Chanyeol looked at the dejected faces of the men before him. He had to admit that they all had extreme potentials to become part of the Resistance, but it was unfortunate that Luhan couldn’t wait any longer than three months to judge their capabilities. After looking at their expressions, Chanyeol thought that maybe emailing them would’ve been a better option after all—but he couldn’t bear dismissing those people without bidding them off personally. He’s grown attached to a huge group in such a short span of time. He didn’t want to be in-charge, but Baekhyun was the one who personally asked him to oversee the trainees.

Chanyeol couldn’t say no.

His eyes trailed from one man to the next as they left the small room that fitted only up to 30 people. He wanted to say something that perhaps could lighten their spirits, but nothing came to his mind.

As the room gradually emptied, Chanyeol heaved a huge breath and got off the small platform in the middle of the room. Up to this day, he still couldn’t figure out what was on Luhan’s mind. What was the point of encouraging men and women alike to join the Resistance if he ends up dismissing not a few but all of them in the end?

“He can’t help being paranoid and impatient, his mother’s life is already being threatened.”

Chanyeol raised his head to find Baekhyun walking into the room, speaking as if the latter could read his mind.

“It’s exhausting, I know.” He acknowledged, resting his palm on Chanyeol’s shoulder. “We’ve tried reasoning things out with him but after that horse incident, I don’t think any of us can convince him for now.”

Chanyeol pursed his lips, straightening his posture. Sending a look to Baekhyun, he gave a curt smile before proceeding to leave the room. They walked down the corridors silently for a while until Chanyeol spoke.

“The horse… do you think it was Hwasa?”

Baekhyun’s eyes darted around the hallways, not that he needed to since it was already empty. Everyone was probably resting by 9PM already. Still, it didn’t hurt to be extra cautious.

“I can think it is but, there’s no proof.” He sounded disappointed, and Chanyeol understood why. “All we know is that the horse suddenly went crazy.”

Chanyeol stopped in his tracks just at the bottom of the stairs to their bedroom floor, “Why was she even riding a horse? It’s not the—”

“18th Century, yeah I know.” Baekhyun huffed, climbing up the stairs. “Riding horses and carriages to a late King’s burial is a sign of respect and humility. You can say that it’s… some sort of Royal Tradition? I don’t know.”

The captain hummed in response, there were still a lot of traditions that he didn’t know about. Baekhyun seemed to know more because his mother was quite close to the late King. Continuing the climb up quietly, Chanyeol did some thinking to himself when he suddenly came to a halt. The sounds of their shoes clacking and reverberating against the spiral walls of the stairs lessened, making Baekhyun realise that Chanyeol stopped tailing behind him.

“Huh?”

“Didn’t Hwasa… suffer a miscarriage the same way?”

A deep frown carved on Baekhyun’s forehead; total confusion was written all over his face. “What are you talking about? When did she have a miscarriage?”

Chanyeol wasn’t sure if the stairs were a safe place to discuss his deductions. Looking around twice, the man grabbed Baekhyun’s arm and hurriedly ran up the stairs and into their rooms. Locking the door behind him, Chanyeol ruffled his hairs and walked over to his laptop; ignoring Baekhyun’s persistent waves of questions.

“Chanyeol, if you don’t answer—”

“Here, look.” Chanyeol turned and pushed his laptop for Baekhyun to see, sitting his General down onto his swivel chair as he moved his cursor.

“Remember when Solar was stripped of her title 23 years ago? The year she was found guilty—um, accused of poisoning the horse Hwasa was riding?” He quickly changed his choice of words when he visibly saw Baekhyun’s eyes narrow. “Says here that following traditions, which states here as well that Solar was persistent about, Hwasa couldn’t get on a carriage since she was only a consort despite— being six months pregnant.”

“Turns out the horse was deliberately poisoned, had its food tempered with and that was how Solar got ousted.” He scrolled more and broke the details down further, “The man that was found out to be the one who took care of the horse apparently killed himself and had a letter posted to the King confessing that it was Solar who ordered him to do it.”

Baekhyun looked at the article post, he couldn’t remember so much about it of course, he was only six when it happened. He was surprised that Chanyeol even remembered about the article. He had to admit that as he skimmed through the page, the investigations were poorly done. And it was idiotic enough to think that high level ministers actually pressed for Solar’s conviction without solid proof.

A letter wasn’t supposed to suffice.

“So, you think that Hwasa might be out to take revenge by… poisoning Solar’s horse as well?”

Chanyeol let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “Well, it does make sense if you put it like that.” He dragged his feet over to his bed and lazily plopped down onto the bouncy mattress. “Even if Hwasa wanted to, she wouldn’t poison the horse with her bare hands. We don’t have solid proof that it was her either.”

Baekhyun let out a groan, it was going to be a tough investigation with a bias in mind. His head started to throb as he felt a migraine coming. Shutting down his roommate’s laptop, Baekhyun threw himself onto Chanyeol’s bed and let out a hum as he glanced at the other’s tired face.

“Do you want me to take over the recent set of trainees?” He asked, remembering the wistful expression Chanyeol wore when he needed to dismiss the candidates earlier. “We can do a swap if you want, I only need to follow up with this investigation together with Amber for now.”

Chanyeol looked into his roommate’s eyes before fluttering his own shut.

“Can we?”

Baekhyun let out a chuckle, “Of course, the inspection unit is under you, aren’t they?”

Chanyeol jutted out his bottom lip in response. There were three units under him, but he kept forgetting which ones; each unit had their own team leaders so as long as they reported to them, their leaders could report to him.

“Well, I’ll speak to Amber tomorrow then.” He sat up cross-legged and rested his head onto Baekhyun’s shoulder, “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t know what to expect if Solar were to ever get reinstated.”

Baekhyun fiddled with his thumbs, “You mean when Solar gets reinstated. It’s pretty much a confirmed thing—we just don’t know when it’ll happen.”

His roommate scratched at his own head, “Why must she get reinstated anyway… I mean, I don’t have anything against her, it's just, who are the people of the internal court going to report to?”

Baekhyun felt his migraine worsen. Being part of the internal court meant that the people involved were those who, well, associate themselves with internal affairs. This included people like their chefs, court ladies, private tutors, photographers— pretty much anyone who associates with handling the household. They would often report to the highest female monarch unless there’s a handover of duties from one the previous generation to the next.

The external court reports to the ruling monarch, in other words, the King himself. They pretty much were the King’s army, the ministers and all the officials, those who are responsible for law and order of the kingdom. Which was why they’re referred to as the external court.

The Resistance?

Because they also handle classified and confidential issues, they’re part of both the internal and external courts. Their final reporting would of course be to the King. But if the instance of needing to choose the final reporting person solely for the internal court, a voting might come to play specifically for some Resistance members.

And Baekhyun hoped he nor his men would need to go through that.

“Forget it, it doesn’t affect us. We report to Luhan and that’s that.” Baekhyun tried to dis