I forced myself to stop, but ended up punching the King before letting go, hitting him strongly enough so he wouldn’t wake up before a few minutes. It would be enough time so I could calm down.

I sat on the floor, unable to stay up, and felt Ryeowook’s hands on my face as he was wiping off my tears before using his own shirt to bandage my wound tight. I didn’t scream, didn’t cry. I was still a bit in ‘Mad’ Hatter mode, just enough so I wouldn’t feel a thing except burning madness and the soft touch of Ryeowook’s fingers.

The Knave was there too, solidly tying the King to a chair so he wouldn’t attack me again and make me go mad. I didn’t care. The madness was starting to disappear, replaced by the pain of my wound. I stayed in Ryeowook’s arms and closed my eyes, trying not to think too much about it. Trying to get my ideas together before the King would wake up.

When he did, I was ready. He tried to move, couldn’t, noticed the ropes and started yelling at me.

“You dare tie your King to a chair?!”

“I did not do it.”

With Ryeowook’s help, I got up and limped in his direction to cut the ropes, one by one.

“I don’t plan to do anything bad to you”, I sighed.

“You almost strangled me.”

“Because you attacked me first. By cutting me at the exact same place the Knave once cut the Mad Hatter, you woke up the ‘Mad’ side of me. I don’t plan to kill you, or hurt you. But. Please. Just listen to me.”

I finished cutting his ropes and stayed on guard, ready if he ever felt like jumping on me. But he stayed on the chair, simply glaring at me with obvious hatred, and I softly made Ryeowook let go of me to hug the little King. He opened wide eyes before punching me in the face.

“What do you think you’re doing, Mad Hatter?!”

I could see Ryeowook trying to intervene, but stopped him with my hand. I looked at the King, stared at him, until he started trembling.

“What would your father say if he saw you like this?...” I whispered so only he would hear me.

“I… he… don’t talk about him!”

I looked at Ryeowook. He understood me, and went outside with the Knave, letting the King and I alone in the room. Putting all of my weight on my intact leg, I stayed there, shaking softly my head.

“Why not? Your dad loved you.”

“Shut up! He hated me! He hated me because of you! After he met you, he stopped telling me I am a special person!”

“Because you aren’t a special person. You’re simply a living being who was born in a good family.”

“Shut up!”

“Did you know? Ryeowook’s dad was dead when he was born, and his mom died giving him birth.”

“I told you to shut up!”

“Hyukjae, nicknamed Eunhyuk by the friends, was an abandoned child who had to struggle to survive.”

“Shut up, you trash!”

“Donghae had a beautiful family until the day you killed his parents.”

“They deserved it!”

“Zhou Mi was born from no one, from nowhere, he had no parents, no siblings. He had no one.”

“He’s so weird, of course he didn’t have anyone like him!”

“Siwon’s family was full of murderers and crazy people. Sungmin’s family abandoned him because he was different.”

“What do you want me to do about it?!”

“Your father loved you. He loved you, more than anyone has ever loved his child. Because he loved you, he tried to bring you back on the good path, because he wanted you to be a better King than he was.”

“SHUT UP! You don’t know anything about this!”

“The day you made him get executed, you were in every single of his last thoughts and words.”

“You don’t know anything about this!”

“I know. I know, because I was there when he was executed. His eyes were the eyes of a good father, they were sad that his own son would do that to him, but happy his son would be able to choose his destiny by himself.”

“It was a secret execution. You couldn’t have been there!”

“The day of the execution is also the day I got the wound that made me limp. Ask your Knave if you don’t believe me.”

He froze, clenched his teeth, looked at me with furious eyes. I sat, my right leg being tired of working alone, and smiled softly at him.

“Your father loved you, my Lord. He really did.”

“I… he…”

“Remember all those times he hugged you tightly, saying you were his biggest pride.”

“He…!”

“And those times he made me create hats for you, because he thought a Prince should have as many hats as the King?”

“That’s…!”

“He loved you, my Lord, he loved you so much. He was powerful enough to kill your Knave if he had wanted to, and I would’ve helped him doing so if he had let me. But that day, he saw me, and he looked at me with a sad smile, shaking his head. He accepted his fate, hoping you would understand yours.”

I could see him violently trembling. He was losing his mental balance, and I used all of my strength to get up and half-limp half-hop to him, and hug him tight like I would’ve hugged a kid. After all, he still had the physical appearance of a kid. Oh yeah, and if you were wondering… in Wonderland, people stop aging at the age they choose to stop aging, except for the King, who stops aging when he becomes the King. That’s why Ryeowook was still looking like he was in his twenties when it was obvious he was WAY older than the King. But that’s not important, right?

So I hugged him. I hugged him like I would hug a kid, and I kissed him softly on his forehead, like his father used to do.

“He loved you so much…”

He started trembling even more, and finally started crying like the kid he had never ceased to be. Ryeowook heard, and opened the door, only to find me hugging in a fatherly way a crying little King.