Archive of Our Own ^beta

Throne Room Passageway, Tuesday afternoon, three days and five hours before the ball

Miroh had captured the three princes of Levanter two days ago.

Chan felt as if Felix’s anger and Minho’s smugness would be burned permanently into his mind, and it was worse every time he entered the throne room. This was, unfortunately, a regular occurrence. With the capture came so much to do regarding the treatment of the prisoners and as the crown prince, it was his duty to see it through.

Prisoners.

Chan didn’t know what they were even doing in Miroh. Levanter and Miroh were enemies! The two High Queens, his aunts, would take any opportunity to conquer the other’s kingdom. Everyone knew that. What were the princes thinking, being spotted in one of Miroh’s far off villages?

Chan sighed as he approached the great doors of the throne room for the third time that day. Something else he couldn’t understand –why his aunt felt the need to call him every time she needed something. A servant could go and remind Chan’s father of the council meeting the next day instead. Daeseong had remembered anyway, so the entire venture was pointless.

There was a time when Chan loved the great gilded red doors, and was amazed at how powerful and pretty they were. The way they swung open, showing the nobles and peasants all excitement, his cousins all happiness and fun, and his aunt and father all warm smiles from atop their thrones. As the doors opened now, there were no throngs of people to greet him, just an empty room where all he could see was his aunt Haeun’s son and nephews forcibly bowing in chains. Chan’s queen, his aunt Kyungmi, sat on her throne the same way she did that day, eyes glinting in cold amusement.

“You called for me, my queen?” Chan knelt down, involuntarily clenching his jaw. He didn’t know why he always got so irritated in her presence, but he knew one wrong move would mean straight to the dungeons, or worse.

“Yes, Bang Chan. Rise.” He lifted his head to find that she wasn’t even looking at him, instead sipping some wine and gazing through a window to the left. Chan waited patiently for her to address him, studying her face to see if he could gauge anything about what she had called him in for. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Kyungmi finally turned away from the window and glanced at him.

“As you are aware, Haeun’s precious little family is now under our control. For all she boasted of her power and skill, she has finally lost to me.” She let out a small laugh before frowning almost instantly. Chan continued to stay still, the picture of obedience, though all he wanted was to leave. He hated how unpredictable his aunt went when she was in one of her “sister moods”. “Haeun’s castle still remains a mystery. I have sent out hundreds of spies! Hundreds! How can one building remain so elusive!? Bang Chan.” Kyungmi suddenly softened her voice after her furious shouting.

“Y-yes Aunt Kyungmi?”

“Use any means necessary to find Haeun’s location from her princes. I must defeat her once and for all.”

Chan gave a deep bow. “Of course my queen. I will go at once.” He didn't like having to question anyone, but one did not ignore a direct order from the Queen. He turned to leave when Kyungmi called out once again.

“You will find out her location, right? You won’t go… soft on your cousins right? After all, even with your loyalty to Miroh, you are your father’s son. And you know what he did.”

Chan stilled. Of course, she had to mention him. He bit back a retort. “I promise, I will not let you down.” He bowed to her once again and left the throne room as fast as possible.

Dungeons, Tuesday afternoon, three days and four hours before the ball

Getting information out of Felix should be easy. When they were younger, when their grandfather was the king of Miroh and Aunt Haeun and Felix still visited the palace, Felix had been quite easy to rile up and had a loose tongue when mad. Sure, that was also a memory of a six year old Felix, but it would have to do. But Changbin and Jeongin…

Apart from a few balls before Kyungmi took the throne, Chan had never met Prince Changbin and Prince Jeongin. They were siblings and Felix’s cousins through his father’s side, not directly related to Chan. Chan had no idea how they would react to any forms of questioning. You could just not do any questioning at all, said a voice in the back of his mind. He ignored it.

A sudden wave of cold air indicated that he was nearing the dungeons. Chan stopped by the entrance and took a deep breath. Okay. He was going to see Felix, and Changbin and Jeongin, after years of being enemies. (He didn’t count the throne room, couldn't count the throne room). Okay. He could do this. For Miroh.

He could feel the stares of the dozens of prisoners his aunt had accumulated in her reign as queen. They were all gaunt and sullen, staring at him from the shadows of their cells. Chan kept going, head held high, trying not to glance at them, especially the ones he had put there himself. Higher-profile prisoners were further down, and the Levanter princes were definitely at the top of that list. Chan finally noticed their cell and motioned to the guards to unlock it. Chan couldn’t see anyone’s faces right now –it was too dark– but he could see three people huddled against the wall. He swallowed before putting a mask of indifference on his face.
Here goes nothing.

“Hello, Felix.” Chan strode into the cell, acting arrogantly despite the anxious churning of his stomach. “It’s been what, fifteen, sixteen years perhaps since we’ve been face to face? I don’t really remember.” A lie. Chan knew it was fourteen years since Miroh went to hell, since Kyungmi took the throne and there was the unofficial order against anything or anyone from Levanter. “But I’m sure you do. After all, why else would you decide to sneak into Miroh? Admit it, you missed me.”

The person on the left tensed before the person on the right squeezed his hand and leaned out of the shadows. He was strong, Chan could tell by those muscles, and though his bangs covered his forehead, Chan could still see a pair of dark eyes glinting murderously at him. Prince Changbin then.

“What do you want?” Changbin growled. Protective? Chan could work with that. He addressed his next words to Changbin.

“What do I want? That’s simple really. You don’t even have to do much, and I can just walk away without hurting the two of them,” he said, pointing to the two still hidden in the shadows. Changbin tightened his grip on whoever was on the left. That was good. Chan needed a reaction.

Chan gently placed his fingers on the hilt of his sword before twisting his mouth into a cold smile. “I want you to tell me the location of Queen Haeun.”

“Never,” a deep voice snarled. Chan shifted his gaze to the person in the center, the one who had not reacted at all earlier. He froze.

The face was clearly older than when he’d last seen it, but Chan would still know it anywhere.

He forced himself not to react. “Finally decided to answer, Cousin Felix? Well, let me tell you this. Queen Kyungmi wants to know where her sister is. She is going to find out one way or another from you. I’m offering you a painless solution where everyone is happy.” Chan paused to raise his eyebrow, silently hoping they would actually listen. “Unless you want Minho down here. Our cousin isn’t afraid to resort to a little violence.” Not that the good-guard bad-guard method would have worked. Minho was never willing to listen to Chan at any time of day, and Chan would be happy not to ask him.

It seemed like Felix didn’t like the mention of Minho either, though that could also be because Minho had put a dagger to who Chan was pretty sure was Jeongin. His suspicion was confirmed as he recognised that face in the third person on the left, just coming out of the shadows himself. All three of them were understandably angry and tense, but as a trained warrior, Chan could see that the anger masked an undercurrent of fear.

“What do you say then? Are you willing to cooperate and give up the location, or are you willing to see each other bathe in their own blood? Your choice.” The three of them just glared mutinously at him. He sighed, but personally, he would have done the same.

“I had hoped to not use this, but you leave me with no other option.” Chan pulled out his sword with a screech, echoing throughout the dungeon walls. He could hear the murmuring and rustling of prisoners behind him, but he ignored that, focusing on the trio in front of him. “So tell me. Where is the Queen? I’m waiting.” He twirled the sword in his hands, still trying to maintain the arrogant crown prince persona. His father would be so disappointed if he heard about this. Chan’s stomach twisted at the thought.

Instead, he laughed, though that was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. “I guess you truly don’t care about your comrades. I’m offering safety, but clearly, you don’t want that for each other.”

“You Mirohians must be delusional if you think that, cousin.” Felix spat out cousin like it was a foul word. “But then again, what can we expect from the great crown prince himself? All talk and swords with no modicum of intelligence or emotion at all. You wouldn’t know about loving and caring for someone if it bit you in the ass.”

Okay, that hurt, but Felix was getting riled up, so a part of his plan was working. “Loving and caring? For all your loyalty to your dear mother, Miroh hasn't received any talks or negotiation requests from her at all for the entirety of your stay here.”

Felix flinched back violently, his face contorting into rage. Chan pressed on. “I suppose that love and care is all talk for you as well. I mean, where’s your love for your cousins? Don’t you want them to live?”

“Shut. Up.”

“Your uncle, your cousin’s father, doesn’t seem particularly willing to have you three back either.”

“Shut up!”

“Doesn’t he care for his sons? Or at least, the heir to the throne?”

“JUST SHUT UP, BANG CHAN!”

“Why? Am I making you mad Felix? Am I striking a nerve?”

Dirty. Chan felt dirty. He hated every word that came out of his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jeongin holding back an extremely furious Changbin. He opened his mouth to comment on that when Felix seemed to notice his line of vision.

“SHE’S DEAD!”

Chan stilled, not understanding what Felix meant. “Dead?”

“Haeun. My mother. She’s dead.”

”What?!” Chan whispered. This couldn’t be real. His aunt Haeun was…

“She died two months ago. A sickness. Are you happy now? You can go tell your precious queen that.” Felix turned around to Changbin and Jeongin but Chan didn’t register any of that.

His aunt Haeun was dead.

Blood roaring in his ears, Chan turned on his heel and left.

Chan’s chambers, Tuesday afternoon, three days and three hours before the ball

Chan couldn't go back to the throne room. Not now. He had stayed outside the dungeons for quite a while, just processing and attracting the attention of quite a few guards and servants, but he couldn’t stay there forever. Making a decision, he turned left and made his way to the royal wing of the castle, where he and the rest of his family, excluding his father of course, resided. He wanted to go to his chambers, and possibly remain there for the next year or so. The guards outside bowed to him, but that didn’t register in his mind. He entered his chambers, but couldn’t go any further in than the entrance.

Dead.

“Chan? What are you doing here?”

Fuck, he forgot about his manservant. Jisung usually cleaned the room around this time. Chan didn’t want to be near him right now, or well, be near anyone.

“Sire? Is everything alright?” Great, now Jisung was worried. Jisung never pulled out proper forms of respect unless a) they were in public around courtiers and councilmen or b) when Chan or Jisung were in certain moods. It just was the way Jisung was, and most of the time, Chan appreciated that but right now, Chan just wanted to be left alone.

“You’re dismissed, Jisung,” he bit out tersely.

“Sire– ”

“Dismissed.”

Thankfully, Jisung finally seemed to get the message and left the room, staring at Chan with concern the entire time as he left. His heart felt a pang of guilt at the look on Jisung’s face, but he could apologize later. Right now, it was just Chan and the edge of his bed and his thoughts.

His aunt was dead. Had he even met her after that time when he was nine? He knew the answer was no. He had never even been past the boundary line of Levanter. And for whatever he said to Felix back in the dungeon, Chan knew that his aunt Haeun was one of the kindest people to ever live. His younger self had always looked forward to whenever she visited, and his father always said that Haeun had taken the role as a mother to Chan for the two years she had still lived in Miroh before marrying Felix's father. Chan’s mother had died in childbirth, and Haeun had been the best (and only) maternal figure Chan had had when he was younger.

Wait. His father. Daeseong adored his aunt, even more than he liked Kyungmi. That entire fact was the reason he was a prisoner in his own palace. How was Chan going to tell him?

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his door opening. Chan sighed in annoyance.

“Jisung, I told you—oh.” It wasn’t his manservant.

“Should I be insulted that you think I’m a servant?” His cousin Seungmin raised an eyebrow.

“Seungmin?” Chan stood up in surprise. “What are you doing here? You never come here.” Chan could count the number of times Seungmin had been in his chambers in the past year on one hand. It wasn’t that they were antagonistic or anything, not like him and Minho, but they didn’t speak together very often, Seungmin spending most of his time doing who-knows-what.

“I saw your manservant leaving the room. He never leaves the room at this time unless you aren’t in the palace. And I saw you playing messenger boy for Mother dearest this morning so I knew you must be in here. And, it turns out, I was right.” Seungmin rolled his eyes. “So, why are you sobbing like Hyunjin during a sad drama?”

