Jiyong was sleeping peacefully, his many blankets were pulled up to his chin and he was curled deep into the multiple pillows, lightly snoring. The room was dark, the shutters closed tightly against the damp sea breeze, and there was barely a sound that could be heard outside of the light crash of the waves against the shore. The large door on the far end of the room, opposite the bed, opens slowly to reveal a thin man in plain silver and white clothing.

He presses his back against the door to keep it open, and gently pulls at the handle of a silver cart to try and get it into the room as quietly as possible. Jiyong liked his breakfast, an assortment of fruit and thick pieces of bread and cheese, to be waiting at the table underneath his window for him to wake up. The man, a young servant by the name of Seungri, had been serving Jiyong for years and so knew that he must be as silent as possible. There were few things that the Prince hated more than being woken up, and it was in Seungri’s best interest that he not do so.

He pulls on the cart again, but it refuses to move. He looks down and sees that it has become caught on the rug leading into the room. Focused on his task, Seungri tugs harder, knowing that he needs to get the cart in and himself out as quickly as possible. The extra force causes the wheels of the cart to pop over the fold in the rug and land with a much louder than intended clang on the other side.

Seungri whips his head around to stare at the bed, hoping that the Prince is still sleeping. He can’t see much because of how dark it is in the room, but he can hear the rustling of the sheets as the Prince moves around. Seungri makes a face and tries to move as quickly and quietly as possible to the table. He stops the cart next to the table and is just turning around to leave when he hears the blankets shift on the bed.

“What are you doing?” Jiyong asks, his voice a sleep-riddled drawl of disdain. Seungri freezes where he is and turns his head to look at the bed.

“Dropping off your breakfast, like always.” Seungri says, and immediately regrets it as the Prince’s eyebrow shoots up, and his mouth turns down in a frown. “Sire! Dropping off your breakfast, sire. So that you could have it when you woke up.” Seungri winces, knowing that his voice had sounded unnatural.

Jiyong sighs and pushes the blankets off of himself, “Open the windows.” he says, waving his hand toward them before using it to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “What time is it?” He asks as he shoves his feet into a pair of slippers and shuffles his way over to the table.

“It’s just before sunrise” Seungri says, as he pulls open one of the shutters. Jiyong pauses, his hand on the lid of the platter, and looks up at Seungri. “Sire.” Seungri finishes quickly, moving on to the next window.

Jiyong sighs heavily and lifts the lid off of the platter; the sun had yet to rise and he was already annoyed with Seungri. His eyes flick over the food as he places the lid carefully to the side. He liked having a cold breakfast as it meant that it could be left for him and he wouldn’t have to see anybody until he was ready for the day. Though he craved it, Jiyong needed to prepare for social interaction. Eating his breakfast alone underneath the window gave him the chance to collect his ever-churning thoughts; unfortunately, this morning he was far too jarred to relax properly.

Seungri opens the window above Jiyong’s head and moves to stand in front of the table. “Is there anything I can get for you, sire?” he asks, even though Jiyong is busy staring out the window, rolling a grape between his fingers.

Jiyong smiles at how difficult it is for Seungri to spit out the last word, “Coffee,” he says, before turning to look at Seungri, a bright and excited look in his eye. “but put it in a container, I want to go out in my boat.” With that said, he pops the grape he had been playing with into his mouth and reaches for more fruit, effectively dismissing Seungri from his presence.

Seungri nods, bows, and moves away toward the door. Going out in the boat means more time with the Prince; more time with the Prince means verbal abuse. Seungri decides to make sure that the Prince’s dog, Gaho, is ready for the day. If the dog comes then the Prince is more likely to pay attention to it than to Seungri.

Jiyong stares out the window, each bite of his breakfast being taken absentmindedly as he considers the day; he should have told Seungri to get Gaho ready, but knowing the servant for as long as Jiyong had, he knew that Seungri would probably have already decided to fetch the dog in the off chance that its presence would detract from his many faults.

Jiyong smiles to himself and finishes off the rest of his food, wiping his hands lightly on a napkin before dabbing it delicately at his mouth. He sets the napkin down and walks to his wardrobe, opening it so that he can peruse his options for the day. He ruffles a hand through his hair, crinkling his nose as he turns to look at himself in a mirror. He would need to do something new with it soon; hanging just below his ears, he was tired of its uniformity. He ruffles it again and lets out a sigh, turning back to rummage through his clothing.

When Seungri returns a short half hour after departing, Jiyong is sitting at the breakfast table, fully-clothed and ready to go. Jiyong lifts his eyes when Seungri knocks at the door before opening it and moving inside.

