“Tae, open the door now. You can’t just stay in there the whole day.” A particular short light brown hair voiced behind the closed door to the male’s room as she gently knocked on after a moment. Placing her ears on the door, she could hear him telling her to go away and to leave him alone but she knew better to let him go just like that. Not when he decided to cope himself for the rest of his day without eating.

After discovering the reality, Taehyung literally ran before flying all the way to the servants’ quarter to meet his mother. Yes, his current mother. She should be able to tell him the truth, right? That was what he thought but all hell broke loose in the kitchen. He threw flour, water and any reachable ingredients everywhere once he talked with the woman who supposedly was his mother at the corner of the room. Well, he was being overly dramatic. He knew she was indeed not his biological mother. He was told and raised with the fact that his mother left him in the palace after his late father’s passing and found a man of the other land. But what he did not know was she married a man of the land of Haesang.

It was too much for him. He had been living in a lie and he grew furious of why he never noticed her when he saw her before she was dead. Reason of why she decided to leave him alone in Seonghwa and not taking him along to Haesang harbouring about. The two lands were already at peace. There was no solid reason of him not being together with her. He was sobbing hard with his hand clutching on a picture in his hand.

The picture of him and his family while he was a little baby began to have splotches as bead of tears dropping on them and blurring it in seconds. He did not like the feeling that he was having. He almost set the kitchen on fire if it was not for a Prince to suddenly pass by the kitchen at that moment. Changsub had his arms held securely behind Taehyung’s back before walking him out to his room. Since then, hours already flew by and the dark sky made its appearance. Letting out another sigh for the nth time, Eunha gave up before she spun on her heels to the side only to see a concern look of one of her close palace servant friend.

“Is he going to be alright?” Sujeong asked softly with her eyes gazing over to the tightly closed door. “I guess he will. I mean, he’s Kim Taehyung and he always acts so childish at times but his action is understandable right now. I would set the whole palace on fire if I was him after knowing your biological mother passed when I didn’t know it was her in the first place.” Eunha answered before pointing at the tray of dishes on the small table by his entrance.

“You’re quite close to him too, right Sujeong? How about you try to get him to at least eat dinner? I hate seeing him in that condition since us at the kitchen got used to see his bright side instead of the dark one.” Nodding her head without any doubt, Eunha walked off after she saw Sujeong smiled in assurance. Before knocking on the door, she surely hoped that he would open the door for her.

“You do know what this means now, right? Jimin, are you even listening to me?” The older Prince spoke to the younger one in the Crown Prince’s room after hearing their fellow servant friend almost lit the kitchen on flame. They decided to talk after dinner as well to continue where they stopped back at the garden. At first, Jimin thought of heading over to Taehyung’s room to apologise and maybe cheer him up but Yoongi stopped him by suggesting it was a bad idea.

“I know where this leads, Yoongi. Taehyung is technically the Prince of Haesang since he is Jiyeon and Myungsoo’s half-brother. A half-sibling has the same rights as any real siblings bond.” He replied cleverly but when their eyes met, the latter shook his head, a sign of a missing piece of information. “But then why only Taehyung possess fire while the other two possess water as their element?”

Yoongi wanted to slap the Crown Prince on the back of his fresh red locks with hope it would knock some intelligence in him. After groaning and an innocent look thrown by his cousin, he decided to tell his own theory, “Obviously they’re not half-siblings then. They share the same surname by coincidence and mother alright. But judging by her age, it would be impossible for her to be Taehyung’s long lost twin sister isn’t it. And about him being a Prince that is not sure.”

“They are step-siblings then which means Tae doesn’t have the right to take over Haesang if Myungsoo is not eligible. That ruins my current plan now doesn’t it?” Jimin admitted with a sheepish laughter and waved the silly thoughts of getting Taehyung to where he apparently belonged, burned in a cauldron of fire inside his brain. “His status is still label as a part of a royal, am I right. Oh who would’ve thought Taehyung has more power than any of us now to think of it deeply.”

“You do know you should tell Jiyeon about this in your next letter. She should know about it too. My guess that she might acknowledge that the late Queen was not a Haesang in the first place since she never used her powers in Haesang before.” The discussion ended that day instantaneously when Jimin grabbed on his writing equipment and paper. With the help of Yoongi, they managed to squeeze most of the information they gained into one piece of paper. Sealing the envelope with a smack of his lips, it only earned a bewildered glare by the Prince. “I don’t even want to know what you did. I have a long day ahead. Make sure you come down for the sparring session tomorrow after sending the letter off.”

“Sorry Yoongi. It’s a habit.” Jimin curtly said as he followed the male’s movement exiting the room with a wave and back facing him. When he turned back to the letter in his hand, he gently tapped it on his palm and wondered how Jiyeon would respond to his incoming letter.

She knew the message would come in sooner or later but never had she expected for it to arrive in her hands within three days. After Jiyeon was done reading the letter aloud to her two trusted people in the lake garden on one fine evening, she let out a long defeated sigh. “I never had any idea of such background coming from the late Queen. How come no one seems to know about it, Jiyeon?” Jungkook curiously asked the Princess who had remained silent as she was done folding the paper before placing it back into the brown envelope.

