CHAPTER #7

THE DEVIL’S DEAL.

They say that no matter how hard you try- there are some memories that you can never replace, never forget and most certainly you can never recreate them. Sehun wondered whether it was a fact or not. Whether it was possible to bring the beautiful days of his past to life again; the days where he was not required to handle the burden of a large Kingdom on his shoulders alone, the days where he was free to laugh, play and move around without worrying about the onslaught of attacks from his enemies- from people who want him dead. The security of his life was the last thing that he missed though; what he missed the most was the pleasant smile that always used to line his father’s lips, the happiness that shined in his mother’s eyes, the trust and security that his sister used to possess once and the laughter that reverberated around the empty ground when he was trained by the most treasured General of the Army.

I wonder how things would have been if that war hadn’t broken out?

Sehun wasn’t the type of person to indulge himself with thoughts that were useless and he was certainly not the type of person who shied away from responsibilities. No, he was taught to be better than that. Ever since his childhood, he has never been scared of holding a sword or swinging it towards his opponent. He has never been scared of leading and he was never hesitant of accepting the title that was going to be given to him in the future, but the abruptness with which all the responsibilities tumbled down on his young shoulders after his father’s death did scare him. Not because he didn’t want to face them, but because he was not ready for them yet. He was still being trained for it, but his father and mentor were killed already. There was nothing he could do then, but to accept all the things that were shoved in his direction. People were scared of their future and were looking up towards the royal family to lead them- they were looking towards him (a fifteen-years-old boy) to give them direction and assure them that everything was alright.

As if that was possible…

Even when he thought that it was impossible, still he did just that with a little bit help from his mother, the courtiers and a few ambassadors. Baekhyun’s father has been of a huge help since he was a respectable Lord with a huge social circle and political importance. Things were rocky at the start, but in the end, they all have managed to bring the situation under control. The calm and serene environment that was blanketing his Kingdom at the present almost seemed impossible to achieve at that time, but they still managed to do that. That didn’t mean that he doesn’t have any regrets. He was, after all, a human being too. There was no way to avoid the sudden war that was opened on them, but still, sometimes he wished that things would have proceeded a little bit differently; at least different enough to spare his father’s life along with his mentor’s who has diligently fought along.

I wonder how his family is doing.

Their father’s death was not easy on them even when they were a royalty. Sehun wondered what happened to the mother and daughter that were waiting at home for the General to come back.

Flashback
 

“Oh- Thank God! We are here.”

It has been a long journey. They have been on the road for days now and have finally reached Ceya. Sehun has never realized how far his mentor actually lived from his hometown and he wished he’d never had to, considering the fatigue he was feeling at the moment. He can’t believe that Mr. Shin lived in the castle without his wife and daughter- if the rumours that he has heard were correct. The young prince has always been close to his father and he really can’t think about the possibility of living away from him for such an extended time period. He wondered how the wife and the daughter coped with such an enormous distance from the man of their house.

Don’t they miss him?

The main castle of Siris was at least at four days journey from the centre of Ceya. The young Prince doubted that his mentor left to visit his family every week considering the time that would be wasted and the fatigue that he would have to go through. It only left him to conclude that the man only came to visit his family on annual holidays that were granted to the whole army. Sehun wasn’t really interested in tagging along with the man, but his father has been adamant about sending him off with Mr. Shin so the man could continue training him diligently.

“Finally! I had the notion that we will melt under this cruel Sun.” Of course, Baekhyun being the great friend he still is had decided to tag along. That didn’t mean that his friend was obliged to keep himself from complaining about every small discomfort that came their way.

“Humans can’t melt under Sun, Baekhyun. Stop reading all those vampire fictions, will you?” His friend didn’t look pleased with his response, but for once the shorter male decided to keep his mouth shut in favour of carefully following Mr. Shin. The elder’s horse was already way ahead of them. Sehun was sure that neither of them was fond of getting lost in an unknown city on their first day in Ceya.

