Title: Come Dawn

Pairing: Hongbin/Hakyeon

Number of Words: 5,475

Genre: Pyschological, Angst

Warnings: Character Death

Note to my Giftee: I hope you enjoy this, kyeonkyeon! There's not much action and some failed comedic interactions, but I do think you'll like it :)

Come Dawn

“The man’s crazy! Completely crazy!” Hongbin threw his hands up in the air as his voice grew to emphasize his point. Hakyeon wasn’t listening to a single word coming out of his mouth. The younger pointed a finger to the still man in his seat. “You’re playing a madman.”

“And there’s the problem,” Hakyeon grit out. His eyes were staring down to the sprawling map on the table and nothing else. On it were colored pewter figurines- pieces showing their allies and their foes. The knights were the red ones here, the pawns blue over there alongside infantry troops. The king stood behind the rest for both sides. This war was one of intellect. Manpower mattered not in the slightest to Taekwoon.

Hakyeon twirled the king in his hands before setting it down in front.

“And you mean the madman.”

Hongbin left his position from across Hakyeon and sat down beside him instead. They could be quieter rather than shouting their thoughts across empty space. Hakyeon gave a side-glance to the one man he would trust with his life. Not even his father could hold that title.

“If I am to play the role of a madman, then Taekwoon shall be the lunatic, I suppose,” Hakyeon mused. Hongbin clicked his tongue at the twist of his words. Hakyeon fiddled again with one of the pieces. One accidental bump from Hongbin’s knee and the figures all shifted or fell off the table completely. Hakyeon glared but Hongbin shrugged with disinterest. He needed to get his mind off of the recent attacks on Belran. “Taekwoon is a brilliant lunatic. It’s impossible to know how he will attack next. It’s not like his strategies can be analyzed by the normal man.”

Without warning, Hakyeon shoved himself from the table and walked to the back of the room. There were no windows within the military tent, mind the door flap. Hongbin’s station felt more like a prison cell than a commander’s area. Technically, Hakyeon shouldn’t even be there seeing as he had no position with the militia hunting down Taekwoon and he had not told his father beforehand this time before he left to see Hongbin. The trees in the field across the dirt walkway shuddered with the stormy wind raging outside the walls.

Hongbin adjusted the rapier resting on his hip. He advanced towards Hakyeon, but stopped before he could make any other move. “You cannot predict Taekwoon either. No one can. There’s no one that can dissect that mind and give logic to those thoughts. Remember that.”

“So what you’re telling me is that his only weakness would be me stabbing him in the neck fourteen times, or perhaps poison of his favorite sweet wine.” Hongbin let out a barking laugh and the elder surprisingly let him throw an arm around his shoulders. “But, I do think that maybe Taekwoon is not a lunatic at all.” A lunatic would mean Taekwoon acted solely on impulse. Without warning, without thought, without a chance in the world to succeed. Those statements did not define Taekwoon in the least.

“He is simply a different breed of human …if one could so much as give him that honor of being human.”

Hakyeon wanted to say more, but Hongbin’s creeping stone face stopped the words dead in his throat. He paused to think. Maybe the anger was getting the best of him while thinking of how to bring down the tyrant known only as Taekwoon. Under his expression, Hongbin could see a glimpse of the true Hakyeon that he knew.

No longer was he the eldest prince of their kingdom visiting the High Battalion to discuss upcoming plans against the Taekwoon himself, and to visit Hongbin. Nor was he the one the people viewed as their fearless savior who has defended their country with rigor. He was simply Cha Hakyeon. Son of two fine parents living together in peace and Hongbin’s closest friend since they found each other sneaking into the royal kitchen for midnight snacks.

As soon as it came, the chance expression died away. Hakyeon straightened his royal coat and nodded to Hongbin. “I do have a social I must get to. It is with the council- and they already do not trust my actions, let alone will they condone my tardiness.”

“Right now? Starting at… near six in the evening? Such an odd time during dinner.”

“It begins at nine, but if I want to make it without being called out for being late, I must head back now. We are over three hours from the castle.”

“The season’s nights are early, it will be pitch black by the time you reach the castle’s first guard.”

“…Shall you me there?”

Hongbin smirked with a hint of teasing at the fact that even while Hakyeon came off as powerful and fearless, he hated riding alone. And the dark, which was sure to come within the next two hours or so, was one of his worst fears. A combination of the two was a definite no.

