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PRINCE SEHUN'S POV

“Your were right, Sehun. She had not waited for tomorrow. Hei-Ran left exactly the way you described.”

   I ordered Captain Lu Han to wait outside her window under the cover of the night. After proclaiming Lady Minah as my chosen wife-to-be, I couldn’t help but find Hei-Ran’s face. Because I knew it might be the last time I’d see her. But I regretted it right away. Seeing her hurt that much, I wanted to reach out and comfort her, take her away from here and leave everything behind. I knew our attraction, our connection had moved us both. I had not been blind nor clueless. I felt it in the way my heart drops when her eyes lingered to me longer than needed. The way I hang onto her every word and she to mine. The way she looked tonight. The broken reserve I'm trying to pick apart now. The way my heart aches as the memory of her break me little by little. But I had no choice. She would’ve been in grave danger if she’d stayed. I had my own suspicions about the attacks and I was worried it’d affect her, put her in a such a danger, I’d tragically regret all my life. And so I let the night take me away. I let Lady Minah take me away dancing and smiling though my heart break. I’ve never caught sight of her again. I supposed she left after the proclamation. 

“Sehun! Sehun!”

“Oh, continue.” I barely heard Captain Lu Han as I drowned in my own thoughts. 

“I did but you spaced out, Prince Sehun maybe we should do this tomorrow?” he offered.

“No go ahead. I need to know she’s okay.”

Captain Lu Han pressed his lips together concerned for his Prince. 

“Sehun, are you sure about this? I mean letting her go... picking Lady Minah.” I was surprised to finally hear his side.

“You know this is the only way, Lu Han. If my suspicions are right, if somehow, I made Hei-Ran stay, the attacks will point toward her next. Then what? I’ll never forgive myself if something was happen to her.”

“You underestimate that girl. Hei-Ran is no damsel in distress.” He shook his head probably still reminded of how efficient of a guard she was for the short while she worked under him. 

“It’s not her I’m worried about. It’s me. I would give anything, I mean anything for her. They will use her against me and I think it has begun.”

   The Captain looks to the Prince, paused as he studied his face. “From the way you’re speaking you sound like you are very certain about your suspicions already.” Lu Han is facing me now arms crossed in front of him.

   I shook my head. Uncertain from the gaps in my theory, I just can’t put the whole picture together. ”Not quite, Lu Han but the rush of the contest, the attacks, Hei-Ran leaving, I feel like we’re somehow executing someone’s plan and so far, it’s gone down without a hitch.

   That night, Prince Sehun dreams of the dancing maiden for the first time reaching out to the surface. And for the first time as well, he reaches down for her. Something he has never been able to do. But just as out of reach as she had always been, their hands never meet.

   It’s morning and though she knew it’s a long journey home without a coach, Hei-Ran stopped just outside the castle walls and mused at the sky until morning came.  She meant to sleep that night and begin her journey back home when the sun came up again. But sleep never came to her. All night and morning she mused many possibilities. She thought about the deaths in the castle, the Lady participants, the Queen and her animosity towards Hei-Ran as it may seem. She thought about her position as a guard under Captain Lu Han. She thought about Lady Minah and finally her husband to be, Prince Sehun. Sehun.

   Then a moment of weakness brought her back to last night's events and she suddenly wishes she's not just a blur in the crowd but the Lady walking toward him in the middle of the ball room. Hei-Ran stepping slowly and sure of everything in the moment as he wait for her in the dais holding out his hand in sweet expectations of their future. As if reaching out to her and grabbing hold of her would fix everything and seal their happiness and love. Everyone blurs to a haze and it's just the two of them dancing amongst the fresh flowers and the petals that kiss their feet in chaste. No rush. No time constraints. No responsibilities. No throne. Just the two of them dancing the night away. It'd be everything and complete. The choice would have been so direct and intended, his words very stern as if he had fully made up his mind a long while ago.  

"You are right Mother. As it is my duty to protect the Lady Partipants, the castle, and the Kingdom, I will make my choice today and send everyone else home." 

“Captain Lu Han. We will hold a ceremony for the chosen Lady Participant. Please call Lady Hei-Ran so I may arrange everything to her liking…”

   She didn’t have a clue why the mere fantasy had made her tear to the point of sobbing into her clenched fist. Breaking into pieces, her chest had constricted and now she couldn’t breathe making her sit up from her lay.

   Had she liked him this much to be delusional to this point? The thoughts brought more of her worries into a clear front. What is it that she’s going to do with her future now? Is finding an adequate husband the next step? For a woman her age, it’s only right that she does. There is no well paying jobs for women at this time. And she is of right age to marry and bear children. But would that be all for her? She kept thinking about her time in the Rose Castle. Not as a Lady participant but as a guard under the Crown Prince. Though she was conflicted then, she had a purpose and it was fulfilling to live a life in such a manner. Fruitful life if lived with purpose. Can she only dream back to those memories now? She cried some more with the thought of finally realizing she had settled in the idea of being anywhere close by the Prince, Princess or not. For sometime now it had been enough. Now thinking of her future made her ache for the security Prince Sehun had made her feel. The warmth he provided. The love he'd made her feel.

