[BL] Rules Of Desire: His Majesty's Secret-Chapter 60 - 58: The Weight of a Crown and a Love Unspoken

Chapter 60: Chapter 58: The Weight of a Crown and a Love Unspoken

Kaelith froze.

He hadn’t expected that answer, not from Hale, not in that tone.

His arms slowly loosened from Hale’s waist as if burned by the weight of the words. He stepped back slightly, trying to see Hale’s face more clearly.

"...What did you say?" Kaelith asked, voice low, almost fragile.

Hale turns around. His hands were busy fixing the pillow, but his shoulders were stiff.

"I said yes," Hale replied quietly, his voice flat but trembling. "Maybe I am tired, Kaelith. I’m tired of pretending like none of this affects me."

Kaelith reached out again but stopped himself midair. His chest tightened.

"Hale, we talked about this. You said you understood."

"I did." Hale finally turned to him, eyes glistening. "I said I understood, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. That doesn’t mean I can stand there while you talk about marrying someone else as if I don’t exist."

A long silence stretched between them.

Then Kaelith stepped forward and cupped Hale’s face gently.

"You exist, Hale," he whispered. "You are the only one who ever truly made me feel seen. But I’m a prince, and there are duties I can not run from...

"And what about us?" Hale asked, voice cracking. "What are we, Kaelith?"

Kaelith leaned closer, his forehead resting against Hale’s.

"We’re the truth I keep locked behind duty," he murmured. "And the only thing I wish I could choose freely."

Hale turned sharply, his voice rising with every word as raw emotion cracked through his usual calm.

"So you’ll choose duty while I’m still here? You’ll marry her, lie in her bed, fuck her, and what? Come back to me like I’m some hidden indulgence? Like I’m your secret escape?" His voice broke into bitter laughter. "Do you think it’s that easy, Kaelith?"

Kaelith stood frozen, guilt weighing heavily in his chest. He couldn’t find the words. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Hale kept going, like a dam finally breaking.

"You think I can just turn a blind eye? That I can ignore the image of you with her? That it won’t tear me apart knowing the man I love is with someone else because of some royal vow?" His eyes welled up. "None of this makes sense to me anymore, Kaelith. I thought I could handle it... I tried to. I thought loving you meant enduring anything... but now, it just feels like I’m slowly dying inside."

Kaelith took a step closer. "Hale."

"No." Hale stepped back, eyes fierce. "Don’t touch me. Let me speak."

Kaelith’s lips parted, but he nodded silently, his heart pounding.

"I feel like a mistress, Kaelith. A side piece. A man you’re cheating with while your crown rests on a lie. How would anyone regard a man who sleeps with a man married to a woman? I feel like I’ve been stripped of dignity, reduced to someone who only exists in the dark corners of your life."

His voice trembled, eyes glistening as his hands clenched.

"If I could act like this doesn’t affect me, then believe me, I never loved you. But I do. And because I do... I can’t bear to share you. Not with anyone."

Kaelith felt the words strike like blades, each one cutting deeper than the last.

"I would rather leave," Hale whispered harshly, "than stay and be part of something that destroys me."

Leave.

That single word shattered Kaelith’s calm.

He visibly shook, his chest rising and falling fast. "Hale, no... don’t say that," he pleaded, voice shaking now too. "You’re not leaving me. I’m not letting you."

But Hale was relentless, his pain overflowing now.

"You don’t get to not let me. You don’t get to bind me here while you go and make vows to someone else. You think because you hold me at night, I’ll be okay with watching you build a life with her?"

Kaelith stepped forward, reaching for him gently. "I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to survive what this kingdom expects of me. But you Hale, you are not just some shadow in my life. You’re my light. My heart."

"Then fight for me!" Hale shouted suddenly, voice cracking. "Don’t stand there feeding me sweet words while you prepare a life with another! If I don’t mean enough for you to fight, then let me go!"

Kaelith flinched at the shout. It was the first time Hale had ever raised his voice like that. The air between them turned thick, silent, painful.

Kaelith reached out but stopped. Powerless.