Ignoring the jab at himself and Hyunjin, Chan had almost forgotten how observant Seungmin was. At first, Chan was planning on telling Seungmin to leave as well, but after a moment’s thought, he hesitated. Even though he would probably tell everything to Jisung later, he wanted to tell someone in his family, and at this moment, as if Seungmin’s sudden interest in him were planned, he could tell the one person who he knew wouldn’t spill to the Queen. Though Seungmin was her son, that was the extent of their relationship. He could trust Seungmin not to tell anyone. Besides, it was an opportunity to get closer to Seungmin again, and Chan had missed him.

“Aunt Haeun is dead.” Chan squeezed his eyes, blinking back any tears that threatened to fall. Somehow, saying it out loud made it more real.

Seungmin’s eyes widened, a sign that he was truly taken aback. “I—what?”

“I was questioning Felix and the other princes and he revealed it. I don’t think they were lying.”

Chan could see the mental gears turning in Seungmin’s head as he analyzed every possible repercussion of this.

“The Queen cannot know,” Seungmin finally said. “And the Levanter princes have to get out.”

“Get out?”

Seungmin’s face was grim. ”We both know that the only reason Mother has them alive is because she wants to know where Haeun is. She’ll kill them and declare another war on Levanter the instant she finds this out. Miroh’s still recovering from the last one she started. We cannot afford another one.”

He was right. Chan couldn't forget the fear and blood and explosions of his teenage years. The people were still suffering from a lack of resources; Chan could see that every time he passed by a village. He had tried to smuggle out goods from the castle several times to distribute to any village that needed them, but it only did so much.

Chan knew that another war would mean the end of Miroh. But Kyungmi had been looking for a reason to declare a war on Levanter for years, and he knew Seungmin knew that too. Still…

“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t get them out because we have to help them leave the Queen’s grasp, but if they escape, the first person she’ll blame is my father. She’s not going to give him a second chance.”

Seungmin considered this, walking to the side of the room towards Chan’s desk.“In that case, he should escape too.”

Chan stared at Seungmin, who turned around and stared back. “What? I know you can act all horrified and all ‘I never thought he would do this!’ to Mother.” Seungmin gave a wry grin, eyes full of accepted pain. “And she barely knows I exist. There is no way she’s going to magically remember my existence to blame me. Now, all we need to do is figure out when and how.”

Chan felt his throat thick with emotion. Why hadn’t he talked to Seungmin before again? He surged forward suddenly and hugged him. “You’re amazing Seungmin. Never forget that.” Chan could feel Seungmin tense before relaxing from within his arms.

“You are too, Chan. I also came here because I missed you, cousin.”

Chan’s answering whisper was muffled by Seungmin’s shirt. “I missed you too.” A few stray tears escaped and got caught on the shirt, but if Seungmin noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“We’ll free them. I promise,” Seungmin whispered. And Chan believed him.

Chan’s chambers, Tuesday evening, three days before the ball

A couple hours later, Chan was working through some tax reports when Jisung entered the room. He looked hesitant and was apparently still worried about Chan.

“Chan?” His voice shook hesitantly. “Can I come in?”

Chan gave a small and apologetic smile as he beckoned Jisung forward. Jisung relaxed and sat down on the bed, facing Chan. “Hi there. I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier,” Chan said softly.

Jisung frowned. “What? No, you were upset about something and wanted to be alone. You don’t have to apologize, Chan.” His face shifted to a more concerned one. “Speaking of which, is everything alright?”

Jisung was one of the only people Chan could be completely himself with. He had been his manservant for just three years, ever since Chan was twenty, but they had been friends for much longer. Though he didn’t have parents, a servant couple had adopted Jisung when he was quite young and Jisung practically grew up in the palace because of that. Somehow, that loud little boy had annoyed his way into Chan’s heart, and when his previous manservant left, Chan knew who he wanted as his new one almost immediately. Chan liked to think that if there was someone he could be completely honest with and could trust with his life, it was Jisung. He was his best friend, and Chan even sometimes thought of Jisung as a younger brother.

“I had to interrogate Felix earlier, and he told me that my aunt died.” No sugarcoating was needed for him. Chan and Jisung talked a lot about a variety of things, and Jisung knew about Chan’s grief for his family falling apart. He would understand how heavy of a statement this was.

Jisung stared at Chan for a couple of seconds before he walked over and gave Chan a big hug. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.” Chan swallowed, sinking into it. “I am too.”

Chan lost himself in Jisung’s comfort for a couple of seconds before Jisung pulled away and asked, “But what about the Queen? She isn’t going to like that. Did you tell her?”

Chan shook his head. “I’m not going to. Seungmin and I are going to break Felix and the others out.”

Chan could tell Jisung was surprised. “Okay, you breaking them out makes sense, you have a heart of gold so that was obvious from the start. But where did Seungmin come from? Doesn’t he hate you ever since you spilled that soup on him last month?”

Chan snorted. “That was Hyunjin. I spilled wine on Seungmin last year. Get them right, Jisung.”

“Of course. My bad. I’ll be sure to remember the dinner table spillings next time such an event occurs,” Jisung remarked in a mock solemn tone. Chan grinned at him. He knew that Jisung knew the real reason they hadn't been talking, but he appreciated the mood change all the same.

“You do that. Also, I don’t really think he hates me now. Or maybe it’s like a ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ type of thing. I mean, we are going to seriously piss off my aunt.” Chan pretended to consider this before brightening. “Hey, that would mean that I finally have a cousin that doesn't hate me!”

Jisung patted his back reassuringly. “Spill something on him today at dinner. I’m sure the world will go back to normal then.”

Chan glared at him, but there was no anger behind it. Jisung shut his mouth theatrically in response to that, causing Chan to snort and almost spill his bottle of ink.

“I’ll just go finish cleaning your room then,” Jisung said. “Good luck.”

Chan was going to need it.

Council Room, Wednesday morning, two days and eight hours before the ball

There was a council meeting the next morning and he remembered that incredibly well due to the fact that he had grumbled about it with every step he took up and down his father’s tower yesterday. Chan knew, without a doubt, that Kyungmi would want to know what happened in the dungeons yesterday and why Chan hadn’t gone immediately to her after questioning. He could lie to her, no problem, but his father and Minho would be there and they were much harder to fool. Besides, after his aunt, they were the two whom he didn’t want to learn about Haeun the most, for different reasons each.

The councilmen trickled in with their characteristic red and golden cloaks and the council began without a hitch. Soon enough, everyone lost themselves in talk about the upcoming ball and taxes and the drought in the southwestern villages. Chan had almost hoped that Kyungmi forgot about the prisoners as the meeting turned to a close, but she eventually called out, “And Bang Chan, what did the princes say yesterday?”

Of course, she didn’t forget. This was related to Levanter after all. Chan didn’t know why he had thought for a second she had forgotten.

Chan took a deep breath. “I questioned them, my queen, but they refused to answer.” He let out a bit of his arrogant mask. Time to lie a little. “I decided to show them true Miroh prowess and threatened them with my sword, and they seemed to be fearful. I heard them whispering about some forest. Perhaps the Levanter Palace is in the Yellow Wood?” He had chosen the Yellow Wood as his lie due to its closeness to Miroh and its air of mystery so many people obsessed over uncovering. Kyungmi had always told stories about how she wanted to go exploring there when Chan was much, much younger. However, Chan had checked several maps of the place and from what he saw, there was no indication of any type of large anything there. In fact, he would be very surprised if a palace or a stronghold did turn out to be in there. Thankfully though, this had piqued his aunt's interest, so it was good enough for now.

Minho did not seem as impressed, and, as usual, decided to cause problems. “The Yellow Wood is very dense. It would be impossible to have any type of building there. Besides, it’s very close to the Miroh border. Why would Haeun hide there?” Minho shot Chan a mocking look. Chan scowled at him, partly for the look, partly for poking holes in his logic. It was a reasonable argument, and had anyone else but Minho said it, Chan wouldn’t have felt so slighted, even with the additional taunt.

“I did not say that she was hiding there. I merely stated that we should look into the Yellow Wood as a possible option.”

Kyungmi had a glint in her eyes. “Bang Chan is right. We should not discount it as an option.” She turned to Chan expectantly. “Organize a patrol to the Yellow Woods. You must search there for any trace of Haeun.” Chan nodded, but she wasn’t done speaking yet. “If you see her, capture her immediately and bring her to me. I want to see her groveling at my feet. This is my perfect world, not hers, and I want to see her realize that.”

Chan could see the other councilmen staring between the Queen, himself, themselves, and for some reason, Minho. He hoped it was their realization of the insanity of the Queen.

Seungmin spoke up from the end of the table, his voice breaking the awkward silence. “Perhaps Chan should leave after the Equinox? We don’t want him to miss the ball.” The ball? Chan couldn’t figure out why Seungmin brought that up. Minho also narrowed his eyes at them before whispering something to Hyunjin beside him.

The Queen noticed none of this and gave a clap. “Of course. Leave after the ball in a few days. Now is that all for today?” There was a silence before she called to adjourn the council.

Chan got up and was making his way out of the sea of red capes when Minho’s voice called out to him.

“Going somewhere, Channie?”

Great. Chan bit his tongue and turned around to face Minho, who was flanked by Hyunjin as per usual. “Yes. Out. Some of us have actual jobs you know. We can’t all just flirt with the guards, look pretty, and sabotage others.”

“I don’t think you realize how much Minho has done for the kingdom, Chan. It’s not fair how you always degrade him.” Hyunjin frowned. Chan sighed. He didn’t dislike the queen’s ward, unlike Minho, but it was annoying how Hyunjin treated Minho as if he were a goddess. Chan opened his mouth to reply to him when Minho spoke.

“Chan’s always been a bit thick, Jinnie, but let's not talk about that right now.” Minho gave a coy grin. “You couldn’t have picked a better lie?”

Chan froze. “A lie? Why would I need to lie about anything right now?” Inwardly, he was panicking. He didn’t think he’d slipped up on anything, right?

“The Yellow Wood. We can see the entire forest from the Northern Mountains. A fortress there is highly unlikely. One would think you were… hiding something.” Minho whispered the last part in Chan’s ear, the amusement never leaving his face. Chan scoffed.

“Me? Hiding something? Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I need to hide from the Queen?”

“That’s good then, crown prince.” Minho leaned back. “After all, if Mother heard of any attempts to free the princes, you know who her first suspect would be.” He gave a little laugh that grated on Chan’s nerves. “Poor Uncle, getting locked up for real instead of house arrest. But, we don’t have to worry about that. As you said, nothing's happening.”

Minho idly glanced at his fingernails. “But I do wonder... What’s going on between you and Seungmo?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not excused just yet, dear cousin,” Minho, that ass, had to remark. And on top of that, he had to wag his finger at Chan like he was some sort of naughty dog. “You and him don’t just talk to each other. Why would he suggest something in your favor?”

Chan raised an eyebrow. "It’s called being helpful. You should try it sometime. But the real question is, why do you care?” Chan studied his affronted face while Hyunjin just looked back and forth between the two, then suddenly laughed. “Why, are you jealous? Just because you can’t have a civil conversation with anyone without burning bridges doesn’t mean I can’t. We’re talking again, trying to actually be a family once again.” Okay, Seungmin might not go that far, but it isn’t as if he’s going to disagree if Minho asks.

“Chan’s right, Minho. I don’t need your approval to talk to our cousin.”

Seungmin, that angel and the best cousin to probably exist in the world, stepped over to the trio of them. “But now if you two are done bickering like little children, I would like to leave the room. You’re blocking the doorway.”

Okay, Chan rescinded the “Angel” title, but still kept the “Best Cousin” one.

As Seungmin left, he pressed a folded note on Chan’s side, which Chan discreetly pocketed for later. After a few seconds, Minho made a noise of annoyance and turned to leave. “Come, Hyunjin. Some people are not worth our time.”

Chan rolled his eyes and turned to make small talk with some councilmen.

