Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

At some point in the course of the universe, something shifted in the opposite direction of what it was intended. All of the conditions were perfect for Seungmin and Hyunjin to turn into tragic heroes heard only in the fairytales. 

Seungmin was an orphan, left on the steps of the castle, taken in by the royal family as a playmate to their youngest son, the Crown Prince. He was the first human magic-welder in a hundred years, said to have great power. He was The Chosen One. 

Hyunjin was the Crown Prince, known for having the most beautiful face in all the land. There was a prophecy made on the day of his birth. According to the witch who spoke of the prophecy, Hyunjin would be the key to bringing lasting peace to the land. Through true love, of course.

Seungmin, based on his backstory, should snap at one point and turn on his best friend, the prince. And Hyunjin, based on his backstory, should eventually be able to find true love and use it to defeat the evil, powerful sorcerer that Seungmin should turn into.

And, of course, all of this should happen on someone’s sixteenth birthday, though no one could ever decide if it would be Hyunjin’s or Seungmin’s, since they were the same age. The entire kingdom went into a twenty-four-hour period of terror around both of their birthdays, expecting some catastrophic event.

(By the way, no one outside of the royal family was supposed to know about the prophecy, but in this Northern Kingdom, that loosely translated to everyone outside the royal family knowing about the prophecy)

Regardless, both sixteenth birthdays came and went, and there were no dramatic betrayals or sudden true love’s first kiss (though a good chunk of the kingdom had a theory that the two of them would end up kissing each other and wreck havoc that way). Seungmin and Hyunjin were as thick as thieves and about as normal as all other teenagers in the land.

That was extremely unfortunate, because the two of them were mischievous pranksters who preferred to ignore authority and do whatever they pleased. 

This summer, though, they were about to pull their biggest trick yet. 

You see, the king and the queen planned to marry Hyunjin off to the princess of the Southern Kingdom. It was supposed to be a surprise so Hyunjin wouldn’t resist it, but the two of them had discovered the network of secret passageways within the castle and had secretly been listening in on almost every single conversation made in the throne room for years. 

“Oooh, you think this will be the beginning of the prophecy?” Hyunjin had widened his eyes in mockery at Seungmin, then rolled his eyes. “What a joke. Like I’ll ever fall in love with a princess.”

“That’s okay, you can just ignore her and do whatever you want,” Seungmin had said. “Besides, arranged marriages aren’t done out of love anyway.”

Hyunjin had just shrugged it off before saying, “Wanna pretend to be ghosts in the walls and freak out the staff?”

Now, however, they both stood on one of the balconies, overlooking the streams of staff making trip after trip in and out of the castle, loading up everything they would need for the next three months into the train of carriages parked out front. Seungmin felt a bit of remorse for the staff who had to carry both his and Hyunjin’s trunks, since Seungmin had tried to pack light but had gotten carried away with all the books he wanted to take (summer meant leisure reading time) and Hyunjin was…Hyunjin. He practically packed his entire room into five trunks. Maybe they could hide themselves in the trunks and ship themselves back to the Northern Kingdom to avoid the princess of the Southern Kingdom.

That was hardly realistic, though.

“Maybe we can figure out a way to get rid of her,” Seungmin said.

Hyunjin turned to arch an eyebrow at him, his eyes narrowed against the sunlight. 

Seungmin shrugged. “Just a thought. What if you were so disgusting and obnoxious and rude to her that she had no choice but to go to her father and demand an end to the engagement?”

“You know I can’t act mean to save my life,” Hyunjin said with a sigh. “I can’t be blatantly rude to someone. It makes me feel so awful afterwards. Like I’m dying inside. Not to mention how I relive those moments for years.”

“It’s not that hard,” Seungmin said, shrugging. “You just have to not care.”

“Easy for you to say—you don’t have to care what people think about you.” 

Well, Seungmin did have to worry, because one wrong step meant that he really was as evil as everyone expected him to be, but he didn’t tell Hyunjin that. 

“If I could do it for you, I would,” Seungmin said.

Hyunjin gave him a grateful smile before facing forward again. Seungmin faced forward as well, and the two of them went back to watching the staff load the carriages.

Several moments passed before both of their eyes widened as they said in unison, “Wait.”

Both of them turned to each other, twin looks of mischief on their faces. 

“What if I could do it for you?” Seungmin said. 

“We could trade places and you could pretend to be me,” Hyunjin said. 

“And it would work because the Southern Kingdom has no idea what you look like!”

“And you’ve grown up with me so you know everything there is to being a prince. Well, not everything, but enough.”

Seungmin snorted as he tilted his head to one side. “Are you kidding? I do know everything there is to being a prince.”

“Agree to disagree.” Hyunjin smirked. 

“Agree that I’m right.” Because Seungmin was always right, and if he wasn’t, well, no one needed to know that. 

At that moment, they were summoned to the front steps, since it was finally time to depart.

“We need to come up with a more concrete plan,” Hyunjin said as they headed down. “Make sure that it is so fool-proof that no one will be able to figure it out.”

“We’ll have to get all the servants in on this,” Seungmin said. 

Hyunjin snorted and waved the thought aside. “Easy. Everyone loves to be apart of a grand scheme.”

“And, y’know, they can be bought.”

Hyunjin sighed. “Yes, unfortunately they can.”

Hyunjin could hardly contain his excitement when he bid his father and mother goodbye, though Seungmin wished he had toned it down a bit. He was supposed to be sad, not excited that he got to go off for the summer and marry some princess he had never met before. But Hyunjin was never good at hiding his emotions, and he became extremely excited whenever he and Seungmin had a trick in mind. Seungmin was honestly surprised that Hyunjin’s transparency hadn’t gotten them caught numerous times before.

The trip was five days of travel by carriage, so they had that long to come up with the perfect, fool-proof plan and get the staff involved. Luckily, they had a small number of servants accompanying them—only a few personal servants, some cooking staff, a handful of guards, the drivers, and two heads-of-staff to overlook everyone. It would be easy to convince them all to join their scheme. Though, it might be a bit more difficult to keep the two heads-of-staff from reporting this all to Hyunjin’s father, the king. And they definitely would if they knew that Hyunjin and Seungmin were trying to sabotage a political affair. 

It took one day to get the whole staff to agree, and another two to get the two heads-of-staff on board. Seungmin and Hyunjin had to resort to several different types of bribery in the form of gold, food, a handful of jewels, and ownership of one of Hyunjin’s favorite horses. But hey, it was either this or marrying some princess. Besides, Hyunjin always liked his dogs better (which he had had to leave behind in the care of his twin sister, Princess Yeji).

The journey went by agonizingly slowly, and Hyunjin even asked Seungmin if he could just teleport them all to the Southern Kingdom to cut the journey short. But Seungmin refused, partially because his magic really wasn’t that powerful (it was practically nonexistent at times), and partially because the Southern Kingdom hated magic. In fact, they were the reason why magic had all but disappeared in the human population and why the witches and faeries had gone into hiding. The Southern witch hunts were some of the bloodiest conquests in history. 

Seungmin told Hyunjin all of this on the ride there, to which Hyunjin arched an eyebrow and asked, “Did you swallow a textbook or something?”

Seungmin sighed. “No, but I did reread that section on witch hunts so many times that I’ve practically committed it all to memory.”

There was a snort and then, “Ha, nerd.”

Seungmin also reminded Hyunjin that the Southern Kingdom was a traditionalist kingdom that only accepted male and female relationships and nothing else, which was a bit of a hinderance to both of them. 

“Relax, it’s not like I’m going to run off with some servant boy,” Hyunjin said with a wave of his hand and a charming grin. “Or, if I do, I’m not stupid enough to get caught.”

Seungmin just gave him an unamused look, knowing full well the truth to that statement. But if all went according to plan, the royal family would be so annoyed and possibly disgusted with them that they would call off the marriage and send them home early. Seungmin and Hyunjin would then be able to spend the rest of their summer in peace, where Seungmin would read books all day and Hyunjin would become so bored that he bugged Seungmin to pay attention to him. 

It would all work out in the end. Seungmin was sure of it. 

And then he met the royal family of the Southern Kingdom. 

* * * 

Everything was fine until that moment. 

The carriages arrived in the front of the Southern Castle, which was positioned on the top of some white cliffs overlooking a beautiful, turquoise sea. The castle itself was made out of white stone, all smooth and curved edges accented with gold and blue embellishments here and there. It had wide steps leading to the front doors, where the royal family and their staff of servants waited for them. Members of the royal guard stood along the edges of the stairs, their golden armor gleaming in the warm, summer sun, their blue capes billowing from the warm, summer breeze.

Hyunjin mumbled something like, “It’s go time.” Then he patted Seungmin on the shoulder and gave him a smug smile as one of their footmen opened the door of the carriage. Seungmin took a deep breath and stepped out, dressed in Hyunjin’s clothing. He squinted against the sunlight, seeming to be even more blinding against the white stone of the place, while he was immediately annoyed at the breeze that ruffled his carefully-combed hair. 

He wanted to tell the royal family that placing a castle on the top of some cliffs was a bad idea, because that meant it was always going to be windy there no matter what. And the white stone? So bland and blinding. But, he could wait until dinner to insult them on their architectural tastes. 

Now, however, he had more important issues to deal with. Squaring his shoulders, he strode forward and up the steps. The guards and Hyunjin fell in-step behind him. Seungmin focused only on putting one foot in front of the other, when suddenly the steps had run out, and he was standing only two steps lower than the king and queen of the Southern Kingdom.

Someone from the Southern Kingdom’s staff announced, “Your Majesties, Prince Hyunjin of the Northern Kingdom.”

That was definitely going to take some getting used to. 

Seungmin bowed anyways, doing his best impression of the countless times he had seen Hyunjin bow and, if he allowed himself to say so, absolutely nailing it. 

“Your Majesties,” Seungmin said to the king and queen. “It is a true honor to be welcomed to your beautiful home as your guest.”

He heard Hyunjin snort and then quickly turn it into a cough behind him, but Seungmin stared straight ahead and kept the polite expression on his face. Even though he really wanted to smack Hyunjin right now. 

“Welcome,” the king said. “It is our honor to host you.”

Seungmin just smiled and bowed his head in reply, again in perfect mimicry of how Hyunjin used to deal with guests back home. 

The king gestured to the young girl standing next to him. “My daughter, Chaeryeong.”

Seungmin blinked, thinking she looked much too young to be married off. She was beautiful, in a girlish way, but her cheeks were still rounded with baby fat, and her eyes seemed too wide and innocent. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness,” Seungmin said, and the princess lifted her hand. 

Oh, god, Seungmin thought right before he forced himself to take her hand and kiss the back of it. He cringed internally at himself, wondering how the hell Hyunjin did this every day without dying a bit inside. 

He smiled at Princess Chaeryeong anyways, but she didn’t smile in reply. 

“I trust your journey was well?” the queen asked. 

“Yes, indeed,” Seungmin said, straightening as he clasped his hands behind his back. 

She gave a curt nod, her pursed lips telling him that she could care less. “You must be exhausted from your journey. Please, allow our son to show you your chambers.”

Seungmin gave a graceful nod in reply as one of the other members of the family stepped forward. Seungmin glanced at him and couldn’t help arching an eyebrow. If he had thought Chaeryeong looked young, the prince seemed even younger. 

“If you’ll kindly follow me,” the prince said, smiling at Seungmin.

“We shall see you tonight, at the ball,” the king told Seungmin. 

“I look forward to it, Your Majesty,” Seungmin replied. Then, with one last bow, he followed the young prince up the rest of the stairs and through the open doors of the castle. Out of the staff, only Hyunjin followed Seungmin, while a trio of guards followed the prince. 

The prince turned to give Seungmin a dimpled smile, saying, “My name’s Jeongin.”

“A bit informal of an introduction, don’t you think?” Seungmin said. 

“My father and mother hope that we’ll become friends due to our closeness in age,” Jeongin replied. 

Seungmin arched an eyebrow, unable to keep himself from snorting this time. “Is that so? You look like you’re barely older than fourteen.”

“I’m barely a year younger than you,” Jeongin scoffed. 

“And there’s the teenage angst,” Hyunjin said, smirking.

Jeongin turned an unamused look on Hyunjin, who continued to smirk back. “And you are?”

“You can call me Seungmin,” Hyunjin said, and Seungmin felt himself die a little more inside.

“Are you the prince’s personal servant?”

Hyunjin practically choked on his spit. “God, no.”

When Jeongin narrowed his eyes at him, Seungmin said coolly, “He is my best friend and personal tutor.” When Hyunjin looked at him, Seungmin smirked and said, “Though, my intellect is far superior than his, so it’s more as if I tutor him.”

“Excuse you, Your Highness,” Hyunjin said.

“I am excused,” Seungmin said. 

When Jeongin just blinked at them, Seungmin explained, “We grew up together.”

“Ah.” Jeongin looked straight ahead as he led them through the halls and up the stairs. He didn’t speak to them the rest of the way, that is, until Hyunjin decided to break the silence.

“Your Highness,” he said. “Prince Jeongin.”

“Yes?” Jeongin’s voice was curt. 

