Baekhyun woke up that morning with a bright smile on his face. He practically leaped out of his bed and dashed over to Byul's room, shaking her enthusiastically to wake her up.

"A while more." Byul slurred sleepily, scrunching her blanket and hugging it tightly. "It's not morning yet."

"Well maybe it isn't morning by your standards but it definitely is morning by my standards." Baekhyun grinned. He beamed brightly and shook her again. "Don't you remember what day it is today?"

"No." Byul promptly answered, pulling her blanket over her head.

"Eunbyul..." Baekhyun sat down on her bed and huffed. He tried prying the blanket away from Byul's head and she clutched it tightly, not letting go.

Baekhyun tugged harder and Byul responded with equal effort.

Soon, she was fully awake as she engaged in early morning activity of tug-of-war with Baekhyun. The poor blanket was tugged right and left, with both of them not budging.

"Han Eunbyul!" Baekhyun pulled hard on the blanket. "Let go!"

"No!" Byul hissed. "It's my blanket! Why are you stealing mine?"

And then the blanket suddenly tore itself into half.

Byul and Baekhyun coughed as numerous feathers burst out and drifted merrily down the room like an indoor snowfall. Byul sneezed as a feather tickled her nose and Baekhyun lifted feathers from his eyes so he could see.

They stared at each other for a few moments before bursting out in laughter. "I can't believe that just happened." Byul hugged her tummy. "What am I to tell Attendant Kim if she knows about this?"

"To mind her own business." Baekhyun grinned when he thought of the devil's reaction. He eyed the feather's on Byul's head and chuckled. "Come here." He gestured.

Byul crawled over and Baekhyun plucked the feathers out of her hair carefully. "You look like a swan."

"You a goose." Byul ruffled his hair and feathers came flying down. "I think we have to clean up before we-" she gasped when she finally realized what day it was.

"It's the day of Chanyeol's release and we're wasting time!" Byul hurried out of bed. Baekhyun followed after her but not before glancing back at the feather mess once more.

"Why didn't you tell me about it? We wouldn't have gotten into such a mess!" Byul shrieked as she ran around looking for a new robe.

"I did ask you to recall!" Baekhyun defended as he slipped on a new robe.

"I was half asleep! How could I remember anything vaguely human then??" Byul hollered from the changing room.

Baekhyun grinned at her words. "So of you're not human during sleep, what are you? A y devil?" He rubbed his palms together. "I can't wait for the wedding night."

"BYUN BAEKHYUN!"

Chanyeol perked up when he heard the guard walking down the corridor towards his cell.

His heart leaped excitedly and be scrambled to his feet as he waited by the cell's door, holding into the bars anxiously.

He had waited for this day for so long. To be completely honest, he didn't think he had it bad.

It was only half a year. The bad things were obviously not having a nice bed to sleep in, no freedom to go out and no nice food.

But then again his imprisonment was so short. Baekhyun and the rest of the EXO boys visited him so often, and even the EXO-M boys had even sailed all the way to Korea to see him.

Baekhyun made sure that Chanyeol got the best food possible without raising suspicions that royalty wasn't allowed to suffer and had special treatment.

Even the other prisoners in the near by cells were respectful towards him even though Chanyeol could see that it wasn't in their nature to be so.

However, it was still prison.

Chanyeol didn't like to dwell on what happened but being in there made him think and rethink what he had done, making his regret swell to great heights.

And not to mention how humiliating it is for a prince to enter prison.

Chanyeol wasn't someone who cared about pride much, but still, it to have once been a prince and now had to suffer the humiliation of being an ex-convict.

He knew it would be tough, the gossips and comments from judgmental people, however he knew he would be able to survive all that somehow.

All he was looking forward to right then was to breathe in the fresh air and finally feel the sun on his skin.

The guard reached his cell and the tinkle sounds of the keys made him extremely jumpy. The doors unlocked and the buff and gruff guard eyed Chanyeol. "Prince Chanyeol, you are released."

FINALLY.

Chanyeol sent a grateful smile towards the guard and patted the latter on the shoulder. He nearly skipped to the entrance of the dark corridor where light was filtering in in the most beautiful manner.

He rushed out with a large smile and was instantly bombarded by five enthusiastic bodies in the tightest group hug ever.

