Despite the fact that Kyuhyun’s sudden shyness and the fact that he had even asked for Yesung advice, had somewhat caught Yesung off guard, the shorter male cannot help but voice the first thought that comes to mind.

“Why are you so fixated on her?” he has to know. His curiosity about Kyuhyun’s interest in Emma had peaked to the point where he could not hold back any longer. He tilts his head to the side, giving Kyuhyun a shameless puppy look, trying his best not to smile at how flustered Kyuhyun seemed.

“I…I don’t think you necessarily need to know that” the other boy replied, the annoyance in his voice evident. Yesung doesn’t let that dissuade him from saying,

But if you want my honest help then I should know the reason for your interest in this young lady? I refuse to give you any advice if you are going to use it to toy with her heart just to get her in bed”

The sudden appearance of pink of Kyuhyun’s cheek surprises Yesung.

“No, no, I would n-never…” the prince stutters, and then shakes his head, clearly angry at himself for sounding like a fool. With a determined stance he focuses solely on Yesung, holding the other boy’s gaze as he says, “I respect Emma and I deeply care for her. When we first met, I admit now, that she was bit…weary of my affections, but as time passed we both established a bond…I would even say we, we fell in love-“

Kyuhyun words cause Yesung to scoff. Was this not the same young man who had told Yesung justice was only in fairy tales? Did he honestly believe Yesung would feel compassionate about his sappy tale of love and bonds?

“So, she basically doesn’t want anything to do with you because of her evil bastard of a father, who-“

“Shut up!...Just, just shut up, okay? You do not know my father. You’ve had a sharp tongue about him ever since you got here. You must either be really stupid to disrespect the Overlord in front of his son, or…or you’re an idiot who believes too strongly in being a hero”

“Says the idiot who fell in love with a slave girl”

Kyuhyun’s snappish glare stops Yesung from continuing. He knew he was pushing his luck, but it felt so good to go one on one on equal ground. The two of them were practically on opposing sides and Yesung thought that it was about time he got to say his two-cents.

“You know. Any other person who spoke ill of the overlord is sent to be beheaded. You might want to think twice before you speak again because you are testing my patience”

From the way Kyuhyun folds his arms and stares blankly at him, Yesung knows that his words are indeed threatening and although he still feels a bit rebellious, he decides to hold his peace and calmly waits for Kyuhyun to speak first.

When a few more seconds of silence pass, Kyuhyun continues,

“Emma, she, she was not always a slave. I will not discuss our past with you but all I will say for now is that, she is feeling vulnerable about our…relationship and. And I need to show her, prove to her that what I feel is, it’s real, genuine…”

“And not because your psychotic father owns her and therefore she has to obey your every command?” Yesung blurted out.

“Seriously! I will sharpen the axe myself” Kyuhyun shouts, referring to Yesung’s beheading.

Deciding that he has already pushed his luck too far, Yesung pulls back on the insults.

“Fine, fine. If you really want to seduce…”

“No” Kyuhyun interrupts, “This is not about seduction. I wish, I wish to court her…”

Hm

-Well

A little stumped at Kyuhyun’s flustered appearance; Yesung quickly voices his first suggestion.

It is decided that they would head out to the Castle gardens a little after breakfast. Kyuhyun calls for the guards to Yesung back to the harem but Yesung is quick to beg the prince,

“Can I not be sent to my old room, please? I wish to change into something more comfortable than these…” he indicates to the scandalous harem attire. Thankfully Kyuhyun’s shirt covers most of it and he doesn’t have to worry about his posture or exposing too much skin.

However, he knows that if he does indeed go back to the harem, then he’d have to wear whatever ridiculous outfit Gerdava provided. And if he truly was going to help Kyuhyun pick flowers today then he’d rather have on something that wouldn’t expose his arse to the public whenever he decided to bend over.

Thinking it over, Kyuhyun agrees, and Yesung immediately sighs in relief. Thankful for the prince’s courtesy.

“Hm, take off my shirt before you go” the taller man states, eyeing Yesung in amusement.

Yesung clings to the shirt, bundling up some of the material in his fist as if afraid Kyuhyun would try to tear it off of him.

“Why? How am I supposed to walk through the halls without it?”

Kyuhyun pretends to scratch his chin, further irritating Yesung, “You’ll be wearing what you wore here last night”

“But-BUT THAT’S PRACTICALLY NOTHING!”

