The Velvet Masters

Chapter 22

The Mind Kingdom

King Minho's face was laced with confusion but he still managed to smile as he got up from the table. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"

He cleaned his mouth with a napkin, excusing himself from the other royals. He motioned for Yerim to walk with him as she obliged. They started walking out of the barn to where not many people could see them. Being in the Mind Kingdom, there were many trees and grass pretty much everywhere. Minho looked over his shoulder to both sides when they got to a secluded area. The only sound they could hear was of a bird singing and the water of a nearby river running. He made sure no one was around to hear them. 

"Is everything alright, princess?" 

Yerim thought about how she should make the question for a second. She looked at the floor and then back at the King. "You were friends with my father, right?"

"Well, yes, very good friends actually." Minho gave her a sad smile. 

"Do you remember him well?"

The King nodded slowly as the memory of his friend crossed his mind. They started walking as he spoke. "When our fathers had meetings we would always go with them. The five of us became inseparable." He looked at her smiling. "You look just like your mother, you know. They were great people. Also a great couple. Just like as if they had been made for each other."

Yerim mimicked his smile as she thought of her parents.

"We would always be together when we were teenagers. We went on adventures. Out of the four of them the one that was closer to me was definitely your father. I love them all, we grew up together, but the others would always make fun of me beause I was stuck in my books. Your father stook up for me. Every time." He sighed. "When he died I knew I had to take care of you, take you to a safe place. That's why I thought the human world would be the only place that he would find you. Maybe you could find a new family there and be happy."

Yerim stopped walking and sat down. "That didn't exactly happen." She didn't meet his gaze.

"And I am very sorry for that."

She shook her head. "It's alright. What I really wanted to talk to you about..." She pulled out the necklace from underneath her shirt. 

"The jewel." Minho affirmed breathing in and out slowly.

"Yes. All my life I saw this as the only thing I had left from my parents." She took it from her neck and held the jewel high for him to see. "I'm starting to think that this means more, much more, than that."

Minho sat next to her and sighed. "You are right."

Yerim pulled some grass from the ground trying to ease her stress. "So, what is it?" She never looked at him.

"A few years before we became Kings, your father and I were a bit reckless while we were investigating this case. Our fathers had always told us to never mess with police business since we were future Kings. But we met this man that became our friend, Sejoo. He was from this Kingdom actually, he was a humane though. He always tried to catch criminals by himself without the police, and we ended up joining him in the process. We were young, we just wanted the thrill. And we did form an incredible friendship with this man." Minho closed his eyes before carrying on. "We investigated the case of the man who murdered humanes. We caught him in the end. He had that jewel with him. I spent weeks, if not months trying to understand that necklace, what it meant to him. When I was about to give up I discovered a book. The book of magical objects. This particular magical object has a protecfion spell. That is why he needed it. The thing is, magical objects tend to form a mind of their own. They have feelings and opinions just like people. I guess it him once it knew what he was doing. That's how we found him and arrested him."

"So you kept the necklace?" 

Minho nodded.

"And you put it on me when you hid me?"

Minho nodded once more. "To protect you."

Yerim's expression was of realization as she heard the man say those words.

"The attack on the Mind Kingdom by Bohyun. I believe it was not just to erase humanes. It was to come for the necklace. He knew Sejoo was one of the people who knew about where Jonghyun hid it and he came for him."

"What? They came for him?" Her eyes widened. "Where is he? What happened?"

Minho sighed. "Unfortunately, Sejoo was killed on that day, he must've refused to give the information."

"Oh my god." Yerim almost sobbed at the information. A man had died to save her.

"Yes. Sejoo was one incredible and brave man. He was Sooyoung's dad, you know?" 

Yerim looked at him, eyes wide and mouth wide open. She looked back at her lap to try to recover from the shock. She thought about her friend that had just losst her father and little Minyoung. All for her. Everything seemed kind of like a never ending nightmare.

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When Sooyoung rushed to the bathroom still laughing at Seungwan's dumbstruck expression, she bumped into Queen Naeun and quickly bowed.

"Goddess, I'm so sorry." The Queen didn't meet Sooyoung's eyes and simply nodded.

"It's alright, happens to everyone." She tried to shrug it off and went back to the table.

Sooyoung stared at her back confused but kept on going to the bathroom where she was greeted by Joohyun and her smile fell as she saw the older girl's face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She got closer to her. "Is everything alright?"

Joohyun immediately tried to wipe the tears off her face and show off a wide smile. "Yeah, everything's fine, don't worry."

"Don't lie. Please." Sooyoung grabbed some toilet paper and handed it to Joohyun. 

The girl took it and used it to dry her face. For a few moments the girls just stood there, quietly. Joohyun ended up slowly getting down and sitting almost on a fetal position. Sooyoung soon followed her and sat right beside her, she kept her right hand on the girl's thigh and caressed it gently. People would come in and out of the bathroom and they would still be sitting in the corner. Some would give them a weird look while other would bow to the princess. When they had been alone for a long time Joohyun just let go. She cried for a long time. Sooyoung was stressed because she didn't know what to do. She tried to simply be there. Joohyun wasn't one to pour her heart out. She was reserved and she liked to mourn alone. Sooyoung understood, she was also a bit like that. So she didn't insist. She just sat there, letting the girl rest her head on her shoulder as she cried until her eyes dried out. When Joohyun stopped crying and just stared at the floor Sooyoung looked at her.

