The Prince Of Magic

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No, embraced was the wrong word to use.

Instead, it was more like he was being supported by Arturia, who had no choice but to put her arms around him to keep him standing.

'Hmm, it explains the reason why she's avoiding my gaze…' Hadrian mused, observing the way her emerald eyes were looking to the other direction.

Feeling his attention upon her, Arturia glanced at him in the corner of her eyes and spoke.

"You were about to collapse on the floor. I had to catch you." Arturia explained softly.

Then, she broke her gaze away as the color on her cheeks brightened the longer Hadrian stared at her, unconsciously tightening her embrace out of nervousness.

With his heart swelling in fondness and warmth, Hadrian's gaze turned soft and gentle as he memorized the shape of Arturia's beautiful countenance.

'What would I do without you, Saber…? I wonder if we would still meet if the war had not happened. Will you still answer my call? Will you still be my servant?'

Swallowing down his sadness and selfish thoughts, Hadrian let himself focus on the moment.

Still, the former lingered in his heart as he stood up on his own strength to lessen the burden on Arturia, causing her to sigh and slowly put her arms away.

But, to her surprise, Hadrian didn't stepped away from her. Instead, he pulled her closer and returned her embrace, which seemed to honestly catch her off-guard.

"Hadrian, wha–what are you doing?!" Arturia stuttered, her cheeks a bright rosy color now.

He didn't answer her. Instead, he tightened his embrace, making Arturia place her arms beneath his own again to not cause him any discomfort.

When he remained silent for a while, Arturia became concerned. Through their bond, she can feel his melancholy, and she had a feeling that it might be related to her.

Arturia was about to ask him so, but he surprised her once again when he finally spoke.

"Do you…" Hadrian started, whispering softly near her ear. "Do you remember our promise?"

Bright emerald eyes blinked in surprise as Arturia processed those words.

'What's gotten into you…?' She mused, concerned for her Master.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Arturia tried to calm her wildly beating heart as she chose her words carefully.

"Of course, I can never forget that." She answered, lowering her gaze to his beautiful white neck.

Arturia stiffened.

She just realized that she was actually nose-to-nose and staring at her Master's beautiful collarbone for quite a while now, which caused the rosy blush on her cheeks to brighten once more.

The wild thumping of her heart did not help as she felt muscles of his front with her body and contours of his majestic back with her hands.

Arturia was perfectly aware of her Master's insanely attractive features, and she was reminded of it every time of the day.

But, that was in small doses. Today seems to be her (un)lucky day, however.

Hoping that her noisy heart would not be heard, Arturia was beginning to feel a bit faint from all the private and up-close exposure that she was receiving today from her Master.

She was broken out of her musings when Hadrian spoke again.

"That's good to know." He whispered, pulling her closer to him.

While nervous and happy by her Master's bold move, Arturia felt a hint of desperation in his embrace, which concerned her greatly.

"What's wrong?" She asked him gently, unable to resist her silence anymore.

Arturia wanted to know what was going on in her Master's mind, and she cannot exactly remain at ease whenever Hadrian was obviously feeling troubled.

Once again, she was surprised when Hadrian pulled away slightly but moved his face closer to her own. Now, they are facing each other with only an inch distance between them as Hadrian gently rested his forehead upon hers.

'He really does have beautiful eyes…' was the idle thought that flew in her mind as she stared into them.

When he spoke once more, Arturia almost missed his answer.

"I missed you." Hadrian uttered the words in a soft tone, along with a gentle smile.

At the sight of such a beautiful image, Arturia's poor heart took a direct, massive hit.

His soft, tender gaze and the small dimples on his cheeks when he smiled didn't decrease his beauty in her eyes.

Instead, such features amplified his natural aesthetic beauty to the maximum, forcing her to break her gaze away once again, lest she finds herself enraptured by his abnormally strong allure.

'So this is what a charmer is…' Arturia thought dazedly, feeling her heart swell by his comfortable warmth and presence.

Recalling a certain Magus of Flowers in mind, Arturia found no comparison between that man and her Master.

Heck, even his natural scent was making her a bit lightheaded.

