*Youngjae’s POV*

I laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. It felt nice to be lying down in a bed. I hadn’t realized that I’d ever miss a bed and a good bath, ever. It was suffocating in the carriage, though it was fairly big after a while I began to feel cramped. But for some reason I couldn’t sleep.

Just then there was a knock on my door. I scrunched my brow in slight confusion but got up and answered the door.

“Hi!”

It was Prince Junhong.

“O-Oh. Hello.” I bowed.

“You don’t have to bow. We’re both princes.” He said. “O-Oh. Sorry.” I apologized bowing again.

I paused, realizing what I’d just done.

I shot straight up, “Sorry!” I apologized again.

The younger laughed, “Why are you apologizing?”

“Oh um…” I didn’t know what to say other than sorry again. “You’re silly.” He laughed. I blushed a little in embarrassment.

“I didn’t wake you up, did I?” He then asked. “No, I actually couldn’t sleep.” I confessed. “Oh good, me neither.” H said, sounding relieved. “I came because I wanted to talk to you. Do you mind if we talk?” he asked innocently.

My eyes slightly lit up. He wanted to talk to me? “Yes.” I immediately answered. “Oh, do you mind? Sorry.” He apologized.

“Huh? Oh no. I do want to talk to you.” I said.

“But you said you mind.” He said.

I furrowed my brow, “Uh…” I didn’t know how to respond. The Prince noticed this and laughed, “Do you want to talk?” he asked this time. “Yes!” I nodded, earning another fit of laughter from him. “I know where we can talk. C’mon.” He said, leading the way.

I followed him out the room, down the long hall where we reached a wide balcony. Prince Junhong opened the double glass doors and stepped out onto the balcony. He sat down on the ground first, at the edge, his legs hanging off the ledge, each in between the vertical rails.

I carefully sat down next to him, my legs crossed.

The Sunshine Kingdom wasn’t as hot as I expected it to be. It was much cooler than I thought and even colder at night, but winter was here anyway. But it was still warmer than what I was used to.

“I’ve never heard of you before.” Junhong began. I nodded, “No one has.” I said with a soft smile. He looked at me surprised. “Really?”

“Yeh.” I nodded.

His surprise morphed into pity. “So, you’ve never been outside your kingdom? Or made any friends?” he asked. I shook my head. “Awe, that’s so sad.” He whined. I didn’t respond. “Don’t worry. I’ll be your friend.” He beamed.

I was caught off guard by the sudden offer. “Th-Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me! Since you’ll be in the fire kingdom you’ll be close to here and we can do all kinds of things together. You can come here, and I’ll visit the fire kingdom too! And you can sit next to me at my birthday party.” He said.

“That sounds like fun!” I said, feeling myself get excited.

Junhong nodded vigorously. “It will be fun.” He beamed.

“So, since you’re from the snow kingdom that means you’re Hyungseung, Kikwang, and YeEun’s brother?” He asked.

My heart paused at the sound of my siblings’ names. Though it’s only been two weeks, it felt like I haven’t’ seen them in forever or even heard their names. My heart sunk a little as I began to miss them. “Yeh.” I answered, forcing myself not to show my sadness.

“Oh! That’s so cool! I’m friends with Kikwang.” He said. “You know him?” I said surprised, though I shouldn’t have been. He nodded, “He’s so cool. You’re lucky to have a cool brother like him.

“Do you not have siblings?” I questioned curiously. “I do. I have two older sisters. But they’re married and moved away. I miss them. It’s just me here. I still find ways to have fun, but it still gets lonely.” He confessed. I nodded in understanding.

Just then we heard footsteps come behind us.

We turned around and saw a guard approach us. “Hi Bang!” Junhong’s smile grew brighter, so much that I could almost feel its warmth. The guard named Bang bowed, “Sorry your highness for interrupting. But it’s not safe to be out here this late in the evening.” He said.

Junhong pouted a little, but then his pout turned into a cheeky grin as the young guard stood up straight, “Were you worried about me?”

The Bang guy cleared his throat, “It’s my job to protect you.” Was his answer.

Junhong rolled his eyes playfully and stuck his tongue out at him before turning to me. “I’m sorry I have to leave so shortly.” He apologized. “It’s okay. I’ll stay out here for a little bit and enjoy the fresh air.” I assured him. He smiled, “Okay! It was nice meeting you, friend.” He winked and with that he jumped to his feet and walked over to the guard.

I watched as they walked away, Junhong hung onto the guard’s arm, talking excitedly to him.

I turned back around once they were gone. I let out a cough that I’d been holding in ever since we stepped foot onto the balcony. What a strange Prince. I thought to myself. “Unless that’s normal…and I’m the strange one.” I thought aloud.

