One day (or night), the young prince of the Palace begins his rebelling again as he sneaks out of his room way past curfew. The excitement of it all drives him forward as Kyuhyun tiptoes out of the west wing and begins skipping through the northwest garden. The guards who were on night watch dozed off long ago. Kyuhyun knew this the best, he appointed them there.

Prancing around the dew dotted grass from the afternoon spring rain, Kyuhyun spots something behind the tall hedge the King had ordered to fence around the field of his croquet games even though the King rarely played in the northwest garden.

There seems to be a faint glow of light and Kyuhyun quickly rushes forward to find a way over or through the hedge. There in the corner was a hole, just big enough for Kyuhyun to wiggle through.

Once the prince arrives on the other side of the hedge he sees a pond, surrounded by lilac bushes and a willow tree. But the most breathtaking that caught his eye was a figure who was floating around over the pond humming a small tune and picking lilacs from the bushes to arrange in a wreath.

The spirit stops moving once he turned around to see the little prince looking up at him with big eyes. Panic filled Yesung as he dropped the lilac wreath and dashed behind the thick curtain of the willow leaves.

"Wait, come back!" Kyuhyun shouted as he looked around the pond. The spirit had moved too fast for him to catch on. "Can't you play with me?"

Yesung peeked out from behind the thick leaves. A human boy was willing to play with him after seeing his existence? Clearly, anyone can tell that Yesung is not human. His body still carried color but his form was outlined with a glow of purple.

"You want to play with me?" Yesung finally moves out when Kyuhyun settles down on the flat rocks outlining the pond.

"Yes, I've never seen a ghost before."

"I'm not a ghost I am a spirit also known as the guardian of The Lilac Pond." Yesung says as he crosses his leg and floats on top of the water.

"How did you die?"

"You should be asleep at this time of the night. Why don't you go back to where you came from and forget about this dream." Yesung gets up and tries to shoo the little prince away.

"Madame Hee told me that spirits are the souls of dead people." Kyuhyun explained.

"So?"

"Madame Hee also told me that when spirits stick around the human world they are attached to something from their past." Yesung gulped feeling slightly nervous.

"Who is this Madame Hee?"

"My nanny." Kyuhyun replied rather proudly.

"Well your nanny probably thinks you are asleep right now so you should go do that."

"Madame Hee also told me that children sleep best with a bedtime story." Kyuhyun suggested with big, hopeful eyes towards Yesung. The spirit couldn't help but give in just a teensy bit to those large warm eyes.

"If I tell you a story will you leave and pretend you never saw me?" Yesung compromised. Kyuhyun answered with a nod and a huge smile as he shifted his position to lying on his stomach against the flat stones while Yesung began his tale. It was a tale that dated back a hundred years ago when The Lilac Pond wasn't forgotten.

~*~

Once upon a time, around a hundred years ago, the Kingdom of Para was the thriving source of magic.

"Madame Hee told me that magic doesn't exist and that all people who practices magic will be punished."

"Would you let me tell the story?" Yesung rolled his eyes, exasperated by the kid.

"Yes but don't start the story with 'once upon a time' it's stupid."

"You are a very picky kid."

~*~

A long, long time ago, the Kingdom of Para was the thriving source of magic. It bred the largest number of wizards in the entire world. Academies of magic were everywhere. Eventually, anyone in the kingdom had the ability to mutter at least one or two common spells.

But the ruler of such a powerful kingdom had to be much more powerful than his entire kingdom. The King was slowly aging though. Each and every day added another strand of gray hair to his head.

The Kingdom needed a new king. Everyone was making huge preparations for a competition between the four princes to see who was the most powerful for the throne.

Kim Youngwoon was the oldest son. He practiced magic that could do the work of a hundred men combined. It fit his personality too. Youngwoon was always more harsh and mature than his younger brothers.

The second and third eldest sons were twins, Lee Hyukjae and Lee Donghae. They were always seen together never leaving each other’s sides. Their magic was also performed together, double the people, double the power. Everyone in the kingdom saw that the twins had no intention in becoming the heir of the throne. To be honest, they really just saw the competition as fun.

Lastly, the youngest of the four princes was Kim Ryeowook. He was a rather introverted prince, keeping to himself and his loyal servant most of the time. No one knew what he was most powerful with in magic and nor did they care. He was the prince that was the least interesting and it was impossible to even think about Kim Ryeowook becoming King.

~*~

“I don’t understand.” Kyuhyun blurts out as he scrunches up his nose in confusion. “Why do two princes have the surname ‘Kim’ and the other two have ‘Lee’?”

“Because the King has more than one Queen-”

“Madame Hee told me that a King should only love one Queen and make love with her only.” Kyuhyun said smartly causing Yesung’s eyebrow to twitch. The boy’s nanny was really getting on the spirit’s nerves.

