After a moment or so of silence between them, Kwon and Clara stood up and dusted the dirt off their knees. Clara refused to look at him. Kwon signed inwardly and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the graveyard.

“Where are we going?” She asked silently, still not looking at him.

He pulled her along gently, not answering, back to the house and left her by the door while he went into his room. He came back out with the violin case that the music shop owner gave him.

Clara looked at him confused. He grabbed her hand again and led her towards one of the squares in the Capitol. She watched him unpack and position the violin underneath his chin. He lifted the bow and it glided over the strings as he began a light airy tune.

She watched Kwon in awe. It never ceased to amaze her at what he could do. He continued to play the dancing tune and soon a small crowd surrounded him, with her front and center.

Kwon kept his eyes shut as he played. He knew if he looked at Clara he wouldn’t be able to look away while he played.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the crowd gawking at him. He was immediately confused and Clara noticed it. She looked around and saw that the people were recognizing him. Slowly but surely.

Acting quickly, she pulled his hood over his face.

“What are you doing?” He whispered to her.

“Hiding you. We’re not ready for the whole city to know that you’re the lost prince.”

“They don’t recognize me.” Even as he said it, he knew he was lying. “We haven’t even gone to see the king himself to clarify.”

“That won’t matter to them. There is a large reward out to get you back home. It has increased since you got older.” Clara said looking behind them at the confused faces of the crowd. They had all started to slowly disperse back into their own lives but a few still had that look from not too long ago.

“Keep your face covered until we go see the king tomorrow. I don’t want to deal with the people here about this just yet.” She said the last part softly and looked down at their feet.

Kwon watched her with steady eyes. He grabbed her chin lightly and made her look at him. Her eyes went wide but he didn’t care. He brought their faces closer to each other and right before their lips could make contact, they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Clara! Kwon!”

He groaned and let her go. Clara didn’t move for a moment. Her heart was pounding harshly in her chest. She was sure he could hear it because it was ringing throughout her ears.

Finally catching her breath, she looked to see that Kwon had already packed up the violin and was glaring at Seungri. Seungri was smirking at him, a chuckle tickling the back of his throat.

“Glad to see you two are doing well. I just came to see how you were.” Seungri was dressed head to toe in armor. His cape draped across his shoulders.

“We’re fine thank you.” Kwon said harshly. “Just doing some street performing seeing as we haven’t done so in a while.”

“I saw. But why did you stop after only one song?” Seungri looked at Clara as he asked this.

She blinked a few times before answering. “The look in some of the people’s eyes. Whatever spell or curse that was on everyone else for ten years seems to be wearing off. I didn’t want to cause any problems.”

Seungri’s eyes went wide before shutting them tightly.

“I think we need to have you meet the King and Queen tonight instead. I fear something bad will happen if we wait until tomorrow.”

“But we agreed to give us a day of rest.” Kwon protested. He wasn’t ready to be denied by the king. He wasn’t ready to accept what he could be.

“Kwon. It’s better this way. If we don’t get the King and Queen to know you’re still alive and not rotting in the ground somewhere, the kingdom will get taken over by your power hungry uncle.” Seungri stated.

“How do you know they’ll believe I’m their long lost son?” Clara could hear the tears he was trying to swallow. She went over to him and placed a hand on his arm gently.

“They’ll know. I’ve known for ten years by myself. Now that I have more people who can help me get you home, it really is better that you see them tonight.”

Kwon looked at her. He could see the sadness in her eyes but he knew that she wanted him to find his family first.

He sighed and looked at Seungri. Seungri was already smiling at him.

“I’ll take that as a yes then?”

Kwon nodded. “You’re coming with me right Clara?”

She gave him a weak smile but she nodded.

“Great! I’ll notify Youngbae immediately and will have a carriage sent to come get you tonight. It’ll be Daesung taking you.”

With that said, Seungri walked away from them and over to his horse that he had left. He climbed atop and galloped away.

~~~

Duke Choi sat in his chambers of his home and sorted through some documents that his brother wanted him to go through.

It annoyed him how great of a king his brother was. But he knew it was too late for him to get the crown. This is where his son came in handy.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

“Come in!” He said roughly.

The door opened and in walked in Daesung.

“Ah, you’re here.” He stood up and walked over to him as he closed the door.

“You called for me sir?” He smiled smugly at the young knight’s nervousness. He was an open book.

“So I hear that the Captain has called for an audience with the King and Queen this evening. Mind telling me why that is?” He put his hand on the knight’s shoulder and cast a small pain spell.

Daesung cried out in pain. “I don’t know!”

“Tsk, tsk. But you do know.” He increased the pain and Daesung screamed again. “You didn’t complete your task that was given to you. I should have known what with you being the prince’s childhood friend along with that weakling of a captain of yours.”

Daesung hissed at the pain.

“This is actually better though. I can finish off what both you and your father couldn’t. Let the King and Queen know that I will also be in attendance with my son.”

The Duke released Daesung and he had to catch his breath as he realized that he was no longer in pain. He looked up to see the Duke had gone back over to his desk and sat down, smiling to himself sinisterly.