Donghae had arrived in Esse on the footstep of Spring, with cool breeze kissing his steps and the sun warm and hugging his back.

It had reminded him of Nave, of the thousands of unchanging nights and days he had spent there in his childhood, and that may have fooled him into believing it would remained that way.

Oh how wrong he was.

Just as Spring had just packed up her bags and left them for the season, Summer came strolling with relentless fieriness and bone dry wind that the air right out of him.

Essein’s summer is sultry and oppressive, the kind of dry humidity that sticks to the skin like a fever he can’t sweat out. 

It’s the most uncomfortable combination of weather he had ever experience. Even Nave, for all her to torrential storms and searing summer, never gave birth to this kind of heat.

Donghae doesn’t know how anyone can live like this. He doesn’t know how he can live like this.

Death may have been more merciful answer than this kind of heat. Donghae may be slightly exaggerating because he wasn’t born here and didn’t have decades to get use to this hellfire of a weather but it doesn’t help that nobody has any sympathy for his situation, not his Wardrobe Master certainly. 

After another heated argument with his Wardrobe Master on the proper dressage of one of his station and Donghae yelling it’s “too goddamn hot” and “let me live already”, his Wardrobe Master had banished him from the room amidst violent protests from Donghae. His robes are heavy, thick, and hot. It’s like dragging an extra weight around and with no relief in sight. Clearly the Master of Wardrobe has no thought or consideration about the weather or Donghae’s sanity in mind.

Then, Donghae had attended his morning lessons with his Literature Teacher and within an hour into the lesson Donghae was getting increasingly distracted and twitchy in his seat and kept on pulling at his collar and the sleeves of his robe, she had kicked him out and called it a day.

Now, Donghae finds himself free from his early morning obligation but not free from the sun nor the unforgiving heat that swirl around him. He feels too much like a dry up fish on land. It makes him want to consider peeling off his skin just for a moment of a reprieve.

Bored, hot, and uncomfortable, Donghae doesn’t even have anyone he could bother or annoy with his malcontent. Eunhyuk is currently locked in heated battle with his cabinet members over the logistics of moving ten ton of water to the drought plagued villages up north of Dongu this morning, Jae is never there when Donghae needs him, and Jessica and Jackson are called away to assist the Yellow Guards with some mission that Donghae is not privy to but not without leaving an order for Donghae to stay out of trouble and not do anything unnecessary that would give them a headache later.

It says quite a lot about Donghae and his small social circle that when these four aren’t around, he’s left feeling alone and barren and with nothing to occupied his time. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling for him but it doesn’t make it any less unbearable.

So Donghae finds himself aimlessly wandering around Upper Palace, passing servants and guards all wearing a variety of inquisitive and puzzled looks in seeing the High Consort walk up and down the walkway with an absent and slightly miffed expression on his face, until he’s walking over a bridge next to an overhang waterfall. He peers over the handrail and down at the bottom of the waterfall and toward the pool beneath. He sees it, sitting there innocuously and realizes his answer is right there in front of him.

Donghae quickly takes his two attendants and a guard, his retinue is smaller than usual but no less annoying and a nagging insistent at his side, and rushes down toward the Lower Palace.

In what seemingly like miles and miles of twisting walkways, staircases, and bridges that littered Verinber, leading down from the Upper Palace to the lower mountainside of the Lower Palace, Donghae arrives at the end of one walkway situated just several feet from the waterfall but tucked close to the mountain enough that it isn’t as exposed as other area of the Lower Palace and in front of it is a lone island pavilion with no obvious connecting path toward it.

The end of the walkway provides no usual railings that bracket all the many walkways in Verinber but opens up toward island pavilion and Donghae without a single hesitation steps forward into the open water. His foot drops down a couple inches and touches the bottom of a stone pathway hidden just beneath, barely enough for the unkeen eyes to catch on at the secret passage. The island is nearly inaccessible and almost make the trip up to it not worth the exhausted energy but what made it an annoyance to others, which makes it perfect for Donghae’s current intention.

The water at his slippers as he takes a step forward toward the island pavilion. Whoever had designed this spot was not only genius but must had a michevious streak to them because this is so very fun and whimsical as Donghae imagines himself walking across water toward his destination.

He casts a quick glance back over his shoulders to see his retinue gingerly trailing behind him, careful of their steps because one slip and they’ll fall right into the plunge pool.

