I wish you all
𝓐 𝓥𝓔𝓡𝓨 𝓗𝓐𝓟𝓟𝓨 𝓝𝓔𝓦 𝓨𝓔𝓐𝓡!
And I wish to Wang Yibo, to Xiao Zhan, to my bxg fellows, to my AFF moots, the whole 2023 to be #LikeASunshine
 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Luckily Princess Yang Zi didn't question the king's latest decision too much. She accepted without any complaints for the king's best friend and personal guard to become her own guard for the Rose kingdom trip's time, and to take with them  the guard's  new weird pet, watchdog, hunting dog, or whatever that animal was to him. 
She was too thrilled, to care about other than her plans to make Beauty as hers. Too thrilled about her annoying cousin getting sick right before the trip. Therefore,  thank god that he will not be able to  attend the Rose hunting session. And especially thank god that he will not be there for the after-hunting ball, to overshadow in who knows what way her awesomeness.

Liu Hai Kuan didn't have too much time to recover himself from the shocking things that happened to his beloved king that morning, but he was already faced to another shock, even scarier and creepier, at the time the sun went down and the night landed over the Peony kingdom.

He was in the royal bedroom, getting the wolf-king ready for sleep.
After feeding him and bathing his white fur, he tucked him in the blankets, but suddenly the animal jumped down from the bed and started pacing up and down the room.

"Shhht, shhht, what's the matter, did I do something wrong?
Why did you suddenly get so angry? 
Calm down your highness, don't growl like that, people might hear you!"

When Yibo tried to speak to tell Liu Haikuan that he was not angry with him, he could only elicit a loud, prolonged howl that creeped the out of his friend.

Right the next moment, the wolf collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain, and his body started to change.

For a moment the guard hoped that the wolf would change back into his original human form, and the Peony kingdom would get back their king, and he would get back his dear friend.
But instead of that, he ascertained in terror that the white wolf changed in a matter of  only a few minutes, during a painful conversion process, into a dark, huge, scary beast.

His beloved Yibao looked now exactly like the werewolf from an old painting hanging on the walls of the castle's art gallery: a hunchbacked beast, covered in a black, rough fur, and with slight human traces in its figure, but that was making the creature even more scary 
The beast had paralyzed in fear the spy chief with fire arrows launched  from his wild, predator, bloodshot eyes.
Hai Kuan froze on his spot when the teryfing creature started to walk slowly towards him, his long, sharp fangs, stuck out in a creepy grin.
The guard watched in horror the long ominous claws that were keep growing longer and longer from what were once the king's fingers.
When the animal grabbed  his neck, sniffing into the air, Hai Kuan just shut his eyes tightly and told a quick prayer in his mind, preparing to die.
If this was to be his destiny, to die eaten by his best friend, so be it!

But instead of the sound of fangs and claws tearing his flesh, he heard a muffled growl, supposedly to be a whisper in his ear:
"Kuan Kuan, what is happening to me?
Don't be scared, please, I'd never hurt you.
You are everything I have, you are the only one who can help me, in a way or another. 
I don't know what's happening, all I know is that I feel very hungry, even though you fed me a couple of minutes ago.
Something inside me, tells me to bite your neck, but my brain is still working properly, thank god.
I feel hungry for fresh meat, for raw meat.
Kuan Kuan, seems like being a white wolf was a blessing, now that I became this terrifying beast. 
I need to eat something alive, and I don't want to become a killer. 
I think that the best thing to do right now is for you to just take my life away, what is the point of living this kind of life, anyway?!"

"No, my king, my beloved Yibao, don't say this kind of nonsense!
This world needs you, your job here on earth is not over yet, you have many things to do ahead!
I need you, Peony kingdom needs you, Yang Zi needs you, our neighbor kingdom needs you, and don't forget about Beauty, he  is in a big need for your protection, he needs your love to keep him safe!
God needs you here in this world, I'm sure god has many plans ahead with you, you can't die!
Please, keep the faith, you told me that we'll go through this, and I deeply believe in your words!
I promise my king that I will do anything in my power to find a solution for ending this nightmare! 
For now I will go and bring you something to eat, a chicken, a rabbit or something, and after that we will think about a plan."

After a sleepless night, both, Yibo and Hai Kuan, got overly surprised when at the first hour of the morning, right before the travel was scheduled to start, the black beast started to convert back into the white wolf form.

