"It's beautiful, out." Mirae whispers softly, nestling her head upon his shoulder whilst clinging onto his forearm. She can feel how toned Baekhyun's upper torso is and how tightly he is holding her, instantly melting into his touch and swooning over the simplest of actions. "The night is still young, are you sure you want to go now?" She asks, looking for reassurance in his worrying eyes. Although dreading having to see his parents and the consequences he faces for going against the two rules they had set for the prince, Baekhyun knew that this had to be done for the sake of Mirae, and the time he so desperately wants to spend with her. 

"I made a promise to you, Mirae-ah." He whispers, kissing the crown of her forehead and egging the two of them on to continue walking down the stonepath leading up to the estate. "And I'm going to keep it." 

She smiles at his words, but knows to keep her expectations down as Mirae realizes that circumstances can sometimes never be to her favor. Her grandmother promised that she were to take care of her for the rest of her life, and she knew that from the moment of her death to this very one in time, promises can only be kept until time constrains them and breaks the elasticity of the moment.

As they begin to approach the guarded and heavily gated perimeter of his estate, a sense of dread filled the prince. For some odd reason, there was an odd feeling building up from within, as if something drastic were to happen. Mirae could feel his grip on her waist tighten, and by the looks of the nerves spreading across his handsome features, she too, felt herself getting an odd feeling within the pits of her stomach. She felt him clutching to her side tightly, this time pressing her body flush against his as if he were protecting her from some predator. As if she was her princess that he came to protect. Though the night was silent, spare from the chirps of crickets and birds and their footsteps, something seemed to be drumming in from up north just straight ahead, as Baekhyun notices the mansion filled with lights and glitz quite unorthodox of it to be adorned with. It was the call of his name that broke the silence, its voice too familiar in its tone, and stern in its malice. 

"Prince Byun Baekhyun." He hears his name called out, and in behind of him stands his mother and father, and to the side of them two knights wielding their shotguns in stern gaze upon the prince and the now frightened and confused woman. His mother and father watches as their son wraps his arm protectively around her, challenging them with the same reciprocating glare in his father's eyes. Mirae can't help but to be intimidated by the look in the woman's face whom she assumes to be Baekhyun's mother, her features not towards angry but sympathetic and disappointed. What frightens her much more is how the knights had addressed him. Prince. 

"Take the Prince away-" 

"No." Their son defies, and the King clenches his jaw in anger at his son's defiance. He has had enough embarrassment for one-lifetime and he can no longer stand his attitude. "I am not taking another step further. Not without her." Mirae balks at how he stands his ground, and immediately feels intimidated by his parents' gazes, unreadable and left with no trace of emotion within them. 

The King scoffs, pulling away from his wife and takes a step closer to his son. "What did you just say, Byun Baekhyun?" He questions, beginning to feel his blood boil. "Have you gone mad?!" His father yells, enraged and in disgust at how his son has begun to defy him beyond expectation. He was more so taken aback by how reluctant Baekhyun was in surrendering himself, his features ridden with disbelief. 

"Yes! I have gone mad, father!" He yells back, holding Mirae closer and wanting to keep her as so as much as possible. Baekhyun was not going to let her go anytime soon, and he was more than willing to defy his father no matter the consequences. As long as she was still by his side, he knew he could be sane, and he knew he could continue trying to be happy. For the sake of himself and for hers as well. "Do you not understand? I've been such a good son to you, willing to inherit the throne to be King but you, you!" Baekhyun cries out, his frustration now making his father's expression soften. "You both have suppressed me from the thing I've wanting to do for so long, you have suppressed me from falling in love with who I want and-" 

"You fell in love with this woman?" His father spits, and Mirae feels an arrow dive straight into the center of her chest at how scornful his tone emits with malice. She tries to hold her ground, swallowing the tears back."What exactly do you see in her that you have not seen in Nara?!" 

"Byun Taehyun!" The Queen yells, and immediately the King closes his mouth in shock, his eyes widened in surprise at how his wife had addressed him by his name. Never has she done so in years, and for her to be doing so only meant one thing: that he was overstepping his own reach. 

"Miyoung.." He calls out quietly, his face pleading for her to let him continue his haranguing. She clicks her tongue in disapproval, moving away from the knights and pulling her husband away and flashes a slight apologetic look towards her son, who is also quite shocked at his mother's behavior. Never has he heard her call him or address him by his full name, and for it to happen for the first time was foreign, and definitely a sign of something crucial. 

"You need to calm down, please." The Queen pleads silently, gripping onto her husband's arm like how Mirae was holding Baekhyun's. "For the sake of your own son." She says with her teeth clenched, trying to hide the anger beneath her features. "You have no idea how familiar this moment is, don't you Taehyun-ah.." The Queen whispers, her voice broken and seemingly melancholy within the lines of her words. Baekhyun and Mirae look at each other in confusion, not aware of what exactly his mother meant by what she had said but nonetheless didn't bother to question it telling by how the Queen's eyes are filled with both frustration and disappointment. "Bring the both of them into the Palace-" 

"P-Palace..? Why.." She stops, catching the royal family's attention. "Pardon me for my ignorance, but.. Who exactly are you kind folk..?" Mirae questions, looking at Baekhyun for answers yet he seems to be caught on his own words. The Queen easily notices her son's predicament, walking over to the woman who holds her chin up with confidence despite the King's earlier insults. She is almost surprised and taken aback by this, wondering how someone could be so confident after being humiliated so cruelly and unfairly. 