“Everything is ready, sire! I’ve prepared Gaho and your coffee and they are both waiting for your arrival in the main hall. Jiyong smiles slightly before nodding and standing up. He walks out the door with a casual elegance that Seungri would swear that he must practice, and moves down the carpeted hallway toward the main staircase.

Seungri follows quickly behind him, making sure that the door to his room is closed before proceeding. They make it down to the main hall where one of the maids is holding onto Gaho’s leash. She bows and smiles prettily at him, and he nods at her, taking the leash from her hand and moving on toward the door. She frowns slightly and looks at Seungri as he collects the coffee from the tray next to her.

“He doesn’t even look.” She complains, a pout crossing her face. Seungri rolls his eyes, but still pats her on the shoulder comfortingly.

“You shouldn’t expect him to.”

“He looks at you!” She says quietly, aware that the Prince was waiting at the door.

“Yes, he looks at me so that he can see what I’m doing wrong.” He smiles at her reassuringly and moves quickly to motion for the guards to let them out of the castle. The doors slowly creak open and Jiyong starts forward.

“Took you long enough, Seungri.” Jiyong says, his eyes staring straight ahead. Seungri hurries to catch up and walk just behind the Prince.

“Yes, silly maid needed to be spoken to.” he says, and Jiyong laughs lightly.

Jiyong takes a deep breath and allows a smile to cross his face as he tilts his head back. “The sun is barely rising over the ocean.” He states, and Seungri just nods. “It is going to be a wonderful day, despite the unfortunate beginning.” Seungri nods again, his lips nervously and hoping that Jiyong soon forgets his early morning blunder.

The castle sits atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. One small path from the castle gate follows the cliff for a short while before sloping down and ending in a small cove where Jiyong’s own personal rowboat sits tied to an old and rundown dock. It takes the two men only a few minutes to reach the cove, where they can see the sun as it rises more fully above the water. Jiyong calls out his amazement at the sight, and Seungri happily agrees as they move onto the dock. Seungri grabs the oars from their hiding place behind a rock, and places them in the boat before helping Jiyong get Gaho situated.

“He’s been so good today. Haven’t you Gaho!” Jiyong says, holding the dog close to him and petting him affectionately.

“Yes, sire, not even so much as a growl so far.” Seungri returns as he slowly steps into the boat. Jiyong scowls at Seungri for making the boat rock more than he deemed necessary, and settles back into his seat. Seungri hands Jiyong his coffee, and starts to move the small boat away from the dock.

“Row carefully! You’re splashing me.” Jiyong complains, frowning deeply as he brushes small drops of water off of his red pants.

“It’s barely anything.” Seungri mutters, causing Jiyong to kick him roughly in the shin. Seungri lets out a small shout of pain and frowns.

“Keep rowing and don’t hit the rocks.” Jiyong says, nodding at the towering rocks around them. Seungri nods, a frown still on his face.

“I know where they are.” He says, a slight whine in his voice. He maneuvers the boat around the many rocks in the cove slowly. They come out close to the edge of the cove, where the ocean opens up into bright clear water and the rocks are further apart and less prevalent.

Jiyong was busy admiring the way the sunlight glistened off of the water, so Seungri slowly allowed the boat to come to a stop next to one of the last few giant rocks. Jiyong points out to the right of the boat and looks back to Seungri.

“That way.” He says, “So we can see the ocean away from the castle.” Seungri nods and is about to start moving when he hears a soft splash, followed by a much larger one. His eyes go wide as they register that Gaho is no longer in the boat.

Jiyong notices at the same time, and moves quickly to the left side of the boat, looking over the edge and calling for Gaho to come back.

“Gaho! Gaho come here boy!” He shouts frantically as he watches the dog paddling further away from him. He directs Seungri to start following the dog, and points to another rock not too far off that seemed to be where Gaho was swimming to.

Jiyong turns back to Seungri, wondering why he was taking so long to get the boat in motion. When he turns back, he notices that Gaho was swimming back toward them. He rakes his eyes over the scene in front of him, trying to figure out what it was that had made Gaho jump in. Suddenly, his eyes lock with those of another man whose head is floating just above the surface of the water. He can’t make out too many details, and curious to know more he leans forward, noting that the man has braided, black hair. He’s just about to alert Seungri to the man’s presence when his head dips down below the surface.

Jiyong blinks, and leans forward further, wondering if it had been a trick of the light; there was no way that the man could have just disappeared under the water like that, without a sound and without resurfacing within the visible area. Jiyong makes a frustrated noise and turns to find a rather wet Seungri trying to keep a similarly wet Gaho from jumping all over him. Jiyong files the mysterious man away to think about later, and pulls the oars over.

They were going to take a quick peek around the rock that Gaho had made a beeline for. Jiyong wonders briefly if Seungri can swim before smiling; he will find out soon enough.