***this chapter just goes between CY and Seolhwa’s POVs lol no more patterns

Part 5 : Yoo Seolhwa, Park Chanyeol

Leaving the palace for days and returning for too short of a stay has become a sad routine for Chanyeol.

He’s exhausted each time he gets back, head hurting and body aching. It’s getting harder and harder to avoid the sight of blood — he simply can’t — and reigning in his reactions when he sees it is also near impossible. It takes all of his self control.

On top of that, only moving at night and staying hidden at day is also turning into a difficult feat. Chanyeol’s pretty sure that at some point, he’ll be the one slowing the rest of the group down.

It’s the exact thing that Park Jinhwan confronts him about the moment he gets back. He’s halfway through his way to Seolhwa’s room when Jinhwan intercepts him in the hallway.

Like usual, Chanyeol has to take a couple breaths to steady himself before turning to face the man. It’s been years that Jinhwan’s been a part of his advisors — he’d been his father’s before, too — and he can’t really bear to kick him out because he’s one of the only close relatives he has left. Granted, he’s never really actually taken Jinhwan’s suggestions on issues, but…

“Yes?” He tries to keep his voice under control when he turns around, though it's not easy.

“You might want to consider staying back now, Your Majesty.”

Chanyeol blinks once, and then twice. “Staying back?”

“At the palace.” He has his eyes lowered in the same, respectful gesture he gets from everyone, but there’s something… almost disrespectful about it that he can’t place. “You’re the king, and it’s best that you don’t get injured so much in such insignificant fights. A couple of the soldiers have reported how it’s been harder to find places during the day and actually move at night. It won’t be hard to organize leaders for each party of soldiers.”

It isn’t exactly that he doesn’t want to stay at the palace — in fact, it’s more comfortable here, with sure safety from the sunlight and away from the horrors of battle and the overwhelming smell of blood. His archives are there. The gardens. Seolhwa.

Still, there’s a feeling of the fulfillment of duty when he does go. He hates it, he doesn’t want to risk his life for it, and he’s not exactly obligated to do so either, but at the same time, every time, he feels like he has to.

“You know I can’t,” he replies. “I’ll talk to you about this later, but right now…” He shuts his eyes. The wound on his leg still aches and his throat feels dry. Talking to Jinhwan about such things makes his head pound even more. He turns on his heel, heading towards the direction of the hallway of Seolhwa’s room, intent on ignoring Jinhwan and shrugging his words off for at least the afternoon.

“There’s a traitor on loose in the palace, Your Majesty.”

Chanyeol freezes. He turns back around again to face Jinhwan, who’s still standing still in the middle of the hallway, not moving from his original spot.

He narrows his eyes at him. “I thought they found him. I killed the assassin myself.”

“No one is sure.” Jinhwan doesn’t quite meet his eyes this time, but there’s a hint of venom in his voice when he says the next sentence that makes Chanyeol somewhat uncomfortable (and it also makes him wonder yet again if removing Jinhwan from the palace would be a smart choice). “There’s a lot of rumors circulating you and the commoner girl, Your Majesty. Some people say that you may be attacked because they don’t believe she’s a suitable match for a king—”

“That’s enough.” The wound on his leg seems to ache even more as he snaps the words out, but he forces himself to head away, trying to hide the limp. “I’ll deal with it later.”

He can feel Jinhwan’s disapproving gaze on him all the way down the hallway, not disappearing until he actually turns a bend.

Chanyeol pauses then, when he’s out of sight, and leans back on the wall heavily. As much as he’d rather not face it, Jinhwan is most likely right. He’s been dealing with attempted assassinations for months — it’s not exactly something new — but if the person that has been behind arranging all of it is someone from inside the palace that hasn’t been weeded out yet, it’s not just him that isn’t safe. And while he can fight and is used to such things, it’s no doubt that Seolhwa isn’t.

Steps heavy, he heads towards her room and hopes that time will give him an answer.

(And hopefully, he thinks, soon.)

***

“This is Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says.

There’s very definite confusion written on her face as she stares back at him.

Go Eun in in the room also, and she’s standing next to Baekhyun. Said man holds out an arm awkwardly in Seolhwa’s direction, lips pulling up into an equally awkward, lopsided smile. “I’m Baekhyun,” he repeats.

She stares for a couple moments more and then points a finger at him, eyes narrowing. “I’ve seen you before, haven’t I? It was you and the other guard a couple weeks ago. Min… seok, I think?”

Chanyeol glances between them. Baekhyun withdraws his outstretched, unshaken hand slowly, casting a side glance of help at Chanyeol. He ignores him. “He’s one of the couple elite guards in the palace,” he continues. “There’s word of a traitor in the palace going around and with everything that’s happened, I don’t doubt it. They’ve been targeting me only for the last couple of months, but I…I don’t think it’ll be a long time before they turn to you also. So if you’re going to go anywhere, it’s best to have him accompany you.”

Seolhwa nods very slowly, and then finally asks, “Everywhere?”

“Unless you’re with me.”

Her eyes flicker to him briefly and then she nods. Baekhyun mirrors her, looking very much like  her room is the last place he wants to be, before he manages a small bow in Chanyeol’s direction. “Since you’re here, I won’t stay,” he says in a rush before turning and practically fleeing the room.

Go Eun snorts. “I’ll take my leave to, then.” She’s out the door before Chanyeol can stop her (though he doesn’t really have any intentions to anyways).

There’s a very long moment of terse silence when they leave, and Seolhwa stands where she’s been the whole time, still looking like she’s unsure of what’s going on. Finally, she turns to meet his gaze. “Are you alright?”

