“Honestly, if we prolong the ceremony any longer, it will be a waste of time. Chanyeol is going to begin the ceremony with a prayer. No one is to keep their eyes open during the prayer to the rain gods, so that’s when you guys begin to aim.” The Woman pointed to an area on the map. “This is where they’ll be. Hopefully this won’t be too difficult of a target for you guys.” She tilted her chin up, her hat tilting with the black lace slightly to help her see her group of archers.

Jaejoong shuffled into the room and gave the Woman a nod. “Oh, and someone should look after Jongin in case he does something reckless. I know he’s mature enough to not let his emotions motivate his actions, but he’s not ready to see his best friend and cousin die in front of him because of him.” The Woman dismissed the group of men and closed the door. She took off her hat and placed it on the table.

“Mother.” Jaejoong started, only to be shushed by the Woman. “Mama. No one is here, can’t we finally be comfortable in the same room?”

The Woman placed her hand on her son’s cheek. “Do you think I’ve held the position of the Queen for this long to risk it? Jaejoong, I told you, I’m doing this to make up for the sin I committed against you. Poor child, you just came to us at the wrong time. And they say only good things come from true love. I should have never left you all by yourself.” Her eyes fell to the ground. “You must’ve been so lonely without your mother.”

“W—Why are you doing this? Mother, I told you it’s fine, I understand. You still came to uncle’s house to visit me. That’s why it was so easy for me to adjust into calling you mother after I found out the truth.” Jaejoong hugged his mother tightly. “Don’t talk like this, don’t talk like this is the end.”

The Queen grabbed Jaejoong’s hands. “If the archers that I hired are not as good as they are supposed to be, and if the arrows of treason come flying to me, let me take the blame. This was entirely my idea. I wanted to support my real son by putting my grandchild into the throne. Please, don't do anything stupid.”

“Mother, stop—”

“This is an order, Jaejoong. No matter what, you weren’t a part of this.” The Woman pushed her son out of her arms harshly and placed her hat back on her head. “Make sure you burn everything before you come to the rain ceremony, Noble Kim.” She said coldly before heading out of the room.

&&

“Mama, it’s time to go.” Sunyoung called from behind the door. Baekhyun quickly wiped his tears with his handkerchief before opening the door. “Mama, were you—”

Baekhyun quickly shook his head. “No. Let’s get going, Sunyoung-ah.” Baekhyun’s group of servants walked in silence to the front yard of the palace, and stopped when Baekhyun stopped. “I need to see Seulgi. Do you think I have a second before the ceremony begins?”

Sunyoung smiled at her apologetically and shook her head. “Mama, you’ll be fine. Your husband is waiting for you. The rain ceremony can’t start if you’re not there.”

“Maybe I don’t want it to begin.” Baekhyun said quietly, fiddling with his hands.

“Mama, you must be there to support King Chanyeol. It is your responsibility to stay courageous when the rest of us are not.” Sunyoung held Baekhyun’s hand gently. “Let’s go.”

Baekhyun nodded reluctantly and followed Sunyoung to the front yard. He scrunched up his eyebrows slightly when he saw something move. “Sunyoung-ah, wait here. I’ll be back in a second.” Baekhyun walked towards the gate of his part of the palace and gasped.

&&

Sunyoung escorted Baekhyun to her place of the ceremony, which was a few feet away from Chanyeol. Baekhyun’s eyes met Chanyeol’s, and they exchanged smiles to each other before everyone was situated.

“The ceremony will begin with the King’s Prayer.” Jaejoong shouted, before the sound of the drums.

&&

Kyungsoo really wished he wasn’t pretending to be his sister right now, because dresses were really annoying to have on when you were trying to jump over a wall. “Need help?” a voice came from behind him, stopping him in his tracks. “I’m Minseok, Jongin’s bodyguard. And friend. I’m sure you’ve seen me before.”

“Ah, yes. Hi, I remember you.” Kyungsoo quickly patted down his dress and made sure his lace mask was on correctly. “What are you doing here? If you’re with Jongin, aren’t you supposed to be in there?”

Minseok sighed. “Jongin prevented me from coming here today. I think I’m here for the same reason you are.”

With Minseok’s help, the two got over the palace fence. “Okay, last time I came here you took a turn—” Kyungsoo stopped when he heard familiar voices.

“All the archers ready? Be absolutely silent once you’re up there.” Kyungsoo recognized Sehun’s voice among the group of men he was speaking to, who was climbing up on the roof of the palace houses. Kyungsoo sighed in relief before stepping out to ask where Jongin was.

“Sehun, what are you do—” Kyungsoo was interrupted by a sword at his throat. Minseok stayed behind the corner when he heard Kyungsoo’s voice shake. “S—Sehun?”

