looked down to the floor, feeling as though curiosity was mixed with both bliss and pride. He never thought that he would be able to succeed his father to the throne, but the day has finally come that it was time to prove his worth. Still fazed in confusion he asked, "Why bring this up so suddenly, father?"

"Like I said, son, I'm growing old. This kingdom needs fresh, younger blood to run strong within the branches of this place. With you running it, I believe that you'll be able to man things rightfully and fully as the new king."

"But still…" Kaito was still trying to make sense of how this decision came to this. He knows he's the rightful heir but at the same time it was unbelievable that his father would move into this topic way too soon. As he hesitated, he pardoned himself out. "I need to grab some fresh air. Please excuse me, father."

"Will do."

Kaito got up and walked out of the dining hall, his head looking down towards the ground.

Miku spoke. "I don't know if he's willing to step up to that or not yet, uncle."

The king shrugged. "There he goes again with his personality of his. He just doesn't want to take full responsibility. I actually thought it would be really happy for him to hear this news."

"Well the thing is that he just came back recently so hearing this might have been a shock to him just now."

"That may be the case." The king took a sip of his wine. "By the way, Miku, what do you think of my son?"

Miku froze for a second, realizing that days ago, Len was still around. To ask this so soon was a little unnecessary, but at the same time, the lustful actions committed few hours before dinner was one that made Miku blush slightly. "I think he's very admirable. Why do you ask?"

"Honestly, if you were ever interested, my son would love to have you under his protection!"

Miku followed, "Well, as a childhood friend of his, it'll still be the same as before."

"Only you would be his queen!"

Miku blushed at the idea. To actually assume the role of Kaito's queen is both pleasuring yet potentially laboring. Despite the pleasuring idea, Miku didn't want to uphold something so strenuous. "See, uncle. It's just too sudden to bring up. You're bringing up something like this so soon to me as well puts me in a rut. We're only 18 and we've never had some type of experience in any type of hierarchy."

"Ahh, well. I mean I still think my son is very formidable in filling in my shoes. But still, I'm still curious, what do you think of Kaito? Do you like him?"

"I-I do. Is it not uncommon to like a childhood friend after being with them for so long?"

"Not like that, but as a man."

Miku choked. "Uncle, that's just j-jumping into it a b-bit too unnecessar-"

"Ah, Miku. Just with that stuttering just now, I can tell you have some developed feelings for my son!"

Miku went full blush in embarrassment. "What?! I-I mean, I-I guess, I-I don't k-know. S-s-sure..?" She fidgeted.

"Well no matter. I assumed you guys fostered some feelings towards one another, and at least I can confirm with half of my assumptions." The king smiled as he sipped his wine. "Knowing him, he'll be able to discover who the assassin is. I am sure he still remembers the by-laws of this kingdom regarding the matter and the by-laws that uphold his right to the throne."

"Right…" Miku shrunk in worry.

—

Kaito leaned against the door to the dining hall on the opposite side. For the king to bring up this matter so suddenly caught him so off-guard. Can he really do this to him after murdering Len, the late Commander?

"Heh." Kaito scoffed. He laughed. The things he never thought of wanting actually fell into place right in front of him.

First his princess,

Now the throne.

His throne.

Yet…

—

He recalled the moment of his past as a young child, being homeschooled by a private tutor who was also the king's legal practitioner. Despite being taught at such a young age, his father wanted him to meet basic expectations of that of an heir to the throne. The practitioner had a personalized yet strict curriculum of subjects for Kaito to learn by the time he would turn 12 that were all but not limited to: Royal Etiquette, Basic Arithmetics and English, Amorluxian History and Law, War and Peace Philosophy, Jousting and Swordsmanship, Geography, Logics and Strategic Studies, the list goes on…

One morning, when the king came back from a diplomatic meeting with Verunia, the king decided to teach Kaito about the by-laws of the kingdom.

"Kaito, knowing the bloodline you come from, there are rules to follow in the path to leadership. In addition to these rules, there are also steps that you must take should I step down or be executed for whatever reason."

