Chapter Text
“Now, would you be so kind to tell me where I can find His Highness?” Yeosang asks after having pulled me aside to a quiet alley, probably to discourage me from disappearing in the crowd.
“Which one?” I feign innocence, making sure to avoid his pretty but scrutinising eyes. “I know several who go by that title.”
He sighs and crosses his muscular arms annoyed, his posture telling me he has already lost his patience. “Let’s see, which of the three princes also likes to sneak his way out of the palace without telling anyone?”
I shrug, still dodging his gaze, scanning the area in hopes of finding an escape, not wanting to admit my chances are slim at best as his bulky frame blocks my way. Why are all these palace guards so ridiculously fit? What the hell do they feed them in this kingdom?
“No one comes to mind?” His honeyed voice is dripping with sarcasm.
“Well, I guess we can exclude my brother, as he has time after time proven himself to be a boring stickler for rules.”
The slightest hint of a smile curls Yeosang’s lips, but then he returns to business: “Where is prince Jongho?”
“What makes you think prince Jongho is here too?” I retort.
“The fact that you are on this side of the palace walls,” he replies, gesturing to me like it’s clear as day.
“You don’t think I can make it out on my own?” I raise my chin in defiance.
“Not as long as the guards are around,” he quips. “Remind me again, who plucked you off the wall a few days ago?”
“Hmpf,” I snort, annoyed at his overly confident smirk. I shouldn’t let him get under my skin, though; I have to figure out a way to return to the palace without anyone else finding out I left it in the first place.
“Fine, have it your way,” he gives in. “I’ll just escort you back to the palace then.”
“No!” I can’t help but exclaim. He lifts his eyebrow questioningly, so I quickly continue: “I’ll tell you… but only if you let me return quietly.”
“Of course,” he replies a little too quickly.
I narrow my eyes suspiciously. “Promise me.”
To my surprise, he offers me his little pinky. “I promise.”
I scoff at first, but the innocent gesture has made me lower my guard. So I grab his pinky with mine and press our thumbs together. How silly… but somehow it makes me trust him.
“I left Jongho at the food market. He was getting us some famous skewers.”
“Oh!” Yeosang’s eyes light up, sparkling innocently like an excited child. “The cheongyang gochu chicken skewers? Wah, those are really delicious…”
“Is it too late to bribe you with them?”
He smiles, but remains silent as he offers me his arm; which I take, reluctantly accepting my fate.
“So, have you been enjoying your time in the city?” he asks as we stroll back to where I escaped from mere minutes ago.
I smile a little ruefully. “I truly have.”
“What places did you visit?
“Let’s see…” I think back for a short moment. “We went to this lovely teashop ran by this sweet old grannie, we enjoyed Maehwa’s boutique – though that was mostly me having fun, if I’m being honest – and we wandered along the bridges at the Eight Bridges Stream.”
“Oh, he took you to all the classic spots,” Yeosang nods approvingly.
“What a shame I won’t see what other beautiful places this wonderful city has to offer…” I try to twist his words into letting me see a bit more of the capital.
He slams it down immediately with a straight face: “A shame indeed.”
“It doesn’t have to be a shame, you know,” I sulk, trying again. “Could this not be arranged through, for instance, some cheongyang gochu chicken skewers…?”
“If a mere skewer could make me disregard my duties, I’m not worthy of being a guard.”
I guess he has a point there.
When we emerge from a side street onto the food market, we are hit by a wall of sound composed of the hiss of sizzling food, the shouts of loud vendors, and the munching of many, many customers. The prospect of having to navigate this chaos doesn’t seem to motivate either of us.
“Let’s see if we can find His Highness,” Yeosang says eventually after we’ve lingered for a bit, and I nod, hoping that Jongho is the only person we will run into; I haven’t forgotten why I had left him behind.
And it seems Yeosang finally realises he doesn’t know why I left the prince and was wandering on my own, as he mumbles with a furrowed brow: “Hold on…” His gaze narrows. “Why exactly did you feel the need to leave prince Jongho, Your Highness?”
