Yoongi woke up earlier than usual, eyes opening on their own. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He felt Hoseok's breaths coming out in warm puffs at his neck and smiled when the alpha unconsciously pulled him closer, nosing at his neck. 

The omega allowed himself to relax, snuggling back into Hoseok's embrace, wanting to have a few more precious moments before getting back to his duties. Yoongi did not know when Jimin would resume his duties and knew he had to stay here until then. As soul mates, Jimin's omega was taking it harder than any other omega would, and part of Yoongi was furious for Jungkook to have taken that stupid decision to leave when his mate was almost 6 months along. 

Yoongi read and reread the letter, hoping there would be something, anything that could prove that Jungkook had gone willingly. There was this one line, one that he kept going back to. 

But I am left with no other option but to write this letter to you, in hopes that you will understand the circumstances that FORCED me to take this decision.

The capitalization of the word 'forced', just seemed like a subtle hint that maybe Jungkook was forced to leave. The alpha might be from Dalhurst, but he knew how much the alpha loved his mate, and even though the two of them had fought earlier, Yoongi did not think Jungkook would do something to that extent. However, the mere capitalization of the word would not convince the advisors or even Jimin for that matter. The king had refused to talk to anyone about Jungkook, Yoongi included, and the elder knew better than to cause Jimin any more grief. His hunch was too vague, and rising Jimin's hope only for it to be false, would be disastrous. He needed something better, something concrete when he tells this to Jimin.

Jimin had been completely heartbroken, his omega taking Jungkook's absence as a personal rejection, and his deteriorating health was causing Yoongi a lot of concern. There were some days when Jimin refused to eat, and even using the baby to get the younger to eat was not working.

As he thought of how pale and sickly Jimin looked the previous night, as he forced Yoongi to have dinner with his mate, Yoongi felt tears well up in his eyes. 

Maybe it was the quiet sniffling, or the slight shift of the scent enveloping them, or just because Hoseok had become attuned to his mate, but Hoseok was suddenly wide awake, shuffling forward, and gently turning the omega's face to look into his eyes, concerned.

"What happened, Yoongi?"

Yoongi smiled weakly, doing nothing to reassure his husband, before slowly turning around to hug Hoseok, sniffling quietly.

"I'm worried about Jimin." He mumbled into Hoseok's chest, rubbing his nose on Hoseok's nightgown, the alpha letting out a rumble of satisfaction at the action, before sighing.

"I am too, hyung. He is not taking Jungkook's absence very well. I...I heard he didn't eat last night. " 

Yoongi nodded, before speaking up. " He needs Jungkook. And....I.....I don't know what to do. My brother is dying, and I am not able to do anything but look at him from the sidelines." Yoongi's voice broke and Hoseok broke their hug to stare into the omega's eyes.

"You are doing what you can, you are taking over for him, staying here for him, and for now he just needs your love and support." Hoseok, then slowly wiped the tears on Yoongi's cheeks, pecking them one at a time, and then on his lips, the omega smiling at the affection.

"Understood, your royal highness?" He asked with a smile on his face, and Yoongi chuckled wetly, nodding.

As the two of them had breakfast brought to their chambers by their trusted chambermaids, was when Yoongi decided to talk about the pressure from the royal advisors to rage war on Dalhurst.

" Namjoon's latest letter claimed he is coming back, saying it was suspicious for him to stay any longer. And though I agree with him, it also has started a call for a declaration of war among members of the court. As a stand-in for Jimin, there is only so much stalling I can do. Jimin had been for the war before he fell sick, which weakens my stance further in court.  Namjoon's previous letter and the cloth evidence seems to be enough, and I can no longer use Namjoon as an excuse. I don't know what to do. He is scheduled to arrive three weeks later, and that means he would be leaving today, considering he is taking the detour towards the Ganghall islands. I do not want to start a war, especially on Dalhurst. War is not simple and though we have the power to win, it would come at a great loss of lives, and cost a friendship between countries that had been alive for decades." Yoongi sighed.

"I do not want a war now. Not under my rule, at least."

Hoseok, sighed, before suddenly jolting up, eyes wide.

"Hyung, this reminds me, Namjoon sent me this letter yesterday."

Yoongi perked up, eyebrows raised. "He sent you a letter? Is there a security breach or something?" 