“I’ll go inform Jaehwan I’m leaving tonight and will not be back until late tomorrow. He should not mind if it’s due to the prince needing assistance,” Hongbin told Hakyeon with a cheesy wink. Hakyeon only made a swipe at his leg. “Give me three minutes.”

While Hongbin retreated out of the room and to his right-hand man, Hakyeon was motionless in the warmed tent. The positions of Taekwoon’s soldiers and his own shifted with every twirl of the pieces he held in hand. A few of each were marked with white over the bold colors, and his own with black.

The pawns stood in a stalemate. And the knight stayed behind to defend his king. Hongbin would remain with Hakyeon until death do them part.

It took only two and a half minutes- Hakyeon denied counting the seconds- before Hongbin strolled back in. He motioned for Hakyeon to follow before grabbing two heavier coats resting near the flap of the tent. Tossing one to Hakyeon, he tugged his own over his uniform. Hakyeon followed suit before retreating to the chill outdoors.

“Did someone else bring you here?” Hongbin inquired, as they strode closer to the horses roped up against a long wooden pole. Hakyeon shook his head. Hongbin’s battalion was close enough that the king had trusted him to ride out with no guard when he came out before. “Then where’s your horse reined?”

Hakyeon shrugged. “Probably with one of your stable hands here. Lady was looking tired when we arrived. She needed water.”

“Our stable hands are done for the evening…” Hongbin said. “Just ride with me and I’ll send someone to bring her to you in the morning.”

This wasn’t the first time Hakyeon would ride with Hongbin and it probably wouldn’t be the last. He didn’t bat an eye at mounting the steed snug behind the younger commander. Hongbin’s own horse was bred for war with strong muscles and a size any soldier fighting on foot would faint at. It was different than Hakyeon’s own Lady, a horse more for show than anything.

Until the sun began to set heavy on the horizon, the ride drifted into a tranquil silence. Every half hour or so small talk would be struck up only to die back down. That did not mean the ride was uncomfortable in any way- both knew how much the other valued staying quiet when words were not needed.

“Faster,” Hakyeon tried to command Hongbin with his ‘I am the prince- you have to do what I say’ voice. It wasn’t often he used it, but now was the perfect time as the sun’s rays were dying out. If only the word didn’t falter and crack at the end.

“Of course, your lord, oh great highness that I do serve for all the right reasons,” Hongbin teased. Hakyeon hid his face by pretending to have suddenly caught a cold and coughing into his sleeve. Hongbin tapped the horse’s sides with a boot and urged it on anyways.

The only light was the half moon overhead until the town slowly rose into view. Lanterns lining the dusty streets and houses with candles in the windows gave enough light to see a hand’s length away. Their breaths came out in smoky puffs that the wind blew away in a second. To avoid the prying eyes of the town’s people on Hakyeon’s unmasked face, the two snuck in through a back entrance not many others knew of.

The sole guard stationed near the door stepped to the side to let their figures through, even while it was most likely the royal horse that allowed them to get through. This side of the castle was dark enough that the man was unable to truly see their faces; the moon did not provide enough light to define anything other than shadows.

Rather than allowing Hongbin to return immediately to the spare quarters he has claimed as his for the night, Hakyeon grabbed his shirt’s sleeve and led him to the main hall. There was no way he could show up to such an event alone with ten minutes past the start. And with no royal providing protection on top of that. Such formalities were a pain. Besides, this day had already taken its toll and the last thing Hakyeon wanted to do was talk to men and women who had no care what happened to troops; only if their image would remain in the end.

“I’m not in proper attire,” Hongbin whispered as they reached the door to the conference hall. Hakyeon could almost laugh at the way Hongbin hid his leather under vest and arm guards self-consciously once his warm coat was tugged off. As if he had anything to be ashamed of.

“They won’t dare say a word. Not if you stick by my side the whole time. And don’t leave me alone to be fodder. Or leave me to die of boredom.”

Hongbin cracked a grin and regained his strut. Two guards stationed to the left and right of the hall’s door watched as Hakyeon stepped into the room with Hongbin. Once they were in, there would be no way to escape back out until the asses were satisfied with conversation. Many eyes turned to the way of Hakyeon and Hongbin, but strayed with scorn. They would not pamper the prince with such attention for being tardy. The previous exchanges resumed as Hakyeon posed himself in his chair at the head of the conference table. Hongbin stood behind directly to his right.