Hale didn’t look back. He finished folding the last of the sheets, wiped his tears with the back of his hand, and slipped out of Kaelith’s hold completely, physically and emotionally. He walked to the bed and collapsed into it, curling on his side.

Then the words echoed in his mind.

"Your greatest pain will no longer come from war... but from love."

And just like that, Kaelith finally understood.

This was the beginning of that prophecy.

Not a sword or betrayal in the court.

But Hale.

The man he loved, the man who might now leave him.

And this time, Kaelith had no weapon to fight back.

Only love.

And that might not be enough.

When Hale finally found a quiet corner hidden from the halls, away from Kaelith, away from the world, his chest caved in under the pressure he had been holding for so long. His back slid down the cold wall as his knees folded, and there, with no one watching, He broke down.

Tears streamed freely. No composure. No restraint. Just raw pain.

He covered his mouth with a shaking hand, trying to silence the sobs that tore through him.

Why did I shout at him like that?

Kaelith’s face, those startled eyes, the way his voice trembled when Hale said he was tired of him, the way he backed off like a wounded animal, it kept flashing before him.

"I hate this," Hale whispered through clenched teeth, "I hate that I’m this jealous. I hate that I hurt him. I hate that this isn’t fair."

He never meant to lash out. Not like that. But the storm inside had been growing, quietly, secretly, with every reminder that Kaelith was still bound to duty and Hale, no matter how much he meant, was not the chosen one.

He clenched his fist into the floor, nails digging into his palm. This wasn’t supposed to be love. This was supposed to be a game. Just a distraction...

But Kaelith changed that.

He touched something I never meant to offer.

Now, the idea of being cast aside, being the man Kaelith sneaks away to after sharing his vows with a woman, was unbearable. It wasn’t just the sex. It was everything.

He was my peace and prince, he needs to obey.

"But I can’t be his option," Hale muttered bitterly. "I can’t be what he comes to after he’s fulfilled his duties with someone else."

The truth was loud now, screaming inside his chest.

He loves him.

And loving him meant it hurt. It meant he could no longer pretend. No longer endure in silence.

He buried his face in his hands as another wave of sobs broke through him.

Now, the idea of Kaelith standing before the kingdom beside another soul, announcing an engagement, claiming duty over desire was enough to tear Hale apart. It wasn’t just the fear of losing him. It was the ache of being the one left in the shadows, the one Kaelith could not choose openly.

He could endure many things, but not being hidden... not being someone Kaelith keeps behind closed doors while the world celebrates a future that doesn’t include him. Shattered him.

He didn’t want to leave.

But he didn’t want to stay just to become a secret either, not after all they had shared.

Kaelith remained inside, sadness weighing heavily on him as he stayed locked away in his chamber. Just as Hale made up his mind to return and fix things between them, he reached Kaelith’s door, only to stop short when he heard another voice from inside. A voice that didn’t belong to him.

It was Elion.

After Hale had left earlier, Elion had come to see Kaelith. But instead of finding the composed prince everyone knew, he found his oldest friend at his absolute worst.

Elion didn’t ask questions. He didn’t pry. He simply crossed the room and wrapped Kaelith in a firm, silent hug. No words were needed, only the comfort of someone who had known him since childhood. And just like that, the walls Kaelith had held up for so long began to crack.

"I’m tired, Elion..." Kaelith’s voice broke, softer than a whisper, his shoulders trembling under the weight of truth he had never dared to speak aloud. "The burden of the kingdom... It’s too much. I can’t do it anymore."

And then he cried.

Kaelith, the prince who had never shed a single tear, not even when his mother passed away, finally broke. As a child, he had mastered the art of holding back. As a royal, he had learned to carry pain in silence. But now, something had hurt him so deeply that even his strongest defenses couldn’t contain it.

Elion held him through it all. Through the quiet sobs, through the gasps for breath, through the release of years of hidden weight.

Only after Kaelith had calmed, after the tears dried and silence settled like a fragile peace, did Elion slowly pull back to look at him.

He studied his friend’s tired face for a moment, then asked gently, "Do you want to talk about him now?"

Kaelith blinked, confused. "Talk about who?" he asked, genuinely caught off guard.

"Hale," Elion replied softly.