“We are here, boys!” Both of them brought their horses to an abrupt stop in front of a decent sized commoner house. It was nothing compared to the luxury that they were used to, but they knew that they would have to make it work. It could have been worst. At least, Mr. Shin knew about their lifestyle. Baekhyun has been positive that the General would make sure to take care of their needs and make their stay comfortable. Oh- his friend couldn’t have been any more wrong.

………………

“Sehun~ why are we doing all this commoner stuff?” Sehun rolled his eyes at his friend as soon as he heard the latter complaining.

“Don’t be such a drama, Baek. You’re just carrying your own luggage to the room for your own convenience.”

“Exactly! The things that our maids do for us,” His friend countered back with a witty smile before dragging up his luggage with a sigh. It’s not like he was not strong enough to carry the stuff to the second floor, but why did he have to do all this stuff? Where were there maids? He was sure that the castle could spare them some. Heck! His own household could.

“Mr. Shin says that it’s a part of practice,” Sehun replied in a distracted manner and opened the wooden door at the end of the hallway.

“I’m just here to watch though.” Baekhyun pointed out before entering the room after him. The room that was assigned to them was quite spacious. There was a big bed in the centre which he assumed Baekhyun and him were supposed to share. The fact that it was covered with pink sheets bothered him a little, but he soon looked over it. A large wooden shelf was set against the left wall right in front of the bed. There were many thick books that were lining its compartments and Sehun might have already chosen the book that he was going to read. It was a nice thing to have a small library in his room. He liked to read- though he wondered why there was a doll wearing a pink frock decorated along with the books. There was a small dressing table set against the opposite wall and surprisingly contained quite an amount of hair bands and flowery pins. The room’s overall presence was a little feminine and his friend was not afraid of voicing that fact out.

“Did they mistake us for girls?” Rolling his eyes at Baekhyun once again Sehun shook his head before placing down his stuff on the bed.

“I doubt that…but this room must belong to a girl; perhaps Mr. Shin’s daughter.”

“Yeah, I heard that he have one, though I didn’t see her.” It was true. They have met the lady of the household downstairs already, but there was not even a single trace of another person in the house.

“She must be out. We will eventually get to meet her later.”

……………

The above mentioned ‘later’ turned out to be almost after two weeks of their stay. From what Sehun has perceived, the girl was almost their age and she was currently staying at her aunt’s place since her room was assigned to them. He felt a little bit bad for a while, but then got over it fairly quick considering that her aunt’s house wasn’t that far and Mr. Shin did spend more than half of his time with her.

“Hey, who’s that?” The young Prince was pulled out of his thoughts by Baekhyun; who was currently pointing in the direction of the backyard of the house they were staying in. His mentor has sent them both off to roam the city so they can finally have some fun and relax after two weeks of unrelenting training. He has instructed them to return once they were tired which happened sooner than they expected. Nevertheless, it was a nice, sunny day with a gentle breeze and they enjoyed themselves to their heart’s content. Both of them were glad that they were not in Siris because people there would have recognized them immediately; privacy would have been a far away dream then. It was nice not to be recognized everywhere you go once in a while.

“How would I know?” Sehun inquired before fixing his gaze down on the two figures that were currently engaged in a heated swords fight. He recognized one of the figures as his mentor while the other remained a mystery since he was facing their back. All he can make out was the short height and the long hairs that clearly belonged to a girl.

“Do you think that’s Mr. Shin’s daughter?” Baekhyun questioned with barely concealed curiosity as he leaned forward to get a better look at the subjects of their attention.

“She is good at fighting. Expect Mr. Shin to teach his daughter to fight. It’s impressive. I bet those books in the room is hers too. You know how Mr. Shin loves literature. He must have rubbed off on his daughter. It is an uncommon occurring, but not an unpleasant one. I’m interested. Not that I have anything against common women, but damsels in distress are hardly my type and I know for a fact they aren’t yours either.” The way his friend continued rambling off without waiting for an answer from his side showed that the latter was genuinely excited which was surprising since Baekhyun was really hard to please and satisfy.