One of the high advisors, a gangly man of fifty some, turned to Hakyeon. “And what do you propose the next move to be?” Hakyeon gazed longingly at the food resting in the center of the table before responding. Jumping right into the conversation was not a talent he had.

“What was Taekwoon’s previous move before this one? I do not remember,” Hakyeon said. It was true he could not remember the exact details, but it was a test for the advisors. One they were sure to fail.

The man waved a causal hand. “Why should that matter? It was in the past, we need only to think of the future.” Hakyeon directed a sharp gaze at the condescending tone. Even if he was not respected well in these advisors’ presences, his father was. And thus his namesake was a force to be reckoned with. A second advisor, a woman this time, saved the elder councilman from Hakyeon’s silent wrath.

“Why, he attacked the village of Belran off the shore of Lear’s Lake.”

Hakyeon cocked an eyebrow. How simple that answer when much had occurred. “That happened two days ago, correct?”

“Yes, it did,” the second advisor hummed. “Such a pathetic move to take Belran. They are nothing more than a fishing town with very few ports close by. The King has nothing of value stationed in Belran either. No trade, no troops, nothing important to protect.” She clicked her fingernails against the table. Her adorned dress shifted over her lap.

“Most of our troops were repositioned around closer towns on Belran’s side of the kingdom. I believe others were sent out to protect our more valuable southern provinces.”

Hongbin laid a steady hand on Hakyeon’s shoulder. The prince hadn’t realized how tightly his hands had curled into fists under the table until then. He shifted on the rigid wooden chair. The advisor waited for Hakyeon to agree with his conceited point.

“Those of Belran are still subjects under my father’s ruling. Even if Taekwoon made a so called ‘wrong move’,” Hakyeon cast his eyes to the far end of the table to the more boisterous talkers, “then we must react as such.”

“Why should we? All Taekwoon has shown is a pathetic display of his dwindling power!” a new advisor said, this one older and greasier than the last two.

“He is beginning to crack under the pressure of his misdeeds.”

“Taekwoon is afraid for once!” the woman cried gleefully.

It wasn’t hard to guess at how irritated Hakyeon was getting at their ignorance of war. At least Hongbin took the time to listen to what he spoke of, and respected Taekwoon’s abilities to manipulate others. Hongbin chimed into the conversation with a roll of his eyes as Hakyeon was going to remain silent. Even while he had not come to any of these meetings as a commander had no place within the royal court, Hongbin would take the disgrace of speaking up rather than having to stop a violent Hakyeon. It was frowned upon, just slightly, for the prince to lose his temper and start beating his council with his fists.

“We have come to the conclusion that Belran was an intentional plan. That much was figured. However, it seemed to be a distraction of sorts with how easily the enemy forces allied along his side gave in after their initial rampage of town.”

An advisor’s helper draped in gold- not even skilled enough to be an advisor himself- scoffed. “It is not your place, boy. Besides, you speak of nothing more than military hoopla given to the troops to make them fight. I have heard from actual sources rather than by ear that Taekwoon isn’t the mad genius he once was. His games have weakened and will not regain strength.”

Hakyeon clicked his tongue. A look of disgust was forcefully held back.

“Do you have any positions on Taekwoon? Where could he have retreated after Belran?”

They waved off what they deemed an insignificant question from Hakyeon. “Probably his base near Sematine, we dare not attack it head on.”

Any thoughts of leaving this council social early flew out the window. All Hakyeon wanted was to decompress with Hongbin in his room and maybe eat some snacks that Wonsik will make. Royal status be damned, he wanted to talk with the baker and hear his interesting stories of the Northern territories as he made the bread for tomorrow’s morning.

“They speak of nonsense,” Hakyeon muttered to Hongbin so only he could hear. Everything these advisors had been attempting to shove down his throat was complete and utter nonsense. His hand his brow- a nervous tick picked up from his mother- as the other people in the room clamored to get the prince’s attention to balk at Taekwoon’s apparent defeat. “Why do my advisors always believe this second-rate propaganda? I’ve played Taekwoon while they sit idle. This was his plan since the beginning to get us to drop our guard. And all they want is to hand him that chance on a golden platter and feed him with a silver spoon.”

