A/N: So I saw a retelling of a favorite fairy tale prompt on a blog I follow, and this immediately popped into my head. I don't know how many people know The Princess and the Glass Hill, but it's been my favorite since I was little, so here's my silly adaptation of it ;) Enjoy!

Once upon a time, there lived a stablehand who really hated horses.

Really hated. It was Jackson's fault, like so many things were. He'd threaded feeding grain and hay into Mark's hair while he was sleeping in the stable at the ripe age of six, and Mark had woken up to the sight of the household's prize mare eating chunks of his beautiful black hair. It had grown back (curly and auburn; when Jackson messed things up, he messed them up permanently), but Mark had never liked horses again. Which was unfortunate, considering his entire family—both his parents, his loser middle brother Jackson, and his adorable adopted younger brother Yugyeom—ran the stables at the second wealthiest estate in the Kingdom of Jaewhypi (the royal palace naturally being the first wealthiest).

Luckily, Mark was nothing if not expert at getting out of his duties. The noble family who lived there, the Bhuwakuls, were from a neighboring kingdom and only resided there in the summer or whenever there was a noteworthy royal ball to attend, so he could be lax and enjoy the outdoor activities he preferred—practicing swordfighting, challenging the estate guards to games of dice, helping out the chief gardener, and exploring the woods. Luckily Jackson and Yugyeom liked horses just fine. They were just kids, at least to the fully sophisticated fifteen year old Mark, but they could at least be counted on to feed the horses and do a basic grooming routine on them with adult supervision.

Usually. This year was different. Someone—something—was invading on their pastures. Whenever their father went out to exercise the horses, he'd come back and report that something had munched the grass down to the root on a portion of the Bhuwakuls' property.

“This isn't good,” he said solemnly. “The Bhuwakuls are coming next week for the summer festival, and we can't look as if we're neglecting their grounds during their absence.”

“Can't we station guards in the pastures?” Mark asked.

“We have. They've been reporting strange rumbling there at night, and they won't stick around to find out what's causing it. They think it's a monster.”

“Monster,” Jackson scoffed. “There's no such thing. The guards are such wusses. I can stand guard and figure out what the problem is.”

“If you take Mark with you.”

“Mark? I don't need him! I'm a big kid. I'm not afraid of monsters—they're not even real.”

So Jackson had plunked on the metal helmet that technically belonged to the estate's Young Master Kunpimook, armed himself with a practice sword, and stood guard in the pastures. Mark, whose help had been soundly rejected and unwillingly offered in the first place, went to bed and slept peacefully.

Two hours later, Jackson burst into the room the three brothers shared, sobbing hysterically. “MONSTER,” he yelled, diving into bed in between Mark and Yugyeom. “IT'S A MONSTER. I'M GOING TO DIE.”

“Did it hurt you?” Mark asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I didn't stick around for it to hurt me,” Jackson yelled. “As soon as I heard it, I ran.”

“There's no such things as monsters,” Yugyeom said sleepily. “Not anymore. They died out.”

“You can say that because you didn't hear it! It had footsteps like a giant. The earth was rumbling like it was going to split in two. I saw it from a distance. It was big...and fearsome... and BIG!”

“You were probably sleeping on the job and had a nightmare,” Yugyeom said. “Jackson's a big baby.”

“WHAT? I don't want to hear that kind of thing from an even bigger baby. If you'd have seen it, you'd be wetting the bed right now.”

“Wait, you aren't wetting the bed right now, are you?” Mark asked, jerking away from Jackson just in case.

“NO! You guys are jerks. I'd like to see you face the beast and live to tell the tale! We should petition the palace for soldiers right away.”

“I'll stand guard tomorrow night,” Yugyeom said with a yawn. “Now shut up and go to sleep.”

A day later, Yugyeom took the metal helmet and practice sword and went to stand guard in the field. Mark genuinely offered to help this time, but was turned down—“I'll show Jackson who's a big baby”—and so went to his bedroom as usual. He didn't go to sleep, though. If Yugyeom needed any comforting, he would prefer to stay up rather than be woken up by hysterics.

Sure enough, two hours later Yugyeom quietly came into the room. He wasn't screaming like Jackson, but he was trembling from head to toe.

“Mark,” he whispered, sliding into bed next to Mark, deliberately trying not to wake up Jackson. “It really was a monster.” He buried his head in Mark's chest and began to sniffle. “I'm not a baby, but it was really scary.”

“What did it look like?”

“I ran before it got too close, but it was big, just like Jackson said. It was like a horse... shaped like a horse... and the ground shook with every step it took.”

“Hmmm,” Mark said. Centaurs were supposed to be legends, and pegasi were extinct. What could it be? Whatever it was, it could cause a lot of trouble with the Bhuwakuls if it wasn't resolved and soon. The gardeners had fast growing seeds, but it would be a waste if they planted it just to have the monster or whatever it was eat the grass they provided right away.

“I guess I'll have to stand guard tomorrow night,” Mark said grimly.

“But what if the monster gets you?” Yugyeom asked anxiously.

“I'm your big brother. I can't let any monster get me, because I have to be around to protect you, right?”

Yugyeom nodded. “Be careful. It's okay if the grass goes away. But you can't go away. Promise.”

“Promise.”

Mark forwent the helmet (it was several sizes too small, anyways), but brought along his sword. Unlike the other boys', his was real, though small in size. He'd never actually used it to kill anything before, though, and he hoped he wouldn't have to tonight.

The night was quiet. Their kingdom was generally a safe one: no monsters, excepting whatever this rogue one was, and there hadn't been a war in centuries. Their king was a peaceable one, a patron of the arts who enriched their kingdom with music and commissioned plays and paintings for both the rich and common folk alike. He raised a house full of beautiful children who were beloved by all their subjects. His only flaw was that he had the tendency of introducing unpleasant fashion trends into high society, which could awkward for the nobles, but really had nothing to do with working class families like Mark's.

It would be horrible if it was really a monster. It had been two hundred years since the claw demons and giants were eradicated, and even longer since the last of the dragons fell, but history still remembered the lives lost to monster invasions, as well as how resources exhausted in battles against monsters could weaken a kingdom's borders and make them susceptible to attacks from other kingdoms. Perhaps the fact that this beast or whatever it was was only eating grass was a promising sign, but what if it started hungering for more? Would their family or the Bhuwakuls be in trouble for not doing enough to defeat the monster?

Mark waited in the pasture anxiously, swinging his sword and praying that the beast Jackson and Yugyeom had seen was an illusion. He'd do anything to protect his family, but he didn't want to die. He was only fifteen. There was still so much left for him to do.

Just shy of two hours into his wait, the earth began to tremble.

It was much like Jackson and Yugyeom had described. It was just like how books explained the footsteps of giants, but also like the earthquakes that occasionally plagued the kingdoms. He wondered how he hadn't been able to feel it in his bedroom any of the other nights; here in the pasture, his very bones were shaking at each step of the creature.

He couldn't run, though, even though he was frightened. Someone had to figure out what the monster was. Someone had to slay it.

He squinted his eyes as a hulking figure began to emerge on the horizon. It was definitely some kind of horse-shaped-thing. A horse with a growing spell, perhaps, or else some kind of mutant crossbreed gone awry. Mark grimaced. He hated horses. And this one could probably scalp him in one bite, if it wanted. He should have forced the Young Master's helmet on, if only to protect his hair.

Still, he stood his ground. He could wind up trampled or mauled, but there was no way he was running back when his family's livelihood depended on his success.