Chan’s chambers, Wednesday morning, two days, six hours and thirty minutes before the ball

The note sat silently in one of his pockets and Chan’s mind kept on trying to imagine what could be in it. He didn’t get the chance to open it up yet, so he decided to go to his chambers to get some privacy. Apart from that, his mind wandered around from topic to topic until he pondered about his and Seungmin’s fragile new relationship. It was strange, going from one day having almost nothing of importance to talk with Seungmin to having emotional moments and planning a high risk operation. Chan hadn’t known how much he’d missed it.

He entered his room and motioned to Jisung to lock the door. Jisung gave him a curious look but didn’t say anything, instead walking over to Chan as he unfolded the note. It was written in a secret tongue he and his cousins had created as children. Though Minho knew it too, he was the only other one so this was probably the safest Seungmin could be.

Get them out during Ball
Guard identical to jeongin, switch them tomorrow
Guard shift after breakfast is ok
Talk to uncle
Ball gown ur mask + mine extra
Take Lix + Bin through safe room tunnels
In with dad through gardens to ⤴
Burn paper

Chan immediately took a candle and watched as the ashes disappeared in the air. Beside him, Jisung looked like he wanted to ask but kept his tongue until finally he whispered, “What was that?”

Chan looked at him solemnly. “The escape plan. They’re leaving on the day of the ball.”

Jisung’s eyes widened. “Oh. But that’s good then.”

Chan swallowed. “My father is going with them.”

Jisung looked absolutely gobsmacked. “Your father? Why would he go with them?” He looked so lost and concerned it almost made Chan want to cry.

“It isn’t safe for him here. I haven’t asked him yet and I hate that we have to do this, but it’s the only plan we have.”

Jisung stared at him, sorrowful and angry. “That’s terrible. Why is the Queen like that?”

Chan didn’t have to answer him. They both knew already.

Daeseong’s Tower, Wednesday afternoon, two days and five hours before the ball

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be leaving the castle.” Chan’s father said, flipping through a couple of papers.

“What! But you… It’s not safe here! ” Chan sputtered. He expected Daeseong to be difficult, but he didn’t expect him to outright disagree. “If Aunt Kyungmi finds the princes missing, she’s going to blame you first!”

Daeseong looked up to Chan’s distressed face and softened. “Your aunt will always find a reason to hate me. But she won’t harm me further than forcing me to stay in this tower.” Chan shook his head.

“How can you be so certain? You know how she is. And now that Aunt Haeun is gone… I don’t understand how you’re taking all this so calmly.”

Chan had entered Daeseong’s chambers earlier, worried and nervous, which had alerted Daesong immediately that something was wrong. He had sat Chan down and asked him to tell everything, which Chan had done. Daeseong had sat through the entire thing calmly, showing no signs of any emotional turmoil.

“I knew she was dead.”

What…?

Daseong continued. “One of Haeun’s last wishes was to let me know. Her spy came in last month and told me. As for Kyungmi…'' Daeseong took a deep breath as Chan tried to wrap his head around all that. “Kyungmi will not banish me since she needs me to run the kingdom.”

“I– I don’t understand.”

Daeseong gave him a wry smile.“Kyungmi should never have become High Queen. She is more concerned about herself and her needs than the needs of the kingdom, instead delegating what she should be doing to me as ‘punishment for going to Haeun five years ago’. Although, that was probably better for the kingdom. Mother knows what would have happened if she actually tried to rule.”

“The kingdom would have gotten much worse.”

Daeseong nodded. “Indeed, it would have. In fact, at times, I am glad she did arrest me for seeing Haeun for her birthday, since it meant that I was able to gain a little control over the kingdom.”

Chan whipped his face toward him, distraught. “She almost killed you! I almost lost you! I still might lose you! Father… Sure, this turned out well for the kingdom, but I barely get to see you anymore.” Chan’s voice went small. “You don’t know how many times she threatens me with your name and threatens to do something to you. Why did you even come back? You would have been safe, been loved there.” Chan had initially been a bit hurt when he had left, but mostly, he wished that Daeseong had stayed there.

Chan could see that his father’s eyes had become wet. “What would have I done there without you? Away from Miroh? I didn’t go to Levanter to stay there permanently. My place is here, with or without Kyungmi’s opinions.”

“Oh,” Chan managed to choke out.

Daeseong continued. “But I can say that I’m not as ‘locked in the tower’ as Kyungmi has the kingdom believing. I am friendly with enough guards and servants for them to turn a blind eye. But I stay here since I have a duty to Miroh, and I know how my sister is better than anyone else.”

Chan stared at the bars on a window. “Why didn’t you say anything? We could have done something to stop her.” He wouldn’t have had to stay locked in the tower.

Daeseong’s face darkened immediately, and Chan almost regretted asking. “For what she has done to the kingdom, the harm she has done to this family is much, much worse. If I could, I would have removed her years ago. However, Kyungmi is still the queen, and she is still extremely powerful. Additionally, I have other reasons for wanting her to stay in power.”

Chan really wanted to push further, but the look on his father’s face stopped him. “What should we do about Jeongin then? According to the plan, someone needs to take him through the tunnels and you know how the tunnels are.” There was no way Jeongin could go through there alone. The tunnels were a wide expanse of underground twists and turns, and only someone who knew them could navigate them. They usually took a really long time to get through, so going and coming back secretly was incredibly risky. In the situation they were in, whoever left with Jeongin had to be able to leave for a long time.

There was an unreadable look on Daeseong’s face as he answered slowly. “Your manservant can take him. He should be aware of the tunnels. He would be the perfect option.”

“You want to send Jisung?” That was the last thing he expected to come out of his father’s mouth. Though, theoretically, it did make sense, Jisung did know the tunnels. And the more he thought about it, he could see why his father chose Jisung. But still… “Why him?”

“He is familiar with the tunnels. Besides, Kyungmi isn’t fond of him at all. Your manservant should leave Miroh either way, for his own safety.”

Chan didn't know why Daeseong was so insistent on Jisung being the one to go. His heart felt heavy as he thought of his unofficial brother leaving for an unknown amount of time, possibly even for good.

"I understand that you are very close to him. But please understand that I would not suggest it if it weren't necessary."

"I understand Father. I just, don't know how to tell him." Chan felt as if his heart was in his throat. He coughed. "I should probably leave now then."

"Of course. But before you go, let me just say one thing." Daeseong stared at Chan intently.

"Yes?"

Daeseong looked at him with warmth all over his face. "I'm so proud of you. I know Haeun's side of the family are technically enemies of Miroh, but I am so happy you want to help them."

Chan rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "They're our family. I have to get them out."

Daeseong smiled. "And that's precisely why I said that." His face grew melancholy. "Don’t ever lose sight of what you said. Our family is broken right now. I have every faith that it will be fixed soon thanks to you."

Chan's eyes widened. That was a lot of trust his father was putting in him. Overwhelmed, he turned and left.

Tower Hallway, Wednesday afternoon, two days and four hours before the ball

Chan was so lost in his thoughts after all that, he didn’t see a person walking towards him with a pile of red blankets and they both crashed spectacularly, the blankets scattering all over the ground.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Here, let me help you with– Hyunjin?”

Hyunjin looked up from where he was gathering the blankets, just now registering Chan’s presence. “Oh! Chan! No, I'm good, thank you.”

Chan decided to help Hyunjin out anyway, and after a couple of minutes, they had everything in a pile in Hyunjin’s arms again.

“There you go. But why are you carrying these in the first place? Don’t you have a servant??” Chan tilted his head inquiringly. Hyunjin gave a breathy laugh as he smiled.

“Oh, these aren’t mine. They’re Minho’s. His manservant isn’t well and he wasn’t able to find another one due to all the ball preparations going on, so I offered to help him with what I can. I was just taking this to the laundry room.”

Chan still didn’t get Minho and Hyunjin’s friendship. Hyunjin was so sweet and nice, if not a little absentminded. When an eleven-year-old Hyunjin had first moved into the palace after his mother, the First Knight, had died in combat (the Queen had owed Hyunjin’s mother a favor), he somehow formed an instant connection with Minho, which didn’t make sense since Minho had already become obnoxious by that time. Maybe if it were years earlier, when Minho was nice and he and Chan had been the best of cousins, Chan would have believed it. Nowadays, Hyunjin was still sweet, but he mindlessly did whatever Minho wanted him to, which annoyed Chan so much. Hyunjin deserved so much more than dragging Minho’s laundry across the palace.

“I can help you if you want. I’m actually heading there myself,” he offered, genuinely wanting to help the younger boy. “Besides, we haven’t actually talked to each other in ages.”

Hyunjin stared at Chan for a few moments, as if internally weighing the pros and cons of allowing Chan to come with him. Finally, after Chan started to wonder if he should just leave, Hyunjin agreed, handing over around half the pile.

Even though they agreed to talk, the beginning of the walk was met with awkward silence, not knowing what to say to the other to start a conversation. Eventually, it was Hyunjin who spoke up.

“I’m surprised you offered to help Minho.”

Chan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “When did I do that?”

“Just now? You’re helping me, and I’m helping Minho, so technically, you’re helping Minho.”

“Oh,” he said, just realizing that his actions could be taken in that way. Chan shifted the weight on his arms. “I’m not doing this for him though. I’m doing this to help you since I crashed into you. That’s all.”

“I see.” Hyunjin turned his head away from Chan. There was another round of awkward silence. “I don’t get why you hate Minho so much. You’re both amazing people who just want to help Miroh, yet you both don’t get along at all.”

Chan shook his head, though it was partially covered by the blankets. “I don’t hate Minho. It’s just that he constantly gets on my nerves and finds the need to criticize every single thing I do. He always needs to be constantly praised and is just so artificial and manipulative.”

“You aren’t so much better yourself,” Hyunjin mumbled.

“I’m sorry?”

Hyunjin turned to face Chan. “You constantly criticize Minho for how he behaves, but you aren’t so much better yourself. You don’t know how much Minho is suffering and how much he does for the kingdom.”

"Look—"

"No you look, Prince Bang Chan! I know you're probably thinking how I'm so brainwashed by Minho that I'm even doing his laundry for him."

This time, Chan had to look away, in embarrassment.

"I'm doing this because I want to. Minho's been going through a lot and I want to help him in any way I can. Because he's my friend and I care about him."

Chan couldn't hold himself back any longer. "Going through a lot, huh? I wonder if it's about what jewelry he should wear to the ball, or what shoes?" The look on Hyunjin's face made him instantly regret it.

Hyunjin huffed and snatched the blankets from Chan's arms. "I can take it from here. Thanks for your help, your highness."

Chan just stared at Hyunjin as he walked away angrily. He could just barely hear Hyunjin mutter, "I don't even know why I bother with him."

Chan felt a pang of guilt, but he ignored it in favor of continuing forward. He felt so emotionally drained from Minho in the morning, his father earlier, and Hyunjin just now, and he just wanted to sleep. However, he had one more thing to do, something that would also be emotionally draining.

Dungeons, Wednesday afternoon, two days and two hours before the ball

Chan took a deep breath as he stood inside the dungeons yet again. He hadn’t been to the dungeons so often until now, and he was sure there would be many more visits if the plan had to work.

He was just a few cells from the princes' cell, just far enough that he couldn’t see them in the dark. Based on the whispers though, Felix and the others probably were aware of his entry.

He had checked the guard shift schedule and was sure that the guards here weren’t known to be loyal to his aunt or Minho. In fact, there were a few that could be considered loyal to him, being ones that he had personally trained or helped to train. Still, he wanted to be as discreet as possible, so he didn’t think he should outright tell the princes of their situation aloud. Besides, Chan needed to apologize first for how he behaved earlier.

As he expected, the princes were aware of his entry and were sitting up, ready to receive him. Felix’s eyes burned into Chan as he walked into the cell, but Changbin’s gaze wasn’t actually that harsh, though that was probably because Jeongin was sleeping in his lap and Changbin didn’t want to wake him.

“It looks like Prince Asshole has returned. What, do you want something else about my mother? Oh that’s right, she’s dead,” Felix spat out.

