Chapter Text
The pain woke him up. Before he opened his eyes, he felt the softness of a bed under him and the gentle support of a pillow under his right cheek, but the pain, hot and pulsating, was making it hard to breathe.
A cool, wet rag softly made contact with his naked, injured shoulder blade, and he gasped, wincing.
"Tae?" His mother wondered with surprise, stopping what she was doing to move her chair closer to his face. "Tae, are you awake?"
He opened his eyes and answered.
"Yes."
His mother sighed with relief, and fast footsteps neared the bed where he was. By the looks of the wall behind his crying mother, he knew he was back at the Hoods' house.
Mr. and Mrs. Hood walked near him to see him awake right before doctor Alaric began asking him questions about whether anything else happened inside the mansion; if he'd been given liquor, drugs, poison, or a beating. He said no to all of those questions with a tired tone of voice, and the doctor told him what they were doing at the moment.
"Your mother was finishing up cleaning the wounds. Mrs. Hood has only just finished making the antiseptic. Take a deep breath..." Taehyung did what he was told as best he could, expecting blinding, sharp pain again. Dr. Alaric started dabbing his injured skin, which did hurt, but not as much as he thought. "You can continue like this." He muttered to someone else, perhaps his mother. When he opened his eyes, Dr. Alaric was crouching on the floor so he could be at eye level with him. "Downstairs, we have some people making bone knit and willow bark tea; it'll help with the pain. I don't think you'll get an infection since we were able to treat you so fast, but you might get a fever."
Eyes full of sadness, the man raised a hand and gently placed it on his head. After a few seconds of looking at him, he stood back up and walked around where his mother was sitting, leaving his line of sight. His mother was still tearing up as she dabbed his injuries. She was being so careful that he felt hardly any pain whenever she touched him. By that point, he felt sort of... numb. Too sad for tears. Too hurt for words.
Mr. Hood took the place where Dr. Alaric had been. He was wearing his usual attire once more. His face was red as if his eyes but he was no longer crying. He looked angry, but Taehyung could tell it was not directed at him.
"Why were you there, Taehyung? Why did you tell no one? What happened after I left?"
"Let him rest." His mother shook her head. The small bowl in her other hand was shaking slightly.
"It's ok," Taehyung whispered. But it only made his mother's face twist with sorrow. Closing his eyes, he answered Mr. Hood as best as he could. "The barrels for clean water. They were expensive. I asked him for help."
"What barrels?" His mother asked.
Opening his eyes, he found her staring daggers at Mr. Hood, who answered as he stared at the floor.
"He learned that not every house had barrels for clean water and how that was one of the biggest reasons the elderly, children and the sick don't survive the winter. So, he wanted to get everyone a barrel."
She left the small bowl on the bed next to his body to cover her mouth with her hand. She was trying very hard not to sob out loud, but Taehyung could feel her agony as though it were his own. If it had been her on the bed, he would've gone mad with rage.
Mr. Hood lifted his head, angry once more.
"He would never give something without demanding something in return." The man said, referring to the lord. At that moment, the door behind his mother and Mr. Hood opened. While one of the men from the village pushed it open, a young woman walked in with a tray. They both looked at him with anger and sorrow. Dr. Alaric went to get what they offered right as Mr. Hood continued to talk. "What did he demand in return, Taehyung? What did he ask of you?"
Taehyung closed his eyes again as he thought. It was difficult to explain. Their conversion had taken so many turns that he didn't even know what the lord had been demanding of him in the very end. They could also hear the lord's offer as a good choice, now that he thought about it.
Right there, where he lay, he couldn't help but realise that his views on why he refused would not be widely shared. Perhaps even his mother would get disappointed that he'd declined, only for such disastrous consequences.
He didn't want them to think he was stupid for taking the stand he did. He also didn't want to sound whiny by telling them how scary that man had been. Finally, he decided to tell them exactly, not the luxuries he'd been offered, but how he'd interpreted the lord's demands.
"He wanted to sell me off to a wealthy family as a means to multiply his wealth." He whispered.
"He what?" The man who had just entered exclaimed loudly, making Taehyung open his eyes.