As the hulking beast crept closer, Mark thought he could see a rider on its back. Damned if he knew how, though; it would take a ladder to get on that thing, and it hardly looked tame. Mark kept his eyes fixed on the unknown rider as the beast neared, keeping his sword at the ready. Weren't there some kind of mounted devils in legend? The Feral Hoursemen who spread disease and disaster in their path?

But as they approached his pasture, Mark could quickly tell the horse and rider pair were different. The horse, though gigantic and continually causing the ground to jolt underneath its hooves, was hardly terrifying up close. It was like the pictures Mark had seen in his mother's thick Bestiary of the Clydesdale horse from one of the island kingdoms, but taller and more stout. In fact, it was kind of comically chubby, and the way it lumbered slowly through the pasture seemed to contribute to how much the ground shook with each step.

As for the rider... he was familiar. Mark would never forget a face that lovely, for surely there was only one of its kind in the world. It belonged to the Prince—the Second or Third prince, Mark could never keep the numbering of the Princes and Princesses straight—the one named after his father, the King. Prince Jinyoung. He was about a year younger than Mark, and by far more noble looking. His skin was smooth and soft, his hair black and silky (clearly no horses were eating it), and his brown eyes had a certain sparkle to them. Or maybe they were just reflecting starlight, which was special enough on its own. Mark was sure his own eyes weren't.

Prince Jinyoung stared at Mark as his giant horse lumbered through the pasture. Mark wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do. He couldn't threaten the Prince with a sword, so he lowered it cautiously to his side. He also couldn't tell the Prince and his horse to shove off the Bhuwakul pastures, at least not unless he did it very, very politely.

“Your Highness,” he said instead, giving a stiff bow. That was what one was supposed to say to royalty, right?

The Prince continued staring at him silently as the horse ambled closer. “You're the stablemaster's son. The one employed with the Bhuwakuls. What are you doing here?”

“You're on the Bhuwakuls' property,” Mark informed him. “Your Highness,” he added, just in case.

The Prince, who had been looking perfectly composed and regal up until now, turned bright red. “What? I studied father's maps for ages... isn't this the training grounds for the Knight Tourney? Jaebum said it wasn't going to be used until next spring, so it was all right if Birdie ate here!”

“Birdie?”

“My horse,” Jinyoung said, patting its neck. Mark wondered if the name was supposed to be ironic. Birdie probably crushed birds every time he moved. Or perhaps knocked them out of their trees simply by breathing.

“The training grounds are in the opposite direction from the palace, Your Highness. The pastures here are ours. And that...thing... has been eating them.”

Jinyoung looked mortified. “Oh no. Father is going to kill me. The Bhuwakuls are some of are biggest supporters, and here I am, going around and wrecking their property. What can I do to make up for it?”

“Not bring him here anymore? We can grow the grass back as long as he stops eating it.”

“It's unfortunate that these grounds actually belong to someone. Birdie moves so slowly, and these are nearby to our stables. He needs to eat so much to sustain his size.”

Mark studied the horse critically. A few years ago, the Bhuwakul horses had contracted a sickness that made them rapidly lose weight, so Mark knew a thing or two about specialty feeds to keep a horse's weight up.

“Give me a moment, Your Highness,” Mark said. He backtracked to the stables and found a bag of the feed. He knew the recipe by heart having had to make it so many times back when the sickness was at its height, so he scribbled that down, too.

When he returned to the pasture, Prince Jinyoung had dismounted from Birdie (surprisingly without breaking his legs from the fall) and was using the horse's bridle to keep him from gnawing on the grass while Mark was away. Mark set the feed bag on the ground and gently guided the horse's head to the opening. Birdie sniffed the mixture for a moment before dipping his muzzle into the bag and quickly scarfing the feed down.

“This should help fill him up while curbing his appetite,” Mark said, backing away from Birdie once his duty was done. “Here's the recipe. With this, you might not even have to go to the training grounds to keep him full.”

To Mark's surprise, the Prince beamed and grasped his hands tightly. “You've saved my honor. I'll forever be in your debt... I'm sorry, but I don't know your name.”

“Mark.”

“Mark,” Jinyoung repeated. It sounded prettier when he said it. “I'm Second Prince Jinyoung. I think we met before when we were younger, or I've seen you and your family at our grand balls and tourneys, but I think this must be the first time we've spoken. You're the same age as Jaebum, I think?”

Jaebum was the First Prince. Mark was more familiar with him by sight than Jinyoung; the First Prince was always out and about, stealing the hearts of young and old alike, and causing unending amount of trouble for the royal family with his capers. The thought of him becoming King one day would have made Mark a little more nervous if Jaebum wasn't also kind and well-meaning on top of being slightly badly behaved.

Birdie nickered lightly as he ate, and Mark took a few more steps back. “Why exactly is he that big, Your Highness?”

“Just Jinyoung, please. I can't stand formalities with people older than me. And Birdie is a magical horse.”

“Magic?” Mark echoed.

“Yeah. Third Prince Wonpil fed Birdie magical beans, thinking it would be funny. After that, Birdie grew to be twice his normal size, and he can do some weird things now, too. He can climb up the palace walls and sneak into the kitchen, mimic other animals, and change the color of his fur when he's bored. I bet he could fly, too, if he wasn't so heavy.” Jinyoung gave him another pat. “He can be a bit of a pain, but he was a gift from father, so I'm fond of him.” Jinyoung glanced at Mark, his eyes lighting up. “The Bhuwakuls will be coming for the summer soon, right? You'll have an excuse to come to the royal palace with them. It's been so long since I've had someone around close in age to me—other than my siblings—and I could show you around the palace, too! I got a new sword for my birthday, and I've named half of the animals in our menagerie. I bet you've never seen a giraffe before, have you?”

Mark shook his head. He had seen pictures, though. He wondered if those long necks were also magic.

“Please say you'll come,” Jinyoung said earnestly.

Mark shifted from foot to foot. “Are commoners actually allowed inside the palace?”

Jinyoung waved his hand. “Father doesn't care about things like that. Commoners are the lifeblood of our kingdom, he always says. We can't marry commoners because we have to make alliances with other kingdoms. But we can play with them.”

Mark was still unsure. He usually didn't like attending events at the royal palace if he could help it. It was too loud and there were too many important people to embarrass yourself in front of. Yugyeom always went to accompany Young Master Kunpimook, and Jackson also tagged along to “mind the horses” (stick his nose in the business of anyone he happened to meet), but Mark usually stayed home and practiced his sword. He liked that better, for the most part, even though a part of him thought the palace might be fun. If someone like Jinyoung was there, at least.

Jinyoung must have seen the uncertainty on Mark's face since he quickly shook his head. “Wait, no. I have a better idea. I can come and play here.”

“You. The Second Prince?”

“No. Just me. Jinyoung.” He grabbed Mark's hand again. “I like lots of things, you know. I'm good with a sword, can recite poetry, paint pictures, and even ballroom dance.”

“We don't exactly do any of that here,” Mark said. “Except swords.”

“Then let's... sword.”

Mark couldn't suppress a laugh at that. “All right. Would the King actually let you come out here?”

“He'd have to. Because from now on, you are in charge of stabling Birdie.”

Mark stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“It's perfect. Birdie was a special gift, and is considered the official mount of the Second Prince. He is also mine to do with as I please. If it pleases me to have the esteemed stablemasters of the Bhuwakul estate look after him, then it will be done. And if it pleases me to visit him often, that will also be done.” Jinyoung smiled triumphantly. “And allowing my prized mount to stay with the Bhuwakuls will be a huge sign of favor to them, one that will make up for my lack of caution in allowing him to feed in their pastures. Everyone wins.”

“But...”

“But?”

“I really hate horses,” Mark said in a small voice.

