It was a sad day at the kingdom.

Taemin sat in a hall full of officers and quietly mourned his father’s death, nobody noticed the tears in his eyes, nobody saw how scared he was, exhaustion held his body, the pain in his heart paralyzed him, but nobody noticed him, all were too busy with the kingdom matters.

“Many people in the village are sick” one said “the river had flooded many of our fields, we need to take care about the dam” the other called “and what about the rebels?” another one expressed his concerned.

He had no idea what to do, father never taught him how to run the kingdom, only Suho had that privilege but since his brother was on the roads, he had to take his place until he’ll come back.  

Suddenly, he shot to his feet with the only idea he could have thought of, he called the officers for order and waited for all eyes to fix on him before he said “send the guards to look for Suho, now”

The hall became quiet.

“We should wait for dawn, prince” one of the officers said.

The word ‘prince’ had a strange tone in his ears. Shaking his head, he said “no, we must find him as fast as we can”

“It’s late, our guards won’t be able to see the roads at night, tomorrow-”

They had been interrupted when suddenly four guards burst into the hall, they pulled two tied rebels along with them and threw them to the floor in front of Taemin.

“We found them in the woods by the palace, prince, we believe their headquarters is somewhere around” one of the guards said.

All officers talked at once, concerned, they created a big chaos at the hall.

Taemin stood there paralyzed, confused, his heart sunk in his chest and tears of anger sprang in his eyes, he felt betrayed when he looked down at the rebels and saw Minho who looked apologetically into his eyes.  

Screaming his throat out, the boy reached his hand to grab one of the guard’s sword, all became quiet, terrified eyes looked at him as he pushed it into the rebel’s shoulder.

“PRINCE!” the guard called surprised by his actions.

Minho screamed when the blade of the sword penetrated his flesh, his blood splashed from the wound it created, his breath became heavy and his body shook savagely, tears blurred his vision as he looked at Taemin, his beautiful face turned red with anger as his little hands held the sword tightly, tears rolled down his cheeks when he ordered everybody out.

“Prince-” one officer tried to talk sense into the boy.

“I said, EVERYBODY OUT”

“What about the other rebel?” the guard who his sword had been taking asked.

“Lock him up. Now, everybody get out!”

All did as been told. Worriedly, the officers split, few ordered the guards to patrol the palace while others arranged a search expedition to look for Suho, one guard appointed by the hall just in case.

“T-Tae...min…” Minho groaned in pain.

“Y-you’re a rebel” the boy shrieked.

“I’m, sorry”

“You knew who I am, the whole time you knew I’m a prince?” he asked as he pushed the sword a little deeper into his shoulder.

“AH!” Minho screamed “I didn’t…I never knew there is another prince, I, I swear”  

“You used me for information?” Taemin burst in tears.  

“No...never”

“Is that why you took me into your bed?”

“NO!-”

“-And I was stupid to believe you had feelings for me”

“I took you, into my b-bed...because, I love you”

The word ‘love’ made the boy weak, the sword became heavy in his hands, he screamed angrily as he pulled the sword from Minho’s shoulder, blood splashed from it wound and stained his hanbok, beastly groans escaped the rebel’s throat, his face paled and his body twitched as he tried to focus his gaze on him.

A guard burst into the hall “prince! I heard screams, are you alright?!”

Taemin threw the sword to the floor “lock him up” he hissed before he went out of the hall, leaving the man who loves him to bleed.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Taemin sat in his father’s throne and stared outside the window, the tears in his eyes still hadn’t dried, his heart ached in his chest, his body felt weak, he hadn’t slept much for the last two days, can’t stop thinking about his father, Suho, but mostly about Minho.

A small knock on the door caught his attention, a maid with a tray of food walked in and placed it in front of him, just like she did a few hours ago at breakfast, he hadn’t touched his food at morning, neither this time.

“Prince!” two guards burst into the hall, Taemin looked at them worriedly, in their hands there was an overcoat, Suho’s.

“We found this at the woods” one said “we believe Prince Suho kidnapped by the rebels”

Taemin shot to his feet, he reached the guards and took the overcoat from their hands, helpless he mumbled “find their headquarters” before he rushed out of the hall and headed the detention facility.

The guards at the detention facility looked confused when Taemin approached, they hurried to bow their heads respectfully but the boy passed by them without paying attention.  

“Everybody out!” he ordered as he walked in and waited until all guards were out, left alone, he headed Minho’s cell.

Inside the cell, Minho lied on the hard floor, his wounded shoulder had been bandaged with a dirty fabric that had been ripped from his hanbok, just so it would stop the bleeding, he looked weak and pale when he rolled his eyes up to look at him.

Taemin’s heart ached in his chest, only two days ago this man held him safely in his arms, touched his body and made love to him, tears sprang in his eyes as he unlocked the cell and walked into it.

Though it was hard, Minho pushed his body from the floor and sat, his back leaned on the wall behind him as he looked at the boy who kneeled in front of him with an overcoat in his hand.

“Where is Suho?”

Minho barely managed to stay focused, the pain in his shoulder made him fuzzy.

“Where is Suho?” Taemin repeated, he tried to stay tough but his voice cracked “tell me!”

Minho reached his hand and cupped the boy’s cheek lovingly, he couldn’t hate him even though he had wounded him.

The gentle touch made tears roll down Taemin’s cheeks, the overcoat in his hand tossed aside “please, tell me”

Minho wiped his tears as he weakly said “the headquarters”

“Bring him back so we could run away” the boy whispered.  

“W-what?”

Taemin leaned forward and pressed their lips together with a small kiss, he wanted to hate Minho for posing to be his guard, for misled him, but his heart couldn’t deny the love he felt for him “I don’t want to be a prince” he mumbled against his lips “I don’t know how...bring back my brother so we could run away together”

“You want to run...with a rebel?”

Taemin looked into Minho’s eyes, as crazy as it was, he nodded.

“Have you lost your mind? We can’t run away”

“We can”

“We can’t, Taemin...this...it can’t be” he said referring them.  

Desperate, the boy shook his head.

Minho sighed “if I’ll try to bring him back...the rebels will see me as a traitor, I’ll be doomed”

“We’ll run away, no one will find us”

“You’re a prince, Taemin, everybody would look for you”

Taemin pressed another kiss on his lips before he got to his feet “I’ll take care of everything, just bring him back” he said and got out of the cell, locking it, he looked at Minho with teary eyes and mumbled “I love you”