Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jisung had been born with magic. He didn’t come to his power through years of studying, or through a pact with a magical being. He just was magic.

His mother had noticed when he was just an infant, when the blanket moved seemingly on its own to cover him on a winter night before she even knew he was cold.
He’d been moving things with his mind before he’d even develop the motor skills to grab them with his hands. It came natural to him, which is why when his mother first explained to him that he could never show his magic to anyone confused him. When he got older he understood that not everyone marveled at the little wonders he conjured up like his mother did. A woman from their village, living only a few houses away from him and his mother, was arrested one day by armored soldiers. She screamed and struggled against her binds, an iron pot flew towards a soldier’s head but was deflected by him raising his shield.

“Stop struggling, witch!” Another soldier yelled, putting cloth over her eyes and into her mouth to keep her from using any more magic.

“Mom? Where are they taking her?” Jisung whispered.

His mother pulled him into a hug and turned his head away from the scene.
“They are taking her to the capital where she will stand trial for witchcraft.” She explained to him.

“But why?” He asked.

“The king has outlawed magic. That’s why nobody can know about you, my love.” She said, kissing the crown of his head.

“Why doesn’t he like magic?” He continued his questions in his childish innocence.

“Because he is scared. He thinks magic is a devilish, evil craft, but magic is neither good nor bad. It can accomplish wonderful things but it can also cause great harm.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I know, my love. But the world is not ready for you, that’s why you must hide your powers. Do you understand? I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

Jisung nodded. He was still a kid, but he understood how serious his mother was about this. He also didn’t want to lose her, so he did as he asked.
He couldn’t keep his magic completely under control. Sometimes it just burst out of him when he experienced strong emotions, still most weird happenings could luckily be blamed on coincidence and accidents. None of the neighbors ever suspected Jisung to be the cause of the strange occurrences. After all, they had known him since the day he was born, and the sweet child certainly didn’t seem like someone selling his soul to the devil.
As Jisung grew, his magic did too.

Finally, when he turned 18 and some sort of magical mishap happened on a daily basis, his mother realized that they were in over their heads.

“Jisung, my love, it’s time…” She said only a few days after his birthday.

“I know, I know, I’m late.” He promised to deliver some of his mother’s homemade herbal remedies to her customers today but he’d unfortunately overslept.

“I’m not talking about the deliveries, dear.” His mother said, grabbing his arm before he could leave.
“Your magic is growing everyday and I am simply not able to teach you control. I have this friend who knows more about magic than I do. He learned the craft from… from your father.”

Jisung’s father was usually a topic they didn’t talk about. He had left his mother before Jisung had even been born. Jisung had asked his mother about him when he was a small child but he quickly learned that it was futile. All she’d ever said was “He had to leave for our sake.” with a sad look in her eyes. He had learned not to ask about him but as he got older he put together that he inherited his magic from his father and magic had been the reason he couldn’t stay with them.
So that is how he ended up multiple days of travel away from his home, the place he’d grown up in and had never left before, to travel to the bustling capital of the land where he would apparently study magic right under the king’s nose. What could go wrong?

Jisung had never seen that many people before, even his village’s harvest festival didn’t draw these many visitors. The crowds made him a bit uneasy, he just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible as he followed his mother’s instructions and entered the upper city where he found the house belonging to the man he was looking for. Here, less people were walking the streets and Jisung got a moment to breathe before looking at the door.
He knocked hesitantly and waited for a little bit but no one answered.

He tried it again but still nobody opened the door.
Unsure about what to do next he pushed against the door, which slowly opened for him. He looked around if anyone would stop him but when nobody paid any attention to him he just stepped inside.
The house was well-maintained from the outside, right outside of the palace walls, clearly belonging to someone with money. The inside however was a mess. The signs of wealth were still there, expensive wooden flooring, covered in carpets could be found under the piles of books and clothes littering the floor.

“Hello?” Jisung called out when he heard a horrible sound from a room to his side. It sounded like a mixture of a wolf’s growl and a boar’s grunt. He could feel his heart beat so quickly that almost jumped out of his chest. He couldn’t imagine what kind of monster could produce a sound like that. His mother had told him that this friend of hers had practiced magic once, what if it was some horrible magical creature like a dragon or… well Jisung didn’t actually know many magical creatures.