Jinyoung burst out laughing at that. “You're a stablehand and you hate horses? We'll have to see about finding you a new profession when we're older. But for now... can't you think of Birdie not as a horse, but as a way for us to see each other?”

For some reason, the way Jinyoung said that made his heart flutter. “Yeah... I guess I could do that.”

“Good. It's a deal, then. My horse for your company.”

Mark stuck out his hand to shake on it, but for some odd reason, Jinyoung flopped his hand onto Mark's like a limp fish. Mark glanced up at him curiously.

“Doesn't one seal a promise with a kiss on the hand?” Jinyoung asked, a little imperiously.

“Do they?” Mark asked.

“They do in the palace.”

“Well, then.” He bent down and pressed his lips against the back of Jinyoung's hand. His skin really was so soft. “Promise.”

4 Years later...

Birdie was trying to eat Mark's hair. He'd been doing that since day one—Mark was beginning to assume his hair was just magical to horses—but Mark was quick to forgive him because Birdie's continued existence meant Jinyoung's continued presence. For the past four years, Jinyoung had been slipping away at any free moment “to visit his horse” and see Mark. They'd done a lot of things during those years. Practicing swordplay, getting lost in the woods, pranking Yugyeom and Jackson, reciting poetry (Jinyoung), winning massively at dice (Mark), and one time even ballroom dancing when traveling minstrels visited the Bhuwakul estate (Mark was surprisingly good at it).

And kissing.

That was just the once, though. The last time. Mark and Jinyoung had been resting in the pasture, taking in the summer sun, when Mark had rolled over onto Jinyoung and planted a kiss on his parted lips. And then planted another. And another, and another when Jinyoung lifted his head and nipped him and they were both kissing together, rolling around in the flowers and smiling and laughing because it was just so natural after four long years of just hand kissing and pretending like they weren't very much falling in love.

Mark hadn't seen Jinyoung since.

It wasn't that uncommon. Since Jinyoung was of age, that meant more duties and more time in between visits. He couldn't skip out on balls or not be there for festivals, and it seemed like every other week there was a diplomat to entertain. But still. Mark missed him. Really missed him. He still hated horses and hated his job, and Jinyoung was the only that kept him sane where he was. Jinyoung was funny and beautiful and kind and laughed at his stupid jokes and knew what he was thinking and kissed him like there was nothing in the world he wanted to do more.

And there was another point of worry. Marriage negotiations.

Both the First and Second Princes were subject to these, according to Mark's father. Both were of age and highly eligible, and there were any number of foreign powers who wanted to align themselves with their prosperous kingdom. After all, royalty could play with commoners all they wanted. They just couldn't marry them.

Mark wondered what he would do if Jinyoung got married to someone else. Flee the kingdom with Birdie, probably. Hope Jinyoung would chase after him. Hope Jinyoung wouldn't find him until they were both eternity away from where they started and could hide away forever.

He couldn't share Jinyoung. You couldn't share the only thing you felt like you actually had and still feel whole.

Grimacing, he smacked Birdie's muzzle away from his hair. “Not today. You can eat whatever you want when he comes back. But not before then.” He gave Birdie a tentative pat on the neck before stepping quickly away (how could he run away with Birdie? He couldn't even think about riding Birdie, much less touching him for more than a second at a time before growing wary of his massive horsieness). “Where is Jinyoung hiding away, anyways?”

“Funny that you weren't worried about me for the last few days,” Jackson's voice came from behind him. Mark almost lept out of his skin. He hadn't seen Jackson in awhile—also not terribly unusual, since he liked sneaking out and doing who knows what—but it had been getting slightly worrisome that he hadn't come back even to spend the night. Yugyeom and Young Master Kunpimook had already been working on missing person sketches, though they hadn't put them up to Jinyoung's knowledge. The Young Master's were uncanny likenesses of Jackson, while Yugyeom's looked like the gorilla in the royal menagerie. The Young Master didn't want to hurt Yugyeom's feelings by not putting put signs that would confuse the populace as to whether or not Jackson or an overgrown monkey was missing, so he hadn't put his own up either.

“Where have you been?” Mark asked, giving Jackson a glance over. He seemed different, somehow. It wasn't his hair, but his expression. There seemed to be a far off look in his eyes, which Mark wasn't used to seeing. Also, there seemed to be a lot of random pinkish markings on his skin.

“Paradise,” Jackson said dreamily. “The palace dungeons.”

“...what?”

“The dungeons. You've never been? Some advice, then: robbing the royal armory is your one-way ticket in. They're all dank and spooky, but I think they just kind of paint and decorate it that way, you know? Nothing seriously bad ever happens in our kingdom. The only one down there was me.”

“How did you get out? Did the King pardon you?”

“I never saw the King while I was down there. Turns out the one who owned the big badass sword I stole was actually First Prince Jaebum. It's so damn big that I thought it had to be overcompensation for something, but nope...nope. Anyways, the First Prince was the one who 'sentenced' me. He's merciless, that guy. So many punishments. So many beautiful punishments.”

“Uh...?”

The look in Jackson's eye got even more distant. “I think he really thought he was punishing me at first. He was pretty pissed about that sword, since apparently it's his pride and joy. But the minute he got those chains out... oh, man. I was on, Mark. He got that look in his eyes, that smoldering, pissed off kind of look, and he told me he was going to make me pay, and I was like Oh yeah, y! Make me pay! I can't even tell you how good he was with those chains, even. And the blindfolds? Our kingdom is blessed. What other kingdoms have a hot as sin First Prince who looks damn good in leather and has a pleasure palace built right into his basement? Two hours in and I was already signing a life contract. Whatever that guy has, I want it.”

“Are you saying...”

“That I totally scored with the First Prince and we're going to elope? Hell yeah!” Jackson flashed Mark a triumphant smile. “Seriously, the King was going to marry him off to the First Princess of that kingdom to the south of us? The one famous for having more books than citizens and where all subjects are required to spend 65% of their days reading? That would be an unforgivable waste of Jaebum's talents. I'm doing the world a favor for making sure he has an outlet for his genius! First Princess of the Kingdom of word nerds would be so much better for the Second Prince.”

Mark gave Jackson a look.

“That is, if the Second Prince wasn't totally in love with you.” Jackson's face suddenly became serious. “There's just one thing.”

“Yeah?”

“There were so many royals after Jaebum that the King would have risked war for favoring one candidate over another. So he was going to make it a competition. Whichever royal passed the competition would win Jaebum's hand in marriage and all that. They were totally going to help that Princess win, too, but Jaebum and I put a stop to that. We announced that we were running off—and we're going to, after this—and the king started flipping a .”

“So he's going to stop you?”

“Nope. The thing about the First Prince is that he's brilliant along with being y. When he's king one day, this kingdom is going to be even more awesome than it is now, he's that good of a leader. You think we're going through a cultural renaissance now, but that guy is a walking, talking renaissance. He can sing, draw, put on plays, dance, quote all that fancy literature the royals read, and is a freaking artist in bed. But he won't do any of that unless he's motivated. And the King knows that. The First Prince is too important to say no to. So the King isn't saying no.”

“So he's just going to let his heir run off with a stablehand.”

“Hey, we're only running off for a honeymoon. We'll be back.”

“And you'll be what one day? King Consort?”

“I was thinking of a cooler title like Eternal Slave, but that's cool, too.”

“You'll be running an entire kingdom with the First Prince, and all you have to say is 'that's cool'?”

“Well, isn't it? Wouldn't I make a good leader? I care about people. I love this place. I want it to be the best, most badass kingdom possible. I'm not in it for anything else unlike all those other royals from other kingdoms who want to sap all of this into their own kingdoms.”

