Side stories tried to post this in one go but maybe something is wrong not letting me post

There are 2 side stories. One is about the CP and Richard. After they regress, Daphne is completely written out of the story. The CP and Richard's eye meet at the ball and both of them know they've regressed together. The CP walks straight to Richard and in the middle of the ballroom, gets down on one knee, and proposes to Richard. Straight up asks Richard to marry him. Richard laughing, says yes. And the rest of it is them being lovey dovey, doing a lot of hanky panky. Richard is still a smart ass though. He loves talking back to the CP, and the CP matches that spunk with shamelessness. The CP loves showing Richard off, and even says in response to Richard's comment about, "Trying for a child" with, "It will not be from my lack of trying day and night with you."

The last side story is about the emperor and the duke. Long story short, the duke asks the emperor to go out on a boating trip with him. On the trip, he asks to have a sword duel with the emperor. If the emperor wins, he will return the empress back to the emperor. The emperor agrees and fiercely fights the duke. The duke takes it all casually. He actually wants to die by the emperor's hand. As the emperor holds the sword pressed against the duke's neck, the duke confesses that he loves the emperor. The emperor offering a true friendship is not enough to satisfy him. He loves the emperor desperately, to the point that he hates the empress for taking him away, to the point of insanity that he stole the empress' body just so that emperor would give him the time of day. So kill him? Wouldn't that satisfy the emperor's rage and get rid of this bothersome pest? However, the emperor stayed his head. In fact, his hand trembled. He feels if he doesn't kill the duke, he'll regret it, but he also feels that if he kills the duke, he'll also regret the decision. So instead of stabbing the sword into the duke, the emperor drops the sword, grabs the duke by the back of his head and kisses him fiercely. It's an animalistic kiss. Rather than dying by his hand and releasing the duke from his torture, the best punishment is to keep him alive so that they can continuing gnawing each other until death.