His hand reached out to carefully open the door and peak inside of the room. Somehow, the room was even messier than the narrow hallway. He didn’t even know what the floor looked like under the books, maps and scrolls. The sound, now louder, made him flinch. Finally, he could locate the source. There was a big desk, also covered in things. A man was sitting at the desk, resting his upper body on it as he snored peacefully. If one could call the sounds he made peaceful.

Jisung slowly approached the sleeping figure.
“Excuse me? Hello?”
The man didn’t react. If he could sleep through his own horrible sounds, it was no wonder he didn’t wake up from Jisung’s calls.
Jisung made his way through the messy room, hoping he didn’t break anything he couldn’t help but step on, until he stood next to the man.
He was older than Jisung, but by no means old, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. He had dark, slightly curly hair and a strong jaw. Dark circles under his eyes betrayed why he was sleeping in the middle of the day.

Jisung reached out and poked his arm carefully.
“Hello?”

The man startled awake, immediately grabbing Jisung’s arm. Just a moment later Jisung was tripped up and thrown to the ground. He used his magic without even thinking. His eyes flashed golden as a pillow that was just lying in another messy corner of the room flew under him and cushioned his fall.

“Who are you, mage? What do you want?” The man growled, twisting Jisung’s arm painfully behind his back.
Jisung worried that he had stumbled into the wrong house after all, exposed his magic to some random guy, and now he was going to be arrested and executed.

“I-I’m looking for someone named Chan. My mother sent me here. I’m Jisung.” He stuttered.

“Jisung? Eunji’s son?” The man asked.

“Yes! Please, I don’t mean to cause trouble.” Jisung pleaded.

The pressure on his arm disappeared as the man held out his hand to pull him up again.

“God, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you until Sunday. I’m Chan.” The man introduced himself.

“It… it is Sunday…” Jisung said, hesitantly taking his hand. Chan pulled him up with ease.

“It is? How time flies… Are you okay?” He asked. Jisung couldn’t blame him, he seemed so tired, no wonder he’d mixed up some days.

“I think you almost broke my arm…”

“To be fair, you did break into my house and surprised me. Now, do you want to tell me how you did that? Which spell did you use?” His tone was serious, a reminder that Jisung’s use of magic was very much illegal.

“I… I didn’t use a spell? I don’t know any spells.”

Chan looked a bit puzzled, “You didn’t use a spell? That’s actually… Nevermind. Your mother told me you would come but hasn’t actually said why…”

Jisung’s eyes widened as he remembered the letter his mother had told him to deliver to this man. He quickly reached into his pack and handed him the small envelope.
Chan opened it and quickly read through its contents, his brows furrowed slightly.

“You want to actually study magic, and learn from me…” Chan sighed, “I don’t think this is the smartest idea. I haven’t practiced magic in over a decade and doing this right here of all places… you are practically asking to get caught.”

“Please, my mother said you are the only person she can trust to teach me right.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I am not turning you away. I am in your mother’s debt and if what she says in this letter is true, if you really were born with magic… Jisung do you know how rare this is?”

“Very rare if you say it like that?” Jisung guessed hesitantly.

“Exceptionally so.” Chan confirmed.

Jisung didn’t really know what to think about that. He knew that it wasn’t exactly common to find magic users, his mother had mentioned that he was special but he always thought it was just something mothers said to their children.

“What I mean is that it would be irresponsible of me not to teach you. I think you could be destined for great things.”

“So no pressure?” Jisung asked with an awkward laugh.
Chan only put his hand on Jisung’s shoulder, which only signalized to him that there would be a lot of pressure.

Jisung found out that Chan was a minor noble and a knight. He had studied magic under Jisung’s father when he was a child, before magic had been outlawed roughly 20 years ago, and while he’d stopped his apprenticeship with his father when it became illegal, he had still studied the theory in secret.

“So, what I’m getting is that you studied magic for like… a year when you were a child and that is enough for you to teach me?” Jisung didn’t want to be rude but it did sound like Chan wasn’t that much more experienced than him.

“I wasn’t really good at the practice part of magic, but since it’s theory you’re lacking I don’t see a problem. Of course, you can go home to your mother and tell her you didn’t want to learn from me.” Chan shrugged.