“Uh…” Shit. How am I going to talk myself out of this one? Where is Wooyoung when you need a good excuse?
Oh, right. I left him at the palace.
“Princess!”
A low, grumbling voice suddenly calls out above the noise, and I close my eyes in despair. You’ve got to be kidding me.
Yeosang, who must have recognised that voice, takes one look at my face, and then fails to suppress a cheeky grin. “Ah, that’s why…”
“Please tell me I’m hallucinating…” I mutter under my breath.
“I’m afraid the way he is angrily pushing his way through the crowd is all too real,” Yeosang snickers.
Great.
“Good afternoon, Mingi,” Yeosang greets him cordially.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Mingi barks at me, completely ignoring Yeosang.
In the blink of an eye, my blood pressure has risen to dangerous levels. The nerve! How dare he speak to me in such a condescending and disrespectful manner again?
“Excuse me?” I snap while turning towards him with eyes spitting fire. “You shall address me properly!”
“What the hell are you doing here, Your Highness?” he repeats, unfazed by my blazing scowl.
“That is none of your business!”
“As a royal guard, it most definitely is.”
“Well, you’re not my guard now, are you?”
“I am a guard of the palace you are currently staying in, so you most certainly fall under my jurisdiction!” I can see he is starting to lose his temper as his frown grows a little deeper. Then he adds with a scoff: “Where is your guard anyway? How dare he let you on the loose all by yourself… Again.”
“ ‘On the loose’?!” I blurt incredulously. “Why, you –”
“Princess, perhaps you would consider to calm down a little,” Yeosang interrupts, his tone gentle but his demeanour a bit anxious. “We might be drawing some unwanted attention.”
“I am calm,” I growl.
“I beg to differ,” Yeosang mutters, causing me to shift my glare from Mingi to him. I fully realise I am currently not the slightest bit composed, but I can’t be bothered to get a hold of myself.
“Besides, we wouldn’t be drawing any attention to ourselves if he hadn’t called out ‘Princess!’ in this busy market in the first place.”
“You just told me to address you properly!” Mingi grumbles, astonished as well as annoyed. Then he shakes his head and continues: “Never mind, I’ve had enough of this. I am taking you back to the palace.”
He wants to grab my arm, but I quickly step out of reach and push a slightly baffled Yeosang in between us. I keep dashing out of Mingi’s range while he tries to catch me from one side or the other, using Yeosang as my shield as I hide behind his back.
“You will not be taking me anywhere!” I declare with determination.
“For heaven’s sake,” Mingi sighs as he rubs his face with his hands and casts his eyes upwards, as if begging the gods for patience. “We are not doing this again!”
“Doing what again?”
Our heads simultaneously snap to the side as Jongho joins us, seemingly out of nowhere, holding a sauce-glazed chicken skewer in each hand, one of which is half-eaten.
“Your Highness!” Yeosang and Mingi exclaim in unison, upon which Jongho immediately hushes them: “Sssh! I’m here incognito!”
While the guards share a confused silence, Jongho hands me the uneaten skewer, with a slight self-aware blush on his cheeks as his eyes flicker to the gnawed one. “Here you go, noona.”
I can’t help but notice Yeosang’s gaze lingering on the food for an instant as I take the skewer from Jongho. They must be truly good then, if Yeosang can’t keep his eyes off them and Jongho couldn’t resist already starting without me.
“So, I guess the presence of these two explains why you were suddenly gone,” he nods at the guards while he resumes nibbling on his skewer.
“Your Highness, we should be returning to the palace,” Mingi insists, his tone a lot more friendly now he is talking to his prince.
“I agree,” Jongho replies, to my surprise; which only lasts for a second as he adds: “You should be returning. We will stay and finish our skewers before heading to the bookshop and then perhaps also the –”
“With all due respect, Your Highness, it is unsafe to remain in the city without guards,” Mingi interrupts. “The person who broke into the palace a couple of days ago has not been arrested yet, therefore –”
“You still have to apprehend the intruder? That’s a little lacking, don’t you agree?” Jongho feigns discontent. “There’s no need to worry, though; the princess is perfectly safe in my company.”
