One candle lit the entire room, the atmosphere was eerie as The Woman spoke, her voice ordering her people as if she had them in a trance. “I know the odds are no in our favor but we still have a chance. The Shim daughter is not yet the next wife. With the power of Daebi-mama, the daughter of the Hwang family will become the queen. We’ll just have to get rid of Baekhee.”

                A man sitting near The Woman cleared his throat before he spoke. “A few of us are planning an attack after the marriage. There is too much security for the ceremony for Baekhee, but it is not for the Shim daughter. That’s when we attack the next candidate.”

                The Woman nodded, her veil swaying in the wind slightly. “This is a generation for us, let us not be discouraged. We’ll get seja off the throne in no time.”

&&

                “Baekhee!” Chanyeol’s voice was ringing in Baekhee’s ears by the time they were finished picking out the garments for the wedding. If it weren’t for the amount of servants staring down at them and the occasional Yura visiting, Baekhyun would have destroyed Chanyeol’s foot.

                “This better be good, because I think my ears are going deaf from you.” Baekhyun said, itching his ear with his pinky when they were alone in the garden.

                Chanyeol grinned down at his wife-to-be. “Minji is going to be my second wife! Although, Jongdae thinks we should wait until after everything is settled with our marriage.” He grabbed Baekhyun’s hand, pulling him through the garden.

                Chanyeol stared at Baekhyun smiling at the flowers. He thought Baekhyun’s hanbok matched the colors of the flowers very well, and Baekhyun was just as pretty as—“Ah, I haven’t seen Seulgi in a while. Chanyeol, could I visit Seulgi?” He looked up at Chanyeol, who was flushed at the thought of Baekhyun being covered in flowers. Only flowers. “Chanyeol, were you listening to me?”

                “Hm? Yeah, sure. Uhm. Yes. Take Sehun with you, I’ll be in my room with Jongdae. We have a long week planned ahead of us.” Chanyeol parted with Baekhyun after making Sehun tag along with her to the Daebi section of the palace.

                Baekhyun stopped one of the girls working on the laundry, and cleared his throat. “Have you guys seen Seulgi anywhere? She used to work in here actually, the laundry department and I can’t seem to find her anywhere.” The servant seemed shocked when she realized she was talking to the future Queen of Joseon.

                “Well—” the servant started, only to be interrupted by another girl behind her. She wiped her hand on her apron and bit her lip.

                “Seulgi hasn’t been around here in a while. I heard that she got moved to a different department, but we haven’t seen her in the Palace.” Another girl piped up in the back. “Some people say that she leaked information about the Daebi, so she’s being confined in one of the jails.”

                Baekhyun frowned. “Really? In one of the jails?”

                Sehun looked at Baekhyun and shook his head. “Baekhee-mama, it’s too much to go down and find her yourself. You should ask—”

                “Sehun, we’re going to the jail cells. Thank you girls.” Baekhyun properly thanked the girls before heading to the cells hurriedly. “She might be ill, she might even be dead by now—all because of me.”

                Sehun furrowed his eyebrows but followed Baekhyun to the cells. Sehun held out his hand. “Mama, hold my hand, it’s dangerous here.” Baekhyun scanned the cells for Seulgi, but it was hard to see. Sehun grabbed his hand and pulled her along. “The girls are put in a separate section, especially the ones that were royal servants. If the servant you’re looking for betrayed Daebi-mama, she’s probably in a different cellar of her own for torture.” Sehun nodded. Baekhyun felt his eyes water and held onto Sehun’s hand tightly.

                “W—What if she’s dead? What if we can’t find her ever again?” Baekhyun bit his lip, squeezing onto Sehun’s hand. Sehun cleared his throat and tried to look away.

                “Mama, I have a plan. Let’s try going to the unused book room. I heard the girls talking about it when you were busy running to the jails. Baekhee-mama, it’s not your fault.” Sehun leaned down and handed Baekhyun a handkerchief. “But we must be very quiet. Even your sniffles, mama.” Sehun gave him a reassuring smile before leading her to the said room.

                When they arrived at the book room, they found a lock on the outside of the doors. “You were right, she probably is in here.” Baekhyun breathed, almost falling to the ground—if it wasn’t for Sehun holding him up.

                Sehun took his sword and its case and tried to break the lock off the door handles. “You know, it’s probably easier to break the door down.” Sehun blinked, then kicked the door down with ease.

                It was horrifying, Seulgi was tied up and gagged. Her lips were dry and her breathing was barely audible. “Seulgi!” Baekhyun shouted before running towards her. She was abused, her legs were bruised and her face was almost unrecognizable. “Seulgi, oh, Seulgi. Please, Sehun, please take her back to my room and call the doctor.” He shouted, his voice cracking. Sehun untied the girl and picked her up.

                “Mama, are you sure you don’t need help?”

                “Sehun, please hurry. I’ll be right behind you.” He gave him a firm nod, then watched Sehun run with Seulgi in his arms. Baekhyun sighed. This was all his fault, he should have asked Chanyeol to look after Seulgi. She was the easiest way to get information from the Daebi…

                “Baekhee! Baekhee!” Jongin waved his arm at Baekhyun, who was trudging his way back from the book room. “Baek—” He watched Baekhyun fall to the ground and ran towards him. “Baekhee! Can you hear me? Baekhee!”

                Baekhyun opened his eyes to find himself back in his room. He quickly got up and looked around. “Jongin? What are you doing here?” he asked, clutching his head in pain. Jongin sighed.

