Once again, if you'd like some bgm.
the first one is recommended for the kaisoo parts and the
second one is recommended for the baekyeol parts. enjoy!

o1. Ice Pond - 2nd Moon
o2. Sleep Together With the Flower Tonight

“Seja, Kyunghee is here to speak with you.” Jongdae shouted into the room. Baekhyun quickly pushed Chanyeol away from him and cleared this throat. When Baekhyun changed into his dress and fixed his hair, Jongdae opened the door. Kyungsoo stepped out from behind Jongdae, who quickly turned to close the door.

“Seja, I think I drove Jongin away from our side. It was a terrible mistake, we should have consulted Jongin about the whole thing and told him the truth. He suddenly left and—oh god.” Kyungsoo’s tears were streaming down his face, shocking both Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

Baekhyun walked to Kyungsoo and wrapped his arms around the crying boy. “It’s not your fault, it was our plan together. There must be a way to explain everything to Jongin.”

Chanyeol sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you mean to tell me that Jongin went to see the Woman?”

Kyungsoo sniffled. “There is a very high chance that he might have gone to see her. If we told him everything, he would have helped us.”

Baekhyun rubbed Kyungsoo’s back. “Kyunghee, I don’t think Jongin is the type of person to be driven solely by emotions. He’ll understand why we had to do this to him once his anger dies down. It’s really not your fault, Kyunghee. You just did what we asked you to do.” he smiled, making Kyungsoo burst into tears.

“We must inform everyone at once to keep an eye on Jongin. Hopefully he’s still with us.” Chanyeol sighed and bit his thumb. “Kyunghee, go back and get some rest. We’ll try to figure out something. Jongdae, please send a guard to go with Kyunghee back to Sooyoung.” Jongdae nodded and headed out with Kyunghee following behind him.

“Chanyeol, what are you going to do?” Baekhyun asked when Kyungsoo left the room.

“We’ll just have to expose the Woman once I get into full power. Hopefully we can get them into deep trouble for treason.” Chanyeol wrapped his arms around Baekhyun. “But no matter what, I’ll keep you safe.” he nuzzled his nose into his hair.

Baekhyun sighed. “If there was any protecting going on, I should be protecting you, I was your guard, you know. Let’s go to sleep, hm?”

Chanyeol pulled Baekhyun away from him so he could be face to face with Baekhyun. “You’re my wife now, I treasure you more than anything. Didn’t you hear what I said? I love you. I want to protect you.” Baekhyun scoffed and shook his head. “Baek, do you not trust me?”

Baekhyun glanced at Chanyeol’s pout before sighing. “Fine, yeah, yeah, you’re my protector, yada yada.” he groaned. “Now let’s get some sleep before we die from fatigue.”

“You know, it’s our honeymoon night still.” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows as they both got into bed.

“Are you a hormonal teenager? Get a grip on yourself.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes and turned his back towards Chanyeol. “Don’t get weird thoughts and go to sleep.”

Baekhyun felt Chanyeol’s arms wrap around his waist. “You know I wasn’t kidding, that was a literal confession. You know, what I said before Kyunghee came into our room.” Chanyeol mumbled, his chin resting against Baekhyun’s shoulder. He felt the petite man shudder slightly. “I need a response, whatever it may be. If you say you don’t like me that way we can keep being platonic.” he rubbed Baekhyun’s tum. “Hm? Tell me.”

Chanyeol could notice how tense Baekhyun’s shoulders got. “Chanyeol, I said go to sleep.”

“I refuse to go to sleep until I get an answer.” Chanyeol huffed.

Baekhyun sighed, his back still against Chanyeol’s chest. “I like you too. A lot. I always have, but I guess it grew romantically when I got older. But this isn’t a good timing for us to—” Chanyeol turned Baekhyun around and tilted his chin up to kiss his best friend.

Baekhyun let out a soft, content sigh at the kiss but quickly pulled away from the seja. “B—But, like I said, it’s a really bad timing for us to start something romantically!”

“Baekhyun, you’re literally putting your life on stake to keep me alive, and people are out to kill me. There is no other timing but now. I want to show you how much I love you before I die.” Chanyeol intertwined his fingers with Baekhyun’s. “Plus, we’re married now, so we have to love each other.” he winked, making Baekhyun cringe.

“I just feel bad, there are so many people out there trying to keep us alive and we’re busy having a romantic, happy time.” Baekhyun fidgeted with his skirt. “And Kyunghee, poor Kyunghee.” he mumbled. Chanyeol sighed and pulled Baekhyun close.