Mark sighed. How the hell was he going to explain this to their parents? What if they wound up punished for Jackson absconding with the First Prince?

“Anyways, the point I was leading up to is that the King can't just cancel his competition because Jaebum's no longer participating. These royals just need an in with the royal family, no matter what that in is. And the King has a lot of kids, you know? But only one other of those kids is actually of age.”

Mark's breath caught. “Jinyoung.”

“Right. So I thought you should see this.” Jackson lifted up a scroll bearing the seal of the royal family.

“Hear ye, hear ye,” Mark read. “In place of the Grand Ball, this autumn will see the rise of a new event to celebrate the turn of the season. The King and Queen have a beloved son of marriageable age who will give his hand to the one strong enough to win his heart. The future consort of our First Second Prince should be clever, sharp witted, resourceful, imaginative, creative, and above all determined. To find the one who embodies these qualities, the royal family has announced an official conquest challenge upon all of those who yearn to gain the First Second Prince's kind and gentle heart. If you are of noble blood and wish to compete, be sure to attend the three day autumnal festival at the palace square where the challenge will be officially announced.”

Mark read it a second time in his head, sputtering at each word. What kind of ridiculousness was this? Did no one care Jinyoung was being treated like a prize people had to apply for? Did anyone bother to ask Jinyoung how he felt about this ridiculous challenge where the person he really loved (or so Mark hoped that Jinyoung loved him) couldn't even compete because he didn't have a drop of royal blood?

“I don't know what the hell they're building in the Palace Square,” Jackson said. “But it's massive. I think maybe the competitors are going to have to scale a mountain. Or maybe knock down a mountain. Something mountain related.”

“It doesn't matter what they do. I won't be able to participate.”

“Oh, come on. That sounds like giving up. The King has a gazillion other kids, and I bet one or two of them are going to fall in love with someone royal. Statistics are on their side! The King will get his alliances with or without the First and Second Prince. You just have to show you embody all the things they're looking for, and their hearts will be moved.”

“Will they really?”

Jackson shrugged. “Actually, I dunno. But won't it be better to find that out before Jinyoung gets hitched to someone else?”

Mark bit his lip. It would be better. But Jackson was an expert at doing something stupid and having it turn out phenomenally well. Mark wasn't sure he could say the same thing for himself.

That night, he crept towards the palace. There really was something massive being constructed in the Palace Square, but since there was a giant canvas covering it, he couldn't tell what. Guards were watching over it from all sides, so he couldn't get close to it, even if he wanted to.

Surprisingly, Jinyoung's room was far less guarded. Mark knew exactly how to pick his way up the trellis and land on Jinyoung's balcony, silent as a whisper. He didn't do it often since he still wasn't comfortable in the palace, but sometimes it was necessary. Now was one of those times.

Jinyoung was sitting on his bed, as if he knew Mark was coming. He'd looked anxious before Mark crept in, but now his face was slowly breaking out into a smile. “Jinyoung,” Mark whispered, and before he could say anything more, a pair of arms were snaking around him tightly and lips were nuzzling against his and he forgot everything he came to say and do except Jinyoung.

“Mark,” Jinyoung whispered once they broke apart. “You have to stop me from getting married.”

“How?”

“I don't know yet. Father won't tell me what the challenge is... he says it has to be secret, and thus no unfair advantages for any of the participants.” Jinyoung shuddered at that. “Participants. Doesn't that sound terrible?”

Mark nodded, going on his tip-toes and pressing his chin into Jinyoung's head. Such soft hair. Could he really allow anyone else to run their fingers through it?

“There's one thing I do know,” Jinyoung continued. “After whatever happened between my brother and yours, father is dead set on appeasing the nobles. The participants who register have to be from a noble house. There's no getting around it.”

“Then how am I supposed to get around it?”

“I don't know,” Jinyoung said miserably. “But you have to. I can't marry some stranger. I want you.”

“What if there's a stranger out there better than me?”

Jinyoung glared. “No such thing. There's not a single stranger in the world who laughs, smiles, dances, makes me happy, or kisses like you do. Seriously not possible. If such a person existed, I'd still expect you to crush them, because even if there's someone better than you, I don't care, because I don't want them, I want you.”

“So...” Mark drew back a little bit. “I'm going to have to impersonate nobility.”

“Yes.”

“And defeat whatever insane challenge your father has in mind.”

“Yes.”

“Against however many other nobles want to marry you.”

“Yes.”

“And having done all that, I have to convince your family to let me marry you anyways, even though I'm not noble.”

“I can help with that part.”

“That sounds impossible.” Mark sighed, inhaling the scent of Jinyoung's hair (if he were a horse, he'd want to eat it. But only if it grew back the exact way it was). “But I'll do it. You know why?”

“Because you love me?”

“That. And because we have a promise.” He kissed Jinyoung's hand twice (because once never felt like enough). “Your horse for my company. I can't stand Birdie, but you're never getting him back.”

“Good.” He kissed Mark's nose and smiled. “Birdie's magic. You need him. If anyone needs a little magic, it's us.”

Mark tried to prepare for the challenge. He really did. He sharpened his sword, practiced climbing and acrobatics, built up his muscles, and even put Birdie through his paces around the pasture (difficult since Birdie couldn't do anything more than trot without loosening the roots on the nearby trees). He wasn't sure how beneficial any of this was since he still had no idea what the challenge was in the first place, and if he did know, he still had no way of faking nobility.

He asked Young Master Kunpimook for advice, but other than going through a long, drawn out process of petitioning his home country to raise the status of Mark's family out of gratitude for their years of service, he couldn't think of anything.

“I could give you my signet ring and you could pretend to be me?” he suggested.

“You have to be of age to participate in the contest. They still wouldn't let me in.”

“We could get married to raise your status, then divorced so you're still able to marry Jinyoung?”

“You're sixteen. And no.”

“Absolutely, positively no,” Yugyeom said. “Why can't we invent a mysterious kingdom for Mark to be from and make up a crest and forge papers for him?”

“According to Jinyoung, they're checking everyone against an official registry of noble houses,” Mark said grimly. “It'll be hard to fake my way in.”

“Maybe you'll just have to show up on Day One and rob someone of their 'proof',” the Young Master said, finally. “And hope for the best.”

So Mark showed up to the palace grounds on the first day of the challenge armed with just his sword and no clue of how he was going to manage to break into the event. The courtyard was positively swarming with nobles. Hundreds of beautiful princess and ladies in all manner of native clothes and fantastical hairstyles (one even had hair long enough to be use as a lasso), and scores of handsome princes with glimmering swords dangling from their belts milled around the area. Each noble had their share of attendants with them, and Mark was pretty sure he couldn't get in pick-pocketing distance of any one of them. What would he even steal? Did nobles actually carry around certificates of nobility with them, just in case?

He was wandering around the grounds, helplessly searching for anything he could get his hands on—an accidentally dropped sigil, a vial of royal blood, anything—when he finally encountered a noble on his own without any attendants. The man—or boy, he couldn't have been much older than eighteen judging by his face—was sitting on the ground with his arms folded across his chest and lower lip jutting out in a cute pout. Either he was annoyed by the heat or the crush of people or he didn't want to be there at all. Mark sat down beside him and offered him a drink from his canteen in case he was thirsty.

The boy shook his head. “No, I'm fine. But thank you for your kind offer. Are you competing today?”

“I'm not a noble. I can't.”

“You're lucky. My parents forced me to come here for political reasons, but I don't want to be a Prince Consort. I don't even want to be a noble at all. This may sound silly... but all I really want to do is be in the circus.”