The woman next to him had the same expression of outrage as the man, while Mrs. Hood gently pushed them outside the room so she could close the door.
"For some barrels?" Mr. Hood exclaimed under his breath and stood up.
His mother continued applying the contents of the small bowl on his back as she shook her head, her lips pursed tightly. Taehyung closed his eyes again and drifted off, not paying attention to what the adults were saying around him. It wasn't until they mentioned the lord's guard that he opened his eyes again.
"What happened to him?"
His mother quickly looked towards him, eyebrows raised and hand frozen in the air.
"To whom?"
As Mr. Hood returned to where he was and the doctor left the room, Taehyung asked again.
"What happened to the guard?"
"He went back to the mansion." Mr. Hood answered, displeased. "Just as well. The people might've killed him if he'd stayed much longer after Eli pushed him off you."
Taehyung frowned slightly.
"Eli?"
Mr. Hood and his mother nodded. When she finished applying what she had in her hands, she stood up and left his line of sight.
"Right after the sixth blow, he tackled the guard." Mr. Hood told him.
"Is Eli ok?"
The man sighed as he stared at him, almost like he was disappointed at the question, but also... with something else in the depth of his stare.
"The guard managed to cut his thigh with his sword, but nothing life-threatening. Alaric has been coming and going between this room and the one where Eli and Mr. Briggs are. The Vincent brothers would've done it, they said, but Eli got there quicker." He chuckled without any real humour in his eyes. "For now, care only about yourself, alright? Please."
Taehyung looked back at him, a bit taken aback. That had been a plea.
"Alright." He said because he couldn't nod. And Mr. Hood grabbed his hand lying on the bed, squeezed it, and bent his head in the same kind of motion he'd done when addressing the lord of their lands. Startled, Taehyung said nothing more as he watched him stand up and leave the room.
He stayed alone with his mother as she applied the next thing to his back. Tired, he closed his eyes, but his mother had a question.
"Why didn't you tell me where you were going?" She sounded slightly betrayed.
Frowning, he answered with his eyes closed.
"You would've stopped me."
"And for good reason." She exclaimed, but her hands were the gentlest they've ever been.
"My mistake. I didn't know he would demand something in return. I'm sorry."
She sighed heavily. When she spoke again, her voice trembled slightly.
"If you hadn't been faster... You would've never returned home. And I would've been left wondering what had happened." She started crying.
His eyes filled with tears at the pain of what he'd done to her. Even though he did run faster, the idea that he might not have was still agony. He heard her standing up, too overwhelmed with tears to continue healing him.
Anger coursed through his body; anger at himself for being so ignorant; anger at the lord for his greed and pride; anger at the guard who could've simply let him go instead of forcing everyone around the village square to witness his punishment. And he was angry because they were living in a world where wealth dictated the worth of a human being.
That greedy man saw him as nothing but a thing he could use. He'd said he recognised his mother was a great worker and still threatened him to expose what her son did so she would get punished. They were nothing to him, none of them. They were stupid and poor, and he couldn't care less if they got injured or died. He had all the gold to make their village a humble paradise with everything they could need, but he preferred to hoard it.
He placed his hands on either side of him on the bed and lifted his elbows. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up. Tears fell as he silently pulled his legs over the edge of the bed.
His mother gasped.
"No!" She almost shouted, rushing towards him, but he'd already sat up on the edge of the bed. She stopped beside him, hands trembling, when she gently grabbed his naked shoulders. "You need to rest. You need to lie down."
He reached up and grabbed her right hand. She stopped talking, and he pressed the back of her knuckles to his forehead. Gasping with his teeth clenched, he let out a quiet sob and then spoke.
"I beg you to forgive me for worrying you. And thank you for everything."
She sobbed and hugged his head close to her stomach, promising him that he never had to beg her for anything. He let her hug him, unable to lift his arms after all the fight had left his body. But he didn't lie back down as she asked of him.
While he sat, she finished applying the contents of the second bowl on his back. She also handed him a cup of tea for the pain, and he took it gladly. Then, walking slowly so his left foot wouldn't protest the movement, he walked barefoot down the hall with his mother close by until he reached the room where Eli was.
