War.

That was all that was swirling around in Sehun’s head. Would his parents really wage war on the royals because of what they tried to do? He tries to put himself into his parents shoes. He figures he might have if that was his own child, but the fact that they were willing to declare war over it? That didn’t seem too plausible. At least to him.

There was also the village to think about. Even though Sehun says that they weren’t his family, he does deeply care for them. Would they be spared? A little place in Sehun’s heart says they would be, but a bigger place in his heart says they wouldn’t. His ‘family’ did care for him, but did little in retaliation for what the village people did to him. It wasn’t like they could in the first place with Junmyeon gone.

Junmyeon.

Everything seemed to have started with him. “Your brother, dad, whatever the hell Junmyeon was to you-”

Who was Junmyeon? Sehun thought about this. From what Jongdae said, he made the guess that he was the first son of Minseok and Luhan. But if that was the case, then the person he called his father would be his brother? In Sehun’s mind, that’s just a bit strange. Why hadn’t Junmyeon said anything about their relationship? Did he even know about it?

Sehun would ask Jongdae, but the man seemed to be quite stressed out the past few days. Rendering Sehun speechless every time he would try to ask him. He assumed the stress was stemming from the upcoming wedding of the first son, Chanyeol. But Baekhyun had told him the wedding wasn’t for another seven months. Which led to Sehun assuming that the stress came from him, thus making Sehun extremely reluctant to even stand next to him.

He could ask Yixing, but for some reason Yixing was never around any more. Call Sehun naive, but he thought they put the blood incident behind them a long time ago. Without Yixing, the small cottage seemed too big for just himself. Luckily, Baekhyun often found himself in the cottage with him. But that doesn’t help Sehun’s thought process at all.

If his parents wanted to get back at the royals, that would include Baekhyun. Would it not? He is the second son of the king and queen. It’s not like Sehun would have the power to stop his parents from not doing anything to him. He may be the son of Minseok and Luhan, but his quiet demeanor would do nothing to stop his supposedly rage seething parents. Unless the charm of their only child could do the trick.

Sehun quickly shoves that thought away.

“You’re thinking too hard again,” Baekhyun sings as he slings another knife toward the red circle painted on the trunk of the tree. “Stop thaaaat.”

Sehun shakes his head as he hands another knife to Baekhyun. “I am not.”

Baekhyun sticks his tongue at him. “Are too.” He turns away to squint down his target and lifts his arm up in preparation to throw.

“You’re holding it wrong again,” Sehun notes and Baekhyun quickly turns a deep red as he fumbles around to fix his grip. He holds his hand out with his chest puffed out in confidence. Sehun tilts his head back and forth to take a look at his hand grip. He nods, content with the results, and Baekhyun gives him a thumbs up with his unoccupied hand.

The little quirks that Sehun has picked up over the past few weeks of spending time with Baekhyun doesn’t make anything easy. The way his tongue peeks out from between his rosy colored lips when he’s in deep concentration just like how he is nowandohmygodSehunstopstaringathislips-

“I did it!” Baekhyun jumps around and shakes Sehun’s shoulder as he frantically points at the knife deep in the tree in the center of the circle. “Oh my goodness I can finally beat Chanyeol!” He runs off towards the main complex of the castle, leaving Sehun to pick up after their afternoon session.

He kneels down to put away the unused knives in the wooden box at his feet. Just as he finishes, an unknown pair of feet come into his vision. He slowly looks up and is met with a cat like smile from someone he’s only met two other times.

“Good afternoon dear Sehun,” he drawls out.

Sehun bows his head in acknowledgement and stands with the box in his hands. “Good afternoon to you as well, Lord Zitao.” He keeps his head bowed as Zitao circles around him, eyes roaming up and down his body. His grip on the box tightens ever so slightly when he comes a bit closer to inspect his face.

A low hum comes from Zitao as he backs away out of Sehun’s personal bubble. “Mana count is still high. How are you managing the stupid little faeries and trolls?”

“They do not come by,” Sehun tells him. His face scrunches up in distaste when he sees Zitao flick away a piece of ear wax from his finger. “Also, they are not stupid. They are quite intelligent and clever. Not to mention knowledgeable. Don’t go putting them down like that.”

Zitao lazily shrugs as he links his hands together behind his back. “They are quite irritating, don’t you think? Kind of like Baekhyun, always running to the one person with high mana counts because he doesn’t have anything of the sort in his own body.” Zitao lets out a dry chuckle at Sehun’s darkening expression. “Well, at least the faeries have high mana counts. There’s something you can relate to. So you can think of Baekhyun like a troll. Manaless and annoying little creatures don’t you think?”

“Sehun!” Baekhyun’s voice rings out in the open field, turning the attention of both of the men in that direction.

“Well, if it isn’t my time to leave. Have a wonderful day Sehunnie,” Zitao chuckles as he wiggles his fingers at him and walks towards the housing complex. Sehun’s eyes narrow as Zitao’s figure becomes smaller and smaller.

“What are you looking at?” Baekhyun asks, out of breath. He peeks around Sehun to get a glimpse, but is quickly turned in the other direction by Sehun.

“Nothing. It is time for us to head to library for your history lessons,” Sehun rushes out as he pushes Baekhyun along.

Lord Zitao.

Jongdae had told Sehun the first time he had met him that he was only bitter over the fact that Baekhyun had rejected his courtship.

When they were twelve.