On the large sheet of paper nailed to the wall, the king wrote in a dark quill's ink 3 lines:

"I. Members of the bloodline are of highest priority for the importance and sake of the Amorluxian throne, unless granted to an individual other than members of the bloodline for any reason. For that, the individual and the succeeding bloodline are then eligible to the throne and and former bloodline are no longer of priority unless that individual grants back power to them otherwise."

"This is the first, most very important by-law you must know when you're in my place later on. That way, you know you represent our family and our name will be honored and treated well. This also talks about the drawbacks in appointing a temporary chief-in-command of the throne in a long absence. You must be cautious and choose wisely of individuals that you want to have in your stay. You cannot trust everyone you're close to entirely, so you must be careful. This applies to when you step down and have someone else in the family take your place." He wrote another law on the sheet as Kaito jotted down the sentences.

"II. The transfer of utmost power and responsibility of the throne and royal bloodline must be done in a manner such that conflict for parties would not arise and in which the agreement is in written records."

"This is self-explanatory as this also goes back to what I said in terms of selecting carefully." Another law was written on the sheet.

"III. If the presiding leader of the throne has been declared dead, the next leader of the nation, who may be a member of the deceased's bloodline or an individual selected in writing by the deceased, is subjected to be the next king of the nation as well as the new chief-in-command of all forces. Word of the deceased leader must be spread across the nation, and the name of the new king of the nation must be announced within the next 24 hours."

"This is also just as important as the first two. Remember your grandfather, King Oliver? By default being in the bloodline, I was up next to the throne whether I was ready for it or not. The next law here will definitely explain what happened with that rebel from back then." He wrote the 4th law along with a list of other conditions to it. Kaito looked at this, feeling as though he's being overloaded with the amount of information he was force-fed.

"IV. Individuals, regardless of bloodline, who are subjected to significant crime, felony, civil acts, or legal violations of any of the following committed in the past will be denied the right to throne and will be given punishment accordingly as follows:

a. Stealing monetary funds or important goods of the public; at least 6 months in prison

b. Non-consensual assault and domestic violence; at least 3 years in prison

c. Murder or assault of citizen or noncitizen; at least 10 years in prison

d. Murder or assault of those of Armorluxian hierarchy, as described in Hierarchical Law I, or royal council as described in Governing Structure Section 110; at least 30 years to life in addition to penalties stated in (c) or death penalty if justified by professional judgment."

"This is very important. If you remember that man who tried to murder my old advisor, Neru, he's been rotting in that hell hole and who knows if he's still alive. And do be careful with this one law especially. Civil wars that break out are very unpopular when it comes to this law. The law in this nation, as a member of the hierarchy especially, is mandate and must be applied coldly and strictly regardless who you are and what your background is. In this case, you mustn't kill your own people and shall not kill your own people in times of turmoil. For someone of the bloodline or royal court to do that… even goes against the name of Amorluxia."

—

Kaito snapped out of his remembrance of the bylaws in shock. That last section of the law was that of what he's committed.

How am I to take responsibility for this action…? Dammit.

Kaito stood in deep thought, formulating plans to avoid being found out of his crimes. Should I just run away with Miku? Should I burn all evidence of the haggard? What if Miku mentions something? What will happen to us?

As questions swamped in his mind, plans have collected together within his conscious mind and a wicked smile grew on his face, his eyes gleamed a darker shade of blue.

"Hehehehehe…!"

—

Hi readers! Thanks for not giving up on this story so far, as it's almost 2017 and I havent updated this since August 2015 lol (Sorry everyone! D:). After many days I finally have the time to write some chapters for both this story and my new story, Change of Touch, which is based on the anime Bungo Stray Dogs. Highly recommend reading this (and watching this anime because it's really good!) and supporting me on that new story as well because the characters I've been writing up have a similar set-up as the characters in this story, but being from an AU of the anime it is, it's a different approach. Please R&R and try a read of Change of Touch! Also, it may be a little sad to say but I may be losing of interest in the Vocaloid series, so if anyone would like to collaborate writing this story to the end, it would be really bomb! PM me if interested. I will be going back to school soon, so keeping up with this will be hard and help will be needed. :)