He shouldn't have told her. Yet when he did, when he was done practically screaming his head off at Keira, he had felt an unmistakable feeling wash over him like a warm bath on a chilly day.

  Relief.

  For almost eight years, Kyungsoo had hidden the secret of Junmyeon alone. For almost eight years, he had carried the burden the secret promised him, made the sacrifices, and endured great pain of guilt and shame for himself. Alone. With no one else to share.

  So when he had finally let it all out, all the forbidden words and thoughts and feelings... it was like he had just let go of a huge rock weighing on his heart for eight years. It had felt so… good.

  He hadn’t felt so light, so relieved for so long it was a strange feeling for him.

  But as he watched Jongin’s retreating back on his horse, Kyungsoo then realized that Keira had given him a new rock to weigh over his chest. And Jongin a headache.

  Spellbinders? What were they? Why hadn't he heard any mention of them before, and what could they do?

  And the bloody Spring Ball.

  Jongin had come in person to deliver the invitation, so he had to go; besides, his best friend who he had once thought died was going to put everything on flames if he were to endure the ball all alone. Kyungsoo had no doubt Baekhyun would be there, Andrea and Jongin also and maybe even Sehun, but he suddenly wanted to go, too. Just so... suddenly.

  He scowled at himself. No. It must've been the relief of telling someone about Junmyeon messing with his mind. He couldn't go, not if he wanted to risk getting drunk, or worse, getting drunk and spilling everything out. And he was still very socially awkward.

  But Chanyeol, his friend…

  With his mind made up and invitation clutched in his fist, he started toward the manor.

  “There’s someone out there, am I right?”

  Junmyeon’s tone wasn’t accusing or angry; it was understanding. And what made Keira’s heart clench even more was that he was still smiling, although his eyes had turned from twinkling with surprise to flowing with sadness.

  “Junmyeon…” Keira didn’t know what to say. Yes, you’re right? I’m sorry, I don’t know what has gotten over me, but I think it best you still not go outside right now? “I – “

  He shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize, Keira.”

  “But…”

  With a hand on his cloak, he extended a hand to Keira. “I want to show you something. May I?”

  She could do at least this, she thought. She didn’t know why she felt sorry but still had this… feeling in her gut that it wasn’t time for people outside to see Junmyeon. Yet. The Keira yesterday would’ve gaped at the Keira now, but the her yesterday hadn’t known what Kyungsoo had just told her.

  Putting her hand in his, warm and soft, she smiled. “Of course. Surprise me!”

  They went down hallways, through doors, around curves, and down more hallways. On the outside the manor didn’t look much, but on the inside there were so many hidden places that she wondered how the castle would be if this was just a mere manor.

  When finally Junmyeon pushed open a double door that had what looked like vines tangled around its edges and stopped, her breath caught as the scene unfolded before her.

  Rows and rows of bookcases as tall as probably three times her height expanded before her, looking like they continued down forever. They barely touched the ceiling that curved like a dome, cracked in some places and decorated with – this time she was certain – swirling vines. Glass windows on the walls on both sides were covered with a faint cover of dust, and the grey floor was covered with leaves and branches as if this place had grown out of a forest itself.

  It looked so ancient, so undisturbed, like no one had been here for centuries, but still held itself so firm she knew it wouldn’t collapse unless a giant crushed it with his foot.

  “It… it’s a – it’s a library,” Keira gasped, unable to hide the awe in her voice.

  Beside her, watching her reaction, Junmyeon smiled, his whole face lighting up. “It is,” he replied. “No one really comes here but me, and I didn’t know if you like reading…” he shrugged.

  Keira started walking toward the bookcases with gentle steps, passing by a movable set of stairs that looked as old as the library itself. “I love reading,” she told him, her smile so wide it threatened to split her face in half. “Although it’s supposed to be forbidden for me...”

  For a moment, Junmyeon let her marvel in the beauty and magnificence of the library, secretly satisfied; her reaction was just like his when he had first discovered this magical place of the manor, a secret corner blended partially into the forest itself.

