Minseok had just finished clearing up any evidence of Yixing's midnight rendezvous when he heard the clatter of coach wheels on the flagstones in the courtyard. He glanced up just as the doors flew open, Lady Fan Lei stormed in, closely followed by her two sons. She her coat towards the servant who was midbow. "You're home early milady."

"The prince called off the rest of night. His lover ran away. Apparently, none of my sons are good enough despite being far more beautiful than the disgusting stranger who bewitched him."

"Bewitched, milady?" Minseok asked mildly as he reached over for Chanyeol's coat only to be waved away, the taller clearly wanting to deal with it himself.

"Yes, he prince wouldn't leave his side for the entire night. No one knew who he was but people speculate that he might be at least part fae." Zitao chattered in annoyance as he brandished his jacket over to Minseok's outstretched arm.

"What did he look like?" Minseok inquired, genuinely curious by that point.

"Platinum blonde hair with an electric blue jacket." Chanyeol answered, as his brother could not stand to dignify a servant with a meaningful response. He gave Minseok a hard knowing stare and Minseok realized with a jolt that Yixing had been the one whom the prince had begun to fall head over heels for.

"I'm sure he must have been very beautiful to have captured the prince's heart in one night." Minseok commented as nonchalantly as he could while his insides were reeling.

Yixing? The object of the crown Prince's affections? Wow that boy sure aimed high. Minseok mused to himself internally as he poured the lady's glass of red wine, which was customary for that time of night. He was only thinking of how the boy had gushed over the prince in the previous hour.

---------

The next morning, Yixing was up early and in a great mood as he danced around the kitchen with his broom, sweeping up dirt from the kitchen floor. Chanyeol shot him a smile as he entered the room, settling at the table. The taller decided to tease Yixing a little, “Well somebody’s in a good mood.” Yixing stopped with a jarring fright and glanced over at him with surprise masking his face before he went back to his work, not feeling too threatened by the other’s presence. “How did you manage to get past Mother’s command?” Chanyeol whispered as Minseok served up a plate of waffles. The boy immediately pouring his usual diabetes worthy amount of maple syrup on them.

Yixing froze and glanced towards Minseok, who was wearing a similar expression, the servant shrugged and gestured to the maple syrup. “Do you still need that Chanyeol?” 

Chanyeol shook his head while gesturing to the container, allowing Minseok to take the bottle. “Is it true that you’re a fairy Minseok?”

The bottle slipped and crashed onto the floor, golden liquid spilling out all over the stone beneath their feet. Yixing gasped and dropped onto his knees, hands reaching for the largest piece of glass immediately to help clean it up. Minseok looked stunned for a moment before he was reaching for Yixing’s hand, attempting to stop him from touching the glass.

“Ow!” Yixing cried out and Chanyeol was on his knees next to him, holding his hand tightly.

“You’re an idiot! Who touches glass like that?” He physically dragged Yixing to his feet and hauled him over to the kitchen sink to wash his wound.

"Yixing!" A shrill scream echoed through the house and the boy in question sighed.

"Coming!"

He tugged his hand out of Chanyeol's grasp and hurriedly wrapped it with the gauze that Minseok had set out for him. "Yixing!"

"I'm coming." He snatched the tray with the lady's breakfast laid out on it and hurried out of the kitchen.

Yixing timidly knocked on the closed door and pushed the door open. The room was dark. He nimbly sidestepped the pile of clothes laying on the floor. It was piled so high that he could barely see and walked towards the bed.

"You're late." Lady Fan Lei glared at him coldly.

"My apologies, Stepmother." Yixing bowed his head and set the tray down upon the duvet.

"Go and open the curtains and pick the laundry off the floor."

Yixing complied quietly.

As he was picking the clothes off the floor, Lady Fan Lei spoke up. "It's a terrible pity that you couldn't attend the ball last night." His ears perk up but he kept his face down and focused on the floor. "There was a boy there. So beautiful that everyone thought he had to be part fae." Lady Fan Lei watched Yixing's expression closely as she uttered each word. Yixing kept silent and waited for her to continue. "The crown prince would dance with no one else. He stayed by the stranger's side all night and even called off the rest of the night when he ran off."

Yixing kept his face neutral as he scooped up the dirty clothes from the floor. "I will take my leave now." He bowed and started towards the door.

"But do you know what he found lying on the cobblestones of the courtyard where his beloved had left him?” Lady Fan Lei smirked when she saw Yixing freeze, he didn’t know why but he had a bad feeling about what she was going to say next. The three words that filled the air a second later made sweat bead on his forehead. “A silver locket."

She knew it. Somehow Yixing had managed to break free of the curse and disobeyed her for the first time in his life to attend the ball.

Yixing slipped out of the room. His heart crashed wildly in his chest, vibrating against his ribs, as a set of storm angered waves would on rocks.

She knew.

His face was deathly pale as he walked towards the kitchen, having completely forgotten about Zitao's breakfast until the shrill scream jolted him. "Yixing!"

"I’m coming!" Hurriedly, he dropped the laundry into the basket in the kitchen and snatched the other tray off the table.

"What's the matter with you today weirdo? You're all jumpy." Zitao sniped as Yixing entered his room. Yixing said nothing as he set the tray down and Zitao lunged for it greedily. He drew open the curtains and let the sunlight stream in, but nothing could brighten him just yet. "Pity about your shirt." Zitao mumbled through a full mouthful of pancakes.

Yixing turned to him, face unreadable and proceeded to pick up the clothes that Zitao had left lying on the floor the night before. Zitao watched him curiously, still stuffing his mouth with the pancakes. It was then that Zitao realized that his stepbrother bore a slight resemblance to the man from the night before. The who had captured the Prince's heart.

‘No. That's not possible. He can’t disobey orders.’

“Where’s your locket?” Minseok gasped after inspecting the young man’s new appearance, surprised to see that the silver locket, given to Yixing as a child was not hanging in its usual place around his neck.

“I lost it.” Yixing kept his eyes down as he the feather sewn to the edge of the decorative visor.

“You lost it?! Where?” Minseok was shocked because the locket was so precious to Yixing that he was never seen without it.

“At the ball.” Minseok sighed and gestured for Yixing to follow him towards the foyer.

“Well maybe you could ask around.” He said as he helped Yixing up into Remedy’s saddle which had been turned white and lined with fringes of glittering crystal to match.

Yixing nodded and thanked Minseok when he adjusted the stirrups for him. “Watch the time, alright? You don’t want to be caught out.”