“I guess you’re right. If it’s Mr. Shin then it shouldn’t be a surprise.” Sehun might have said that, but he was still as excited as his best friend though he was less expressive about it.

“Should we go and make a small greeting?” It might have sounded like a question, but Sehun knew that Baekhyun wasn’t waiting for an answer. Nevertheless, he tried to stop his friend before the later proceeded further with his intentions, but he ended up being a little bit too late.

“I don-”

“Teacher!”

“Never mind,” The young Prince grumbled under his breath with the roll of his eyes and finally fixed his attention on the fighting figures. They seemed to have gone completely rigid in their places following Baekhyun’s loud call for very valid reasons; his teacher, after all, was doing something which was not considered proper at all in their society.

“You guys are back so soon?” It was evident from the inquiry alone that his mentor didn’t expect their company at the present moment.

“We got tired.” Sehun provided briefly before slowly making his way towards the backyard with Baekhyun following his steps. He didn’t miss the hasty motion of the feminine hand which flew up to pull up the black mask that has been hanging by the girl’s ear.

“Teacher, won’t you introduce us to your student?” It was once again Baekhyun; who voiced out the desire to be introduced to the girl. Sehun doubted that his mentor would follow through with his wishes.

“Hello, Miss! My name is-” His friend continued with the same sly grin that always seems to line his lips, but was curtly cut off by Mr. Shin.

“That’s enough introductions. You can leave now.” His mentor didn’t look amused at all as he directed the last part of his sentence towards the only female present among them. Sehun once again trailed his eyes towards the mystery girl when he felt a burning stare piercing through his skull and tilted his head slightly with an inquiring raise of his brow when he caught the girl staring at him. It seemed like he had managed to catch her off-guard since she quickly averted her attention away from him, bowed her head a little in farewell and left the place silently.

“Was it your daughter?” Sehun wanted to smack his friend at the back of his head when he voiced that question out. The icy stare that was directed towards them by their mentor didn’t help his case much.

“I’m going to make you sleep in the forest without any tents if you continued with your inquiries.” It was the only threat that was thrown at Baekhyun by his mentor and like Sehun expected it to – it actually managed to shut his friend up.

“You seem to be really immersed in your thoughts.” Sehun’s eyes fluttered open as soon as his mind registered the sudden claim. He sluggishly pulled up his slumped form in a seating position before tipping his head against the back of his chair to smile at his sister.

“Seulbi, I was waiting for you.” His sister – Seulbi – smiled at him too before settling down in the chair parallel to his.

“You were certainly not bored while doing so.”

“That is something I won’t refuse. My thoughts kept me entertained enough.” He replied with a mischievous tilt to his lips and pulled back his leg a little when she pretended to kick his shin.

“Give your mind some rest, will you?” It was a good-natured remark which pulled out an airy laugh from him.

“I was not thinking about work- if that helps.”

“It should.” Seulbi agreed off-handedly before pouring herself a cup of tea that has been placed there by the maids before she arrived.

“I heard that mother called on you yesterday.”

“Yeah, she just wanted to know how I was doing.”

“And how are you doing, brother?” It was delivered in such a casual manner that if Sehun didn’t know his sister he would have never noticed the underlying smug tone that was lacing his sister’s inquiry. Something told him that it was the exact question that she intended to ask from the very start.

“Depends,” He replied vaguely before taking the other cup of tea that Seulbi extended in his direction.

“On what?” She was clearly not satisfied by his response.

“On what- you want to hear…” He knew that the smirk that he threw her way wasn’t received well; especially if he was to consider the annoyed frown that was currently decorating her features.

“I heard you met a lady.” His sister finally conceded with a sigh and brought the cup up to consume the hot beverage.

“It can hardly be called a meeting.” Sehun corrected before following her suite and bringing the cup up to his lips.

“A meeting nonetheless!” Seulbi asserted ardently before straightening her posture in attention.

“When are you finally going to bring a Queen for this Kingdom? At this point, our mother is ready to accept anyone you bring home.”

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