Hoseok shook his head, pushing his empty plate away and getting up from his seat, searching for the plain envelope as he continued talking. "No hyung. It was a personal letter. No mention of anything except my name. The weirdest thing is he wrote me a poem and said he would arrive in three weeks, which I found bizarre. Why would he send me a letter about a poem he read. it just doesn't make sense. I reread it multiple times, but could not decipher anything. Here it is!"

The alpha brought the letter to Yoongi who opened it quickly, scanning the advisor's letter, head to toe. 

Hoseok's hope that maybe Yoongi would be able to decipher its meaning was lost when Yoongi sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know Hobi. The poem is itself too vague, and if he was trying to tell us something, I really cannot decipher anything." A pause. "Maybe we could ask Seokjin hyung about it. This letter seems really important. I see no other reason for Namjoon to send this personally to you. He might be trying to tell us something in secret."

Hoseok agreed. 

Maybe the healer will have some answers.

Hoseok frowned, pacing relentlessly across the hall. 

The head of guards had met up with Jongin, the latter had filled him in on what he heard from the soldiers in training and dispatched to the same troop as Sehun. And the information they had received was well, confusing.

Almost all of the accounts stayed the same. 

Sehun had been reclusive since the beginning, not really forming friendships with any of his fellow guards, preferring to stay away from gatherings and crowds. However, the boy was ever polite and had the best manners among his peers.

However, it seemed like things had changed after the crucial piece of evidence against Dalhurst was found. Some guards were claiming Sehun started getting aggressive when people invaded his personal space and had once gone as far as to assault one of his peers during one such event. The victim had said that he had walked up to the boy while the latter was at his locker. 

However it stopped abruptly around ten days before the attack on the king, and the guard had apologised to everyone personally and had for the most part gone back to his polite self. However, there was one person, named Hyunjin, who shared the guard room with Sehun during training who said, Sehun had never really been sensitive over his personal space. 

And Hoseok agreed, as guards, these cadets needed to trust each other with their lives, and when it comes to that, private space didn't really matter. Moreover, Hoseok had been closely monitoring the kid during his training, and there was nothing in the other's behavior to indicate anything about his aversion to closeness.

"This means, something happened during that period, he was hiding something. Nothing else could explain his sudden apprehension, especially with regards to his locker."

Jongin hummed, agreeing with Hoseok.

"Also, Hoseok. I found something that was interesting. I talked to the troop Sehun was with when he found the piece of cloth. A fellow soldier claimed, that Sehun had been staring at the piece of cloth for a long time after retrieving, seeming almost hesitant. It was when his colleague went up to him and asked him what it was, that Sehun seemed to even take it away. The soldier claims, that for a moment it seemed like he was going to put it back."

"Was he hiding anything else that he found about Dalhurst that he had been hiding in his closet? And that was why he was behaving that way? What was even weirder is that he went back to being normal just days before the attack on Jimin. Does that mean, he had gotten rid of everything he was hiding before the attack on the king? Was the attack from within the kingdom a ploy to take the doubt off from Dalhurst? Or had he been hiding plans for the assassination?" Jongin wondered out loud.

"It could be both. Or neither. Everything seems possible. However, I think we shouldn't jump to conclusions. I want you to run a complete background check on Sehun, check out of he has any connections to Dalhurst or anyone from the palace. And also, let us wait for what Baekhyun finds out.  At this point, I would not want to rule out anything. Keep asking around for the moment."

With a nod, Jongin was on his way, leaving Hoseok and his thoughts.

Was Sehun really working for Dalhurst?

Hoseok sighed.

It was evening when Hoseok left the training grounds and was walking back to the palace. The alpha had missed lunch and was now starving, and was just crossing his chambers when he heard the chambermaids mumbling about themselves, stealing glances at Hoseok as he approached them. Hoseok knew the two ladies-in-waiting, Moonbyul and Wheein, very well. The two of them were impeccable at their jobs, and know better than to be talking amongst themselves when someone was approaching and understood that the two of them had something on their minds, and were debating to approach him.

"Wheein-shi, I can see that there is something on your mind, care to share?"

The lady, beta, was startled at the mention of her name, something not common in her position, and gulped nervously.

"Your Highness, if I may interrupt" It was Moonbyul, the sweet omega who helped them out when Yoongi felt sick, stepped up. "I know it is not really our place, but we wanted to tell you something regarding his majesty Yoongi-shi."

Hoseok stiffened at the mention of his mate and asked the chamber-maid to continue.