Kyuhyun sneers at him, “It’d serve as punishment for being such a to me all morning…and most of last night”

Yesung rolls his eyes, “Oh please! I am not going out there in broad daylight dressed like a…”

A few minutes later, after a fast scuffle with Kyuhyun, Yesung finds himself outside in the drafty hall. He regrettably fixes his bra, ensuring that he is tucked in properly. The morning air is cold against his skin, making it break out in goose bumps. Kyuhyun sticks his head out of the door and grins at Yesung,

“Meet me in the courtyard in 20 minutes. Take her to her old room” he pulls his head in, shutting the door. Yesung momentarily wishes the door had squeezed his little neck.

“Alright, you heard the prince. Let’s get moving sweet ”

Yesung groans inwardly but obeys.

Along the way he is caught off guard by a very handsy Choi, who opts to wrap an arm around Yesung’s waist, and then proceeds to sniff at his hair and neck. Yesung squirms until he is released.

“You stink like ” Choi states, screwing up his nose.

The general leans in, his breath hot and moist against the side of Yesung’s face, “How would you like to stink of my ?”

Unable to stop the retort that comes to his lips, Yesung snorts, “Ew. No”

However his words go unnoticed as Choi’s wolfish eyes greedily scan Yesung’s body from top to bottom.

“You are looking absolutely delicious today. That skirt, mm, it brings out your hips so beautifully. I can imagine them ripe with my children”

Yesung recoils backward, staring at Choi as if the other man had two heads. This man was insane…or clearly drinking all of the Overlord’s wine. Choi strides forward, hoping to fill the gap Yesung had created between them.

When the guard tries to intervene, informing Choi that the prince had set a deadline for the slave, Choi glares at them until they back off in fright.

With a smacking, wet kiss to Yesung’s nose, Choi declares,

“This is my future wife” he manhandles Yesung into a hug. Whispering in her ear, he says, “I will see you later, my love. Dream of me and I will make all your dreams come tr…ING HELL! SOMEBODY GRAB HIM!!” And with that Choi is off, running alongside a group of guards who are chasing after a slave, who Yesung briefly recognizes at the little thief Donghae.

‘Now I really need a bath’ he moans internally, annoyed that the prince’s guards had just stood there and allowed Choi to paw all over him as if he wasn’t one of Prince Kyuhyun’s precious harem girls. Did his new status mean nothing to them or General Choi?

Or did it mean that he was now a to all those in higher power?

He had assumed his new title would have at least prohibited General Choi from constantly flirting and or touching Yesung inappropriately.

But that didn’t seem to be the case.

When he returns to the slave dormitories he finds that nothing had changed. It is empty as all the other slaves are out and about doing their daily chores. His bed is still the way he had left it; however there is a noticeable chill in the sheets.

Bending on his knees, he reaches under his bed and quickly locates the medium sized box that most slaves kept under their beds for safe keeping.

Inside were the only pieces of clothing he owned at the moment and although they were torn and smelt like old cheese, he had never been so happy to wear them in his life.

He quickly stripped off the harem garments, sliding into the overly large, smelly dress that Lovelace had gotten for him.

A thought clicked, and as soon as he was finished dressing he ran out of the dormitory, bypassing the guards on his way. Thankfully they did not follow him.

He arrives, sweaty and panting, outside of the Castle’s main hall. The other slaves ignore him as they go about their duties but Yesung doesn’t waste them looking at them either, he’s too busy searching for Lovelace and Suzy.

Finally, he spots them, just near the back of the room. Lovelace pushes open a door behind them and allows Suzy to go through first. Yesung calls out to Lovelace, his voice being the loudest thing in the room. Lovelace looks up at the call of his name, and grins instantly upon seeing Yesung’s face.

They meet halfway, Lovelace throwing an arm around Yesung and pulling the younger man in for a brief but loving hug.

“You are okay! Thank the Gods!”

Yesung makes a show of sending his own grateful prayer to the heavens.

“YESUNG!” is all the warning he gets before Suzy barrels into him, her head thumping hard against his stomach as she clings to him.

“See Lovelace, he came back!” she informs the other man.

Yesung shakes his head at them, “Oh you two have such little faith in me. I told you I could do it. It wasn’t that bad” he says, trying to play it off cooly.

Lovelace rolls his eyes, “Yeah sure. As I didn’t see the way you practically pissed yourself when the guards started to take you away”

Suzy giggles. “Maybe that’s why the prince let him go. He wouldn’t want to play with Yesung if he stank of pee.”

Yesung raises any eyebrow at Lovelace, “Play with me?”

Lovelace snorts, “Well I wasn’t about to tell her that he wanted to…” he looks down at Suzy’s curious face, “put his c-o-c-k in y-o-u” he spells out in a hiss.

Suzy fusses a little at being left out and fortunately misses the way Yesung’s face reddens at Lovelace’s words.

