The snow was falling so heavily that the world itself seemed silent, yet Reya' s voice echoed in the chest of the one who never thought he could be wanted for love. Everyone had always sought R either for vengeance or power—even the highest-born royal blood.
"Confess it already," Reya demanded, a dangerous smile curving his lips though his eyes pleaded with desperation. "You' re R. You' re the lost Prince. And you' re also that mischievous boy—Arwain. You' re everything."
A faint chuckle. "Hmph. Sharp as ever."
Reya tightened his grip, arms wrapped fiercely around the smaller body buried beneath layers of down-filled coats. The more the boy struggled, the more Reya' s hunger only claimed him. "You' ve been playing your games again. A whole year of hide-and-seek—did you enjoy torturing me like that? What are you, some kind of sadist?"
"No…" The soft lips finally moved after a long silence. "It wasn' t fun this time. But telling you who I was—it would have been dangerous."
Reya' s teeth clenched, breath burning against cold skin. "Another surgery, then? Did you change your face again because I almost figured it out?"
"…The guilty deserve punishment, don' t they?"
The words stung. His gloved hand caught the boy' s chin, forcing those familiar eyes to meet his. The same gaze, the same soul, flooding back like a storm.
"It' s punishment enough to send me chasing shadows with no clue to follow," Reya hissed. "Do you know how much it hurt? To think I' d rather die after finding you than die never finding you at all." His voice cracked, trembling with a year' s worth of unshed grief. "You made me believe I' d lost you forever."
"Reya…" The boy' s voice shook, fragile as snowflakes dissolving on the wind. "You' re like a hound in heat—driven only by need."
"Wrong," Reya growled, eyes blazing with love twisted into obsession. "When you throw a dog away, it doesn' t fade. It goes mad for its master even more."
His smile bent into something between triumph and delirium, staring as though he could devour the boy whole. R was the only one who had ever made Reya tame as a house dog and feral as a wolf all at once. He was both prey and savior—the one who had offered him warmth, purpose, something beyond the empty days.
Long legs lifted, wrapping tight around Reya' s waist, the smaller frame clinging back as if to anchor them both. Mouths collided. Tongues tangled. The kiss was savage, desperate, dripping with hunger and years of longing. Spit clung and spilled down chins as they clutched and tore at winter coats, bodies pressed hot against the bitter snow.
"…Uhnn—" A muffled moan was swallowed into the kiss. Fingers clawed, gripped, pulled closer, stripping away the last barriers until skin touched skin.
Reya devoured R' s lips again and again, feverishly, his hand kneading the familiar curve of hip, his body shuddering at every remembered contour beneath the changed face. "You think surgery could fool me? I know this body better than a dog knows its master," he whispered hoarsely, sucking at swollen lips until they parted for him.
R whimpered, his own tongue lashing back, fighting, circling, refusing to yield. The storm raged harder, snow piling higher, yet they could only taste fire.
"Thought I wouldn' t recognize you?" Reya' s breath was hot against his mouth. "Even with this face—you' re mine."
Bodies slammed against a nearby tree, gasps stolen between ravenous kisses. Coats slipped, gloves tossed aside. Every movement screamed of fire against frost, of desire sharpened by absence, of love reborn as obsession.
They were unstoppable. Each touch was a flame. Each sound a promise of survival. And when the frenzy finally broke, they lay collapsed in tangled limbs, steam rising from sweat-soaked skin despite the blizzard howling around them.
Reya leaned down, brushing kisses across flushed cheeks, temples, lips raw from their relentless claiming. His chest swelled with something larger than breath, larger than lust. "I thought I' d never find you again." His whisper trembled like a prayer.
Half-lidded eyes looked back at him, glistening in firelight and moonlight alike. R' s face—different, yet unmistakable—was etched with exhaustion and longing. His arms still clung tight as if refusing to ever let go.
"When did you know?" he asked softly.
Reya kissed his bruised lips once more, his answer murmured into them. "When I was trapped in the snow… Even then, death felt less terrifying than the thought of never seeing you again. My mind was full of only you."
R closed his eyes, overwhelmed. "Don' t leave me alone again…"
"…" Reya' s silence held the weight of every vow he' d failed before.
"I love you," R breathed, forehead pressing against Reya' s in the simplest, most fragile confession of his life.
Reya trembled, staring into those familiar eyes that had haunted him for a year. His lips brushed close, voice breaking yet steady. "It isn' t just about me anymore. It' s about you. If you still want me…"
"I do. I love you so much I don' t even know how to contain it. I want to stay. To be happy. With you."
The words pulled a raw smile from Reya, who pressed soft kisses over every finger, lingering at the ring finger as though binding a vow. "You' ve become the most extraordinary thing in my life. More than fate, more than any plan."
"…So what happens now?"
Reya met his eyes, fierce and certain. "In the game, maybe the only way out is to kill everyone in your way and follow the path the creator left. But in life? Even if the program says otherwise—I' ll carve my own exit. And my victory will be this: loving you."
No more words. Only breath shared, hands entwined, bodies pressed close, hearts loud in the hush of snow. For the first time, Reya no longer chased a shadow—he held the real thing, warm and unshakable in his arms.
And nothing, not storm nor vengeance nor fate, could take him away again.