Yuji's heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic rhythm that echoed the chaos in his mind. The kingdom was in an uproar. Their beloved Prince Megumi was gone. Yuji, his sworn knight and guard, had been the last to see him, and the first to discover his disappearance. He had entered the prince's chambers, expecting to find him lost in thought or simply asleep, only to be met with an empty room and a window wide open, the curtains fluttering like a lost banner in the wind.

The king had sent out search parties, but Yuji couldn't wait for them. He knew Megumi better than anyone. He knew the prince's favorite secluded spots, the places he went to when the weight of his duties became too much to bear. Yuji's intuition pulled him towards the whispering shadows of the nearby forest, a place the prince often visited to find solace in its quiet embrace.

He had been searching for what felt like an eternity, the forest floor a blur of green and brown beneath his boots. Just as despair began to gnaw at him, he saw it. A dark-haired silhouette, illuminated by the soft, ethereal light of the moon filtering through the dense canopy. His breath caught in his throat. It was Megumi. Relief washed over him in a powerful wave, followed by a surge of confusion as he noticed what the prince was doing.

Yuji crept closer, moving with the practiced stealth of a seasoned hunter, careful to stay hidden behind the thick foliage of a thorny bush. As he got nearer, the moonlight revealed a surreal sight. In Megumi's hand, he held a large, glistening piece of meat, and with his other hand, he was stroking the massive, scaly head of a creature Yuji could only describe as a fucking DRAGON. The beast, a magnificent creature with emerald-green scales that shimmered in the moonlight, was not roaring or spewing fire. Instead, it was nuzzling into Megumi's hand, its throat rumbling with what sounded like a contented purr.

Yuji's mind reeled. The kingdom had been gripped by rumors of dragons, creatures of myth and legend, but no one had ever expected to see one. And here was the prince, his prince, calmly feeding and petting it like a stray cat. What the hell was going on? The dragon lowered its head, and Megumi gently scratched it behind the jaw. The dragon's nuzzle became a soft nudge, and it let out a low, crooning sound. Megumi smiled, a small, genuine curve of his lips that Yuji had rarely seen. He was not a captive. He was a friend. The knight watched, dumbfounded, as the prince of the royal kingdom gave a piece of his heart to a beast that was supposed to be a monster. Yuji's mission had shifted. He was no longer just searching for the lost prince. He was trying to figure out how to protect the kingdom's greatest secret, and the heart of the boy he had sworn to protect.