“Forgive me if this is a bit intrusive, but why do you have a set of guards following your every move throughout your own castle?” Hyunjin looked over his shoulder at the three guards for emphasis, then turned forward. “Seems a bit much.”

“You must excuse him, his curiosity and stupidity gets the best of him sometimes,” Seungmin said. 

“And you must excuse Prince Hyunjin, for he sometimes thinks too highly himself and needs to be brought back down to earth,” Hyunjin said without missing a beat. 

Seungmin smirked at that. 

“But really, three guards?” Hyunjin said. 

“Per my father’s request,” Jeongin said.

“You must face many threats on a daily basis.”

Jeongin hesitated for a beat too long before saying, “It comforts him knowing that his only son is protected.”

He stopped in front of a set of doors and turned to Seungmin. “Here we are. Your chambers.”

“I don’t suppose you know where my chambers are?” Hyunjin peeked over Seungmin’s shoulder at Jeongin. 

Jeongin looked him right in the eye and said, “No.”

“A shame.” Hyunjin gave him a smile. 

Jeongin looked at Seungmin. “To celebrate your arrival, my father has planned a masquerade ball for this evening.”

“Sounds lovely,” Seungmin lied. “We shall be there.”

Jeongin blinked. “We?”

“I shall be attending as well,” Hyunjin said. 

“Oh,” is all Jeongin said. 

“We hope that doesn’t cause too much distress?” Seungmin smiled at Jeongin. 

“No, of course not,” Jeongin said. He paused from leaving to give Hyunjin an appraising look, to which Hyunjin smiled a bit too flirty. Jeongin looked away. “The more the merrier.” Then he walked away, his three guards right on his heels. Seungmin glanced at the three guards, unable to keep himself from smirking at how one of them seemed much shorter than the other two. 

Once Jeongin and his guards were gone, Seungmin stepped into his chambers (which weren’t as mind-blowing as Hyunjin’s back at home), took one look at Hyunjin, and then burst into laughter. The two of them laughed completely without shame, the sound echoing in the empty chambers. 

“Oh my god this is going to be fun,” Hyunjin said in between giggles. “I mean, it’s already fun.”

“You already annoyed the prince!” Seungmin said, grinning. 

“Did you think I was flirting a little too much? I think I was laying it on a bit too thick.”

“No, it was hilarious. That glare he gave you—oh my god.” Seungmin laughed again, and Hyunjin did that thing where he smacked Seungmin’s arm repeatedly from laughing so hard. 

“And, just our luck—there’s a masquerade ball tonight.” Hyunjin grinned at Seungmin when their laughter had died down. “I hope you know that we’re going in identical outfits.”

“Oh, naturally,” Seungmin said. 

Hyunjin gave one laugh laugh before turning to look at Seungmin’s set of rooms. He made a face, saying, “Aw, man, you get a balcony?”

* * * 

Changbin didn’t really know what he expected from the prince and his entourage from the Northern Kingdom, but he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. The prince was just as clean-cut and stiff and pretentious as Changbin expected. The only thing about him that seemed slightly out of place was his hair and that was only due to the wind, though Changbin found amusement in it nonetheless. He was already looking forward to the fact that the bastard would never be able to have perfect hair again for the few months spent here on top of the windy cliffs. 

The prince’s best friend or tutor or personal manservant or whatever was a bit of a different story. He seemed interesting enough, but a bit too obnoxious for Changbin’s tastes. And all too bold. 

Though, Changbin assumed he was one to talk.

“Permission to speak freely, Your Highness?” Jisung asked Jeongin. They had just dropped the prince and his BFF off and were now on their way out to the garden, Jeongin’s favorite place to spend his time. 

“No,” Jeongin said.

“Permission for Chan to speak freely, Your Highness?” Jisung tried instead. Chan blinked in surprise, like he had just snapped out of some sort of daze that he always went into when he had to act like some disinterested guard. He looked at Jisung, confused as to why Jisung was dragging him into this. 

“No,” Jeongin said, though he was clearly fighting a smile. 

Jisung was starting to smile too. “Permission for Changbin to speak freely, Your Highness?”

“Oh, sure.”

“What?” 

Changbin couldn’t help laughing at that, and Jeongin grinned too. 

“I’m just kidding,” Jeongin said to Jisung, who looked betrayed. “Besides, like you’d even shut up if I told you to.”

“I can be quiet when I need to,” Jisung said. “Like just now when we were escorting the prince and his manservant.”

“Best friend,” Chan corrected. 

“Whatever.” Jisung waved the thought aside. “I kept all of my sarcastic remarks to myself and I need to let them out. With your permission, of course.”

“Oh, my permission?” Jeongin snorted as they reached his favorite spot by a tiny fountain in the corner of the gardens. He sat on one of the stone benches while the three guards automatically arranged themselves at three points—one behind (Chan), and one on either side of the bench (Jisung and Changbin). Changbin happened to be turned to the side so he could see Jeongin and the area behind Chan at the same time. 

“I am just curious as to what His Highness’s opinion of the prince is,” Jisung said with an innocent smile.

Jeongin shrugged. “Too soon to tell, I guess? He and his friend seem very close.”

“And a bit rude,” Jisung said. 

“They seemed too bold and not polite enough,” Changbin said. 

“Well, I did tell Prince Hyunjin that we should act more naturally,” Jeongin said. “But if they speak so freely like that around my parents, there might be some problems.”

“An understatement, I believe,” Jisung said. He grinned. “I look forward to it.”

Jeongin smirked, then said, “I think that’s enough talking for now, Jisung.”

“I will do my best to stay silent, Your Highness,” Jisung replied. 

And, of course, he stayed silent for a solid three minutes before he started talking again.

* * * 

Hyunjin wasn’t one to be jealous, but after seeing the set of rooms that Seungmin, aka “Prince Hyunjin,” would be staying in, he couldn’t help the wave of disgust and jealousy that swelled up in him when he compared them to the rooms in which he would be staying. 

With two roommates. Hyunjin had never had a roommate in his life.

One of his roommates, Minho, snorted when he saw Hyunjin’s expression at their cramped quarters. “Not the luxury suite you were expecting, hm?”

“It’s just a bit small,” Hyunjin replied, frowning at how there was barely a foot of space in between their cots. 

That was another thing—they had cots. Their mattresses were stuffed with straw. Hyunjin wasn’t entirely sure how sanitary these living conditions were.

“This is pretty big, actually,” Minho said. 

Hyunjin looked at him in horror. “It is?”

Minho nodded, entirely serious, but then their other roommate, Felix, entered and said, “No, it isn’t, he’s just messing with you.”

Hyunjin couldn’t help sighing in relief as Felix set his personal trunk on the floor in front of his bed. Hyunjin’s things had been brought to Seungmin’s room…while Seungmin’s things had been brought to Hyunjin’s. Seungmin had always packed lighter than Hyunjin and only had two trunks, but Hyunjin was incredibly annoyed to find that one of them was entirely stuffed with books instead of anything of use. 

“So, just to clarify, do we still have to speak formally to you?” Minho flopped onto his own cot and watched with amusement as Hyunjin figured out what to do with Seungmin’s things. 

“No,” Hyunjin said. “And, if possible, try to call me Seungmin.”

“Okay, Seungmin,” Felix said, only to shudder a moment later. “Nope, no, I don’t like that.” 

“It’ll definitely take some getting used to,” Hyunjin agreed. He decided to put Seungmin’s trunk of books on the bottom and stack the actual useful trunk on the top. 

“Why are you doing this again?” Minho frowned. “Seems a bit much to me.”

“How would you feel if you had to marry someone you’ve never met?”

“Depends if they’re attractive or not.”

Hyunjin blinked at that, and Minho gave him a flirty smile. “Okay, well, what if they weren’t?” Hyunjin asked. 

“Well, apparently she is, so…” Minho shrugged. 

Hyunjin was faltering, but luckily Felix once again came to his rescue. 

“She’s a girl, so automatically Minho would be against it,” Felix said with a smirk. “He’s so gay he can barely function.”

“Hey!” Minho looked slightly offended.

Hyunjin sighed. “Me too, Minho, me too.”

“I guess it also depends on if there was someone else in the picture,” Felix said.

Hyunjin paused, wondering where Felix was going with this.

Minho was back to giving Hyunjin a shit-eating smile. “Oh, is this possibly because the prince is in love with his best friend, hm?” He wiggled his eyebrows. 

Hyunjin blinked at him, taking several moments to comprehend what he meant, only to exclaim, “Wait, what? You think I’m in love with Seungmin?”

“Hyunjin, in this case,” Felix said.

“He’s in love with himself—that makes so much sense!” Minho laughed.

“No, no, no!” Hyunjin shook his head and gestured for them to stop. “That’s not what this is at all! Seungmin—er, ‘Prince Hyunjin’—and I are just friends.” Hyunjin was a bit revolted at the mere thought of dating or even kissing Seungmin. They were practically brothers at this point and nothing else. 

“A shame,” Minho said. “Everyone in the staff thinks the two of you are secretly together.”

“We’re not,” Hyunjin said. “Seriously, we’re not.”

“Guess you lost that bet, Minho,” Felix said with a grin. 

“Oh well.” Minho sighed and fell backwards onto his cot. 

Hyunjin paused again, turning it over in his mind. He pursed his lips before asking Felix in a small voice, “The entire staff…?”

“Oh, yeah, everyone placed a huge bet on it on your sixteenth birthdays,” Felix said. 

“That was three years ago and nothing happened, though.”

“Yeah, I heard one of the heads-of-staff won the whole pot because he was the only one who insisted that you guys were ‘just friends’.” Felix smirked. 

“Rich motherfucker,” Minho scoffed, making Hyunjin gape at him for such language. 

Felix just smirked and patted Hyunjin on the shoulder on his way out the door. “You’re gonna get to know your staff so well over these next few months, Your Highness.” Then he laughed and left Hyunjin standing there in bewilderment. 

* * * 

The masquerade ball was held in the ballroom, which was decorated for the occasion with blue, white, and gold ribbons and flowers and decorations all throughout the cavernous room. Seungmin and Hyunjin made sure to arrive fashionably late (which was actually because Hyunjin was just late in general and unused to dressing himself for such occasions, so he took forever). The moment they stepped into the room, Seungmin was overwhelmed at the grandeur of it. Everyone went all-out on their costumes, where their masks were nothing short of complete works of art. They had beads that clacked together and feathers that rose like a bird’s plumage above their heads and jewels that sparkled. Not one mask was identical, and Seungmin caught himself smiling in spite of himself at the sight before him. Even the servants who balanced gleaming golden trays with practiced ease as they slipped through the crowd, the guards patrolling the edges, and the musicians playing in the corner all had masks. Theirs were much simpler, but each one was still unique. 

While the point of the ball was to conceal individual identities, it was clear who the royal family were by their presence alone. They sat on the dais, watching the guests spin around on the ballroom floor in a myriad of colors. 

“Do you want to pretend to be yourself tonight?” Seungmin asked Hyunjin as they made their way to the dais. They had deliberately dressed identically, both wearing all white with similar—but not identical—white masks. While Seungmin’s was simple and flourished only with bits of gold and a single flower in one corner, Hyunjin’s was half-gold and decorated with feathers that flared out on one side as well. 

“No, I don’t have any interest in dancing with the princess all night,” Hyunjin said. He smirked at Seungmin, his eyes full of mischief under his mask. “It’s the perfect opportunity for you to make a fool out of yourself and embarrass her.”

“Oh, I have plenty of good ideas,” Seungmin said.

“Oh? Care to share? Besides your terrible dancing, of course.”

“One might involve accidentally tipping a tray full of food or drink onto her.” Seungmin glanced at Hyunjin slyly.

Hyunjin raised his eyebrows. “Minnie, you clever bastard.”

Seungmin smirked and winked at him as they reached the dais. The king and queen immediately looked at him and Hyunjin. The two of them bowed, with Seungmin saying, “Your Majesties.”

The king merely nodded in acknowledgement before his eyes went back to watching the dancers. Seungmin allowed himself to look at Chaeryeong, who looked stunning in a blue ballgown with a low, straight neckline, billowed sleeves, and golden flowers woven into the skirt. Her mask was made entirely out of gold as well, and when she stepped closer after Seungmin asked her to dance, he saw that there was an intricate design of flowers woven together. Seungmin felt a bit of remorse knowing that he was going to have to embarrass her while they danced. 

Fortunately for him, it was more natural than anything. For starters, Seungmin was not the best dancer. He knew some dances, but he wasn’t as graceful on his feet as Hyunjin. So, naturally, he stumbled a few times and stepped on Chaeryeong’s feet, always rushing to apologize, to which she responded stiffly every time, “It’s fine.” She still danced with him song after song, but Seungmin didn’t miss the way she glanced elsewhere the entire time, her eyes full of sadness and longing. He couldn’t help wondering who she was looking for. Suddenly that bit of remorse about embarrassing her later on in the evening came back. Embarrassing her didn’t seem right. 

At one point, he glanced around for Hyunjin but didn’t see him. He could only assume that Hyunjin was amusing himself by dancing with various partners. Hyunjin had always loved to dance. 