Donghae turns his focus back on himself and slowly navigates his way across, his step steady as it finds each stone and when his feet finally touch the marble floor, he smiles as though please with himself.

The pavilion is sparse and practically an empty space except a couple of benches and table to be use, clearly intended to be nothing more but as a private area for relaxation and escape. It’s one of Jae’s personal favorite spots in Verinber and Donghae can understand why. The small island pavilion, though small comparatively only to its massive counterpart that benchmarked Verinber, sits at the bottom of the one of smaller waterfalls, in a much calmer water that rarely get any traffic from the palace’s inhabitants and visitors. 

It’s quiet, private, and far too beautiful here with arching bridges and walkways that hang above them, connecting each independent pavilions and islands. There’s no windows or doors that block any of the picturesque view of the surrounding, it’s open and expressive and he has the entire place to himself to enjoy. The cool air around here, coming off from the waterfall, hits his skin in all the right way—icy and wet and just enough to remind him of the beaches in Nave, the closest thing to the ocean he’ll get around here.

Maybe this why they built Verinber on the backbone of the headwater of a river and right on top of the biggest waterfalls Donghae had ever seen. Nothing beats the heat like cooling off by the water, though Donghae doesn’t think this is exactly what they meant, he thinks a little whimsically as he starts to pull at the knot in his sash. 

“Your Highness, please wait!” Hine says loudly behind him just as Donghae was about to forgot that technically he wasn’t alone. At all. “You don’t have to do that!”

Donghae turns back and stares at them skeptically, as though to say, try me.

“We’ll prepare a bath for you,” Hine promises eagerly, as if he was a child and need to be constantly bribe to get him to do anything. “If you’re feeling the heat that much you can cool down in the bathhouse. It doesn’t necessary have to be here.”

Donghae frowns, thinking of the winding bridges and the long trek back to the bathhouse in his Phoenix Pavilion and removes his sash with haste. “How about no,” he says, dropping the sash on the intricate floor and starts to head toward the edge of the island that is facing the waterfall. Each steps he take, more and more layer of his clothes drop to the floor.

“You,” he hears the pointed word from Khori and looks back just in time to see Khori switching his entire focus onto the guardsman that was tasked to follow them, who looks like he rather be anywhere than here, and screeches at him, “leave now!”

“But,” the guardsman protests, looking torn between his duty and the horrifying consequence if he actually stay, “I can’t leave the High Consort unprotected.”

“Do you want to be penalize for seeing the covered High Consort’s skin?” Khori demands with a madden look in his eyes and the guard quickly beats a hasty retreat.

Hine has a handful of his discarded robes in her arms that she had picked from the floor and silently beseeches him with her eyes as though to convince him to change his mind, like that’s ever going to happen.

Donghae removes the cumbersome headdress, which is the more simpler than usual and doesn’t weight like a rock on his head, and places it on a bench beside him. The overhead sun slips into the pavilion, hitting the beads and gems of the headdress in an angle that cast light across the pavilion like streak of colors.

Khori takes a step forward when Donghae start to makes a move to pull the last of his robe off of him.

Donghae stops and glares at him to back down as he bend over to pick up the headdress again. “If you try to stop me, I’ll throw this in the water instead,” he threatens, holding the headdress carefully over the edge of railing and toward the water. 

Khori and Hine stare at each other in fear like Donghae had suggested he’s going to drown himself and them.

All he wanted was to take off some of his clothes and dipped his foot into the water and enjoy the cool air, but his attendants are all frankly quite dramatic and has a tendency to think the worst of him.  It’s not like he’s going to jump into the pool, honestly. His Decorum Teacher would skin his hide if he ever catch wind of Donghae even considering openly swimming in the one of the waterfall pools where he’ll be exposed to others eyes. 

“Everything you do, from your actions and very words, are reflection of the Regis, do you understand? You can’t afford to embarrassed His Majesty.”

They take a hasty step back and give him enough berth that Donghae place the headdress down again and takes off the last piece of garment off of him, his long skirt. With the last piece is removed, it’s like the entire weight of the world is gone from his shoulders. He never felt more lighter or freer than right now when he’s almost on his way to —which he’ll admit thinking back was a foreshadowing of things to come if there ever was one.

With no robes and headdress to weigh him down, Donghae easily climbs over the railing and lands on a stone ledge that’s just big enough for person to stand on much to the gasping horror of his attendants.

