Sungmin reached the smith shop in mere minutes. He wasn’t really sure if this was where Kyuhyun would be, but it was either this place, or back at their cottage. And as their cottage was quite far away from the main plaza, this place was more likely.

Sungmin slowly opened the door, and was about to call out to Kyuhyun so he knew he was here, but some bells attached to a hook right above the door did the job for him when the door hit the bells, making them jingle loudly.

“Kyuhyun? It’s me, Sungmin,” Sungmin said, hoping that the bells didn’t scare Kyuhyun off. But there were no sounds inside the shop, so he continued entering and closed the door behind him. The bells made some noise again as the door brushed past them on closing, and Sungmin really felt the urge to just pull the little bastards from that small hook of theirs and to melt them in some fire.

Instinctively, Sungmin walked through the shop towards the workplace, and found Kyuhyun sitting at a small worktable, head lowered on the table, with his arms neatly placed around to his head, willing to temporary pretend he was all alone in this world.

Sungmin walked over to the table, sat down next to his best friend and rubbed Kyuhyun’s back consolingly. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Kyuhyun could hear the concern in Sungmin’s voice. Not concern because Kyuhyun might be too upset to proceed with their plan later on, but because Kyuhyun was hurt. For a moment, Sungmin was an actual friend, and not some plan-must-succeed guru.

Look, Kyuhyun, I’m sorry, I just don’t feel the same way. Those words. They kept echoing through his mind. Jongwoon might not know, but he didn’t only turn down Kyuhyun, he had also doomed his father and himself.

Kyuhyun knew that Jongwoon turning him down was Aellon’s way of telling him to continue the plan his father had set up. He couldn’t back out anymore, the cards were played.

That probably hurt the most.

Not the actual turning down, but the fact that he now was supposed to not only hurt –read kill– the King and Jongwoon, but every single person’s life in Osis would be completely turned upside-down in a few hours from now. And all of that, just because Jongwoon didn’t return his feelings.

“Kyuhyun, he isn’t even worth crying over,” Sungmin whispered, as he did notice how Kyuhyun’s breath hitched every other minute. He continued to rub Kyuhyun’s back soothingly and with another hand held one of Kyuhyun’s hands to let him know that he was really there for him. Silence soon engulfed them, and Sungmin allowed the silence to be there. Kyuhyun would talk when he was ready for it.

“What’s the time?” Kyuhyun asked a mere ten minutes later. He had to stay focused. He had to keep his word to Aellon.

Sungmin, who wasn’t one of the rich people in Osis and therefore had no watch, made an estimated guess.

“Around ten thirty, I presume.”

That left them exactly one more hour.

“Can we just sit here for another thirty minutes, before proceeding with our plan?” Kyuhyun asked in a small voice, suddenly feeling a lot more upset than he thought he was, and Sungmin felt his heart break a little. Having just been turned down by someone you have really liked for the past 2 years, and being supposed to now kill that person must hurt. But Sungmin wondered what Kyuhyun would have done if Jongwoon did indeed have the same feelings for him. How do you kill someone who you are practically dating?

“Of course,” Sungmin replied, smiling encouragingly towards Kyuhyun who had been staring at him wonderingly, some tears evident on his cheeks. Sungmin reached out to wipe away the tears, and Kyuhyun then slowly returned to his former position, facing the table and trying to block the reality out by using his arms.

‘Thirty more minutes, Cho Kyuhyun. Then pull yourself together and continue your duty,’ he said to himself, and he sighed deeply as a few more tears escaped his eyes and fell down on the table. Damn Jongwoon, why don’t you feel the same way?

The King was outraged. No, he was more than outraged.

Jongwoon had done it again. That good-for-nothing was probably just brought into this world to mess with his father’s life. First his wife dies, and then Jongwoon turns out to be nothing but a freaking joker, whose mission is obviously to ruin the King’s reputation.

But in all those 23 horrible years, Jongwoon had never really messed with an important occasion like this. An occasion where Jongwoon had to be a role model for everyone in Osis, where he had to actually fulfill his duties as a prince. His father had had no worries for this evening, but somehow Jongwoon had just lowered his standards even more and had decided to just start an uproar in the middle of the crowd. And every single inhabitant of Osis was around. How dare he?

Using the microphone located on the stage, the King called out Jongwoon’s name with an angry tone, and Jongwoon and Sungmin instantly stopped yelling at each other. Everyone who had paid attention to the fighting pair in the middle instantly turned their gaze to the King, who authoritatively climbed down the stage and walked towards his son. He noticed Sungmin dashing off, but he didn’t care.

Jongwoon’s eyes spoke of suppressed fear, and weirdly enough, so did the eyes of Ryeowook, who the King knew was Jongwoon’s best friend. Did Jongwoon tell the boy what happened behind closed doors? Probably not, Jongwoon cared about his reputation, much like his father.

Without a word he grabbed Jongwoon harshly by his arm; Jongwoon instantly started to mutter for forgiveness, but it did nothing to the King. He pulled him towards the prisons again, which were located closer to the plaza than their home; the palace.

No one seemed to be following them, and no one probably knew where they were really heading to. Everyone probably assumed they were just heading to a more private place to have a little father-to-son chat, but they couldn’t be more off.

“Father, I’m sorry!” Jongwoon exclaimed, as they were far enough from the crowd, but his father didn’t release him until they arrived at the punishment corner of the prison. The King pushed him forward, secretly hoping that Jongwoon would fall down onto the tiles, but Jongwoon managed to stay upright and stared at his father in both anger and anxiety. “I really didn’t mean for this to happen!”

“You should have thought of that before all of this happened,” his father replied coldly, reaching out for the whip on his right, and anxiety and fear soon replaced every little bit of anger that had been left in Jongwoon’s system.

“Father, please. I will apologize to everyone,” Jongwoon begged, falling onto his knees and staring at his father in pure horror, who couldn’t care less.

“Shirt,” he said in reply, gesturing for Jongwoon to take off his shirt so he could proceed with the punishment and return to the plaza in time to give the ending speech like he was ought to do.

Jongwoon reluctantly stood up and complied, his hands shaking as he took off his shirt. He then turned around to face the wall, thinking that maybe it was better to just get it over with fast.

“You are lucky we still have to go on stage later on, so I will be mild on you,” his father said, and Jongwoon smiled bitterly at the words. How lucky he was.

Jongwoon’s back was still red with earlier given lashes, and for a brief moment the King hesitated. But that hesitation disappeared mere seconds later as he remembered every little thing Jongwoon had done to him in the past 23 years.

Three lashes were given in total. Which remarkably felt a lot more painful than the seven Jongwoon had received earlier that day.

The first lash and his knees already gave up on him. He crumpled to the ground, leaned his arms and head against the wall in front of him, managing to not pass out instantly.

The second lash brought tears to his eyes, but he didn’t want to let them fall, as he didn’t want his father to see. Never in his life had he shown vulnerability in front of his father, and he won’t do so this time. Besides, these punishments were the only thing that showed him that his father still knew he was around and alive. These punishments were the only thing that made Jongwoon knew that his father still cared for him. Because hating someone shows that you actually care about someone. If the King really didn’t care about his son, he wouldn’t have taken the time to do him harm.

The third lash made Jongwoon’s vision go black. But just for a few seconds. He begged Aellon to make his father stop, because he wouldn’t be able to stay conscious at a fourth lash, and as if Aellon had heard him, the King put down the lash and told Jongwoon to refresh himself at the well and to return to the plaza on time for the speech.

The King left, leaving Jongwoon all on his own, who was still trying desperately to not pass out right then and there. And as soon as the King had left, Ryeowook appeared from the other s