“Relax, Hakyeon,” Hongbin soothed. In all honesty, the commander was too intimidated to speak up a second time in the presence of the advisors and their helpers. That he would never admit, however. Their conversation had dropped below a whisper. “They’re on your side, no matter how much it appears they are not. I am too. I hate to admit it, but you kind of have an impulsive side. Your father assigned them to help keep your decisions straight. He’s too old anymore to do it himself.”

“I don’t need these so call ‘advisors’ who only think of others not of the court as disposable pieces of property. I don’t need them to tell me Taekwoon, a man who has done every move in our game with five others planned ahead, is out of his mind!”

“It’s… Well I do agree he may not be as crazy as I originally thought.” Hongbin finally admitted. Seeing the way the advisors held such disregard for Taekwoon’s actions made Hakyeon’s earlier words that much truer. The two’s eyes locked in a silent conversation.

The advisors turned to Hakyeon one by one. Their own levels of patience were running low with the boy who acted as though their years of experience meant nothing. Hongbin backed away to his position on the right and set his face in an unyielding expression. Hakyeon followed suit. “Listen to me.”

The room fell quiet with the curt sentence. Hakyeon picked at a string on the hem of his silk undershirt below the table where only Hongbin could see by chance. He did not like every person’s eyes on him for this long. “Do not underestimate Taekwoon. It is a trap he has planned out perfectly with details we have no knowledge of.”

“Don’t give us that crap. I highly doubt you know what you’re talking about. Your Highness.”

“Excuse you; do not speak to Prince Hakyeon in such a manner,” the commander snapped. It wasn’t difficult for Hongbin to understand the reasoning behind the advisors. They wanted credit. Every soldier he fought with wanted the exact same thing. Being right about Taekwoon or for putting up such an excellent fight against him would ensure that their positions would be secured. Such idiotic tendencies. Hakyeon grit his teeth.

“Shall I win, I alone will receive the praise from our people simply for being the prince who brought down Taekwoon. If I lose, they will push the rap on me and onto you, none... My father has no part in the military side of governing as I have taken that over, and neither shall any of you. He knows not what to consult us on. I, however, do and will lead our troops against Taekwoon in battle until certain victory has been reached and Taekwoon’s head hangs mounted on the castle’s entrance wall.”

“Why would you put yourself into battle? You are royalty, and the kingdom cannot afford to lose you,” someone called out from back.

“If I do not lead, then no one will see me as trustworthy. A king must lead his subjects into battle; otherwise they will never follow him no matter how loud he commands.”

“It is not that simple,” the female advisor retorted. Her face was twisted to an ugly sort of knowledge. “They see you leave, and we are doomed. All of our allies and neighboring kingdoms have been watching our interactions with Taekwoon. Ergo has sent their messenger, not to commit us to a second war on the side, but to wait for a finale. We are on display and cannot think merely like the jousters out in front field wanting attention for trivial victories.”

“Oh please. Don’t start with that again,” Hongbin groaned under his breath. This was the first meeting he had been to in a long while. The last had been years ago when Hakyeon snuck him in again for boredom relief. The same lines have been repeated constantly. Even the jouster line had been used ten years ago.

“Why was I not told of this information?” Hakyeon snapped. If one of their biggest enemies had sent a man to their lands, then he should have been the first to know. “When did the messenger arrive into our city?”

The night was growing long for both parties. The advisors tired of Hakyeon’s apparent annoyance at the situation and Hakyeon at their cockiness. One of them, a helper of younger age than Hakyeon himself, took the bullet and explained how they were simply doing their job. It was on the advisors to determine what information was important enough to tell the prince.

“I realize that’s your job, but why would I not want to be aware of a foe staying within our lines? If they see us falter for just a moment, the chances of Ergo attacking are great.”

Hakyeon had had all he could take for the night. The prince pushed himself back from the table (he never did get to eat any of the hors d’oeuvres of bread, Wonsik’s no doubt, and red wine laid out) and left the men and women in a second. Hongbin was at his side in the blink of an eye. If Hakyeon needed to get out to cool himself, then so be it.

“Hakyeon!” The eldest advisor called out as Hakyeon’s hand hit the door to push it open. The latter hardly gave a glance back.

“Our attack shall begin in exactly eighteen hours at the next nightfall. I have decided I want to win this fight, and this is how it will be done.”

Hongbin had to pick up his steady pace to catch up with Hakyeon’s quick moving figure. The commander knew all of the twists and turns of the castle from playing in it with Hakyeon as a child, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get lost from time to time. The last thing he wanted was to be questioned by servants as to what he was doing in the castle looking for the royal chambers. All of the military training he had been doing the past years served him well as he latched onto Hakyeon’s shoulder in less than a minute’s time.