The Hoods, Mr. Briggs, Dr. Alaric and Eli gasped when they saw him.
"No, what are you doing?" Mrs. Hood rushed forward with her hands out, ready to push him back to bed.
But his eyes were glued to Eli as he kept walking towards the bed where he lay. His right leg was being held up by Mr. Biggs, and he could see the extent of his injury. The stitches went from his knee and around his thigh until they reached just below his buttocks. He was in his underwear and just about to be given the same types of ointments that he had when Taehyung sat slowly on the bed. Reaching forward, he grabbed Eli's left hand in his and placed his knuckles to his forehead.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." He nearly sobbed again.
As much as it could've been mercy from the guard to punish only him, the force with which he whipped him could've killed him if it had gone on for much longer.
"Tae..." Mr. Hood said sadly as he stood somewhere behind him.
"You protected us," Eli said, and Taehyung lowered their hands so he could look at them. His eyes were also filled with emotion, but he remained serious as he spoke. "It was only right we did the same for you."
Taehyung's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but he accepted what he said and let him return the gesture.
The next day after that whole ordeal took place, he was walking back home slowly but steadily with his mother at his side and the Vincent brothers around them. People would walk out of their homes or stare out the window as they passed. They would walk up to him and thank him for his bravery, but he would also thank them for keeping themselves safe. By the time his mother had finished organising the living room for them to sleep next to the fire, their front door had more people than it had ever seen before.
Food, bread and milk were delivered to them by the generosity of their people for six days straight. Taehyung would thank them personally, as his mother would receive the food, and they would tell him how they heard the tale of what happened. They said he ran away as he was about to be locked in the lord's dungeons. They said he heard the lord tell his guard in secret how they would kill the villagers in the dead of night, and he forced himself out of their clutches to warn them all. They said he was a hero, a blessing they didn't know they needed, and some would even kiss his knuckles, saying it would bring them safety.
Taehyung couldn't believe the way everything had progressed. The way everyone perceived him changed from one day to the next. Mostly, he felt undeserving of their praise. The window had been open by sheer luck. The guard hadn't been in the room by sheer luck. The lord had fallen over the glass table by sheer luck. And he'd managed to escape because he was terrified for his life before anyone else's.
But he stopped trying to refuse their gratitude. After his mother told him how hope could change a whole person's view in life, he preferred their teary-eyed smiles rather than the apathy some used to show the world. If the idea they had of him made them happier, he would strive to be that person more and more.
As the third and fourth days came and went without him getting a fever, his mother kept asking him what was keeping him up at night. But it was hard to explain.
Something had changed inside his heart. He'd seen the wonders of that mansion and let his heart hope he could stay there much longer, staring at the paintings and reading all those books. But then, the handsome man who owned the land under his feet showed him he was a hollow sculpture of physical beauty and nothing else. He'd disguised his insults with advice and his demands as wonderful offers. He took the dreams Taehyung told him he had and plucked them off the stem one by one like nothing but petals in a flower. Disguising himself as the saviour, he became enraged when Taehyung saw the encarcerer beneath.
He'd dreamed about Jungkook and the palaces he lived in. He'd been grateful that his luxuries kept him comfortable and took the blank papers he would send him as gestures of kindness. But, what if...
That was what kept him up at him. He didn't want to doubt him. He would go up to his room even though his back still hurt and read his past letters with a frown between his brows. He didn't want to think of his Jungkook as someone from the same tree as the lord they all hated. He read and reread, finding differences, finding reasons to trust him again and again, but his mind would stay restless. The lord had said he also went to that school, he said marriage was nothing but a strategy for wealth, he looked down on him for overlooking the only path to be allowed next to his Jungkook, and Taehyung was doubting now.
He was doubting whether Jungkook knew, all along, that being his pianist or guard or gardener meant they would never speak or exchange letters ever again. He was doubting whether Jungkook liked it when he spoke pretty words to him, just because they were pretty. He was doubting whether Jungkook's reaction to him would've been different if he had even mentioned that he was willing to marry him if that was what his Jungkook wanted.
He was doubting whether he said he was allowed to marry for love only to string him along. He was doubting, and he hated it.
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Thank you for reading Chapter 31💐
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