"CHANYEOL HYUNG!!! You're finally free!!!" Sehun shrieked, announcing Chanyeol's release to whoever who still didn't know about it in the palace.

Chanyeol hugged them back fiercely, sighing a deep relieved sigh. He was free. Finally.

Byul smiled softly as she watched the heart-warming scene with tears in her eyes. "Welcome back, Chanyeol-gun." she murmured.

Chanyeol nodded gratefully, sighing in relief. He looked around him, taking in the sight as if trying to remember every single thing. This was the Palace he had grown up in, the place where he played with his friends when they were young, where he learnt horse riding and sword play, where he first fell in love...

He was finally back.

Chanyeol sniffled softly, slightly alarmed that he was tearing up. He glanced at Baekhyun beside him and saw the same expression on his cousin's face. Baekhyun wiped at his cheeks hurriedly and sniffled. "Hyung, you're crying?" Chanyeol teased. "Softie."

"Shut up." Baekhyun muttered. He smiled at Chanyeol genuinely and bumped the latter's shoulders. "Come, we've prepared a whole party at your new quarters."

"My new quarters?" Chanyeol echoed, blinking in surprise. Suho nodded in Chanyeol's direction. "As you know, your parents are...uhm, still in jail and the King didn't want you living alone. Your new quarters is just next to Baekhyun and Byul's and beside mine." Suho grinned. "We can meet up for breakfast every single day."

"Hey, don't you are leave me out." Sehun warned, wagging his fingers.

Chanyeol chuckled softly, shaking his head. He took a deep breath as he looked around him once more. Damn, he missed this.

-----

Someone was waiting at the new quarters when the boys arrived. D.O. made a big show of introducing Chanyeol to his new home and finally opened the door.

Chanyeol looked around his new quarters in interest. It was possibly even grander and more homely than his old one, better in every single way. The first thing he saw when he stepped in was the potrait of the six EXO-K boys and Byul hung in the middle wall and he stepped closer to take a look.

He smiled unconsciously at all their perfect faces. "Wow."

"Definitely wow." Baekhyun muttered. "That old painter charged me so much for this one." he scowled at the memory. "But it's good right? Worth all the hours of standstill posing?"

"Definitely." Chanyeol nodded. He turned to take in the other details of his new quarters when he noticed a new girl standing at the side respectfully, her head lowered. He blinked at the girl's uniform, which was the same pattern as Byul's past uniform when she had still been Baekhyun's bodyguard.

"Is that..." Chanyeol pointed.

Byul grinned and nodded, pulling Sora with her to meet Chanyeol. "Chanyeol, this is Im Sora." she introduced. "Unnie, this is Chanyeol-gun. Sora is Ddong-ha's new bodyguard. She's actually really good in swordplay you know."

Chanyeol met Sora's eyes and the latter bowed. Chanyeol looked Sora up and down and scratched his head, frowning slightly. She looked so...skinny. Thin. Weak.

How in that world was that girl supposed to protect Baekhyun?

"Maybe one day you two can have a sparring." Kai suggested. "Maybe Sora will even beat Chanyeol since hyung hasn't been practicing for half a year."

"Yah." Chanyeol pouted. He heard soft laughter from beside him and saw Sora chuckling softly at Kai's comment. THe moment Sora smiled, her eyes crinkling up in her laughter and her lips twitching upwards in a small smile.

When Sora smiled, she looked completely different from when she was straight or serious faced. When she smiled, she looked the most beautiful and attractive, and it was when you would think, wow, this girl was actually really pretty.

Chanyeol felt something tug inside him and he promptly looked away. Hm, so she was attractive.

Wasn't that something to worry about? Leaving a pretty girl beside an attached guy for twenty four hours a day?

Chanyeol twisted his lips and pursed them there after. A girl like that around them shouldn't be too much of a problem right?

"Yah hyung, come see your bedroom!" Sehun hollered. "I hung up pretty decors, you got to see this!"

"Pretty?" Kai retorted. "Hyung. I really did tell him not to hang twigs on your ceiling."

"It's art, you toot!" Sehun defended.

Chanyeol laughed and went over, deciding to push his doubts to the back of his mind. Though he had to admit, the degree of attractiveness of the new bodyguard was something to worry about.