It took no less than a minute for both Lay and Hanbyul to be hitched with white clothes and a pair of weaved sandals. Lay growled once he stumbled with his feet and saw his hideous reflection in a mirror of the grand hall. “No…freaking…way…” He muttered, not believing the sight he was seeing.

“We’ll just bear with it for a little while longer.” Hanbyul softly said, hooking her arm around his. She gazed up at him with an adorable glint in her eyes and Lay had to soften. “Just a while longer.” Lay agreed.

“HEY! YOU TWO! ENOUGH! GET TO WORK!” Probably one of the higher up slaves had yelled.

Hanbyul sighed, releasing Lay’s arm. “I’ll see you when we finish our chores, okay?”

“Yeah” Lay wanted to say more but she’d already followed a group of slaves down the aisles.

--

It had been 3 hours into labour and Hanbyul was exhausted. She wasn’t used to neither heavy cleaning nor the dust that smeared on her legs and face. She went to the side of the library room and picked up the pine-smelling chemical and sprayed the strange substance on the empty shelves. More dust flew around, forming visible spots on her pure attire. She wiped away the droplets before she brushed away her sweat. *I wonder if Lay is doing better, I hope he isn’t cleaning. He’s royalty himself.* She ominously thought, leaning against the shelf and sighing.

A book toppled over and sounds of hisses cracked the silence. Hanbyul recoiled herself from the shelf and scanned the room. “Hello?” She called.

“Now look what you did!” A harsh mutter rumbled in the air.

“Why are we even hiding here?” A nonchalant voice said, a hint of irritation in his tone.

Hanbyul turned the corner and was met with two, very tall men dressed in the same clothes as she was. They hadn’t noticed her since their backs faced her and they continued squabbling about the other’s clumsiness.

“What are you two doing here?” She crossed her arms and watched how they both turned around and one yelped, while the other just remained stoned.

“I-I….” The skinner one nervously glanced around, rubbing the tip of his elbow, lost at words. “We were watching you, sorry.” He admitted, now looking sheepish. Strangely, he reminded her of her friend Eunji, oh how she missed her, Yoona and the others.

“YOU were, not Me.” The cranky looking one corrected, earning a look from the other, supposedly he was the younger since he didn’t dare to say anything more.

“I’m Tao.” He greeted, a big smile appearing over his thin lips. “And Mr Cranky pants here is Kris, my older brother.” He ruffled Kris’s hair.

Hanbyul could see some similarities, definitely the tall height, charismatic pair of eyes and the leanness of their bodies. “Kris resembles more of our father, and me, my mother.” He explained. Kris threw him a glare and Tao just patted his head, “Oh don’t mind him, he’s always grumpy. He doesn’t like it when I talk about our family to others, apparently he’s sensitive-“

“Tao” The older man hissed.

“Fine.” Tao resigned, “Anyways, your name?”

“Hanbyul.” She replied, still wary of being in their presence. S