Chanyeol blinks. “Me? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well…” Her hands are wrapped around the fabric of the dress she’s wearing, and she’s clenching it and unclenching it in a nervous manner. “You make it sound like it’s nothing, but people are trying to kill you. There’s someone in the palace who’s behind all of this and no one has any idea who it is. It could be someone you trust and know well. If that’s not a scary thought, I don’t know what is. Besides, you’re rarely even here anymore. I know you said before that it’s your duty and all, but it’s dangerous. The blood and... you know… especially the sunlight.”

Admittedly, it’s a mood dampener that Seolhwa’s mentioning the exact things that he wants to forget when she’s around, but on the other hand, it’s just another reminder that he needs to somehow find a solution sometime soon. Chanyeol manages to smile at her, and while he isn’t sure how genuine it looks, it feels forced. “I’m fine.”

Her tone is accusing. “You’re not.”

He takes a step towards her, and the look on her face melts into one of surprise. She follows his movements, backing up, and Chanyeol does too.

It doesn’t take long for her to back into the bed and he leans down so they’re face to face. There’s an expression of nervous anticipation on her face.

“Is that how you speak to your king?” he jokes.

She gives a cough of an embarrassment, cheeks noticeably turning red and then whacks him on the side of the arm, hard. It’s actually painful, and he backs away groaning while she glares at him.

***

They eat dinner together in her room that night and Chanyeol hasn’t even noticed how exhausted he is until he falls asleep on her bed talking to her. He wakes up the next morning with a wall of pillows between him and Seolhwa, though he’s ended up taking more than half of the bed. When he peers over it, she’s still asleep.

It doesn’t last, though. He drags himself back to his own room, bleary eyed and the wound on his leg still aching slightly and gets intercepted in the middle of the hallway by Minseok, who’s geared for battle.

He’s gone the next night.

***

It’s very awkward with Baekhyun, and I definitely would’ve prefered Go Eun accompanying me everywhere.

Perhaps the first problem with Baekhyun is that he talks a lot. I’m still not used to actually interacting with people in the palace apart from Chanyeol and Go Eun, and neither of them are exactly talkers. Go Eun only speaks when she’s prompted to (or when she’s teasing, but those are the times where I wish she doesn’t speak at all). Chanyeol… I don’t see nearly enough these days.

Baekhyun makes up for their silence. He chatters nonstop with me when I make my daily trip to the garden, though half of what he says goes in one ear and out the other. I answer his questions absentmindedly, not sure of what I’m nodding to half the time. The palace seems too empty and sad to be speaking so much, and it’s almost weird how he can talk so easily.

And for an elite guard, he looks fairly harmless.

It’s the same for the king, I guess. With his mask and robes, he can look terrifying, untouchable, like majesty, but on normal occasions, it wouldn’t be hard to mistake him for another passerby. Baekhyun, who’s always dressed in simple robes, doesn’t look like much of a fighter either.

He carries a pair of daggers, sheathed in in his robes where no one can see. They’re all a simple black color.

Chanyeol’s been gone for two days when he follows me to the gardens again. The sun is bright in the sky, and I can’t help but wonder where he is now. I can’t imagine how it’s like to travel and having to avoid sunlight at the same time.

“You know,” he begins, and I glance up from the echinacea that I’m looking at. It’s a white, dusted with the faintest hints of pink. “I’ve known the king for almost all of my life.”

I turn around to look at him. “How long is that?”

“Twenty seven years. We grew up together. We learned how to fight together.”

Chanyeol doesn’t mention his childhood much, and I try not to probe, though admittedly, at times, I’m more than curious. I know that he had a brother who was meant to be king but instead died on the battlefield. I know that he’s known Go Eun, also, since he was young. I look at Baekhyun, and for what feels like the first time, he has a serious expression on his face. “He doesn’t talk about his childhood a lot,” I say. He’s never mentioned you sounds a bit rude.

“He’s never mentioned me,” Baekhyun translates with a wry smile, and I flush in embarrassment. “Yeah, we kind of all grew apart when he got older. I think all of us really did. He was meant to be king. You can’t really tell the difference in terms of status and power when you’re young because everyone is practically the same, but… it really starts to show when one reaches a certain age.” There’s something wistful about his voice when he speaks. “But I suppose at the same time the difference in status doesn’t always speak distance. Look at you two.”

I have no response to that, and Baekhyun takes it as his cue to continue. “What is he to you?”

For someone who talks and jokes so much, his voice sounds so serious that I can’t quite comprehend. I don’t know how to answer him, either; what is he?

“I’m not sure,” I murmur.

Baekhyun tilts his head, reaches down and picks one of the echinaceas that I was admiring a moment before. He hands it to me. “I can’t speak for him, but…” His gaze flickers to the sky, where the sun is hanging brighter. He points a finger at it. “That,” he says. “To him, that’s what you are.”

***

The door of my room opens and then slams shut halfway in the night, and I’m wide awake a moment later, snapped out of sleep. It’s so sudden that I don’t even feel the exhaustion creeping up to me.

Baekhyun locks the door behind him, panting heavily, a lantern in his hand (though one side of it is cracked). There’s a smear of blood across his cheek and the front of his robes are torn. There’s the faint glimmer of a blade in his other hand.

“Attack,” he manages out, though he slides down the door and onto the ground before he even finishes. “It was really close to your room and I think they were going for you.”

I glance at Baekhyun in concern. He doesn’t look like he’s in the best condition — at this point, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to fight at all.

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