“Shh, not so loud! Do you want the guards to hear?” Chan’s eyes widened as he whisper-shouted in alarm.

Felix scoffed. “Oh, and what’s it to you? Wouldn’t they know already? In fact, I bet the entire kingdom knows already and is celebrating her d—”

“Felix,” Changbin interrupted sternly in a soft voice. “You’re going to wake him up.”

Felix looked sheepish at that, but it didn’t stop him from giving Chan another glare. “I heard Miroh’s having a ball in a few days. Is that what this is for?”

Chan shook his head frantically, trying to convey remorse and sincerity. “No, it’s not. And only three other people know about your mom, and they won’t tell anyone. I promise, Kyungmi doesn’t know,” he said softly.

Felix seemed surprised but recovered enough to aggressively say, “Why didn’t you tell her then? I’m sure she would have been ecstatic.”

“That’s just the thing though,” Chan tried explaining. “She would be happy. And that’s why I can’t tell her.” No, that’s not what he meant to say! Why couldn’t he speak what he meant? Words!

Changbin narrowed his eyes. “What do you want, Prince Bang Chan? The first time you came here, you threatened us for information. We gave you what you wanted. Now, you come here all subdued and sorry and clearly here with a purpose, yet you aren’t saying anything.”

Chan grimaced. “Please believe me when I say this, but I never wanted to act like how I did yesterday, and I deeply apologize for my behavior. My role as the crown prince sometimes makes me put on a cruel mask, but I recognise that yesterday, I went too far and I said things I never should have said. I’m so sorry.” He knelt down on the dirty floor, shocking Changbin and causing Felix to inhale sharply. It was unseemly for a prince, but there were Felix, Changbin, and Jeongin right in front of him, princes of Levanter but in rags. He didn’t care about what was unseemly, only that he could properly convey his forgiveness. He didn’t know the nature of Changbin and Jeongin’s relationship with their father, but clearly, that had been a touchy topic for them, one that Chan should have never used in any questioning. He closed his eyes before continuing, making a split second decision to tell the princes everything.

“There are things going on in Miroh, internal royal politics, with the Queen as our biggest enemy at the moment. The three of you are in grave danger, much worse than you are in right now. Danger that can get you all killed.” Chan paused. A part of him noted the irony of him warning them to save their lives when he had threatened them the day before.

Felix and Changbin just stared at him. “You say that as if you aren’t the Queen’s right hand man,” Changbin said slowly.

"That's what she wants me to be. And for such a long time, I thought that if I could be that, she would leave my father alone. Only, it turns out he didn’t need saving, and that all the Queen is doing is ruining Miroh and the family.” Chan wasn’t sure where these words were coming from, but somehow, he knew it needed to be said. “I believed in the lie that our kingdom was perfect, and then I believed that it would become perfect once I took the throne from her."

“But it never needed to be perfect,” Felix whispered. “Mother always said there's beauty in imperfection. We lived by that policy in Levanter. Mother made mistakes and so did we, but our kingdom was strong because of the care she put into it.”

“Whereas Miroh is a large tree with weak roots.” He stared into Felix’s eyes, finally reaching an understanding with his cousin. Chan gave a mournful smile. “I wish I could have known my aunt better.”

Felix’s eyes were now shimmering with tears. “I wish mine didn’t exist.”

“And I wish we can get back on track here.” Jeongin’s voice broke the moment Chan and Felix were having. Chan startled and blushed while Felix seemed to shake himself out of a daze.

“Innie, when did you wake up?” Changbin asked as Jeongin slowly sat up from his position in Changbin’s lap.

“Around the time Bang Chan came in. I heard everything.” This, he addressed to Chan. “Anyway, why are you here again?”

“Please, call me Chan.” He smiled at Jeongin.

“That’s right. You said we were in danger?” Felix tilted his head at Chan, seeming to have completely lost his initial anger.

“Not now, but you will be once the Queen finds out about your mother. The three of you are the only thing stopping her from taking Levanter. She’s only sparing you all since she thinks you can tell her where Haeun is.” He paused, moving to sit down on the grimy floor. “Seungmin has this plan. And as convoluted as it seems, I think this will work.”

“Seungmin. As in Prince Seungmin, Queen Kyungmi’s son.” Changbin asked. He seemed surprised.

“Yes, that’s him. Seungmin knows everything, and, well, he isn’t going to go running to the queen anytime soon. Minho though, on the other hand…” Chan trailed off, letting his silence speak for himself.

“Huh.” Felix blinked. “I didn’t expect that. Okay, then.”

“Anyway,” Chan continued. “The ball is a masquerade. We can use that as a disguise to get to the safe rooms. There’s an entrance to the tunnels there, which goes all the way into a section of the Northern Mountains. I’m sure you can find your way from there.” Chan could see the trio processing the plan, and felt bad for having to say the next part. “However, there are only two extra masks.”

Chan could see the confusion on Felix and Changbin before they suddenly grew furious and he knew that he had to say something to diffuse the situation. “We have a plan for that too! Don’t worry! We aren’t going to leave anyone behind.” The duo relaxed a bit, though they still looked wary. That was fine, As long as they were willing to listen.

“Surprisingly, there’s a guard Seungmin is on friendly terms with who looks quite similar to Jeongin. I’m not sure how much, I’m just trusting his word on this, but we could switch their places, and Jeongin could stay in my chambers until the escape. He can go a separate way than the rest of you and meet up afterwards.”

“Absolutely not!” Changbin fumed. “You aren’t separating us! I won’t allow it! ”

“Neither will I! You think that just because this is your castle you can—”

“I'll go.” Jeongin’s voice was calm, but still held their attention. Jeongin looked up at everyone, as if daring them to challenge him. “I can and I will go.”

“Jeonginnie…?” Changbin said in utter disbelief. Jeongin glanced up at him before softening.

“You heard Chan. This is the best option.” He hesitated. “Changbin, please, I’ll be fine.”

Changbin did not look impressed and pulled Jeongin over to the side, whispering harshly. Jeongin did the same, and it was clear that they were arguing about something, though what, Chan couldn’t tell. Beside him, Felix was worriedly looking back at the two brothers, but didn’t make any movement to join them. Chan wanted to ask him what was going on, but kept his mouth closed, knowing that it wasn’t his place.

“I’m not happy about this, you know.” Changbin’s voice was a normal volume this time, signifying that they were done arguing. Changbin looked dejected, but Jeongin's face was full of resolve. “But if this the only way to escape, then we’ll do it.”

“How am I even going to leave from your chambers, though?” Jeongin asked Chan.

Chan bit his lip. “Someone will take you down to the tunnels during the ball, and you’ll travel to just underneath the safe rooms, where you’ll meet with Felix and Changbin. We’re not sure who’ll take you yet, but Seungmin and I will figure that out, don’t worry.” He didn’t mention anything about Jisung, not wanting to give them any false belief in case Jisung said no. Chan secretly hoped that he did say no.

Jeongin gave a small nod of his head as he considered it. “When do I have to leave?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“I see.”

There was a silence before Chan cleared his throat awkwardly. “I should go now. It’s getting late.” He stood up and Felix quickly followed.

His cousin spoke up. “I still don’t fully trust you, but somehow, I can tell you were honest today. If my instincts are right and you are, I want to say thank you for helping us, and I won’t hold your behavior yesterday against you.” Felix gave a warm smile that instantly brought up Chan’s mood. “I can understand what you meant about masks and the like. It’s all good.”

Oh. Chan never would have expected Felix to thank him, even in his wildest dreams. “I mean, you’re my family too right? I can’t let you die.”

Changbin looked at Chan as if he was searching for something in his face, but nodded his head at him. Chan returned it with a hesitant smile.

Dining Hall, Wednesday evening, one day and twenty three hours before the ball

At dinner time, Chan made Jisung spill wine on Seungmin on purpose. It was the best way to slip him a note about what he had learned and their progress. Plus, the look on Seungmin’s face made it worth it.

Dungeons, Thursday morning, one day and nine hours before the ball

“You couldn’t have found any other way to slip me a note?” Seungmin harrumphed the next morning as they met inside the dungeons.

Chan grinned. “But dear cousin, wine is a good look for you!”

Seungmin rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky you had to send a note. Anyway,” he gestured to a random guard. “This is Hajoon. He’s our decoy.”

The man in question bowed before lifting his helmet. “Good morning sires.”

Chan gave a small nod before studying him. Chan definitely could see how he could be mistaken for Jeongin. They had similar face structures, physiques, and heights. There was even the same unique eye smile. The only major difference was that Hajoon had a larger, rounder nose, but it wasn’t larger by a lot. If Chan saw him from a distance, there was a huge chance he would have thought he was Jeongin.

“Good morning. Thank you for doing this, I know how risky this is.”

Hajoon shrugged. “Prince Seungmin helped me when I was in debt. I want to repay that favor.”

“And while I would normally say there is no need, I am thankful you are helping us with this.” Seungmin gave a soft smile, one that Chan was surprised to see. Seungmin usually didn’t show his emotions like that.

Interesting.

“Shall we go now, then?” Hajoon gestured to the dark passageway.

They walked mostly in silence, with Chan's fingers tapping on the hilt of his sword, betraying how nervous he was. It was still early, so he could see that a lot of prisoners were asleep, or atleast, had the image of being asleep. Finally, after a long and nerve wracking walk, they reached the cell.

“You do realize that the walk back would be much worse than this one.” Seungmin commented offhandedly as he unlocked the cell, having acquired the key somehow, but not disclosing how. Honestly though, Chan wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Chan groaned. “You had to bring that up did you?”

Inside, the three princes were huddled up, asleep, with Jeongin in the center of their pile. They must be so scared for him, he thought. Chan’s heart broke for separating the trio, but he knew he had no choice.

“Felix? Changbin? Jeongin?” Chan called out softly, gently shaking them awake. Jeongin shifted and sleepily blinked his eyes open.

“Is it time?” Chan nodded and Jeongin’s voice seemed to wake up the other two.

“Please, a little longer,” Changbin whispered.

Chan saw Seungmin hesitating before replying neutrally. “We’re running out of time. This is Hajoon. He’ll replace Jeongin here.” Hajoon had removed his armor and dirtied himself with the grime of the walls and floor, looking every bit a prisoner.

“It’s nice to meet you, your highnesses. I can help Prince Jeongin into my armor, and then he can go.”

Changbin just stared at Hajoon despairingly while Felix responded. “Thank you for helping. You have no idea how much this means to us.” Hajoon nodded as he helped Jeongin latch the symbolic red cape. “This is my duty, sire.”

Finally, Jeongin put on the helmet and he looked like a proper Mirohian knight. “Shall we go then? You mentioned we were on a time limit.” His voice sounded deeper from within the helmet.

“Wait,” Changbin cried out. He stood up and hugged Jeongin, the height difference visible as Jeongin burrowed his head in Changbin’s neck. “Stay safe. I love you so much, little fox.”

“Me too.” Felix joined the hug, and Chan felt like he was interrupting what was a private moment. “Don’t get caught.”

“I won’t,” Jeongin replied. They stayed like that for a minute before Jeongin pushed away. “We should—we should get going then.” His voice quavered.

“Come on.” Chan put his arm on Jeongin’s back and moved him out of the cell. Seungmin locked the door behind them, his gaze lingering on Hajoon. Then he turned, and he and Chan left the dungeons with a Levanter prince in tow.

Chan’s chambers, Thursday morning, one day, seven hours and thirty minutes before the ball

“This is where you will sleep.” Chan gestured to the antechamber in his room where Jisung slept. “Jisung offered to share it with you. It’s a little tight, but it should be better than the prison.”

It definitely would be tight. The room wasn’t very large, and the small bed in the center took up most of its space. Scattered on the sides were a few shelves and tables, holding Jisung’s things. There wasn’t much space for one person, let alone two. But no one came in here besides Jisung and Chan, so it was the safest place Jeongin could be.

“Yes, it’s fine.” Jeongin replied distractedly, probably thinking of Felix and Changbin in the dungeons below. He looked up at Chan and said, “Thank you for this.”