Mark shrugged. Circuses were incredibly popular throughout the kingdoms, and it wasn't an uncommon dream to have. His own father had used to be a trick rider before retiring into the Bhuwakuls' service, and he only had fond stories to tell of his time in the troupe.

“Your family won't let you?” Mark asked.

“It's not that, so much. I'm just a Fifth Prince, so I don't think I really matter at all, although they don't want me to do anything like that for the sake of their own reputation. But the circuses won't accept nobles. Too much trouble, they say. They're tired of noble parents coming in and taking their children back home after the troupe puts in so much time training them. But my country is a week's journey from here. By time they realize I'm gone, my parents will never be able to find me. I'll be free.”

“Can't you just lie about your identity?”

“Not in these clothes.” The boy lifted up his ruby-encrusted sleeves. “And I can't even tell what's supposed to be peasant garb in this kingdom. I swear, I saw some of this kingdom's nobles wearing harem pants with plastic cutouts, and they insisted they were based on an outfit the King himself wore at last year's festival!”

Mark pursed his lips. “I have an idea. You want to be a commoner, right?”

The boy nodded eagerly.

“Well, I want to be a noble, at least long enough to save Second Prince Jinyoung from the competition. So why don't we trade? I'll give you my peasant garb and a recommendation into the circus, and you give me your royal garb and whatever I need to enter into the competition as nobility.”

The boy's eyes widened. “You'd do that for me?”

“No matter how you look at it, I would be the one getting the better end of the bargain, right?” Mark said, thinking of Jinyoung. “It's no big deal.”

“Well. It is to me.” The boy gestured him to come back to a small shed by the royal stables where they could trade clothing. Mark wondered how anyone was supposed to live day-to-day with ruby encrusted sleeves. His arms felt ten pounds heavier than normal.

“All right,” the boy said, fitting snugly into Mark's simple jerkin and leggings. “Here's my royal signet ring as Fifth Prince. I'm Youngjae from the Mokpo Kingdom. And don't worry about getting caught. No one knows who I am, anyways.”

Mark wrote down the name of his father's old circus troupe, and sent a beaming Youngjae on his way. With his new ruby-encrusted outfit and signet ring, Mark finally approached the registry to get clearance into the Palace Square.

“Name?” the scribe asked.

“Youngjae, Fifth Prince of Mokpo Kingdom.” Mark flashed Youngjae's signet ring.

The scribe searched for Youngjae on his registry. Just as he was about to hand Mark his pass into the inner palace area, his eyes narrowed. “Wait. Don't I know you from somewhere?”

Mark shook his head, but the scribe continued staring at him suspiciously. He probably did know Mark from the number of times his family had come to the palace with the Bhuwakuls, but Mark couldn't say as much. Instead, he waved his hand indifferently. “My family visits this area often. I'm a good friend of Kunpimook Bhuwakul from the neighboring estate.”

“That must be it.” The scribe passed him the slip approving him for entry. “The challenge will begin right through these gates. Best of luck to you.”

Mark nodded and went through the gates. Right away his eyes were assaulted by one of the strangest sights he'd ever seen.

In the center of the Palace Square was a tall hill with a level top where a distant figure was sitting cross-legged. Except the hill wasn't a hill exactly, or not like any Mark had ever seen. It was completely reflective, showing him a copy of the crowded Square surrounding him like a mirror. Perhaps it was a mirror of some sort. A hill of glass.

Mark squinted at the top of the hill. It was Jinyoung on top. Jinyoung and a basket of what looked like apples, presumably in case he got hungry. He was leaning forward slightly on the glass, looking down into the crowd. Mark resisted the urge to call out to him, and lifted the ornate scarf Youngjae's court garb came with up to partially cover his face. He couldn't get caught now. He'd signal for Jinyoung later, when he found out what the heck was going on.

After the rest of the nobles streamed into the Square, gawking at the hill and whispering among themselves, King Jinyoung Sr. himself appeared on one of the palace balconies, decked out in what looked like a black velvet onesie.

“Hear ye, hear ye!” he called out. “Welcome to our autumnal festival! As we have announced, it is our intention to give our beloved Second Prince's hand in marriage on this auspicious occasion. However, we can't just have anyone carrying off our son. The person in question must be resourceful and brave, clever and unrelenting. To find such a one, we invite you all to take part in the Glass Hill Challenge! The rules are simple. Using whatever means the contestant has at their disposal, they must reach the top of the hill and claim Second Prince Jinyoung. Of course, none of you had any idea this challenge would be of this nature, so there will be three days to compete in this challenge. If no one reaches the top, the noble who reaches closest will be the winner. If there are multiple people who reach the same distance, the Second Prince Jinyoung carries with him three golden apples. He may throw one down per day as a sign of favor to a contestant he likes. If that contestant is able to tie the highest distance, the sign of favor will count in his or her score against the other participants. Also, if one participant receives all three golden apples, the Second Prince is allowed one act of assistance for them. Perhaps suggesting a hint to them, or throwing down a helpful item. Whichever the Second Prince sees fit.”

The King cleared his throat, looking incredibly proud of himself over this stupid challenge. “Also, a word of warning. The glass is quite slippery by design, and as the day goes on, it will become hotter. The Second Prince will be protected by a special mat, but I would suggest taking precautions as well. The Royal Family will not be held accountable for anyone injured in the course of this challenge. And now! Without any further ado! Let. Us. Begin!”

Mark held off stepping up early in order to watch what the other contestants would do since he had no idea himself. It seemed they had no idea either. The princess with the long hair tried to lasso it onto Jinyoung and hoist herself up, but he quickly threw her hair off as soon as it landed near him. One prince had a strange kind of footwear that he swore would grip to the glass, but he quickly slipped off the moment he tried to climb. Another princess tried to dig her nails into the glass and form cracks, but nothing would harm it. A magic-wielding prince attempted to magic suction cups like an octopus onto his arms, but wound up materializing disgusting looking boils instead.

Mark watched failure after failure, and still had no idea how he was supposed to make it even two steps up the glass hill. The only person to make it any distance was a princess with homemade gloves coated with paste, but even those couldn't hold up her weight for very long.

As the hours passed, Mark realized there was really no point in trying anything with his too-heavy shirt and useless sword today. He gave the hill a cursory approach since he had to at least make an attempt to be able to compete in the next few days, and waited for Jinyoung to peer over the edge.

When he did, Mark blew a kiss upwards to him. He wasn't sure Jinyoung could see down that far, but within a few moments, Jinyoung's head disappeared and a golden apple was sailing down to Mark on the ground. The crowd let out a collective gasp as Mark scooped it up and tucked it into his pocket. There, he thought smugly. My way to first place.

Still, he had to make his attempt. He tossed his sword into the glass, lodging it as high as he could reach. When he was sure it was stuck in place, he ran up the hill and vaulted onto to the sword, using it as a springboard to flip upwards and touch a higher part of the hill. Considering the hill's massive size, it wasn't very far, but it was still one of the higher scores of the day.

The day ended with no one making it close to half way up the hill. The royal crier listed the three highest distances, and included Mark—or Youngjae of Mokpo—on the scoreboard for receiving a golden apple. With that finished, the crowd was escorted from the Palace Square to return to the estates where they were staying. Mark turned around one more time to look at the glass hill as he left. Jinyoung was watching him, or at least Mark thought he was from the angle of his neck. He hoped Jinyoung had faith. He hoped he would trust Mark to figure this out before it was too late for anything to be done.

Day Two arrived far too soon. Mark had spent a sleepless night trying to figure out how to approach the challenge. Suction cups were possible, but he was sure that everyone would be trying that, and that it would be difficult for even those to sustain weight and grip given how much heat the glass reflected. Besides, he couldn't exactly magic them on himself, and there was no way to fasten them on his clothes that would outlast the trial of trying to climb an entire glass hill.

