Byul had a good idea to her question of whether Dahae gongju liked Baekhyun back, later in the day.

The EXO-K visited Dahae at her quarters out of courtesy and politeness since she just returned to the Palace. They found Baekhyun faithfully taking his place beside Dahae every single time and found it a little old.

"Hello Dahae." Suho waved good-naturedly, elbowing Sehun who slumped as they walked in. Sehun faked a smile and quickly let his facial expression grow slack again.

Dahae smiled at them. "Annyeong." her eyes searched the group and fell accurately and quickly on the guy she was looking for.

She jumped up from her seat and her face lit up brightly, brilliantly. "Chanyeol-gun!" Dahae beamed and bounded towards Chanyeol.

Byul blinked in surprise.

Chanyeol looked resigned as he returned his attention to Dahae, sighing. "Hey Dahae." he muttered.

Dahae smiled brilliantly as she walked up to him. "I missed you, Chanyeol-gun!" she exclaimed.

D.O. made a gagging noise and Dahae quickly smiled at the rest of the EXO-K princes. "I missed you guys too." she quickly added.

Chanyeol smiled awkwardly. "Ahehe...didn't think you'd remember me Dahae. It's been quite a long time since you left."

"Too long!" Dahae pouted cutely. "I wanted to return earlier but Abeoji wouldn't let me." she shrugged and smiled at Chanyeol. "But at least I'm here now hm?"

Chanyeol nodded stiffly and threw an exasperated glance at his hyung, and somewhat apologetic. Baekhyun sighed, lowering his gaze to the ground.

Man, he waited years for her to get back to the Palace. And now that she finally did, her heart hasn't changed one bit?

Byul looked at the exchange curiously, wondering what this was about. Was this some sort of love triangle?

Baekhyun liked Dahae, and Dahae seemed to like Chanyeol. How terrible! Especially when Chanyeol was Baekhyun's younger cousin.

But did Chanyeol like Dahae back? From what Byul saw, Chanyeol looked highly uncomfortable in Dahae's companion and it didn't take a genius to figure it out.

Byul smiled. *Of course Chanyeol-gun wouldn't fight his hyung for the same girl. He's nice like that.*

Kai yawned and stretched, looking at Dahae, bored. "So are we going to stand here and see you fuss over Chanyeol hyung or are we going somewhere with shade from this terrible sun?" he asked sarcastically.

Dahae detached herself from Chanyeol reluctantly. "Let's get into my quarters. I have presents for everyone!" she announced.

She smiled at Chanyeol and tugged on his arm, pulling him in. The other princes followed them in, Baekhyun trailing in last.

Byul glanced at Baekhyun and saw him looking annoyed, frustrated. He saw Byul looking and stuck his tongue out childishly, stomping inside.

All signs of sympathy dissipated and Byul rolled her eyes. *Pffft.*

"So what did you do when you were out there, Dahae?" Suho asked, facilitating conversation just like he should as the eldest.

Kai wasn't bothering showing interest in the conversation like the cool guy he was, and Sehun had no qualms about showing Dahae how he didn't really favor her compared to Byul.

"Oh, just go around the orphanages and help those poor fatherless and motherless kids." Dahae told them expressively, her voice overwhelming with emotion. "And I went to the poor and helped them as best as I could, giving all that I can."

"And you had spare taels to buy these huh." Kai played with her pearl earrings that were hung on a small exquisite rack.

Dahae whipped her head to look at him and pinked. "Ahh...some of them wouldn't accept the help, of course." she reddened. "Hehe...stubborn."

Sehun blew a raspberry. "I bet if it was up to Byul noona, she'd do much more." he beamed at Byul sweetly, his favorite noona. "Noona would protect them from bullies as well and kick the bullies' asses!"

Byul shook her head in amusement. Chanyeol looked over at Byul and bit back a smile. To be honest, he could totally imagine what Sehun just described.

Anxious to get conversation back to herself, Dahae spoke again. "Well that's not what I did of course." she exclaimed. "I uh...raised funds to build schools and shelters for the poor." she told them convincingly.

Baekhyun smiled dreamily at her. "You've always been kind, Dahae."

Dahae grinned, a tiny bit smugness in her eyes but her voice didn't give it away. "Aww no Jeonha, it's all worth it." she said kindly.

"But I heard from my maid that she saw you shopping around the branded retail shops when she went back to her hometown to visit." D.O. protested. "She said she saw you buying clothes and makeup and accessories every day."

Dahae pinked. She fiddled her fingers and looked over at Baekhyun desperately.

Baekhyun caught the look and frowned at D.O. "Don't sprout nonsense D.O-gun." he shook his head in disapproval. "Dahae wouldn't lie. She'd have done those things she talked about." he defended.

Byul wanted to scoff but she didn't know Dahae enough to support D.O.'s theory either. She wasn't ready to jump to conclusions so quickly either. And Dahae had been rather nice to her, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the obvious dislike between Baekhyun and her.

Sehun pouted but kept his mouth shut. Kai completely fell asleep. Suho tried hard to keep his attention on the conversation. D.O. looked dejected that Baekhyun didn't believe him.

And Chanyeol, he felt the worst because just then the girl who caught his hyung's heart decided to turn her attention to him once again. He felt Baekhyun's gaze on them and could only sigh apologetically.

He couldn't control who Dahae liked. If he had a choice, he didn't want it to be him, ever.

Baekhyun slumped as he went back to his quarters late at night.

He was completely crestfallen, dejected, angry even.

He had invested time, emotions, hopes in this. He really really liked Dahae and even hoped to make her his Queen.

When she didn't seem to like him back three years ago Baekhyun decided to wait. But after these years, Dahae returned and her heart hadn't changed, just like his.

He was still in love with the girl who fell for his dongsaeng. He forgot how many times Chanyeol apologized about it, and he knew Chanyeol would never fall for Dahae.

But somehow he didn't know why he still felt inferior and bursting with frustration. Three goddamn years and she hadn't changed. Damn.

Byul sighed at his fallen expression. As much as she detested him, she didn't want to see him so sad either.

"Yah Ddong-ha." she nudged him.

"What?"Baekhyun snapped.

Byul made a face. "You like that Dahae gongju don't you?" she asked. "I can see it."

Baekhyun didn't bother denying. "Yeah, so what?"

Byul took a deep breath. She wasn't good in this type of prep talk thing, but she hoped it'd work.

"Well, it's obvious Dahae gongju likes Chanyeol-gun instead of you," Byul told him. "With the way her eyes light up at the mention of him and how she sticks to him like glue, but what I think is that if you try hard enough you may-"

"ENOUGH!" Baekhyun hollered. He hadn't been listening after her sentence of "it's obvious Dahae gongju likes Chanyeol-gun."

He glared at Byul intensely, more furious than he had ever been. "Yes I like her. And yes she does like Yeol." he hissed. "Are you such a to be laughing about it in my face right now, Han Eunbyul?"

Byul's jaw dropped. "Wait, I was just going to-"

"I don't care what you're about to do!" Baekhyun stormed into his room. "Just don't bother me!"

He slammed the door.

Byul swallowed hard, blinking for a bit. "He's....angry for real." she murmured. She buried her face in her hands. "Aigoo Han Eunbyul what have you done? You can't even give a prep talk properly!"