^{I wish I could give y'all a good reason as to why it took me so long to update this chap :')}

^{enjoy! >.<}

Yoongi grabbed Taehyung’s wrist and the brunette wrenched it from his grip, chest heaving with the intensity of his anger.

"Your highness--"

"Leave us," Yoongi ordered, cutting Jungkook off, and the young knight his heels. Seokjin told everyone to wait in the forest by the entrance of the village, and he quickly followed after them on his own horse.

Taehyung and Yoongi stared each other down. Lightning briefly flashed across the sky, followed by a crack of thunder.

The rain was going to start up again.

“I'm not going anywhere with you,” Taehyung ground out. He tried to catch his breath, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins wouldn’t allow it.

“I am your prince,” Yoongi declared. “And your prince is telling you to come back with him. You can not--”

“I can,” Taehyung argued, and the storm in the sky shook the very ground they stood on with its thundering. “You told me so many pretty things. You made me trust you and… and love you. And then you took that all away like I meant nothing.”

Yoongi took a step forward and Taehyung took a determined step back. If Yoongi tried to hold him, Taehyung knew his heart would crumble. He would give in and then nothing would change. They would go back to the castle and do the same sorrowful dance.

“You really think I took that all away?” Yoongi sadly chuckled, and Taehyung watched as a single raindrop plopped on to his cheek and rolled down his face. “If only it were that easy. When I wake up, instead of thinking about the kingdom I am responsible for, I think of you, Little Flower.”

“Stop calling me that,” Taehyung whispered hoarsely, unable to look at the prince any longer. The rain was now working its way up to a torrential downpour, completely drenching the both of them.

Taehyung was glad. That meant Yoongi couldn’t see his tears.

“But you are my little flower,” Yoongi sighed, and when he inched forward again, Taehyung didn’t move. “When everything else is desolate, you’re there… growing beautiful and strong.”

“Stop lying.”

“I have never lied to you.”

Taehyung weakly laughed at that. “Every kiss you gave me was a lie.”

“Taehyung--”

“I said i'm not going!” Taehyung snapped, his blood pumping loudly in his own ears. “Prince or not, you can not make me!”

Yoongi’s expression grew pained, and for a second Taehyung was happy. He wanted the prince to feel what he was feeling. He wanted him to experience the same level of hurt or maybe even more.

The tattoos all over Yoongi’s body started to glow again, and Taehyung reached within himself for some of his own magic.

“You are really going to fight me over this?” he asked in disbelief. “Your magic is but a small portion of mine, Taehyung. You couldn’t possibly win.”

“It does not matter,” Taehyung said with a shake of his head. “Doing nothing means giving up.”

“You really wish to be free of me that badly?”

Taehyung stared past the fringe of Yoongi’s soaking wet hair and into the deep pools of his eyes. Why did he have to fall for a prince? Did the universe get some sort of sick satisfaction out of seeing him suffer in life? First his parents, and then the one person he was willing to give his all to.

“What I really wish for, I can not have, so this is all I can do,” he said.

Yoongi’s tattoos stopped glowing and Taehyung’s eyes flickered all over his face in confusion.

“What are you doing?”

“I won't fight you, Little Flower,” the prince sighed. “I can't.”

Taehyung felt himself grow even more angry. “And if I attack first?”

“Then so be it.”

“No, no that isn’t fair,” Taehyung protested. “You can't just… just…”

Yoongi dropped down on one knee and Taehyung’s breath stilled. The Prince of Daegu was bowing before him in the pouring rain. Royalty was kneeling in the mud in front of him and he didn’t know what to say or do.

Then Yoongi raised his head, just enough to look up into his face and say, “I’m sorry.”

The rain finally settled into a light drizzle and Taehyung was suddenly very aware of how wet and heavy the cloak on his back felt.