The night seemed to drag on and on. Finally, Seungmin’s feet were aching, and he was hungry and thirsty and just exhausted overall. He wanted to go back to his rooms and read. But in order to leave, he would have to find some way to embarrass Chaeryeong. 

He pulled her off to the side, scanning for one of the servants. Just his luck, one of them was heading towards them. At the rate they were walking, Seungmin was sure he could time it just right…

“A drink?” he asked Chaeryeong. “You must be parched.”

He swiped a drink from the servant’s tray, started to hand it to Chaeryeong, and let it tip forward out of his hand. The champagne spilled all the way down the front of her dress, making her gasp in surprise. 

“Oh no!” Seungmin said. “I am terribly sorry! Here, allow me— He turned to grab some cloth napkins off of the servant’s tray, then whirled around and deliberately flung the contents of his drink onto Chaeryeong. This time some ladies nearby and the servant all gasped as Chaeryeong flinched from more liquid soaking the front of her gown. 

“Oh, god,” Chaeryeong said, staring down at her dress, her lips twisting into a look of displeasure. 

“Let me help,” Seungmin said, reaching forward with the cloth napkins to dab at the fabric, which happened to be at the top of the bodice of her gown (done purposely). Chaeryeong looked up at him in horror and a bit of rage while the ladies nearby gasped again. She smacked his hand away and moved as though to smack him but restrained herself at the last moment. 

“Just leave it,” Chaeryeong snapped. She grabbed the cloth napkins from him.

“Stay right there, I’ll go look for more!” Seungmin said. 

“No, that’s not necessary—” Chaeryeong started to say, but Seungmin was already whirling around and slipping through the crowd. 

He darted through the different guests, nimbly dodged a servant with a tray, and slipped out one of the glass doors near the back of the ballroom. It led out to a small courtyard and then the gardens. Seungmin couldn’t help smirking to himself as he slowed his pace, shoved his hands in his pockets, and strolled along like nothing was amiss in the world. 

He still felt bad about Chaeryeong, but that was nothing compared to all the ways he had previously plotted to embarrass her. Now, he was free from the masquerade ball and could go back to his chambers to read in peace. 

As he reached up to undo the ribbon of his mask, he heard a voice behind him say, “Sir, this area is off-limits.”

Seungmin turned around at the same moment he pulled off the mask. He raised his eyebrows at the guard standing there, dressed in the same uniform and suit of armor from earlier that day. But this guard was without a mask. Seungmin took one look at his face and recognized him right away, if his short stature didn’t give him a clue. 

The guard paused, blinking in surprise when he saw Seungmin without his mask on. “Many apologies, Your Highness,” he said, giving a small bow, his gaze lowered. “I did not recognize you.”

“That’s kind of the point of wearing a mask to a masquerade ball,” Seungmin said, holding up his mask. 

“Then why, pray tell, are you not at the ball, Your Highness?” The guard straightened and arched an eyebrow at Seungmin.

“Oh, I got bored,” Seungmin replied. 

“I see.” The guard didn’t look amused. Seungmin smirked at him anyways, taking the opportunity to study his face. He had an interesting face, in Seungmin’s opinion—his face wasn’t conventionally attractive, due to the slightly larger nose and prominent chin and dull eyes, but his features somehow managed to work well together. If Seungmin wasn’t dead-set on getting out of this kingdom as quickly as possible, he would have even said he found the guard attractive and might have invested a bit more interest.

But, he had to remind himself, he was a prince in this scenario. He wasn’t his normal, free self. And princes—especially engaged princes—couldn’t indulge themselves in a common guard. 

Seungmin failed to notice, however, that while he was studying the guard’s face, the guard was also studying his. 

The guard seemed to snap out of it and cleared his throat. “Uh, this area is still off-limits tonight, Your Highness.”

Seungmin glanced around. “It’s just the garden. Shouldn’t the garden be open and free to anyone?”

“Just this section of the garden, Your Highness,” the guard replied. “It’s the queen’s garden. She doesn’t take kindly to visitors.”

“Well, why not? What’s in there?” Seungmin turned to look at the garden just beyond the path on which they stood. 

“No one knows except for the queen’s gardeners.”

Seungmin looked back at the guard, an eyebrow raised. “She has her own gardeners just for her garden?”

“Yes.” The guard tilted his head to one side. “Do you not have that in the Northern Kingdom, Your Highness?”

“Nope.” Seungmin smirked and looked back at the garden. “Let’s go in there.”

“What?” The guard looked surprised as Seungmin started walking towards one of the cobblestone paths that led through an arched hedge. “No, Your Highness, that’s not allowed.”

“Stop me, then,” Seungmin said over his shoulder. 

“Your Highness,” the guard said. Seungmin, admittedly, didn’t think this through, but he saw an opportunity to further annoy the royal family and had to take it. He only felt a bit bad about how this would reflect on the guard, but he was giving him an opportunity to stop him, wasn’t he?

When the guard didn’t reach out to stop him, Seungmin turned around and looked at him as he continued to walk backwards. “You’re curious, aren’t you?” Seungmin said. “You’re curious about what’s in this special garden.”

The guard’s brow furrowed as he glanced at the garden behind Seungmin. His hesitation made Seungmin grin. 

“Clearly, you were just doing your duty,” Seungmin said, making the guard’s eyes flick back to his. “You were on patrol when you saw the visiting prince walking into the forbidden garden and had to go into the garden in order to get him out. And then you just so happened to lose him in the garden and ended up wandering around for awhile until you did find him.” He shrugged. 

The guard squinted at him, but he looked more amused than anything. “Is that so, Your Highness.”

Seungmin just grinned at him before turning back around and walking into the garden. He heard the guard groan behind him, and then there was the sound of the crunching of gravel underfoot and the quiet clanking of the guard’s armor and sword as he followed Seungmin into the garden. 

“I never caught your name,” Seungmin said when the guard begrudgingly fell in-step behind him after they passed under the arched hedge. 

The guard hesitated for another moment, then sighed and said, “You can call me Changbin.”

“You were one of Jeongin’s personal guards, weren’t you?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“You don’t have to call me that.”

“Then what do I call you, Your Highness?”

Seungmin almost slipped and said, Seungmin, but he managed to catch himself at the last moment. “Calling me by my name seems a bit too personal,” he said. “You don’t need to call me ‘Your Highness’ after every sentence. Just speak comfortably.”

“You don’t want me to speak comfortably, Your Highness,” Changbin said. 

“Now that you say that, I’m convinced that I do.” Seungmin smirked, already enjoying this way more than the stupid masquerade ball. He glanced around at the garden around them, which was filled with the faintest traces of fog. It was a bit eerie, wandering through a dark garden where the hedges and bushes appeared out of the darkness like mystical creatures from the stories Seungmin and Hyunjin used to read when they were kids. He jumped when a statue came out of the darkness, then forced himself to relax. And once he saw one statue, he kept seeing more. They were placed one after another in even intervals, all on pedestals so they loomed over him and Changbin as they walked past. 

He glanced at Changbin, who kept a blank expression on his face and stared straight ahead. 

“These statues are a bit…creepy,” Seungmin decided to say. 

Changbin glanced at the nearest statue, which happened to be a girl with a look of twisted agony on her face. He raised his eyebrows and quickly looked straight ahead. “No, not at all.”

“Can that sword hack through stone?” Seungmin pointed at the sword hanging in a sheath from Changbin’s belt. “Or is it just for decoration?”

“Only strong blades can hack through stone,” Changbin replied. 

“It’s just for decoration, isn’t it.”

“It is not just for decoration.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

“Of course I know how to use it.” Changbin shot Seungmin a look, then seemed to remember who he was talking to, and quickly arranged his features back into the blank, impassive expression. 

Seungmin, on the other hand, couldn’t help smirking. “How long have you been a guard?”

“Four years,” Changbin replied. 

“How old are you?”

“Twenty.”

“You’re only a year older than me. So you became a guard when you were sixteen years old?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“That seems kind of young to become a guard.” Seungmin frowned.

“It’s not so unusual,” Changbin replied. “My father was a guard. He started training me from a very young age, and then decided I was ready when I was sixteen.”

“So, in other words, you can definitely use that sword.”

Changbin sighed. “Yes. I can use many other weapons as well.”

“Fascinating.” Seungmin just smirked and looked straight ahead, where the hedges blocked their path, forcing them to take a left or a right. Seungmin was beginning to realize that this garden wasn’t just a garden—it was a maze. They decided to go to the left.

“Did your father teach you how to fight with a sword?” Changbin asked. 

Seungmin couldn’t help snorting. “Uh, no. I’m much more suited to sitting indoors and reading and analyzing difficult texts.”

Changbin just hummed at that. 

“I was actually on my way to my chambers to read,” Seungmin said. “I’d much rather be able to sit and read in peace than be at banquets or balls.”

“Unfortunately that is not what is expected from a crown prince.”

It wasn’t. Which was why Seungmin had never been jealous of all of Hyunjin’s duties and obligations whatsoever. Hyunjin loved going out and socializing with the people and the court. Seungmin loved staying in the library and reading all day. It worked out perfectly for them. 

“Perhaps I’m just a bit different, then,” Seungmin said. 

Changbin snorted at that. “Perhaps that’s a bit of an understatement.”

Seungmin looked at him in surprise, and Changbin’s eyes widened a fraction. 

“Forgive me, that was too bold,” Changbin said quickly. 

“No, it’s fine,” Seungmin said. “We encourage honesty and candid personalities in the Northern Kingdom.” That was stretching the truth a bit, but the king and queen certainly didn’t punish those of lower rank just for speaking. Regardless, he gave Changbin a flash of a smile, and to his delight, Changbin gave a half-smile in response. It wasn’t even a full smile, and yet Seungmin thought it made him much more handsome than having that frown. 

Then Changbin stopped walking, his face settling back into that frown. Except, he was frowning straight ahead at something, which made Seungmin look as well. 

They were in a small clearing in the garden, where the path circled around a large, elaborate statue at the center of a fountain. In the moonlight, Seungmin could just barely make out the figures, and he felt his stomach fall down, down, down to the depths of the earth below them.

It was a statue commemorating the victory of the witch-hunters. Seungmin could tell exactly who was who based on the billowing cloak and the chest-plate bearing the symbol of the Southern Kingdom of the soldier in the center, lifting his sword high in the air, while the bodies he stepped on had stone wings sprouting from their backs, the universal symbol of any witch or faerie. The moonlight cast shadows on their faces, making the soldier in the center look ghoulish. 

But what really bothered Seungmin was the fact that the soldier seemed to stare straight at him.

Changbin glanced at Seungmin, then at the statue. “That’s Yang Hyunsuk,” he said. “He’s one of our greatest heroes.”

“Is that so,” Seungmin tried to sound detached, but his voice came out hoarse and weak and small.

“He protected our kingdom from evil witches and faeries and continues to do so to this very day,” Changbin said, but without the usual air of pride like Seungmin expected. 

“You must look up to him,” Seungmin said.

“What?” Changbin looked at him, appalled. “Oh, no. No, no, I, uh—well, he is a very valiant and respectable warrior, but his methods are a bit…extreme for my tastes.”

“Oh.” Seungmin blinked at him in surprise.

“I don’t like that statue,” Changbin said. “It seems too creepy to me.”

“Agreed.” Seungmin exhaled. As he looked back at the statue, he found that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the soldier—from Yang Hyunsuk. An involuntary shiver moved through his body, snapping him out of it somewhat. “We should go back,” he said, quickly turning away from the statue. 

Changbin nodded, though he was now watching Seungmin’s face. Seungmin didn’t look at him as they walked away, though he glanced over his shoulder one last time. 

He could have sworn the soldier’s head moved. 

* * * 

When they stepped out of the garden, Seungmin felt overcome with exhaustion. It was late, much later than he usually stayed out. He turned to Changbin, about to say goodnight, when Changbin said, “I must escort you to your chambers.”

Seungmin couldn’t help smirking at that. “Wouldn’t want me sneaking off somewhere I shouldn’t and getting you in trouble, is that it?”

“It is my duty to make sure all guests feel safe,” Changbin replied.

For a moment Seungmin thought he was referring to the terrifying statue in the garden, but then Changbin added, “And to also make sure they don’t get me in trouble, yes.”
That still made Seungmin smile. “Well, come on, then.”

Changbin smirked back before following Seungmin down the path and into the castle. 

They didn’t speak as they walked through the halls at a leisurely pace. Seungmin was surprised at how comfortable he felt, walking with a complete stranger in silence like this. Usually strangers and small talk and silence made him feel like his skin was crawling. He had only known Changbin for maybe an hour, and yet he felt fine just walking with him like this. 

Part of that, he decided, was because he was so exhausted.

They stopped in front of Seungmin’s chambers, and Seungmin turned to look at Changbin, who looked back at him with the ghost of a smile on his face. 

“I hope I don’t get you in trouble,” Seungmin said. 

“Would you come to my aid if you did?” Changbin seemed amused. 

“Possibly.” Seungmin shrugged. “But then I might get myself in trouble in the process.”

