“Breakfast for one is ready for you, my dearest Crown Prince. Now, stop dazing off and start eating. The heat will subside from your body soon, I guess. That’s what my mother said anyway.” Taehyung informed as soon as he stepped into his friend’s room to place a tray of food and drink. The mentioned male turned his gaze from the window after a second before moving his current sitting position so he could be nearer to his nightstand. “Are you feeling any better? You haven’t been down at the training ground these past few days. The other Princes were genuinely worried.” He continued on with the conversation as he plotted himself a seat of the Prince’s other side.

Jimin had been getting strange body condition lately, surprisingly enough. One day he would be fine, off sparring and playing with fire. The other day however he would be stuck in his room not being able to move, not even a step off the comfort of his fluffy bed. As for the particular day, seven days already passed since the day of the Haesang’s Princess’ birthday and the result of confining in his room was another normal body temperature.

“Feeling pretty good is an understatement. I don’t want to say anything further since I might get it back tomorrow or the day after. I felt like dying.” Jimin jokingly stated the last bit of sentence after taking a couple slurps of Taehyung’s mother’s ginseng soup. The latter did not say much after hearing the response since he knew the outcome. He had been in charge of bringing him the food whenever his friend was down in the room. Healers would come and go as well as a certain green haired fellow. But none knew the answer to his mysterious condition.

“Say, I haven’t seen you reading the book you’ve been reading. Have you finished it already?” Purposely taking another junction in their conversation, Taehyung decided to bring up the Prince’s favourite, new-found hobby as a new topic. His eyes found its way on the seating area by the window where the book would occasionally be but truth to be told, he had not find the book ever since the day they gone to Haesang and he indeed already knew why.

“Oh, I finished it. And…I might or might not have given the book away to a certain someone.” Jimin spoke softly in the middle of savouring his breakfast, hoping that Taehyung would use his brain properly and conjured up the answer on his own. “My guess that ‘Out and About: Mount Navillera’ was such an interesting reading material that you just had to give it away to someone you just met on her birthday.”

“I heard she likes reading alright. That was the only thing I could think of giving. So a book is an accurate gift if I say so myself.” The friend replied hastily before pushing of the tray and plotting his body deeper on the bed. Letting out a long sigh, he turned his attention on the fellow’s current side profile. His silvery purple hair never cease to amaze him every time he saw it and made him thought of his rather unnatural colour.

Thankful was the exact word that came into his mind when no one seemed to question why he came by the Haesang’s palace on a horse last week. Maybe it was the fact that his parents also went to the place in the similar fashion. All this strange occurrences that had been happening the past few days was all he had in his mind though. Not to mention the dream he gotten during his younger days came in as if it was a set. He could feel the sensation of flying yet again after so long although it was just through a pigment of dream.

“Hey Tae, is it possible that all this fever I’ve been getting is just a trigger for me to finally get my ability to shape-shift? Because I felt like this is some sort of message and we just can’t seem to understand it just yet.” Jimin said as his eyes stared on the blank white ceiling as if plaster wall was the most interesting thing to see at the moment.

There was a gap of silence in their conversation as per usual as Taehyung put on his thinking expression, trying to see if Jimin’s statement held the truth in it. When he did not seem to have anything to say, Jimin added on with another question but it was actually what had been running in Taehyung’s mind as well.

“Do you remember that sparkly path of leaves we saw in the Navillera’s forest?” It was a simple question actually. Nevertheless, his servant friend seemed to have a hard time figuring out whether the thing they saw was even real in the first place. “I remember that. Why are you bringing this up all of the sudden?”

“Let’s go there.” He stated shortly but shocking enough for the latter to look at him with wide eyes. Taehyung merely chuckled seconds after however upon registering the Prince’s intention. “Since when you’re in charge of the being rebellious one? Bring me back my Park Jimin!” Taehyung yelled playfully as he shook Jimin, who apparently changed his position so he had been lying on his abdomen, causing him to laugh at the randomness.

“But I was being serious though. We should head there, today. I don’t have anything better to do anyway.” The Crown Prince suddenly cut his intention of the sudden outburst as the shaking slowed down to a stop. Adjusting both of their position to a more comfortable sitting position which was at the edge of the bed, Taehyung spoke, “I actually had been thinking about the same thing these days. I even talked about it to Jungkook from our last meeting at the palace. He never saw such thing before too so my guess that it was a new thing. Sadly unlike you, I have duties as a palace servant to do. So I can’t help you today no matter how much you might end up begging me to.”

“But it will not be fun without you. Who knows I might find something interesting beyond that path.” The Crown Prince pouted with his arms folded against his torso as he situated his figure closer to his friend’s side. He tried throwing a very big smile and batted his eyelids just for fun of ticking his friend off and since Taehyung managed to dodge most of it, Jimin decided to stop with a defeated sigh.

“Alright then; the least you can do is distract the palace guards because I’ll need to ride the horse there so I can return back before dusk. You can do that, right?” Jimin questioned with a hint of challenge at the end of his line. He had to seal his lips tight, trying his best not to smirk at the younger lad. Curtly nodding, Taehyung replied shortly after, “Yes, I’ll help but promise me that you’ll be fine alone in the woods. The least I want is you to be hurt without anyone to help you while you’re out.”

“I’ll be just fine, Tae. The endless time of sparring will finally come in handy if it anything is to happen. Besides, I have a good feeling I’ll be not alone there.” Shaking his head upon hearing the statement, the servant finally stood up from the bed and walked towards the exit. His friend reminded him the time and the Crown Prince sure hoped things would be on his luck.