“I know I do not deserve your forgiveness, but… I’m sorry,” Yoongi continued, and Taehyung couldn’t believe the other was still kneeling in front of him. “I am sorry about Prince Jimin. I am sorry I got too close to you. I am sorry about every single kiss. I am sorry we did not meet under different circumstances. And…”

Taehyung looked to the edge of the forest, where he could see the bud of a daisy pushing up from the wet soil.

“And I am so sorry I fell in with love you.”

Taehyung’s gaze snapped back to Yoongi’s face. They were the words he so desperately wanted to hear a few days ago, but instead of filling him with a sense of joy, it only made him sad. He didn't like how Yoongi said them. He didn’t like how they felt like an end to something that barely had the chance to grow.

“I wish I could hate you,” Taehyung whispered.

Yoongi nodded, and Taehyung could see his pain in the way his fists clenched.

“I wish I never met you,” the brunette went on, and it was like a weight he didn’t even know he had been carrying was being lifted from his shoulders. “I wish I did not feel so happy with you. I wish seeing you did not fill me with so much relief. I wish I really could run away from you but…”

Taehyung took in a shaky breath.

“But I can’t.”

Then, he brushed past the prince who was still kneeling, and made his way over to Seokjin and the knights.

He would go back to the castle. He would continue his studies with Junmyeon and Namjoon. He would continue to be an informant for the royal family. He would see this thing through to the bitter end and he would do it all without a single kiss…

A single touch…

A single flower behind the ear.

If Yoongi wanted to chose his kingdom over him then fine.

Taehyung was going to prove to the prince that he didn’t need him either.
 

~+~

The ride back to the castle was as quiet as the dead.

Taehyung decided to ride with Jungkook, and completely ignored Yoongi’s outstretched hand when the prince tried to get the brunette to ride with him. Jungkook looked scared to even have Taehyung touching him, after seeing the rejected look on his prince’s face, but Taehyung tightly wrapped his arms around the knight’s torso and didn’t even spare Yoongi a backwards glance.

“Well the next few weeks should be delightful,” Seokjin had sarcastically mumbled under his breath.

When they finally reached the large stone walls, none other than Prince Jimin came running out to greet them at the gate.

He had his crown sitting atop his head, as it usually did, and a large fur coat that made Taehyung frown. The former thief wondered how many forest animals had to die to make the hideous thing.

“Prince Yoongi! You are alright!” the dramatic man cried as he approached Yoongi, who was currently dismounting Tip. Taehyung wondered why he was making it seem like Yoongi had ventured off to war. “You missed your fitting today, but that can be rearranged. Everyone is just glad you are well and I--”

“I really don’t have the time to chat right now, Prince Jimin,” Yoongi coldly cut him off, and everyone in the vicinity could feel the absolute chill of his magical aura. “I have more important matters to attend to.”

Jimin scoffed at him, looking appalled at being talked to like that, but Yoongi brushed past him and started walking into the castle with a few of his knights flanking him at each side.

Prince Jimin shot Taehyung a disgusted glare out of the corner of his eyes, before hurrying after Yoongi and entering the castle as well.

“What will you do now?”

Taehyung startled a little, almost forgetting that the solid armor he had been clutching onto was Jungkook’s. They had yet to dismount his horse and quite frankly, Taehyung didn’t know if he was ready to. Getting down meant facing reality. It meant accepting the fact that he and Yoongi were forever fated to have a tragic sort of love.

The kind of love that left you feeling hollow.

“I will go in and I will keep learning,” Taehyung finally answered, and he hoped his voice sounded convincing enough.

“And not run away again?”

Taehyung lifted his head from Jungkook’s back, and was amused to see that the knight was practically pouting.

“I got you in a lot of trouble?”

“His highness nearly burned me alive with one of his fireballs.”

Taehyung cringed and patted Jungkook on the back. “I really am sorry. For…. well, for everything.”

Jungkook dismounted and reached a hand up to help Taehyung down.

“It’s alright. I have already accepted that trouble is not too far behind when it comes to you.”

