It was chaotically horrendous to say the most. He could still hear the sound of people yelling and screaming around him. It was still too much for him to register but his mind knew of what to do with his action. ‘Why did I let my emotion take control?’ He slapped himself on the cheek furiously before looking at his surroundings. Apparently he was indeed the strongest among the Seonghwa as even his cousin would give him the credits but he still had a long way to master what he had. Ruffling his hair, the Crown Prince ran towards the burning tree.

Fortunately, most of the Haesang took part of taking out the fire minus Myungsoo and Jiyeon who seated not far from the dreadful location as she tended to her brother’s condition. Opted to approach the two, Jimin managed to wince at what would be the result to his harsh action. “I’m sorry. I swear it was unintentional.” Jimin genuinely apologised before kneeling to their position to get a closer look. His eyebrows were furrowed together in worry as he indeed managed to flick a decent number of damage on the fellow’s skin.

“It’s alright, I guess. It was partly my fault for provoking. Now I know one should never mess with a Seonghwa.”  Myungsoo managed to utter a reply. Although weak, he could chuckle underneath all the pain he had to endure for the time being. “What were guys fighting for anyway? It is supposed to be a friendly joust. No one fight so aggressively.” Jiyeon joined in the conversation. She wanted answers from the two Crown Princes but all she saw was a light tint of blush on the Seonghwa’s cheeks and wandering eyes for the Haesang’s.

“Not the kind of motive you want to know I assume.” Jimin decided to say as he sheepishly turned his gaze over at the group of Haesang royals behind them. The puzzled expression on his face had yet to cease off as he only continued to stare the event. The only female noticed his look which was why she thought it was good to follow his line of vision and saw the happenings in the same worried look. “Does the fire conjured by a Seonghwa take that long to put out? Either that or the Haesang Princes and Princesses were doing a bad job?” She asked as she half-heartedly laughed at the last bit of her sentence.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing too.” Jimin admitted in a slow manner as his attention held on the uncanny turn of event behold before adding, “It shouldn’t be taking too long.” He talked by experience and the power they used were not even from the Haesang people so why different all of the sudden? The Crown Prince stepped on his feet, standing up from his getting-more-uncomfortable position.

Walking towards the apparently raging fire at ease, Jimin put out his right arm straight at the main cause of the flame. Concentrating all his will, he had his eyes closed before he made an attempt on controlling the fire but all of the sudden; a vision of fluttering pair of wings invaded his range of sight. Opening his eyes at once, his head turned to the chair where he was seated at. He slowly walked towards it and gasped once he found a familiar coloured butterfly remaining limp on the chair.

“Oh my goodness, that’s Tae. Kim Taehyung!” He called helplessly before scooping his friend’s frail butterfly figure. Part of his purple wings were torn off due to the impact once Myungsoo unfortunately hit his tiny self and as his wings tumbling on air, his wings met with the end of the chair, opening his wound even further. No one seemed to notice his figure on the chair though as they were distracted by more important things.

Taking his friend carefully in his hand, he urgently walked back to his two acquaintances but stopped when he saw his friend trying to flutter his wings only to halt half way. “Tae, don’t move to much okay? I’ll take care of you until you heal.” He said softly not wanting to gain any attention but he did and it was from the least person he expected. “He’s injured?”

The womanly voiced caught his ears before he turned his gaze to the woman. Jimin was taken aback at first but he replied since he did not want to appear rude to her. “He’s a friend of mine, your highness and yes, he’s injured.” He bowed slightly once he finished. The woman was the Haesang’s Queen and instead of being worried of his son’s condition and the burning tree around her, she eyed on Taehyung with full of care.

“That will take a long time to heal. I would inform his mother if I am you.” She spoke softly and by the time she finished, Jimin only stare at her curiously. He was confused as why she was worried over someone she barely knew. And from his one day of mere observation, he saw her did nothing but fidgeting on her seat. Being a sensible person he was he did not want to jump straight into conclusion.