“It is not just the princess’ safety which is a point of our concern,” Yeosang adds with a slight edge to his voice. Not surprisingly, as it is his job to keep this prince safe, which is constantly being jeopardised by said prince’s unannounced disappearances.
“Do you have such little faith in my abilities, Yeosang?”
“Not at all, Your Highness. But you sure cannot deny that both of you are safer when protected by guards, no?”
“Hm,” Jongho hums thoughtfully while chewing on his final bite. “And if I order you to return to the palace without us?”
Yeosang sighs and closes his eyes for a second before replying, with obvious effort to remain composed: “As we have discussed before, your safety goes above any order.”
“Worked just fine on Minjae,” Jongho mumbles under his breath before resuming at a normal volume: “All right, then we have no other choice. You will join us on our tour of the city for our protection.”
“But –” “Your –”
“That’s an order,” Jongho cuts them off with a wink in my direction. “And this one, you cannot refuse.”
I’m pretty sure I could get completely lost in this bookshop… and perhaps even willingly so.
There’s not one, but two floors filled with bookcases so high that they scrape the ceiling, bearing the heavy weight of their contents as they are absolutely chock-full with books: scholarly literature, foreign translations, historic novels, fiction of all kinds and flavours… The shop seems to have it all. In several places the owner had to resort to making piles next to the cases as they were already crammed to the max, and so I navigated my way through a literal maze of printed paper, while kicking up clouds of dust and inhaling the sweet aroma of old wood.
I would have been perfectly content to wander here for a while and indulge in reading a wide assortment of written wonders, if it wasn’t for Mingi following my every step like an unwanted shadow, making sure I don’t skedaddle out of the window in an unguarded moment. To make him suffer equally in return, I have spent most of my time in the romance section, watching him grimace as he reads the titles aloud in undisguised disgust.
“ ‘To a place no one can find’ … ‘Carnival of lies’… ‘Hearts awakened’? Jeez… Do you actually read this stuff, Your Highness?” he asks as he is flipping through the pages.
“You should try it before you judge,” I respond patronisingly. “Here, I think this one is just your thing.”
“ ‘Under the moonlight’?” he quotes. “You’re joking, right?”
I ignore him as my eyes have finally spotted the one book I have been looking for – on the top shelf, about half an arm length out of my reach.
“Damn it,” I mutter as I stretch the farthest as I physically can, but still find my fingernails only scratching the cover.
From the corner of my eye, Mingi’s arm suddenly comes into view as he takes the book I had been grasping for, and hands it to me with one eyebrow raised, saying: “You could have just asked.”
I take it from him with a frown and a pout, retorting: “I was about to.”
His other eyebrow raises as well, and he can’t hide the sarcasm from his voice when he replies: “Oh, were you now?”
I glare at him, so he quickly adds: “… Your Highness.”
“Hmpf,” I huff annoyed, not sure if I should forgive him for his impertinence, and he chuckles amused. Seeing the smirk on his face does something strange with my heart, which seems to flutter a little before resuming at a steady pace. I suddenly become a little too aware of how close he is actually standing in this narrow space, so I can’t help but take a step back and clear my throat.
“Well, I’ve got what I wanted to get, so let’s go back to Jongho and Yeosang,” I mumble while feeling the need to avoid his eyes.
“You want to go back voluntarily now? That’s new,” he mutters, but nevertheless he turns around to go back to the front of the shop, leaving ‘Under the moonlight’ on its shelf.
“You’re not going to read that?” I taunt.
“Not even if it was the last book on Earth.” He shivers, and I can’t help but smile.
We return through the maze to the entrance, where I pay the friendly owner for my book. A short moment later, Jongho and Yeosang arrive as well, and I gawk at the latter as he carries a huge pile of books, his arms straining under its weight.