  He loved her smile. He wanted her to be happy, to stop fighting with Kyungsoo over whatever they were fighting. He didn’t understand, truly, what Kyungsoo’s problem was with this amazing girl, but at that moment, he didn’t care. All that mattered was that Junmyeon had made Keira smile.

  “Supposed to be?”

  She spun around to face him, in the middle of running her fingers over rows and rows of spines of books, and as his question sunk into her mind, her smile started to fade.

  “It’s… it’s a long story.”

  “I have all the time in the world,” Junmyeon told her, seating himself in a random chair. That was another thing he loved about the library; there were chairs everywhere, so he could close his eyes, run into some random row, pick out a random book to read, and always instantly have a place to sit. “Unless you’re uncomfortable talking about it – “

  Keira shook her head. “You guys deserve the truth anyway,” she sighed, a painful expression coloring her face. “If you two were cruel bastards, it would’ve been easier…”

  He laughed at her choice of words. “Unfortunate for you, I assume.”

  “Indeed,” she laughed with him, then when her laughter died down, she dove in.

  “I come from a place northern of the Southern Commonwealth, a village we call Magus,” she started. “We don’t have a king or emperor or any kind of sovereign; instead, we have a Head Chief and Lead Commander. The Head Chief is, well, like your king and prince, the one who is the country symbol and rules over everyone, the one people go to for help; the Lead Commander is like your Head of the Royal Guards, who controls and leads the army. But we only have a population of no more than 3000, so we don’t really have an army; instead, we have Fighters. Usually, Fighters are people who choose to be Fighters at the age of fifteen, come to the Training Center and train and train and… train on. Being a Fighter is an honor, you see, because the safety of the country lies in our hands. But once we have devoted ourselves to all the intense training, we are forbidden of other stuff too, like reading, arts, or, in my case as a girl, sewing. We fight, train, go on missions, and fight and train again. We can’t do anything else.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Junmyeon commented, and his face said it too. Keira smiled.

  “I’ve managed to sneak around the reading part,” she confessed. “And if I hadn’t become a Fighter, I’m sure I would’ve become a scribe or keeper of books. We don’t have a library there, only a small shack filled with books and a woman as their keeper, but I’ve once read about the description of a library, and,” she looked up and around, still amazed. “It’s even more magical than I imagined.”

  It’s bigger. More… natural. Unlike the other one with pure-white walls around as if all the books were encased in one huge, white box.

  She shook that sudden thought from her head mentally, eyebrows furrowing together. What was that? Was it someone else’s memory? Or was it one of her nonsense imaginations again that were so vivid it gave her the goosebumps?

  “Do you regret becoming a Fighter?”

  She looked at Junmyeon. He was looking at her with concern, curiosity, and so much gentleness she suddenly wished she had known him before this. Before his incident. Before knowing the Commander’s scheme. “Yes and no,” she replied. “I… I am grateful for all the valuable lessons and survival skills I have learned all these years, but I didn’t choose to be a Fighter.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Are you saying you were forced?”

  She nodded. “My father… he sent me to the Training Program when I was a child. Even from the very beginning of my memories, I see myself learning how to hold knives, how to stand and hold my stance during a fight, and even how to recognize a weapon I touch with my eyes closed. I didn’t have a choice, and once you’re in, you can never get out. Unless you die from a fight with invaders or just from practice. It’s very brutal, and a lot of people die… I guess you guys don’t have that much cruelty here?”

  Junmyeon looked like he had just swallowed something terrible. “I’m not very sure, Keira… but from the way things seem, I assume as much.” His gaze returned, locking onto hers. “I’m so sorry for you having to suffer so much when you were just a child.”

  It was just a simple gesture of kindness, but it still struck her. What would’ve been the case if she had instead been a citizen of the Southern Commonwealth, born and grew up here? How different would things have been? Would she have been raised with the gentle care and love and grown to be a soft 19-year old girl who wouldn’t even dare kill a bug?