                “Chanyeol is coming soon, he had to finish some business before he could come. Baekhyun, are you okay? Have you been stressing yourself out? The doctor said it wasn’t anything severe but… I’m worried about you.” Jongin said.

                “I’m fine.” Baekhyun winced at the pain. “Why did you tell Chanyeol? He’s busy, you shouldn’t have—”

                Chanyeol burst in through the doors and hugged Baekhyun tightly. “What the hell, Baek, are you okay?” he shouted, hugging Baekhyun’s head against his chest.

                “Seja-mama, you’re a bit loud.” Baekhyun chuckled softly, patting Chanyeol’s back. “I’m fine.”

                “I told Sehun to do his job protecting you and this is what happened? I’m going to teach Sehun—” Chanyeol tried to stand up, but Baekhyun tugged him back down.

                “Sehun did what I told him to do, I said I was fine but I guess I wasn’t. I need to see Sehun right away. That, and please get Jongdae. We need to talk, privately.” Baekhyun whispered, his hands still shaking. Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun’s hands tightly.

                “Jongin, thank god you found her first. Thank you.” Chanyeol thanked Jongin, who continued staring at Baekhyun in concern. “Someone, get the guard and Jongdae.”

                When the doors closed, Chanyeol turned back to Baekhyun. “What happened?”

&&

                Kyungsoo looked out the window of his practice room, his gayageum on his lap. “Kyunghee, the dinner’s ready.” Sulli knocked on the door before placing the tray of food on Kyungsoo’s small table. “What’s so fascinating out there?” she asked, peeking out at the direction of Kyungsoo’s stare.

                “Oh, oh. It’s nothing, I was just daydreaming. Thank you, Sulli.” Kyungsoo smiled at the girl before turning back to the window.

                “I know, I know!” Sulli grinned. “Unnie misses Jongin-oppa! He hasn’t been here in a while, hasn’t he?” she sat beside Kyungsoo. “He must really be busy!”

                Kyungsoo made a face. “Sulli, the day I like Kim-ssi is the day I die. I will never like him. Nor do I like him now.” He nodded firmly. “Now if you could leave, I’d like to practice in peace.”

                Sulli rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, you practice for your Palace performance.”

                Kyungsoo sighed before plucking the strings on his instrument. The wedding day would be the only time he could really get into the palace and get a look at everyone’s face. Maybe he could recognize one of them. At least one of them. Why was it that every time he was trying to think of a plan to find the culprit of his family’s death, that stupid playboy’s face kept popping up? You need to practice more, Kyungsoo. He thought to himself as he quickly plucked the notes.

                “Beautiful as ever, Kyunghee.” A familiar voice shouted from below his room.

                Kyungsoo placed his instrument down before leaning down his balcony. “Jongin-ssi, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to be busy. You don’t have time for a gisaeng like me.” He tried to bite back a smile that was threatening to show up on his face.

                “I’m actually here for business reasons, Kyunghee. I didn’t come to see you, but it sure is great seeing you again. I missed you.” Jongin said, making Kyungsoo blush. “Would you hide me in your room? I don’t want to go to that stupid meeting.”

                Kyungsoo sighed and chuckled. “You must stick to your promises, sir. Go.”

                Jongin rolled his eyes. “Come on, you need someone to eat dinner with. I’ll be your mate.” He smiled and disappeared under the balcony. Kyungsoo blinked and looked around for the noble only to hear a knock at his door.

                “You can’t be in here, Jongin-ssi.” Kyungsoo said, but walked over to open the door.

                “I’ll help you practice. You can practice and I’ll feed you. How does that sound? I’ll only be here for a little while, I’ll go back to the meeting like you told me to.” Jongin tilted his head, asking for Kyungsoo’s approval.

                Kyungsoo nodded unconsciously and sat down with his instrument on his lap. He started plucking the strings, his fingers vibrating at the touches. Jongin took a spoonful of Kyungsoo’s food and pressed it to his mouth. “Say ah, I’m feeding you today. Be grateful, this opportunity doesn’t come often!” he smiled warmly, making Kyungsoo—once again, against his will—open his mouth. “Good girl.”

                Wait, since when did Jongin have this much power over him? Kyungsoo tried to glare at him and tell him to bug off when his eyes met Jongin’s loving ones. Jongin quickly cleared his throat and averted his gaze, but it was enough to get Kyungsoo’s cheeks to turn pink.

                “I—I should get going.” Jongin stood up, making Kyungsoo stand.

                “Y—Yeah.” Kyungsoo smiled at the boy, who froze at his smile. “Is something wrong?”

                “Nothing, you’re just really beautiful.” Jongin blushed, and quickly ran out the door.

&&

                “If seja is killed off, then who is next in line?” a quiet voice asked, the Woman, who was busy hearing information from a guard.

                “Our next in line is coming right now, all stand for Jongin.” The Woman’s eerie smile could be felt even from under all the veil and coverage.

                “Hello.” The boy came into the room, the guards sliding the doors shut. “Nice to meet you all, I’m Jaejoong’s oldest son, Jongin.”

--

okay this is such a short update after a long hiatus : " (((
i had writer's block for a while and everything i wrote was poo, so it took me a while to update, i'm sorry!
thanks for the comments and the new subscribers and hang with me, this is going to be an adventure.
jongin and kyungsoo are going to be lowkey star-crossed lovers oops
and seulgi finally appeared after being gone for so long
i didn't really revise this after i wrote it so it might be poo along with my other drafts but it's better than the ones before so--
thanks for reading and i love you guys! xoxoxoxo