Chan smiled back shyly. “Of course. And if you need anything, Jisung or I can help you.”

“Of course. Umm, can I…?” Jeongin looked hesitant to ask something, furiously blushing and looking at the ground. “Can I have a bath and a change of clothes?”

Oh! “Oh yes, you can! You can use my bathroom, and I think I have some old unused clothes. Go ahead, and I can get them for you.” Chan answered rapidly, his face the color of Miroh’s capes.

“Thank you,” Jeongin muttered, embarrassed for asking. He left the room, and Chan heard the sound of water a couple moments later. He shook himself out of his daze and got the aforementioned clothes. He placed them on the ground near the bath, and left to do some paperwork on his desk.

Suddenly, his room’s door opened and Chan was startled for a moment until he saw that it was just Jisung, who had returned from doing Chan’s laundry. His hair and shirt were wet and Jisung was grumbling on the way in.

“Did you lose a fight with my wet bed sheets?” Chan laughed, amusedly looking at Jisung’s haggard appearance.

“I tripped and spilled the water,” he grumbled under his breath, causing Chan to chuckle. “You got the prince already?”

Chan’s amusement faded away as he replied. “Yes, Jeongin’s just in the bath. Speaking of which, I need to talk to you.” Chan had been putting off talking to Jisung about his father’s suggestion, but now that Jeongin was here, he knew that he needed to talk to Jisung immediately.

“Yes?” Jisung seemed to pick up on Chan's mood and walked over to Chan’s desk. “What happened?”

“Remember how I said that my father would take Jeongin through the tunnels? That’s not happening.”

“Wait what? How are we supposed to get Jeongin out then?” Jisung frowned in confusion. Chan dreaded telling the next part.

“He thinks you should take him.”

At first, Jisung didn’t seem to understand what Chan had said. It was obvious when it finally sunk in since Jisung’s whole face fell with hurt.

“He wants to send me away? Have I not been a good manservant?” Chan felt on the verge of tears as he furiously objected to the latter.

“No, you’ve been the best manservant I could ask for, and an even greater friend. But Father thinks that you’ll be in danger if the Queen finds the princes gone. I don’t know why.”

Jisung’s hurt look had a hint of confusion added to it. “In danger? Me? I know the Queen doesn’t like me, but why would I be in danger for the princes escaping?”

“I don’t know. But if you are, I want to keep you safe. I want you to go with Jeongin too.” Chan had gone over this in his head all night yesterday and came to the conclusion that no matter how much he didn’t want Jisung to go, his safety mattered above everything else. He didn’t know why, but whatever Kyungmi would want to kill him for, it couldn’t be good.

“No, I’m not leaving you, sire! You can’t make me!” Jisung’s desperate voice did cause a tear to fall from Chan’s eyes.

“I don’t want you to leave either. But you are one of the only people who can navigate the tunnels. The princes need a guide. But above that, I want you to be safe. Please, Sungie.” Chan slipped into the nickname he had given Jisung when they had been younger, hoping it would convince Jisung to agree.

The sound of footsteps alerted them of Jeongin’s presence, and Jisung finished by saying “I’ll think about it,” though he looked everywhere but Chan as he said it.

Jeongin stopped as he noticed the duo's faces. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting you?"

"No, we were just finished," Jisung mumbled. "I’m Jisung, Prince Chan's manservant. You must be Prince Jeongin."

"Just Jeongin, please. Thank you for offering your room," he said politely.

"Well, no one ever goes here, so it's the perfect place to lie low fit a couple days before you need to leave the castle," Jisung said matter-of-factly.

Jeongin smiled. "Thank you, still. I think I want to rest for a while. Where should I sleep?"

Chan saw Jisung perk up, as if trying to distract himself. He didn't blame him.

"Here! You can sleep on my bed for now, and for the night we can figure something out later." Jisung dragged Jeongin to his room, the manner of it causing Chan's mouth to tug in a bittersweet smile.

Chan’s chambers, Thursday afternoon, one day and five hours before the ball

After lunch and a bout of training with the knights, Chan returned to his chambers, completely drenched with sweat. He had a couple of proposals from the council to go over, and plus, he wanted to check on Jeongin.

The younger prince was not in sight, which could mean two things. Either he got caught, which was unlikely since Chan would have also gotten arrested for aiding in the escape and harboring a prisoner. The other option was that Jeongin was smartly hiding away, which, from what he knew about him, seemed the most likely.

It turned out the second option was correct, as Jeongin was sitting on Jisung’s bed, reading a book Chan had noticed lying around a few days ago. Chan saw him jump when he heard the door open, but he then relaxed when he noticed Chan. “Oh, it’s just you.”

Chan sat down on the edge of the bed, mindful of its size. He considered investing in a bigger bed for Jisung, but with a pang remembered that Jisung would be leaving the next day.

“Everything alright? Did you eat anything?”

Jeongin placed the book on a table to the side. “Jisung gave me some apples. Apart from that, I’m not very hungry,” he answered, causing Chan to frown.

“You didn’t eat anything though.The prison food can’t be good,” he said, his voice laced with concern.

“I’m fine,” Jeongin replied tersely.

Chan snapped his mouth shut, and there was an awkward moment of silence between the two. He was about to leave, not wanting to irritate Jeongin further when Jeongin sighed. “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“It’s fine. It’s my fault for pushing you.”

Jeongin shook his head. “No, I know you were just trying to help. It’s just…” He paused and looked down before continuing. “You see, my father is an excellent ruler. He really cares about our people. But, he, well—I look a lot like my mother, and Mother was a spy from Miroh.”

Of all the things Chan was expecting, that wasn’t it. “Oh! That’s…” He fumbled for words.

Jeongin gave a humorless laugh. “I know, right! One of Levanter’s princes, seduced by a Mirohian spy. He gets bitter at that sometimes and tries to take out his anger at me. Only, he doesn’t, because Changbin always diverts his anger to him.”

That explained a lot about why Changbin was so angry at him for threatening Jeongin. “He must love you a lot for him to do that.” Jeongin nodded, his eyes welling up with tears.

“He’s always so protective of me. And I hate that because when he is, he always gets hurt on my behalf!” He sniffled. “I just want him to be safe too. And I want him to see that he doesn’t always have to protect me, that I can take care of myself too.”

A thought occurred to Chan. “Is that what you both were arguing about yesterday?”

Jeongin nodded. “It’s something we argue about a lot. I know Changbin means well, but sometimes I can’t help but feel that he’s too overbearing and controlling.”

“Did you tell him that?”

Jeongin wiped away his tears. “I did, a couple weeks ago. He’s sorry for making me feel like that, and he’s trying, we both are, but in a situation like this, I guess it’s hard not to be overprotective.” Jeongin let out a sad laugh, and Chan looked down, feeling that familiar pang of guilt again.

“I’m sor—”

Jeongin interrupted him, placing a hand on Chan’s arm softly. “I know that you are.” He smiled up at Chan hesitantly. “But, um, can I… Can I have a hug?”

Chan was surprised, but wasted no time. He gently wrapped Jeongin in his arms and rocked him like he assumed Jeongin’s brother would. “It’s going to be alright,” he said softly. Jeongin broke down in furious sobs in the comfort of Chan’s hug.

“I’m scared.” His voice was muffled in Chan’s shirt.

“I’m going to get you out, and you’re going to see Changbin and Felix again. I promise.”

Jeongin continued to sob while Chan rubbed circles soothingly into Jeongin's back. After a while, Jeongin pulled away, looking embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dumped all that on you.”

Chan frantically shook his head. “No, no! It’s fine. It’s normal to be afraid, especially in an uncertain situation such as this.” He gave Jeongin a warm smile. “Even though you’ll be leaving tomorrow and we’ll go back to being enemies, I want you to know that if you need absolutely anything, I’ll have your back. And when the Queen steps down, I’ll make sure that Miroh and Levanter will be allies again.”

Jeongin returned the smile with one of his own, his eyes creasing and making Chan’s heart melt.

“I’d like that too.”

Chan’s chambers, Thursday evening, one day and one hour before the ball

“Jisung, I’m going out right now. Watch over the room.” Chan looked at Jisung pointedly. Jisung gave a small nod but otherwise didn’t say anything. So he was still upset. Chan sighed and walked out the door, but he had only made two steps when he was immediately pushed back into his room by an all-too-familiar face.

“What—Minho?!” What was with his cousins choosing this week to enter this room?

The said man looked haughtily at Chan. “I, need to talk to you. Alone. Tell your servant to go to his chambers or something.” He wagged his finger in Jisung’s general direction.

Chan glared. “Don’t talk to him that way!”

Minho raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I care about all that right now? Send him away.” He said, punctuating the last bit.

Chan didn’t like how Minho was speaking to Jisung, but Minho hadn’t come into his room in years. He was just a tiny bit curious what the pompous prince had to say, and so motioned for Jisung to leave. Jisung moved towards the antechamber, which caused Chan’s heart to speed up as he remembered that Jeongin was in there.

“I want you to step down as Crown Prince,” Minho said, cutting right to the chase.

Chan almost didn’t understand what he said. He stared at Minho in disbelief and anger. “Are you joking right now? That is– I mean– what the fuck are you saying?!” He spluttered. He was so in shock about Minho’s request that he couldn’t even think of any witty retorts to give him.

“Are you hard of hearing? I said, step down. You don’t deserve to be the crown prince, much less the High King.”

“And I suppose you are, Prince High and Mighty? I became the Crown Prince because I am the oldest of our generation, with the most training. Our grandfather chose me before he stepped down. Are you fucking mad?” Chan scoffed, still reeling in shock. This was the last thing he expected Minho to ask, but somehow, he wasn’t surprised he did.

“The throne should be mine! You don’t even care about the kingdom! Always going off on quests and conspiring with the enemy and behaving like you hate being crown prince at any chance you have. You have no loyalty to Miroh. And somehow, you got Seungmin into your schemes, who was doing perfectly fine as a prince of Miroh until now!” Minho’s voice rose in volume as he poked his finger into Chan’s chest.

“Doing fine?! Your mother doesn’t even know Seungmin exists half the time, and you call that doing fine!? And don’t talk to me about loyalty to the kingdom when you were literally locking lips with that Levanter spy last year. Just because you’re jealous that I’m crown prince and you’re not doesn’t mean you can accuse me of being disloyal.” Chan was panting heavily in anger by now. How dare Minho say such a thing? He loved Miroh and loved being able to serve the kingdom as crown prince. His entire body trembled in fury.

Something flickered in Minho’s eyes when he said. “If you’re truly loyal, Bang Chan, why did you lie about Haeun last Council meeting?” Chan reared back in shock.

“What?!”

Minho’s lips curled up into a smirk. “When you ‘lock lips’ a couple times, as you said, you can end up learning a lot of information. And a guard ended up giving me a very interesting piece of information about your visit to the princes a few days ago.” Chan’s blood ran cold. He couldn’t mean…

“Imagine how surprising it would have been to learn that Queen Haeun is dead. Oh wait, you knew that already, isn’t that right, dear cousin?”

Chan froze. All he could do was stare at Minho in horror. All this work and planning, everything he was doing to protect the Levanter Princes, was crashing down around him.

“I’m sure Mother would be very interested in this information. I could, you know, go and tell her. She would be furious at you for not telling her and might even arrest you, and the throne would go to me. But—” Minho giggled, though it seemed more threatening than anything. “Uncle would feel bad if you go to prison. You could, theoretically, just abdicate the throne, and that way I won’t have any reason to go and tell Mother.”

“So that’s your plan? You’re threatening to tell your mother if I don’t hand over the throne to you,” Chan growled, trying to look unimpressed but panicking on the inside.

“I’m not threatening you, I’m promising you. If you don’t step down I will tell Mother. And not next month or next year or anything. I will tell her tomorrow. At the ball, in front of the most influential people of the kingdom.” Minho gave another condescending giggle. “I’ll take my leave then.” Chan could only watch as Minho strutted out the door, blowing a flying kiss to a guard in the corridor. He registered Jisung opening his door behind him, but couldn’t do more than that. Jisung sat down next to him on the bed, which Chan hadn’t even realized he had sat down on. By the door, Jeongin was peeking his head out, worried, but hesitant to get out of the room.