'Yes, there is no comparison. Master's more natural at this than that man can ever be. Not that he is consciously trying to beguile me, he is simply genuine with his words and actions.'

As she thought of this, Arturia wondered if that was a good or bad thing as she listened Hadrian continue.

"And…" Here, Hadrian's smile turned melancholic. "I was wondering about…"

"About?" Arturia gently encouraged him.

At this angle, the sadness in his eyes was clear to Arturia when he finally relayed his current troubles to her.

"About whether we would even meet if not for the war." Hadrian finished quietly.

Arturia blinked in surprise, not expecting for her Master to think that deeply and be troubled by the subject.

But then again, it was something that also troubled her from time to time.

While she was happy to have met Hadrian, there were some moments in the past that Arturia wished that they met under a different circ.u.mstance, particularly one that was not involved with bloodshed and war. However, as fate would have it, they met at the start of the war that was unlike any other, and like him, Arturia had no regrets in the end.

She simply wished for them to meet on a more normal setting that does not involved violence.

"I wondered about that myself as well." Arturia admitted quietly, gazing upon him with a sad smile. "But the two of us did meet, and while I would prefer it to be in a different setting, I am still happy to have met you. The vow I made to you then, I do not regret it. I wholly intend to follow through it to the very end, no matter what."

Hearing her words and resolution in them, Hadrian can't help but smile in relief and elation.

It felt like a huge weight was taken off his shoulders the moment he heard her answer, lightening up the shadows lurking inside his heart.

"Stay by my side, with all of yourself sworn unto me?" He repeated her oath, staring at her with imploring eyes.

Arturia smiled, this time in happiness and amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Always." She affirmed in a soft and gentle tone.

Satisfied with her reassurance, Hadrian closed his eyes in content and nuzzled his cheek against hers in comfort, pulling her closer in his embrace.

For her part, Arturia was blushing by her Master's actions, but she didn't pull away from his embrace. Rather, she let herself be moved closer and sighed softly into his neck.

When he turned his head to her slowly, catching the sight of his pink lips, Arturia made a decision.

Feeling something change in the air, Hadrian opened his eyes and noticed that Arturia seemed a bit closer than usual, her striking emerald eyes slowly fluttering close.

His idle observation came to an abrupt halt when a familiar scream pierce through the air, echoing throughout the mansion.

Hadrian and Arturia were jolted into attention, causing their comfortable embrace to break as they both turned to the twin doors in alarm.

"Arturia." Hadrian began, but Arturia already knew what he was about to say.

"I will go first." Arturia turned to him expectantly.

"I'll catch up to you, now go." Hadrian urged her.

After one last smile, Arturia dashed through the twin doors (of which was already opened) and down into the hallway.

Unlike her, Hadrian was not worried, considering as he already checked his links with his retainers and no one seems to be in any danger.

'Probably fooling around…' Hadrian mused with a sigh, silently beckoning for his familiars to come to him.

With Fou settled upon his left shoulder and Ryu on his head, he activated a small portion of his magic circuits and teleported to where Arturia was located, which was in the west wing.

In a flash of white, blue and gold sparks, Hadrian disappeared from the study and reappeared near Arturia, just a few steps away.

Arturia had her back to him, but even from where he was, he can feel the resignation and a bit of annoyance emanating from her.

Curious, Hadrian walked towards her and was about to ask when he saw a peculiar sight before him.

The first that he saw was Charles on the floor, hands and knees flat on the ground, looking like death warmed him over.

Upon closer inspection though, there was a flush on his cheeks and an annoyed glare on his face.

Said glare was currently directed at the two males that were currently laughing like hyenas.

Astolfo was laughing with his hands on knees, almost buckling over.

Kieran was facing the wall, his shoulders shaking as he too tried to control his laughter.

Knowing their personalities, Hadrian had some idea of what happened, but he figured it was better to ask for clarification anyways.

"What is going on here?" He muttered in a deadpan voice.

"Fu ha ha ha, Ch-Charles! He! He!" Astolfo tried to explain, but he ended up laughing as he hold his stomach in pain, leaning against the wall for support.