Hakyeon said nothing to him but held onto his sleeve like he was a child again while leading the way. Once they reached Hakyeon’s room, the silence still hadn’t broken behind the closed door. Hakyeon flopped over hopelessly onto his made bed and groaned into the fluffed pillow. Hongbin laughed lightheartedly at the sight, jumping on top of him. That earned a muffled groan of protest that was only half serious.

The room was large enough to fit at least three more beds alongside Hakyeon’s. A bay window showing the third story view with billowy silk curtains rested on the north wall opposite of the entrance. A second door was placed to the left leading to a bathing area with a walk in bath and any soaps or scented perfumes one needed. Hakyeon’s desk was a mess, and placed next to the right head of his bed in case he had sudden inspiration for regulations in the middle of the night.

A large storage closet with the door cracked open sat opposite the desk filled with Hakyeon‘s daily clothes when he didn’t need to impress anyone but the staff. His pajamas had already been set out casually on the bed previously by one of the servants. They probably forgot to close the door all the way in their muddled haste.

Hongbin felt at home.

It was nice to relax like this- with no immediate fear of dying, no troops to lead, no advisors to charm. Both of them had missed it with the bonus of having no characters to play in front of others. Hakyeon was the first to speak up from under Hongbin, his eyes travelling to the open window that aired out his normally stuffy room. A few papers from his desk were strewn about, probably from a particularly strong gust earlier that day. Hongbin’s body kept him warm from the chilly gusts that blew in every other moment.

“I hate them.”

“Tell me something new. I haven’t seen you in months and that council event was hardly the place to talk.”

Hongbin pulled himself up on top of Hakyeon and instead sprawled out on the plush floor rug. Hakyeon rolled over to face Hongbin better. He gave a shrug followed by a disheartened sigh. His life had been the same as it had been a year, five, even ten ago when he last attended that meeting because of Hakyeon. Advisors and councils with stuffy socials and the crushing need to be perfect haunted his days and his nights. The military commander prepped himself for a long talk. Hakyeon needed to get this off his chest.

“Who’d be the idiot to want to be in my position as the prince? The advisors make me seem as nothing more than a boy without a single clue on how to protect his citizens.”

Not a single word came out of Hongbin’s mouth. He sat. He paused. He waited for more.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about having enough to eat or not needing to work in the fields all day. But sometimes I wish it would all just go away. I could live a normal life with a normal job. Maybe I’d be a blacksmith. They’re fairly respected, right? And then you could be there too and we’d see each other every day and not need to worry whether the other was dead or not. I guess I just need a new dream to strive for or something rather than all my ambition going towards finding and killing Taekwoon. What will happen when it’s all over?”

“But it may drive you even more mad than you are now if you keep it up,” Hongbin concluded with a teasing grin. It quelled some of the frustration in Hakyeon.

“Then they try to get close to you. Do you know how many times those I hardly know have called me ‘friend’? Too many…” Hakyeon grumbled continued, frustration back. With how many sweetly fake smiles he’s given, he wasn’t sure if anyone had begun to notice his general hatred towards life. “Open one door and they walk right into your life whether you want it or not.”

They remained in each other’s silences. The commander looked out the window to the darkened sky past the balcony. Soon, the sun’s light would seep out over the horizon; they had been talking until the morning. “It’s growing late, or early. I’ll retreat to my spare chamber for the rest of the night.”

Hakyeon huffed but agreed all the same. If he were lucky, his father would realize how late the meeting ran and allow him a few extra hours of rest before sending Sanghyuk in to wake him. The prince let Hongbin go with a somewhat reluctant nod and a promise to see him tomorrow before he leaves to his troops again.

“Good night, Hongbin.”

He paused. “Good night, Yeon.”

Hakyeon tossed on the pajamas laid out for him and piled up the rest of his dirtied attire near the door once Hongbin left. As soon as Hakyeon curled up under his blankets, he was dead to the world. Everything from meeting with advisors to riding out to meet Hongbin had taken a toll on his body. The prince couldn’t even be bothered to close the window first. Hopefully tomorrow wouldn’t bring the same weariness as it did today.