“No, no, sorry. I want to learn from you.” Jisung backpaddled immediately.

“Good. Let me show you your room then.”

His room was surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the house, not that it would stay like that for long as Jisung was a bit of a messy person himself.

“I’ll give you some time to settle in. I’m going to be busy tomorrow and the day after that but we can start your lessons afterwards. Dinner is delivered here from the palace kitchens shortly before sundown, you can go explore the city until then.” Chan explained to him as Jisung put down his small bag and looked around the room.

“You get your food from the palace kitchens?” Jisung asked, this didn’t seem normal but how would he know?

“I’m close with the royal family and I don’t like having house servants, too many secrets to keep, you know?”

Jisung didn’t even know what the royal family looked like, it wasn’t like they would ever visit a small backwater village like his, and he’d never left before this. And Chan was a noble, a knight and close friends with these people. Their situations couldn’t be more different.

“I don’t have to tell you not to use any magic outside of the house, right?” Chan asked, stopping at the door and looking back at him.

“Of course, I’m not an idiot.”

“Alright, don’t get in trouble.”

Jisung decided to look more around the upper city and the palace courtyard since there were less people there and nobody seemed to mind him.

The weather was surprisingly nice, the sun was incredibly warm and inviting to sit down on a small patch of grass overseeing the knights’ training grounds where a few people seemed to practice archery, it was mostly one person shooting at the target though a few others stood around him and cheered him on.
The one shooting was pretty talented, hitting the bull’s eye with incredible consistency, only pausing when he was out of arrows and a servant or squire ran forward to collect the arrows.

“This is too easy.” The shooter complained loudly.

“Should I move the target further back, my lord?” The servant asked only to be sent off with a wave.
As the servant got behind the target and picked it up to move it further away, Jisung saw the shooter raise his bow and arrow again and shoot the target again. The young man behind the target yelped, drawing a short laugh from the shooter’s company.

“I think a moving target would be sufficient.” He announced as he knocked back a second arrow. As the servant and the target scrambled away, the second arrow hit, the third one very close to following.
Jisung couldn’t watch this any longer, without even thinking his magic bubbled to the surface again. A short strong breeze picked up, blowing the sand of the training field right into the shooter’s eyes.
He instinctively shut his eyes but let the arrow loose, which flew not even near the target, disappearing somewhere in the grass further away.
Jisung ran towards the servant behind the target who was still cowering there, waiting for the next arrow to hit.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, holding his hand out for the poor guy to stand up.

“Thank you.” He said, taking his hand and standing up.

The shooter cursed as he wiped his eyes with a piece of cloth.
“Hey! Get out of the way if you don’t want to end up as a target!” He yelled at him when he could finally see again.
The man was around his age, maybe a little older, with a straight nose and sharp eyes.

“So it’s a habit for you to shoot at innocent people?” Jisung shouted back.

The man scoffed, “I didn’t shoot at him, I was shooting at the target.”

“Somehow I have the feeling that it doesn’t make that much of a difference to a pretentious douche.”

The man’s eyes widened as his friends behind him snickered, “What makes you think you can talk to me like that?”

There was a quiet fury about him as the man approached Jisung. A smart person would probably get the hint and back off but Jisung conveniently seemed to have lost his brain in the mess of Chan’s house.

“What makes you think you can just go around and bully innocent servants? Who do you think you are? The king?”

“The king? No, I’m his son. Minho.” He said, coming to a stop in front of Jisung. He wasn’t that tall per se, but tall enough to look down at Jisung’s small frame.

His words took a second to register with Jisung. He had expected him to be a noble, sure, a knight, yes, but the crown prince? Realistically, it only changed how much trouble he was in, and honestly, how much worse could it get? He’d already called him a pretentious douche.

“So you’re not just a bully, you’re a royal bully.” He said before he could think about backing down.

The prince raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth but was interrupted by someone approaching from behind Jisung that drew his attention. Jisung didn’t dare turn around to see who it was. He felt like looking away would mean he would lose this confrontation.
Then a heavy hand hit Jisung’s shoulder and pulled him back as Chan hissed, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“You know this boor, Chan?” Minho asked.

“Right now, I wish that I didn’t. He’s under my care right now.”

