[Prince Sehun's POV]    

    In a panic, I woke up in distress like many nights. It was the same dream over again. The 'Dancing Maiden' Lu had called it. I've resided to the name like it's my own since it comforted my nights that I had been alone. There's a yearning inside of me to wander beyond the gates of the castle to find the maiden. With the face I know so well now, I just know that if I ever see her, I'd recognize her right away. But Lu Han had a point. There was none. There's no point in finding her.

"What would you say anyway? Hi. My name is Prince Sehun of Ardea and I dreamt about you dancing for me every night?" 

   He teased with a smile knowing fully well what he meant to insinuate in his words. 

"You're too erted nowadays Lu Han. Will you still be this teasing when you're finally First Guard in my wing?"

"I hope you have stopped obsessing with the Dancing Maiden by then, my Prince. Or I swear, our Kingdom will be in danger."

   That was almost six years ago now and still I dream about her. I see it in his eyes when he realizes I once again dreamt of the Dancing Maiden. Lu gets weary on nights she shows up. He doesn't sleep that night taking an extra shift watching me himself. He's a good friend. But he worries too much.  Though I suppose I should worry for real. 

   There was a knock on the door and sure enough it was Captain Lu Han coming to check like he had a radar hone in to my very emotional breakdown on nights like these. 

"I knew tonight we'd be dancing with the maiden." There's a jest in his voice. Something I'm thankful he still haven't lost. 

"How?" I was surprised with his words to be honest. He looked very sure even from where I was standing and from the tone of his voice. 

"When you're uneasy or when you're anxious about a problem or a case the King had brought upon you, the 'Dancing Maiden' visits you. Almost always, although it distresses you, I guess her way is to distract your mind and you forget all your troubles because you begin worrying about her instead."

   I scoffed at his reasoning though now that I think about it, it might just be about right. However the more I perused the idea, I can only deduce that since I dreamt about her almost every night, I have been bombarded with anxiety and stress for all my life. That is not a conclusion I wanted to stumble on right now. Because it brought me back to my problem. The Queen, my mother. Her blatant show of her knowledge about my private time with Hei-Ran is very unsettling. I knew right away that my time in the castle is not my own. I have never been oblivious of it. But there's something in the tone of her voice, the need to spy on me like that tells me that she might not approve of Hei-Ran.

Approve. Had I actually been thinking about her approval of Hei-Ran? I will not deny that I look at the lady and think how simply beautiful a life of ease and comfort it would be if I wasn't the Prince. I could... I would... But I shouldn't

If my mother has eyes on me, Lady Hei-Ran is not safe. 

[Hei-Ran's POV]

   It was a slip of paper a measly small parchment that ruined my day.

"Do not scale anymore." 

  No explanations, no sender, nothing. It was so demanding of my cooperation and understanding I felt so simple. Like an owner commanding his dog to 'sit!' or 'stay!', 'down!' and 'fetch!'. Or a Prince commanding his subject.

"Why?" I say out loud but my maid had only looked at me in confusion awaiting my orders. I tuck the piece of paper in flap inside my pillow case and I move on with the day.

Why? Why? Why? Does he not want to see me anymore? Had he gotten sick of me already?

"Lady Hei-Ran? The bathroom is this way." Sunmi had awaken me from my stupor and I had to shake my restlessness away. I look at the door I was trying to open and it was my main door which would've been scandalous if I had chosen to open it in nothing but my robe and my sleeping gown. 

   The new room is massive. Me getting lost was not truly all jest but because it was truly too big. It had been bigger than my old. It is a suite complete with two rooms one for me and another for my main lady in waiting. I had my own sitting area with a blanketed wall filled with books adjacent to a wall to wall window overlooking the garden. The great view was amazing but as I look at the window now I realize what the note could pertain to. I hadn't realize this last night. I was too in awe in the moment and it had also been too dark already for me to notice by the time we had arrived. There is no way I can scale the wall with this kind of window. The structure is reinforced with only the top part of the windows swaying open and close. There is no way I can scale the window and then the wall to land in the open garden where I see guards posted every 25 feet or so. 

   The letter was a warning, a command because I am stupid to think I can still have my small freedom here in the Rose Castle. The Prince had beat me to my own recklessness yet again. I don't know whether to smile or be angry at his assumptions. 