PRINCE SEHUN’S POV

    One by one, I am saying goodbye one more time to the Lady participants. This time, I know it’s for good. As they leave with their own coach, I can only hope that I’ve given these women a lasting impression whence they’ll remember to hold on to their loyalty as my people once I become King.

    Lady Minah’s head began to dart left and right in search of a particular red head. Lady Hei-Ran. Two very different women but they cared for each other nonetheless. I knew this much of their friendship. Hei-Ran spoke highly of Lady Park and Minah had cared obviously for the other. 

“She’s gone. She went ahead of the others.” I whisper into her ear and she stiffened. Now that I look at her, I didn’t realize how frantic she looked. She looks at me with concern. 

“Is everything okay?” I began to say.

“Oh yeah.” She looks away. “It just that, I wanted to give her something.”

“Oh?”

“I wanted to make sure…that she doesn’t forget me. I have this handkerchief that I embroidered just for her. ” She shows me the box tied with a golden ribbon atop. Her tone laced with concern. I was too aware of her regard for Hei-Ran and she somehow looked more beautiful for her beautiful heart. 

“A parting gift. Of some sort-” She continued but by this time, I’ve began to smiling at her. Awed at the beauty she exuded at the moment and thankful for a great friend who have once helped me find her. 

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She turned to me now brows narrowed with concern.

“Oh nothing.” I chuckled and she studied my face for a moment until she finally relaxed chuckling to herself finally.

“Oh, Prince Sehun. If I didn’t know better, you’re making fun of me right now.” She looked away shyly. And my smile widened because of how endearing she is even at a time like this. I began to think back to a friend who have helped me find this beautiful soul. How right Lady Hei-Ran had been about Minah. It was a sigh of relief to look at this girl now and think how it wouldn't be bad to grow old with her. To live a future with her, full of expectations and friendship.

“Prince Sehun!” Captain Lu Han suddenly interrupted, pounding his chest too hard in earnest devotion. I look at his face and he looked bothered by something. I hope it’s not about what I’ve asked him to follow up on.

“Excuse me, my Lady. Duty calls.” I reached for her hand and kissed the back of it before letting Captain Lu Han pull me away to the study.

“I’ve already sent for Kai to follow as soon as morning broke. I was wondering why you didn’t send him after her last night. Thought that was part of the arrangement, that he’d protect her at all times.” Captain Lu Han began to report. 

    I push back on my chair and settled my elbows on the ledges folding my hands in front of me.

“Because she needs to feel the reality of true freedom for once. It was never my intention for her to be stuck in a place like this. It’s not something she deserves for one. Plus she’s walking. She wont get too far from the castle. Kai will catch up right away with his horse. How did he act after he was told of the report?”

“Kai had been shocked and disappointed. It was an understandable reaction. But that’s not why I had to speak to you in urgent. There’s another incident last night. Another body is found in the garden this morning. And also…three men are missing.” 

“What? I guess this has become very dangerous. What say the King?” I stood up in surprise pounding on the desk in front me.

“He has given an absolute order. Nobody is to leave the premise?”

“That’s it? And as for the court? Lady Minah and the Queen?”

“The absolute order is for everyone to stay in the castle. No one is to leave and at no cost will anybody be let back in.”  Captain Lu Han continued to say but there something in his voice that perked my interest. I study him for a bit. For the crease in his brow, he is connecting dots that I too have been boggled by.

“But that’s not your biggest worry. What is it Lu Han?” I called him by his name hoping it would help divulge whatever it is his thinking of.

“Sehun, something is not right here. The King locks down the castle when he knows fully well the suspect is right under our noses?”

    I mused his concern. The gears in my head reeling too fast, I’m beginning to get a headache. “What say the Queen?” I had to sit down. Too much is happening right now and it’s weighing heavily on me.

    Lu Han pauses seems to be calculating his next words. “Apparently it’s the Queen’s idea and the King went along with it.” 

    And suddenly my heart dropped. There it was again a nagging feeling that keeps gnawing at me. Her spying on my every move, her persistent dislike of Hei-ran, her obvious preference of Lady Minah. I made the decision to rush the proclamation of my wife-to-be because somehow I highly suspected my mother to be behind the killings of the guards.