Changbin smirked at that. “Goodnight, Your Highness.”

“Goodnight. Changbin.” Seungmin gave a small smile in reply. 

Changbin bowed before turning and walking away, his hands clasped behind his back. Seungmin watched him until he disappeared down the hall, then went back into his room, looking forward to a bit of light reading before bed. 

However, he discovered that his and Hyunjin’s trunks had gotten switched. Which meant his books were somewhere else in the castle. 

Seungmin groaned but decided that was probably the universe telling him to forego reading and to just go to sleep. 

He didn’t even change out of his white suit. Instead, he sat down on the bed for a moment and was suddenly fast asleep. 

* * * 

At some point in the middle of the night, Hyunjin came into his room, whining about something and yawning and causing a commotion as he stumbled to bed. But then he collapsed onto the fluffy mattress next to Seungmin, put an arm around Seungmin’s waist, and fell asleep within seconds. Seungmin just rolled his eyes before falling back asleep. 

Seungmin awoke the next morning at the sound of someone opening the doors to the balcony, effectively blasting him in the face with morning light. He groaned and pulled the covers over his head, but Felix’s voice sang out, “Rise and shine, Your Highness!” Then he said in a softer tone, he added, “Whichever one of you that is today!”

Seungmin groaned again and peeked past the covers at Felix, who was focusing on setting up a tray full of food on the dressing table. “What time is it?” Seungmin asked, sitting up a bit. 

“Just past midmorning,” Felix replied with a bright smile. “We were wondering where Seungmin went off to last night when he didn’t come back to the room.” His eyes shifted to Hyunjin, who was still snoring away on the other side of the bed. “Guess we solved that mystery.”

Seungmin picked up his pillow and smacked Hyunjin with it. Hyunjin made some sort of strangled noise before pulling the covers over his head. That didn’t stop Seungmin from repeatedly swatting him in the head with the pillow, though. Hyunjin finally decided he’d had enough and smacked the pillow out of Seungmin’s hands before lunging forward and tackling Seungmin to the bed. A laugh bubbled out of Seungmin as he found himself trapped in Hyunjin’s embrace.

“Too early,” Hyunjin mumbled, still holding Seungmin tight as he snuggled into the bed once again.

“I suppose it is for someone who was out all night,” Seungmin said. He gave up trying to pry Hyunjin’s arms off of him and instead just lay there. Felix snorted, and Seungmin shot him an amused smirk. 

At the mention of last night, Hyunjin’s eyes flew open.

“I’m guessing you had fun?” Seungmin said. 

“Yes!” Hyunjin lifted his head, his face lighting up. “Or, I think I did.” He frowned. “I don’t really remember.”

“Oh, great, you got drunk?”

“No, I don’t think I drank anything. I mean, a couple sips of champagne here and there but nothing more than that.”

“Yeah, well, just a bit of gossip from the servant is going around,” Felix said, making both Seungmin and Hyunjin look at him. “Apparently the Crown Prince of the Northern Kingdom was a clumsy mess and spilled an entire tray of drinks on Princess Chaeryeong and then ran off and ditched her for the rest of the night.” He smirked. 

Seungmin’s expression turned smug. Hyunjin looked up at him in surprise. “That’s it?” Hyunjin asked. “The way you were giggling beforehand made me think that it was going to be some grand prank or something.”

“I wasn’t giggling,” Seungmin protested. 

“Maniacally,” Hyunjin said. 

“She’s sweet and a little sad,” Seungmin said, wriggling out of Hyunjin’s grasp just enough to cross his arms. “Plus she looked pretty. I didn’t want to completely embarrass her. So I tried a milder approach.”

Hyunjin grunted. “Well, I guess we still have three months if need be to completely insult them to the point where they kick us out and tell us to never come back.”

“Exactly.” Seungmin smiled. Hyunjin smiled back. 

“Well,” Felix said, turning their attention to him. “Here’s your breakfast. Signal us if you need anything.” He smiled, bowed, and walked to the door.

“Thank you, Felix,” Seungmin called after him. After Felix left and shut the door behind him, Seungmin looked down at Hyunjin with a smug smirk. “So,” he said, nudging Hyunjin, “you must have had quite the night, hm? If you don’t remember anything?”

Hyunjin sighed. “I swear I didn’t go crazy on the drinks. I think…I think I met someone.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” A soft, fond look came over Hyunjin’s face. “He was very sweet.”

“He?” Seungmin groaned. “Hyunjin, we agreed that—”

“I know, I know.” Hyunjin waved the thought aside. “I think I wanted to dance with him but couldn’t. But I think we still found each other after each dance, right before more partners came up to ask us to dance.”

“And then?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to think.” Hyunjin finally let go of Seungmin and sat up to rub at his temples. “Every time I try to think of his face, it gets so blurry.”

“Well, he was wearing a mask,” Seungmin said. 

“But I can’t even think of what the mask looked like!”

“Did you stay in the ballroom all night?”

Hyunjin hesitated, then shook his head. “Something tells me we didn’t. I think we went for a walk in the garden just to get some air, and I think we were laughing and having a good time, but after that everything stops.” He sighed, dropped his hands into his lap, and looked at Seungmin with sad eyes. “It’s so strange. I can think of what we did, but I can’t remember what he looked like or sounded like.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Seungmin said. 

“Maybe.” Hyunjin’s was crestfallen. “I just…I just can’t shake this feeling, though.” He hugged his hands to his chest, right above his heart. 

Something about his face made Seungmin pause. Usually he’d be one to tease Hyunjin relentlessly about his multiple different crushes that seemed to change from day to day, but there was a note of unusual sadness in Hyunjin now. It was strange.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjin said at last. “I guess I just thought it would be different because he couldn’t see my face, that he’d like me for me and not just for my face.” He sighed. “But you’re right. It’s probably a good thing that I don’t remember him, because he’d probably never actually, truly love me.”

“Good thing I still love you even though you’re a sad piece of shit.” Seungmin smirked at him and nudged him playfully until he got a smile out of him.

“Ooh, be careful about what you say, Minnie, you might cause yourself to snap and curse the whole land.” Hyunjin smirked back at him. 

Seungmin laughed and pulled Hyunjin into a hug, which Hyunjin returned. 

“Come on,” Seungmin said when they pulled away after a few moments. “I’m starving.”

* * * 

Jeongin didn’t know what he expected. He had thought, like a fool, that things would be different last night at the ball. So he had allowed himself to get his hopes up, only for them to be immediately squashed when the next morning came. 

Prince Hyunjin and his friend weren’t at breakfast that following morning, which was a quiet affair between the members of the royal family. Jeongin couldn’t help glancing at Chaeryeong, who poked at her food and pushed it around the plate without eating any of it. She seemed to be in a world of her own, and a sad one at that, based on the look on her face. She always looked like that, though. 

After breakfast, Jeongin decided to go looking for the Crown Prince, since he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do today and thought that possibly showing him and his friend around the castle or the city might be enough to kill a few hours. He found them in the hallway just outside the Crown Prince’s room.

“Good morning,” Jeongin called out.

The two of them turned to look at him and his three guards. The Crown Prince gave him a small, guarded smile. “Good morning,” he said. 

Jeongin searched his face, hope sparking in him only to be immediately distinguished when he saw the blank, dull expression the Crown Prince was giving him. 

He didn’t remember anything from last night, did he?

“Uh, what are your plans for today, Your Highness?” Jeongin asked, forcing himself to still sound cheerful even though his good mood had just plummeted. 

The Crown Prince glanced at his best friend. “We don’t have any, actually,” he said. “We were just going to visit the king.”

“He’s just finishing breakfast,” Jeongin said. “He doesn’t like to be bothered with issues in the morning. So after he checks in on his hunting hounds, he’ll probably be in the war room until dinner.”

“The war room?” the best friend asked. “There’s a war?”

“No, that’s just what they call the room where the king and all his advisors meet to discuss the future of the kingdom.” Jeongin couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “Boring, if you ask me. I was thinking I could show you around the castle and the grounds and maybe even the city?”

“Oh, well, just show Hyunjinnie to the library and we won’t see him for the rest of the day.” The best friend nudged the Crown Prince playfully. 

“Let’s save the best for last,” the Crown Prince said. 

“I wouldn’t say the library is the best.” Jeongin couldn’t help making a face. 

“Is it big?” the best friend asked.

“Oh, it’s huge,” Jisung said behind Jeongin, his voice thick with amusement. “It’ll definitely get you excited.”

“Jisung,” Chan hissed, while Jeongin and Changbin were both trying not to laugh. 

“It’s, uh…well, you’ll see it later, I guess,” Jeongin said to the Crown Prince.

“Oh, if we behave ourselves?” the best friend wiggled his eyebrows.

The Crown Prince just groaned as everyone but him burst into laughter. “Real mature of you,” the Crown Prince said, rolling his eyes. “Thank you for ruining libraries for me, Seungmin.”

“My pleasure, Hyunjin,” the best friend said, still giggling to himself. 

“Heh, pleasure,” Jisung muttered before he and Changbin dissolved into laughter again. 

“You speak pretty freely for a guard,” the Crown Prince said. The amusement immediately vanished from Changbin’s face, while Jisung just smirked up at the prince.

“Because our prince allows us,” he fired back. 

“So, how about we start at the main halls?” Jeongin said, deciding to change the subject. 

“Brilliant idea, Your Highness,” the best friend said while the Crown Prince and Jisung squinted at each other (it couldn’t really be classified as a glare because there wasn’t really much heat, just pure annoyance from one and pure mischievous intent from the other). 

Jeongin gave the best friend a brief smile before their group began walking down the hallways to start their unofficial tour. Jeongin took them to all the major areas of the castle, such as the main hall, the war room (or, outside of it), the banquet hall, both of the ballrooms, and the drawing room. The Crown Prince seemed particularly fascinated by the paintings within the drawing room, while the best friend amused himself by pointing at disfigured faces and saying, “Hey, Your Highness, it’s you!”

“Oh, shut up.” The Crown Prince rolled his eyes. 

Outside, Jeongin took them to the training grounds for the new soldiers and guards, the armory, and the stables. He made sure to show both of them his favorite horse, named Chocolate because of the warm brown shade of her coat. 

“Creative,” the Crown Prince said.

“Her name is Chocolate because she’s sweet and fills you with warm feelings, unlike you,” the best friend said without missing a beat as he stroked Chocolate’s velvety nose.

“I’m dark chocolate because I’m bitter,” the Crown Prince said. 

“You can’t even be classified as chocolate—you’re straight-up cocoa beans.”

The Crown Prince snorted at that and said in a low voice that was only meant for the best friend to hear, “I wouldn’t use ‘straight-up’ to describe me.”

Jeongin knew he meant it as a joke and that Jeongin wasn’t even supposed to hear it, but it still made his heart sink nonetheless.

By the end of the tour, he showed them his favorite places in the garden, mostly in an attempt to cheer himself up. The best friend started frowning and continued to frown throughout the entire walk in the garden. Jeongin didn’t know how to take his reaction other than the fact that he must not like the garden. 

“And this, finally, is the library,” Jeongin said, pushing open the massive mahogany doors of the place. He stepped back to watch the Crown Prince’s reaction and was not disappointed. 

“Holy shit,” the Crown Prince gasped, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped as he took in the sight before him. 

The best friend coughed. “Not a proper thing for a prince to say,” he muttered, giving the Crown Prince a pointed look that the Crown Prince ignored. 

“It’s two levels with a special room for particularly rare and valuable texts,” Jeongin said as they entered the library. 

“What kind of rare and valuable texts?” The Crown Prince looked like a completely different person as he looked at Jeongin now, his eyes sparkling with excitement. 

Jeongin shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in there. It’s locked, so only the librarians can get inside. If you want to go in, you’d have to get their permission first.”

“Close your mouth, Minnie, you’re practically drooling,” the best friend said, his arms crossed. 

“Minnie?” Jeongin repeated.

The best friend’s eyes went wide for a fraction of a second before he coughed and said, “What? Did I say Minnie? Oh, god, I meant Jinnie.” He gave an awkward laugh. “His sister is nicknamed Minnie and they look so alike that sometimes it just slips.”

“Hm.” Jeongin frowned. “I thought the princess of the Northern Kingdom was named Yeji? How is her nickname Minnie?”

“Because she’s short,” the Crown Prince said, shooting his best friend a look. He looked back at Jeongin, his excitement gone and replaced with the same stiff, boring expression from before. “She’s mini.” 

“Oh.” Jeongin blinked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Changbin frown suspiciously. When the Crown Prince just gave him a stiff, emotionless smile, Jeongin remembered why he had saved the library for last. “Well, feel free to explore. I have some other duties to attend to today so perhaps I will see you at dinner.”

“We look forward to it,” the best friend said with a warm smile that directly contrasted the prince’s. 

Jeongin gave a curt nod, then darted out of the library. He didn’t even wait to see if his guards could keep up with him as he headed through the halls and out the door and into the garden, right to his favorite, secluded spot by a fountain. The moment he sat down on the stone bench, he almost lost his composure entirely. But he bit his trembling lip, telling himself, I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry—

Because, after all, princes didn’t cry. 