   I follow Sunmi's guidance and was led to the new lavish washing room. A small pool in the middle covered with rose petals but I was led somewhere else. Behind painted curtains of cherry blossoms and withering trees, I stepped in smooth rocks that lined the walls and floor framing a big window that let in the light. My eyes widened. It was the size of the window in my old quarters. When Sunmi had peeled off my clothes, I immediately ran to the window and found that the wall had the same distinct characteristic as my old wall. 

"Do not scale anymore." I scoffed. 

Yeah right.  Nothing can stop me. I thought to myself. Running my finger through the ledge and the first stepping stones I can steady my feet on, I just know it's comparable and it'll suit me. It excited me to the bone. Sending shrills to my spines until I realized it had been real tendril reactions and my body is reacting to the cold. Too excited I forgot the cold air and the cold stone pushing on my bare skin, my bare chest as I reach for the ledge on the window. I was still .

Nothing can stop me. But I guess this would. I covered myself and stepped away from the window. 

Another night, Princess Thief.

[Hei-Ran's POV]

 "As per tradition, the lady who's been given the first rose in the Rose Ceremony is also the first person to fortunately spend alone time with the Prince himself. " The Matron Governess began right after breakfast was served.  Older looking than the Queen and the King herself she looks like she's been here for their contest back then or even way before that. She darts her eyes to the lady who began to speak somewhere in the middle of the table. 

"It's a first date." One of the lady participants had squealed and it had garnered a couple more excited giggling. I hadn't a chance to see who it was but I was overjoyed to hear that I wasn't the only one who was excited for Minah to have the privilege. 

"Simply put. Yes. The Prince will announce it himself later on. So please be in your best behavior and show your best faces to the Prince. I know you've tried your hardest yesterday but..."

   The mention of the Prince had me excited somehow. Though I've seen these girls day in and day out, though I am able to reach out to Minah or even to my maids in waiting, nothing makes this whole place so comforting than to see those crescent slits smiling back at me. The Matron Governess, Baehyun, continued to point other details about the day before and warned us about our activities for the next couple of days. It may seem as if the real contest had began. Finally, the Prince is making his moves and he had finally listened to his father, the King. There is a daily schedule of the Prince meeting with each participant daily for a good chunk of the day. And though its just as we had planned and expected something bothered me about it. I was saddened to think that with my impossible wall and the schedule ahead of us, there might not be any chance of me even getting to use the bathroom window.  I mean what use would the Prince have with me now that the participants have been weeded out and he'd be able to unwrap the 'presents' himself through these dates. 

   When the afternoon came, my excitement turned sour thinking about my insecurities again. We are awaiting the Prince's arrival in the game room and I just couldn't settle my feelings. While the other lady participants all talked and giggled beginning to gather together in a conversations about their expectations about their would be dates, I sat there unsure of many things. I know my place in this castle and a date is not befitting and part of my provisions. I am then excluded aren't I? I didn't know how to feel about that.  I didn't know how to feel even more when the Prince was announced with his First Guard Captain Lu Han in tow.  The room was filled to the brim with excitement and we all await to hear his announcement. When he finally acknowledged us, I hadn't realized I was pulling hard on the hem of my dress. Until he called out to Lady Minah and a crushing feeling stirred inside me.

"Lady Minah. I hear that from where you come, ice is such a luxury. What say you about snow and ice?" He singles her out and in front of every one and of course as prepared and regal she always is, she answers with gentle ease.

"I'm enamored by its beauty and power. The purity of its color, the powder of it's snow, the uniqueness of it's flakes, I've only read about it all. Ice is in fact a luxury to us. Storing food had been a power we now posses because of ice. It's grace and power at the same time. Something I can only imagine."

   Prince Sehun stares for a bit before smiling, obviously enjoying and appreciating her answer. He then looks at Captain Lu Han and nod to him in a secret agreement.

"Nothing like imagination but actually seeing it for yourself. Lady Minah, will you join me tomorrow to see them up close? It will be an honor and a pleasure to explore the magnificence of this grace and power you speak of.

"It would be a pleasure my Prince." She nods and that was that. Everything we all have been anticipating boiled down to his entrance and proposal to her and only her. 