“And you know about making love? You're only what, 7 years old?"

"I'm 8 years old." Kyuhyun said cooly while holding eight fingers up. "And making love is when you dedicate your body and soul to the person you love and will be with forever. You can only make love with one person.”

“Did Madame Hee tell you that too?” Yesung asked with a raised brow.

“No, Madame Hee told me that it’s okay to anyone as long as you’re not genuinely making love.”

Yesung nods, thinking it would be best if he didn’t ask anymore questions about the little Prince’s nanny. He stretches out his tired limbs from storytelling and settles on the flat stones next to the little boy before continuing on with his tale.

~*~

The four princes of Para were worried once the competition neared leaving them only the matter of days of preparation. The four of them practiced magic secretly, afraid that their siblings would discover any of their secret methods to certain spells and enchantments.

Youngwoon occupied the east wing, kicked out all of the servants and royalties to lock himself up in the area. He also set up guards that kept out any trespassers.

The twins, Hyukjae and Donghae, took the ballroom and practiced their magic together. Both were not interested in the position of King but they liked competing and were completely against any of the Kim brothers winning. In the end one of them was going to be King, and to be fair, the other, Queen.

That left Ryeowook to stay in his own little territory of the west wing and the abandoned northwest garden. There, his servant had found a perfect place, so quiet and undisturbed, for Ryeowook to practice his magic. The pond surrounded with lilac bushes and an air of serenity wasn’t just perfect for competition preparation but also for Ryeowook and his servant to spend time together, unspoken, forbidden time.

As time passed, Ryeowook and servant spent more and more time in their training area. The prince's servant watched as Ryeowook did nothing but practice.

"I thought you didn't care for the throne?" The servant asked every time the prince collapsed on the grass, exhausted of his power.

Ryeowook’s answer was always the same. He wanted to prove his ability to the entire kingdom that had looked down on him his entire life. For eighteen years he was forgotten and outcasted. He was seen as weak and incapable of bearing even the title of ‘Prince’.

~*~

After a week of individual training, the competition began. The four princes were prepared and excited to claim the throne. As they were waiting behind the scenes, the entire kingdom of Para had gathered in the arena. Everyone chatted away lively. Women gossiped about the lives of the princes and princesses while the men placed bets on the winner.

The current king cleared his throat, capturing the attention of the entire arena. He began with explaining the entire procedure of the competition before introducing each prince (even though it really wasn’t necessary).

Youngwoon stepped up and received a deafening round of applause accompanied with a few whoops and shouts. It was clear that he was a favorite and everyone knew that he was going to take the throne.

Hyukjae stepped out next and he received a decent reaction until Donghae decided to run out before it was his turn. Their affection towards each other sent the crowds (majority of them women) into hysterics. While the twins waved and smiled kindly towards the crowd they couldn’t help but notice the dark aura coming from Youngwoon beside them.

Ryeowook was the last to appear as he left the shadows behind and stood beside his brother. By then, the crowd had died down and there was only a polite applause. The prince only smiled with tight lips and tried to disregard the occasional shout outs to the other princes.

“The competition for the next ruler of the Kingdom of Para has begun!” the King announced as the citizens cheered with hearts filled with anticipation while the four princes could only feel the weight of winning and losing on their shoulders.

~*~

Calls and shouts echos through the air, past the hedge of the northwest garden and into Kyuhyun and Yesung’s ears. Kyuhyun’s eyes widens, recognizing the voice to be Madame Hee’s. No one else in the Palace would dare to scream such colorful words to the young prince.

“You might have to get going now.” Yesung suggests as he nods in the direction of the castle where the green hedge can be seen along with the dark outline of the Palace that's barely visible at night.

“You can finish telling the story first.” Kyuhyun offers. He really wants to stay. The spirit didn’t even get halfway into the story. Kyuhyun wants to know what happens next, what the relationship between Ryeowook and his servant was, and most of all he wants to know how Yesung fell into the tale.

“Maybe if you come back tomorrow I’ll continue the story.” Yesung compromises. In truth, he doesn’t want to continue. Recalling the memories in his mind was a numbing feeling with the absence of pain, but recalling the memories with words, to another, was like a needle sharp stab to the chest and despair that gnawed at his mind and thoughts as if eating away the insides of his brain. Tomorrow he wouldn’t be telling the story, not to a child who would end up bearing such a tragic tale.

“It’s a promise alright?” Kyuhyun says with a smile as he stands up, backing away from the pond. “Madame Hee told me that humans can’t break promises.” he gives a shout back at Yesung before running back inside the garden surrounded by a towering hedge.

The guardian of The Lilac Pond smiles sadly as he turns away and finds a nice spot to rest in the dip of the willow tree where the trunk curves in slightly before meeting the earth. Humans can’t break promises, Yesung didn’t know if that’s true or not. But he's not human, that was something that took place a hundred years ago.