“I could help you forget about your worries for a while.” Chanyeol puckered his lips, earning a slap on the arm. “Ow! Baekhyun!” he whined. Baekhyun was laughing at him, but it didn’t feel so bad. He loved seeing his smile.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? It’s a really bad timing to do stuff. You know.” Baekhyun ruffled Chanyeol’s hair. “Good night, Yeol.” Chanyeol grumbled a good night before watching Baekhyun’s eyes close.

&&

The Woman groaned as she paced around the front of the room. “We missed our biggest chance to kill Minji and the royal newlyweds. There is no other option for us to take. We need to expose their murders to the people so that people will get desperate for a new leader. That way, Jongin, here, will be accepted into the throne quickly. Once their leader is gone, the people will want another leader there. Jongin, I’ll make sure everything goes smoothly.” she placed her hand on Jongin’s hand.

“You know, there is another way.” Jongin furrowed his eyebrows. “But it won’t garner as much attention as the royal wedding.”

The Woman smiled widely, holding Jongin’s hand tighter as she leaned forward. Jongin could barely make out her lips from under the lace cover-up connected to her hat. “Tell me, tell us.”

Jongin cleared his throat before speaking. “Well, mama, it hasn’t rained in a while. The people have recently been worried about their crops. I think the new King will have to do a rain ceremony to ask the rain gods for some blessings.”

The Woman clapped her hands together. Jongin could see her lips tugged upward into a smile. “This, everyone, is the new King we’re going to put on the throne. Isn’t he smart? I’m so proud and relieved that Jongin will take the throne.” she slammed her hands down on the table. “Alright, I’m sure Jongin will propose the rain ceremony at the next meeting. The rest of you, keep pushing the ceremony idea, and seja will have to do it. He would do anything for his people. Just like his father.” she grimaced before continuing. “It’ll be a few weeks from now, perfect amount of time for us to get ready. We’ll kill all of them at once. Make sure Chanyeol, his wife, and Minji will be there as well. Everyone needs to participate in order to bring rain.”

Jongin smiled at the Woman and the people around him, but something inside told him what he was doing was very, very wrong. All he wanted to do was go back and tell Kyunghee that he was sorry for overreacting. The fact that she was hiding that from him wasn’t even that big of a deal, he was just so swept up by the spur of the moment. Now he had put himself in a situation where he had to kill his best friends. He just wanted to hug Kyunghee and kiss Kyunghee, he finally got her to open up and he was screwing up really bad.

&&

“Jongin, there is a visitor to speak with you.” Minseok knocked on the door, and Jongin nodded his head.

“Who is it? Is it the—” Jongin saw the familiar lace mask and the light pink dress. He gulped and tried to regain his composure. His heart was beating way too quickly for his liking. Kyunghee was here and he didn’t know what to do and what to say. “L…Let her in.” Jongin mumbled, and Minseok let Kyungsoo into the room.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat after bowing and taking a seat across from Jongin. “Jongin, I’m just here to say something. I’m sorry for keeping such a big thing from you, I just thought it was the right thing to do.” Jongin wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was okay and that he overreacted. He would never do something to harm his friends and most importantly, her.

“And that inspired me to tell you something I’ve been keeping from you for a very long time.” Jongin heard her voice shake and get softer. “That day, when my family members were murdered, I did remember you. But you did not know me then.” Jongin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Who you knew was my sister. My sister, Kyunghee, was ill with a disease that could kill her any moment. She had no motivation in life until she met you. Through you, she found hope, and she found love. But as soon as that happiness was achieved, our lives were threatened. She decided to die instead of me, so we switched clothes. Ever since then, I’ve been pretending to be Kyunghee. I’m not the girl you loved.” By this time, Kyungsoo’s cheeks had tears streaming down from them.

Jongin was so shocked that he couldn’t move, let alone speak. “But I realized why Kyunghee was so in love with you in such a short period of time. You’re so caring and loving. And then, I fell in love with you too. I wanted the best for you, I wanted to keep you safe. And most importantly, I didn’t want you to know my secret because I knew how heartbroken you would be after hearing that your lover was killed by the same woman trying to kill seja. I understand that you’re angry at me and this will probably make you angrier, but I just wanted to tell you before it was too late. I’m not the woman you loved, Jongin. You can hate me all you want, but I just want to let you know that my feelings for you weren’t fake and neither was Kyunghee’s. Forgive me for lying to you.” Kyungsoo wiped his face with his sleeves. The lace mask was now drenched with his tears, but Jongin just sat there, staring at the vulnerable man in front of him. Jongin’s expression didn’t change from when Kyungsoo first entered the room as Kyunghee. Jongin was too shocked to think. His mind was all over the place. The person he was longing for… wasn’t really her. “You… I understand if you tell me that you don’t want to see me ever again but—”

“Yes.” Jongin blurted out. It was soft, but Kyungsoo could hear the soft mumbling.