The wind of the spring began to pick up its pace as it was another form of distraction for the sixteen year old male who was busying himself making a circle trail of water with his left index finger. His right hand acted as a support for his chin on the brown picnic table right outside his house. It was just another ordinary day for him and that made him sighed drowsily. The day barely made it to the afternoon as he let out a long sigh. His eyes grew tired from doing nothing which explained why when his mother called for him, the water floating within his sight dispersed, indicating him losing his focus.

“It’s delivery for the Haesang palace’s kitchen.” Mrs Jeon informed as she placed a crate of freshly picked apples on the table with a loud thud. Glancing up to meet his mother’s eyes, Jungkook silently made his way towards brown cart where the crate given by his mother would join another pile of the similar object. It was already full with vegetables grew by his neighbours and looking that there was no particular female figure around, he knew was on his own that day to head over to the palace.

The walk there took him about thirty minutes of nothing but the sound of rustling fully grown trees, flowing stream of water in the distance and birds chirping while he made his way down from his neighbourhood. He had no idea why he had been very silent lately though and he actually noticed that part of him. His thought seemed to wander endlessly without him realising that he already passed the turn he should have taken to the palace. Shrugging to no one in particular, he backtracked and returned to right path at once.

The Haesang’s royal guards already knew him especially the once in charge of the currently closed entrance. The man had glasses on the bridge of his nose as he was deep in doing something he should not be doing. There should not be any other thing he should do other than guarding but Jungkook had always found the gate keeper an interesting young man. He immediately set his cart down and greeted the other.

“Oh, sorry, didn’t notice you coming here.” The man stated hastily once he hid the book he had been indulging behind his back. When he smiled, the young one could see his dimple and the lights seemed to set in his head perfectly, shining his golden brown hair which reminded him a lot like Yein’s colour, only a tad lighter than hers. Opening the gate, Jungkook walked in as he pulled the cart along with him.

Upon reaching the palace door, he was greeted with the kitchen workers as scheduled. His eyes however looked around the area with one intention and hope in finding the Princess who perhaps walking in the palace ground and he did found her. She was reading a book again like always and as if her instinct was taking over her, her eyes instantly found the boy’s eyes as she smiled and waved at his direction.

After an hour of conversing by the entrance with the gate keeper joining in their talk, Jungkook decided that it was time to take his leave. That was until the Princess held him back, tugging him by the arm ever so slightest. “Is something wrong?” Jungkook questioned as his eyes widened in surprise at the sudden contact. “Can you tell me more about Mount Navillera, the border perhaps?” Jiyeon asked out of the blue which had taken the younger boy aback. He mentioned somewhere along the line that he already told her most of it but she did not seem to take the statement just like he expected her to be.

“Namjoon, can you keep the next few things a secret?” She pleaded while holding both her palms together with hope. Once getting an assuring nod from the guard, she proceeded with the thing she had in mind. “The truth is, I managed to finish the book that the Seonghwa’s Crown Prince had given me on my birthday. Uh, what was his name again…?”

“Crown Prince Jimin?” Jungkook answered when he heard nothing from the female before continuing. “What does the book have to do with stopping me from heading back?” He was sure his mother would be waiting for him at home but he was much surer that Yein already had him covered in that part. His mother seemed to know that he made a friend at the palace but what she did not know was he was friends with the Haesang’s Princess.

“I have a good feeling that the book might reveal things that had been running in my mind. You see, weird things had been happening in the palace since my eighteenth birthday. I would want to say it was mere coincidence that Myungsoo was twice as busy with his duties as the Crown Prince and he will not be able to help me. My mother had been surprisingly silent during our eating sessions and father doesn’t seem to notice them.”

“I still don’t get it. Can you cut it short?” Jungkook cut her long explanation off as he attempted to make it sounded not as annoying and rude in her ears. “Alright, the book stated something about an ancient relic hidden on the top of Mount Navillera and a supposedly prophecy that can only be unlock by the ‘chosen ones’.” Jiyeon air quoted the last two words. Sure it sounded like the Princess had gone crazy just from reading one book but the two males that had been listening seemed to take it well.

“Are you telling me that you believed the fortune teller telling you’re the supposedly be the ‘chosen ones’? I thought you wanted to let it pass and come on your highness, it is just a book. No one has ever gone up that high before. It is misty and there is no path to head there. Not that I found any…or do I?” The youngest fellow in the conversation halted his sentence with a question, causing even the gate keeper named Kim Namjoon to be slightly annoyed.

“My friend from Seonghwa mentioned something about a mysterious glowing path in Navillera Forest with Jimin.” He finally said. “You do know you should never address the Crown Prince with just his name, Jungkook. That’s impolite.” Namjoon kindly reminded and decided to leave the two to continue on their own.

“Should we find it then?” Jiyeon’s eyes sparkle out of excitement once she heard him saying that as she knew it would be the second time she would leave the palace ground. He on the other hand wanted to take her along. Maybe she would notice something that he passed since he did venture out the comfort of his home once in a while. “Can you even leave? I mean, you’ve been out before but it was secretly-”

“Namjoon?” She called without realising she was cutting Jungkook’s talking but a bob of the head from the palace guard was all she needed for the young one to be sure. “Just don’t come back after dusk. It’s dangerous.”

“Aren’t you being too kind?” Jungkook suddenly asked, causing Jiyeon to laugh when she saw the surprised expression plastered on his face. The gate keeper however did not reply verbally. Instead he simply gestured for the two of them to go. Smiling brightly, Jiyeon felt jumpy on her spot. “Let’s go?” The male shook his head as a small smile lingered on his face when she was all excited. What had he done?

“Jump on the cart. It might take some time reaching the mountain area.”