“Might as well purchase the whole shop,” I remark jokingly, making Jongho giggle while Mingi hurries to help Yeosang in sharing the burden. When we step outside and into the bright sun again, I notice with a start that it has already gone way past its highest point.
“Woops, we stayed inside a little too long,” Jongho remarks as he eyes the descending sun too. “We best hurry back now, noona.”
“Will we make it on time for dinner?” I ask anxiously as we start on our return to the palace with hasty steps.
“Oh, definitely, don’t worry about that,” he reassures me with a wink. “It’s just that I have found from experience that it’s best not to stay away for too long. After three hours or so, people start noticing they haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Respectfully, Your Highness, we notice a lot sooner than that,” Yeosang counters politely. “It’s only that if it takes more than a few hours before you return, we start to become a bit… concerned.”
Jongho jovially claps Yeosang on the shoulder, almost making him drop the pile of books, and I suspect he might have done that on purpose. “No need for that, Yeosang,” he reassures his guard. “The longer I’m out, the more fun I’m having!”
“It is only fun for you,” Yeosang grumbles softly, and I bite my lip not to giggle when I see his face turn a little sour.
Luckily for him, Jongho hasn’t heard any of that, as his eyes have just discovered the book that I’m still holding. “Don’t trouble yourself with that, noona,” he declares. “Mingi will carry it for you.”
He casually plucks it out of my hand and drops it on top of Mingi’s pile, seemingly without giving it much thought, oblivious to the subtle glare that Mingi sends him.
“Of course, Your Highness,” Mingi mumbles, not completely able to stop his teeth from grinding in annoyance. “One more won’t hurt.”
Jongho pats his arm with a mischievous smile. “As expected from our reliable Mingi.”
He opens his mouth again, probably to tease his guards some more, but just as we pass around a corner onto a main street, loud shouts disrupt our conversation: “Watch out!” “Loose cart!”
A trashing sound on our left follows, and the cart itself suddenly comes into view as the people hastily jump out of the way of the accelerating vehicle, leaving nothing in its path as it heads straight for us.
But before my mind can even process any of this, I’m already pulled out of harm’s way and into someone’s arms. As I keep my eyes shut out of fear, my other senses heighten, feeling one hand on the small of my back and another on the nape of my neck, hearing a heartbeat thumping on one side and our brand new books fluttering around on the other. Then the moment has passed, and I am released from the tight embrace, and as I look up and meet Mingi’s shaken gaze, my heart once again flutters in my chest.
“Are you all right?” he asks worried, his hands lingering lightly on my sides, almost as if he cannot fully let me go until I have confirmed that I am unhurt.
“Y-yes,” I stutter, hardly able to speak properly while his eyes examine my face, which slowly turns red under his undivided attention, and suddenly my heart is not the only thing that flutters.
Was that… a butterfly in my stomach?
“Good,” he exhales relieved, and then finally lets go, looking a little flustered. “I apologise for so roughly pulling you aside, Your Highness, but, given the situation, I believe it was justified.”
“Looking at the state of our books, I don’t think noona really minds,” Jongho remarks as he straightens his clothes, having been pulled out of the line of fire as well by his personal guard. We all turn our eyes downwards to the sad bunch of crumpled papers, sprawled out on the dusty ground, some of them displaying deep marks of the cart imprinted on the cover.
“Oh no,” I whisper distraught, dropping to my knees to gather the precious novels. “How awful!”
I pick up one of Jongho’s and try to brush off the dirt, but the cart has caused the cover to rupture, making the pages fall out and drift down all around me.
“Leave that to us, Your Highness,” Yeosang crouches beside me, quickly followed by Mingi, and they swiftly start gathering the books, dusting them off as best as they can. I regard the ripped cover in my hands, feeling a strange sadness come over me.
“It’s okay, noona,” Jongho says after he sees my sorrow expression, and he gently gives my shoulder a brief squeeze. “I can just purchase them again. I prefer my books to be broken over any of you.”