Kyungsoo felt his heart break at the response. “You don’t want to see me ever again?” Jongin didn’t reply. Kyungsoo expected this, this was the response he was waiting to hear. The first person he loved in his life, was hurt by him and never wanted to see him ever again. This was reasonable. Kyungsoo bit his lip to muffle a cry. “Oh… okay. I understand.”

Jongin couldn’t say anything to stop the boy from getting up. Jongin wanted to stop Kyungsoo from leaving but his mouth wouldn’t open. And even if they did, he didn’t know what to say. “Thanks for listening to me, Jongin. Thank you for letting me experience the greatest love of my life, even if it wasn’t for me. I’ll never forget that.” Kyungsoo bowed his head slightly before walking out of the room. Jongin could hear his sniffles even after he was long gone. It was then he got up and ran out of his room.

“Sir, where are you going?” Minseok shouted, but Jongin didn’t care. He needed to see Kyungsoo. He needed to reassure him. Sure, he’s going to need time to get over the man, and he’s a bit upset that he didn’t know Kyungsoo was Kyunghee, but he understood why he had to keep that a secret. Jongin forgot to wear shoes when he ran out, and his socks were getting dirty as he searched the streets for Kyungsoo. He wanted to tell him that he was stupid for getting angry at him back at the festival, and that he was stupid for teaming up with the Woman to kill Chanyeol. A friend and family member he probably loved more than his own parents. “Sir! Sir. It’s dangerous to walk around blindly like this.” Minseok ran after Jongin.

Kyungsoo was trudging back to the Choigak. He had to make sure not to let him be seen by Jongin ever again. It was going to be difficult, but he lived most of his life without him, so it was going to be okay. It was definitely possible. The tears rolling down his cheeks would not listen to him and kept rolling off his cheeks. He didn’t want to cry in front of Jongin, but when he saw Jongin’s cold expression, he knew it was all over. Jongin would and could never forgive him.

“Kyunghee!” a voice shouted, making Kyungsoo turn around. But no one was there. Kyungsoo sighed and opened the door to the Choigak before hiding himself in his room. He did what he could do best. He took out his gayageum and plucked the strings the way he was taught when he had no hope in his life. He was alone now. Jongin was gone.

Jongin watched Kyungsoo walk back into the Choigak. He had the courage to shout his name but he found himself hiding when he turned around. He was a coward. He had just lost his lover. It was true that he only chased after Kyungsoo because he thought he was Kyunghee, but he had fallen in love with Kyungsoo, nevertheless.

Minseok finally caught up to Jongin. “Sir, wear you shoe—Sir, are you alright?” Jongin quickly wiped his tears.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go back home.” Jongin whispered before heading back to his home. When he got home, all he did was sit there and stare blankly at the wall. Minseok was concerned for the boy, but assumed that he was going to stop. But he didn’t. He didn’t sleep, eat, or even go to the bathroom. Jongin was silent. Minseok knocked on the door.

“Sir, it has been two days since you haven’t eaten. You need to come out and do something, your meeting time scheduled is arriving very soon. Sir, do you want me to bring Kyunghee? Is this the problem? What happened?” Minseok asked, clenching his fist. He hated seeing Jongin so sad, and if Kyunghee was the reason, he was ready to yell at that girl to fix what she had done.

“It’s not her, Minseok. I just need some time to myself. I need to think.” Jongin said, rubbing his eyes with his palms. “I should get dressed, shouldn’t I?” Jongin stared at the dirty socks from when Kyungsoo came. “Minseok, ask my father if we could meet somewhere other than the Choigak.” He brushed dust off his outfit before undressing himself. Minseok nodded and ran out to send the message.

&&

After the wedding ceremony, the royal couple was busy. Chanyeol had to ensure the protection of everyone in the palace and outside the palace. Baekhyun tried to think of a plan with Jongdae when Chanyeol was busy, but when he wasn’t, they would plan together. When they weren’t thinking so hard, they walked around in their gardens together. Chanyeol would grab Baekhyun’s hand without asking, and Baekhyun would shoot him a glare and mouth ‘stop’.

