“It is truly unfortunate that the elder Kim Prince isn’t able to attend today’s meeting, for he had to attend a crucial session of training. On his behalf, I would like to address an issue that he had requested me to speak of. It regards the river that stretches out from the kingdom and into the nearby forest. Briefly speaking, there sits a river across our kingdom, extending out of our current borders and penetrating the lush forest of the outskirts. At the moment, the borders cover whole of the kingdom’s land, and has a tunnel-like passage for the river to flow from the forest to the kingdom. In other words, majority of the river remains untouched except for the area that interferes with the land. If we were to establish borders around the three kingdoms, it would be extremely difficult to surround the river as a whole, for it would inflict danger upon our people if they were to walk into the wild forest, or if wild creatures were to trespass into the kingdom. Therefore, it would be plausible to keep our borders as they are, surrounding our own kingdoms, while still proceeding with the unification without physical approaches.”

Taehyung shifted his eyes back to the piece of paper he laid in front of him. “I believe we don’t need to construct new and visible borders and walls to acknowledge this union.”, he concluded with hopes of having his message conveyed.

Discussing a matter regarding locations and regional aspects was relatively difficult without any drawing or map to refer to, which he immediately regretting not preparing beforehand, and Taehyung prayed that he wasn’t making a fool of himself by uttering pure nonsense.

“I agree.”

Taehyung snapped his head to the other side, sighing in relief as the prince of the Lee Kingdom responded with an assuring voice.

“This union marks what we believe to be a source of reliability, dependence and strength. Building new gates and borders shouldn’t be the focal point. Of course, this is an issue that regards the Kim Kingdom, but I thought it was reasonable to share my opinion.”

The kings nodded in approval, while the ministers scribbled down on the papers they had piled up on their tables, taking note of every matter being discussed in order to further approach them distinctively.

“Uh…”, Taehyung stuttered and looked at his father hesitantly. “There is another issue I would like to address, though this isn’t on behalf of my brother… What I am trying to speak about regards the mysterious disruption of the royal farm a few days ago. Fortunately, it isn’t a grave threat to be cautious of, rather an urgent attempt of theft by a little boy who needed to gather food for his neighbourhood, reasoning with the infertile and ruined soil of their own farms due to past storms of rain. Is there any way that we can build a public farm for each alley and region of our kingdom, sharing portions of the farm with the families, ensuring that they have access to adequate supply of food? It is truly heart-breaking to know that there are helpless families in need of a way to survival, and we cannot simply sit by and let them starve. I strongly suggest that we, as a unified nation, attend to this matter collectively, for it will show the people a form of hope, that the three kingdoms are ready to work together.”

He waited for some sort of response as silence engulfed the room.

However, a concealed smile boosted his confidence as his father replied, “Thank you, son. We will look into that.”

As a blanket of silence covered them yet again, the calming atmosphere shattered into vestigial fragments as the hall’s door swung open aggressively.

“Your Highness!”, the man raised his voice as he breathed heavily. With shock written all over the messenger’s pale face, every individual in that room knew that heavy grief waited behind his words.

“Min Yoongi, do tell us what news you bring! Do not delay this any further, for we are all anxious and concerned!”, the king demanded in a clear voice but his hint of sorrow didn’t go unnoticed.

“Sir Jung has returned… He… At the entrance of the kingdom galloped a weak horse, on which lay the body of Sir Jung, wounded, bruised and devastatingly k-killed…”, the messenger spoke in a hushed voice, unable to gather his emotions.

Gasps and whispers emerged across the room while the king stayed dead silent.

On the other hand, Taehyung rushed out of the palace and called out: “Hoseok-hyung! Jung Hoseok! Jung Hoseok, I know you are here! Please, I need to…”, he trailed off with quivering lips as a limping figure approached him. “Hyung…”

The man in front of him was not the man he knew; he was taken over by the power of sorrow, demolished into a being of melancholy. Swollen, red eyes stood out on his face, the result of endless tears.

“You were right, Your Highness. He did come back, but not the way I wanted him to.”, the knight spoke in a monotonous voice before groggily walking into the palace, aware of the king’s request of his presence for a private talk.

The funeral was held on the same day, allowing no time for the body to rot even further. A small gathering was held, consisting of the royal families, the Hwarang, and the trainers; the king had requested all the people of the kingdom to stay indoors and pray as a sign of respect; although the funeral lasted for at least three hours, time seemed excruciatingly fast and rushed.

“Have you seen Jung Hoseok?”, Taehyung asked one of the servants in the hallway he was walking through. A frown formed on his lips as the servant shook his head; the prince, panting heavily, searched every room in the palace and the training grounds, looking for the knight who had mysteriously disappeared.

As the seconds passed by, he spotted the knight stumbling along the path outside, dragging his weightless feet towards the palace, tears streaming down his cheeks at last. Taehyung felt his heart shatter at the sight of his friend so vulnerable and gloomy; he quickly rushed into the garden, unable to stay at the heart-breaking funeral, nor did he hold the courage to console the struggling knight.

Taehyung scrambled through the garden, and his body stayed numb on the bench as he buried his face into his hands, letting the warm tears roll down his cheeks, the pain far too overwhelming on his shoulders. He was heavily affected to the extent in = which he didn’t bother moving an inch despite feeling the presence of someone beside him; in fact, he knew who it was, and he wasn’t afraid of showing the other his weak side.

“W-When my uncle passed away, Sir Jung always kept an eye on me. He told me beautiful and horrifying stories, showed me silly and intriguing tricks, followed me on a few of my adventures, and brought smiles to my face… He took on the role of my uncle, and ensured that I was healthy and joyous at every stage of my life… He was family, he truly was… I cannot believe yet another precious soul has walked away from the face of the world…”, his voice trembled as he spoke, his dried lips stinging as the skin pierced open. Pressin