Taemin slammed his fist against the door once more, commanding the royal nurses to release him from solitary confinement. They'd locked him in his room    with permission from Princess Sunny     after his continuous demands to see Minho resulted in violence towards them. They didn't get a chance to examine him, thank goodness, but everyone was still convinced that he'd been brainwashed while he was being held captive, which wouldn't help the thieves' case in the long run. He thought that maybe if he told his family that he was in love with his own kidnapper then perhaps they'd let the thieves off easy.... but then he remembered Woobin. That filthy piece of scum. Most likely, he'd just convince his parents that he'd caught some sort of disease or something.

"Please be alright, Minho." he whispered, burying his face into his hands as he dropped to his bed in defeat.

Suddenly, there was a frantic knocking at his door, and before the Prince had time to ask who was there his mother came bursting through it, eyes welled up with tears as she engulfed her son in a bone-crushing hug.

"Taemin! Oh thank goodness, you're alright!" she cried. "I'm so sorry they did this to you! I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you. We were so worried about you!"

"Mother?" Taemin couldn't help but chuckle at her dramatic entrance. "I'm fine, see? Nothing happened. Please don't feel bad." he placed her face in his hands. She looked as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Did they hurt you anywhere? Starve you? Work you to death?" she spewed out random questions for him. "And what are you wearing?" she directed this to the dull peasant clothing that consisted of brown trousers and faded white shirt.

Technically, they did do all of those things to him, but Taemin decided to keep that to himself to avoid getting the thieves into anymore trouble. "No, mother they just locked me up all day." he spoke casually. "And they gave me a change of clothes so I wouldn't have to suffer in that tight monkey suit you dressed me in for the ball."

"My poor son." the Queen whispered and pulled him in for another hug. Taemin loved his mother to death, but if he could change anything about her it would be her tendency to overreact about everything.

"Mother please, you have to listen to me!" Taemin piped up, face still buried in the Queen's shoulder.

"What is it, dear?" she parted from the hug and gently his hair.

"Tell father to release those thieves immediately. They don't deserve to be treated like criminals. They saved my life!"

Her expression instantly changed from sad to shocked. "What? What do you mean, dear?"

"I don't think father is aware of this, but someone is out to take over the kingdom. They took me from my original kidnappers and tried to kill me. Had they not shown up on time I would've drowned. I owe them my life, mother. Please just let them go. Banish them if you have to but I won't allow them to rot in prison or worse....be executed."

"Well I'm glad you're alright now." she her son's cheek affectionately. "But are you sure these people are worth saving?"

"Yes, mother. Please respect my judgement of them. It seems like you're the only one around here who's not deaf to my orders."

"Well then....I'll alert your father of this immediately. I can't promise anything but I'm sure he'll understand knowing it's coming from you."

"Thank you." the Prince sighed in relief, glad that someone around here was still sane.

The Queen nodded and offered her son a smile before standing up to leave. "Just stay in your room for now dear, while I sort things out, alright?"

"Alright."

She then gracefully exited the Prince's room, shooting her son one last reassuring smile before shutting the door completely. The Queen then hastily marched down the corridor towards her husband's study to deliver the news to her family.

She burst through the golden colored double doors and was greeted by her husband, her daughter, and her soon to be son-in-law.

"How is he?" the King asked, shooting up from his desk chair. The two other in the room followed.

"He's acting perfectly normal if you ask me," the Queen stated, marching towards the couch to take a seat next to her daughter so she could finish her analysis comfortably. "But he did tell me something peculiar..."

"What is it, darling?" the King sat back down after hearing that his son was unharmed.

She paused before answering to sip her tea that the maid had poured for her. "He was saying something about an uprising in the kingdom. Someone took him from his original kidnappers and attempted to kill him, apparently."

"Really?" Sunny asked, clinging onto Woobin's shoulder for comfort.

"Yes."

The King bent forward and sat his elbows on his desk, rubbing his face with his palms. "Just another thing to worry about."

"Taemin also wanted to ask for the thieves' release, dear." the Queen continued. "They were the ones who saved his life."

"Did they?"

"Your highness, with all due respect to you and your family," Woobin began. "I don't believe that what Prince Taemin is saying is true. These thieves are known to be merciless; evil, rude, cunning. They only saved your son's life so that they could get their ransom money. There was no sincerity in his rescue and it was all for their own selfish desires! They deserve to be punished for their crimes!"

The King his beard in thought. "You have a point, Woobin."

"Thank you, your majesty. Now I suggest that these thieves be executed immediately so that we may rid our kingdom of its greatest evil once and for all." Woobin declared.

"But Taemin's words seemed so sincere." the Queen argued.

"Mother, you know Taemin. He's kind and compassionate, but he's also naive and innocent." Sunny defended her lover's stance.

The King grunted to gather everyone's attention and stood up from his chair. "It's settled then. I'll order someone to organize the execution immediately."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Minho continued to pull on the chains that were locked around his wrists, holding his arms up above his head and attached him to the dungeon wall. Jonghyun, Key, and Onew sat beside him, wise enough to quit struggling and sat still, silently enduring the pain they all felt burning in their upper arms. Armed soldiers stood outside their cell, ready to attack if any of them attempted to escape.

", this hurts." Jonghyun complained in a soft whisper, not wanting the guards to hear.  "And it's all thanks to that little boyfriend of yours, Minho." he spat.

"Excuse me?" Minho narrowed his eyes at his hyung.

"If he hadn't begged you to take him out so often and allowe