“What if I don’t want to stop, huh?” Chanyeol pouted, making the servants behind them smile. Chanyeol tugged on Baekhyun’s hand and pulled him close. He wrapped his arms from behind him, still having one hand intertwined with his. The servants turned around to give them personal space.

“Don’t make me elbow you in the stomach, Park Chanyeol.” Baekhyun said between gritted teeth. The palace was filled with the news that the new royal couple was happy and very much in love with each other. Princess Yura had to visit them personally to ask if they tried to create a child together. Baekhyun blushed and blubbered, while Chanyeol sighed.

“Baekhee won’t let me touch her like that, I haven’t been even allowed a simple kiss, noona!” Chanyeol pouted his usual royal-pain-in-the--pout. “Tell Baekhee she isn’t allowed to do that! No one can go against the King’s wishes!”

Princess Yura raised her eyebrows. “I mean, I kinda agree with Baekhee, you’re a bit gross.” Baekhyun laughed and hid his mouth behind his sleeve. Chanyeol stared at Baekhyun laughing and found himself smiling as well. Princess Yura rolled her eyes. “It was a mistake on my part to visit you two lovebirds, you guys are making me feel lonely. I’m leaving now, but expect another flower sleep scheduled for you two.”

Baekhyun almost choked on his spit. “Flower sleep?”

(a/n: Flower sleep is what you call the honeymoon night, when you try to make babies you know, the good stuff)

Chanyeol guffawed and hugged Baekhyun tightly to his chest. “You’re so cute when you’re shocked.” There was a bonk on Chanyeol’s head. “Ow, I love it when you get violent. Ow, I love it when you elbow my stomach. Ow, I love it when you—” Baekhyun smacked his hand over Chanyeol’s mouth.

“Chanyeol, do you ever listen to me? I said nothing romantic for—”

Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun onto his back, hovering over him. “And you know I never listen to you, so, I’m not really sure what you were expecting.”

“I can’t believe you, we’re about to get killed, Joseon is about to go into the wrong hands and you’re trying to seduce me?” Baekhyun huffed.

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows. “Just to make this clear, I’ve already seduced you. I didn’t have to do much, but we’re in love, honey.” Baekhyun blushed and told Chanyeol to shut up with his teeth clenched. “But you’re so cute when you’re shy.”

Jongdae cleared his throat to the door. “Mama, it is time for your daily council meeting.”

“I’ll be right out.” Chanyeol said before stealing a kiss from Baekhyun’s cheek. “I’ll be here in time for your flower sleep, be prepared.” He winked, making Baekhyun throw a pillow at the King. He was so used to calling him seja, and now he was so grown up.

Chanyeol sat down at his throne and looked through the scrolls. He was almost finished when Jaejoong cleared his throat. “Mama, I have something to say.”

“What is it, Kim?”

“It hasn’t rained for a long time, about two months or so, and the people are thirsty. We went out to the town the other day and they were complaining and drinking out of dirty wells, mama. I think we should hold a rain ceremony for the rain gods to open up the heavens for the rain.” Jaejoong said, and the room echoed with mamas of approval.

Chanyeol nodded. “Seems not too difficult, make sure the ceremony is prepared and organized and I’ll participate. If that is all, You all are dismissed.” Jaejoong grinned at the approval and nodded to his fellow men.

Chanyeol smiled and made his way towards his room. When he opened his room, he wasn’t expecting Baekhyun to be waiting for him only dressed in lace. “Don’t ask, and you’re sleeping on the floor.”

Jongdae winked before the closing the door. “Enjoy your flower sleep, mama.”

---
I didn't realize how big of a hole I dug for myself when I made Jongin angry for something so stupid--
but I tried to make something out of it, which is why it took so long to update : (
sorry guys, i had writer's block bc i made jongin stupid af.
OH. AND I HIT 100+ SUBSCRIBERS ON THIS FIC, I'M SO THANKFUL FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU.
thanks for enjoying such a badly organized fic, i hope you won't get sick of it by the time i'm done.
i'm also thankful for all the lovely comments, i get really encouraged from them.
oh, and i hope you enjoyed the bgm recommendations, they really get me emotional when i write (esp the sad parts)
i'm contemplating on both a happy ending and a sad ending, so i hope you guys will like whichever one i end up choosing...
ANYWAY, IF YOU GOT THIS FAR, PLEASE HELP ME. leave in the comments below (after your comment) and x or an o.
i'm not going to tell you what it is but yeah, you guys are voting for something that'll be in the story. thank you guys so sososo much!