  And here she was, purposely not telling him about her people being Spellbinders, people who could have golden, green or any color of light flow from their fingertips.

  “Thank you,” she replied, shoving the guilt inside of her away. “I just… I wish our Commander could be as kind as your Head of Royal Guards,” she joked, laughing lightly. And gorgeous.

  Junmyeon chuckled with her. “Kim Jongin is indeed a very great person.”

  She stopped. “You know him?”

  “Oh, no,” he shook his head. “At least, I don’t think so. I’ve merely heard about him from our kitchen maids and seen him come visit Kyungsoo occasionally, like his other friends Byun Baekhyun and Andrea.”

  Sliding down into a chair – she wasn’t tired from standing, she never would be, she was just incredibly curious – she asked, “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course, Keira.”

  “What is Kyungsoo? I-I mean, what position is he? How does he know the Crown Prince, the former Prince, and even Kai?”

  Junmyeon had this expression on his face like he was waiting for her to ask that question, but also surprised that she had asked. “I wagered Kyungsoo wouldn’t tell you himself,” he said, seemingly to himself, a small smile dangling on his lips. “He’s a duke,” he told her, like a teacher launching into a lecture. “His family, the Do family, is one of the four families who had founded the Southern Commonwealth. He and the others: Kim Jongin, Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol have been friends ever since they were children. Just like their fathers, and their fathers before them.”

  Keira knew this. During training, she had learned about the histories of other countries and cities around Magus, and she knew about the Four of the Southern Commonwealth and their roles: King, Royal Adviser, Royal Guard, and Duke, but she hadn’t expected Kyungsoo, the boy who seemed so introvert – or was it he just liked solitude? To be one of this generation’s Four. No wonder there weren’t ever much information about the Do family. Kyungsoo had been hiding, away from the world, and now she knew it was because of Junmyeon.

  Did Junmyeon himself know all this? That Kyungsoo was a very important person for the stability of the Southern Commonwealth, but had been pushing everyone away just because of him?

  Suddenly, Junmyeon sighed. “It seems our time together is ending. I really appreciated this small… adventure.”

  Keira turned to him, confused. “Ending?” She asked.

  Grinning, Junmyeon pointed one finger into the air, his head tilting to one side. “Hear that?”

  And then she heard it. The unmistakable sound of doors slamming.

  “Kyungsoo must be looking for you. He rarely slams doors, but has increasingly been doing so ever since you came.”

  She groaned. “How can you put up with his bad temper?”

  He just grinned, his hair shining like a halo (she imagined halos looked that color) in the sunlight that had slipped through one of the glass windows. “He’s just… troubled. He puts too much unnecessary responsibility on himself and punishes himself… please, Keira? I know this might be asking too much, but… I wish you can go easy on him.”

  Looking into Junmyeon’s clear brown eyes, she couldn’t ignore the genuine concern swirling in those pools. He cared deeply for his friend, to the level where he was able to see through that bad temper and see the real Kyungsoo underneath. Keira couldn’t do that, yet, but she trusted Junmyeon. Somehow she just did. And as crazy as it sounded… she wanted to trust Kyungsoo too. A little. She was willing to trust him because… she was seeing cracks in him, cracks that were hinting at something entirely different from the outside demeanor of his.

  “I’ll try,” she replied as honestly as possible.

  “I’m going.”

  “You're going.”

  That was definitely not how he had expected her to respond.

  But then again, how had he been expecting her to respond? Tell Keira he had decided to go to the Spring Ball and then what? Have her clap and say ‘Hurray! You’re going!’? Cry because she was happy he had finally decided to get out of his cocoon for once?

  “I…” Kyungsoo stared at her face, ignoring the fact that they were standing in the middle of the hallway that led to the right wing of his manor, a place he did not often visit. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “I thought of not going at first.”

  She nodded, confusing him even more. “I guessed you would.”

  “Then aren’t you supposed to be surprised that I have decided to go?”

  “I am.” Her arms were crossed. “Is that why you were looking for me, slamming all those doors? Just to see my surprised face?”