“I guess you’re right there…” I mumble, but I can’t stop the incident from casting a small cloud over my mood when we resume our way towards the palace. A little while later, we are getting closer to the gates, and Jongho suddenly pulls on my sleeve, trying to subtly get us a few steps behind the guards.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, but he just shakes his head and then announces: “All right, you two proceed on your own, noona and I will go left here.”
“Hold on,” Mingi quickly takes a step back, blocking Jongho’s way. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Do not fret, Mingi, we will not go back into town,” Jongho eases him, batting his big doe eyes innocently. “We will simply return the way we came.”
“ ‘Sneak back in’, you mean,” Yeosang mutters, earning him a glare from his prince.
“Oh-ho, watch your words,” Jongho reprimands him with a smirk, as if he didn’t mind Yeosang’s rebelliousness but rather found it a bit refreshing. “I am merely of opinion that the princess would appreciate it if we would return without getting caught.”
“It would be better for you if you did get caught,” Mingi mumbles barely audible under his breath, continuing so softly that I only pick up something along the lines of “lose a bad habit”.
“All right, go ahead then, we will follow,” Jongho concedes. The two guards look at each other sceptically, but still turn around to resume their way.
Right at that moment, Jongho quickly grabs my hand, and with a cheeky “Run, noona!” he starts pulling me along as he bolts with a chuckle. Surprise catches me for a moment, but the even more flabbergasted looks on the two guards’ faces, as they are standing there a little lost with the battered books still in their hands, make me laugh as well.
So I happily dash off together with Jongho, hand in hand and giggling, like little children.
“Ah… I should have known better,” Yeosang grumbles, shaking his head in disapproval when they watch the two royals cheerfully and rather un-royally run away from them, their expensive clothes flapping in the wind and getting dusty as they kick up the sand on the road. “Him agreeing to come along already felt too easy…”
“Sometimes I wonder how he keeps fooling us again and again,” Mingi mumbles. For some strange reason, his eyes remain stuck on the princess’ small hand, enveloped by the prince’s.
Yeosang gives a hollow laugh. “We really ought to know better.” Then he sighs deeply and shrugs. “Well, there is not much we can do about it now. Let’s just get back inside.”
Finally being able to tear his eyes away, as the prince and princess have just passed the corner, Mingi nods at his fellow guard and agrees: “You’re right… Let me help you put away these books, or whatever is left of them.”
The pass through the large front gate and walk straight to the prince’s chambers – who has yet to return, delayed by the detour they’re taking – where they find a rather distressed Minjae profusely apologising for letting Jongho out of his sight, even showing them a curious note from the prince himself ordering them not to hurt the poor young guard. After Yeosang gives him a scolding for ignoring the most important command – “A royal’s safety goes above any order” – they leave Minjae in charge of determining which books can be saved and which should be replaced while they return to the guard’s quarters.
“Oh, wait!” Just before they leave the room, Mingi quickly turns around and retrieves the princess’ book from the pile. “We should return this to its rightful owner.”
“A romance novel?” Yeosang says as he glances at the title. “Interesting. She struck me more like the adventurous type… You know, given she likes to climb over walls and escape through secret passageways.”
Mingi chuckles. “I guess she has enough of that already in real life and wants something different for her reading.”
“Fair point,” Yeosang chuckles as well. “You’ll give it back to her then?”
“Oh, eh… I’ll just pass it on to her guard,” Mingi says, the thought of handing her book back to the princess in person making him a little shy somehow.
“Hm yeah, that’s probably better,” Yeosang nods. “He will be able to just discreetly put it between her belongings so no one notices…” Then he sighs and shakes his head. “Why am I even thinking like this, trying to help them out? It would be a lot better for them if they got caught and learnt their lesson…”
They part ways at the guards’ quarters as Mingi goes off to look for Wooyoung. It takes him a while and a bit of questioning around before he eventually finds the guy.