~+~

Taehyung did get back to his studies. Both Namjoon and Junmyeon were glad to see that he was alive and well. Despite being bed ridden with sadness for a week, and venturing outside the castle for a couple of days, Taehyung was able to keep up with all of the new vocabulary and spells.

On his way down the long corridor leading away from his session with Namjoon, he considered visiting the gardens. It had been a while since he walked among the flowers and tiny butterflies, but something kept him walking straight towards his room. Being in the gardens would only remind him of Yoongi.

“Lost, Little thief?”

Taehyung stopped in his tracks at the sight of Hoseok, the court jester, sitting in one of the many window sills that lined the hallway. His colorful hat, with all of its bells and jingles, wasn’t sitting atop his head this time. He twirled it around one finger and smiled impishly in Taehyung’s direction.

“I’m not a thief anymore,” Taehyung answered, and he realized in that moment that it was his first time saying such a thing out loud.

Hoseok’s grin widened. “Could have fooled me.”

Taehyung’s brows furrowed at that, but he didn’t argue back. Talking with Hoseok sometimes made him feel like they were just going in circles.

“You know, I do not believe in coincidences,” Hoseok continued. His smile was beginning to slip, and it was an expression Taehyung wasn’t used to seeing on his face. “A spoiled prince continues to reside among us, and our king coughs up thick blood.”

Junmyeon had started to teach Taehyung about riddles recently. The brunette felt like he was listening to one of those as he took in the words Hoseok was telling him.

“What are you trying to say, Hobi?”

The court jester’s smile returned. He slapped his hat back on to his head and hopped off the window sill to land soundly on his feet. “You are Prince Yoongi’s informant, are you not? Do your job.”

Hoseok left, and Taehyung stood in the hallway for a good minute. He was dumbfounded, to say the least, and as confusing as Hoseok’s words were, they still stuck to his brain like a leech.

He felt as if he had just been delivered a warning.

~+~

As night descended on the kingdom, Taehyung prepared for his dinner to be brought to his room. He was thoroughly surprised when the maid who usually brought him his food, Mina, showed up empty handed.

“H-His highness requests for you to join him at the dinner table,” she stuttered, already aware of the current rift between the prince and his informant.

“I'm not going,” Taehyung said with a firm shake of his head. “I wish to eat dinner in my room.”  

Mina looked flabbergasted. “B-But his highness—”

“His highness does not scare me anymore. Tell him I said no.”

The frazzled maid was shocked, but Taehyung didn’t change his answer. He kindly asked her to bring him his dinner, and closed the door after she stiffly bowed in understanding.

Taehyung didn’t want Yoongi to think he could command things into going back to how they used to be. The former thief knew he was treading dangerous waters now, but if Yoongi had been telling the truth and he really did love him, then he shouldn’t have to worry about the prince beheading him... at least.

While he waited for his food, Taehyung busied himself with practicing his conjuring. It was still a rusty skill for him, and gave him the most trouble out of all of his magic lessons. He wanted to be able to someday bring forth even something bigger than just a simple white dove.

Thirty minutes into the repetitive cantations, another knock sounded at his door. Taehyung was sure it would be Mina, and quickly got up to let her in. What he didn’t expect, was to see Advisor Seokjin standing on the other side.

“May I come in?” he asked, but his tone gave little room for rejection.

“Uh… Of course.” Taehyung bowed in greeting and moved to the side for Seokjin to enter. There was only one reason why the bespeckled man would be visiting Taehyung at this hour, and the younger felt like he knew exactly what that reason was. There was grease on the corner of Jin’s lips; almost as if he had been sent out to meet with Taehyung while he was in the middle of eating. “What brings you to this side of the castle, Advisor?”

Seokjin cleared his throat and folded his arms. It reminded Taehyung of the stance his mother took before scolding him.

Thinking about her made him frown.