He heard the guards approach but deliberately stared straight ahead at the fountain. “Don’t ask,” he said when he saw Chan open his mouth out of the corner of his eye. “If you ask, I’m going to start crying, and I don’t want to start crying.”

“No one would judge you if you did,” Jisung said. 

“What’s wrong, Jeongin?” Chan asked softly. 

“Other than the fact that the prince is a major dick,” Changbin said with enough intensity that everyone looked at him. His eyes went wide. “Sorry, that slipped.”

“Please reprimand him, Your Highness,” Jisung said.

Jeongin snorted at their strange attempts to cheer him up. “It’s about the prince, actually.”

“Oh?” Chan raised his eyebrows while Changbin looked a bit sheepish. 

Jeongin sighed, wondering if their perspective of him would be ruined forever. He lowered his head and hunched his shoulders as he said, “And it’s about the curse.”

That made them fall silent. Jeongin didn’t dare look at them, though he could assume that they were either giving him disgusted looks or exchanging glances. 

When Chan spoke, though, his voice was nothing but kind. “Does the prince have to do with the curse?”

Jeongin hesitated before nodding. 

“When’d you kiss him, then?” Jisung asked.

“Jisung!” Chan hissed.

“What?” Jisung asked defensively. “You kissed him, didn’t you? That’s how your curse works. The person you kiss immediately loses all memory of you.”

There was a slap and then a muffled sound of protest which made Jeongin look up. Chan was holding his hand over Jisung’s mouth. 

“Thank you, Jisung, for summing that up,” Chan said, looking annoyed. To Jeongin, his face softened as he said, “You don’t have to tell us exactly what happened, Your Highness.”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Jeongin shrugged and looked away, starting to fidget with the rings on his fingers. “I did kiss him. And today he doesn’t have any memory of me whatsoever.” He sighed. “I knew that was going to happen but there was a small part of me that was hoping it wouldn’t be the case. That was stupid of me. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”

Chan nodded, dropping his hand from Jisung’s mouth in order to step towards Jeongin and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“Wait a second, you kissed the prince?” Changbin asked, a deep frown on his face.  

“You don’t have to keep repeating it,” Chan said through clenched teeth, shooting Changbin a look. 

“I’m just clarifying,” Changbin said. “When was that, Your Highness?”

“Last night.” Jeongin sighed again, feeling even more mortified and defeated than before. “At the ball.”

“Late last night?”

“Why are you interrogating him?” Chan demanded. 

“Because there was no way that you could have kissed the prince,” Changbin said, “because the prince was with me last night.”

There was a beat of silence, during which everyone turned to look at Changbin. Changbin looked back at them, completely serious and completely unaware of what his sentence implied. 

“Hold up, you slept with the prince?” Jisung said. 

“What?” Changbin said. 

“Oh my god, Changbin slept with the prince and Jeongin kissed the prince and basically the prince has been here less than twenty-four hours and has already gotten more action than all of us combined,” Jisung said. “Unless—” he gasped, “—the three of you were together? Threesome?”

“Dear god, Jisung, shut up!” Chan exclaimed, his face turning bright red. 

“I did not sleep with the prince!” Changbin said, his face even redder than Chan’s. 

“Really?” Jisung giggled. “Because how else would you know that he’s, and I quote, a major dick? Huh, Binnie?” He wiggled his eyebrows, and Changbin lunged at him. 

Despite the situation, Jeongin couldn’t help it and laughed. Jisung and Changbin paused from where Changbin already had Jisung in a headlock and looked at Jeongin, their faces lighting up. Jeongin just laughed harder at that, saying, “That does sound very strange when you put it that way, Changbin.”

Changbin groaned and Jisung giggled. However, Jisung’s giggle turned into a squawk of surprise as Changbin suddenly shoved him away from him.

“Let me clarify,” Changbin began. 

“No, then that ruins it,” Jisung complained, regaining his balance and straightening his uniform. 

“Let me clarify,” Changbin repeated, looking straight at Jeongin. “I did not do anything with the prince last night. I was on patrol outside the queen’s garden and caught him sneaking into it. That’s it. Nothing else happened.”

“You’re missing the entire part of the two of you in the garden,” Jisung said. “What happened in the garden, hmm, Binnie? Some forbidden acts?”

Changbin sighed, looking like he was about two seconds away from smacking Jisung. “I walked him back to his room and that’s it. And I did not go into the room, so get that out of your head right now.”

“Are you sure he stayed in his room after that?” Chan asked. 

“Yes,” Changbin said. 

“Creeper,” Jisung said. 

“I was doing my job!” Changbin scoffed. 

“But the prince I was with was at the ball the whole night,” Jeongin said. “He couldn’t have been in two places at once.”

“Unless…,” Chan tilted his head to one side as he thought, “it wasn’t the prince you kissed.”

Jeongin blinked up at him, and Jisung of all people caught on to Chan’s train of thought. 

“It was the best friend!” Jisung exclaimed. “It was the best friend and you had no idea because he was wearing a mask!”

“Brian did say that the prince and his best friend showed up dressed the same,” Chan said. 

“Oh, you were talking to Brian, huh?” Jisung grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at him. 

“I saw him briefly last night because we were both assigned to patrol the ballroom, yes,” Chan said shortly, though his reddening ears gave him away. Jisung and Changbin shared a knowing look. 

“Wait, I’m sorry, am I missing something?” Jeongin blinked. “Brian? Younghyun? Isn’t he Chaeryeong’s personal guard?”

“Yep, the one and only.” Jisung’s grin widened. 

“But he’s a man,” Jeongin said.

“Last Chan checked.”

“Stop.” Chan’s face was now turning bright red. “My point is that you probably kissed the best friend and then Changbin was messing around with the prince at the same time. Case closed.”

“I was not messing around!” Changbin protested. 

“Were you paying attention to the best friend at all today?” Chan asked Jeongin. 

Jeongin thought for a moment, then sheepishly hunched his shoulders. “No.”

“So he could remember you. He could be the one to break the curse.”

Jeongin sighed. “Thank you for trying to cheer me up, Chan, but I doubt it.”

“Just wait and see.” Chan patted Jeongin’s shoulder. “Maybe things will work out.”

“Yeah, especially in that case, you haven’t kissed your sister’s fiancé.” Jisung grinned. “Also, if you mess up and completely embarrass yourself, you can just kiss him and he’ll forget everything! Fresh start!”

Chan just closed his eyes and sighed while Changbin shook his head in disapproval at Jisung.

“What?” Jisung glanced between the two of them. 

“Please give the order for him to shut up, Your Highness,” Changbin said. 

“Like he’d actually be able to follow that order.” Jeongin smirked. 

“I can follow orders!” Jisung protested. “It’s Chan who’s the rebel!”

“What?” Chan protested, his eyes flying open. “Not true!”

“Kinda true,” Changbin mumbled. 

“Name one instance when I was rebellious,” Chan scoffed. 

“Brian,” Jisung said without missing a beat, and Chan automatically turned bright red. 

“No,” Chan pointed at them. 

“I think I’m missing that part of the story, care to explain?” Jeongin smirked. 

“Well, you see—” Jisung began. 

“No!” Chan shoved him, but both of them were laughing. 

Jeongin eventually got the story out of them, but it took several more interventions from Chan and enough laughter to make all of their stomachs hurt. Jeongin didn’t mind, though. He felt a little bit lighter and a bit more hopeful after that. 

* * * 

Seungmin dropped another thick, leather-bound volume on the table, startling Hyunjin. His eyes slid up to Seungmin’s and he arched an eyebrow. “Do you think you have enough?” 

“No,” Seungmin said with a frown as he studied the stack of books on the table. There were technically only four of them, but three of them were thick enough to be divided into two. It would take Seungmin at least three days on each of them. But they were all history books found only in the Southern Kingdom. Seungmin wanted to see their perspectives on the witch hunts. He explained this all to Hyunjin, who could clearly care less, only because there was something else on his mind. 

“I got permission from the librarians to borrow these,” Seungmin added as they carried the books back to his chambers, since it was getting late and they needed to dress for dinner. He had two of the thick books, while Hyunjin was already whining and complaining about having to carry the other two. 

“Lovely,” Hyunjin said, coughing. “Can’t imagine why any sane person would want to read these. Must be why they’re covered in dust.”

“That’s because everyone in the Southern Kingdom is taught this in school,” Seungmin said, kicking open the door to his chambers. “But we’re not. So these books are for us, not for the citizens of the Southern Kingdom.”

“When, exactly, do you think you’ll have the time to read all of these?” 

Seungmin placed the books on the small side table in the sitting room and gestured for Hyunjin to do the same. “During the day. Maybe right before I go to sleep.”

Hyunjin sighed. “Seungmin, no offense, but you really suck at this prince thing.”

“What?”

“First of all, princes aren’t allowed to curse. Second, you don’t sit in your room all day reading. You have to go out and socialize. Establish good relations with the citizens. Specifically the princess we’re supposed to be annoying?”

“But,” Seungmin held up one of the books, “history.”

“No, no history.” Hyunjin shoved the book back down and caused a puff of dust to kick up in their faces as a result. Hyunjin immediately sneezed. 

“I don’t see why you’re annoyed at me, I mean, you’re the one who called me Minnie in front of everyone and almost blew the whole thing,” Seungmin said, adjusting the books so their spines were perfectly aligned. 

“That is besides the fact,” Hyunjin said, pointing at him. 

“Oh, sure.” Seungmin smirked. “Fine, would you like to advise me on how to act during dinner?” He walked into the bedroom, where he had left his trunk. At some point during the day, the servants had come in and unpacked everything into the wardrobe, so he went over to the wardrobe now. 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Hyunjin practically tripped over his own feet in an attempt to reach the wardrobe before Seungmin. “Let me choose what you’ll wear! Since you clearly have no idea how to dress as a prince.”

“Excuse me, what is wrong with this?” Seungmin looked down at his tunic, which was dark blue and embroidered with silver, paired with soft, gray pants. 

“It’s too simple,” Hyunjin said. 

“How is this too simple? Do you see all of these stitches?”

“Aha.” Hyunjin held out a red jacket with golden buttons going down both sides on the front and an intricate gold design imprinted on the rest of the red fabric. 

Seungmin’s eyebrows shot upwards. “That’s so fancy, though!”

“It’s dinner, Seungmin,” Hyunjin scoffed. “Put it on. With these.” He threw black pants with subtle golden stitching at him. “And don’t you dare try to smuggle a book with you.”

Seungmin opened his mouth to defend himself, but Hyunjin waggled a finger at him. “Ah, ah, don’t try to lie, I’ve seen you do it before.”

Seungmin’s expression turned smug. “I thought I was being subtle.”

“You weren’t,” Hyunjin said. 

“Good to know.”

“Go change!”

“Yes, Mother.”

Seungmin had to duck to dodge a flying shoe for that one. 

* * * 

Dinner was awful. Somehow Seungmin managed to remember most of the proper etiquette for dinners at the Southern Kingdom. The food was terrible, full of strange tastes that he didn’t care for and only hoped didn’t make him sick later. But the conversation was the worst part. 

The king drove the conversation, though side conversations were allowed. Unfortunately Seungmin’s options were Chaeryeong and Jeongin, both of whom were difficult for different reasons. Talking to Chaeryeong was like talking to a wall, since she gave single-word responses that gave Seungmin nowhere to go in terms of carrying on the conversation, forcing him to think of a new topic. He hated small talk with a passion and couldn’t help shooting Hyunjin an exasperated look, to which Hyunjin had to fight to smother a laugh (he managed to turn it into a cough instead but he was still clearly trying not to smile). 

Jeongin, on the other hand, just stared at Seungmin the entire time, like he was trying to read Seungmin’s mind or something. Seungmin stared back at one point, hoping Jeongin would get the clue and stop it, but Jeongin never seemed to. Annoyed, Seungmin glanced away, his eyes falling on the three guards standing up against the wall behind Jeongin. Only two of them were already looking at him, and Changbin was one of them. The moment their eyes met, though, both of them quickly looked away. 

At one point, however, the king captured all of their attention. 

“Prince Hyunjin,” he said, making both Seungmin and Hyunjin look at him. “Tell me, what is your hunting like in the North?”

Seungmin, quite honestly, had no personal hunting experience, but he did know some vague facts from books and from Hyunjin’s rants about going on hunting expeditions with his father. “Well, we have your ordinary game,” he decided to say. “Deer, elk, moose, mountain lions, and some bears. Every summer, though, there’s one major hunt for the white stag.”

“Ah, yes, the white stag,” the king said. “I thought that was a thing of legends.”

“It is quite real, Your Majesty,” Seungmin replied. “I’ve seen it myself.”

“Have you killed one?”

“No, Your Majesty. It was always my father’s honor to kill it.”

The king nodded slowly. “I am going on a hunting expedition in a few days,” he said. “You are to attend me.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Seungmin said. He glanced at Hyunjin, who gave him a pointed look, which Seungmin mimicked back at him before going back to his food. He heard Hyunjin give an annoyed sigh in reply.

