“Seja-igwisa!” One of the lower ranking royal guards bows deeply, too deeply, as he sees Jongin approach. The dark night makes it difficult to recognize faces, but Jongin eventually gets close enough to determine it is a young guard named Sehun. Jongin outranks him, as he is the personal guard of the crown prince, but the excessive respect he’s currently displaying immediately puts Jongin on edge.

“What happened?” Jongin tries to control the icy tone in his voice, even as he braces for bad news. Has the crown prince fallen ill? Jongin has only been gone for two days. Two days that he did not want to leave the palace, but Prince Kyungsoo had ordered him to do so, and royal orders must be followed.

Jongin would never disobey his prince.

~Flashback~

“You haven’t seen them in years, and your father is in ailing health. Go, visit them before it’s too late.” The crown prince sat with his calligraphy brush, writing some royal decree on a large scroll, eyes trained on the paper as he calmly instructed his personal guard to take his first leave from the palace since he had arrived ten years ago.

“Your Highness, I couldn’t--”

Kyungsoo ceased writing and stared up at Jongin, firm eyes powerful enough to stop Jongin’s speech with a single look. Jongin quickly averted his eyes from the prince’s mesmerizing stare, deferentially lowering his gaze, and swallowing hard as he fought his body’s flustered reaction. The prince rose from his seat and glided over to where Jongin stood guard at the edge of the pavilion, his royal robes billowing lightly with each purposeful step.

“It is my wish,” Kyungsoo said, the hint of tenderness in his voice signaling that he’s inviting conversation. It’s not fit for a guard, even of Jongin’s rank, to converse naturally with the royal family, but over the years, the crown prince would create moments for the two of them to have genuine, private conversation. It was always subtle, enough so that Jongin is sure he missed the first few times Kyungsoo attempted it, but he quickly caught on to the signs and lived for these candid talks. The implied intimacy, that Jongin was special enough to speak as an equal with the crown prince, even for a few fleeting minutes, made something deep in his heart want for things he shouldn’t.

Things Jongin knows he can never have.

“My life’s duty is to protect you, and I can’t fulfill that if I’m away,” he politely argued.

Eyerolling is unbecoming of a prince, but the way Kyungsoo tilted his head and quirked a brow conveyed the same sentiment. “Don’t be dramatic. I’m perfectly safe within the palace walls. When’s the last time you even had to unsheathe your sword?”

“...there was that dragonfly the other day in the garden that startled you.” Jongin fought back a teasing smile.

“It was unusually large and dart shaped, you agreed,” Kyungsoo huffed, throwing a fake glare Jongin’s way.

Jongin bit his lower lip and kept the laughter in, knowing he had already pressed his luck. He nodded his head and replied in a lightly patronizing tone, “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Oh-ho, I will draw a moustache on you that would take a week to wash off,” Kyungsoo threatened, teasingly raising the calligraphy brush still in his hand.

At this, Jongin did laugh, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Whatever pleases you, Your Highness.”

It was quiet a moment before Kyungsoo spoke again. “It would please me if you would go visit your family.”

Jongin took a light breath before arguing his case once more. “They’re not expecting me, it’s ok--”

The wooden end of the calligraphy brush touched Jongin’s lips, silencing him in an instant as he turned his surprised eyes up to see Kyungsoo’s, oh so tantalizingly close to him.

“You will go. And that’s an order from your prince.” Kyungsoo’s tone made it clear the time for private conversation was now closed, and they had returned to their rightful places of crown prince and personal guard. Jongin dropped his gaze again, reminding his heart to return back to its proper station as well and close off all the feelings he’s not allowed to have.

But the way the crown prince let the wooden tip of his calligraphy brush slide off Jongin’s lips, down his chin, and along the angled hemline of his hanbok, trailing lightly across his chest before the prince stepped away, made Jongin tremble.

An accident, Jongin tells his all-too-hopeful heart. Just an accident.

“Did the medicine maid not make sure he took his heart medication? He needs oolong tea afterward for it to digest comfortably. Have the kitchen staff brew some immediately and bring it to his quarters.” Jongin spits out the orders rapid fire at Sehun as he strides straight toward the crown prince’s chambers to check on him. He halts when he realizes the other guard is not turning to go, but keeping pace with him, wringing his hands nervously. “Do you not have ears? Why are you still here?”

“Seja-igwisa… the crown prince… he’s not ill.”

Jongin breathes a quick sigh of relief. “Then what is it?”

“He’s… missing.”

“What?? What do you mean missing?”

“He left early yesterday morning to hunt pheasant over in the nearby plains, but he hasn’t returned.”

Upon hearing this, Jongin immediately spins around to sprint back to the stables for his horse. “Where’s the search party now? Who did they send to look for him!”

“The king dispatched many guards when a messenger from the hunting party returned saying they could not find his highness. The guards found the crown prince’s horse. By the cherry blossom tree at the edge of the cliff. We think… we think he might have fallen. Into the river.”

“No,” Jongin says firmly. Kyungsoo can’t swim. He can’t swim and that would mean…

“They’re searching for his body along the shores, sir.”

A tidal wave of grief hits him, but Jongin’s body rejects the news outright. “He could still be alive.” With haste, he mounts his horse.

“Seja-igwisa, you can’t leave!” The guard grabs ahold of the reins and pleads with him.

"The hell I can’t! Step back at once, soldier!” Jongin bellows, drawing his sword swiftly from its sheath.

Sehun stumbles back and bows his head as he explains urgently. “The royal family has already accepted the death. The prince’s surviving brother... they’re holding the ceremony to promote him to the new crown prince in a few days time. You’ll be needed for preparations, to get acquainted with the new crown prince’s habits and--”

“There is but one crown prince, and my life and allegiance is forever to him. He still lives, I can feel it. And I will find him. Stall the ceremony if you can.”

“Stall the ceremony?” Sehun repeats, bewildered. “Please think this through, Seja-igwisa! If you leave and do not return with the crown prince, you