“Jung Wooyoung!” he calls him, and as Wooyoung looks up from his writing, Mingi swiftly walks over and drops the book onto his desk.
“What is this?” Wooyoung asks, eyeing the shabby book with curiosity.
“Your princess bought this in the city today, but she forgot to take it with her when she snuck back in,” Mingi declares.
Wooyoung looks up to him, his eyes round with surprise. “How do you know she went outside today?” he asked in a hushed voice, as if he’s afraid people are listening.
“Yeosang and I bumped into them.”
“Ah… I see…” Wooyoung mumbles. His eyes trail back to the book, examining its crumpled and dirty state. “Jeez, what happened with this? It looks like it was run over by a cart.”
“That’s because it was run over by a cart.”
“What?!” Wooyoung exclaims as he jumps up from his chair, while accidently tipping over his ink, which leaves a big stain on his letter, and grabs Mingi by his collar. “Are you serious? What happened? Is she all right?”
“Calm down,” Mingi eases him as he unhands himself from Wooyoung’s grip. “She is fine, I managed to pull her out of the way before the cart could hit her. However, it made me drop the books, and as you see, they didn’t come out of it unscathed.”
“Oh, thank the heavens,” Wooyoung sighs relieved as he falls back in his chair, still not noticing the ink dripping from the side of the desk. “It’s always something with her when I’m not around… First a wild boar, now a loose cart…”
“Hmpf, then why do you let her go out alone if you’re so concerned about her?” Mingi mutters, suddenly feeling a bit annoyed. “It’s way too dangerous out there.”
“Ya, she wasn’t out there alone, prince Jongho was with her!” Wooyoung retorts offended. “I would never let her go out unguarded, even if she thinks she is on her own. But I can hardly not let her roam free every once in a while, now can I? How would you feel if you were always cooped up in the palace, stuck in a cage like some exotic bird, never being allowed to spread your wings and fly, even if it was only for today? I’ve seen up close what that does to her, and I do not wish her to suffer for it. So yes,” he says determinedly, “I help her to get out now and then, because I see how happy it makes her. Wouldn’t you do the same for your prince? What kind of friend would I be if I would not help her achieve her dreams, however small those dreams are?”
“Friend?” Mingi echoes surprised. “Aren’t you her guard?”
“Yes, friend,” he retorts. “I’m a constant presence in her life, working so closely to her; how could we not naturally have become friends? She said it to me once, you know, when I brought her to her chambers late at night after some celebration. She said: ‘Sometimes, I feel like you are the only person I have who comes close to a friend.’ She forgot about it the next day, of course, but I sure will never forget how lonely she looked that night.” He bites his lip for second, and Mingi can’t help but feel a sadness seep into his own heart.
Then Wooyoung seems to compose himself, scoffing: “Do you not care for your prince in the same way? Tsk, how cold.”
“I definitely do care,” Mingi counters. “I just don’t allow him to get in harm’s way.”
“That’s easy to say when you are guarding a man,” Wooyoung opposes. “They are taught how to defend themselves. Women, on the other hand… They are left completely defenceless, having to put their trust in a man for protection. Quite unfair, if you ask me.”
He was about to say more, but then he suddenly notices the ink having spread over his desk, and he curses loudly as he quickly picks up the princess’ novel before it gets stained as well. “Ah man, I just about finished that letter…” he mumbles disappointed as he regards the ruined paper.
“I see I’m keeping you from your work,” Mingi says, realising he has his own work to do and shouldn’t waste his time arguing. “I’ll leave you to it.”
But before Mingi can turn around, Wooyoung stops him: “Thank you for handing me the book. It shows me you do actually care, like you said.”
Mingi’s brow furrows confused. “What do you mean?”
“This book could have easily got her caught,” Wooyoung explains. “The fact that you brought it to me instead of giving it to her out in the open, means you care enough to protect her secret. So, thank you, for helping me with that.”
“You’re welcome, I guess,” Mingi mutters and then he quickly turns around before Wooyoung can see the blush forming on his cheeks.