Episode seven:

Since they stepped into those beggars' retreat, the pretty boy never left the side of Yunho. All his attention was focused on the unconscious young man laying on the makeshift bed in this cold and humid room as he was sustaining all the other man's needs, making himself the main attraction of those poor people.

Everyone in this hideout knew about this beautiful boy and his sick companion. And most of them were always lurking near the room to look at this rare specimen displaying all his attentions toward the laying young man.

"You should rest." The man named Heechul said to the young boy, going through the group of young people who were agglutinated at the entrance of the room. He, then crouched next to the young boy and took the damp cloth from the boy's hand. However, Jaejoong snatched the cloth back and began to wipe the perspiration on Yunho's forehead softly with precaution, not letting anyone to look after his husband. "You know-"

"I do not trust you." The son of the white Yong cut the other man off. His voice was not friendly nor sternly. It was as if he did not care about the other man's existence. "As I know, you could plan on getting rid of us by any mean."

Heechul let out a soft laugh. This child boy was not anyone. His elegant posture showed them he was more a Prince than a commoner. And his way of thinking meant that he was always a step further away from them, guessing right their next moves with no fail. And he wasn't going to deny that he wanted to get rid of them. As the royal guard of his own Prince, he saw those three people as a menace to Park Yoochun. Even if he was aware of the threat Xiah could be, his duty was to protect the next heir of the house of Park of the Silla Kingdom, knowing that one day, the house of Kim was going to stand down from the throne to let the house of Park claiming what was their right on the Silla land.

"That's why you didn't eat until now." He said quietly. There was no poison in their food. But, the young man had thought of this eventuality for a while before renouncing to kill this child. If that boy was what he thought he was, Heechul was not going to let that boy walking in the Korean peninsula in peace and quiet.

"You did think about poisoning our food, didn't you?" Jaejoong replied as he turned to look at the effeminate man crouching at his right. "However, you seem to be aware of something. Or should I say of someone. And if you did poison our food, seeing that fake monk still on his feet, you should be aware of the fact that it would be difficult of you to get rid of us." He smiled.

Knowing Xiah, the man had put the young monk since his young age into drinking poisons bit by bit until his young body get immune against those poisonous substances. And if that Changmin monk was to eat poison without his knowledge, he would be aware of the taste but the young man would still eat what he was eating knowing very well that nothing would happen to him.

"Here! Your hot water. Living only on water." The man scoffed, giving the boy a bowl filled with boiling water. Heechul could not deny how clever this fellow boy was. And for now, for their own well-beings, he had to stay still and low. But he would not hold back if the existence of that boy proved to be a real threat to his Prince. Xiah or not Xiah. "You know, you're going to nowhere with your attitude only to your own death. And here, a change of clothes." Heechul replied as he tossed some clean clothes onto the boy's figure. "Even if you are not like us, I thing you would be grateful to have a proper outfit to wear." He added before getting up and walked out of the room where their leader had put those strangers during their stay.

Jaejoong snorted as he set the bowl on the ground next to him. Then he took the clean clothes in his hands and look at them for a while, pursing his lips a bit. "Well, it's better than nothing." He mumbled under his chin, not really liking the dull brown color of the jeogori. "And good thing, I do not have to thank that man for his good intention. Playing commoner is fun. But, those two what are their real intention to be among those beggars?" He thought out loud. Then he turned his stare to the small group of young beggars still peeking at them by the entrance of this small room. The pretty boy snapped and screamed to them. He burst into laughter at how those children were panic-struck and ran away from the room. "Really, asking those children to spy on us." Jaejoong shook his head lightly with an amused smile painting on his plush lips. "I'm not nobody." He sniffed arrogantly then folded his arms over his chest, thinking silently at this impromptu situation.

The child boy narrowed his eyes for a while, tipping his lips with the pad of his index finger as he was trying to link the name Park Yoochun to all the people he had met in his journey in this peninsula.

By, the other man attitude, he seemed to be an ordinary young man. However, watching the latter carefully, that Park Yoochun gave off a presence of a King. Or he should said of a man coming from an important family in the aristocracy next to the rank of royalty. And the only house of Park that matched that description came from the Silla Kingdom. But, they didn't have a heir. Story said that they lost their heir at the last conflict Silla had with Goguryeo ten years ago.

Could it be a decoy from the house of Park? The few he knew about Silla since he had stepped in this peninsula, the 3 most powerful houses in the Kingdom were not in a good term. Each of those houses schemed to dethrone the other house from standing on the throne. And at this same moment, Silla was ruling by the house of Kim.

