That afternoon, Kai returned to the palace alone while Taura decided to walk around the city. He voiced his concern saying someone should accompany her, but Taura refused. She wanted to be alone for awhile. The prince, still against it, decided to let her go alone but made her promise she’d return to the palace by sunset. She told him that she wouldn’t be staying in the palace tonight and that she’d pay Kyungsoo’s grandfather, Kyung Jin, a visit. He figured that’s what she had planned and let her go without another word.

            Kai actually needed some time to himself as well.

            All of the sudden events and plans from his father began to overwhelm the young prince. This trip around the kingdom with Taura and Sehun would be the first he’d travel without his father with him. He may be the future heir to the throne, but Kai still saw himself unprepared for the sudden burden of representing the royal family. He’d always been the one to watch his father in action, never realizing that the day for him to step up was sooner than he expected. It stressed him immensely on top of the worry of his engagement with Taura.

            He loved Taura like a sister, and appreciated the fact she was there as moral support for him, but he worried that her agreement to the engagement was only because she felt forced by the circumstances they were both under. From his point of view, arranged marriages were never a choice. It just came with the title. Even his engagement with Mira was arranged, but he grew to love her and now she was gone. In the back of his mind, he feared that the same thing would happen between him and Taura.

            Kai settled down at his desk in the small study. With his fingers pressed to his temples, he massaged his head in circular motions wanting to ease some of the strain. The prince shook his head as he scooted his chair closer to the desk in front of him when he noticed a small pile of papers at the end of the desk. Picking it up, he felt his heart skip a few beats seeing that on top of the pile was a picture of Mira and him at their first ball together. He flipped through the other pictures, all of them pertaining to him and Mira, and then looked over the few folded letters that were at the bottom of the stack.

            He set them down, thinking he had burned them all when he remembered Taura had taken the box first. Kai mentally thanked the girl for saving the things she did before placing the pictures and letters in his drawer. Kai smiled as he began to skim through the paperwork his father sent him to look over and sign.

*~*~*~*

            Sehun found himself in the middle of the city sitting at the edge of the fountain people watching. His