“I heard everything,” Jisung whispered, placing a hand on Chan’s arm. “You both weren’t very quiet.”

In a normal scenario, Chan would have snorted at that, but right now it was all he could do not to fall into a full blown panic attack. “He’s going to tell her.” His breathing became more haggard and Jisung took both of Chan’s hands in his own. “Just breathe, sire. Follow my breath. That’s it. There you go.” Jisung’s soothing tone calmed Chan down until Chan could properly think again.

“Minho cannot be king at any cost. He’s too set in his mother’s beliefs, and the kingdom will fall to ruin with him there.” Chan tried to gather his thoughts. “But if I don’t step down, he’ll tell the Queen tomorrow and I’ll have to step down anyway, not to mention Felix, Changbin, and Jeongin will die and Miroh will overtake Levanter, causing more bloodshed everywhere.”

“It’s a lose-lose situation,” Jisung agreed. “Which means we can’t play Minho’s game.” Jisung looked like he was seriously trying to think of a different idea when his eyes lit up. “Let's set the ball on fire.” Jisung’s eyes were sparking in an deranged yet adorable way, which made Chan scoot away from him just a bit.

“No setting anything on fire, please. Where did you even get that idea from?”

Jisung shrugged. “Jeongin was telling me about a prank gone wrong back in Levanter.”

Okay, Chan did not want to know any further than that. If the story was making Jisung’s eyes sparkle that much, it couldn’t not contain chaos in extreme levels. A note to himself: tell Jeongin to stop giving Jisung ideas.

“Okay, but we’re not doing that to Minho. Anything else you can think of?” Chan ignored the ‘you don’t let me have any fun’ that Jisung muttered under his breath. Suddenly, Jisung perked up again, causing Chan to look at him warily.

“I have another idea—oh don't look at me like that. This one’s actually good.”

“Okay then, let's hear it,” he said, not really believing that but still willing to humor Jisung.

“Just don’t let Minho and the Queen meet. It’s not like he’s going to shout it across the ballroom,” Jisung declared, looking up at Chan expectantly.

Chan hummed as he considered this. “Wow, I’m impressed. You had a good idea for once.” He ignored Jisung’s outraged cry of What do you mean for once?

He would need Seungmin’s help for this, obviously, but it wouldn’t be an impossible task. Lots of people would be interested in dancing with Minho, and he knew how to start harmless rumors about his aunt to keep her occupied too. All he needed was to make it through tomorrow night with the princes far away from here.

Speaking of which.

“Jisung, have you decided what you're going to do tomorrow?” he asked quietly, studying Jisung’s face, which immediately turned serious.

“I have, actually.” Jisung took a deep breath. “I’ll go with Jeongin.”

Chan’s eyes widened. “Oh! That’s uh, great, actually.”

Jisung gave a nod before he looked crestfallen. “Does that mean that today’s the last day I’ll get to see you?” His voice was small, and Chan felt himself tearing up.

“We’ll have tomorrow too,” he tried to reason.

Jisung shook his head vehemently. “It’s not the same. We’re both going to be busy tomorrow.”

Chan couldn’t help it. He started crying. “I’m going to miss you so much Sungie. You’re like my little brother, and I don’t know when I’ll see you again. Please, be safe.”

Jisung wiped away Chan’s tears, though he was crying himself. “You’re my brother too. You’re the closest thing I have to family after Mother and Father left the palace. I’m going to miss you so much too.” They embraced each other, somber and wistful, neither wanting to let go.

After a moment, Chan finally forced himself to pull away. “I actually have to go now, Sungie. I have to oversee the ballroom decorating.”

Jisung clung to Chan’s arm, unwilling to let go. “Nope. You’re staying here. I’m not letting you go.”

“Jisung,” Chan pleaded halfheartedly.

Jisung finally let go and punched Chan’s arm. “You're cuddling me when you get back, got it? You aren’t escaping the cuddles.”

Chan laughed, his voice thick with emotion. “Of course not. I would never think of escaping the cuddles.”

Chan’s chambers, Friday morning, ten hours before the ball

Chan woke up on the day of the ball having slept pretty badly, tossing and turning and dreaming of the billion ways today could go wrong.

Inhale. Exhale.

He could do this.

Chan’s chambers, Friday morning, nine hours and thirty minutes before the ball

Inhale.

Chan went over the plan with Jeongin and Jisung one more time. He didn’t know if he would have time later, and he wanted to make sure everything was clear.

Dining Room, Friday morning, eight hours before the ball

Exhale.

Hyunjin glared at Chan from across the breakfast table. Beside him, Minho smirked.

Dungeons, Friday Afternoon, six hours before the ball

Inhale.

Chan passed by the entrance of the dungeons, heart thumping wildly in his chest.

Armory Hallway, Friday afternoon, five hours before the ball

Exhale.

Chan couldn’t find Seungmin anywhere. He needed to tell him about Minho, yet Seungmin never passed Chan’s line of sight the entire day.

Throne Room, Friday morning, four hours before the ball

Inhale.

Kyungmi gave Chan a fond smile as he blatantly lied about his plans for tomorrow's quest. Chan analyzed her face for any sign that Minho had spilled.

He saw nothing.

Right Wing Main Hallway, Friday afternoon, two hours and thirty minutes before the ball

Exhale.

Daeseong met with Chan outside the kitchens. “If you need anything, I'm here,” he whispered.

Great Ballroom, Friday evening, one hour before the ball

Inhale.

The Great Ballroom was mostly empty, with just a few servants going back and forth with a few last minute decorations. Looking around, Chan was impressed with how beautiful the servants had made the room. They had truly outdone themselves this year.

The pillars on the sides were wrapped with pink, white, and of course, red roses, something that was carried throughout the ballroom. The servants had opted to go a bit subtler with the red this year, a bold choice, but after the Decoration Disaster three years ago, he didn’t blame them. There was, obviously, no deep blue anywhere in sight, but Chan did spot sky blue flowers on a few tables, which, thankfully, wasn't a problem. Strangely enough, while Kyungmi hated dark blue, she loved sky blue. Chan stopped trying to understand his aunt a while ago.

He had already dressed up, this year in a more masculine attire: an all black coat and suit with golden embroidery across the coat. His mask was similar, black with gold accents. Initially, he was going to wear a gorgeous green gown he had fallen in love with the moment he saw its design, but gowns weren’t very practical when it came to stealthy missions, so he had gotten his attire changed at the last minute. It didn’t look bad, and Chan definitely had to do something huge for the seamstress that made it to thank them.

The ball didn't start for another hour, but Chan still had to be present to receive any early guests and watch over the servants. No one else in the royal family was present yet, probably taking their own sweet time to get ready. Chan grumbled just thinking about that.

A few guests started to trickle in, and Chan busied himself by making small talk with them. He kept his gaze on the passageway leading to royal quarters, watching for someone to arrive. He wasn’t sure who he was waiting for, since he needed to talk to Seungmin and watch Minho and avoid everyone else. A courtier’s daughter walked up to him and greeted him, causing Chan to focus on her, smiling apologetically as he politely rejected her blatant declaration of love toward him.

In a while, towards the middle of the ball, Jisung and Jeongin should be sneaking out to the gardens. Chan would be excusing himself and heading to the dungeons, where he had told Jisung earlier to hide a bag with old gowns with the spare masks. Felix and Changbin would change into them, and they would rush to the saferoom as fast and stealthily as possible. So much could go wrong, but Chan couldn’t think about that. He just had to focus on making the plan work.

Finally, he saw Minho and Hyunjin enter the ballroom, each wearing floor length ball gowns. Minho chose to wear a ruffly purple gown with pearls adorning his skin, while Hyunjin opted for a red bejeweled one. The crowd were whispering about the two of them and the duo preened in the attention, giggling and chatting with a few noblewomen. Chan would have rolled his eyes, but he knew he had to maintain his image, so he went over to greet them.

“Minho, Hyunjin, you both look stunning today.” He gave Minho the fakest smile he could muster as he took Minho’s hand in his. “Are those pearls I see? Excellent choice.”

Minho moved his mask off his face and returned the fake smile. “Thank you, Chan dearest. Though, I’m surprised you went with this outfit. I was under the impression you would be wearing a gown as well? That green one right?” Minho tilted his head, eyes sparkling with amusement. All this small talk was just cover for what Minho was silently asking him: what his decision was. Chan bit his tongue.

"I decided I liked this one better." He was saved from continuing to be pleasant by Seungmin's entrance. "Excuse me for a moment."

Chan carefully navigated from the throng of people and greeted Seungmin pleasantly, trying to convey a message through his eyes. Thankfully, Seungmin seemed to get that Chan needed to talk to him, as he casually asked, "Why don't you join me for some drinks?" Chan gestured for a servant to hand them glasses of wine, and they walked over to the edge of the ballroom to have a bit of privacy.

"What happened?" Seungmin asked almost immediately.

Chan took a sip before answering. "Minho knows about Haeun. He's going to tell the queen unless I step down as crown prince."

Seungmin frowned. "Step down?"

"Yes, he wants to take my place." Chan followed Seungmin’s gaze to Minho, who was laughing at the other end of the ballroom.

"That doesn’t seem like him. Does he know about the escape?"

"No. We proceed as planned. Jisung’s on board, too."

"Alright, then."

The sound of fanfare alerted the two cousins to the arrival of the Queen, wearing a red and black suit and heels. A hush fell over the crowd as she walked into the hall, commanding the attention of everyone present. Chan’s father trailed behind her, earning himself another round of stares. Seungmin silently slipped him the cell key, something Chan had almost forgotten about, before he and Chan hurried to the Queen’s side, Chan kissing the back of her hand and bowing.

Just a little longer.

Great Ballroom, Friday evening, The ball

"Welcome everyone to Miroh's Spring Ball," Kyungmi greeted the audience, who met her with a round of polite applause. "We shall begin the opening dance now." She was never one for speeches.

As the two oldest, Chan and Minho typically opened the first dance with each other every ball. This one was no different, and Chan took Minho's hand and placed his around Minho’s waist.

"Are you ready?" Chan asked, aware of the entire audience staring at them.

"Are you?" Minho shot back, asking for something completely unrelated to dancing.

Chan ignored him and waited for the first beats of the music, losing himself in years of practice and experience in dance. The audience murmured every time they twirled close to them, amazed at their princes. Seungmin and Hyunjin danced beside them, seeming much more comfortable dancing with each other than he and Minho. Finally, the music ended and the guests took the floor for their own dancing. Chan quickly excused himself from the area and, after a whispered watch Minho to Seungmin, he left the ballroom to begin the escape.

Taking a left, he sprinted as fast as he could to the dungeons, mindful of any guards passing by. He had stashed an old cloak in a crack in the castle walls, and so quickly put it on as soon as he found it so as to hide his identity. He sprinted past all the dungeon cells, mindful of any guards, and skidded to a stop at the last cell. Hajoon, Felix and Changbin were sitting on the floor, alert, and immediately stood up as soon as Chan reached.

Chan opened the cell and then frantically searched for the bag of gowns. "Do you know where the bag is?"

"Here." Felix found the bag on the other side of the room and took the dresses out. One of them was Chan’s, while the other was actually Minho's, though since they were royalty and never wore the same ballgown twice, neither of them would miss the dresses. Additionally, it was quite common to copy the royal family's dresses and wear them in later balls, especially by families of a lower status, so Felix and Changbin would fit right in. The masks covering their faces were the bigger issue. While Chan and Seungmin had tried to match the mask to the gown as much as possible, a close glimpse would definitely give the duo away.

Chan thanked Hajoon once again, and watched as the guard made his escape from the dungeons. Felix and Changbin were behind Chan, quickly changing, and he helped them wipe down as much dirt off their arms and faces as possible. Chan had snuck in some makeup too, which Felix and Changbin immediately made use of. Chan didn't want to hurry them—the more elaborate they looked, the better they would fit in—but it was getting late.