"Well then, ladies. I have business to attend to. I will be seeing you again. Good day." He smiles his princely smile and he turns about towards the door like it had been nothing to him. Captain Lu Han waits for him by the threshold when he suddenly stops and turns around with a curious look stilling everyone in the room.

"I'm curious, Lady Hei-Ran. What say you about snow and ice?"

   Even Captain Lu Han had been surprised. His widened expression had said it all. Though it had not lasted too long before he squared himself right away. 

"I-It's cold." I began to say out of surprise. It was the first thing to mind because it was the most obvious answer. But I regretted it when I suddenly heard a loud scoff. I can only imagine Lady Selis making fun of my nescience. It could only had been her blatantly looking down on me as usual. Living in the outskirts of the kingdom, she probably thought me stupid and uneducated. But I brushed it off, choosing to look straight back at the Prince and focusing on only him like those nights we've been alone together by my wall. I wanted this interaction meaningful and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I know I'll see less of  him. But his directness and his questioning only towards me brought me back to our wall and I suddenly felt comfort in his questioning gaze. So I spoke from the heart.

"I've experience walking and working trudging through snow all day in fear of frostbite and losing my toes. I've slept through snow storms with only a fragile roof over my head and my family gathered around me for warmth. I remember winter where food is scarce because hunt is low and no produce grew in the barren snow covered land. I agree that it's powerful. But I haven't been able to enjoy the beauty that was spoken of. Though I do not doubt it. I just had no time to realize it with my numbed state of frigidness while walking through it."

   There was an audible chuckling somewhere in the group and even Captain Lu Han had moved in response. But I had not exaggerated. It's my true account from my travels with my father. Then a pause had lingered a little too long before it broke like thin ice when the Prince spoke.

"It's settled then." Prince Sehun turns to look at me intently.

"You are coming with us tomorrow. You are to accompany Lady Minah and I in our short trip outside the castle." He turns around like nothing happened and moved along with his day. 

   A gasp. A murmur. Something said and left unsaid had lingered in the room and it had all of a sudden turned the room's atmosphere chilly. All eyes turn to me and even Minah had turned my way. She sends me a gentle smile before walking away. 

   Pointed glares and cold shoulders. I had been singled out of nowhere. My moment of happiness and uncertainty had been be jumbled up with confusion and curiosity. 

What in the name of the King and Queen had urged him to do such a thing?

"Of course you would ruin it. A first date of the Prince and the first chosen lady participant and you." She looks me up and down in contempt. "Though I have to say. You were picked quiet perfectly for the job. Lady Minah will need a lady in waiting during her even short travel." Lady Selis in her taunting voice had mocked the situation. And she laughed menacingly as she walked away from me. 

   I look away in search of Lady Minah's Face and sure enough she was watching but she had not come to my rescue this time. She had lowered her face and looked sad if not anything else. 

Why? Why? Would he do this?

[Earlier]

"The first snowfall, the hill would look magnificent." Prince Sehun began to rave.

"She would like. I heard she has a fascination for snow." Captain Lu Han sits next to him adjacent to his chair. "But with the unrest, do you think it's smart to be going out of the castle at this time?"

"The unrest is nowhere near our backyard. The kingdom has no quarrels with the North. Peace has been kept for decades. There is no reason for it to come to our doorstep." Prince Sehun lay comfortably on the lounge putting his feet up on the arms of the chair. 

"Still, can't be cautious. If there was anything to happen out there during the excursion, I will not think twice to drop the Lady, and well my job is to protect you and the crown." Captain Lu Han had been firm in his remark earning him a glare from his friend.

"You're too good at your job. And I wouldn't doubt you would. But do take it in to account, my skill for fighting and my ability to take care of myself as well. Before a Prince, I'm also a man. And that Lady you so speak so lightly of, might just be your Queen someday." He said it coolly, no pressing threat in his tone or voice. But he had considered it. He had considered Minah for sometime now. She would be fitting of a Queen. And Hei-Ran raves about her almost all the time.  

Hei-Ran.  He thought to himself.  It's only been a day since he'd seen her. He'd been anxious ever since his mother's spoke about their meetings. He was more anxious when he found out where his mother had placed her in the Rose Castle. The grandest room in the castle to be exact, which is also the one with the biggest window that opened up the magnificent Royal Garden. Reserve only for the elite, the most important guest of the castle. It had not been because she was smitten with Hei-Ran. It hadn't been because she even liked her, he knew it for sure. It was to ensure her scaling days or nights are over.  The wall to wall window, the opening only on the top sections of the window itself and the guards that lined the bottom of the wall. It was a clear sign to her, to him. 

