“Hyuna told me a great deal about you. You saved them,” Sunmi said as he rose from her throne. “What did you do? I’m curious. The magic tree was dying. It’s magic was gone.”

Mark looked down diverting his gaze down as the demon queen made her way toward her. “I just promised it I would come back with oranges from Trinsa Island.”

Sunmi shook her head. “You did more than that. You gave it some of your magic, didn’t you?”

“I...may have.”

“You’re not in trouble, Mark.” Sunmi tapped his cheek gently. “I just want you to know that your father did the same thing, but to a different tree.”

Mark furrowed his brow. “He did?”

“Jaebum,” she called to her advisor who stood next to her empty throne, “let’s show him what his father did.”

Jaebum bit his bottom lip. “But, highness, it’s already nightfall. It’s dangerous for him to be out.”

“He’ll be with us. He’ll be fine.” Sunmi shot Mark a smile. “Don’t you worry about being in that forest when you’re with us. Nothing will try to harm you.”

Mark felt a chill run up his spine as his thoughts immediately went to Aogrei and the creepy aura within the forest. “I...uh...what about...Aogrei and the phae?”

“He isn’t allowed to use his phae here in Hiondus after an incident a few years back.” Sunmi tapped her chin. “Besides, what do you have to worry about? You’re not the one he’s after.”

“You didn’t send Somin to the room just because you wanted to talk to me, right?” Mark asked.

A soft smile formed on Sunmi’s face. “Let’s go before it gets darker. You wouldn’t want to be caught in the forest at midnight, regardless if you’re with the queen.”

Mark gulped as he followed the queen and her advisor out to the forest. The single torch light Jaebum was holding was the only thing keeping Mark sane as they wove through the dark trees. The eerie quiet about the forest felt worse now that it was dark and it made the prince nervous. Sometimes he swore he could hear hissing or even see things that weren’t actually there. He stuck close behind Sunmi and Jaebum when they finally reached their destination.

A giant tree that resembled that of an oak tree stood before them. It looked almost identical to the magic tree in Nyskat except it was pitch black like all the other trees in the Hiondus forest. Mark stared at the tree in awe and dared not step close to it feeling the heavy demonic aura seeping from the tree.

“A while back when the king visited, he demanded to see the grand demon tree. I told him it was a sacred place that not even demons dared set foot near it but he was really persistent on seeing it,” Sunmi explained. “I had to bring him here. He asked me to leave him alone with the tree for a while. I didn’t want to but he’s the king of Thyslao and I have to obey his every order even if I’m a queen myself. I left him here, and it was a mistake.” Mark noticed Sunmi tense as she clenched her fists at her sides. Her eyes flashed a dangerous bright gold as she did so. “He struck the tree with his blasted lightning, giving it his destructive power. Since then, the tree has been the demonic energy out of everything it can. He turned our tree against us making it drain the life out of us.”

Mark scanned the tree trunk slowly and noticed the gaping, scorched hole where his dad might have struck it. “So...you’re telling me… even after the council told him he couldn’t rid Thyslao of the magic folk, he also went after the demons too? To do what? Kill off the non-humans?”

“That’s what we’re thinking,” Jaebum said. “We’ve never exactly had a great relationship with the king. He’s always hated us, in fact.”

“One thing your father didn’t account for was the fact that when you promise the grand demon tree power, it’ll continue to take your power. Now that he’s dying, it’s not getting the right amount of power it needs to stay alive. That’s why it’s killing us,” Sunmi explained. She went up to the tree and ran her fingers over the hole. She let out a longing sigh. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it either. There’s no way to fix it.”

“There has to be,” Mark said as he took the empty spot next to Sunmi. “Isn’t there anything?”

Sunmi shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Unless you’re willing to sacrifice something for the tree.”

“Like what?”

“Your life,” Jaebum said.

Mark stared up at the tree and he could’ve sworn the tree laughed as it swayed in the wind. “How about a life? My dad’s. He did this. He’s the one who should pay for it.”

Sunmi looked at Mark in surprise. “You would give up your dad just like that?”

Mark in a sharp breath as he placed his hand on the hole where his dad struck the tree. The longer he stared at it and the longer he kept his hand there, the angrier he got. He couldn’t believe how much of a crook his dad was. It was no wonder he wanted Mark to marry so quickly. He wanted Mark to deal with all of the mistakes and problems he created. And who knows? If his dad died, would the grand demon tree try to the life out of Mark as well?

“My dad is a bastard, he always has been. I went through some torture as a kid and, to be quite honest, it’s never stopped. It only got worse after my mom died. He’s my dad, yeah, and I know I shouldn’t be wishing death on him, but everything he’s ever done is evil. He deserves everything that’s going to be coming to him.” Mark bit his bottom lip feeling the demon tree’s demonic energy surround him like it wanted to consume him. “It’s not me who should pay for his problems and mistakes, it’s him. If you want to take someone as a sacrifice, take him. I’ll even give him to you myself if you wish it, but I want it to be in my own time. I want to expose him for the crook he is to the council first. I want him to regret everything he’s done to Thyslao before he dies.”

Sunmi gasped seeing the hole beneath Mark’s hand slowly start to fill itself out. “It’s healing…” Both she and Jaebum felt the earth beneath their feet pulsate as a rush of demonic energy surged through their bodies. The tree was no longer draining their energy.

Mark removed his hand from the tree trunk as the hole closed itself up. “I promise to be a better king for Thyslao than he was…” He his heel and straightened his back. “I hope you two can make it to my wedding. I’ll be exposing my father then and I hope you both will help me. Bring Wooyoung and Hyuna too.”

With that, Mark walked confidently into the darkness headed back to the demon district.