“Lovelace is right Suzy. The prince just wanted a friend…to play with, and I was chosen”

Suzy nods, “Well, since he is a prince, I’m sure he has a lot of friends, right?” Yesung nods slowly, Suzy grins, “Then he doesn’t need to take you from me because you were my friend first!”

Stooping down to eye level, Yesung plants a gentle kiss on Suzy’s forehead, “That’s right. And we have to stick together, right?”

The little nods in confirmation, “Right!”

When Yesung glances up again, Lovelace is looking at him cautiously.

“So, so there was no playing last night right?”

Yesung rises from his position, “Well, they sent me to his room…to play, wearing this…cloth? It barely covered much” he leans in and whispers. “But no, there was no playing when I got there. The prince was….uninterested.”

Suzy pouts, “Why?”

“Because he is too grouchy to play so late at night”

“That’s true. Sometimes I feel like playing with Eliza all day but then when night comes we both get to sleepy to play” Suzy explains, her voice sad when she mentions Eliza, another young child from their village.

Yesung rubs her head, “We’ll see Eliza again…soon. And, and you can tell her about your time here”

Suddenly silently shy, Suzy just nods.

“I have to go. I’m helping the prince pick flowers” he informs them both.

Lovelace is the only one who seems interested, “Why?”

Yesung shrugs, “I am…helping him woo his love interest”

“Hm. And why would you be doing that?”

The flower picking starts off innocently enough. The gardens are large and border the east side of the castle. There are several beautiful plants that capture Yesung’s attention and he makes a point of suggesting each one to Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun is concentrating hard on his choices, not wanting to mismatch colors or pick flowers with imperfections.

“Do red and blue make a good combination for a bouquet?” he questions, holding up the two plants side by side for Yesung’s analysis.

“Uh…no…just, just choose what looks right to you. What do you think matches her personality, her beauty? If the colors captivate you in a way that remind you of her then you’d know you choose correctly” it’s a good think Kyuhyun can’t read minds or he’d know Yesung had just pulled all that bull out of his .

“What if she hates them?” Kyuhyun grumbles.

Yesung shrugs sheepishly, “Then you’d know that you at picking nice flowers”

The prince makes a frustrated, throaty sound and dashes the two flowers in his hand onto the garden floor.

“This is too hard! I thought you were supposed to be doing the picking! I mean, you’re a girl, shouldn’t you know what other girls like”

“Hey! I’m not an expert on Emma, I don’t know her like you do, so I thought it would be wise for you to choose seeing that you…”

“Oh shut up, Yesung” Kyuhyun mumbles, walking ahead of the other boy. He had eventually learned Yesung’s name, but he rarely used it, finding it funny to call Yesung ‘wrench’ or ‘idiot’ rather than his given name.

“Those daffodils look cute” Yesung comments softly, as they pass the plant. Kyuhyun doesn’t stop to look at them, continuing to stride confidently.

It is somewhere between Kyuhyun stopping to inspect some lilies and Yesung dropping dried leaves into the small pond, when he notices that they were standing a couple of feet away from the entry of the forest.

The idea hit him instantly.

He could escape.

He could make a run for it and escape into the forest.

Glancing at the distracted Kyuhyun, Yesung can only stare blankly as his mind races.

All it would take is for him to dash off in a great speed, stopping only when he was far, far away from Belmont.

He would have to return for Suzy.

They had to stick together. It would be a shame if he…

But he couldn’t let the opportunity slip by. If he could reach the border of another village, he could send for help for everyone!

His feet were moving before he could finish thinking things through. The thought of freedom being so close was too much. He ran over some of the garden’s precious flowers but he didn’t stop to consider them.

Behind him he could hear Kyuhyun’s surprised yell but he didn’t stop.

Penetrating the forest, diving past the trees, felt like a breath of fresh air!

He was in the forest, all that was left was to keep running.

Straight ahead.

Put some distance between himself and…

The body that tackles him onto the ground is heavy and heaving with deep breaths. Yesung struggles unhappily, a choked cry escaping his throat as he tries to escape the hold. He was almost free!

“Stop! S-stop fighting me you idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed! I should just leave you here to die” Kyuhyun gets off Yesung, pulling the other man roughly to his feet.

 Yesung pulls away, “I’d rather die here, than in captivity!” he hisses angrily.

Kyuhyun scoffs, “Are you stupid, you wrench? Or are you simply mad? This is, this is Wichita Crane, you moron!” at Yesung’s dumbfounded look, Kyuhyun continues, “It is an enchanted forest you nimwit! No one enters this place on foot or even unguarded”

Yesung pretends to look around with interest. Then while Kyuhyun is catching his breath, the crossdresser tries to make a run for it again. However, Kyuhyun’s reflexes are sharp and aware as if expecting Yesung to try such a thing again. He grabs Yesung by the arm and pushes him aside. The force is strong enough and causes Yesung to lose balance, tumbling over a thick root onto the forest ground.

