The Prediction

"That will not happen," Taehyung stared down Mingyu as the brothers faced off inside Taehyung's personal rooms. "Yugyeom will not take her anywhere, much less the palace.

"He is planning it as we speak, hyung, you have to stop him," Mingyu pleaded. "Please, hyung, trust me on this, we have to get Jiyeon out of this place."

"Why do you care for her as such?" Taehyung narrowed his eyes, raising an eyebrow when Mingyu looked away, a faint red spreading on his pale cheeks. Taehyung shook his head, his outfit crinkling as he reached out to grip Mingyu's shoulder tightly. "It cannot be, that is impossible."

"Yes, it is," Mingyu breathed, leaning into his brother's embrace sadly as Taehyung enveloped him in a hug, letting Mingyu breath shakily in his arms. Mingyu trembled, closing his eyes as he let the single tear flow down his cheek. "But she will not feel the same."

"Why not?" Taehyung pulled away, meeting Mingyu's eyes. "Why would she not? It is possible, and father would not forbid it. She is of noble birth, and a True Bone-"

"Because she feels the same way as I feel for her for you, hyung," Mingyu cut in sharply, sighing deeply when Taehyung's eyes widened in shock. "True, she may not feel as intensely yet, but I see it in the way she looks at you, and she feels nothing but friendship for me."

"You may have mistaken," Taehyung shook his head disbelievingly as Mingyu nodded tersely. "She does not show any indication of that nonsense."

"You cannot see because you have the density of a rock," Mingyu huffed, smacking his brother's chest. "Can you not see that she looks at you differently from all of us?" Taehyung shook his head, closing his eyes in defeat when Mingyu laughed at himself, looking away. Both of them stood there, Taehyung with his arms still around Mingyu protectively. 

"I will not believe this, Mingyu, not without proof," Taehyung said, his voice low. "If there is truly nothing, then I will not allow you to torture yourself like this."

"You do not understand what I truly feel, hyung," Mingyu shrugged off Taehyung's hands. "Then again, you never understood things like this."

"Shinhwa was a mistake, and it will not happen again, I will not allow that," Taehyung snarled, gripping Mingyu's arm tightly. "You know I will not allow that."

"But you cannot stop fate, hyung," Mingyu slumped. "We shall see who comes victorious, in the end."

"I don't know what you want me to understand by that," Jungkook gaped at Shinhwa, standing side by side with Taehyung. "You're asking me to train with him? As in, battle-training train?" Shinhwa pursed her lips, glancing at Taehyung, who merely nodded. Jungkook looked up at Taehyung, then back down at Shinhwa. "You can't be serious, can you?"

"I assure you, lady, I am extremely serious about this," Shinhwa muttered, inclining her head just slightly. "There is something that you need to know, and we are helpless to stop it from happening."

"What's going on?" Jungkook exhaled, preparing to accept the news. He knew it was going to be bad, judging by the serious expressions Taehyung and Shinhwa both had. "What did I do? What am I supposed to do?"

"Yugyeom is planning to take you back to the palace come summer." Taehyung pointed to the majestic building rising in the center of the capital. "But if you don not learn this, you will be attacked, forced to do things beyond your worst nightmares. Many have heard of your beauty, and many desire to claim you as their own. You need to learn this."

"Why am I going to the palace?" Jungkook did a mental calculation in his head quickly, and if he was leaving when summer came, then that was a week away. "Did that prince plan this?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow at him pointedly, waving his hand. "He would have not, so this must be one of my father's schemes."

"Why would your father want me to go to the palace?" Jungkook couldn't resist asking. "I'm perfectly content here, why would I need to leave?"

Taehyung closed his eyes, massaging his temple. "You know that the throne is not exactly passed down by age, right?" Jungkook nodded. "Well, the throne goes to the last surviving prince, to the eldest if the crown prince is dead, and if the kingdom wants to prosper under a rule, it needs a queen. And my father, apparently, thinks that perhaps you are an eligible choice. My mother has known you since birth, and she does not disapprove of a marriage alliange, although she would much prefer if all of us marry foreign princesses."

"And you want me to go there to be some stranger's wife?" Jungkook pinched himself to ask if this was real or some figment of imagination his overactive brain had conjured. "Now that is a low trick."

"It is not, and I hope that Yugyeom knows what he is doing," Taehyung pulled out his sword from his scabbard, running his finger on the gleaming edge. "But that aside, let us begin."

Jungkook smiled, revealing his dagger. "Let's see if what Daehwi taught me is actually useful or not."

"Okay, I'm stumped," Jungkook panted, holding up his hand weakly as Taehyung grinned at him, only slightly winded. Taehyung had defeated him literally sixteen times in a row, and all the while he was calling out pointers and tips while twirling Jungkook in a potentially deadly dance. Jungkook felt really glad Shinhwa had gotten this set of leathers made for him.

Speaking of Shinhwa, the sanggung was sitting beside the koi pool, tossing the fishes breadcrumbs and watching them attentively. Taehyung indicated her back, when Jungkook wiggled his eyebrows questioningly at him. Shinhwa looked sad, defeated even, as she stared down at the gigantic fish bobbing up to the surface and the sinking down again. Jungkook approached her, touching her shoulder hesit