“It’s a wonderful day for the soon to be wedded couple to take a walk! Don’t you think so Lord Kim?”

Lord Do, Kyungsoo’s father, looked around his huge garden as they sat for breakfast in their patio. “Our lands spreads for several acres from here. And since it’s spring, my son will have a lot to show our Lady Gayeon.”

Kyungsoo was rapidly blushing behind his bowl of milk, and Junmyeon could feel Hyunjoo flinch beside him, so he cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Um… Isn’t it a bit too early… to call the ‘soon-to-be-wedded My Lord?”

“Why not?” the older nobleman laughed out. “Just look at these two! They suit each other more than any other couple I’ve ever seen!”

Junmyeon cleared his throat again, and took a sip from his tea.

“I-” the timid Kyungsoo finally spoke up, making everyone turn their attention towards him. “There are many rare flower species in the garden. Brought from China and India and even from west. I would like to show them to Lady Gayeon. I would be grateful to Lord Kim, if he allows his sister.”

Hyunjoo smiled uncomfortably, and Junmyeon had no choice but to purse his lips and give a nod of approval, to the young master’s polite request. “Take your time, and have a nice walk then.”

* * *

“What would I do if he asks me about something I don’t know?”

Hyunjoo whined, as soon as they left the breakfast table and returned to their quarters. Lord Do had prepared a separate part of the mansion for them to stay, with a several rooms for Junmyeon, Hyunjoo and their . “What if he tries anything- inappropriate-”

“He won’t.” Junmyeon uttered, closing the door behind him as they entered her room. “Do Kyungsoo’s too timid to make any advances on a woman so soon.”

“How would you know my Lord?” Hyunjoo asked back.

“Because I’m a man myself. You don’t need to know further.” Junmyeon deadpanned. “Just answer nonchalantly like Gayeon does when she’s not interested in something. You know how bluntly she states that she’s unlike me and is not into anything too academic.”

Hyunjoo sighed. “I miss Agassi. I really do My Lord.”

Junmyeon took her by the shoulders, and peered into her face. “She is the reason we’re doing this for, remember Hyunjoo? I just need time to find out her whereabouts. I can’t take any action until I know that much even.”

After a moment of silence, Hyunjoo heaved another sigh, and pushed his hands off her shoulders. “I will also try, I’ll ask about the areas around from Master Kyungsoo while we’re looking around his lands.”

* * *

“This is called dahlia. And this is dahlia too, but in yellow.”

Kyungsoo pointed at a flower bed filled with bright yellow blooms. Hyunjoo stopped next to him, and gave him a meek smile. “I do recognize dahlia Master Do, they’re very common in the capital.”

“Oh…are they?” Kyungsoo bit his lip, blushing furiously for the umpteenth time that morning. “Well then…. Let me show you something uncommon. Oh! These are Hollyhocks!”

“We see hollyhocks basically along every random wall in the villages Master Do.” Hyunjoo rolled her eyes while Kyungsoo was busy searching for a rare species.

“Ah! These! This is purple coneflower and that is Russian Sage. I bet you have never EVER seen them!”

“They are…” Hyunjoo paused and struggled for a suitable polite answer. “Um…very…nice. Indeed.”

Kyungsoo grinned back, completely oblivious to what going on in the girl’s head.

“By the way Master Do,”

“yes, Lady Gayeon?”

“Do you know any… um… any kind of criminals living in the area?”

Kyungsoo whirled around and stared at the girl. “Why would you look for criminals my lady?”

Hyunjoo shook her head violently. “I’m not looking for them. I just wanted to know… whether it is safe to live here. Or whether there are any thieves, you know.”

“Ah…you don’t have to worry about thieves.” Kyungsoo waved his hand in a nonchalant way. “No thieves dare to cross the boundaries of my father’s lands. And no significant criminal lives anywhere near…” and suddenly he visibly trembled, his blushed face turning pale. “Except for that barbaric marauders who live in that foresty village.”

“Who?” Hyunjoo stepped closer, her eyes widening with curiosity. “What kind of marauders?”

“I… I really don’t want to talk about them. Ugh…unpleasant.” Kyungsoo shuddered again. “Why don’t we see some birds over that pond? Instead of talking about some petty thieves?”

“Well the thieves can’t be that petty.” Hyunjoo muttered under her breath. “Looking at the way you tremble when you mention them?”

“Pardon my lady?”