With only his undershirt and pants on, he feels the brisk breeze conjured up by the distance waterfall tickling at his skin and Donghae is as close to being alive or closer to death than any other moment in his life.

Donghae kicks off his slipper to the side of the ledge and dips his foot into the cool water, immediately the chilly cold water runs up his spine and he shivers from the intensity and sudden change of temperate. But it’s a happy feeling and he sinks deeper down till both his calves is soaking wet and he’s sitting on the ledge.

“Please don’t take off your shirt, please don’t take off your shirt, please, please, please don’t do it, Your Highness,” her hears Khori begging behind him.

He scoffs, it isn’t like he intended to that anyway but the way Khori pleaded for him like that sounded much like he had rather skewered his eyes that see Donghae’s chest. He can’t help being slightly offended by that notion. He spent more than half his life bathing by the beaches in Nave and getting wet as possible, a shirt was a burden rather than a necessity over there.

Nave’s clothing option leans toward the bare minimum because it’s always nice and cool in the tropic water while Essein aren’t exactly restricted by their mores but by traditions that called upon the first year of the High Consort marriage to the Regis to Donghae in thick and nearly three layers robe on a good day.

“Your flesh and bones are only worthy for the gods and we mere mortal cannot hope to perceived it.”

Aggravating his attendants is a habit that Donghae come to like especially when they likely tell him no and Donghae can’t help doing the exact opposite of it, but mostly, he’s pained to admit, it’s out of spite that makes stand up and lifts his shirt over his head to the dying wails of his attendants.

He momentarily considers throwing the shirt into the water for the dramatic effect of it but even he’s not willing to go that far.

So he flings his shirt into the pavilion and Khori hastily catches with his hand and possibly looking down at it like he wants to be smother by it and die already to save himself from Donghae.

Like Donghae is letting him go out that easily.

Donghae thumbs the waistband of his pants playfully. “Should I get rid of my pants to match?” he teases and his attendants look two second from passing out in sheer panic.

He roll his eyes. “Oh honestly, like I’m—”

Khori’s eyes abruptly goes wide, nearly bulging out of his eyes socket and he makes a choked up noise as he stutters out a, “His-his Majesty!” pointedly to the back of Donghae’s head.

And Donghae swirls his head around, nearly stumbling over in his haste, where Khori’s eyes had caught the walking figures of the the Regis—Donghae’s husband, who was supposed to be locked up in his chamber right now arguing the semantics of water usage—and the entire contingency of the Regis’ personal guards and attendants that follow in his wake.

They’re standing on one of the passing bridges that sit parallel to the pavilion and with only twenty feet of open water between them, close enough that Donghae can make the detail embroidery of Eunhyuk’s outer robe--which also mean it provide an obvious and unobtrusive view of Donghae and all his half glory.

Eunhyuk and his retinue pull to a stop at the commotion from Donghae’s direction and Donghae feels heat all over his exposed skin as he finds himself the focus of what feel like a hundred pair of eyes on him. “Um,” he says into shock and frozen faces of Eunhyuk and his Cabinet Ministers. Some of their jaw dropped, others loudly whispering over each other, and most just remained silent as they try to comprehend at the image Donghae had painted in front of them.

The heat that rush to Donghae’s head right now is not because of the searing sun above them, but the red hot burning embarrassment of being caught half- and just about to remove his pants in front of high ranking members of the Imperium and what seem to be a third of of the servants in Verinber.

He hear the scrambling of Khori and Hine, trying to recover Donghae’s already damaged dignity and save him from himself but Donghae doesn’t even have a second to comprehend their action and does the only thing he could think of, he jumps right into the water to escape.

The exact thing he told himself he wouldn’t do.

But just before he had hit the water, he caught sight of Eunhyuk bending over, his shoulders trembling and the raucous laughter that follow afterward.

a/n: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING!!!!! it's super late but what can i say my life can be define by a series of tardy. im the kind of person that love someone so much that i tend to embarrass them quite a lot when i show them my affection AND NOTHING IS MORE EMBARRASING THAN YA KNOW GETTING CAUGHT STRIPPING BY YOUR HUSBAND, HIGH RANKING MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT, AND A PLETHORA OF SERVANTS THAT ARE ALL JUDGING YOU RIGHT NOW. oh donghae lololol. anyway this is an outtake of cd which means it didn't make it to the original cut bc time line wise it doesn't fit :/// BUT I LOVE THIS SO SO MUUUUUUUUCH.