“Is he the son of a lord?”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not even here.” Jisung protested but Chan, almost painfully squeezing his shoulder, made him shut up.

“He’s not. He is the son of an old friend of mine.”

“Then you might want to start with some etiquette lessons about how he shouldn’t address the crown prince as… what was it again, Seungmin?”

“I think he called you a pretentious douche and a bully.” One of the knights reminded him. He didn’t seem to be able to completely hide his amusement that someone had talked to Prince Minho like that.

Chan’s hand wandered to Jisung’s neck and pushed him down into a bow before also bowing slightly.
“I apologize for his horrendous behavior.”

“No, I want to hear it from him.” Minho said nonchalantly.

This was beyond embarrassing. Chan hadn’t seen what this asshole was doing to that poor servant, he shouldn’t have to apologize but he found himself completely unable to physically oppose Chan’s grip that forced him into a bow.

“You won’t.” Jisung muttered stubbornly.

“ Jisung .” Chan hissed scoldingly.

“Well, it seems like you can’t really control your ward. I don’t think I should let you handle his punishment. I think spending the rest of the day in the stocks should suffice.”

“Of course, your Highness. As you wish.” Chan let go of Jisung and grabbed him by the arm to lead him back to the courtyard.



“I can’t believe that I let you out of my sight for not even half a day and then I find you fighting with the prince.” Chan scolded him.

“You don’t understand! He was literally bullying a servant! What was I supposed to do?” Jisung protested.

“You weren’t supposed to do anything. You aren’t supposed to attract any attention. Another noble would have had your tongue cut, you idiot.”

Jisung hadn’t known that when he had mouthed off to the prince. He was rather fond of his tongue.
“So I am supposed to ignore it when I see something like that?” It just didn’t feel right.

“No… just come get me if something like that ever happens again. I’ve known Minho his whole life, he’s not a bad person per se, he’s just…”

“A spoiled brat?” Jisung finished his sentence.

“You are on your way to your punishment right now, do you really want to keep talking like that?” Chan scolded him again before they finally reached the courtyard where Jisung was handed off to some guards.

“Wait, can you really not do anything about this punishment?” Jisung tried.

“I could have done something earlier if you hadn’t continued running your mouth. They’ll let you out tonight, I’ll save some food for you. And a friendly word of advice, if people with rotten fruits show up, keep your mouth shut for once.”

Jisung had thought that the comment about the fruit was an exaggeration until a rotten apple hit his head. It was so mushy that it didn’t hurt too bad but he could feel parts of it sticking in his hair. At the end of it, he was wondering why there was such an overabundance of food that so many people had leftovers just to throw at him for fun.
When the sun set, he was let go and made his way back to Chan’s house.
Luckily, Chan had kept his word and Jisung found a plate with a delicious, although cold, piece of roast and a full pitcher of water.
Chan joined him shortly during his meal to tell him that he would be gone early tomorrow but breakfast would also be delivered.

“You’re expected to apologize to the prince tomorrow at noon.” Chan said.

“What? But I already got my punishment and stuff! I still need to get rotten fruit out of my hair!”

“And that’s why you’re getting a chance to apologize. Listen, Jisung, I’m a close advisor to the King and while living with me, you will probably run into the prince more often. Just swallow your pride and apologize, okay?”

“Ugh, fine! But if it was up to me, I’d never see him again!”

The next day, Chan left early in the morning and left Jisung with a short note telling him where to go.
Jisung only got ready when he couldn’t put it off any longer, Chan would be furious if he came late.
He followed Chan’s description to the castle where some guards led him to a small audience chamber. When he entered the only people aside from a few more guards where Chan, one of the knights that had been with the prince yesterday, Jisung believed his name was Seungmin, a young man with long, blonde hair around Jisung’s age, and of course Prince Minho who was lounging in a chair and smugly grinning as Jisung entered the room.

Jisung stood awkwardly before the group in the middle of the room.
Silence stretched just for a little bit too long until the prince raised one of his eyebrows, “And?”

His face made Jisung so angry. How could someone so arrogant and horrible look so beautifully innocent?
He looked at Chan briefly who stared him down with eyes so intense he might as well screamed at him.