Instead, he settled on coating a pair of gloves and boots in the sticky webbing he'd collected from the giant woodland spiders. It was the strongest adhesive he had in store; the woodland spiders were a particularly nasty bunch that wove webs large enough to capture small animals and on some occasions unprepared travelers. It was almost impossible to remove yourself from their webbing once you touched it and it required handling with special gloves. Mark wasn't sure it would get him all the way up the hill, but he thought it might get him far enough to get a top distance score. As long as no one made it all the way to the top, his golden apple gave him an edge.

The other competitors were also more prepared on Day Two. There were several suction users who made it higher than yesterday, though Mark was correct in his assumption that they didn't hold well in the heat. The magic users were the biggest competition. One princess managed to spell her hands a texture similar to a gecko, but lacked the arm strength to pull herself up high enough. Another prince put some sort of spell on his boots that made him bounce upwards off of the surface when he hit it, but the hill's angle was too steep for him to keep his balance.

Jinyoung wasn't even watching the challengers. His eyes remained fixed on Mark in his royal garb (trimmed free of the rubies. He'd sell those later and see about getting the money to Youngjae somehow, as a thank you). He was too far away for Mark to see clearly, but he could make out a golden apple waiting in his hands. If Mark caught the second one, and the third, he'd be a shoo in to win. Provided no one else reached the top and he could somehow managed to tie whoever made the best distance.

Today, Mark had covered his face with a carnival mask before approaching the hill. People would recognize his clothes from the day before and remember him as the one who had received the golden apple, and he couldn't risk someone realizing he was not actually Fifth Prince Youngjae this quickly.

Slowly, he fastened himself to the glass with his spider web gloves. To his surprise, they stuck quite well to the surface. The true challenge was yanking them free to climb higher. It strained his muscles terribly to get them to unstick, and climbing up the steep surface was hard enough on his arms as it was. Still, he persisted. He needed the best distance. Even if he couldn't reach the top, he needed to go as far as he could.

He was just shy of half way up the hill—by far, the best record of the day—when he felt his arms start to give out. He looked up to see Jinyoung gazing down on him, closer than he'd been since the challenge had begun. Mark would have given anything to climb the rest of the way up to him, but his arms were shaking. There was nothing to be done.

“Jinyoung,” he called out. “The apple!”

Jinyoung nodded, rolling it down the hill to him. Mark released one of his hands with difficulty and scooped it up before yanking the other hand free and sliding down the hill. It hurt like hell to feel the hot glass beneath him, but he held on tightly to the apple, the precious sign he was the Second Prince's favored.

When he made it down the hill, his distance was measured and declared as the record by the crier. There were a few cheers here and there, but even more nobles were looking at him with hostility. Mark doubted any of them cared about Jinyoung; they just wanted the political power Mark was only one day and one golden apple away from winning.

No one beat Mark's record on Day Two. The town crier called together the top three scorers—Mark, the bouncy shoes guy, and the library kingdom princess who had taken a similar approach to Mark, though hadn't been able to make it as far—and asked them to give a short statement on their determination to win.

“My kingdom is at a cultural low point,” said bouncy shoes guy. “There's barely even any new music or art to speak of, and the scientific and magical discoveries are pretty much nil. We would greatly benefit from the advantages this alliance would provide on both levels. Although I was bit disappointed it was the Second Prince up for offer. I had been told it would be either First Prince Jaebum or First Princess Jimin.”

Mark wanted to deck the guy in the face. If the crier hadn't gone off on a tangent on the Royal Palace's official statement about Jaebum's elopement—Jackson was apparently now “a valuable and welcome asset to the throne! A representative of the cultural renaissance who was not only talented on multiple levels but could very well go on to become a celebrated knight with his peerless rapier skills!”—he probably would have.

The library princess simply said that she'd heard this kingdom had some of the best libraries in the world, and she was pleased to hear the Second Prince was well-read. She said all of it tonelessly, though; she was probably doing just as her family told her to, same as everyone else here.

When it was Mark's turn, the crier made a big deal about getting him to take off his mask, but Mark wouldn't budge on that. “All you need to know about me,” he said, “is that Second Prince Jinyoung is my soulmate. I'm going to win because I love him.”

“Goodness!” the crier said, clasping his hands. “Do we have the beginnings of a fairy tale romance here? If you've received two of the golden apples, the Prince surely returns your ardor. How will this tale unfold? Will the determined lover win the Prince, or will the clever rivals take the spoils of victory? I for one will be awaiting the outcome on Day Three with bated breath!”

Mark swallowed back a lump on his throat. Would he be able to reach the top? The bouncy prince and the library princess had already gotten a look at his gloves; they could copy design if they wanted to and possibly make it further than him. He had to think of something else to win. But what? What could he do to make sure no one else who didn't love Jinyoung could get close to having him again?

Yugyeom practically tackled Mark when he made it home. “Mark! You have to help! Birdie got out of the stables.”

Mark felt his stomach sink. He couldn't lose Birdie. As much as he disliked horses, this horse was Jinyoung's precious gift, the almost-monster that had brought the two of them together. If something happened to Birdie on his watch, it would almost be as if he'd shattered the promise between them.

“Do you know where he is?” Mark asked urgently. A horse that big couldn't go anywhere fast or without anyone noticing, but Yugyeom and the Young Master had a habit of going off and doing their own thing when Yugyeom was supposed to be minding the stables. A family trait, Mark had to admit.

“We know exactly where he is. Come look.”

Yugyeom pulled Mark around to the front of the Bhuwakul estate. To Mark's amazement, Birdie had climbed partway up one of the turrets to get at one of the apple trees that brushed against the estate walls.

“How did he get up there?” Yugyeom wailed. “How do we get him down? I'm going to get in so much trouble!”

“Birdie's a magic horse,” Mark said slowly.

“Great. Now get him down.”

Mark threw his arms around Yugyeom. “Thank you so much for not watching him. Yugyeom, you're a genius.”

“...I am?”

“Yeah. I'll get him down for you, but you have to promise to help me with something.”

“What?”

“Teach me how to ride a horse without falling off.”

Mark probably would have attracted attention to begin with arriving at the Palace Square with his two golden apples and now familiar carnival mask and formerly ruby-encrusted shirt. But with Birdie in tow practically causing a miniature earthquake as he lazily followed Mark into the Square, he guaranteed every eye was on him.

“Isn't that the Second Prince's mount?” people whispered as Mark made his way through the parting crowd.

“It doesn't stay at the Palace. It stables with the Bhuwakuls as a sign on favor.”

“Does the Mokpo Palace have any connection with the Bhuwakuls?”

“Perhaps the Second Prince is allowing him to use it. But isn't that against the rules? The Second Prince is allowed to give away the golden apples to who he wants, but he shouldn't be allowed to do anything else unless the person has three golden apples. Not that I suppose a horse of that size could actually climb a glass hill. No horse could.”

“Actually, I heard the Second Prince essentially gave the horse to the oldest son of the estate's stablemaster to show favor. Perhaps the oldest son passed the gift along. He would have another connection to the palace, now that his younger brother is consorting with the First Prince.”

Someone sniffed. “Upstart commoners.”

“Don't speak treason,” someone else hissed. “That upstart commoner is the First Prince Consort of Jaewhypi. Approved by His Majesty King Jinyoung himself!”