The Queen of Haesang actually looked rather familiar to him as if he saw him before. No, not from the previous event at their side of Navillera but strikingly he somewhat recalled seeing her in his past, way back during his childhood. He did not have the decent time to look at her that much back in Haesang palace during Jiyeon’s birthday ceremony. Yet there he was then, gazing at her with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Aren’t you going to help with your husband? I can try to control the fire since it was my fault after all.” The Crown Prince mentioned as he gestured at the ever-so busy Haesang King alongside a line of the Haesang royalties. “I don’t think I’ll do any help if I want to.” She said in somewhat devastated tone. Alright, that was even stranger to him now.

“I’ll be right back.” Jimin uttered under his breath before running towards the Kim royal siblings. Although they were physically tired of the incident, their responsiveness worked just fine as they turned to face him in synchronise. At first, to the siblings’ eyes, it seemed that Jimin had something to say to them as he constantly opened and closing his lips after a couple of times.

“I don’t want to appear rude but why does the Queen… I mean your mother acted weirdly? Why is she standing around the tree instead of helping?” Jimin finally said what he had been constructing in his mind. He found it difficult at first but he felt like he needed to tell the two the truth instead of beating around the bush. “To be honest… we noticed it too.” Myungsoo spoke as Jiyeon supported her brother’s on the back to get him to sit on a better position other than having his head on his sister’s lap.

“What did you notice?” The Princess questioned in concern and her eyes immediately found itself on her mother’s wandering figure. Just as what stated by Jimin, she was lingering by the tree, glancing upwards from time to time, longingly if she was to add. Looking further up, she saw the flames were still eating the top of the poor plant and suddenly felt solemn and bewildered. The fire seemed to have no sign of stopping.

“I’ll go help the people. You can just rest like this right, Myungsoo?” Jiyeon asked worriedly and saw her brother simply nodded before leaving him with the other Crown Prince. Jimin’s gaze followed the walking figure as she stopped by in the middle of her father and mother. He could see she tried to start a conversation with her but failed? Well he assumed so since the Queen was not glancing at the Princess. The silence shared between them was an uncomfortable one as both had no idea what to converse without the help of the female who apparently was the one of reasons behind the actual incident.

“I saw that look, Jimin and I don’t like it one bit.” Myungsoo lowly uttered as he rolled his eyes and continued, “You should back out before it’s too late.” There it was again, him preventing the two from whatever relationship they wanted to form. Why was he even doing it to start with? He only appeared to be that typical over-protective brother at this state. Shrugging unknowingly, Jimin turned his gaze at the now-seated Crown Prince with a noticeable frown on his face.

“I don’t get why you’re telling me all this.” He said shortly as he attempted to show his collected side instead of the flustered side which was unknown by many. “I don’t want her to repeat history, alright. That’s it, I actually tell it to someone and among many it just has to be you.” Myungsoo groaned, apparently annoyed of himself before wincing since the burn on his skin barely ease. The cold water applied by Jiyeon made no difference and he began to question if it was even the right thing to do.

“You know what? I’m here just to ask you if you can take care of my friend for a while before I search for his mother. I want to head back to… there.” Jimin ended as he gently plopped Taehyung butterfly form by Myungsoo’s side. Walking back to the location, he only sighed dejectedly.

By the time he reached the area, he could still see bits of the fire still blazing with pride on the tree. Some of it managed to be put out with the extra hand but it was not much. When he mentioned some, he indicated less than half of the engulfing fury. Jiyeon, who stood a couple of figure away, looked at him from the corner of her eyes. She was curious as in what he would do to help. Seeing him simply gathering his attention at the tree, she witnessed something rather fascinating.

The fire, though not decreasing its size but at least his fancy hand gestures managed to ease down the wild fire. Pieces of burned leaves and branches were seen scattered around the area as it could no longer stay on the mother tree as the time went on. Crackling woods seemed to down itself though however what they did not notice were how one of the large branches were hung dangerously close to the ground.

‘Focus, Jimin, focus.’ The young Prince muttered like a mantra in his mind. One slip of concentration, he could lose control of the fire which surprisingly his level of concentration was doing on great to help the Haesang people. As her hands grew tired, most of the other Princes and Princesses also stopped from conjuring water out of their bare hands. The water splurging out of the big water hose by the Seonghwa’s servants were not helping much upon closer look.