   Prince Sehun began missing Hei-Ran at that moment. Knowing the extent of their friendship coming to a halt because of his mother and because of the new schedule for dates and excursions and the work his father keeps sending him. He just couldn't imagine a time to actually see her unless he actually takes her to more than enough dates necessary which he knows would be almost impossible with his mother in the look out for them. 

   He runs his schedule in his mind and realizes that in the next two weeks, he'd only really see her for their excursions for the allotted four hours and maybe in passing. 

Work in the morning, meetings mid-day, and a date with a lady participant per day...

"What's troubling you?" Captain Lu Han finally shakes him out of his thoughts. 

"Huh? Oh. You don't want to know." He dismisses Captain Lu Han's worries right away.

"If it has something to do with your first date...I can only imagine you anxieties."

   Wide-eyes, Prince Sehun shut up from his spot and looks attentively at Captain Lu Han who is smirking to himself.

"What?" He hadn't even thought about that. And now that it's been said, he suddenly felt anxious and nervous and weary. And curse Captain Lu Han for bringing it up now.

"Too easy, my friend. Too easy." He shakes his head now and Prince Sehun sidles next to him shaking his arm to get the answer.

"I just knew this would happen. I've been your friend since we were little. I know you've never been in a real proper date, left alone with a girl, not knowing what to say, how to act..." Captain Lu Han began to tease and Prince Sehun was about to lunge at him when Captain Lu Han retorted right away gaining his Prince's attention.

"Also I can tell you're worried about your 'Princess Thief'."

   Prince Sehun's jaw tightened. Unable to deny it and unsure if it was right to argue the matter. 

"Relax. I heard the order of the The Queen to the sentry posted in the Royal Garden. They are told to keep a watchful eye for 'Night Bandits' and to report to her quickly and discreetly if an incident is to occur, whatever it may be. I put two and two together and realized that it could only be an order for you and Lady Hei-Ran. As soon I found this information I prepared myself for your whining and grobbling." He lightened the mood seeing the Prince's darkened demeanor.

"Grobbling? Me?"

"Yes you!" He began to laugh.

"I don't grobble." He stands and sits on the other chair snobbing his friend now. Captain Lu Han can only chuckle at his friend's immaturity.

   They were silent for a while and Captain Lu Han is shocked to see the Prince too engrossed in thought. He had not considered how nervous and anxious the Prince would be about his first date.  

"I guess you don't want my brilliant solution to your most pressing problem." Captain Lu Han teases breaking the daunting silence. He gestures to stand up, pretending to leave the room before..

   A hand stops him in his tracks and he smiles to himself because the Prince is caught in his bait.

"Lu."

   And it doesn't take much. It's already too much for Captain Lu Han to tease and make a fool of the Crown Prince but it's also very sad to see him like this. A couple of more years and Prince Sehun will lose his youth and his innocence and to Captain Lu Han his friend's happiness even if it's withering away is the most important.

   He sits back down and faces the Prince. One day he'll be King and he'll sit next to the King but Lu Han always fear the day his friend loses his innocence and his vitality.

"The King said to get to know the lady participants. He said to go in excursions and really scrutinize their every being so you can decide with meticulous care."

"Your point, my friend!" The impatience is too apparent in his voice. 

"How could you do that if you are paralyzed, in uncomfortable state of nerves and stress because of first date anxiety? No one said you have to be alone in these dates." He was already ordered to be by the Crowned Prince's side through any schedule. However, there is a downtime when the Prince and the lady participants are to be alone. And he thinks this time is too risky. Especially if its scheduled for an excursion outside the castle. Captain Lu Han only meant to offer his assistance so he could keep close and do his job properly. But Prince Sehun had other things in mind. 

   And suddenly Prince Sehun is hugging Captain Lu Han and thank goodness for their privacy because this...

   Prince Sehun has other things to worry about.

a/n: do you know I'm a HUNHAN shipper??!!?
lol yea I have to put something about them lmao
​I hope you are enjoying DOA. Thank you thank
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next chapter. ACTION AND DRAMA! just a tad!
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