"Please, Prince Sehun. Back off and let me get it for you. They're bad kids."


"Oh, stop acting all heroic, Jongin. You yourself aren't better than us," the big boy snorted.


Jongin approached them cautiously, eyes narrowed and fists balled instinctively.


"No I'm not one of you anymore. Now hand me the ball."


"Why should I? Look at this shiny ball, don't you want to have it, Jongin? You can steal it anytime, and we can play together," the boy shot him an evil smirk.


"I said hand me the ball."


Jongin reached out his arms and grabbed the ball, only to be pushed to the ground by the big boy.


Seeing his new best friend got humiliated in front of him, Sehun tensed up and ran to him, kneeling down next to him.


"Stop it you guys! He's my friend, don't- don't you dare hurting him!!" the little prince screamed, his eyes filled with rage and fear at the same time. He turned his head around in panic. Weird, no one was guarding the gate. No one followed him like usual.


'Where are those lazy fat cats??' Sehun panicked a little bit.


"What are you looking for, Your Majesty? Your so-called mommy?" The boy and his friends laughed out loud.


Jongin shot up and tackled the boy to the ground.


"Don't you dare talk about it-!"


The big boy's friends immediately pulled Jongin off their "boss", holding him back from tackling again.


"Damn, how dare you!" The boy wiped his lips harshly. "Heh, I don't even care whether he's a prince or not. So what? Isn't he supposed to be a strong prince? Then why should everyone protect him like he's a weak BABY??" The boy asked mockingly and snorted again. Sehun froze in his position. The same happened to Jongin.


'I'm definitely going to be killed,' he thought. He tried to reach Sehun, desperate to just drag him back to the castle, but the big boys blocked his way.


"Listen closely, dear prince. Don't let people fool you! Especially this one stupid brat who's pretty good in ACTING," the boy pushed the last word mockingly and sent a cold glare towards Jongin. Sehun widened his eyes and looked at Jongin immediately. Jongin shook his head and opened his mouth to tell Sehun it wasn't true, but the other boy holding him squeezed his wrist tightly as if he was trying to break it. Jongin groaned and bit his lip to hold the pain.


"See? He confirmed it by not defending himself," the big boy smirked in satisfaction. Sehun crouched down and covered his ears. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head as if he was trying to stop the words from entering his head.


"Look. Let me tell you the truth. Prince Jae Sun is not your mommy. He's your UNCLE, you understand? Are you stupid or what? What you call 'mommy' is supposed to be a woman, not a man. And you don't have one, kid. Your real mom-"


"That's enough!!" Jongin burst out and yanked his hands from the strong grip with all his might. The boy holding him fell down from his action and cursed at him.


Jongin ran to the paralyzed Sehun instead of the boy. He covered Sehun's ears and hugged him tightly as if it could take back everything he had heard.


"There there, Sehun-ah," Jongin patted the younger's back soothingly. "Don't listen to them, they're bad people. I'm here, okay? Don't be scared."


The tanned boy gasped when he saw a teardrop escape the prince's eyes as he nodded and squeezed Jongin's shirt with his tiny fists. Slowly more tears rolled down his flushed chubby cheeks as he shivered in Jongin's arms.


Jongin dabbed Sehun's tears immediately and kissed his cheek in attempt to calm him down. He pressed the younger's head against his chest, preventing him from seeing the bad boys, and shot the gang a glare full of hatred.


Instead of calming down, Sehun started to sob harder because of all the affection from the other boy.


"You- What has he done to you to deserve that?! You've hurt him, can't you see?? Go away!!" Jongin screamed uncontrollably. He felt Sehun trembling in his arms.


Jongin started to think that the boy was probably deaf or something, because what he said didn't affect him at all.


"I'm more than glad to tell you the truth, Your Majesty," the boy continued calmly.


"STOP IT!!"


"You see, everyone seems to be hiding something from you about the queen, don't you think so?"


"I said stop it!!" Jongin desperately squeezed Sehun in his arms. He felt his shirt being clutched tightly by the tiny hands.


Suddenly a worried-looking boy stepped forward from the group and held the leader's shoulder. His funny face slightly showed pity that he clearly tried to hide.


"Jun-ah, I think that's enough. Let's just go back and-"


"Cut it out, Chanyeol hyung. Don't act too soft," the big boy cut his words sharply, making him step backward hesitantly.


"You'll get into trouble later for telling him this."


"I don't care. I'm fed up seeing someone this weak," Jun - the leader - smirked.


"Prince Oh Sehun, Your Majesty. First of all, you should know that a queen is a king