He voiced this to the duo and Changbin replied, "Just the final touches."

A few moments later, Chan deemed them okay to leave. He left the dungeons first, checking for any incoming guard patrols and as soon as it was safe, he motioned for them to follow.

"This way," Chan murmured, low enough for them to hear. The safe rooms were relatively close to the ballroom. They had to be, since there was an unfortunate tendency for royal assassinations during balls.

"Just past this," Chan sped up his walking, not breaking out into a run but still maintaining some speed. "We're almost th—"

"Excuse me, but the three of you are not allowed to be outside the ballroom."

Chan turned to find a guard staring inquisitively at the trio. Felix and Changbin were quick, covering their faces with the masks as soon as they heard a sound. Chan tried to look unimpressed with the guard there. Thankfully, they hadn’t passed the doors of the ballroom, so it wasn’t too suspicious to be walking around.

“These two gentlemen were lost, and I’m just escorting them back into the ballroom. Is there a problem?” The guard seemed to buy it, even more so when she realized that the crown prince was there. Her eyes widened and she hastened to apologize. “I’m so sorry sire, I didn’t realize it was you! Here, let me open the door for you.” She led the trio inside, and even with the mask on he could see Felix’s look of panic.

Another round of dancing had just started, and Chan was whisked away by a councilman's son he was on friendly terms with to dance. He saw Changbin and Felix disappearing into the crowd, and he was sure that they were smart enough to stay inconspicuous, at least for a little while. Chan was distracted the entire dance, trying to think of any other way to get to the tunnels.

He was especially worried that Jisung and Jeongin might panic due to Felix and Changbin’s non-appearance. That is, if they had managed to get to the tunnels. Chan couldn’t even think of what might happen if they were caught, couldn’t think of Felix, Jeongin, Changbin, and Jisung being executed.

The song ended and Chan politely excused himself to search for Felix and Changbin. He found them in the corner of the ballroom, sipping some wine and pretending to be noblemen of their own. Chan held back a sigh and headed to meet with them when Seungmin came out of literal nowhere, unusually panicky and scared.

“I lost Minho.”

Chan inhaled sharply. “Are you sure? What happened?”

Seungmin gave him a look. “Yes, I’m sure. I was keeping an eye on him, just like you asked, but I turned away for a second and he’s gone! He’s not by Mother or Hyunjin, and I already searched the entire ballroom!” He was trying to keep his voice a whisper, trying not to get the attention of the other guests but panicking all the same.

“Shit. Okay, right now, we need to find him immediately. Felix and Changbin are here.” Chan took a couple deep breaths, trying to keep down how stressed he was.

Seungmin tensed. “They’re here!?! I thought you got them out?!?”

“That failed. Right now, we have to–” A loud clinking of glasses not only interrupted him, but also caused the entire ballroom to quiet. He, Seungmin, and the rest of the guests collectively turned to see Minho at the front of the ballroom, expectantly staring at the crowd. He caught Chan’s eye and raised his eyebrow, almost mockingly. Chan’s breath hitched. Minho couldn’t be…

“On this momentous occasion, first, I would like to thank you all for coming here today. Your presence shows Miroh how loyal you are, and as Miroh’s prince, I have to say it’s an honor to have such esteemed gentlemen and women here today.” Minho stared warmly at the crowd, who weren’t sure what was going on but ate it up anyway. Chan was trembling in horror, and Seungmin took a hold of Chan’s arm in hopes of calming him, though Seungmin was just as shocked as Chan.

Minho suddenly moved towards the queen, smiling pleasantly, completely opposite to Chan’s own face. “That’s why I would like you all to be the first to know. Queen Haeun of Levanter is dead!”

There was a moment of shocked silence until everyone started talking all at once, with mutters of dead and good riddance and long live Miroh. Chan spared a glance at his aunt, who had a haughty grin on her face. Chan furiously turned his gaze to Minho, who apparently was not done talking. “She died due to…”

He trailed off, his eyes focused on something in the distance. Minho looked to be in utter shock. Chan and the rest of the ballroom hesitantly looked back and Chan’s blood instantly grew cold.

The doors of the ballroom were wide open, and a couple of guards had a struggling and roughed up Jisung and an unconscious Jeongin. They both had multiple cuts and scratches, and Jisung was furiously kicking the guard holding his arms back.

“Your majesty, there seems to be an escape attempt for Prince Jeongin, aided by this servant boy,” the guard boomed across the room, starting yet another round of whispers.

Chan couldn’t move, just staring helplessly back and forth between the front and back of the room. Kyungmi looked absolutely transfixed by the sight of Jisung, growing more and more furious by the second until she finally called out.

“Take the two of them to the throne room now. I will join you.” She turned around and strode through the back entrance imperiously.

Chan wasted no time. He rushed to the door, pushing past the panicking guests and almost tripping on a couple gowns. The guards carrying Jisung and Jeongin had closed the doors behind them, and with a huge shove, Chan pushed the doors open and sprinted, ignoring the shouts of the guards outside the doors. He barely registered Seungmin closely following him, and the sound of two additional footsteps indicated the arrival of Changbin and Felix as well.

“I thought you said the people who knew wouldn’t tell!” Felix yelled.

Chan looked behind him for a second. “I didn’t know Minho knew until yesterday evening!” Chan shouted back before stopping at the throne room doors.

“Excuse me!” Chan asked the guards outside the room, loud and tense. “We need to go inside immediately.”

The guards looked at each other before one of them responded. “The Queen said not to let anyone inside.”

“Hey!” Seungmin shoved past Chan. “Two of Miroh’s princes are asking, one of which is the crown prince, and you still won’t let us through?” Seungmn snarled, way past any niceness to the guards. A faint whimper from inside the doors caused all four of them to freeze, and Seungmin glared furiously at the guards. “Open the doors. NOW.”

The guards didn’t budge, so Changbin responded by bashing the guards heads together, effectively knocking them out. “Let’s go. We’re wasting time.”

Opening the doors, the four of them found Jeongin carelessly tossed to the ground and Jisung backed against the throne in fear as Kyungmi approached him. Changbin rushed to Jeongin’s side as Kyungmi turned to face the princes. She tilted her head.

“Fraternizing with the enemy, Bang Chan? I thought better of you,” she chastised, shaking her head as she abandoned Jisung and walked down the stairs from the throne. “But you too, Sungjin?”

“It’s Seungmin.” Seungmin replied coolly, unimpressed with the queen. “And that is exactly why.”

“You dare…” She glared at him furiously. “Guards! Arrest them at once.”

Chan took out his sword, prepared to fight, but Kyungmi had clearly planned this in advance as five guards came to subdue Chan alone. He could see everyone else getting similarly captured, even with one guarding over Jeongin, but when a few guards went over to Jisung, Kyungmi stopped them.

“This one’s mine,” she said, taking out a knife.

Jisung’s eyes widened and he tried scrambling back even further. Chan doubled his efforts to get out of the guards’ grasps, but he was literally pinned down to the ground. “Don’t you fucking dare hurt Jisung!” Chan snarled at the queen, but she gave no indication of even hearing him.

“Now where were we? Ah yes, you were going to tell me where you learned that information!” She stuck her knife into the throne’s cushion threateningly, scoffing at Jisung’s cries.

“I don’t even know what you mean! I don’t know any information!” He pleaded with her, flinching as she took the knife out.

“Lying to me now? Your mother did the same. Always, always lies. And our parents always believed perfect little darling Haeun who could do no wrong,” she mocked, not even looking at Jisung anymore. Chan stopped struggling for a moment. Jisung’s….mother? Somewhere behind him, he could hear Felix whispering a sharp what? to no one in particular.

“You must be mistaken. I’m an orphan! I’m not anyone’s son!” Jisung cried, tears rolling off his cheeks in waves.

“That is right. I did claim you were an orphan. My greatest triumph over Haeun!” Kyungmi gave a deranged laugh, almost completely forgetting about Jisung. Chan hoped that Jisung would take the opportunity and run from her. The Queen was completely psychotic.

Unfortunately, Jisung did not run, instead staring at Kyungmi in horror and shock. She walked down the stairs, her mind lost in the past.

“Perfect Haeun, the pride of the family when she came to visit from Levanter, heavily pregnant. Never mind that I was pregnant too and already had a son. But no. She always said, ‘Oh, we’ll have children around the same age! Isn’t that wonderful?‘ I wish I had just poisoned her back then. I wouldn’t have to deal with her bratty little children.”

At this point, even the guards were transfixed in her story, though they didn’t loosen their grip one bit. Kyungmi had however found a new target to focus on: Felix. “Everyone was so happy when she went into labor first. There was a whole celebration! I just wanted her to fall on a sword. And then your brother was born. Did you know that?” Chan saw Felix staring at her in disbelief. “Haeun’s first child! Mother and Father were so happy and Daeseong was thrilled to have another nephew. But I knew that he would grow up to be a brat, just like Haeun. So I took him and threw him onto the streets.” She gave a short laugh before frowning. “I didn’t know she had twins. If I had known, I would have thrown you out too. But it doesn't matter. I can just kill you and your brat of a brother just like I slowly poisoned your mother.”

Forget incompetence, the queen was completely insane. That’s what Daeseong had been trying to tell Chan. All the pieces fell into a horrifying picture.

Chan started to struggle further, managing to free a hand before it was captured again. “Jisung! Felix! Run! You have to get out of here! You have to—mphff!” A guard covered Chan's mouth, muffling his cries. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw that Jisung had paled and Felix had turned a furious shade of red. Changbin had managed to get up and was fistfighting a couple of guards, trying to get to Felix. Seungmin was hunched to the ground in pain, his arm at an awkward angle.

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Felix screamed. “YOU KILLED MY MOTHER AND KIDNAPPED MY BROTHER! YOU’LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID, YOU BITCH!” Felix was crying furious tears as he tried to swing his arm at Kyungmi. Her eyes narrowed.

“What did you just call me? You will die for this.” She lifted her knife into the air and the entire room tensed, but as she swung it down, she suddenly crumpled, knife falling from her grasp and clattering to the ground along with her.

“Fuck, I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”

Chan turned to find Minho in a ripped gown, holding a blunt mace as if he just clobbered someone around the head. He looked too entirely unimpressed and stoic at everyone in the room for someone who just knocked out his own mother. Minho stared at all the guards in the room. ”Release everyone immediately.”

The guards stared back, unsure now that the Queen was laying on the ground. One of the guards around Seungmin spoke up. “The Queen ordered us to arrest everyone here. We’re just following orders.“

Minho turned his glare to that guard, who withered at Minho’s icy stare. “You have new orders. Kyungmi is not the queen anymore. I have a paper—well Hyunjin has it right now—with the signatures of every single councilman as well as King Daeseong and myself, declaring that her reign as queen is over. As your prince, I am demanding that you release everyone here, including the Levanter princes, and carry them to the infirmary, as well as arrest the Queen for murdering a former daughter of Miroh. Is that understood?”

The guards finally released Chan from their hold and even helped him stand up, which he didn’t think he would be able to on his own. His mind was reeling from everything about Jisung and Haeun and Minho helping them. He couldn’t feel his feet anymore and he felt himself falling, down, down, down.

The last thing Chan registered was the voice of Hyunjin calling his name before everything faded away.

Infirmary, Saturday morning, ten hours after the ball ended

It was too bright. Jisung must have opened the curtains all the way, just how Chan hated it. Chan squinted and blinked his eyes open to an unfamiliar place. Dimly, he registered that he wasn’t in his bed with the comfy red blankets and there was Hyunjin and Changbin by his bedside, chatting like close friends? He groaned and tried getting up when Hyunjin noticed him.

“Oh! You’re awake!” Hyunjin rushed over to Chan and Changbin followed, his hands wrapped in bandages. Chan pressed a hand to his head.

“Uhh, my head hurts,” he mumbled. “Where am I? What’s going on?”

