If only.
Because in reality, the Imperial Crown Prince had never been great at comforting anyone.
And if he were being totally honest, he had been scared shitless the entire time because he wasn’t sure how to deal with people currently experiencing what looked like post-traumatic stress disorder.
He had seen this before, during his time on the frontlines and as he got to know several retired military personnel. But with how common it was for everyone to carry such a burden because of the brutality of their fight for survival, it was usually something they dealt with only after staying alive.
And that was if they managed to survive long enough to even think about their experiences.
After all, the survivors usually had a timer on their lives, just waiting before contamination took what remained of them.
While it was cruel, they had no choice for the longest time.
If they stopped fighting to process their pain, their traumas would only turn into renewed, all-too-real horrors.
And no one wanted that.
So, as if spurred on by the need to keep moving, they learned to push through and keep fighting.
However, Luca was different.
While he’s always been generous, his wife had been stingy when it came to his past. But one thing was obvious to the prince who knew just how enamored Luca was with what corruption translated to.
He wasn’t afraid of that.
Since he had known him. Luca had never been fazed by stronger opponents, natural disaster, tests, pain, and even a full-blown apocalypse.
What had rattled him was something else entirely.
Hurting others. Damaging structures. Imprisonment. Death. And well...money.
That—In different orders, and sometimes, all at once.
It was usually those concerns that by now had become impossible to ignore. Because even when they were spared the gruesome details, they could tell just how horrifying Luca’s past must have been.
And that was how he came up with his last-ditch plan.
Also, because he couldn’t think straight when his own body was reacting to Luca’s anguish.
Yes.
Anguish.
To someone connected to him as deeply as Xavier was, it was obvious that this wasn’t rage.
The energy around Luca wasn’t angry. It was grieving.
And Xavier couldn’t let that continue.
He couldn’t let him grieve and suffer like this. Not alone.
And if he was right, he’d have to convince him that no one was hurt. Moreover, for someone with a past like his, he ought to convince him that no one would be hurt.
Maybe that way, he’ll allow him to enclose the space just long enough for him to calm down.
It wouldn’t be easy. While it hadn’t been confirmed with any test, he was well aware that his wife’s spiritual rating was likely higher than his.
But he had to try.
What he didn’t expect...was for his words to work just like that.
___
Meanwhile, in the fading dark, the little boy in Luca’s arms was still trembling.
Luca could feel it—the pitiful shivers, the way his tiny fingers clung desperately to his shirt, the quiet, broken sobs of someone who had never been comforted before.
And Luca’s own tears slid down his cheeks unnoticed.
Because he didn’t know what else to do.
He didn’t know how to make it better.
The light above them grew brighter now, swirling, cool and steady, like a beacon cutting through a storm.
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