“To be frank, I think his highness should have come to talk to you himself. Since I am here instead I am to inform you that Prince Yoongi demands for a proper reason as to why you can’t join him for dinner,” Seokjin recited with a bored expression.

“Well, if he really must know, I do not wish to be in his presence at all right now.”

Seokjin looked a little surprised at the answer, but he pursed his lips and stood up a little straighter. It seemed like he was challenging himself to get Taehyung to attend dinner.

“Do you not remember the contract you signed? You can not simply refuse to see Prince Yoongi? An act like that is worthy of punishment,” Jin explained, eyes narrowing.

Taehyung didn’t back down. “Then tell Prince Yoongi this: punish me.”

The advisor’s eyes widened, and Taehyung quietly directed the stunned man back out the room, until he was standing in front of his door again. “Goodnight, Advisor Seokjin.”

“Goodnight... Taehyung,” Jin answered slowly, still seeming thrown off gaurd.

Taehyung gently closed the door and returned to his cot, his magic scrolls sitting fanned out across his bed.

He really hoped Mina would return with his food soon.

~+~

Taehyung spent the next several days dodging Yoongi at every turn. Most of the time it was servants who were sent out to give him messages from the prince. Messages like “meet me at the window”, “attend breakfast” and “I’ll be waiting for you in the garden”. Sometimes Yoongi tried to approach Taehyung personally, but the brunette would scurry off as soon as he saw the Prince making a beeline towards him. He could tell he was frustrating not only Yoongi, but also Jungkook, who struggled to keep up with him. Even still, Taehyung was not sorry. He refused to be hurt again.

It was as he was running away from Yoongi for the millionth time, that he accidently came across Jimin’s chambers. Two Busan knights were stationed outside of his door, but before Taehyung could stroll pass, he heard the large doors being pushed open.

Something told him to hide, and it was probably because of how uncomfortable Jimin made him these days. The prince used to go out of his way to be extra nice; constantly calling Taehyung his friend even though they weren’t that well acquainted. Now, the spoiled prince did little to hide his irritation. Whenever he passed Taehyung in the hallways, he always stuck his nose higher in the air and puffed out his chest a little more.

Taehyung backtracked and hid around the corner he just came from. His head peeked out a tiny bit to see Jimin emerging from his room with his small entourage from Busan. His advisor was trailing alongside him as well. Taehyung thought this advisor looked really old in comparison to Seokjin’s youthful glow. A white beard trailed down his chest, and his forehead was lined with wrinkles.

“I’m working as fast as I can,” Jimin was whispering, sounding highly annoyed with the graying man that walked next to him. “Tell father to stop being so impatient. This kingdom will be ours soon enough. A red king is a dead king.”

Taehyung held his breath and watched Jimin and his people disappear in the opposite direction. His heart was beating fast, even though he could barely understand why. Jimin’s words felt like a bad omen. It made him think back to what Hoseok told him all those days ago.

“Our king coughs up thick blood.”

Taehyung’s knees buckled as he stood up straight.

“You are Prince Yoongi’s informant, are you not? Do your job.”

Gritting his teeth, Taehyung began walking quickly and quietly towards Yoongi’s chambers. As much as he’d been working towards avoiding the prince at all costs, he had a duty to fulfill.

“A red king is a dead king.”

Jimin wasn’t just sent for a simple arranged marriage between two kingdoms.

He was here to assassinate King Yejun.

^{BOY OH BOY}

^{Ok so we got a little more Hoseok, which I was honestly so happy to squeeze in. There really hasn't been enough of him in this fic :)} 

^{Also, our dear Yoongi doesn't know a single thing about tact and is desperately chasing Taehyung after screwing up... big time. Ah, young love T__T}

^{These next few chaps are going to be... interesting, to say the least. Thank you so much for sticking with this story despite how TERRIBLE I am at updating!!! Love you guys ;3} 

^{Leave a comment and tell me what you think!!!}