Hyunjin looked at him kindly. “You passed out yesterday after the fight. We had to take you to the infirmary.”

Fight? What fight—oh. Oh. Chan sat up, wincing as it made his head hurt even more. “The ball! And the escape! And Jisung and Minho and—”

“Shh,” Changbin murmured. “Everything’s alright. We have a lot to catch you up on. Just wait for Minho.”

Oh, okay. Chan laid back down, confused, but his entire body ached, so he was too tired to argue.

He took the time to look around instead. A few beds away to his right, Seungmin sat up with his arm in a sling, talking to Jeongin, who had a bandage wrapped over his head. To his left, Felix and Jisung had tears running down their faces, but they looked happy to be with each other. They had all changed into more casual clothing and were cleaned up, looking exhausted but relieved.

Hyunjin noticed his staring. “A guard broke Seungmin’s arm during the fight, and that's why Changbin's knuckles are bleeding too. Jisung and Felix are mostly okay, but they have a few cuts. Jeongin was hit in the head, but the healer said he should be alright.”

“He fought really bravely.” Changbin smiled over in his brother’s direction, looking proud. “Jisung told me that he was fighting three guards at once.”

Chan felt relieved. “I’m so happy they’re all okay.”

Hyunjin's eyes scanned over Chan’s body. “You don’t have any major injuries either, but the healer did say that the reason you passed out was due to exhaustion. Jisung told us that you had a lot of shocks over the last couple of days, and I don’t think Minho helped." He looked amused, and had the words I told you so written all over his face.

“So Minho’s good?”

Changbin nodded. “He isn’t that bad. A little snarky, but I don’t know why you said he wasn’t a good person.”

Chan stared back and forth between the two, unable to believe it, but he had seen Minho yesterday. He saw that Minho had helped them and got Kyungmi arrested. A part of Chan couldn’t reconcile that Minho with the one who threatened him two days earlier, though.

The man in question arrived a couple minutes later, arms full of paper and just looking annoyed. However, that expression changed when he glanced into the room, giving the room’s occupants a soft and tired smile. He walked over to Chan and it turned into a smirk, but there was none of the cruelness or arrogance that Chan had thought so characteristic of Minho.

“Morning sleepyhead. Did you enjoy your nap? Some of us couldn’t rest.” Minho shrugged. “Turns out the kingdom can fall into chaos when you arrest the Queen.”

Chan blinked. “She’s really gone?”

Minho softened his gaze. “Yes. She’s gone. And she will never hurt anyone ever again.”

Gardens, Saturday morning, twelve hours after the ball ended

After being released from the infirmary, Chan just couldn’t stay inside. He needed some fresh air and so everyone, wanting to get out of the infirmary too, decided to all have breakfast out in the gardens. Minho kept on holding off any discussion about anything until they were outside, citing that servants are horrible gossips, and private matters should be kept private.

Chan and Minho ended up both volunteering to set up, so everyone else declared that they would go explore the gardens. Now that they were alone, Chan decided to ask Minho the question that had been bubbling up in his mind for the entire time he had been awake.

“Hey Minho?” he asked, watching Minho carefully set up a dark blue cloth on the ground.

“Yes?”

“Why are you being so nice all of a sudden? Not that it’s a bad thing!” he hurriedly clarified, not wanting Minho to get the wrong idea. “But I thought you were on your mother’s side.” He knew Hyunjin and Changbin had confirmed that he didn’t know Minho as well as he had thought, and wanted to know his side of the story.

Minho rolled his eyes. “That’s what I wanted everyone to think. The truth: I was never loyal to her.”

Chan frowned at his words. “You literally threatened me over my disloyalty to Miroh two days ago.”

Minho opened a basket while shaking his head. “Exactly. I’m loyal to Miroh. Not that woman.”

“I don’t get it.”

Minho sighed. “I’ve known for a long time that my mother was a bad queen. But it’s not like I can confront her directly. I carefully cultivated a persona that my mother completely trusted and gained information, not just from her but from practically everyone else as well. I managed to get several servants, guards, and courtiers on my side, though a lot of times I had to use less official methods. Hence, the flirting. Hand me that plate.”

Chan blinked. “What?” He had completely stopped setting up, engrossed in Minho’s story.

Minho made an irritated noise. “The plate. Over there?” He pointed to a plate by Chan’s feet.

Chan blushed in embarrassment and handed it over.

“Thank you. Now, I’ve seen a lot of things when I travel to villages. The water and food there are nearly nonexistent and the villagers are very poor. There are tons of raids from the bordering kingdoms, some of which Hyunjin and I have helped out with. I actually have a list back in my room with everything that’s wrong with this kingdom that I can think of and how it can be fixed.” Even Minho had stopped setting up, instead staring at Chan with sparkling eyes. “I just have to help Miroh. Mother almost sent this kingdom to ruin, and as her eldest son, I have a duty to fix it.”

Chan was in shock. The healer probably would have been mad at him for causing himself more stress, but he didn’t care at the moment. The person he thought was superficial and fake had been doing this much for the kingdom, while all he did as crown prince didn’t even measure up to half of it.

“Hyunjin told me”—He gave a short laugh—“or rather yelled at me, though I kind of deserved it, that you did so much for the kingdom without anyone knowing. I didn’t believe him then.”

Minho gave him a fond smile. “Hyunjin has done a lot as well. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without him. He’s helped me with so much political navigation and getting some of Mother’s ridiculous laws vetoed. Which reminds me.” Minho gave a small glare at Chan. “Why would you even stage an escape the night of the ball? I had a plan. A perfect plan to get my mother arrested. I found out how Haeun really died and I was going to reveal that Mother killed her with poison, with evidence I had procured, and there would have been a clean and easy arrest. Everyone knows that poison is the coward's way of murder and just doing that would have had the people lose faith in her.”

“So that’s why you revealed the truth yesterday. You know, I almost had a panic attack. I thought you were going to say that I lied to her!” Chan grumbled at him.

“I wasn’t going to do that. Sure I threatened you about telling her but I thought that you were disloyal to Miroh and so, ‘two birds in one stone!’ But you had to ruin that perfectly good plan with your failed escape. Who even thought of the tunnels?” Minho threw his hands up in the air.

“Seungmin,” Chan muttered, embarrassed. Minho raised an eyebrow

“Really. You asked Seungmin to make the plan? You literally grew up with him! You should now that Seungmin’s plans always sound good in theory but fall apart almost immediately.”

“Wow thanks, Minho,” Seungmin grumbled, having returned with the others from their tour of the gardens. “Really love your support here.”

Minho shrugged. “Sorry, but it’s true.”

“I’m hungry!!” Jisung’s voice called out. “Is the food ready?”

“Just take it yourself, Ji.” Felix looked amused at Jisung’s actions. And, was that a nickname?

“You two seem close,” Chan commented, helping himself to a muffin.

“We’ve been talking a lot since yesterday night.” Felix smiled at Jisung. “We’re trying to get to know each other, now that we know that we’re twins.”

Chan grinned. “I’m glad.” Chan then smirked mischievously at Jisung, who was munching loud on an apple. “And if you want to know any stories about him…” He trailed off, waiting for Felix to get what he was asking.

Felix laughed. “I’ll be sure to remember that.”

“Hey!” Jisung pointed the apple at the two of them. “No ganging up on me. I’m a prince now. I can command you to spend a day in the stocks.”

“He just wants revenge for when I sent him last month for dumping bath water on my head.” Chan stage-whispered and everyone laughed at that.

Jisung threw the apple core at Chan’s head. “Here’s some practice.” Felix cracked up, leaning on Jeongin for support. Jisung looked pleased for making his twin laugh.

“But you are okay? With being a prince?” Seungmin asked Jisung as he leaned over for some strawberries. Jisung’s smile faded.

“I don’t know. Right now, it’s all just so surreal. So much has changed in a couple of hours and I don’t think I’ve fully accepted what happened yet.”

“Will you be going to Levanter with Felix and the others?” Hyunjin asked, finishing up a scone. Jeongin shared a look with Changbin and Felix.

“About that… We were talking yesterday and decided that we want to stay here. For a little while longer at least.”

Chan was surprised. They suffered so much here and they still want to stay? Everyone else looked similarly shocked.

“Why would you want to stay here?” Seungmin asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Changbin shrugged.

“We’re not personally inclined to return to Levanter immediately. Our father can manage the kingdom. Miroh’s going to go through some very rough times now that Kyungmi is gone, and we want to stay and help. Plus…” He smiled at Felix. “I don’t think we want to separate the twins now that they’re back together again.”

“Famous last words,” Minho muttered under his breath before perking up. “I almost forgot! Chan.” He turned and rummaged through some papers to find a particular one. Chan looked at him inquisitively. “This is for you. I just need you to sign here once you get to your room.”

“What is that?” Jisung got up and tried to read upside down before giving up and tilting his head sideways. Chan glanced at it before his breath hitched.

“It’s.. It’s the proclamation stating that I agree to become High King.” Chan scanned it several times, completely gobsmacked.

“Yes. And if you sign there, it will become official and I can start arrangements for a coronation.” Minho said calmly. He smiled. “I misjudged you, Chan. I thought you were just an arrogant twat, and you still are, but you are so much more than that. I saw how much you cared for everyone as you planned the escape. And you are loyal to Miroh, in your own way. I’m sorry for doubting you. You’re going to be a great king. I have faith in you.”

After the events of two days ago, getting Minho's approval like this was huge. “I…” Chan didn’t know what to say. This was so huge. He would be responsible for the entire kingdom.

He remembered what Daeseong had said. “I have a duty to this kingdom”.

Changbin’s words. “Aren’t you Kyungmi’s right hand man?”

Minho’s words. “You don’t even care about this kingdom.”

“It never needed to be perfect,” Felix had said.

Kyungmi had insisted that the eldest should take the throne, and that’s how her perfect world should be. He remembered everything Minho had said he had done, how much he had judged Minho for years.

Chan knew what he had to do.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept this. I can’t become High King.”

Silence around him. There was a standstill where everyone just stared at Chan for a bit.

Then, everyone spoke at once. There was yelling and exclamations of shock until Jisung yelled, “Quiet! Let Chan have a chance to speak.”

Everyone looked expectantly at Chan, while Minho just looked flabbergasted, the only one who hadn’t said a word after Chan’s declaration.

“Minho was right,” Chan said. “I haven’t been a very good prince to my people. I believed and followed Kyungmi more than anyone else here. I knew it was wrong, but I still did. I think that the people deserve someone who showed that he cared for them, even during Kyungmi’s reign.” Chan handed over the paper to a wide eyed Minho and smiled. “You told me how much you’ve done, with Hyunjin defending you against me every single time I belittled you. You said that you misjudged me? Well, even more than that, I misjudged you. I want us to have a fresh start, and I think that there’s no one more deserving to be High King than you.”

For once, Minho had completely lost his mask, tears falling from his eyes. “I—okay.” Minho’s face shifted to one of fierce determination. “Okay, then. I’ll be High King.”

Felix was the first to bow, kneeling down even though they were all sitting. Chan could see that it wasn’t mocking at all—it was completely sincere, including Felix’s murmur of “Long live King Minho.” Hyunjin was the next to bow, doing so with an incredibly proud smile. Then came Seungmin, then Jisung, then Jeongin and Changbin, and finally, Chan gave a warm smile to Minho before bowing down, shouting “Long live the king!”

Minho looked absolutely overwhelmed by all the support, tears streaming down as he laughed. Chan then got up and hugged Minho, crying himself, and the others joined in in the group hug.

They stayed like that for a long time until Chan heard Minho whisper, “We’re going to be okay, right?”

Chan thought about how much there was to be done to fix Miroh. Kyungmi had done so much damage, so much that even with a large family, Chan grew up mostly alone, and he knew the others did too. But, surrounded by all these people, his cousins, Chan felt hope growing in his chest.

Our family is broken right now. I have every faith that it will be fixed soon thanks to you.

“Yeah,” Chan whispered. “I think we will be.”