Afterwards, Seungmin figured he should probably try to spend more time with the princess just to hold up appearances, but when he asked Chaeryeong if she’d like to go for a walk after dinner, she brushed him off. 

“I have a previous engagement,” she said. 

“Perhaps tomorrow, then,” Seungmin said. 

“Perhaps,” she said, and left it at that. 

“You’re terrible at flirting,” Hyunjin said at Seungmin’s elbow once she had walked away.  

“Like you could do any better,” Seungmin retorted. 

Hyunjin just shrugged and said, “Aren’t you gonna ask me to go for a walk?”

Seungmin rolled his eyes so hard he gave himself a headache, but they headed out of the castle to the garden. The sun had just set, and the wind had finally died down, resulting in a clear and cool night. Seungmin looked up at the sky as they walked, trying to identify as many constellations as he could. He only recognized a few, due to the fact that the Southern Kingdom had different constellations than the North. Seungmin would have to brush up on his astronomy and learn of the South’s different stories behind their constellations. 

Hyunjin was silent as they walked, but when they neared the section of the garden Jeongin had showed them earlier that day, he said softly, “I figured it out.”

“Hmm?” Seungmin looked at him with a small smile. “Figured what out?”

“What happened last night.” Hyunjin glanced at him before looking straight ahead. “I recognized the sections in the garden from the tour today.”

“So…?”

“They were the same places I went last night after the ball,” Hyunjin said. “But Jeongin mentioned that only he seemed to go to them other than the gardeners.” He looked at Seungmin.

“So…I think it was him from last night?”

Seungmin blinked. “You…you think you were with Prince Jeongin last night?”

Hyunjin nodded and looked down at the ground. “I don’t think he knew who I was, though. He seemed to only have eyes for you today.”

“He did?” Seungmin blinked again, completely unaware. “I thought he was annoyed by me.”

Hyunjin shook his head, his eyes still lowered. 

“Well…” Seungmin frantically thought for something to say. “Do you still like him now that you’ve figured it out?”

“That’s the thing.” Hyunjin heaved a great sigh. “When I figured it out, I felt something, almost like this gut feeling that just told me it was right. It didn’t feel like all my other crushes.” He finally looked up, his eyes wide with hope. “It almost felt like magic.”

Seungmin almost laughed at him, thinking of course Hyunjin of all people thought infatuation felt like magic. He opened his mouth to reply, but then Hyunjin stopped walking, his eyes going wide as he looked at something behind Seungmin. 

“Your Highness,” Hyunjin said, making Seungmin whirl around. 

Speak of the devil, he thought as he saw Jeongin there, approaching almost warily with his three guards behind him. 

“Hello,” Jeongin said, more timidly than usual. 

“Hello,” Hyunjin said at the same time Seungmin said, “Hi.”

Jeongin looked like he was going to say something, but no words came out. Instead he just stared at Hyunjin, and Hyunjin stared back, looking equally at loss for words. 

Seungmin glanced between the two of them, then rolled his eyes and said, “It’s a pleasant night for a walk.”

“It is,” Jeongin agreed, a bit too quickly. 

“Absolutely lovely,” Hyunjin added. 

“Mm, well, unfortunately I am allergic to exercise so I’ll be in my rooms for the night. Goodnight.” Seungmin then put on a smug smirk and walked away before anyone could say anything. 

He heard Hyunjin say, “Wait, excuse me?” But at that point Seungmin was already several feet away. However, he heard someone walking after him and glanced over his shoulder to see Changbin falling in-step beside him. 

“You don’t have to walk me,” Seungmin said. 

“I’m not,” Changbin said. “I’m escorting a visiting royal to his chambers. It’s common protocol.”

“Is it, now.”

“It is indeed.”

Seungmin couldn’t help smirking to himself, turning his attention forward. They walked in silence for a few moments, during which they entered the castle and headed through the halls towards Seungmin’s chambers. 

Changbin broke the silence by saying “It’s a bit early to retire, isn’t it?” 

“Not for me,” Seungmin replied. “I’m exhausted from the long day.”

“I see.” They reached Seungmin’s chambers, but Seungmin stopped and turned to look at Changbin. Changbin looked like he was about to say something, then seemed to think better of it, and said instead, “Goodnight, then.”

“You can just say what you want,” Seungmin said. 

“What?” Changbin blinked, caught off-guard. 

“We agreed that you could speak comfortably around me,” Seungmin said. “So…do that.”

Changbin frowned at him, but Seungmin raised his eyebrows and stared him down until Changbin finally looked away. 

“I was just curious as to what you thought of the tour today,” Changbin said. 

Seungmin couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed, thinking that Changbin was going to say something a bit more insightful than that. “Oh,” he said. He shrugged. “It was fine.”

“Fine,” Changbin repeated. 

“I liked the library.” Seungmin smiled. “I already got permission from the librarians to borrow a few books.”

Changbin smirked. “Is that so.”

“Yep. That’s actually why I’m retiring so early—I’m going to go read.”

“What will you read first?”

Seungmin shrugged again. “I haven’t decided yet. Probably the history of the witch hunts.”

Changbin raised an eyebrow at that. “I thought you were going to say some kind of story, not something nonfiction.”

“I rarely read fiction. I like learning things. Besides, the witch hunts are a story, if you think about it. They have protagonists and antagonists and epic battles, but the cool part is that they actually happened.” Seungmin frowned. “Or, disturbing part, since you were right when you said that the measures that Yang Hyunsuk took to kill witches was a bit extreme.”

“I guess you’re right.” Changbin smirked to himself before adding, “Tell me tomorrow what you learn, then.”

Seungmin couldn’t help smiling. “I will.”

Changbin gave that half-smile of his in response. “Good.” He looked at Seungmin for a few moments, during which Seungmin was waiting for him to say something else. Changbin didn’t seem to realize he was staring until a few moments too late, and he quickly cleared his throat and glanced away. “Uh, enjoy your reading then, Your Highness.”

“Enjoy patrolling,” Seungmin replied. 

Once again, that half-smile appeared on Changbin’s face as he backed up a few steps, preparing to walk away. “Goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight.” Then, with one last glance at Changbin, Seungmin pushed open the doors to his chambers. He found himself smiling to himself even as he dressed for bed and settled down on his bed to read. 

* * * 

Jeongin had suggested that he show them the city the following day, but unfortunately the queen caught word of that suggestion. She decided this was a perfect opportunity to force Chaeryeong and Seungmin to spend time together. So, all of a sudden, Seungmin found himself crammed into a carriage with Chaeryeong and her ladies-in-waiting on their way to the city. For once, Hyunjin was not allowed to come, and Seungmin tried not to panic about that. He would be fine without him, he tried telling himself. He could pretend to be a prince for a day without Hyunjin there to give him support. He just have to be confident and trust himself.

However, Chaeryeong was about as unresponsive as she had been in Seungmin’s past few attempts to talk to her. He tried asking her about her favorite places in the city. She said she didn’t have any. He asked why. She said she didn’t get to visit often. Seungmin had no idea where to go from that. 

They ended up going to lunch, then down the street full of flower vendors, and then to a few higher-end shops where Chaeryeong looked around with a blank expression and never bought anything. 

Seungmin tried to think of ways to possibly annoy her or embarrass her because of the plan, but he found himself too exhausted to try. The best he did was sneeze without covering his nose when they walked past the flowers, but that wasn’t even intentional. He just happened to be sensitive to flowers. And he wasn’t about to resort to spilling things on her during lunch this time. 

One of the older ladies-in-waiting mentioned something about buying a new dress, during which they would have to sit and wait for Chaeryeong to try on all of her potential options (and even wait for them to do some modifications while she was still in the shop). At that point, Seungmin was considering several escape options, the most prominent being jumping off one of the various bridges in the city. 

They stopped to watch some street vendors perform, with one of the ladies-in-waiting clinging to Chaeryeong’s arm. She pointed at the different performers, all decorated in elaborate costumes with gold face paint. Seungmin found the performance boring, so he watched Chaeryeong and her lady-in-waiting instead, only to raise his eyebrows in surprise when Chaeryeong smiled. Smiled. And not at the performance, but at the lady-in-waiting, who was watching the performers. But, as Seungmin watched, the lady-in-waiting looked back at Chaeryeong, saw Chaeryeong smiling at her, and smiled back. And they continued to smile at each other, even when a live performance was happening right in front of them.

Something struck Seungmin at that moment. It was both a mental and physical thing, as he made a realization right as something hit him in the back of the neck. He turned around, a scowl on his face, only to blink in surprise when he saw Hyunjin of all people, leaning up against a streetlight, his hand stuck in a bag of peanuts. Standing next to him was Jeongin, who grinned and waved at him. 

Seungmin couldn’t help snorting as he slipped to the crowd and headed towards them. 

“Hi,” Hyunjin said, still smirking. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” Seungmin said, smirking back.

“Small world,” Hyunjin said. 

Seungmin crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “Did you follow us?”

“You just now noticed?” Jeongin grinned. 

Seungmin blinked at that. “You’ve been following us all day?”

“Yeah it’s not that hard. Peanut?” Hyunjin offered the bag to him, but Seungmin waved it off. 

“Why didn’t you save me from my misery sooner?” Seungmin gave him a pointed look. 

“Because where’s the fun in that?” Hyunjin grinned.

“I was seriously considering jumping off a bridge.” 

“Do a flip when you do.”

Seungmin shoved him, and Hyunjin just laughed as he continued to eat peanuts. He glanced over Hyunjin’s shoulder, where the three guards were, as always. But the three of them weren’t paying attention to Seungmin because two of them were too busy teasing the third, who was turning bright red. 

Jeongin glanced over his shoulder at the three guards and gave them a shit-eating grin. “Hey, Chan, you’re welcome to walk around and talk to people if you want. Specifically that person.” He gestured towards Chaeryeong and her party, though Hyunjin and Seungmin couldn’t figure out who he was pointing at within the group. 

“That would be extremely unprofessional, leaving you here,” said the one with the bright red face. Seungmin assumed he was Chan. 

“He’s looking over here!” the third guard said. 

Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Seungmin all looked back at Chaeryeong’s group, where her personal guard—Brian, as Seungmin had been briefly introduced to him—happened to be glancing in their direction. He did a double-take when he saw the group of them, and Chan gave a small, shy wave. Brian smiled in reply before looking straight ahead. 

The third guard was making a strangled, happy noise as Changbin started elbowing Chan repeatedly. 

“Stop it, stop it,” Chan said, but he was blushing so hard that it was hard to take him seriously. “You guys are seriously unprofessional right now.”

“He smiled at youuuu,” the third one sang out. 

“He was just being friendly!”

“Nope, it was definitely a special moment.”

Chan sighed. Though, it was clear to anyone that he was secretly pleased by the fact that Brian had acknowledged him, however small.

“And he’s coming over here, right now,” Changbin said with a smug smirk. 

“What?” Chan’s eyes widened in terror. 

The performance had ended, so Chaeryeong and her party were walking over to Seungmin. Seungmin couldn’t help noticing how Chaeryeong’s arm was still linked with that one lady-in-waiting. 

“Oh, hello, Jeongin,” Chaeryeong said without any emotion whatsoever.

“Hello,” Jeongin said. 

“How nice to see you in the city as well!” the lady-in-waiting said with a warm smile. “Did you enjoy the performance, Your Highness?”

“He was too short to see,” Hyunjin said, smirking. Jeongin elbowed him, but he was fighting to suppress a smile. 

An idea popped into Seungmin’s head, and he turned to Chaeryeong. “Princess, I’ve decided to go back to the castle with Prince Jeongin and his company. With your permission, of course.”

“Do what you want, I don’t care,” Chaeryeong replied. 

Seungmin smiled at that.

“Well, then, we must be off,” the lady-in-waiting said, still smiling at them. “Do enjoy the rest of your day, Your Highnesses.” Then, with a small curtsy, she stepped away with Chaeryeong. 

Before they could walk away, though, Seungmin heard the third guy say in a singsong voice, “Bye, Brian.”

Brian just smirked and said, “Bye, Jisung.” With one last glance at the three guards, he followed Chaeryeong and her ladies-in-waiting through the crowd. 

As soon as he was out of earshot, the third guard—Jisung—shoved Chan. “What the hell was that, man, you missed your chance.”

“Professionalism, Jisung!” Chan said.

“Oh, blah,” Jisung scoffed, making a face at him. 

“You’re lucky you’re good at fighting because you really make a terrible guard,” Chan shot back with no heat. 

“Fight me now, then!” Jisung jumped into a fighting stance. 

“He’s been like this all day and it’s quite entertaining,” Hyunjin told Seungmin, still munching away at his peanuts. “I’m pretty sure if there was a threat he’d just talk it to death.”

Seungmin hummed in response, but then Jeongin turned to look at Hyunjin, his eyes practically sparkling. 

“Where should we go next?” Jeongin asked Hyunjin. “Anywhere you want.”

“You choose,” Hyunjin replied with a fond smile. 

“We’ve already visited all of my favorite places, though.” Jeongin thought for a moment, then gasped as an idea occurred to him. “There’s a lantern show at dusk where they light all these lanterns and release them into the sky and it’s beautiful!”

