CHAPTER II: HIS PRICE

“She is leaving,

And I can’t do anything.

Love is leaving; 

Like a fool I’m blankly standing here.” — BIGBANG, If You

~~~

It was drizzling. 

Not the kind of downpour that was heavy enough to warrant an umbrella or a coat but the kind of misty autumn rain that was still visible and wet enough that one could not stay dry without a covering either. It was the kind of half-hearted nearly-there rain that made it seem like the heavens itself could not decide whether to fully let out its tears but yet could not seem to bestow upon the lands the comfort of a dry evening. 

It was the kind of rain that perfectly summed up Sehun’s evening. 

Cold, confused and deceptively cruel. 

~~~

Taeyong paced worriedly outside his prince’s chambers as he waited. The evening had definitely not gone as planned. 

It was supposed to be an easy mission. His men had managed to track Lady Haerin’s whereabouts to a simple town by the sycamore forest at the borders of the Kim clan and the plan was for him and Prince Sehun to find her and bring her back to the capital. The thought of backup had not even crossed their minds as the Kim clan had never been hostile to the capital and they had not expected any resistance. Having split up in the town, Taeyong was caught off guard when he finally found Prince Sehun at the edge of the forest standing shellshocked with a badly bleeding palm, his mind lost in thought. Initially thinking he had been attacked, he managed to get out of the Prince that he had in fact been stabbed by Lady Haerin herself! No wonder the Prince was in such a state of shock; Taeyong himself could hardly believe his ears. The Prince had been so badly affected that instead of his usually meticulous nature, it was up to Taeyong to search for and retrieve the Prince’s dagger to ensure that the forest had no traces of them as they retreated.

“How is he?” 

Jerked out of his wandering thoughts, Taeyong immediately cleared his throat and bowed. 

“He seems to be in a bad state of shock, Prince Junmyeon.” 

Hearing a sigh, Taeyong did not dare to look up as Prince Junmyeon walked past him to enter Prince Sehun’s chambers. 

~~~

“I gather that your rescue operation did not go as planned.” 

The young prince refused to answer or even spare him a glance.

Junmyeon sighed as he took in Sehun’s hunched figure on the edge of his bed still in his all-black attire, hands holding his head.

“Taeyong reported that you only suffered a minor knife injury, what’s with all the moping about? You can always try again, with more reinforcements this time,” Junmyeon tried again, with an intentionally kinder tone this time. “The Kims may not be particularly fond of us royals but they have never been openly hostile. A case of an unidentified woman should not be something particularly controversial.”

“She stabbed me. Haerin was the one who stabbed me here,” Sehun let out a cold laugh as he finally looked up, pointing to his now-bandaged left palm. “And guess what, she ran away! Can you believe it?” 

As the oldest prince, Junmyeon was not one to be easily taken aback or one to show much emotion; after all, that was just a necessary by-product of being exposed to the harsh realities and difficult decisions of ruling a scattered kingdom at an early age. But this image of Sehun in front of him truly caught him off-guard. He had come to visit Sehun mentally expecting him to be injured and humiliated but this was not what confronted him. Instead, he saw a badly-shaken Sehun in despair, his wild and vacant eyes very much resembling the image of an untrained young horse being saddled up for the first time after a lengthy battle with its owner. Traumatised, and very much defeated. 

This was not the Sehun he knew. 

Moving to sit down beside him, Junmyeon reached a comforting arm around his youngest brother as he tried to think about the best way to go about his next few sentences. 

“I’ve sent my men into the village to look into things.” he started cautiously, his tone kind and warm, a tone he only reserved for his brothers and his closest subjects. “It seems that Haerin has lost her memory. Neither her nor the villagers can figure out who she is. The only thing she remembers is her name.” 

After a long period of silence, Sehun finally spoke up, his tone somber but the nearly unnoticeable trembles in his voice betrayed his inner defeat. 

“I guess this is what I deserve, don’t I?” he started. “This is the price I have to pay,” he continued, his voice eerily quiet. 

“I was the one that left her first,” he muttered in distaste as he stood up to face Junmyeon squarely, almost as if the mere words themselves put a foul taste in his mouth. “I told her, no, I promised her that I would come back for her. I should