    As if Lu Han had read my mind and felt my suspicions.  I see the same worry he has about the information. There’s something happening here and the finger is pointing at one direction. Though I don't want to keep assuming without any definite evidence, I feel my mind has no other choice but to.  The only thing that keeps me from rushing to her highness and confronting her is the lack of reason behind it all. If I am correct and my mother has anything to do with this whole thing, why then? Why still continue killing men when all the Lady participants had all gone home? Wasn’t Minah her pick from the beginning? Wasn’t she doing this to force my hand and finally choose the one she wanted me to pick? Then why would she still persist if she had gotten her way? 

    I don’t divulge my thoughts to Captain Lu Han though he looks to have the same idea if he thought this information about my mother influencing my father’s decision had been important to add. I think that's when I began to panic, the fact that Lu Han, my most trusted friend have suspected the same thing. Suddenly my thoughts bring me back to regret. Because though I have already decided to let go, I suddenly want, no need to see Hei-Ran. My mind swirls and I suddenly want to hear what she has to say. Or rather in this time of contemplation, my mind unease, I need only the sight of Lady Hei-Ran to be at peace again.

HEI-RAN’S POV 

   I don't find myself to be the weak of heart and attached to an idea of a dream. I grew up with nothing, where dreaming is just of fairy tales and prayers. But here I am reliving last night's heart break but still fantasizing about what could've been. What a sad and confusing state to be in when you all but accept your own reality.  Mindlessly, I walked for miles with no regard. And though I feel my feet tire and dragging, with the weight of my heart and mind, I felt heaviness inside of me that I just couldn't cry out loud to stop.

   The sun had begun to set by the time he found me in the middle of the dirt road walking aimlessly, my mind wandering too easily as I let the sadness in my heart pull me into a daze. I began to feel my legs burn earlier, my body beginning to slump in tire. My mouth parch and my stomach empty as I had left too sudden last night not bothering to get ready for the long journey back home. I had just been too hurt from the last night’s events. I wanted to be as far away from the castle as possible. It also hadn’t helped the fact that I hadn’t slept the night before with my mind wandering to the thoughts of Prince Sehun and Lady Minah.

    I had not expected him, not even when he was a couple of yards behind me with the loud beating of his horse’s hooves. I stumbled over to the side of the road as he approached me too suddenly. Losing my ground as my head swirled in a dazed, I fell on the dirt road body too heavy to save. He jumps to my rescue as only he would of course in a time when I had needed help. What a funny thing now that when I begin to think of my life and how I needed rescuing he’d appear from thin air. 

“Ren. What happened to you?” He picks my head and holds it tender on top of his lap.

“Kai? Is this —a dream?” I think of the moment I had wished for someone to save me from myself, I had dreamt him somehow. Then he squeezes my body closer to him and I knew it couldn't have been a dream.

“Ren, we need to get you out of here. You look—“ And that was the last I heard. Because my eyes gave way to my tire and suddenly I had fallen into a faint or sleep or unconsciousness. I don’t remember what happened next. When I awoke in the middle of the night, I felt a torso pressed onto mine and warm breath blowing into my hair. It could be a dream I thought. Kai finding me in the middle of the dirt road and suddenly I’m laying next to an embrace I knew too well. “Kai” slips from my parched lips like a whisper but my voice had not been strong enough to wake the body holding me. I wasn’t sure it to be real but thought how safe I felt in the familiar arms. So I let sleep pull me once more and I was back to the unconsciousness.

KAI’S POV

    She was crying in her sleep. Whispering in sobs the name I didn’t want to hear. “Sehun, Please.” It broke my hear to hear these words from her especially in her delusional state. I had been here nursing her fever with all my might and still she dreams of another man. I thought about the many times she’s needed someone and I had been her only savior. The many times she had scraped her knees and I mended it for her when we were younger. To the time she had been beaten so badly for my sake and I had nursed her for days.  I've only had one job; to be there for her, protect her and keep her safe. Before I had even a thought of her, she had only been my existence. But though I realized her affections for me then, I had to stop myself all those years. Because it hadn’t been the right time. Consequences had always prevented me from pursuing what is mine. But now the time has come. Yet she's still out of reach. She was meant only for me and I had gotten too used to that idea. Now, I'm scared to lose her. Back then, I didn’t want to force her hand in what had been arranged. I didn’t want it to be her responsibilities she’d be following. I want her to want me as much as I wanted her to be mine. Not because our families had already arranged it. Not because it's our duty.

“I love you, Ren.” I whisper to her temple. I’ve always loved you. But… now I’m here. I’m ready. It's--”

    She suddenly stirs and I feel her look up to see my face but I continued to close my eyes pretending to sleep and I didn’t know why I’m hiding again. I feel her consternate, the idea of me holding her with my torso and all but she had not budged or pushed me away. She had eased in more, more tired into my arms and went back to her dreams. Too bad I had not been it’s lead.

a/n: revelation time!!! things are starting to unfold.