Sehun scratched his neck as he kept his sword on Kyungsoo’s throat. “Is my voice really that easy to identify? I should really stop talking. It must be the lisp, huh?” he raised a brow at Kyungsoo. “What are you doing here, Kyunghee, I thought your business was finished after you broke up with Jongin, your prince charming.”

“I think I asked you what you were doing first.” Kyungsoo said, distracting Sehun away from Minseok, who was silently tiptoeing out of the corner.

“Can’t you see, I’m gathering archers for today’s ceremony.” Sehun smiled. “I can’t believe the King trusted me to choose his guards. As soon as he begins his prayers, all his guards, including me, are going to turn on him. I would kill him myself but I have to keep my façade.” Sehun looked at Kyungsoo, who was trembling. “Don’t be scared, you’re not the one we’re going to kill. Well, you weren’t, until today.” Sehun lifted his sword and Kyungsoo covered his head until Minseok stabbed Sehun’s right leg with his sword. “What?” He screeched as he grabbed his bleeding leg.

“I…I didn’t want to kill him but this will prevent him from moving around. Let’s go tell the King about this—” Minseok grabbed Kyungsoo’s hand to run but their hopes were crushed when they heard the two drum sounds coming from inside the Palace.

“They’ve already started.” Kyungsoo said, looking at Minseok. “But there’s still time, and we have ways to stall. Minseok, wear Sehun’s clothes and pretend to be an archer. You’re going to tell them the plan is foiled and they have to hide because they were caught. I’ll go to the Queen and tell her what’s happening, along with the eunuch.” Kyungsoo took the sword from Sehun, who fainted from the pain in his legs. “I’ll need this. Good luck, Minseok.”

Minseok stared at Kyungsoo in awe. “I… Okay, I’ll do that. Good luck to you too.”

Kyungsoo nodded to Minseok before running into the Palace. He never really exercised, but he began to think that maybe he should start, because after a few minutes, his head was getting really dizzy. He reached Baekhyun’s gate and stopped to catch his breath. He peeked behind the gate to find Baekhyun on his way to the ceremony. He waved his arm around to catch Baekhyun’s attention.

Fortunately, Baekhyun noticed him. “What’s the matter, Kyunghee? You’re pale!” he gasped and held Kyungsoo’s hand.

“S…Sehun was part of them. He practically decorated the whole palace with archers, ready to kill the King.” Kyungsoo said in between breaths.

“And he chose the guards for today’s ceremony—Oh Chanyeol.” Baekhyun bit his lip to hold back the tears.

Kyungsoo gripped Baekhyun’s hand tightly. “I have someone trying to get rid of the archers, who was supposed to shoot the King with arrows during his prayer. The guards that are surrounding the King will only turn on him with their swords if the archers fail. Maybe we can—”

“Chanyeol is already down at the ceremony, it would be suspicious if we made him change his clothes. There’s no time for you to gather a group of guards yourself… We’ll just have to be his guards.” Baekhyun sighed.

“Excuse me, mama?”

“I can take a sword for Chanyeol. I could die for him any day, that’s what I was born to do. I’ll get my people gathered to fight if anything happens. It’s risky and we might all die, but there’s no point if we let Chanyeol die like this.” Baekhyun smiled at Kyungsoo. “Thank you for coming here and telling me. You should go before you get hurt.”

“Mama—” Before Kyungsoo could say anything more, Baekhyun hurried back to Sunyoung and her people.

&&

Jongin came out of the front yard of the palace for some fresh air. He didn’t want to be a part of this, but he had come so far into helping his father that he didn’t have a choice anymore. But most importantly, he missed Kyungsoo. He looked up and found Kyungsoo running past him. “I must be seeing visions now, huh?” he said to himself and walked around the corner and found Minseok wearing Sehun’s clothes. “Hyung, what are you doing?”

Minseok looked up at Jongin and blinked. “Nothing. Go back, pretend you didn’t see this. This is for your own good.” He tied the bandana over his mouth and climbed up on the roof. Jongin watched Minseok maneuver his way to the other group of archers strategically placed on the roof far away from the scene. He looked down at Sehun and bent down to get a closer look.

“Where are Chanyeol’s new guards?” Jongin grabbed Sehun’s chin and forced him to look at him. “Tell me or I’ll kill you right here.” Jongin patted the sword case under his robes.

This was the chance for Jongin to redeem himself, for Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun. He got up and ran as fast as his legs could take them. Unfortunately, Jongin had proposed a fool-proof plan for the assassination (goddammit, Kim Jongin, you're way too clever), but then again, it was him who created the plan. He could find a way to change the outcome of the plan.