Kieran didn't bother answer, busy as he was in getting his laughter under control.

Seeing that the two were no help, Hadrian turned his gaze to Charles instead, raising one brow for silent emphasis.

Coincidentally, Arturia copied his action, sans the raised brow.

Feeling their questioning gazes, Charles took a deep breath to calm himself and stood up from his prone position on the floor.

"These two morons…" Charles grounded, gnashing his teeth at the two males before turning back to them as he dusted himself. "– were fooling around instead of helping me search the building! Kieran here, the f.u.c.k.i.n.g shyster that he is, was sneaking around in the darkness and almost scared me to death! Astolfo even recorded the whole damn thing!"

While he already expected it, Hadrian still cannot help but sigh, leveling a deadpan stare upon Astolfo and Kieran.

"Is this true, you two?" Hadrian inquired, subconsciously taking on a firm tone. "I thought I said to you guys to take this seriously."

After a minute or two, Kieran and Astolfo regained their composure, though they still chuckled from time to time.

Although, seeing their liege's reproaching stare made them sobered up quickly from their amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Eh, we were doing that at first, but it was getting boring. Sides, it was damn funny how Charles reacted when we scared him!" Astolfo said cheerfully, laughing at the end.

"I didn't know you had such a… manly scream, Charles. Want to try auditioning for horror movies or something?" Kieran teased, grinning widely.

"Shut up, Kieran!" Charles grounded out, looking quite annoyed and embarrassed. "The f.u.c.k were you doing there anyways, grunting like a moronic zombie?"

"Grunting like a zombie? I was trying to say hello to you." Kieran chuckled, looking unrepentant.

"Oh yeah, creeping around in the darkness and crouching in that corner? You're such a piece of shit, man. I almost shit myself, you know. Never gonna forgive for you that, I hope you're f.u.c.k.i.n.g proud of yourself." Charles grunted.

For his part, Kieran didn't mind being cussed out and merely chuckled at the cheeky retainer's response.

Noticing how Astolfo was still laughing on the other side, Charles got annoyed and had decided to punish the pink-haired servant.

Hadrian and Arturia watched as Charles conjured a few swords overcharged with prana and shot them forward, which landed on either sides of Astolfo's feet.

Unsuspecting to the assault, Astolfo quickly stopped laughing when he then heard the wooden floor creak, hinting that it was breaking. Next, his purple eyes widened comically before he screamed in surprise when he felt the ground beneath his feet gave up a moment later.

The swords disappeared as soon as they did their job, which was creating a man-sized hole around Astolfo's spot.

"Uwaaah!" Astolfo cried out, purple eyes glistening with tears as he tried to hold on.

Luckily, Astolfo managed to catch on to the edge, barely hanging on for dear life.

Hadrian and the others weren't worried for him though.

Astolfo is a servant with a mortal body that was in peak condition, not to mention strong in mind and body. In their point of views, Astolfo can survive almost anything.

Charles and Kieran were simply laughing at the pink-haired retainer's misfortune.

On the other hand, Arturia and Hadrian sighed at the sudden turn of events.

Exasperated, Hadrian turned his head to the window and walked closer to it when he noticed a black smoke rising in the afternoon sky.

'Why do I have a feeling that happened there might be related to me?'

Later on that night, he lamented at the fact that he hated being right sometimes.

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Unbeknownst to them, there is a small spider that was observing Hadrian under the cover of the grass, unmoving and strangely only focused upon him.

Far away in an unknown location, there is someone who was watching the Schweinorg heir through the eyes of the arachnid.

Said someone was sitting on a chair, one hand up and against their right cheek to support their head. Their features were fully hidden, thanks to the absolute darkness that surrounded them.

But, the person wasn't bothered by it. Instead, he/she smiled at the sight of the target in their mind.

"He he, found you, my little holy princeling!"

The smile on their face showed many teeth, sinister in nature, one of which can remind someone of a shark smelling the blood of their prey nearby.

"So innocent and so gorgeous as ever. How I cannot wait to defile you, and make you mine…"

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