When Liu Haikuan placed the wolf in the cage prepared for the travel, the king spoke to him for the last time on that day:
"Kuan Kuan, I think I should tell the Peony's subjects the truth about their king, they don't deserve to be lied like this. 
And maybe I should name another leader to replace me in the Peony's throne. 
Sadly ZiZi is a woman and she is not allowed to replace me, according to the sacred will.
But maybe if she would marry a suitable person, I could name her husband to be the king of Peony, at least until their male child would reach the right age to become the king.
As much as it would pain me, hmmm...Prince Xiao Zhan would be the most fitting for this position, don't you think? 
But let's solve first the Rose kingdom issue, and we will think about what to do next, after coming back. 
I can't concentrate and take the right decisions as long as Beauty's life is in danger. 
I want him safe, before anything."

The travel was long and tiring, but at least it took only one day.

It was still daylight when they arrived at Rose's royal castle.
Wow, what a huge and impressive castle!
Each guest delegation of the neighboring countries was provided a separate royal suite consisting of a main bedroom plus a few smaller rooms for their servants...And the royal guests were present in a pretty consistent number!

It was pretty hard for the spy chief to convince the Rose's staff, in charge with the accommodation of the guests, to not place his pet in the animal stable, specially arranged for the dogs that will be used for the hunting session.
He was finally allowed to take the cage inside his room.

After checking out if everything was alright with Princess Yang Zi, and after inspecting the room she will sleep in from any possible spying traps, he freed the wolf-king from his cage:
"I'm sorry for your highness that you will be forced to  stay in a humble servant room, instead of a royal bedroom.
But at least the room has attached its own private bathroom, and the bed looks pretty comfortable.
They said that we are invited for dinner in an hour, so I will pack and bring you some food from what they will serve there. 
But if you're hungry now, I could look now for something to eat for you.
You could take some rest until I'm back."

"No need Kuan Kuan. 
I'm not that hungry right now, I will only drink some water and I will eat when you come back from dinner.
Thank god that nothing went wrong so far: ZiZi suspects nothing and they didn't take me to the dog's stable. Who knows what could have happened?
But the most I'm glad that I didn't change during the trip into that creepy creature...Oh my god, why did that happen? I hope it will never happen again!
And my dear friend, do not worry about the room, everything is perfect, the bed is big enough for both of us to sleep comfortably, only if you are not bothered to share your bed with an animal."

"How can you say something like that, your highness?
First of all, I don't see you anymore as an animal, you are my same brave, smart, handsome king.
Your personality, your voice, and especially your kind eyes don't belong to a wolf, but to  Wang Yibo, the king of Peony, and to Yibao, my beloved best friend.
But it wouldn't be proper for a servant to share his sleeping with the king, therefore I will make myself a nice, comfortable bed, there on the floor. There are plenty of pillows and blankets here.", Haikuan said, starting to work at the said bed.

But he stopped in the track when the wolf growled:
"Stop it, Liu Haikuan! 
Before being your king, I am your best friend.
Besides, nobody will ever know that you break the royal protocol, by sleeping in the same bed with the king.
Oh, until it does not slip out of my mind: be very careful, not to call me your highness, or Yibao, or whatever, near anyone.
We should pick a name for your dog pet.
Hmmm, what name, what name...? I know! 
Beast would be a perfect name for a hunting dog that we  must pretend that your wolf pet is.
Also Beast is the perfect name for me, considering...
Kuan Kuan, I hope you don't start crying on me now, we need a bit of sense of humor here, to ease this nightmare we are living in, ha, ha.
Now smile and  go get prepared yourself for the dinner.
And Kuan, I know I can count on you to keep your eyes and ears wide opened at anything that could lead against the Rose royal family's safety, or ZiZi's safety...And of course against Beauty's safety.
Even though I don't think that the enemies would try something during the dinner.
There are more chances to happen during the hunting, but at least at the hunting time I will be there, too." 

~Prince Beauty's POV:

Oh, God, why do you hate me so much?
Like my life was not being miserable enough  with all this nightmare: my father's stubborn plan and imperial firm order to get myself a wife!
Like, I will not be forced to participate tomorrow in something I hate the most: chasing and cold-blooded killing some terrified, innocent animals!
Now, also, my only, little ray of joy I dared to dream at, was taken away from me!
I hoped that before accepting my empty, unhappy destiny, I hoped to see one last time that pair of deep, dark eyes that I could never forget, since four years ago...
Woah, I can't believe there are already four years passed...He must be now such a gorgeous grown-up man!
But God, you must hate me a lot, because you sent sickness to the owner of those eyes, preventing me from meeting him again...I wanted so much to have the chance to apologize, to confess him the truth and to take goodbye from him, forever!

I was feeling so down, after being informed that the Peony's royal family is represented only by the princess Yang Zi.
I couldn't eat anything during the official dinner, but nevertheless I did