“Noble Kim—” Jongin punched the guard and knocked him out. He dressed in the guard’s clothes and quickly followed the other group of guards into the ceremony behind Chanyeol.

&&

The drum sounds echoed the front yard, and Chanyeol walked up to the huge metal cup in front of him. He closed his fist and mumbled prayers under his breath; he prayed that Baekhyun would be protected, if all else failed. Chanyeol cleared his throat and looked in the group of nobles to find Jongin, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Mama, the prayer.” Jaejoong shouted, kneeled in front of the group of nobles in red robes.

Chanyeol nodded and lifted his hands. He could feel his heart pound, but he had to get over this. After this ceremony, he would be able to protect Joseon, and most importantly, his Baekhyun. “The poor citizens are thirsty—”

An arrow flew right past Chanyeol’s pinky, causing it to bleed. He opened his eyes and watched his guards surround him. “Catch the archer!” The nobles shouted. The palace fell into chaos and Chanyeol watched the archer run and hop off the roof expertly.

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun’s voice rang in his ears when one of the guards took his sword out.

Once the one sword was taken out, all the guards that surrounded Chanyeol took out their swords, but all the swords pointed to the young King. “Wh—What?” Chanyeol blinked in surprise and looked behind to see Baekhyun’s terrified expression.

Sunyoung gave Baekhyun a nod and handed him a sword hidden under her dress. Baekhyun ran towards the guards with the sword in his hand when a guard stabbed another guard standing next to him. Baekhyun paused in shock, and suddenly the guards were fighting each other. “What the hell?”

Baekhyun tossed a sword case at Chanyeol, who quickly got the sword out to fight the mysterious guard. Soon, there were only two guards left against Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and the mysterious guard. “Who ordered you to do this?” Chanyeol asked, putting his sward closer to the guard’s neck. “This is the king’s orders. Speak.”

“The dae—” the guard opened his mouth, but he was silenced forever by an arrow shot from the ground level by Jaejoong. As soon as the attention moved to Jaejoong, the last guard lifted his sword to stab Chanyeol. Kyungsoo, who was watching from afar, shouted, but it was as if everything was silenced.

Both the guard and Jongin fell onto the ground, his bandana on the ground and a sword stuck in his stomach. “Jongin-ah!” Baekhyun screamed and kneeled on the ground. The guard also had a sword stuck in him, but Chanyeol made sure he was completely dead by slicing his throat. The trio were surrounded by Baekhyun’s servants and Chanyeol’s servants.

“Excuse me! Excuse me, please!” a small, shaky voice came from behind the servants.

Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun’s shoulders and hoisted him up. “Shh, it’s going to be okay.” He hugged Baekhyun tightly as the royal doctor and Kyungsoo made their way inside the circle.

“Jongin.” Kyungsoo’s hands were shaking so hard that he couldn’t hold Jongin’s hand properly.

Jongin coughed up a little bit of blood, making Baekhyun grieve even louder. “I… I love you. I didn’t get to tell you this when you came to visit me and tell me the truth…” he coughed as he spoke. Kyungsoo placed Jongin’s head on his lap as the doctor stopped the bleeding in his stomach after dislodging the sword. “I love you, just as you are.” As if on cue, the clouds rolled in and it started raining.

Kyungsoo placed his lips on Jongin’s forehead. “Don’t speak, it’s hurting you.” He sobbed with his forehead against his lover’s. The doctor and his nurses quickly bandaged Jongin’s torso. “Is he going to be okay?”

“I stopped the bleeding for now. The wound wasn’t as deep as I expected it to be. We just have to pray to the gods for him to recover now. When we take him to his room, I can further treat his wound with medicine.” The doctor sighed.

Chanyeol ran his hand down Baekhyun’s back. “You can take Jongin to my room.” He said, then looked at Kyungsoo. The doctor made a signal so the servants could come and carry Jongin to Chanyeol’s room. “Noble Kim Jaejoong is now arrested for treason.” His voice boomed in the front yard. The last thing Chanyeol saw before he took Baekhyun back into the palace was the members of the royal police tie Jaejoong’s hands and Minseok bringing Sehun in with already tied hands.

--

this took me a good 24 hours to write because i couldn't figure out a way to write this the way i imagined in my head : //
it didn't turn out as well as i wanted to, but i hope you guys at least got the gist of it!
and yup! this was the x outcome, i think you guys voted for x more than o so-
x was jongin getting hurt and o was kyungsoo getting hurt so none of those were really happy endings, sorry : " (
and yes, i think the next chapter is going to be the last chapter.
thank you for reading as always, and comment down below, i don't bite!