"Would you prefer my son to tell you?" She asks, fixing her dress and looking over at Mirae with knowing eyes.

As if she had been in her position before.

Mirae nods, looking back up to Baekhyun who has tears welling in his eyes, knowing very well that he has lied about his identity and deceived her as well. Who was he to think that he could run away from who he was?

With one final gulp, the prince sighs and walks closer to his beloved jewel, caressing the apple of her cheek with the back of his finger and smiles brokenly her way. 

"N-Nevermind, y-you don't have to tell me Baekhyun-ah if it's too hard I don't want you to-" She pleads, feeling guilty at how broken he looks yet he hushes her with a soothing touch. 

"I... I am the prince and next in line to inherit the throne in this Kingdom, Mirae-ah. I live in a Palace, not an estate built upon my mother and father's owning of land, but more so inherited through royal blood." He begins.

Mirae balks in disbelief at his words, unable to completely process them as the night sky limits and constrains upon their moment together in harmony. Mirae immediately tries not to feel betrayed, but can't help to feel the sense of dread within her beating heart. Was that why he took care of her? Because he was the prince and it was out of pity? She asked herself, her soul wilting from within at the thought. Mirae felt crushed beneath the weight of her own doubts, no matter the weight of that of Baekhyun's sweet promises and pressed kisses upon her skin. 

"Y-You.. You're the prince...?" She asks, voice coming out strained from her parched throat as a tear falls onto her cheek. "Is that w-why you helped me? Because it was a duty of yours..? B-Because you felt bad for me, didn't you?" 

Baekhyun immediately denies this, crying out and shaking his head, trying to reach for her arm only for her to move away at that instant. 

"No no no..! You have it all wrong, I-I came to love you and it wasn't out of pity that I helped you.." He whispers, trying to reassure her only to be met by her beautiful features now turning from betrayal to anger. "There hasn't been a single ounce of pity in me for you and I wouldn't have ran to you if it were not for my growing need to be around you. Please, Mirae, you have to believe me..!" The prince begs, getting down on his knees and the gesture makes both of his parents gasp. Mirae is taken aback by the suddenness of his actions, not accustomed to having people at her like this. 

"Byun Baekhyun..!" The King hisses, moving away from his wife to help him up. Baekhyun puts some hesitation and reluctance into standing upright, and ultimately stands beside his parents, completely avoiding Mirae's weeping eyes as he stares down in shame. His father then turns to the crying woman before them, his gaze scornful and enraged. "I don't know who you are, but you must mean a lot to my son to make him do that. He has never begged for something, heck, not even for someone." 

Mirae clenches her fist, defied by all means and humiliated beyond recuperation. Sighing heavily and shakily, she swallows down the last bit of her tears and faces the royal family with a cold stare. 

"Then don't let me be his first time." 

Baekhyun snaps his head up at her words, watching as she turns around and lightly limps on the ankle she had recently sprained, the bandages now coming off and unraveling beneath her feet. He cries out to her, trying to chase after her slowly fading frame in the moonlight but there is no use; the knights were already holding him back, his parents watching with numbness in their eyes as their son frantically tries to fight against them but to no avail. Mirae has already disappeared far enough into the deep and thick forest, her radiating presence and charms no longer emitted from her mere existence. She ceased to exist in this very moment to Baekhyun, and he felt as if a piece of him had been taken away. 

And just as that part of him is whisked away into a never-ending abyss of regret, his parents take the prince back into his chambers, now taking his happiness just as they had taken Mirae away from him. 

"That boy does not realize the consequences of his actions, and you know it very well Miyoung-ah." The King sighs, taking a sip of his tea and sets the cup down on the bedside table, a lamp adorning the darkness and candles sprawled across each crevice and corner of the master bedroom.

His wife sighs, taking in the sound of her name rolling off of his tongue. They hadn't called each other by their names in years, mostly because of the titles they were so used to being called upon and eventually found no reason to do; until recently, that is.

The Queen sits beside her husband on the bed, leaning her head onto his shoulder and he nearly flinches at the intimate action they haven't done so in a long time as well. It wasn't that they weren't intimate nor were they affectionate, but that they forgot how to love each other like so, like they forgot how they loved each other and came to be wedded within love's encompass. Their rings are studded, yet the spark beneath their jewels were dim, failing to be kindled until the moment upon contact. 

"Their love.. It's familiar isn't it." Her voice sounds as if she is reminiscing, full of nostalgia and deep in its emotion. The King can't help but to nod his head in agreement, the both of them staring out into the curtained windows of the room as the night grows deeper and deeper. "I remember when we used to be so in love like that, Taehyun-ah. To the point where you'd do anything for me as well." 

"Like father like son, isn't he." The male jests, referring to Baekhyun and making his wife join in with his laughter as well. "I have never begged for anything more in my entire life than you, Miyoung-ah." He swoons, turning his head and cupping his wife's cheek in his hand, caressing her flesh gently with his own and warming in its touch. "And you know that too, very well indeed, no?" The King smiles, the Queen nodding her head and reciprocating the brightness in his beam present within the gleaming of his eyes. 

"We have to let them be, Taehyun-ah." She pleads quietly, making the male sigh and shake his head. 

"We can't.. The kingdom.." He begins to worry. "We'll lose it to Taeshil and he'll inherit it all." The King says dreadfully, conflicted between saving his people and saving his son from the lifelong burden of loving someone outside of royal blood. "My brother can't. He's still banished, and if word spreads who knows who will let him be free." 

His wife can't help b