Mark settled near the front of the crowd with Birdie, who swished several people aside with his tail. He glanced to the top of the glass hill. Jinyoung was smiling down at him. If only he'd thought of this on Day One, he could have carried Jinyoung off right away (they were at least letting Jinyoung off the glass hill at night, weren't they? He was suffering more than anyone, but no one seemed to mention it).

To increase suspense, the crier announced that Mark (“Youngjae”), bouncy shoes prince, and library princess would be competing last, with the highest scorer, Mark, serving as the finale. “Will true love prevail?” the crier hollered to the rowdy crowd. “We'll have to wait until the last moment to find out!”

The competitors were now performing more capably than the first two days. Several had jacked Mark's woodland spider idea, but only a few could actually manage to pull the glove back again once it was stuck. Out of the hundreds of competitors, only one was able to make it as high as Mark had the day before without collapsing in exhaustion. He was far more muscular than Mark, which made Mark wonder how he'd been able to reach so far on his own. Perhaps love had driven him on. He had to deliver Jinyoung from an unwanted marriage. He had to.

Finally, it was the library princess's turn. She'd also stolen Mark's idea, but had refined it just slightly to make the webbing thinner and easier to remove when she wanted to go up another step. The effort was clearly exhausting for her, but she was light-weight and quick, and maintained a good grip on her way up. She made it just past Mark's record from the previous day before sinking back down.

Bouncy shoes prince did not steal Mark's idea. Rather, he borrowed the spell from the first day to magic his skin the texture of a gecko. This time, the spell was better done than the princess who'd performed it originally, and he had all of the arm strength he needed to haul himself. He quickly scrambled up the hill and passed the library princess's record and was well on his way up, far too close to Jinyoung...

Then, suddenly, Mark heard a whisper at his shoulder. “Release,” the voice hissed, and suddenly the bouncy shoes gecko prince's spell lifted and he was left sliding down the glass hill with a look of utter shock on his face. Mark glanced over his shoulder. Third Prince Wonpil was standing there, his face partially covered by a thick cloak. He moved it away just for a moment so Mark could see it was him before dropping it again. “Make my brother happy,” he murmured with a smile before darting off into the crowd again as quickly as he had appeared.

Finally, it was Mark's turn. He led Birdie to the base of the hill, ignoring the crowd's complaints when the ground shuddered. Using the tricks Yugyeom had taught him, he heaved himself onto Birdie's back (such a journey felt almost as exhaustive as climbing a glass hill) and settled into the saddle. “Ok, boy,” Mark said in a low, soothing voice. “You do this, and you'll get so many treats when you're back home. And you'll get to see Jinyoung again. Doesn't that sound lovely?”

Still, the task looked daunting from where he was. The marker set by the bouncy gecko prince was quite high, and Mark had to at least match it if he was going to save Jinyoung from an unfortunate wedding to someone he didn't love. What if Birdie's strange climbing power didn't extend to glass? What if they fell?

Jinyoung peered over the the hill, and Birdie's ears quickly perked up at the sight of his master. He stepped onto the glass hill, testing it tentatively with his hooves, then slowly began his way up to Jinyoung.

Mark could hear the gasps of the crowd below him, who had probably never witnessed the antics of a magic-bean influenced giant horse, which apparently included defying gravity. Perhaps Birdie was an apt name after all. They could accuse him of cheating all they wanted, but Birdie was a resource at his disposal, just as the rules stated.

Birdie was slow, but got the job done. They passed Mark's initial record and the library princess's and little by little made their way to the bouncy gecko prince's marker. Jinyoung held his eyes the entire way, a tender smile on his face. Come to me. I'm waiting for you.

Finally, they neared the record distance. Birdie was just about to take the step he needed to reach it when there was a loud roar from someone in the crowd—possibly the gecko prince, since whoever it was yelled something that sounded like “CHOKE!” Birdie's head whipped around and he froze in place, eyes fixed on the ground below them.

Oh god, Mark cursed. Please don't tell me he's just realized he's afraid of heights.

“Come on, Birdie,” Mark coaxed him. “Just one more step. If you make one more step, you can have more treats than you can stand when we get home. And when Jinyoung and I are together, we can all live together for the rest of your magical life. Wouldn't you like that? Huh?”

But Birdie wouldn't move. He whined, thrashing his head back and forth in fear. The only good thing that could be said was that he wasn't throwing Mark off his back in a panic.

“Mark!” Jinyoung called from the top of the hill. “I'm throwing the third apple down.”

Mark pulled his mask off. “It doesn't matter. If I can't go higher than this, I'll lose.”

“I know. Just trust me.” After a moment, the third and final apple went sailing down. Mark caught it and quickly stashed it, waiting to see what Jinyoung would do next.

The sudden movement of the apple had apparently caught Birdie's attention, since he'd stopped thrashing and went still, his eyes fixed on Jinyoung. “Birdie, you're brave, right?” Jinyoung cooed. “You just want to go home, right? We'll go home soon, I promise. I just need you to do one thing for me. Stay perfectly still.”

“Jinyoung...?” Mark asked, not having any idea what was going on. Jinyoung gestured for him to stop moving too, and Mark immediately went still in the saddle. The crowd beneath them was completely silent.

It all happened at once. One moment Jinyoung was on the top of the hill, and at the next, he was sliding down. Mark and Birdie were both frozen in place, shocked at the sight of him hurtling towards them, but right at the moment Jinyoung was set to crash right into them and send them all sliding down the hill, his hand shot out and grabbed Birdie's reins. Using the acrobatic flexibility Mark had taught him during their shared childhood, he twisted his body and vaulted onto the stirrup. Before Mark could even react, he'd hoisted himself onto Birdie's back with Mark, dug his heels into Birdie's side, and yelled, “BIRDIE, FLY!”

At the sound and feel of Jinyoung, Birdie immediately revived. He trotted up the hill, passing the marker set by the bouncing gecko prince, and settled onto the level part of the hill, overlooking the crowd.

Everyone burst into cheers.

“There,” Jinyoung said, out of breath. “My one act of assistance.”

Mark stared at him in awe. “You're amazing.”

“Aren't I? We wouldn't be a proper couple if I let you do all the work and didn't help you at all.” Jinyoung wrapped his arms around Mark's waist. “Want to run?”

“Do we have to? I did win you, after all. Fair and square.”

“I know. But let's just run away for a little, before it gets even crazier. Just you and I. Please.”

“Your wish is my command.”

“Wrong fairy tale.” Jinyoung dug his heels into Birdie again, and the two of them went over the other edge of the glass hill, whooping as Birdie finally broke into a gallop on the easier way down. With the competition over, the crowd could do nothing more than wave their hats at the spectacle. True love had prevailed, magic had worked on the side of good, and the day was won.

All that was left was to determine if happily ever after was possible for a Second Prince and a stablehand or not.

Birdie couldn't run very far. They made it about as far as the Knight Tourney training grounds before the horse decided he'd had enough. Mark carried Jinyoung a little bit further on foot before he too had to stop. Not because he was tired, but because Jinyoung was quite enthusiastically kissing him.

“Did you think I could do it?” Mark asked, Jinyoung's hair.

“I knew you would,” Jinyoung said, beaming. “And I'm glad you didn't think of Birdie until Day Three. I knew he got spooked if he went too high, and I needed you to have all three apples before I could help with that. I liked what you did with the webbing on Day Two, too. You're my hero.” Jinyoung smiled, nuzzling into Mark's neck. “Even if you hadn't won, I'd still have run away with you. But this way father can't object to me rule breaking. You won my hand fair and square.”

“Except I'm not actually Fifth Prince Youngjae from Mokpo.”

“No. But you're the cleverest, bravest, most determined, kindest, most resourceful, and handsomest person in the kingdom. All the requirements.”