“Then let’s stay to watch it!” Hyunjin said. 

Chan cleared his throat, making Jeongin look at him. Chan shook his head at him, and Jeongin’s shoulders slumped. 

“We can’t.” Jeongin sighed. “We have to be back before dark. My father’s rules.”

“What?” Hyunjin looked annoyed for Jeongin’s sake. “He gives you curfew?”

“He always has,” Jeongin said. “It’s superstitious, but the witches and faeries come out after dark. Though, I don’t understand why I would have to be afraid of them I mean I already have the—” He cut off suddenly, his eyes going wide. “Uh, it’s just safer to be back on the castle grounds before sunset.” He looked away, avoiding Hyunjin’s gaze. 

“Why would the witches and faeries come out after dark if your kingdom has already killed them all…?” Seungmin asked before he could help himself. 

Hyunjin shot him a look as Jeongin looked up at Seungmin with a sad and confused expression. 

“Like I said, it’s just a superstition,” Jeongin said. “It's something parents tell their kids before they go to sleep that they can’t go certain places after dark or else the witches will kill them in horrible ways or the faeries will curse them.”

“My parents told me that,” Jisung said with a nod. “Said the witches would come and drag me off and eat me alive if I kept talking. They told me that to shut me up, though, because apparently talking would alert them of my location.”

“At least you’ll prove to be a good distraction,” Hyunjin said. 

“Yeah,” Jisung agreed, nodding. A beat or so passed before he frowned and asked, “Wait, what?”

“Maybe we can see the lanterns another time,” Chan said. “But for right now, Your Highness, we have time for maybe one more thing before we have to head back to the castle.”

Jeongin glanced at Hyunjin, who looked back and shrugged. “I know there’s a candy shop nearby,” Jeongin said.

“Let’s go, then.” Hyunjin smiled at him. Jeongin automatically smiled back. 

Seungmin glanced between the two of them, thinking he had left them for barely a full day and already they had become so much closer. But, then again, Hyunjin had claimed he had fallen in love with Jeongin in a night, so Seungmin supposed this wasn’t that difficult to comprehend. 

On their way back to the castle after the candy shop, Jeongin fell asleep in the carriage and used Hyunjin’s shoulder as a pillow. Hyunjin just smiled down at him before settling back in the seat to fall asleep himself.

And Seungmin was beginning to think that he should have just stayed with Chaeryeong. 

They arrived back too late for dinner with the king and queen in the banquet hall. Seungmin planned to ring for the servants to bring food up to his chambers. He was in the mood for some tea as well. 

Hyunjin and Jeongin drifted off together the moment they arrived, leaving Seungmin to go to his chambers on his own. Once he stepped into his rooms, though, he immediately went over to the wardrobe and rummaged for the simplest and softest clothes he could find. When he looked in the mirror, he hoped to look like himself again. Something was still a bit off, so he reached up and mussed up his hair until it was an untamed mess. 

There. That looked more like him. 

One of the servants had brought up a tray of food and tea and placed it in the sitting room. Seungmin went over and sank into one of the armchairs, where he had left the book on witch hunts on the armrest. He picked it up and flipped through it, but couldn’t focus for the life of him. All he could think of was Chaeryeong smiling at her lady-in-waiting, Chan blushing and smiling at Brian, and Jeongin using Hyunjin’s shoulder as a pillow. 

Suddenly his chambers seemed too large and empty. 

Seungmin shoved the thoughts from his head and tried to focus only on the words in front of him. But as soon as he started to focus a bit more, there was a knock at his door. 

Seungmin almost snapped, What?! But he managed to remember his manners and said instead, “Yes?”

The door opened, and Changbin poked his head in. He blinked at Seungmin, looking like he was momentarily at a loss for words. Seungmin looked back at him, frowning when Changbin just stared at him. 

“Yes?” Seungmin repeated. 

Changbin seemed to snap out of it and said, “Apologies. I, uh, have something for you.”

“You do?” Seungmin frowned. 

“Yes.” Changbin hesitated again before asking, “May I come in?”

Seungmin nodded, and Changbin stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He paused for another moment, then crossed the room and held something out to Seungmin. 

“What’s this?” Seungmin blinked in surprise at the book in Changbin’s hands. 

“A book,” Changbin said. 

Seungmin gave him a look. “No shit.”

Changbin smirked at that before saying, “It’s a storybook, specifically. After last night I couldn’t help thinking you might be in need of a story every now and then.”

“Oh.” Seungmin slowly took the book from Changbin’s hands. It was as thick as any of Seungmin’s history books, with a leather cover, but this cover was engraved and decorated. At a glance, the decorations appeared to just be golden swirls. But with a closer look, Seungmin saw that the engravings and paintings were actually tiny pictures woven together. He saw faces of knights and maidens and unicorns and dragons and faeries, all with enchanting flowers and vines flitting between them. Some of the paint was flaking off, especially on the cracked spine, but Seungmin loved it nonetheless. 

“It’s beautiful,” Seungmin said softly.

“It was my mother’s,” Changbin said. 

Seungmin looked up at him, and Changbin gave him his half-smile. “There are a whole bunch of fun stories in there,” Changbin said. “I’ve read them all.”

“Which one is your favorite?”

“Easy. The story of the three dragons.”

“What’s it about?”

“Three dragons.”

Seungmin sighed in annoyance. “I’d gathered that, thanks.”

“Why tell you what it’s about if you can just read it yourself?” Changbin said. 

“Maybe I just want to hear your rendition of it.”

Changbin snorted. “No, trust me, the writing is so much better than however I could tell it.”

“Tell me anyways.” Seungmin gave him his sweetest smile possible, one he knew got Hyunjin to do whatever he wanted.

“Tempting, but no,” Changbin said. “Experience it yourself first.”

“What if I ordered you to tell me because I’m a prince?”

“Then I would use the defense of, ‘you’re not my prince’ to get out of it.” 

Seungmin arched an eyebrow. “You really want me to read this, don’t you?”

“It’s just a suggestion, Your Highness,” Changbin said, his smile growing a bit bigger as he inched towards the door, raising his hands. “After all, I am merely just a common guard.”

Seungmin snorted at that, and Changbin’s smile stretched into a full-on grin. “Read it and get back to me,” he said. Then, with that, he slipped out of the room and shut the door behind him. 

Seungmin shook his head, still smiling to himself as he looked back down at the beautiful book in his hands. He ran his hands over it, feeling the smoothness of the leather and wondering how many hands before him had done the exact same thing in order to find some sort of comfort, no matter how small. It filled him with warmth at the thought of a mother lovingly choosing this book and reading it to her children. He wondered what it would be like to listen to a mother read a story aloud. He had never experienced anything like that in his life. 

He opened the book and spent the rest of the night reading through each story, letting each word wash over him and fill him with that warmth.

* * * 

“What’re you so smiley about?” Jisung squinted at Changbin that night in their shared room. They had finished their patrols and had finally been dismissed to go to bed. 

“Can’t I just be happy for the sake of it?” Changbin shot back. 

“That’s not how happiness works.” Jisung propped his head up as he lay on his bed on his side of the room, watching as Changbin got ready for bed. “So…?”

“I’m just happy.” Changbin shrugged as he leaned down to splash water from the basin in his face. 

“It’s about the Crown Prince, isn’t it?” 

“What?”

“I knew it!” Jisung grinned and pointed at him. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I knew all that ‘oh the Crown Prince is such a dick’ spiel was just a bunch of bullshit! You actually like him, don’t you?”

“Do not!” Changbin grabbed his towel and patted his face dry. 

“C’mon, admit it.”

“No.”

“Admit it!”

“No!”

“Admit you’re as gay as the rest of us!”

Changbin swatted at him with his towel, making Jisung laugh as he rolled out of the way. 

“I can’t believe you’re falling for a prince of all people,” Jisung said, flopping onto his back as he stared up at the ceiling. “An engaged prince of all people.”

Changbin’s smile faded from his face as he stared down at the towel in his hands. He didn’t respond to Jisung’s question because he knew Jisung had made up his mind whether Changbin denied it or not. And Changbin wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t get the image of the Crown Prince dressed in simple clothes with messy hair out of his head. And before that, it had been the image of the Crown Person from the night of the ball, when he had turned to look at Changbin after removing his masquerade mask. Both were completely different looks of the same person, but Changbin wasn’t entirely sure which one he liked better. 

He shook his head to clear it as Jisung started rambling about something. It didn’t matter which look on the Crown Prince he liked better. Jisung was right—the Crown Prince was royalty, set to marry the princess of the kingdom and possibly become king one day. Changbin was just a common guard from common roots. Nothing about this could ever be anything more than Changbin just wistfully looking at the Crown Prince from a distance. 

“—and oh my god he smiled at me today and I think my heart stopped,” Jisung was saying as Changbin sat down on his bed. 

“Too bad it didn’t stop for that long,” Changbin said.

“Hey!”

Changbin grinned. “Kidding. Who is this you’re talking about?”

Jisung gave a huff as he realized that Changbin hadn’t been listening at all. “His name’s Minho and he’s one of the servants from the North. But I swear with a face like his, he could be royalty for all I know. It looks like it’s sculpted by the gods, just—” He made a kissy noise. “—muah!”

“Have you even talked to him?” Changbin asked. “Or have you just pined from afar?”

“I’ve talked to him, okay!”

“Oh yeah? Anything more than ‘hello’?”

“I told him good morning,” Jisung said. 

Changbin rolled his eyes and flopped backwards onto his own bed. 

“It’s a start, okay!” Jisung protested.

“Yeah, yeah.” Changbin waved him off as he blew out the candle on the tiny table in between their beds. The room plunged into darkness. “Go to sleep, Jisung.”

“When he smiles, I swear it’s like some godlike being coming out of the clouds,” Jisung whispered loudly. 

“Goodnight, Jisung!”

“Fine, fine, goodnight!”

Changbin smirked, knowing full well that Jisung would start talking within a few seconds, but after several minutes passed, Jisung was still silent. He had talked himself into exhaustion and had already passed out. Changbin wished he was surprised, but he wasn’t, to be honest.

But, unlike Jisung, Changbin lay there for a long time, staring up at the ceiling, his mind full of thoughts of a messy-haired prince.

He decided, when he finally started to drift off, that thoughts and dreams were okay. He could allow himself to indulge in a bit of a fantasy and never let it turn into anything more than that. 

His mind took that to heart, and he dreamed only of the Crown Prince, with his warm smile and messy hair. 

* * * 

The following day, Seungmin was stuck in the war room all day, listening to the king of the Southern Kingdom argue with his advisors about the best course of action for a myriad of problems. Seungmin hated how he was the one who had to sit in here all day, listening to the advisors debate about solutions to a problem that really wasn’t that complex. But the king had clearly stated to Seungmin that he was here to observe, not to give any actual input. Meanwhile, Hyunjin and Jeongin were probably off frolicking in the garden. Seungmin couldn’t help scowling, regretting ever suggesting this plan in the first place. 

By the time the council adjourned, it was mid-afternoon. Seungmin was ready to bolt back to his chambers for the rest of the day, but the king ordered him to accompany him to the stables and to the kennels where he kept his prized hunting dogs. Seungmin suppressed a groan and had no choice but to follow. The king droned on and on about how he had selectively bred his dogs in order to produce the finest hunting dogs in the land. Seungmin could honestly care less. At least the dogs were cute. 

Then dinner was right after that, giving Seungmin only a few minutes to change into something more presentable before going right back to the banquet hall and listening to the king once again drone on and on to him about more hunting stories. Seungmin tried to focus, but he was distracted by Jeongin and Hyunjin giggling and whispering to each other all throughout dinner. And then Chaeryeong was allowed to leave the table early! Seungmin was about ready to bash his own head in. 

Finally—finally—after dinner, he was allowed to do whatever he pleased. So he went right to his room, changed, and collapsed into his armchair. But instead of picking up his history book, he picked up the storybook from Changbin. Last night, he had read through all of them, staying up into the late hours of the night to do so. Tonight, he fully intended to go back and reread his favorites and looked forward to spending time in those familiar worlds again.  

But as he finally settled down, there was a knock at the door, which was about as much warning as he got before the door flew open and Hyunjin came barging in. “We’re sneaking out of the castle, come on!” he said, grinning from ear to ear as he marched over to Seungmin. 

Seungmin responded by making a noise that conveyed all of his annoyance and frustration pent up from the long day—which ended up being a very un-princely growl/yell thing.

“Yeah, yeah, whine all you want, come on you homebody,” Hyunjin said, completely unfazed. 

“No, fuck you.”

“We talked about the language.”

Seungmin flipped him off with both hands, and yet Hyunjin continued to drag him up and out of the chair and towards the door. Seungmin tried to dig his heels in, but to no avail. Hyunjin marched him right out of that room, and that’s when Seungmin let loose all of the expletives he had been holding back that entire day. 

“Fuck you and fuck being a prince and fuck being social and fuck making positive connections and—”

“Are you done?” Hyunjin arched an eyebrow. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Seungmin spewed. 