Mark sighed as he stood in front of the door into the room he and Somin were staying in for the night. Why Sunmi stuck them both in the same room, he had no idea but he hoped there would at least be two beds. He held onto the doorknob as he pondered on his thoughts. Wooyoung had told him that he should tell Somin who he really was but he had no idea how to approach it. Saying “Hey, I’m actually the prince of Thyslao” didn’t seem like a way to go and neither does “My dad is the king of Thyslao!”

Besides, if he did tell her, how would she react? He knew for a fact that she would definitely hate him and he didn’t want her to. But if he didn’t tell her, he would technically have been lying to her the whole time and she would be pissed at him for it. He slowly stepped into the room to find Somin sitting on the window ledge staring at the night sky.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked as his eyes scanned the room. ‘One bed,’ he thought. ‘Great.’

Somin looked over at him and shrugged. “Just thinking about how life was simpler back then. And how beautiful a night sky is. I’ve been in the Lost District so long, I’ve forgotten.”

Mark made his way over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about your past. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to…”

“It’s no problem. What do you want to know?” Somin folded her hands in her lap as she turned to Mark.

Mark stared at her for a moment examining her features that were lit up by the moonlight through the window. He noticed a small scar on her cheek that he hadn’t noticed before. “You said you were a hunter before. Tell me about that.”

A smile found its way on Somin’s face as she recalled back to those times. “It was fun. I could go out every time I had a mission and explore a different part of Thyslao I had never seen before. My dad used to be the leader of the hunters, you know. And because he expected so much of me, I worked hard to become the top hunter. I was the best. My dad was so proud of me.” Somin leaned against the window pane and the smile on her face slowly faded away. “And then my mom and sister were murdered. Things changed after that… People accused my dad and quickly came to hate me for being the daughter of a murderer. Granted, they already hated me because of my mysterious fire powers, but that’s beside the point.

“My dad was thrown in jail because they couldn’t find evidence of anyone else being the murderer. They threw me out of the Hunter’s district. Not long after that, the phae began hunting me. I don’t know why maybe someone in the Hunter’s district hated me that much that they hired Aogrei to kill me… Who knows?”

Mark stayed quiet as he listened to her speak as his hands toyed with the bottom edge of the comforter on the bed. He couldn’t imagine living a normal life like she did to all of a sudden lose everything in the blink of an eye. Mark never once lived a normal life and he sometimes wished he had. Would things have been different if his parents revealed him to Thyslao when he was born? Would things have been different if his mom hadn’t died when she did? Would things have been different if his family wasn’t royal?

“What about you?” Somin asked snapping Mark out of his thoughts.

“Hm? What about me?”

“I want to know about your past. Tell me.”

The prince stared out the window behind Somin. “About my past? There’s literally nothing to tell… Just that my life was better when my mom was alive. It was better for my dad too when she was alive.”

“Tell me about him then.” Somin stood off the window ledge and sat next to him on the edge of the bed.

Mark paused and pondered his words. He still wasn’t quite sure if he was ready to tell Somin who he really was yet and he knew revealing too much about his dad would give away the fact that he was the king. “Well… he’s very controlling; always telling me what to do. Can you believe that? I’m twenty-four and he still wants to order me around.”

“Well, at least you still have one parent.”

“Not for very long. He’s actually dying. Some kind of illness.”

Somin frowned. “Your dad is dying and you’re not at his side?”

“You don’t understand the abuse I went through as a kid and still to this day. He was never a good person to me. It got worse after my mom died. It got to the point where he would use his powers against me.”

“Is that why you ran away from home?”

“It’s not the only reason,” Mark said. “He arranged a marriage for me.”

Somin’s eyes widened. “You’re engaged?”

“Technically, yes, but I don’t want to get married to someone I don’t love. I mean, yeah, she’s a princess and all, but, I want to marry for love.”

“A princess? You’re telling me your dad set you up with a princess and you refuse to marry her?” Somin stared at Mark in disbelief. “Are you dumb?”

“What? You would want to marry her if you were in my position?”

“Uh, yeah.” Somin nodded. “If I had the chance to be royal, I’d take it. If I had the chance to take the throne for Thyslao, I’d take it. There are so many things I want to change. Starting with getting rid of the border walls. The segregation of the lands is ridiculous. We don’t live in the dark ages anymore.” She looked at Mark with a smile. “Everyone lives in harmony in the Lost District. Why can’t they do it outside of that as well?”

Mark smiled softly at the thought. “You’re right. I think you’d make a great queen one day.”

Somin snorted and moved over to her side of the bed. “Yeah, right, that’s not going to happen. Unless you happen to be a prince.” She chuckled as she slid under the covers, laying in bed comfortably.

At first, Mark panicked. He didn’t want her to know he was a prince. But then the realization hit him and a huge smirk formed on his face. “You would marry me if I were a prince?” he said as he lay on the bed next to her.

Somin’s eyes flew open when she recalled her words and quickly shook her head. “Oh, my god. No. I just… That’s not what I meant.”

Mark laughed. “Do you like me, Somin?”

Somin pushed Mark’s shoulder, her cheeks tinted a bright pink. “Don’t be so full of yourself. I wouldn’t. I mean, you’re handsome and all, but… No, gross… I don’t like you. I mean, I like you but I don’t like like you.”

Mark chuckled as she struggled over her words. “What if I told you I am a prince? Would that change your answer?”

“Yeah, right, you a prince. You’re so full of . Now...drop this. Go to sleep.” Somin her side facing away from Mark and pulled the covers over her head.

Mark smiled and to his back. He peered at the ceiling for a long while before reaching for the lamp to turn it off.

‘It’s true though, Somin.’ he thought as he closed his eyes. ‘I am a prince.’