Dinner was an uncomfortable affair, the immortal next to Jisoo having turned back to the Lady of the Marches to make conversation with her and leaving the young man to his meal. He could feel Namjoo's eyes on him but he ignored her, despite knowing that his father would see and disapprove of his treatment of his betrothed; the older man knew his son couldn't stand her! He focused on his dinner and subsequent dessert, then as soon as was proper, he begged leave from the table, claiming feeling ill. 

His father glowered at him, but grudgingly gave permission, and as Jisoo stood to go, the immortal beside him turned to give him a sharp-edged smile. "I do hope you recover well," he said sweetly, but Jisoo could tell the words weren't what he actually wanted to say.

Namjoo stood from her seat as well, though, interrupting the little moment, and looked at Lord Jungseo. "I too am ready to retire. I hope you can excuse me, my Lord, Honored guests?"

Jisoo barely swallowed his sigh of irritation, and when he came round the table, Namjoo took his arm, just as he knew she would. He allowed it for the moment but not even two steps out in the hall, he shrugged her away and picked up his pace to leave her behind. As usual, she said nothing, and he hurried back to his rooms, ready to turn in for the night and hide away from the world.

But morning came far too quickly for his liking, and he woke to an insistent knocking on the door to his chambers. Climbing out of bed, he stepped toward the entryway only to trip over the sheets still tangled about his foot and fall, catching himself at the last minute to save his face from smacking into the hard stone flooring. "By the Light," he grumbled, pulling himself into a sitting position befroe shouting out a frustrated 'come in'.

He heard footsteps in his antechamber before the servant poked his head around the corner, his eyes widening almost comically as he spotted Jisoo sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Pardon me, sir," he said, a smile trying to make it's way onto his face, "Your father is asking for you to attend him."

"Of course he is," Jiso huffed, then looked up at the man above him. "Please tell him that I am not feeling well."

The smile that came over his face then was much more of the pitying variety, and he shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Jisoo. He says that you will accompany him, no excuses."

The young lord groaned then, flopping backward onto the floor to stare up at the ornate ceiling above him. It was painted to mimic the skies with blues and whites, though the lacquer was cracking from age and there were times that Jisoo woke to find pieces of it on his bed. Maybe he could just lay there and ignore Kyung's presence, but even as that thought crossed his mind, he heard the servant begin to move about his room. Telling himself that he didn't want to know didn't work, and when Jisoo lifted his head to qwell the curiosity that demanded to know what Kyung was doing, he foudn the man digging in his armoire.

"No," he said, half a whine and half an order, but the servant ignored him. Pulling out a fine doublet of grey silks and deep blue linen, he held it up with a critical eye before noddding to himself and adding it to the armload of clothing he had already acquired. 

"Dress quickly, Jisoo," he said solemnly, draping the stack over the back of a stuffed chair and eying the young man still sitting on the floor. "Your father isn't going to just pretend that he let you stay, not this time. Your brother is away and you are needed."

It wasn't pleasant, receiving a lecture from a server, but Jisoo knew that the older man was right. With Seungjun gone, Jisoo needed to be his father's right hand for the time. Oh, he could hardly wait until his brother returned and he could go back to being the ignored (and irresponsible, even if he only admitted that to himself) second son!

Kyung nodded to himself and left the room as he saw Jisoo begin to pick himself up off the floor. By the time he had dressed and tamed his hair, the man had returned with a small breakfast of cheese and fruit, imported from the warm Southern lands. Jisoo ate quickly, then mo