They lapse into comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other’s presence and the peaceful morning. It’s incredible how much physical comfort Jongin derives from having the prince on his lap like this.

“I remember the pavillion,” Kyungsoo says dreamily.

“Oh?”

The prince opens his eyes and smiles shyly at him. “I remember being there with you.”

Jongin nods. “You like to study there, especially in the late morning. I’m normally just keeping watch to the side, though.”

“Not this time,” Kyungsoo explains. “We were talking, just us, and I made you laugh. I wanted so badly to caress your cheek but couldn’t. I used my calligraphy brush to touch your lips, wishing all the while it could’ve been my fingers to feel…” Kyungsoo trails off as he slowly reaches up toward him before drawing back.

Jongin gently grasps his hand and brings it closer, letting the prince’s fingers brush against his lips.

He watches Kyungsoo lose his breath from the touch, and gives the fingertips a few tender kisses. “You can’t keep confessing all these desires to me, Wangseja.”

Kyungsoo’s hand wanders over to his cheek, thumb coming back to graze over Jongin’s full lower lip again. “Why not?”

“Because it will make me want to rewind time too much and do so many things differently.” Jongin can barely keep his own breathing calm with how intimately Kyungsoo is running his fingers down his jaw now.

With a sparkle in his eye, Kyungsoo mumbles, “I should tell you about the memories I thought I recovered when I was bathing in the tub last night.”

They’re interrupted by an old woman entering the courtyard to get some help for her aching knees. Yixing greets her and assesses the progression of her arthritis before settling on the remedy he wants to brew her.

“Jaemin, could you help me? Chanyeol’s in the fields this morning.”

Jongin agrees readily. It’s the least he can do in exchange for Yixing keeping them as guest and patient.

Kyungsoo reluctantly sits up, looking pouty over losing Jongin’s lap as his pillow. He follows them inside and sits on the luxe pallet, looking regal as ever at the head of the room just as he would preside in the palace.

The subtle, princely mannerisms make the corners of Jongin’s mouth tick upward. He does so adore Kyungsoo’s powerful aura, after all.

The afternoon passes quietly, with another two villagers stopping in to restock on medicines from Yixing and consult with him on health concerns. Kyungsoo seems content to quietly watch Jongin assist the doctor. He leafs through Yixing’s medical books at the same time, casually reading through one before returning it to the bookshelf and searching more intently for a specific volume.

When the clinic is empty once more, they head outside to get some fresh air, and Jongin offers to split firewood needed for this evening’s cooking.

“Any new revelations?” he asks the prince between swings of his axe.

“I was reading about how amnesia usually resolves. There are several stories of it coming back gradually when assisted by immersion with familiar people or activities. I think that’s true for me, too,” he says with a thoughtful look. “When I’m with you, it feels like I’m rediscovering myself.”

Jongin smiles to himself, always grateful he can be of any service to his prince. “So do you remember why you left the palace a few days ago?”

“Maybe I ran away.” Kyungsoo suggests this while staring up at the blue sky. “Definitely wouldn’t have been the first time I’d dreamed of it.”

“Possible, but unlikely given your injuries? And why would you want to run away?”

Kyungsoo just stares at Jongin and doesn’t say anything for a solid minute, causing Jongin to blush and double down on his attention to chopping wood. “My hometown is in the opposite direction,” he mumbles out. “And you knew that.”

“Ah, well there goes that theory,” the prince says with a shrug, laying back down.

“They said you went pheasant hunting.”

“Hunting? That… doesn’t feel right.”

“It didn’t seem like it to me either. You’d promised me that you wouldn’t leave the palace walls.”

“Then I wouldn’t have,” Kyungsoo immediately confirms, confident. “Not voluntarily.”

They continue chatting through the chores and dine comfortably with Yixing and Chanyeol afterward. After clean-up is over, Yixing suggests they change Kyungsoo’s bandages for his head wound.

The prince winces as Yixing gently presses around the knot. “The swelling has gone down since yesterday, but coupling this with your chronic heart arrhythmia and the memory loss, I’d recommend you stay on strict rest for at least another several days.”

“So no traveling before then?” Jongin surmises, chewing on the corner of his lip.

“I have to strongly advise against that to avoid aggravating the symptoms or, heaven forbid, making the memory loss permanent.”

Jongin nods and tries to give an encouraging smile to Kyungsoo despite the dread he’s feeling inside. They will be cutting it extremely close to wait that long to return, assuming Junmyeon has been able to delay the installment ceremony thus far.

Kyungsoo readies himself for bed while they prepare the herbal remedy for his heart, and once he’s settled on his pallet,