Green eye monster and sleepless nights {Akagami no Shirayuki-hime}

Only Chapter

It's been a bit more than a year since Sakura and I had gotten married. In a few weeks, it was going to be the first birthday of our sons. I still can't believe how much they had grown in such a little time, not to mention what an incredible big sister Yurika has become. Sakura and I, on our side, had become an unbeatable team, no one could get between us or go against us- we were real partners. But there was still something... off.

I knew that my wife was keeping something very important to me, a big secret. It all began during one of her various nightmares about war, she kept mumbling things under her breath and tossing around the bed. I ended up waking up because of it and tried to wake her up until I realized what she was saying. She kept on repeating the name of my little brother's messenger over and over again while asking him not to leave her. It kind of broke my heart, thinking that she wanted someone else over me.

It all got worse when I began noticing how many times they've disappeared together lately, and how insistent she was that Ethan and Aiden spent time with their uncle Obi. It made me question if they were really my children and if Sakura had had an affair. However, I knew that Sakura would never do that to me, that she really loved me. Not to mention, it was crystal clear that those two were my sons. Those thoughts were only a creation of my jealousy.

But still, that didn't take away the fact that those two were keeping something big from me, and I was going to demand to know what it was. With that thought in my mind, I headed towards our room, determined to not accept no as an answer.

"Love, what are you doing here so early? I thought you had a meeting with Lord Haruka." Sakura commented as soon as I entered our chamber, kissing me afterward. "Did something happen?"

"No, I just had to cancel with him... something else came up." I replied, taking off my cape and crown- this conversation wasn't between the king and queen, but husband and wife. "We need to talk, Sakura." Those words made her smile vanish and a serious expression to take over her face, I hated that but it had to be done or else my jealous thoughts would end up driving me mad. "What is going on between you and Zen's messenger? I know you are hiding something from me and I have the right to know what it is," I demanded firmly.

"I can't get away with anything with you, can I?" She sighed, with a soft smile. "Let's sit, this will take up some time." I was surprised by how willing she was to cooperate, but it also showed how much she valued our marriage. "You've met my mother, you know how she can be... a little too much sometimes."

"A little?" I questioned her, with a raised eyebrow and a teasing smirk- which made her laugh, soon followed by me.

"A lot, she can be a lot for a single man to handle. She had her fair share of affairs, but none of them ended up in the pregnancy of a bastard. My dad, on the other hand, didn't have an affair... he fell in love. Out of jealousy, my mother sent my father's love to be killed. However, the assassin wasn't able to complete the job... at least, not completely. He let the baby she was carrying live and returned him to my father, that's how Obi, my older brother by a few months, was born." I was shocked by her admission.

"Why... why didn't you tell me before?" I had to ask, hurt that she didn't trust me enough to tell me.

"You see, my dad never told anyone about Obi being his, my mother would have killed him as well. So, he kept him close and safe for a long while. However, that didn't stop us from becoming best friends. Obi was being trained to be my guard and future right hand. The day the war broke everything changed, we were being suffocated by how overprotective my dad was being. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without someone following me! In the beginning, we thought it was only me, but one day when we sneaked out for a little while, we returned to my dad going insane, demanding the guards to find his children! That's when we found out the truth about Obi's origin... soon afterward, my mother sent for him to be killed. That's the principal reason why we ran away from the castle and entered the war, I had to get back because I had my responsibilities as a princess... Obi died as the great hero of Japan. He has his own sculpture and everything, my mom was raging with fury but couldn't say anything." She sighed and looked at me, apologizing with her eyes. "I've been keeping this secret for so long that... It kind of became a habit. I never really thought about telling you, it was natural not to tell anyone about it. Being 'dead' is all that's keeping Obi alive, ironic as it is. Sorry, Iz, I never meant to hurt you by not telling you." She apologized, wrapping her arms around my neck to pull me down for a heated kiss.

"That's why you are so insistent with our sons spending time with Obi," I commented, once we broke apart to catch our breath.

"It's that he has lost so much time with Yurika, that I don't want to happen the same with Ethan and Aiden," she replied.

"What about the sneaking you both have been doing?" I continued with my interrogation, I was so lucky that Sakura didn't take it the wrong way and was happy to answer all my questions.

"That's... for us to keep. At least, for now. You'll find out about that soon enough, anyways." She assured me, with a secretive smile on her face. "For now... let's enjoy that you got back from work early," she told me seductively, before guiding me to our bed.

-A few months later-

"So you've been playing matchmaker these last few months?" I asked her, chuckling at how stupid I had behaved.

We were dancing at our sons' first birthday party as we watched the new happy couples enjoy their first time out together as a couple. Mitsuhide and Kiki were a couple I've been waiting to form for a while, the sexual tension between them could have been cut with a knife at how intense it was. Shirayuki and my brother, those I knew that were together, but the announcement of their engagement... that was a big surprise!

"This castle just had so many potential couples, waiting to take the next step, that I couldn't help myself. I just had to bring them together, that way they would be happy much earlier than if we would have let them on their own," she answered.

"What about Lord Haruka and Haki?" I teased her with a knowing look.

"They have a great potential to make each other very happy!" She replied, blushing by my unsaid accusation. I raised an eyebrow, smile widening, not saying a word but still enough to get her nervous. "Ok! Jealousy might have driven me to make sure that your ex-fiancé had her eyes on another man, but they are very good together. Not even you can question that!"

"I wouldn't dare to do that to my own personal Cupid." I replied, bringing her closer for a small kiss- socially accepted, but still romantically enough to tease my fierce wife. "I'm just happy that our children are having a good time."

"I hope they'll still be when I tell them that they are having a little brother or sister." She commented, a big smile on her face and her hands on her belly.

Things are really looking up for us.