I looked down below the balcony observing the grassy meadow below. It was a new but intriguing sight, seeing the tall grass blew in one uniform direction from the wind and the silk lines run across the meadow. It looked something like a silky ocean in the dark like this.

I thought about my siblings. I thought about YeEun who cried during my departure, praying that she wasn’t crying anymore. I thought about Hyungseung he looked stress the last time I saw him. I hoped that he was relaxing and taking care of himself.

I thought about my mother. I know she was sad because I was leaving, but I prayed that she was doing well without me. I thought about Kikwang. I know he received my letter by now. I wondered if he wrote back yet or if he was writing one.

I coughed again, this one a little harsher than the last one. “I should probably get to bed.” I stood up and dusted my clothing. I was about to turn and leave when a thought came to me. I don’t know how to get back to my room. I groaned slightly, I should’ve left with Prince Junhong, so he could show me.

“Still sneaking out?” a voice suddenly said. I looked and saw that it was Daehyun. He was leaning on his shoulder against the door frame. “Uh, well I was doing back to my room, but I realized that I don’t know my way back.” I confessed, blushing in embarrassment.

The elder chuckled, “I can show you back. I know where it is.” He said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. My room is right next to yours.” He reminded.

“Oh yeah.” I blushed harder, earning another chuckle from him. “So how do you feel?” He asked.

“What do you mean?”

“How do you feel about the fire Kingdom? You’ll be there in a few days.” He said.

“Oh yeah…” I said, thinking about it, “I don’t know how I feel. I don’t…I don’t really feel anything. I don’t want to think about it too much, but it honestly feels weird. I don’t even feel like I’m going to the fire kingdom.” I confessed.

He sighed, nodding in understanding, “I’m sorry.” He said.

I looked at him surprised, “What? Don’t be sorry.”

“Why not?” He said, sounding upset, throwing me off a bit.

“B-Because you’ve already done so much for me.” Is aid, rubbing the back of my neck. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what I would’ve done. Every night when we camped out he’d sneak into my carriage and tell me different stories of the things he saw in each kingdom we passed. He even got me souvenirs from each kingdom. I actually enjoyed the trip because of him.

I blushed at the thought. “Daehyun I-,” however I was cut off by a short fit of coughing.

Daehyun’s eyes slightly widened in concern. “You’re not wearing your mask.” He pointed out, pushing off the door frame. “I’m fine.” I said, though another cough followed after. “Maybe it’s time to go back to bed.” He said. I nodded and went back inside the castle.

Daehyun shut the doors behind me before leading me back to my room. “Well, good night.” He said. But I quickly stopped him, grabbing his sleeve.

He raised an eyebrow at this. “Oh-Uh, sorry.” I quickly let go of his sleeve, “I just wanted to thank you, in case I can’t speak to you again before we go to the fire kingdom.” I said, unable to look him in the eye, my cheeks burned. “So, um, thank you. For everything. For the souvenirs and saving me…and for being my friend.” The more I spoke, the hotter my cheeks felt.

“Don’t thank me.” He said, ruffling my hair, catching me off guard by the touch. I looked up at him.

“I’m just doing the universe’s work.” He shrugged, “And we’ll see each other again. You just have to look for me.” He winked and with that he walked over to his room without saying goodnight.

Early the next morning we gathered at the front of the palace with the Choi family and the Bang guy, who stood close behind Junhong, his eyes alert and observant though they kept glancing towards me. I didn’t think much about it, he was probably surprised that I existed.

“We’re going to send three of our best guards with you until you are far enough outside the kingdom.” The king spoke to Jaejoong who nodded. “Chanyeol, Kai, JB.” The three guards walked up at his call.

The three young guards bowed before joining us. “Thank you again for everything.” Jaejoong bowed to the three royals. The rest of us did the same, showing our gratitude. “Our pleasure. Have a safe trip.” Consort Jiyong waved. “And good luck.” He winked as me as I was directed into the carriage.

“Bye!” Junhong waved enthusiastically. I returned the wave before they closed the door. It wasn’t until another few minutes when we finally took off.

I peeked out the window and caught a glimpse of what the rest of the kingdom looked like as I did with the other kingdoms. We traveled through the Water and Air kingdom and part of the Earth kingdom since the rest of it was more out the way. I didn’t see much of the Air kingdom since according to Daehyun they all lived on high mountains, part of the mountains were cut out to fill them with large temples for people to live in. I remembered learning about it in lecture. Ryeowook said they were known as the kingdom of the skies since they lived so far up.

So, in reality, all I got to see were the rough bottoms of the mountains and the narrow pathways they formed. Yet somehow Daehyun managed to get me a gift from there.