“Being handsome was a requirement?”

“Not as such. But it's much appreciated.” Jinyoung threaded his fingers through Mark's hair and kissed him again. “Let's get married.”

“Hmm?”

“Right away. Whether father likes it or not, before anyone can change his mind. We don't even have to live in the palace if you don't want. We can live in our own place and do whatever makes us happy. You won't have to take care of another horse in your life. Other than Birdie, of course. But we can be whoever we want to be. We can be together.”

“It sounds almost too good to be true.”

“So did you. But you're real, aren't you?”

“AHEM!”

Jinyoung and Mark looked up. King Jinyoung was standing there arms folded across his chest.

“When will people stop stealing my children, I wonder?” he asked in a slightly testy voice. “And not only that, but making an absolute scene about it when they do. If Jaebum wasn't bad enough hauling a half- guy in leather to the throne room and rambling on about eloping, now you go off and do this, Jinyoung.”

“You were going to marry me off to a Princess. A robot princess who wants to steal all my books! And if not her, some weird mage guy with shoes that bounce.”

“No, I wasn't. If I had my heart set on her or him, I wouldn't have bothered with the fanfare of a competition.” The King sighed tragically. “All those obnoxious nobles were driving me crazy about threatening war, but none of them have fought a war in centuries or have the money to actually do it. However, I didn't want to give them incentive to start building an army and bothering my children or my children's children out of revenge. I had to do something, didn't I? But with those golden apples and the assistance option I gave you, didn't I play it in favor of your own choice winning?” He glanced at Mark. “Good job getting in as a noble, by the way. If you hadn't figured out a way, Princess Jimin was going to make sure you found the sigil from I planted on the scene.”

“Y-you knew about this?” Jinyoung stammered.

“Oh come on. Your daddy knows everything. I had to appease all those noble jerks, but I wasn't going to let my precious boy get hurt in the meantime. I would have told you as much, but the element of surprise worked in your favor, didn't it? Mark really gave it all.” The King clapped his hand. “Of course, the nobility is going to be royally—ha ha, royally—pissed when they find out Mark's a commoner, especially after what went down with Jaebum, so we're going to have to buy off the Kingdom of Mokpo so they'll claim him as one of theirs—their long lost son, or something. Shouldn't be too hard to convince the populace of that. Thanks to Mark's hair, he doesn't look anything like his biological brother Jackson. And as long as Mokpo agrees to this, we can promise them the economic stability and protection they would have received had Youngjae actually participated and won. I'm sure they'll be grateful enough to let the trivial details slide.”

“So,” Mark broke in tentatively, “Jinyoung and I can get married?”

“Oh hell yeah! Go crazy, kids. I only have an endless supply of cute kids to marry off, so I'm not too worried about you two. Just continue to put good things in the kingdom, and I'm sure you'll get good out. Besides, I'm half tempted to just elevate your father and mother and youngest brother to nobility for the heck of it. With the two oldest sons being Prince Consorts, why not?”

“Seriously?”

“Ask me one more time and I may have to change my mind.”

“NO! We'll get married.”

“Glad to hear it. Now you two can stop sneaking around as if your feelings were actually a secret to anyone.”

With a dramatic flip of his glitter cape, the King marched back to the palace, leaving Mark and Jinyoung to themselves.

“So...” Jinyoung whispered faintly.

“So.”

“We're getting married, then?”

“If that's what you want. I don't care how, I just want you.” He leaned down and kissed Jinyoung's lips. It took his breath away that he could do this as much as he wanted for the rest of his life. A lifetime of kissing Second Prince Jinyoung sounded just about perfect.

“You don't mind being a Prince?”

“As long as I'm your Prince.” He kissed Jinyoung's forehead. “Sounds better than being a stablehand, at least.”

Jinyoung smiled up at him. “Sure does.”

Once upon a time there was a stablehand who really hated horses.

The stablehand may have spent his life stuck with horses forever, if not for the love of a handsome prince and his own force of will. With the blessings of the Kingdom of Jaewhypi and the frenzied blessings of the Kingdom of Mokpo, Mark and Second Prince Jinyoung were wed following their triumphant victory over the glass hill. Though the wedding was somewhat quiet in the face of the scandal caused by the troublesome First Prince and his wily consort, the two settled down happily and were frequently praised by their subjects for their brilliant finale to what would be remembered as the most fascinating festival in the Kingdom of Jaewhypi's history.

First Prince Jaebum and First Prince Consort Jackson were wildly popular with their populace once gossip of their scandalous elopement began to die down. In spite of their odd bedroom proclivities, the two oversaw the kingdom with a gentle hand and were famous for keeping things entertaining for their people. Jackson went on to be knighted, and the following year won the Knight Tourney by the greatest margin in recorded history. As for First Prince Jaebum, he popularized a dance movement that would go on to influence generations of performers to come, and went on to compose several iconic symphonies still played to this date. The pair was also famous for renovating the palace dungeons into a sprawling operation spanning most of the palace grounds. However, they took no criminals during their reign, and mainly used it for their own purposes.

With his family elevated to nobility and two elder brothers married into the royal family, Yugyeom was highly sought after by eligible nobles in the kingdom. The Bhuwakuls campaigned strongly to secure an alliance between him and Lord Kunpimook, and Yugyeom didn't take much convincing. The two were married at the Bhuwakuls' summer estate and chose to live there permanently so Yugyeom could remain close to his brothers. Kunpimook became a famous painter, and Yugyeom found his niche opening a prestigious dance academy where disciples of the First Prince's developments in dance technique went to study. Mark and Jinyoung stopped by often as his students, though it secretly bothered him that Mark thought Jinyoung was a better dancer than Yugyeom himself, thanks to Mark's rose colored vision when it came to Jinyoung.

As for Youngjae, he spent many happy years in the circus as the headlining act Chuckles the Clown, who was said to make every child he encountered smile with his charming act. Years later, he would become the ringmaster of his own traveling troupe. Before setting off on tour, he returned to Mokpo to visit his family one more time. He was greeted as a hero of the kingdom for securing Mokpo's economic stability by cementing an alliance with Jaewhypi through his assistance of Mark and Jinyoung's romance. Though he chose not to remain at the palace as a prince, statues of him were put up around the courtyard and many children in the kingdom where christened with his name when they were born. Though flattered by the honor, Youngjae returned to the circus where he happily spent the rest of his career. He was invited frequently to Jaewhypi, where he gave many performances for the household of the Second Prince and Second Prince Consort.

As for Mark and Jinyoung, they did choose to move outside of the palace and live like commoners in their own cottage. The two kept vast pastures for Birdie to lumber through, and it was a local joke that whenever there was a thunder, it meant Birdie had broken into a gallop. Jinyoung, inspired by his own story with Mark, began to write fairy tales for children, while Mark was commissioned to refine his spider web gloves into fully functional tools for budding adventurers and mountaineers. Stories of the legendary “spider man” were passed down telling of the famous Day Two of the glass hill challenge, and to this day, the legend lives on as a beloved tale for children and adults alike.

Above all, the Second Prince and his consort were deliriously happy. They lived in comfort with their magical horse and put good things into the kingdom with everything they did. The two had already given birth to several legends with tales of their courtship and marriage, but perhaps the most beautiful legend of all was that of a pair of lovers who wouldn't let a mountain (though technically a hill) stand in the way of their love.

And with that, this fairy tale ends the way all fairy tales do.

They all lived happily ever after.

Bonus note: Author-nim is hard at work on a new multi chapter Markjin (but shorter than my previous ones), so until we meet again, don't forget you can ask me stuff on ASK.FM. Thanks in advance for your support of this story~