However, the second time he had met ZItao, only then did he see how the rejection really did plant the seeds of bitterness within him. Because the second meeting had involved Zitao seeing Baekhyun intertwine their fingers.

Sehun can still feel the punch to the stomach if he thought really hard about it.

Despite the reasons for Zitao’s unruly behavior towards him, there was something about him that rubbed Sehun in the wrong way. Call him judgemental, but the way Zitao looked really put off Sehun. Sehun just chalked it up to the dark circles under his eyes, but even that reason didn’t satisfy him. It doesn’t help that Zitao acts all suspicious towards him for whatever bitter reason he has.

If Baekhyun took up his courtship now, maybe that could satiate Zitao. Although that thought puts a bad taste in his mouth. He's not very sure as to why.

Hopefully he’ll find out why soon.

For now, he's content watching Baekhyun struggle with foreign politics.

“I know that you know this my prince,” his tutor, Jinki, assures. “We had gone over this just yesterday. Now tell me what is the immigration policy of our land.” He frantically nods his head as Baekhyun peers down at the paper in his hands.

Sehun doesn't know who to pity when Baekhyun lets out a nervous chuckle. Jinki for having a student like Baekhyun or Baekhyun for not studying.

Jinki slowly eases himself into his chair at his desk. He waves Baekhyun away and Baekhyun is quick to grab Sehun’s arm to get them out of the classroom.

“You should study more,” Sehun says when they are a good distance away from the classroom. “It would save you and Jinki a lot of trouble.” Especially Jinki’s sanity.

Baekhyun makes a discontented noise as he grumbles about the hassle of studying all the time. “That has been my entire life. Just studying. Just kill me for wanting to relax every once in awhile.” He crosses his arms as the two continue walking. “A little fun never hurt anyone.”

It seems to be hurting Jinki, Sehun thinks as he listens to echoing of their footsteps in the hall. He looks up to find Baekhyun disappearing behind library doors. A silent sigh leaves his lips as he diligently follows after Baekhyun. The door shuts with a creak behind him.

When he turns to find Baekhyun he finds him talking to Jongdae who nods at everything the smaller is saying as he gesticulates all over the place. Sehun tiptoes his way over to the pair. Jongdae gives his a quick glance that makes Sehun wonder if he even saw it.

“How are your lessons going?” Jongdae asks and gets a weird garble is noises from the person in question. He gives him a withering look as he drops a book onto the table. “I thought we've discussed this a long time ago. You promised to keep your studies up and I'll do what you wish for. Did we not go on a seven month trip not too long ago for no reason?”

Baekhyun nervously chuckles and pats Jongdae on the shoulder. “Aw come on. Be a little lenient on me. You know I try my hardest.”

Jongdae looks at the hand on his shoulder and Baekhyun immediately drops it to his side. Jongdae leans against the table with a sigh and a cross of his arms. “Just work a little harder. Your mother is beginning to complain. I even heard you'll be betrothed if you don't get any good reports from Jinki.”

A dramatic gasp leaves Baekhyun as he backs into Sehun. He quickly turns around and grabs Sehun’s arms. “You must help me!”

Before Sehun could get a word out, a hand lands on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Jongdae’s menacing face appears from behind him. “You can go study on your own. I need to have a word with Sehun.”

Baekhyun grinds his jaw and glares down at Jongdae. Jongdae doesn't back down and points to the doors. Baekhyun sighs as he dejectedly walks to the doors and out.

The library is filled with a silence that is broken by the deafening slam of the door. “Yixing said someone broke the barrier,” Jongdae says after he looked around in suspicion. “We are not accusing you of anything, merely want to know out you've felt a change in presence around castle grounds.”

Sehun blinks dumbly for a few seconds. “I-I haven't actually.”

Jongdae in a breath and crosses his arms. His forehead is wrinkled in worry as he begins to pace. “That's not good. Not good at all.” Jongdae freezes in front of the window, thumb stuck between his lips as he chews on his nail. He steps and turns to look at an apprehensive Sehun. “Are you absolutely positive?” A nod of the head. “You're not ing with me?” A shake of the head.

Sehun winces at the loud bang when Jongdae’s head collided with the window. The elder continues to stand there with his head against the window while Sehun awkwardly shuffles his feet.

“I...I want you to keep a look out. Just in case,” Jongdae murmurs with his head still against the window. Sehun takes a hesitant step towards Jongdae. He sees this and wets his lips in nervousness. “We're not too sure..l That's why I asked you.”

Sehun takes his step back and stares down at the ground. His lips stretch out into a thin line as thoughts run around in his head. He brings his head up to find that Jongdae hadn't moved from the window. “I'll keep a close eye out. But. Um…” At Sehun’s hesitation, Jongdae unstuck his forehead from the window to gaze directly at him. “What would happen to Baekhyun?”

Jongdae takes a deep breath. “You just better hope it's not who we think it is then.”

A/N: An update! Wow. I finished writing this a while back actually. I wanted to write a few more chapters ahead of time so I could relax about an update schedule, but then mother nature decided ‘Nah you.’ And I currently have something called Hands-Foot-Mouth Disease. It’s not an actual disease, but a virus that makes my hands blister and hurt. More info if you want here: (x) So I haven’t been able to write as much as I wanted to. I’m updating cause I decided, it. Plus AP Exam week is this week! Wooo….So I’m updating to get some weight off of my shoulders. But summer vacation is coming up! I want to finish the story before that happens, hopefully life doesn’t throw any more curveballs and all will go according to plan. Thanks for reading!