King Sunggyu paced his study nervously. It had been five months since he had received the truce agreement from the barbarians. They were nearing the end of the grace period and the Queen's due date was looming closer.

King Sunggyu had spent the past five months in a state of high anxiety. Between preparing the military for the war and training Prince Myungsoo to take over the throne, he had not had time for himself.

Or his Queen.

There were days that King Sunggyu was too tired to even go back to his own residence much less to visit Queen Woohyun. He couldn't face Queen Woohyun and pasted a fake smile on his face. His Queen was his best friends and King Sunggyu knew that the younger could see right through him.

Hence, he had been avoiding the Queen for the past five months.

A knock sounded on the door and King Sunggyu barked a harsh "Enter!"

His new bodyguard, Guard Choi opened the door and bowed low.

"Your Majesty, Prince Myungsoo is requesting an audience with Your Majesty."

"Let him in." King Sunggyu watched as the guard bowed before moving to sit behind his desk, rubbing his temples in agitation.

"Your Majesty," Prince Myungsoo greeted his brother as he bowed, the guard closing the door behind him.

"Prince Myungsoo."

"How are you?" 

King Sunggyu looked up at his brother and mentally checked his condition. They hadn't seen each other for a month as King Sunggyu had sent the prince to train at one of the military bases. Other than the slight tan, his brother looked well.

"Trapped. They sent another missive to remind me of the truce agreement." King Sunggyu threw the note on the desk and watched as his brother picked it up to read.

"Everything would be fine, hyung. The army is ready," Prince Myungsoo said as he sat on the chair and poured a cup of tea.

"I just hope it wouldn't come to a war, Myungsoo. This is selfish of me to lead my country into a war simply for personal reason."

Prince Myungsoo narrowed his eyes and looked at the King from behind his teacup.

"You are not thinking of agreeing to their demands, aren't you?"

"Of course not," King Sunggyu scoffed.

"Good," Prince Myungsoo said as he leaned back in the chair and watched his brother. King Sunggyu knew his brother good enough to know that he was debating with himself over something.

"Spit it out, Myungsoo. I still have a lot of works to do and your staring is not helping me to concentrate," King Sunggyu spat out as his eyes ran across the words on the document in front of him.

"I heard from the palace attendance that you hadn't visited the Queen at all for the past five months." Prince Myungsoo had said that diplomatically but King Sunggyu couldn't help the scowl forming on his face.

"I was busy. You of all people should understand that, Prince Myungsoo."

"That's not what I heard. The palace is buzzing with the rumours that you had gotten bored with the Queen and had moved on to a greener pasture," Prince Myungsoo said with a smirk, pouring a cup of tea for the King.

"I never and would never touch anyone other than Hyun," King Sunggyu scoffed as he stood up and took the tea from his brother.

"I am not the one whom you need to convince of that." 

"Hyun knows me," King Sunggyu retorted but he couldn't help the sliver of dread curling in his stomach.

"Oh, I don't know about that, hyung. After all, he hadn't seen you for five months. Do you even know how he is feeling right now?"

"Healer Jang has kept me appraised of Hyun's conditions. He and the baby are well." King Sunggyu placed his teacup on the desk with a sigh. The tea had tasted bitter lately, especially without his queen by his side.

"So you know that my brother-in-law has been depressed lately?"

King Sunggyu only nodded and slumped in his throne chair.

"Why did you let the rumours continue, hyung? You know the Queen would hear about it," Prince Myungsoo said in an even tone, worried about how tired his brother was looking.

"It was easier. I don't have to explain the threat on Hyun's life or my absence." It sounded so logical to him back then but now it sounded just like an excuse.

"So you let the Queen thinks you had abandoned him."

"I didn't abandon Hyun!" King Sunggyu stood up in anger.

"What did you think he would think when another concubine is pregnant?" Prince Myungsoo challenged.

"I had never touched any of the concubines... It's just a rumour." King Sunggyu said with a frown.

"I can assure you it's more than a rumour. The healer himself confirmed the pregnancy and had sent the report to me, requesting for the public announcement to be made. I decided to check with you before doing anything."

"How come I wasn't informed of this?" King Sunggyu ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly.

"You were the one who refused to listen to anything not pertaining to the war effort."

"Do you think Hyun is okay?" King Sunggyu asked timidly and Prince Myungsoo felt bad for him.

"You should explain everything to him, hyung," Prince Myungsoo advised sincerely.

"But..."

"I know you are trying to protect him. But this is just making things worse than it actually is. You're going to lose him if you keep this up, hyung."

"You're right. I'll talk to him, tomorrow," King Sunggyu lifted his cup up to take a sip but his brother took it away.

"Today. You had let this goes on for five months. I'm not letting you continue to hurt my brother-in-law anymore."

"Yes, yes." King Sunggyu relented as Prince Myungsoo pushed him to the door. 

As soon as the door was opened, they both heard the commotion outside. Exchanging a look, they rushed to the outer door and saw Guard Choi trying to help Hoya stand. Prince Myungsoo moved and grabbed Hoya's other arm and together they took him into the King's study.

"Guard Choi, go get Healer Jang and sent people to check on the Queen's residence," King Sunggyu snapped out his order.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The guard bowed and left the three of them together. King Sunggyu looked at the guard as Prince Myungsoo tried to clean up the blood on Hoya's face. He could see the cuts on the guard's body and the bruises already forming.

He didn't need to guess what had happened.

Healer Jang rushed inside without knocking, almost pushing King Sunggyu onto the floor as he hastily moved towards Hoya. Hoya came back to consciousness as Healer Jang was cleaning up his wound and looked straight at the King.

"Your Majesty! The Queen! The Queen was taken!"

King Sunggyu felt like he couldn't breathe when the words left Hoya's mouth. He had guessed it but hearing it confirmed was another matter entirely. Prince Myungsoo helped King Sunggyu to sit when he realised that his brother was looking pale.

"What- what happened? I ordered you to guard him!"

"Concubine Jung was visiting the Queen today and the guards were asked to leave them. I refused but Concubine Jung said that they were going to talk about their pregnancies and guards shouldn't be listening to such matter," Hoya bowed as he relented the story to the King.

"Concubine Jung?! Where is she?!" 

Prince Myungsoo quickly went outside to convey the King's order and came back with Guard Choi.

"Your Majesty, there is no one at the Queen's residence but there are signs of struggles."

"What about Concubine Jung?!" King Sunggyu growled, shocking everyone in the room.

"There is also no one at Concubine Jung's residence and the guards said they had not seen her since she entered the Queen's residence."

"Bastard!" King Sunggyu swiped everything off his desk and leaned both hands on it, breathing heavily. He was trying so hard to protect Queen Woohyun from outside's threat that he didn't see the threat inside his own palace. 

King Sunggyu felt someone came next to him and placed his hand on the King's shoulder.

"Arrange the guards to comb the entire palace and send words to the officers to start the search in their area. Put out a reward for information on the Queen and Concubine Jung," Prince Myungsoo ordered next to him.

"Yes, Your Hi