"Can I call Seulgi?" 

Joohyun thought for a couple of seconds before nodding. "Yes, please."

Sooyoung got up, letting Joohyun's head drop little from the lack of Sooyoung's shoulder. She left the bathroom for a few seconds leaving the girl sitting on the floor, her eyes and soul lost in the world.

When Sooyoung came out she went straight to Seulgi. The Kings noticed her and greeted her and she just smiled at them and bowed respectfully. When she looked at the Queen she didn't look better than Joohyun. Sooyoung sighed and went closer to Seulgi to murmur in her ear. Just when she finished her sentence Seulgi got up and ran to the bathroom. Sooyoung bowed at the Kings and Queen and tried to get back at her table. No one was there. She tried to find her sister. She looked at the kids playing and there she was. Minyoung was running around with some boys when one of them told her she couldn't play with them because she was a girl. Sooyoung was about to go near him and teach him some manners when she saw Seungwan step up. 

"That's not a nice thing to say. It doesn't matter if you're talking to a boy or a girl. You have to be nice. Would you like if someone said something like that to you?"

The boy looked down and murmured a 'no'.

"Well, it doesn't matter now, Minyoung is going to play with me, right?"

Minyoung nodded happily. "Yes unnie."

They started to walk back to the tabl, chatting about what they could play together when they spotted Sooyoung staring at them with a smile. 

"Unnie!" Minyoung shouted as she ran towards her.

They walked to the table as the older girls trailer behind after Minyoung. "I saw what you did back there."

Seungwam looked taken back. "You did?"

Sooyoung nodded. "Thank you for that."

The girls smiled at each other as they neared a smiling Minyoung who was already sitting down. "Why are you smiling at each other like that? Just kiss already."

Sooyoung's eyes widened and Seungwan's face turned red. They ignored Minyoung's comment as they sat down and waited for the dessert.

Joohyun was still sitting on the cold hard floor when Seulgi came in through the door running. When she saw her girlfriend her heart hurt.

"Baby." 

She took a few steps slowly to Joohyun, when she was in front of her unnie her knees lost strength and they fell right in front of the girl. Joohyun got out of her trance when she heard Seulgi's voiced and turned to look at her. She immediately got to her knees and hugged the girl who hugged back.

"I spoke to my mom." She sobbed. "About what happened to her. What happened to her at the Reality palace."

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here."

"She told me everything." 

Joohyun was at the verge of having a panic attack. Seulgi noticed and quickly got her up from the floor and helped walk out of the bathroom and out of the barn. They walked along the pathway, letting Joohyun get some fresh air on her face. She started calming down. Joohyun stared at the trees and the river. She looked back at Seulgi, who was already looking at her.

"This is so much different from my Kingdom." 

Seulgi smiled at her words. "Here it doesn't snow." 

Joohyun showed her a smile when she said that and Seulgi felt glad that she was cheering her up. "Yes, it really doesn't. But I kind of miss home. I haven't seen mountains in so long. I miss it."

"Well, after all this we can go back there. We can marry there also, if you'd like." Seulgi smiled widely at the thought.

"Really? You wouldn't mind?"

The girl shook her head. "I love snow. The reason why I can't stand living in the Soul Kingdom is because it's always hot there."

"But you have a beach." Joohyun told her incredulous. "How can you not like it?"

"Well, sure hot weather can be great. But not 24/7 365, I mean. I would much rather live with you in the Time Kingdom." 

Joohyun blushed a little. "You won't have to worry about that then."

Seulgi smiled at her but then turned serious and looked at the floor they were walking on. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"You can really hear the birds singing here." Joohyun ignored the girls question but Seulgi understood she just wanted to talk about something else.

"That's the Mind Kingdom." Seulgi agreed. "It's so beautiful, so green. No wonder Sooyoung is such a bumble of joy." (AN: see what I did there eheh)

Joohyun nodded in agreement. She focused on one spot near a tree and narrowed her eyes. "Hey look, isn't that Yerim and King Minho?"

Seulgi did the same and nodded. "I think so, want to go next to them?" 

Joohyun nodded and they quickly went. King Minho noticed them arriving and informed Yerim. She looked at where they were coming from, she smiled at them and waved. Seulgi also waved at her while Joohyin simply smiled as they were getting nearer.

Seulgi sat down next to Yerim and motioned for Joohyun to sit next to her, which she did. Yerim kept smiling at them. She then looked back at the river and sighed. "This is our last calm day isn't it?"

Seulgi nodded slowly and put a hand on Yerim's shoulder. "I'm afraid so."

…

AN: Helloooo ladies and gentleman, chapter 22 is here! I hope you enjoyed and understood Minho's explanation about the necklace and Sooyoung's dad. Comment your thoughts down below, I love reading your comments!

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