It was a small toy wind spinner that formed the shape of the air Kingdom’s symbol. He saw that it was popular with kids who used their powers to make it spin. But for everyone else, they blew into it or let the wind spin it.

We didn’t pass through the Celestial or Fertile kingdom because they were out the way. As I peeked through the window, one of the tall Sunshine guards smiled and waved at me. I returned the smile and wave. “The people of the sunshine kingdom seem very nice.” I thought aloud as I sat back in my seat.

Ryeowook said that people’s behaviors matched similarly to their element. I imagined what the fire people would be like. I was always told that they were our silent enemy and our opposite, so I thought of them to be mean and ruthless. But Daehyun wasn’t like that and the pretty man was far from it. And Kikwang said they were the coolest nation, though he’d never been there before. Maybe it won’t be so bad.

It took us a day and a half to finally make it out of the Sunshine kingdom. The three sunshine knights walked with us a little further out the kingdom before taking their leave.

We took one break to let the horses rest and feed. I was forbidden to go our or even peek through the window at this point.

During the break Shindong came in to check on me, along with some nurses who gave me the herbal medicines from my mother. “How come I can’t look outside?” I asked Shindong once the nurses were gone.

“Kangin is concerned that outcasts may be trailing us. They may have heard of our travels by now.” Shindong explained. “Oh,” I shivered at the thought of the outcasts. Shindong nodded, “Everyone is on high alert and so we’re taking extra precautions. But once we’re inside the fire kingdom we’ll be fine. The outcasts won’t dare to disturb the fire kingdom.” He said.

My ears perked at his last sentence. “Oh? Why is that?” I asked curiously. “Because the people of the fire kingdom and strong and the king is ruthless. Some rumor him to be fire itself, in human form.” Shindong said. My eyes widened at this.

“O-Oh…” My shoulder’s slumped at this. “Don’t worry. It’s just rumors, and besides that’s a good thing. People of the fire kingdom are known to be loyal so once you become a part of them you’ll have nothing to fear.” He assured me with a smile.

“What about the Earth Kingdom?” I asked, not wanting to talk about the fire kingdom anymore and concerned about Kikwang.

“The Outcasts don’t try to get into the fire or Earth kingdom. They may roam the Earth Kingdom because it’s so bit. But the Earth people are strong like their element. The king and Queen aren’t as fierce but they have an excellent army. And the kingdom is so big they’ll never make it to the palace without being found out.” Shindong said.

I nodded, glad that Kikwang was in good hands, “And the people are protective of their royals. From what I’ve heard, Prince Kikwang is fairly popular among the people.” He winked. I smiled with a nod, “Kikwang is loved by everyone he meets.” I said. Shindong nodded in agreement, “And so are you. The people of the fire Kingdom will love you too.” He said.

I looked at him a bit surprised. He stood up and bowed, “It has been a pleasure serving you and Kikwang, your highness. I know you two will do great things.” And with that he left the carriage, leaving me alone.

Could I really do great things? Would I be free to do anything?

I carefully peeked in between the curtains. All the guards were ready to go their swords out. Jaejoong and one of the guards were directed back into their carriage, though Jaejoong looked reluctant.

We must be leaving soon.

I looked and spotted Daehyun being handed his own horse. I noticed the sword sheath that hung on his hip. My eyes widened as I closed the curtains. I prayed over and over we wouldn’t bump into the outcasts. That there wouldn’t be a fight. That Daehyun won’t have a reason to unsheathe his sword.

It wasn’t until another few minutes later when we began to move again. I continued to pray through the remainder of the trip. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.

“Prince Youngjae…” Someone whispered.

“Your highness.” The person cooed.

I shifted a little in my sleep. I heard a light chuckle come from the person.

I slowly opened my eyes. I blinked a few times before sitting up. I stretched, a yawn slipped between my lips. “Good Morning your highness.” A soothing voice spoke.

I looked and saw that it was Jaejoong standing outside the opened carriage door. “Good Morning.” I bowed, still somewhat asleep. “A-Are we taking another break?” I asked. The pretty chuckled in response, “No your highness.” He said.

“Then…” my eyes widened in realization, “We’re here?” the slender man nodded.

My entire body became overwhelmed with anxiety, unable to respond. “A bath has been prepared for you to freshen up before you meet the king.” Jaejoong informed. My heart pounded in my chest. The king? Now?

Jaejoong noticed my inner panic and gave me an assuring smile. “Yang Yoseob will be your personal servant. He’ll lead you to the hot springs to bathe. Then I will come and pick you up when you’re ready.” He explained. I silently nodded. “I leave you with Yoseob here on out. I will see you in a moment.” And with that he left.

“Hello your highness!” someone perked. I l