There was a low whistle, and Seungmin looked to see Jeongin and his three guards standing outside his door, dressed casually, all of them with various expressions of surprise on their face. Jeongin looked the most shocked, and Changbin and Jisung looked the most amused. The sight of them just annoyed Seungmin further, and he scowled as he opened his mouth to fire back at them. Hyunjin decided to cover Seungmin’s mouth with his hand.

“You’re not getting out of this,” Hyunjin said. “We can and will knock you out and carry you with us.”

“I will snap your neck like a pencil,” Seungmin snarled, but it was rendered incomprehensible by Hyunjin’s hand. 

Hyunjin smirked at him. “That’s what I thought. Come on!” He dropped his hand from Seungmin’s mouth, only to drag him down the hall.

Seungmin had no idea where they were going, though he assumed that they were trying to sneak back to the city to see the lanterns after curfew, and he was not in the mood to be crammed into a tiny carriage with Hyunjin and Jeongin again no matter how cute they were. But as Hyunjin continued to drag him through the halls and out the door and down the front paths of the castle, he realized they weren’t going in the direction of the stables, but in the direction of the cliffs. 

“Oh, joy, I’ll just throw myself off this cliff,” Seungmin scoffed. 

“We’re going down the cliffs you dramatic asshole,” Hyunjin said, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh, I’m the dramatic asshole? Look in a mirror lately?”

“There they are!” Jisung said suddenly, a grin breaking out across his face. He waved wildly at a trio of figures standing at the top of the cliffs.

Seungmin groaned. “Why are there so many people?”

“Oh, shut up, Seungmin,” Hyunjin said, starting to get annoyed. Changbin and Jeongin looked at him, and his eyes practically doubled in size. “I was talking to myself,” he said quickly. “Loud thoughts, you know.”

Luckily, he was saved by Jisung shouting something at the new trio and running ahead, where one of the three broke apart and ran to meet him. As they drew closer, Seungmin, unfortunately, recognized the three of them. Jisung was laughing and hugging Felix while Minho and Brian smiled from a distance. Chan automatically went over to Brian while rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. Seungmin had no idea why Chan was so nervous; Brian clearly felt the same way about him. The way Brian smiled at Chan said everything. 

“Are we all jumping off the cliff together?” Seungmin deadpanned. 

“If you shove anyone off a cliff, I’m burning your books,” Hyunjin said. 

“Do it, coward,” Seungmin scoffed. “I dare you.”

“Watch your step,” Chan said over his shoulder as he approached the cliffs. 

It turned out there was a staircase carved into the face of the cliffs that led all the way down to the beach, which seemed to stretch on for miles in both directions. The moment they reached the sand, Jisung shoved Felix and broke off running towards the surf. Felix laughed and sprinted after him, and the two of them launched themselves into the waves. 

Hyunjin snorted at Seungmin and punched him playfully in the shoulder before dragging Jeongin into the waves with him. 

Seungmin just watched with his eyebrows set in a straight line, thinking, THIS is what they dragged me out of my room for?

He ended up just standing there, his arms crossed tightly across his chest, as the others all ran and jumped into the waves and splashed each other and—at one point—threw each other into the deeper waves. Minho screamed at the top of his lungs when Jisung tried to drag him in deeper, ending with both of them falling into the water and coming out soaked from head-to-toe but laughing their heads off. Chan and Brian threw Felix into an incoming wave, then proceeded to laugh afterwards. Then Hyunjin and Jeongin were in their own world as they splashed water in each others faces. 

It was kind of amusing, watching them, but Seungmin wasn’t in the mood to be around people right now. He glanced back at the cliff, wondering if he trusted himself to make his way up the staircase himself. The moon was full tonight and the sky was completely clear, giving them more than enough light to see by. But he worried about the other guards seeing him on his way back into the castle and thought it wasn’t fair to get everyone else in trouble. So he sighed and sat down on the sand, wishing he had thought to bring the storybook with him. Not that there was that much light to read by, though. 

He heard someone approaching and glanced up to see Changbin running up to him. 

“Hey,” Changbin said, slightly out of breath and dripping. He pushed his hair out of his face, and Seungmin caught himself staring, thinking it wasn’t fair how attractive Changbin looked in the moonlight without his hair hiding his unique facial structure. 

“Hi,” Seungmin said. 

“Don’t just sit there—come on.” Changbin held out his hand to him. 

Seungmin shook his head. “I’d rather not.”

“Come onnnn.” Changbin’s voice turned singsong. “It’ll be fun, come on.”

“I don’t want to—” But Changbin was already grabbing Seungmin’s arm and dragging him up. Seungmin whined at that and tried to pull back, but Changbin’s muscles weren’t just for show (not that Seungmin was staring—what?). He easily pulled Seungmin along with him. 

Seungmin briefly comprehended the others cheering and laughing at him and he noticed Chan grinning at him, but all of that went by so quickly. The next moment, Seungmin was being tossed into the waves like he weighed nothing. The cold water hit him like a shock as his body sank into it. He felt the waves beginning to pull back, and he quickly scrambled for footing on the ocean floor. When he broke through the surface again, coughing and wincing from the sting of salt water in his eyes, he heard the laughter and cheers and whoops again, even a, “Yeah Your Highness!!” from Jisung. But the laughter died out when Seungmin kept his head lowered and didn’t move, still trying to get the water out of his eyes. There was a beat of silence during which only the crash of the waves was present.

Changbin was at his side now, putting a hand on his shoulder and saying in a soft, concerned voice, “Are you okay?”

Seungmin sneezed, making Changbin lean back in surprise. “Yeah,” Seungmin said, shaking the water out of his eyes and looking up at Changbin. He smiled at Changbin. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Oh, good, because—” Changbin smacked the surface of the water, sending a stream of it into Seungmin’s face. Seungmin instinctively closed his eyes before it hit and was glad he did. He grimaced and took his time wiping the water out of his eyes. 

When he opened his eyes, he smiled at Changbin again and said, “Run.”

Changbin laughed and jumped backwards, but Seungmin was faster. He lunged forward and tackled him, sending them both into the water. When they broke the surface, both laughing, Seungmin wasted no time in splashing Changbin repeatedly in the face. Changbin splashed him back with just as much vigor. Eventually it was Changbin who backed down and raised his hands in a surrender, saying, “Okay, okay, you got me!”

Seungmin splashed him one more time just for good measure, still grinning, before wiping the water from his face and heading for the shore. Changbin followed, and they both collapsed onto the ground next to each other. Seungmin made a face at his dripping clothes and how the sand automatically stuck to anything that was wet, but Changbin didn’t seem to care. He sat back on his hands and stretched his legs out in front of him, grinning as he watched the others continue to play in the surf. 

Seungmin, on the other hand, crossed his legs and focused on brushing the sand off the palms of his hands.

“Hey, look,” Changbin said suddenly, making Seungmin look up. Changbin pointed upwards, at the sky. “It’s the dragon.”

“What’s with you and dragons?” Seungmin said. 

Changbin shrugged. “They’re cool.”

“Cool,” Seungmin repeated. 

Changbin smirked at him before looking back up at the sky. “Actually, I know some history, if you’d like to hear it.”

“Yeah?”

Changbin nodded, still smirking as he pointed up at the sky again. “There’s not just one dragon, actually. There’s three. But the other two aren’t on this part of the sky. They’re all at three different points, but on the right day and at the right time, you can see all three of them just barely peeking over the horizon. They’re still on their journey to the same point.”

“Like in the story,” Seungmin said.

“Exactly.”

“But they’ll never get there,” Seungmin said, frowning. “They’re frozen in time.”

Changbin shrugged. “One day they will.” He looked at Seungmin and smiled. “So you read the story, then?”

“I read all of them,” Seungmin said. 

“Already?” Changbin laughed.

Seungmin nodded.

“What did you think?” 

“I liked them all,” Seungmin said, “but the story of the three dragons was my favorite.”

Changbin smirked. “You’re just saying that.”

“No, I’m really not. I thought it was the most heartfelt. The three of them, despite being so different, find each other in the end. Most children’s stories don’t end well.”

“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites because of the happy ending.” Changbin sighed as he looked back at the waves. “My least favorite, though, is the one about the Merchant Prince.”

Seungmin didn’t say anything to that. He remembered that one. It had actually been a happy story, though a bit cliché. The hero—the Merchant Prince—travels the seas on his ship, only to come upon an island full of grieving and desperate citizens. The citizens then beg for the Merchant Prince to rescue their beloved princess, who was taken captive by an evil witch and imprisoned in a tower in the forest. And, of course, the Merchant Prince goes and slays the witch and rescues the princess before taking her as his wife. 

“I always couldn’t help sympathizing with the witch in that one,” Changbin said, making Seungmin look at him in surprise. “The witch really didn’t seem that evil to me. She just wanted a companion because it was lonely living out in the forest. And she didn’t even trick the princess or anything—she just asked if she’d like to come and live in the forest. And then some guy comes in and steals the princess and brutally rips the witch’s heart out.” He looked at Seungmin. “That doesn’t seem right to me. It seems to me like the witch and the princess were the ones in love, and then the Merchant Prince was the villain.”

Seungmin blinked in surprise, momentarily at a loss for words. But then he scrambled and managed to say, “Well, maybe the story was written by him. And since he’s the victor, he writes himself as a hero.”

Changbin shook his head. “It’s sad.”

Seungmin watched him for several moments, vaguely aware of a smile making its way onto his face. Changbin glanced at him, then did a double take and rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah, laugh at me all you want,” Changbin said, looking away. 

“I’m not laughing,” Seungmin said even as he continued to smile. “This is what I meant when I said I wanted to hear you tell the stories. I like your interpretations.”

Changbin looked at him like he couldn’t figure out if Seungmin was tricking him or not. But when Seungmin continued to look back at him, Changbin’s face softened. “You do?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” Seungmin insisted. “Tell me another.”

Changbin snorted. “Which one?”

“What other one did you hate?”

“Oh, that’s easy—the one with the troll.” Changbin shuddered. “I hate trolls.”

Seungmin couldn’t help laughing. “That’s it? That’s your entire interpretation of that one?”

“Enlightening, isn’t it?” Changbin smiled back at him. 

“Groundbreaking,” Seungmin said with a grin. “You should immediately become a scholar.”

Changbin just smirked and shoved his shoulder, making Seungmin laugh again. But then Changbin’s smile faded slightly as he just stared at Seungmin, who was unfazed and stared back. There was that look on Changbin’s face again that suggested that he was going to say something, only to think better of it and keep it to himself. 

“What?” Seungmin said. “Say whatever you want.”

Changbin studied him for a few moments more before saying softly, “You have a nice laugh.”

Seungmin blinked at that, his smile momentarily fading as he stared back at Changbin with wide eyes. 

“Hey!” Jisung shouted, walking towards them and efficiently shattering the moment. “If you two are done gazing into each other’s eyes, we’re going to head back soon before it gets too late.”

“We were not gazing into each other’s eyes!” Changbin yelled back, standing. “It’s a sign of respect to look into someone’s eyes when you’re talking to them!”

“Oh, then you two respect each other very much.” Jisung grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at them. 

Seungmin didn’t see how Changbin reacted, as he was too busy standing up and brushing the sand off himself. His clothes weren’t dry whatsoever, but he wasn’t soaked to the bone like he was before. He could only hope that he would dry off a bit more when they climbed the staircase to the top of the cliffs. 

He didn’t speak much to Changbin (or to anyone for that matter) as they made their way back to the castle, though, without even hesitating, Changbin broke off from the others to walk Seungmin back to his room. Seungmin deliberately ignored the shit-eating grins the others shot at them. 

“Sorry we dragged you out of your room,” Changbin said. “Even though that was hilarious. I was both appalled and impressed when you started cursing everyone out.”

“You would be like that too if you had just spent the entire day with the king.” Seungmin rolled his eyes. “But…I had fun.” He gave Changbin a quick smile before looking straight ahead. 

“I’m glad,” Changbin said. “I had fun, too.”

They had reached Seungmin’s chambers at that point, but Seungmin was too distracted by Changbin’s smile and slicked back hair to notice. He didn’t even notice how Changbin was looking back at him with the same look in his eye. 

Then, softly, Changbin said, “Goodnight, Your Highness.”

“See you tomorrow?” Seungmin said without thinking. 

Changbin’s smile widened. “I look forward to it.”

Seungmin smiled back. “Me too. Goodnight, then, Changbin.”

With that, they parted ways for the night. But as Seungmin drew his own bath and washed all the salt from his body and dressed in warm, soft clothes, he found himself thinking about the guard. He thought about how brightly Changbin had smiled and how hard he had laughed and how passionately he had recounted his favorite—and not so favorite—stories. He thought about how Changbin had looked in the moonlight with his hair pushed back—all the angular panes of his face highlighted, and yet his eyes still soft and warm. 

And of course he thought a little bit about how Changbin’s wet shirt clung to his body, revealing the curves of his toned muscles, but that was irrelevant. 

Above all, as Seungmin settled into his bed, he thought about how much he looked forward to seeing Changbin tomorrow. 

Smiling to himself, he drifted off to sleep.