  Her question threw his mind into a frenzy. She was right. What, in the name of the stars, was he doing? Why had he felt like he had wanted to see her reaction? He didn’t need her approval or anything like that, so why?

  He came up with a conclusion: He was losing his mind. He desperately needed some air and time alone.

  “You haven’t even apologized for accusing me of being a spy, you know.”

  Keira’s voice jolted him out of the process of trying to untangle the tangled strings inside his mind. He made a sound of unbelief with his nose. “You haven’t apologized for throwing a fork at me.”

  “You made me do that.”

  “I made you?!” He was on the verge of breakdown now. This girl was seriously making him insane. “You did it because you have a temper as bad as a bull!”

  Now it was her time to look offended and make a noise from her nose. “Says the one who has a temper even worse than a bull!”

  To be honest, she’d never seen a bull or heard of one before, but she guessed they had bad tempers, according to Kyungsoo.

  And it looked like she was right. “Stars,” Kyungsoo whisper-yelled angrily into the air, his right hand raking through his hair while he turned to look at the ceiling. “And I’m supposed to go with her to the ball?!”

  “Her?” Keira’s anger deflated like a short spark. She looked at the spot on the ceiling he was looking at, but saw nothing. “You’re going with someone?”

  His gaze returned to her, and he looked tired. “You. I’m going with you.”

  “Wha – no!” She yelled. “I-I mean,” yes I would love to go to a ball, I’ve never been to one before, “why should I go with you?”

  Kyungsoo sighed. “Because Jongin told me to.”

  The mention of Kai dispelled the remaining bits of her anger. “Oh,” she said, her voice suddenly so gentle. “I see.”

  Kyungsoo didn’t fail to notice the change of her tone. “And I see you’ll never ignore an invitation from Jongin.”

  Her face flamed. “It’s not like that – “ she scowled. “Why… why does he want me to go, anyway?” Reflexively, she tilted her chin up.

  “You were the first guest he has ever seen me with, and I am allowed to bring one guest with me. Although I could say you’ve left already…”

  “No.” Keira grabbed his hand without even thinking. “I… remember what I was about to tell you before Kai came? I…” this is going to be hard to explain, but it’s a very rare and great opportunity. “I want to… I need to meet your prince. I’ll explain it all to you on the way, but please, Kyungsoo. I need to go.” Even if it means going with a grumpy duke.

  Kyungsoo studied her for a long time. After a moment, in a small voice, he asked, “Then can you promise not to tell them about Junmyeon? They know him, Keira. They’ve known him since childhood and think he’s dead; all of them think he’s dead. Can you promise not to tell them about him?”

  Keira nodded slowly. “But you have to one day, Kyungsoo. You have to tell them – “

  “Maybe. Maybe one day. But not right now. Can you promise me that?”

  She wasn’t happy with his answer, but she knew it was the best she could get for now. “Fine,” she huffed. “I promise.”

  He looked relieved. “I will have a maid come to your room later to get your size and make your dress from any fabric you wish for, and she will also bring you a box of accessories should you wish to wear any.” He glanced at Keira’s hand on his, and with a start she pulled her hand back. He tried to ignore the lingering heat on his hand. “If you need anything else, just tell your maid.”

  He side-stepped around her and started walking away, but then he stopped and turned around. “Keira?”

  She turned, and to her surprise, Kyungsoo’s eyes had softened. “What? I won’t kill your maid with loads of requests, if that’s what you’re worrying about.”

  Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought she saw a corner of his lips quirk up. “Thank you,” he said instead. “Before. For… stopping Junmyeon from getting out.” You didn't have to do that, but you still did. Thank you.

  He turned around and hurried away befire Keira could even react to what he had just said.

[A/N] OH THE ANTICIPATION TO UPDATE THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS OHMYGOD IT'S A ROLLER COASTER RIDE but yeah, haha is the story progressing okay for you guys? Hope you enjoyed this chapter; you guys are awesome!!! I say it from the bottomest of the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!!!!!

*gif credits to owner <3*