Her bottom met with the ground first as she breathing increased its pace. It was that moment in time she realised the fact that was the longest she had ever used her power. She used to simply take advantage of the gift with her precious bed of flowers, not putting out massive fire. Glancing to her side, her eyes landed on the closed eyes, rusty haired Crown Prince. Sighing at the sight, her eyes decided to look upwards before widening its circle.

“Jimin, look up!” Jiyeon screamed, earning a lot of strange and shock expressions from the people around her but she did not care because the branch was right above him and it yelled danger with capital red letters in her mind. Hearing a loud screech from his side, Jimin immediately turned his head up with wide eyes.

Inserting a dramatic effect, the Crown Prince felt as if the time was slowing down as his legs seemed to be stuck on the ground. There it was an audible crack which managed to turn everyone’s attention on the male including Myungsoo’s. Jimin instead of trying to stop the shock, a ball of fire suddenly came out of his hand as his mind went off control. Instead of easing down the trouble, it was made worse as the flame found its new house on the junction where the soon-to-fall branch to the tree.

The Princess began to take action instinctively as her feet jumped into a quick move even before her mind could make sense of the situation. She could feel and voices of her family members (the King and Myungsoo) from her behind as she advanced forward but another figure was way swifter than hers. And it was the most unexpected figure she could ever think off.

It was her mother.

By the time the Haesang’s Queen reached Jimin’s spot, the branched already snapped from its place before falling down on them in the blink of the eye. Pushing the young Prince off with all her strength, the huge branch fell right on top of the Queen with a devastatingly loud thud. Followed by her in pain, everyone started to gather around the fallen tree which caused even the injured Kim Myungsoo to sprint from his location to his mother. He was screaming one word, mother.

As if all air from his lungs knocked out, he hissed in the midst of pushing the branch of his mother with the help of the others and also Jimin himself. By the time it was off, it was Jiyeon who ran towards her mother before taking her into her arms. The Princess was already crying her eyes out by the time most of the people witnessed the event surrounding her. She was sobbing badly with constant yell and scream, telling her mother to respond even with a slight nod. However, she received none.

Feet away from the Queen’s figure were Jimin and his two parents who was questioning about his condition before turning their attention on the figure in Jiyeon’s arms. At first glance, they were worried of their one and only child and it shocked them how the other Queen willingly jumped to save their son’s life. Most of the crowd already disperse, leaving silence to the royal Park and Kim family. The atmosphere was nothing but negative adjectives. They could still hear them chocking in between their tears as the Kim family surrounded the late Queen’s figure while the Park family simply eyed them a metre away.

Jiyeon was the first person to stand up from her family circle and seeing her with tears was definitely not on the Seonghwa’s Crown Prince’s list at all. Approaching her silently, he met with her back figure. He carefully tapped on her shoulder and she spun around before bursting into another round of waterworks.

“I’m sorry.” Jimin apologetically eyed her after hesitantly attempt to make an eye contact with her. He did not know what to do with the situation since he himself had no idea in what stage of relationship he was with the Princess. They only talked, right? No further feeling involved.

But why when the poor Princess suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist, his heartbeat increase out of the sudden? He was taken in by surprise and it could be seen on how large the eyes grew its size. Should he return the gesture out of friendliness? He wanted to but something seemed to hold him back.

It was her brother’s menacing gaze. The same one he saw back on the field when he provoked him. It was not his action to start the sudden hug. It was his sister’s. Before Jimin could raise his arms to return her the embrace she needed, he felt her body being harshly tore from his and his face felt a stinging sensation of someone’s punching.

“It is your entire fault! All of this is your fault!” Myungsoo yelled furiously at him who only touched the now-painful spot on his chin. His parents did not intervene in the sudden burst but the Princess sure did not miss the chance. “Stop it, Myungsoo! It was not his fault. Our mother saved him on her own will!” She replied in the similar tone before walking towards Jimin and hooked her arm around his.

‘What is she doing now?’ Jimin voiced in his mind as he glanced over at her figure by his side. Sure, he felt glad to know someone was on his side but the look on the other Crown Prince stated how infuriated he was. There was a thin line of confusion and betrayal in between the two siblings and Jimin could feel it as if the arm wrapping on his managed to transfer the feelings into his.

This will not end up pretty.