The room was chilled with the open window during the night. It eventually woke Hakyeon up from his peaceful slumber. All while he clamored up to close it, he was grumbling and hitting the flowing curtains away so they wouldn’t get caught in the window. They closed with a loud bang once the wind caught them and Hakyeon made sure to shut the latch tight, so it wouldn’t happen a second time. Now, with no light from the moon filtering in, the room was black except for the ever-present candle behind a wind shield sitting on the nightstand, burning slowly.

Hakyeon sprawled back onto the bed. His eyes were only half closed as sleep took its dark hold on his mind a second time. The room creaked and something metal hit the ground. Hakyeon didn’t pay any attention as it was probably a book or figure falling from his desk like the many times they have multiple times. But what did wake him was the sudden pain screaming from his knees and sticky wetness soaking his blankets.

Right above him stood Taekwoon with a blade dripping in blood. It could only be his own.

As Hakyeon opened his mouth to shout for Hongbin, a guard, anyone, Taekwoon shoved a gag into his mouth.  A second knife was hidden in his jacket’s side sheath, but it was spattered with red, too. Hakyeon recoiled back from the sensation, but couldn’t move with the condition of his legs. Taekwoon pulled back the blankets to show Hakyeon the work he had done with a steady gaze.

Both knees had cuts running above the point where they bent. Taekwoon must have slid in the knives on the inner side of his legs, twisted them, and pulled them across until the blades slipped out. Hakyeon had enough anatomy knowledge from his tutor to know his tendons had rolled back up the inside of his leg like a drawn scroll. There was no chance of him ever walking again. That is, if he could survive the amount of blood pouring out and coming face to face with Taekwoon unarmed.

Hakyeon knew Taekwoon would never understand anything he would try to say. Not that that would work with the gag shoved down his mouth and Taekwoon’s knife at his throat. Perhaps he would be able to distract Taekwoon long enough to call for help. The issue would be Taekwoon attacking immediately after. Those odds were better than nothing considering Hakyeon couldn’t so much as move to stand with the condition his legs were in.

He tossed the gag out of his mouth and watched the looming Taekwoon. The latter still held the knife as a threat between them, separating their bodies. Taekwoon cocked an eyebrow at the sight of Hakyeon throwing away the gag and remaining silent. A bold move to be played on the injured prince’s part.

Hakyeon held his hands up and prayed to any god that they were not shaking and showing the fear he was feeling. His mouth opened to speak- to ask Taekwoon about why he was attacking his kingdom, how he got in, why Taekwoon is the way he is. Anything that could be used to buy him some time, so that he may call for Hongbin’s help.

Taekwoon cut him off once his mouth opened. “How cute. You believe me to allow you to speak.” Taekwoon drew up his blade up the length of Hakyeon’s body, from his leg to his chest (dipping it into the sternum hard enough to draw blood) until he reached the prince’s neck. He leaned in close enough for a whisper. “That’s what I had brought the gag for.”

The prince recoiled from the proximity they were in. Taekwoon’s breath was rancid and made Hakyeon scrunch his nose in disgust. Taekwoon pressed the knife in closer as his eyes met Hakyeon’s. There was such a youthful glint in Taekwoon’s eye that Hakyeon guessed he could not have been more than twenty or so. The madman opened his mouth once more.

“I thought when I first got here, ‘maybe I could pass this off as his suicide.’ After all, you do seem not very… happy with life. Advisors and councilmen believing they know you and such; even with, Hongbin was it?, on your side with such a dedicated loyalty,” Taekwoon drawled. “But where’s the fun in that? Giving credit to you for such a perfect death…” The knife danced on Hakyeon’s neck in playful swirls. “… And not to me?.”

The madman paused to look into Hakyeon’s eyes. They were filled with more emotions than he believed they would be. “By the way, Lady is a lovely horse to ride.”

Taekwoon the serrated knife into Hakyeon’s neck before he had the chance to scream. All the prince could manage was to weakly reach up and try to grab at the neck, but his life gave out too soon. Taekwoon smiled ever so sweetly. Hakyeon was down, and Hongbin would give the final checkmate.

Rather than rushing off in haste, Taekwoon sat at the desk to make himself comfortable. There was no need to flip through the papers; he had already found the ones that would surely give him leverage to win against the prince’s remaining forces. It would be some time before he would have to leave for the morning’s trip back out to his own company of soldiers. His calmed mind didn’t even worry about the commander sleeping in the next chamber over.

How lovely this time of dawn.