The sun rose from the East as the cast of light shone on the land of Navillera. Going through a window to a room owned by the Seonghwa’s Crown Prince, it caused a stir in his deep sleep. The bits of sting still lingered in his brain as he registered his current surrounding before opening his eyes slowly. His sight met with the familiar white ceiling of his room which he let out a sigh in relief. Yes, he remembered fainting in front of his room last night. However, he could not recall what exactly happened to him the minutes after.

Turning his head to the left to look out through the window out of habit, Jimin’s eyes did not see the beautiful scenery of autumn right outside. Instead, he saw the look of his two parents who apparently been staring at him for the past few minutes. He had no idea how long they had been in the room but when he decided to get into a sitting position, his mother, the Queen instantly aided him without any delay. Motherly instinct kicked in rather fast lately but not fast enough to rush over to his bedroom after getting the news of her son’s condition on one in the morning. She had been in the room ever since.

“Are you feeling any better?” The mother asked gently as she patted his head and glanced at him with her warm smile. His brain might tingle from time to time but he knew the look given by his mother was for something. Turning his attention to the father, he noticed the same smile and he swore that his father never had that radiance coming from him whenever he met him for meetings – King to Crown Prince, kind of meeting. They really should spend more time as a family now to think of it as it seemed that hunting was no longer a thing for the Seonghwa royals these days.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jimin finally cracked his voice to ask. He just could not pen up the frustration of over-thinking in his mind any longer. He was not getting any verbal answer from the royal couple at the first moment other than seeing them glancing at each other. Maybe they were talking telepathically with the other because it always works from years of being together, he guessed. After the long metaphorically long silence in the room, the mother simply threw him another smile before his father stood up, making his way towards the standing mirror.

Jimin was very much confused at first at his two parents’ action and seeing that his eyebrows furrowed for a tad too long, he heard his mother lightly chuckled and signalling him to get off the bed which he complied. She guided him to the father’s spot and was about to say something but of course, the Crown Prince already catch himself at the mirror. Following his expression was his reflection where it showed his widening eyes and mouth agape at the new found transformation.

Standing in front of him was a reflection of him looking not that different on any ordinary days as the Crown Prince of Seonghwa. Nonetheless, once his eyes went upwards, he gasped in shock at what happened to him. It was only then he remembered fully what exactly happened to him. He could feel it. He could feel his lips making a smile, a smile that bright that it could outshine any shimmering chandeliers hanging within the palace. His heart was leaping in joy that words could not escape his mouth. Taking a lock of his hair in wonder, Jimin began to admire the change of colour on his hair. It was way better than his dyed rusty hair.

“Great, now you beat my reputation for having the brightest hair colour in the Seonghwa palace. Can there at least be something without your name on it?” Yoongi groaned in a playful manner. They met as soon as the lunch time was over. Good-naturedly laughing at his older relative’s joke, Jimin shrugged as he unconsciously played with his hair. “Hey, I didn’t ask for bright red as a hair colour in the first place. You will still have that apple green hair of yours.”

“Did Taehyung know?”

“Well, he was the one that brought me to my bed while I was in my butterfly form. So I guess he knew. Apparently I knocked myself out due to immense shock from seeing the reflection of me flying as a butterfly. Mother-nature does have mercy on me after all. I thought I can never fly.” The Crown Prince spoke earnestly with his hand already off the hair. He should be getting use of the fact now that he is like everyone in Navillera.

The news flew to the other quarters faster than any horse can gallop from the palace ground to the village centre. They were elated to hear them and the genuine happiness also spread into the kitchen as Taehyung was busy cleaning with the girls. They were getting better at covering up his disappearance last night that his mother did not even notice him being out of the kitchen for so long.

“What should I do now?” He subtly began to create a junction to their current conversation regarding his surfaced gift. It was huge deal seeing that only once he turned eighteen he gained the power to shape-shift but there was more running in the Crown Prince’s mind than the excitement. Yoongi never fond of the silence shared between them and the look that often came with it. Sighing knowingly, he questioned about it. It took the younger one longer to answer though.

“I told my parents about everything.”

You read it right. He did tell everything. He felt like he had been hiding way too much behind his parents’ back that the pain in his head disappeared into thin air almost instantly right after he began. The burden was lifted for sure but the looks he got from them were not the kind he looked forward to. Starting from back from where he ran off to Mount Navillera, he escalated the story down to his meeting with Jungkook. There he decided to leave the Princess off the story as it might cause more bad than good. He mentioned about the prophecy and the possible connection with the dreams he got in the past.

The King and Queen did not want to believe Jimin’s rambling about his antics at the beginning knowing that he created more chaos than help during the time of his disappearance. They let him continued nevertheless how crazy it sounded to their ears. He is their one and only son so their guts were indeed telling them they should trust the words coming out from him. When the story ended, they said nothing. The air was thick as what he could feel from staying in his room beyond what supposedly was their breakfast time.

