Hansol found it very difficult to sleep that night, falling into dreams of Byungjoo and his ‘greatness,’ with all of the kingdom bowing to him, instead of the royal family. He also had dreams of terrible things happening on the journey, such as bandits and monsters. Finally, he gave up and got up. He wasn’t getting any rest, anyway. Walking into the sitting room, he noticed the leader of their operation, Sehyuk, sitting on one of the couches. He was looking over papers, and they looked to be important. 

Sehyuk smiled at him, motioning to the seat next to him. “Have a seat, Prince. I was just going over our traveling plans. What are you doing up so early? I would be sleeping, if I didn’t need to take care of all of this before we go.”

Hansol smiled back at him. “That doesn’t look like fun. I’m sorry.” Sehyuk was the viscount, and Hansol had known him for a long time. He was a good friend to Hansol, and he was glad he was most likely going. He just had to check for certain. “Sehyuk, will you be going with us on this…conquest?” 

Sehyuk nodded, engrossed in his paperwork again. “Yes, I will. You’ll need someone to keep everyone in line, right?” 

Hansol frowned, knowing that Sehyuk was targeting him specifically. “Yeah. You’re good at that. Don’t worry about me. I’ll ignore the precious Byungjoo. Since he’s going, I’ll work with him. That doesn’t mean I’ll get along with him, though. Please don’t force me to.”

Sehyuk sighed, tired of the drama already. “You know, he’s really not too bad. Maybe you should give him a chance.”

Hansol gave him an exasperated look. “I said don’t push it. I’ll work with him, okay?” He didn’t  usually snap at Sehyuk, but this was an exception. 

Sehyuk didn’t even look up at him, that time. Hansol wasn’t going to listen to reason, so he would simply leave the situation alone for now. “We leave in three hours. You should go get some more sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”

Hansol chuckled at Sehyuk. The viscount had just told him off, and there was nothing he could do about it. Smiling, he turned and walked back into his bedroom and began packing his things. He was too wound up to go to sleep. 

Hansol had just finished packing and was carrying his bag out to th