Sehun was smiling. Someone trusted him with something. His oldest hyung no less. And he was more than ready to deliver.

The night before Minseok had woken him up to tell him he was leaving, to make sure that everything was in order for the next day.

Sehun was sad that his hyung would miss out on all of the fun, and heck, just a bit disappointed that his future sister in law had suddenly become his jilted ex future sister in law. But hey, he would still have a whole lot of amusement.

It had been weeks since he had started to uncover the truth. Now it was a complete picture ready to be wrapped up neatly and handed over to his Father. Soo Man, it seemed, would find his end this day.

Sehun had told Minseok of it only a few days before, he had waited until he had what he thought was enough evidence. That was when Minseok told him about his missing memories, and the puzzle pieces began to fit together. It still had some gaping holes of motivation, until Minseok had remembered on his own. Now the picture was complete.

Sehun whistled as he walked towards his father’s chambers, envelope in hand. What a nice day for a wedding, he thought. Or a funeral.

***

Princess Nauen was all jitters as Eun Ji helped her prepare her wedding outfit. It was the day, Nauen thought, the day she would become a wife. The problem was she did not really want to become Minseok’s wife. Her mind had taken a rather singular route of late, and that route pointed towards someone named Taemin.

He was in her dreams, he was in her waking moments when she had a free second to stare off into space. And he was most certainly in her heart. She was not sure when it had happened but he had become something like an obsession for her.

She had seen him a few times after the “kidnapping”. He was definitely on the palace payroll along with his friends. He smiled that smile at her when no one was looking, the smile that made her heart melt.

She sighed heavily.

“What is wrong?” Eun Ji asked, fixing a pin into Nauen’s hair.

“Nothing” Nauen hated not being able to tell Eun Ji about her feelings.

“You like someone, don’t you?”

Nauen snapped her head back and stared at her maid in alarm.

“Yep. I know the look. Spill it.”

Nauen was taken aback. Spill it? On her wedding day?

“Okay, don’t tell me. You are going to marry Minseok either way. Wouldn’t it be better to tell me what is going on? If you do I will share a secret.” Eun Ji smiled, crooking the side of .

“You first.” Nauen said.

“I am dating Prince Joon Myun”

“WHAT?!”

Nauen didn’t mean to shout but she did.

Her maid just smiled. It was a long story, one that she would have to share with Nauen another time.

“Now you.”

Nauen took a deep breath.

“I like a gangster.”

“Is that it?” Eun Ji laughed.

Nauen was convinced she had the most wonderfully perplexing attendant in all of history.

***

Luhan was drunk. Very drunk. He had been back in China for less than a day and the first thing he had done was find a good quantity of booze and proceed to drink himself silly.

“Heeee is probably already married” Luhan slurred, pointing a lopsided finger at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol sighed. So it was back to the self-destructive behavior.

“Yep. And you are going to drink yourself to death.” Chanyeol grabbed the bottle from Luhan’s hand. The two of them were sitting in a lowlight room, the VIP section of Luhan’s favorite club. The place was deserted at that time of day, save Luhan and his servants and bodyguards.

“Give it back.”

“Make me” Chanyeol had enough of his sh*t.

“You f-ing….” Luhan tried to stand but fell down, stumbling in his intoxicated state.

Chanyeol groaned. How long before he would pass out?

The door to the VIP area was thrown open. Chanyeol jumped at the sound of the glass door hitting the vinyl walls. Luhan bobbed his head, trying to comprehend where the sound came from.

“Who the f is that?” Luhan fell back on his knees, trying with all of his drunken might to see who had opened the door.

“Luhan?”

Drunk or not, he knew that voice. It was Minseok.

“Did you run away from your wife?” Luhan spit out the words, his head falling back.

“I don’t have a wife.” Minseok answered, nearing Luhan’s drunken form. Chanyeol took the hint and exited the room.

“Whaaaat?” Damn, Luhan thought, the world was so blurry.

Minseok was there, pulling him up.

“Minnnnn” Luhan was so drunk, so very drunk.

“I don’t have a wife”

The next thing Luhan knew Minseok was kissing him. Damn, of all times why did he have to be drunk?

***

Nauen had been stood up. Completely and totally stood up for the entire world to see. There would be no royal wedding that day, or any day judging by what she had learned. Minseok had left during the night, flying to China. For Luhan no doubt.

“Are you mad my little one?” Sehun ruffled her hair.

Of course he had found her after the news broke, after the political implications began rearing their head. None of that was her concern, she was a bargaining chip after all.

Nauen moved away from Sehun’s hand. One thing she was happy about was not having him for a brother in law.

“I guess a little”

“I’ll marry you.” Sehun smiled. He would never in a million years marry her, but he did what he could to make her feel better.

“No thank you.” Nauen sighed heavily. “I guess I get to go back to China soon.”

“Yep. And I have a surprise for you.” Sehun said it so casually that Nauen had to look at him twice to see if he was joking. A surprise via Sehun scared her.

“I got you a new bodyguard. Hired and approved.”

Nauen’s heart skipped a beat.

“A new bodyguard?”

“Yep. He’s outside if you want to meet him. Yixing gave his blessing. Zitao too. It tis official.”

Nauen eyed the door pensively. She apprehensively opened it, knowing Sehun was watching her every move.

“At your service your highness”

Nauen had lost a husband but gained a dream. Taemin was bowing in front of her.

“I heard you pay well.” He lifted his head and smiled that wide smile. Nauen was suddenly extremely relieved her wedding had been called off.

***

It was a good five hours before Luhan woke up. His head was pounding. He was in a room he did not recognize. Some kind of hotel maybe? He squinted, adjusting his eyes to the light.

“Are you awake?”

It was not a hallucination. Minseok was there, sitting in a chair across the room from him.

“Why are you here?” Luhan was beyond confused.

“For you.”

“What about the wedding, what about-“

“I remembered.” Minseok stood up and moved towards the bed, “Lu, I remembered.”

Luhan felt terror course through him. So he knew about the attack?

“It wasn’t you. It was Soo Man.”

“What?”

“I will tell you. All of it.”

Luhan was ready. The truth had finally been set free.

***

The international incident that could very well have been a result of a broken engagement never happened. After the King of Korea was faced with the truth- that Soo Man had systematically been embezzling large sums of money from the royal coffers- he felt nothing but guilt towards his son.

Nine years ago Soo Man had told the King that Minseok found out a truth, a truth that the King wanted to keep buried. It seemed that the King had been having an affair with Soo Man for years, it was a well-kept secret. Soo Man told him Minseok had found out and been ready to tell the world. So the King had told Soo Man to stop Minseok from talking, take care of it. He had no idea what had really occurred, that Soo Man had done such a hideous thing to his son.

When his youngest son had confronted him with the evidence, the King was broken. It was all he could do to fire Soo Man. If he had the ability to kill the man he would have, even if he had once loved him.

The Emperor of China, who by all rights had every reason to be furious at the Korean Royal Family, let the major slight go. Mainly because he saw something he had not witnessed in almost a decade – Luhan was happy.

It was the day that the wedding was supposed to take place that Prince Minseok met the Emperor. It was Minseok that told him why he was there, it was Minseok that got down on his knees and begged for his mercy. It was Minseok that bold face and honestly admitted he loved Luhan. That he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him.

It was the day after the wedding was supposed to take place that the Emperor handed down his verdict on the events. The Koreans were not to blame, Minseok was to blame. And Minseok it seemed, made his son very happy. It was an easy decision, he knew what he had to do.