Jimin did end the story there but there was one question he had been bugging himself to ask. “Who is she?” It was short and a little bit less in precision of who he was trying to know. When he repeated the same question with additional two words, he saw astonished expression reflected on both of his parents’ face. Judging on how fast they change from surprised to worry, he merely thought, ‘They knew who she was.’

“I knew it and I have a bad feeling about this. Why must this happen?” Questions after questions passed by the poor Princess’ mind as she strolled around the lake garden. Jiyeon had both of her palms on her face as she continued to speak to herself since Hoseok was nowhere to be found within the area. Her thoughts had been repeating like a bad tape recorder in her brain as soon as she woke up from her sleep. It grew worse after she brushed by her brother’s side along the hallway and as expected; he said no words to her besides the glare she had been getting. Also it did not help the fact Jungkook was tagging along behind him like a lost puppy. He wanted to help and he sure hope she knew his actual reason of accepting the recruitment.

Closing his eyes after an escape of long sigh, Jungkook began to recall on what actually made him wanting to join Myungsoo in the first place.

The sixteen year old was busying his own self, picking on the ripe corns in his family’s plot of land when he decided to take a quick rest by the edge of the farm. The breezy autumn breeze by his hill top neighbourhood was too serene to farm over the crops. Enjoying his alone time for the noon, Jungkook had his eyes closed after finding a spot not far from the edge to ease his mind.

He had not reply to any of Jimin’s letter since his workload was increasing as winter would be the next season. Meaning, most of the harvestable needed to be out of the crop plots before it was wasted and froze over the cold season. Other than that, he was actually occupying his time with more personal practices which he noticed the improvement as the time went by. If one was to label him, he might be as skilful as their Crown Prince because with that level of concentration, the two would make an unstoppable pair.

“Jungkook,” He heard a girl called his name from his back without breaking his concentration on the ball of water in front of him. If he let go, it could cause shock to anyone who was living down by the cliff area. Looking at her after throwing the water to a half empty plot behind him, she shook her head in an unbelievable manner. “The recruitment committee is here for you, again.”

“Tell them I’m not interested.” Jungkook rolled his eyes which were easily imitated by his female friend. “Kook, I have no idea what are you trying to pull here but they will end up sacking you if you keep on being like this. I can’t hold them back for you all the time.” She said and surprisingly pulled Jungkook off the ground at ease.

“Besides, they knew how capable you are. The Crown Prince sees you himself from there.” She pointed over to the housing area where Jungkook’s eyes immediately found a recognisable brunette from afar. “I just don’t want to involve in his stupid revenge plan, Yein. You know me more than anyone else in the town.” He said after sighing.

Yein knew that reasons of why Jungkook was holding himself back. She even acknowledge her friend’s plan to run away from the comfort of his home just so the so-called recruitment committee would give up in trying to get him to join them. They both knew the plan because the Crown Prince indeed wanted one thing and that one thing is revenge on his mother’s, the Queen’s death. Oh how messed up the Haesang was when he had a good feeling a war might be the answer to Jiyeon’s endless worry on her brother’s actions.

“You know, you can always fake your interest and plan with Jiyeon regarding this matter up close. Since you care so much about the Seonghwa’s Crown Prince, there is no better idea than to be on the enemy’s side to help the good side. That is whatever you call them these days.” Yein told him which made him unexpectedly looked at her in amazement. She did not get that look that often or to be exact, never got that look. Smiling at her for the idea, Jungkook gently patted her on the shoulder.

“You have the smartest idea like always. And I like you for that. I wonder why we never crossed the lame friendship boundary yet.” He laughed at his own sentence before walking off, leaving the female behind answering to his statement in a mumble, “Well, if you stop being stupid and not notice my feelings, it might actually happen.”

“So, who is she, the Queen of Haesang, to us, the Seonghwa?” Yoongi asked impatiently when Jimin decided to stop at the of the story when Taehyung conveniently joined in after bringing their snacks. He wanted to leave like always but Jimin had told somewhere along the line might had cause the Kitchen Servant to stop his movement. The apple green and silvery purpled hair ones paused where the second one mentioned froze on his spot longer than planned.

“That can’t be. You’re not serious, right Jimin?” Yoongi spoke once again since Taehyung did not seem to be in the realm of reality until he left, breaking into a run. Jimin managed to see his friend’s eyes watery from the fact but when a sigh came out of his lips, he knew that might be too much for him to believe. Making a direct eye contact with the older Prince, Jimin nodded.

“I’m serious, Min Yoongi. The Queen of Haesang was indeed one of us and she was…Taehyung’s biological mother.”