The son of the white Yong heaved a sigh. Jaejoong had an important task to do at this moment than to decipher the meaning behind all those games of thrones those incapable rulers had done for years at the expense of their people.

Jaejoong began the same ritual. He took out the black phial from the inside of his jeogori, opening the vial and sliding two red pills from the object. He diluted them in the hot water, and sipped onto the liquid without drinking it. Jaejoong leaned over his Yunho and made the latter drink through his mouth. He repeated the same process until there was no more water in the bowl.

Three time a day, the child boy did those gestures again and again without complaining. He trusted no one to let them take care of his companion. He laughed softly as he wiped Yunho's face from perspiration. If Xiah was there, the demonic man would for being so devoted, while the only Jaejoong the older man had known until he left their land for this long journey was a stubborn and spoiled child boy.

"You have to wake up soon." He said softly as he traced his fingertips over Yunho's left brow. "You are really a strange man." Jaejoong added. "You can make me do things no one has either succeeded to make me do. Yunho-yah? Please, heal quickly. You promised me that you are going to take me to look at the flowers festival at the town of Kimhae. If you continue to sleep soundly...," he, now was drawing the contour of his Yunho's upper lip softly, "...we're going to miss the festival. And we have to wait for the next year." The boy breathed softly and leaned his head against Yunho's chest. "It does not matter. Yes, as long as we are together, we will go there next year, the next two years or the next ten years. You just have to rest well." He turned his face to see Yunho's face, still leaning against the young man's chest. Then he smiled at the still unconscious man. "I am not going to lose you. Never."

Breathing softly, Jaejoong closed his eyes as the boy felt tired of all the lack of sleep he had since he was taking care of his husband. Soon, he drifted into slumber, not even being aware of the man underneath him stirring away from his long and restorative sleep.

Yunho frowned as his eyes was still closed, growling a bit as he took a deep breath making his sore lungs better with the amount of air. Then, he felt something heavy crushing his chest, and fear began to take over him. He groaned almost painfully as he opened his eyes brusquely. Trying to focus his vision onto his surrounding, the young man looked down to see what was resting on his chest. He breathed out of relief at the sight of his young wife sleeping on top of him. He let out a soft chuckle and lifted his hand toward the tired child boy wanting to feel the soft and warm flesh of this beauty boy. His beauty boy.

"You're awake."

The sick young man turned to face the newcomer who was standing at the frame of the way out of this place. He narrowed his eyes at the recognition of the man named Park Yoochun, claiming himself being the King of beggars.

"That little one never left you since we took you in." The young man said as he walked toward them.

Yunho wrapped his right arm around Jaejoong and tightened his hold at every step the other man took to stand not far from them. His first instinct was to protect his wife even in his bad condition.

"I am not your foe." Yoochun replied as he smiled at the way the sick man behaved. "You know, you are a lucky fellow bastard. This little boy never let anyone take care of you. He did not even sleep nor eat since three days. And it seems that he unconsciously fall asleep not long ago. Where can I find a good wife like this one?" The King of beggars chuckled amusedly as he sat on the ground next to the makeshift bed. He put a cloth filled of buns next to him and tended one to the laying man.

"Jaejoong." Yunho said with a raspy voice.

"What?"

"He has a name. And his name is Jaejoong."

"Sure dude." Yoochun munched on the bun when the other didn't acknowledge his kind gesture. "His name's Jaejoong." He nodded.

"And there is no one like him in this world." Yunho added with a smile painting on his lips.

Yoochun was watching the two of them carefully with an amused smile. "You seem to fall hard for this child."

"I am not going to share my feelings with someone like you. A man who was ready to sell my most important person for a few chôns."

"Hey! You shall be aware of how this piece of meat is beautiful." Yoochun defended himself as he pointed his finger toward the sleeping figure. "All the men in our peninsula would do anything to have him as their lover even for one night."

"He is my wife." Yunho gritted through his teeth as he glared at the King of beggars. "And do not talk with no respect about Jaejoong in that way. He is not an object but a human being."

"Alright!" Yoochun said, resigned as he held his hands in surrender. "I am going to stop being crude when talking about this one. But, if you do not want that beauty to fall sick by looking after you, you have to man up and be the man in your relationship. Dude! I never see anyone with a disturbance Ki like yours." The King of beggars shook his head, earning a frown from the sick young man. "Even those people who don't know martial arts don't have a Ki like yours. Theirs are more clean than the one you have. It looks like someone has messed up with your vital breath for years."

"How... how could you know about my vital breath?"

