Eunhyuk could not shake his nerves. One, he did not get any sleep. Two, Donghae is not by his side. Usually, he can do this task alone, but now, he finds that it’s really hard when half of his senses aren’t even awake. He hauls himself up the window, and clambers over. The minister of commerce’s house was empty, save for the workers doing the yard cleaning. Eunhyuk knows they won’t talk.

He searches through the cabinets, under the pillows, anywhere that can be a possible hiding place for a royal seal. The group needs to mass deliver more metals, and they can’t do that openly. The others were packing metals inside rice sacks, and they are all stocked in one of their refuge houses in the capital.

Suddenly, he hears footsteps. He looks around the room, cursing himself for not cleaning up well. The door slides open and Eunhyuk tries to move.

“You’re under arrest,” a gruff voice announced. Eunhyuk was tackled to the floor, and he feels his wrists get chained.

“You think there are no people watching for our king,” someone says. Eunhyuk is picked up like one might with a toy, and he was dragged outside. “It only takes one eye to watch out where all the metals of our palace are going.”

He is blindfolded, and pushed up to his feet roughly. Eunhyuk struggles to fight, he refuses to go down like this. He shakes off his captors, his mind racing. He is pushed again, and he stumbles to his knees. His blindfold is snatched from his eyes, and he wishes that they kept it on. People stopped in the streets, watching him. Most of them were wearing expensive jewelry, their hair styled, and had colorful silk clothes.

Eunhyuk swallows. He hates being looked at like this. It’s humiliating.

“Today, you will all witness the famed Eunhyuk on his knees,” someone announces. The people stared at him, horrified. Their eyes widen, and some of them covered their mouths from shock. “Go against the king, and you will be punished.”

Eunhyuk yelps in pain when he feels something lash on his back. And another. Tears start to fall from his eyes, and he lurches forward in pain. The world blurs into white and red.

~

Donghae cannot shake Heechul off. Everywhere he goes, Heechul is at his tail. His eyes catch a pretty ornament, and Heechul is peering over his shoulder, making comments at how ugly or pretty the object is. When Donghae walks a little faster, Heechul is already by his heel, despite his apparent limp.

“Hyung, I’m not going to run away!” Donghae finally said, exasperated.

“How do I know you’re just out to meet up with that weird person?”

“He’s not weird.” Donghae chuckles.

Donghae catches Sungmin in the crowd of people heading to only one direction. Sungmin looked around warily, his face twisted into worry. Donghae follows, letting his feet take him to whatever is going on. Heechul grabs his arm, but he twists out of it. The nearer they get, the louder the sound of the whip gets. Someone is crying out in pain, and Donghae’s heart was aching. He knows that voice.

“What…” Donghae lets out, feeling like he got punched in his gut. He pushes the people away and he sees Eunhyuk bleeding on the ground.

A soldier in full uniform is holding a whip out, and he hits Eunhyuk with it several times.

Donghae gasps in horror. “N-no!” He steps forward, his hands shaking with anger. “Please!”

Heechul grabs his cousin. “Donghae, stop. You can’t.”

Sungmin sees Donghae and he makes his way to him. He holds Donghae back as well. “Your Majesty, we can’t.”

Donghae is crying now. He is fighting their grip. Sungmin was stronger, and he finds that he could not move. Heechul surrounds his arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Donghae.”

Donghae sinks to his knees, and the two men holding him back joins him. He watches as Eunhyuk endures the whipping, to the point that the ground is covered with his blood, and he is not uttering any sound.