“I have never met someone so stubborn. When my father is king, you will all be in his legion. Protected, safe…”

The look Yesung shoots Kyuhyun is one of pity.

“You are, really naïve if you believe that is supposed to make me feel better”

“Are you going to give me the whole speech about my father being a bastard again? Because I can have you hanged for that and for the fact that you just tried to run away”

Yesung stifles a sniff; the tears have been burning his at the corner of his eye since his escape had been cut short. He refuses to cry in front of Kyuhyun and swallows them back stubbornly.

Standing slowly, he faces Kyuhyun with stern eyes.

“Then take me back, your majesty” he gives a stiff bow.

A loud gasp is his answer. When he looks back up again, Kyuhyun is not looking at him, instead the prince has fixed wide eyes on something to the right.

Yesung looks over and is immediately taken a back.

The animal that is approaching is them appears to be a large, white horse. That is, if horse’s had a long, cone shape horn attached to their forehead.

“Is that…” Kyuhyun manages, standing stock still as the animal continues to step closer.

“A…I think it’s a unicorn” Yesung gulps, unable to take his eyes off of the stunning creature. When the unicorn reaches within a few feet of them, it pauses, bright gold eyes locked on Yesung’s face as it stares at him. He doesn’t move.

The Unicorn snorts, shaking its head unhappily.

Instead of coming straight forward toward Yesung, it cuts diagonally in Kyuhyun’s direction. The prince lets out a loud ‘meep’ when the animal nudges his torso with his snout. It doesn’t seem to be threatening him but the horn is deadly looking and it is being aimed unsafely at Kyuhyun. Finally the animal moves its head and instead begins to rub its body against Kyuhyun.

Yesung bursts out in laughter.

Kyuhyun blushes a deep shade of purple.

They both have heard stories about unicorns and their habits. It is said that unicorns are only attracted to those who are pure and innocent. And although Yesung wasn’t exactly a womanizer, he had lost most of his purity and innocence to a fellow villager named Isa.

It had been an awkward and unpleasant encounter but it had definitely sullied his purity.

Judging from the way the unicorn seemed to adore Kyuhyun, Yesung could only assume as to why.

“You’re still a ” he declares, pointing at Kyuhyun in shock, however, unable to stop laughing.

They are distracted momentarily by the sound of men shouting Kyuhyun’s name.

“How could a prince, with a harem full of…well three beautiful girls, still be a ?”

Kyuhyun tries to move away from the unicorn by it just snorts and presses against him once more,

“Just because my father authorizes that I keep women in my harem, doesn’t mean I want them. I-I am, I only wish to be with Emma and by saving myself I further prove to her my devotion to us being together”

“I heard most women like a man with experience”

Kyuhyun would’ve spit fire on him if he could, “Oh shut up you . I bet you’ve…”

“MY PRINCE!” the shout startles them.

A group of 5 men approach them quickly and Yesung manages to recognize the leader as Hyukjae.

“Kyuhyun, you are safe” Hyukjae smiles, even as one of the men in his group takes aim at the unicorn.

It happens to quickly that Hyukjae barely as time to react. The man fires an arrow at the unicorn, hitting it in the head. The shot is clean but a bit of aqua blue blood hits Kyuhyun in the face.

Hyukjae aims his own crossbow at the man, ordering him to put down his weapon.

“Are you stupid? You could’ve endangered the prince!”                Hyukjae yelled.

The guard doesn’t seem to like being yelled at and retorts, “He was already in danger. I practically saved him!”

Both Yesung and Kyuhyun tune them out, their attention focused on the innocent creature ling dead at their feet. Kyuhyun’s trembling hand grabs Yesung’s wrist.

“Come on. We need to get out of here”

Hyukjae and the others surround them as they walk briskly back to Belmont. Upon leaving the forest and returning into the garden, Kyuhyun pauses. He is still holding Yesung’s wrist and therefore the shorter man has no other choice but to stop as well.

Kyuhyun blinks several times against the ray of the sun.

“It’s really bright, I know”’ Yesung muses, “Just shield your eyes with your hand until we get to a shadier spot”

The grip on Yesung’s hand gets tighter.

“Yesung, I, I can’t see” Kyuhyun’s face swivels around sharply. Yesung tries to catch his eyes but they seem unfocused, as if not sure where to look. He spots the cerulean tint that is covering his pupil just as it fully embraces Kyuhyun’s iris, leaving his eye color to be a solid aqua blend. A sharp chill runs down Yesung’s spine.

“Oh my Gods, I-I think, I think I’m blind!”

~~