Chanyeol arrived late at the palace that day, and started surprising everyone in his battalion with his unusual behaviour. He started off by smiling at a court lady who was seeking out of a soldier’s room after meeting her secret love there, and then he waved merrily at Baekhyun and Sehun, who were sparring in the arena. The two captains stared at him, their mouths agape, as he entered his office looking so carefree.

“Hyung,” Sehun mumbled, watching their general disappear into his office. “Is it just me, or is Chanyeol hyung changing for real?”

Baekhyun’s lips adorned with his most charming smirk. “It’s not just you Hunnie. I think things are changing between him and Seora.” He said. “You know, he’s not an easy person, plus he’s tremendously slow at these kinds of things.” He went on.

Sehun hummed in agreement. “Let’s be patient and hope for the best.” He said, turning back to face Baekhyun to restart his practices.

“Oh by the way Sehun,” Baekhyun started, turning to his opponent. “I won’t be coming for dinner at your place tonight. So you can head home without me.” He said. Sehun didn’t ask for the reason and merely nodded, because he already knew that Baekhyun must be meeting up with one or two of his ‘girlfriends’, or must be courting a new chic he saw on streets today. Shrugging off his hyung’s words, he gave the first blow to restart the practices.

Chanyeol raised his head as Baekhyun barged into his office, dragging a trainee soldier by his collar. The general raised an eyebrow with a questioning look.

“This punk was found stealing money from the barracks. He’s the one who’s responsible for all the stuff misplaced from the barracks lately.” He pushed forward the young man, who stumbled forward and fell on his knees in front of Chanyeol’s table. “Please spare me general! I won’t ever steal again!” he started begging for mercy, almost crying.

Chanyeol closed the book he was reading and sighed. “Hundred laps around the arena.” He uttered casually, as he stood up from his chair. “Don’t ever do this kind of stuff again kid, I won’t go this easy on you the next time.”

His voice didn’t slightly sound warning. He walked up to Baekhyun, and slapped on his shoulder. “I’m going home early today. Tell Sehun I won’t be joining dinner.” He muttered and walked out of the office.

Baekhyun watched him walking away, surprised for the second time that day. Normally when any soldier of his brigade was found guilty for anything, they were given a severe punishment or kicked out of the royal army. It was a well know fact that he was the strictest general in the royal army, and most men feared joining his brigade. And now here he was, being all easy going about a soldier at fault, and letting it pass. Baekhyun smirked to himself again.

Good going Shin Seora.

* * * * * * * *

Sehun and Baekhyun stayed at the palace a several hours after Chanyeol left, and ended the evening routine of the barracks a few hours after the night had fallen. The two captains got on to their hoses and left the palace.

“I’ll stop here then.” Baekhyun said, as they arrived at the gisaeng house where Baekhyun was a regular. Sehun nodded and waved casually, as he took off alone from there on.

He arrived at his father’s mansion, who was the Minister of war affairs, one of the king’s most loyal court members. It was barely an hour before midnight, and the streets were empty, and not even a stray dog was there to be seen.

Right before Sehun could jump off his horse, he heard a noise from the far corner of the wall which was surrounding the huge mansion. He whirled around his head with that sound, and noticed a burly figure walking away. Feeling suspicious about the situation, he slightly kicked his horse and led it to the side of the wall.

As he arrived at the area where he saw the man before, he saw four men, dressed in somewhat ragged warrior attire, loitering around on the empty street, as if they were waiting for someone to come. All four of them were armed with swards, and Sehun recognized one of them at once, as the man he saw before.

“Are you searching for someone?”

Sehun called out loud, grabbing the attention of the unknown men. They turned around to face him, and hesitated stepping forward or answering, and stood there idly.

“I need to know what you’re doing here in front of my house at this time of the day.” Sehun uttered sternly. “And I see you’re armed.” He said, eyeing their weapons.

Finally o