“Well, it is because everyone was still mourning over my real mother when everything happened. Sure the Haesang people were furious when they heard about it but his… I mean our mother worked hard to gain their respect that they just accept it without knowing. To be honest, I only knew she was a Seonghwa yesterday when I met my father. It was unintended but he actually burst when I pushed his buttons a bit too much.” Jiyeon explained with her shoulders slumped, feeling out of energy by telling the two males by her side.

“Still, Taehyung is technically your step-brother by law. You should bring him here. Judging by how he was doing during the letter was written, it is not a pretty sight.” Hoseok made a suggestion but immediately rejected by the Princess. “Are you mad? Not when Myungsoo is literally planning to attack Seonghwa for no apparent reason. That will only make him more furious. He has developed a strong hatred towards those innocent Seonghwa as we speak.”

“And not to mention he is growing stronger. Do you know he can call the rain now? I mean just look at yesterday’s weather.” Jungkook reported shortly after as he made a circle in front of him, gesturing over to the damp surrounding, a result of the pouring rain. Even the day’s weather report called for cloudy and grey sure was not her favourite colour right at the moment. “I even got dragged into learning them. As cool as it sounds to be able to control the cloud particles, I only see worse than good in it. I heard he is planning to send it over to Seonghwa.”

“Do you have any plan, Lady Jiyeon? You two can’t just stay put any longer here. My negative mind is telling me that a war might on his agenda if someone is not out there to stop him.” The gardener voiced his mind when he saw no one had the urge to continue the conversation. Climbing on her train of thoughts, Jiyeon closed her eyes in order to concentrate fully on her thinking. Hoseok was right, they should do something and she knew of what she shall do. However, she needed an extra hand coming from her so-called farmer friend.

She saw him smiling when she opened her eyes. Knowingly, Hoseok returned her the same smile as well. After telling them what she had in mind, the youngest among them had no hesitation to do most of the distraction even it required him to bow down to the crazy Crown Prince. “We’ll precede this after breakfast. You two know what to do.”

“Of course, I’m good at providing distraction. I always to do this back at home, to pull a successful prank on Yein.” Jungkook arrogantly stated with his arms on his hips. “I feel bad for her now that I know this from your on mouth. Just when I thought you have something with her.” Jiyeon honestly spoke before looking at Hoseok who was reflecting the same expression as her.

He had been standing in front of the door in his dirty clothes and the odour coming off him did not suit him and his title as the Seonghwa’s oh-so charismatically charming Crown Prince. Nonetheless, he did not care. Park Jimin apparently only care for two things at the moment – his people’s safety after another discussion with his father and also his friend who apparently still coping at the news although days already rolled by.

It had been four days since the letter exchanged between Jiyeon and him. He had been anticipating for her reply ever since he sent the envelope over to Sujeong as he found her very helpful. She often walked to the village centre to visit her parents. There would be the walls separating them but somehow the letter reached over to Haesang. He did not want to know about it yet he was glad he could still stay in contact with the Princess after all the trouble came in their paths.

Glancing over to the table right on the door’s left side, Jimin saw empty bowls and plates indicating that Taehyung indeed had his lunch but from what he gained, the fellow refused to leave the room, increasing the workload of his friends in the kitchen. They covered up for him too much as what he heard from one of the girls and it was enough to know how hard it was to maintain the whole kitchen. It made him wonder if the palace should build another kitchen in the same quarter.

“Tae, you can’t stay in your room forever. Come out, please. Or at least open the door. I want to talk to you. It’s hard to talk when I can’t see your handsome face.” He decided to throw in a random compliment while he was at it but of course he was not buying what he was selling. Tapping his pouted lips with his index finger, his eyes looked from side to side and wondered how else he should do to get into the fellow’s room. An idea brightened in his brain seconds later and thankfully he could actually showcase his ability.

Rolling on his bed from one spot to another, Taehyung simply let out a long sigh after his back landed fully on the comfort of his bed. To be frank, he felt lame after knowing locking himself inside his room from the outside world appeared childish to his logic. He is turning eighteen on the approaching winter yet he still possessed the mind of an eight-year-old. Tossing to the side, he decided to forcefully close his eyes and began to steady his nervous racing heart.

The information he gained was still too much to register for his brain. Seeing that he had been raised without any decent education other than learning the bits and pieces from friending Jimin since young, he did not know much about his current state after realising that there was tiny possibility of him actually landed on the royal status without him knowing for almost eighteen years of his life.

“You know you can always talk to me when I’m not sparring or working as the Crown Prince, Kim Taehyung.” A voice reached his ears out of the sudden, causing him to spring off his bed and turned his attention to his opened window. Sitting casually with his gaze to the back view of the other quarters, Taehyung was taken aback on how his friend managed to be on the third level of the palace building.

But his questions stopped when he remembered what happened to the Crown Prince after noticing the bright hair, reflecting a surge of fire in the fellow’s vain. “Now I know how you felt like intruding my room, Tae. It sure feels good to fly and I learn fast too!” Jimin good-naturedly informed before approaching his friend who seemed to have a hard time controlling his sad expression because he felt more happiness than sad after seeing his best friend’s effort to see him.

“Were you being genuine when you said I have a handsome face?” He decided to throw in a weird conversation starter. It was humorous which a good green signal of positivity since that was all Jimin ever hope to see upon meeting up with his friend for a good talk. “Now, mind telling me what had been disturbing your brain other than the fact you got me on a guilt trip?”