"Because he isn't a normal man."

"And you aren't a normal monk." Yoochun said with a grin plastered on his face as he looked at the newcomer in the room. "And I never see you without something in your mouth either."

"I am still a growing man. I am older than that sick fellow by a year but I am still growing. And those words coming from your mouth feel so out of place. Mostly when you are talking with a man of God like me." Changmin replied as he bit onto the last morsel of his bun. He walked toward a corner of the room and took a warm cloth. Then, the young monk covered Jaejoong with it under the curious stare of the King of beggars.

Yoochun shook his head with a soft laugh. "Don't tell me that you three are in this kind of relationship?! A ! Good! Let me in too!"

"I won't say no." Changmin added with a grin. "But, this fellow lad is not ready to share what's his. So, I am only watching after that little one." He pointed at the sleeping child boy.

"Your duty?" The King of beggars asked, lifting his brow as he looked up at the monk.

"You ask a lot of questions." Changmin took place next to the campfire, not before taking a bun from the cloth on the ground and munched onto it without restraint.

"Because I'm a curious man. It's in my nature as the King of beggars to gather all information about all kind of people I encounter in my path. It's for the use of my group." Yoochun grinned. "We survive with blackmail and extortion."

"Or you could be more than a mere King of beggars." Changmin replied quietly as he tossed a wooden branch into the fire.

"You are something. How an orphan like me could be more than a beggar?" Yoochun shook his head with an amused smile painting on his lips. However, he was going to be very cautious with the three of them. If this monk could guess that he was not a mere beggar, that little one in the arms of the young man named Yunho could also guess who he was. As for the sick one, the young man could play a naïve lad in order to divert everyone's attention.

"My Yunho also is an orphan. But fortunately, he is more reliable than the kind of you." The three men turned their eyes toward the child boy who was fully awake. Jaejoong was looking at the self-claimed King of beggar defiantly with a smile on his lips, still leaning against his husband. "And if you want a relationship where you have more than one suitor, be a King and get yourself a harem. With status and power, no woman will refuse you."

"But I'm a King."

"I am not talking about your self-claimed title in this basement, among those poor people struggling to survive the harsh reality of life caused by those incompetent rulers of the three Kingdoms of this Samguk Sagi." Jaejoong said as he lifted up into a proper position, looking at the King of beggars carefully.

"I am not going to say otherwise. Those rulers don't think a tad bit of their population. Of course, treaties are made to keep peace. However, if those treaties are made to impoverish those who are already poor and improve the life of those who are already rich, we can't stand still and only pray the Lord for his help." Yoochun replied. "As I know, men work better when they are in group. There is strength in unity."

"And betrayal come from one man." The pretty boy added with grin.

"You aren't only a beautiful face." Yoochun smirked as he reached out his hand toward the child boy.

"Don't touch him with your filthy hand." Yunho growled as he grabbed Yoochun's wrist before he could touch Jaejoong. "Don't think of using him for whatever you have in mind. You are not a mere beggar. I don't know who you are. But, if you are trying to scheme something against I don't know who or what Kingdom with the hope of using my wife, I can tell, you and I are not going to be friends. You are my foe."

Yoochun chuckled softly at how possessive this fellow lad was. This Yunho boy did not hesitate to get up from his laying position, despite his bad condition, to protect this pretty boy who he claimed as his wife. While the young monk only stayed still, watching them carefully with an amused smile on his face. However, this calm apparent was not going to fool him. The aura emanating from this Changmin guy was dangerous, really dangerous.

"I am just a beggar who wants to be friend with the three of you." The young man said as he pried away his wrist from the tight grip of the young orphan. "And as I said, your Ki, in its state right now, is a disturbance for the balance of your body." Yoochun added as he got up from the ground, brushing some dust from the baji of his hanbok set. "I can help you to lessen the harm it did to your body. So, you know where to find me." He stated as he walked out of the room, satisfied of his time with the three of them.

When, the King of beggars was nowhere to be seen, Yunho growled annoyingly at the throbbing pain inside his whole body for being a bit daring without thinking of his internal wounds.

"Yunho!" Jaejoong panicked as he held his companion in his arms.

"I... I am fine." The older boy said lowly as he breathed out and breathed in, soothing his lungs from the small amount of air he took second after second.

"You're not fine." The child said as he wiped away any trace of perspiration on his Yunho's forehead. "You should not try to be brave if you are not in the condition to face your opponent." The boy reprimand.

"I did not bear to see this easy going fellow to play with you."

"I'm too smart for him to play with." Jaejoon