“Nothing, Master Do. Let’s go see the birds.”

Clueless as ever, Kyungsoo started walking merrily along the path lined with various coloured hydrangeas, heading towards the large pond ahead. Hyunjoo followed him, huffing and kicking annoyedly at the shrubs that caught her skirts. And then she looked around, suddenly hearing leaves crunching towards their right side, and saw a figure half hidden among the bushes bamboo quite some yards away.

And she couldn’t avoid the smile that came across her face, seeing Junmyeon walking alongside them, keeping his distance and staying unseen, but keeping his watch on every move of Do Kyungsoo.

* * *

Baekhyun woke up to the rumbling of his own stomach.

A straight beam of scorching afternoon sun was aimed through the window at his face, and he woke up in the tangle of blankets in Jongin’s room.

Or rather Gayeon’s room.

To which he had entered last night with Inhyun.

But Inhyun was nowhere to be seen, and so wasn’t Gayeon.

He sat up, rubbed his face and buried it in his hands.

He could hear Gayeon waking up and leaving the room at down, had heard Jongin giving excuses to their mothers and saying Baekhyun slept in the room after Gayeon left it in the morning, and had even seen the sunrise lighting up the room before finally giving up on faking sleep, and actually had fallen asleep. He had built a nice headache by trying to force out the menacing thoughts of Gayeon last night, and mentally strangling himself for not being able to abide his mother’s pleading.

She will be leaving soon Baekhyun.

He repeated the line for the nth time in his head, since last night.

She will be leaving, and you will be left with nothing in the end.

But as he stood up and straightened his robes, the only thought in his head, again, was stepping out and finding what Gayeon was up to.

* * *

“Look at you waking up for lunch like some Royal Prince!”

Jongin yelled from the garden, as he sat there and polished their two swords. “It’s way past noon hyung! We have to go and earn money you know!”

“We’re going today as well?” Baekhyun muttered groggily.

“Of course! Yah, wipe that sleep off your dirty face. I got a tip about a bear skin merchant passing the forests this evening.”

“But this headache-” Baekhyun’s words trailed off as he saw the two girls on the garden bench.

On the wide wooden surface, Gayeon was sitting with Inhyun, both of them peering over a several parchments spread on the small stool they used as a table. And Inhyun looked the most excited out of the two. “What are you two doing?”

Both of them looked up from their writing, but Gayeon lowered her head straight back to the paper, and Inhyun beamed at Baekhyun. “Unnie is teaching me oppa!”

“Teaching?” Baekhyun stepped down from the veranda and walked up to the bench. Some simple Chinese characters were written in neat lines on the parchment he had bought, with the ink and quill he bought, and in Gayeon’s very neat handwriting. “Proverbs?”

“Unnie said she will teach me from where appa stopped.” Inhyun replied merrily. “You know, I have forgotten most of them since I didn’t study for a long time, but unnie says she will help me. And omma said she had brought some books we had at home, and she went to fetch them for me as well.”

“Books? When did she get them?”

“They’re in that bundle she brought from home oppa.”

Gayeon added one ore character to the verse she had been working on, one of the basic proverbs Baekhyun remembered his father had taught him. And she looked up, with an almost invisible smile. “If you can get the elementary learning books from a bookstore,” she suggested. “Your mother might not have all the necessary books.”

Baekhyun nodded in silence, watching the brightening on his sister’s face which had been rarely visible these days. “Thanks.” He muttered, feeling the warmth of Gayeon’s act spreading through his chest. Gayeon widened her eyes, at the barely heard courtesy.

“Thank you. Inhyun really needed this.”

And he returned into the house, leaving the little one to fuss over Gayeon’s writing again.

* * *

“I didn’t know you brought books from home omma.”

Baekhyun leaned on the door frame, and watched his mother rummaging her small bundle of possessions. “I had to. In case we couldn’t afford to buy books for Inhyun, I at least needed these for her to not forget reading and writing.” She took out two elementary study books from the spread out bundle, and brushed the barely visible dust over their covers. “You can buy the other books she need, can’t you Baekhyun-ah?”

“Yes, I will.” Baekhyun replied. “Will bring them today. By the way omma what are those?”

His mother looked at where her son was pointing, and a painful smile spread over her face. “Just some letters. Letters your father received from his old friends, and letters he wrote to me before we got married. I just brought them to look at…when I missed him.”

Pursing his l