Jisung took a deep breath and swallowed his anger.
“I am sorry for my behavior yesterday, your Majesty.”

“Highness.” Minho commented.

Jisung was confused.

“Majesty is reserved for the King or Queen. You can address me as Highness. So, go again.”

“Minho…” The blonde man next to him whispered.

Jisung hated him so much.

Through clenched teeth he slowly said, “I apologize for my behavior yesterday, your Highness .”

“I don’t know… I feel like this is missing a bow…”

“Minho, come on. Now you’re just being mean…” The blonde man whispered again, earning him an eye roll from the prince.
“Fine, as you wish.”

Whoever this blonde guy was, Jisung wanted to hug him for sparing him any more embarrassment but instead he just followed Chan outside.
“Okay, now that this is out of the way, was it really that bad?” Chan asked.

“Yes.”

The next day, Chan had a day off his courtly duties, whatever they encompassed. It was time to start Jisung’s lessons.
Chan closed the curtains of his study and locked the door so they wouldn’t be disturbed. He’d even cleaned up the floor slightly so they had a place to sit.

“So, until now you’ve been using magic instinctually, am I correct?” Chan asked as he put up some baskets around the room.

“I think so?” At least Jisung couldn’t remember actually learning a spell. Things were just happening around him.

“While powerful, using your magic like that can be dangerous and unpredictable, which is why you have to learn to channel your natural gift through spells and give your magic a purpose.” He explained and sat down opposite of Jisung on the ground.
Jisung nodded as he thought about his words. It did make sense.

“We’ll start simple.”
Chan pulled an egg out of a small pouch and held it in front of him and muttered some words in a language Jisung had never heard.
His eyes flashed golden as magic rushed through him. The egg slowly lifted up from his hand and floated between them.
With some more words in the strange tongue, the egg flew over and landed gently in one of the baskets.

“Okay, easy. I can do that.” Jisung said confidently. He’s been moving stuff with his mind for as long as he could remember after all.

Chan took the egg out of the basket again and gave it to Jisung, “Okay, show me.”
Without any words the egg started floating again and zipped over into the basket with so much force that it tipped over, the egg shattering on the ground.
Chan sighed, “And that’s why you are supposed to use the spell.”

“But I hit the basket?”

“And you broke the egg. The spell helps you focus on controlling the force behind your power, without it you just use a random amount of strength every time.” Chan explained and took out another egg.

“So, with the spell this time.”

Jisung practiced throwing things around with different amounts of strength the whole day.
At the end he was exhausted but did manage to not break any more eggs pretty consistently.

“Good job today.” Chan praised him during dinner.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired from using magic…” Jisung rubbed his forehead to combat the slight headache he had developed in the last hour.

“Magic burns energy like physical exercise… just… in a different way I guess. Anyway, I have something for you.” Chan pulled out a thick package wrapped in cloth.
This immediately made Jisung perk up again, headache and exhaustion almost forgotten.

“I feel like you have better use for this now than me.”

Jisung took the heavy package and slowly unwrapped it, revealing a thick tome.

“It’s my old spell book from when I was still studying magic. I collected some spells and other things in there even after I stopped. There are also still a few empty pages in case you want to add anything.”
Jisung opened the heavy book and skimmed over countless words, runes and drawings of monsters that he couldn’t even begin to understand.

“I’ll teach you the ancient tongue so you know how to read it.”

“This is… wow thank you…” Jisung was at a loss for words. Just from the drawings alone he could guess what some of the spells could do and it was more than he’d ever imagined being able to do with his magic.

“I have no use for it anymore, it would be a shame if it just kept rotting in some dark drawer. I don’t have to tell you to keep this a secret and safe from prying eyes, right?”

“Of course! I’ll keep it safe! Thank you!”
When he went to bed that night, he couldn’t stop looking at its pages, imagining what the strange words and drawings meant, until he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, Jisung couldn’t study his new book as much as he wanted as Chan asked him to run a few errands for him over the next few days, and considering the man let him stay with him for free and even taught him magic he found it hard to deny his requests.
He was mostly carrying messages to different people in the city, and even in the castle itself. Chan had given him an amulet with his seal on it so he could walk anywhere freely without being stopped by guards.
Most messages were delivered to other knights, like Seungmin who was Prince Minho’s second-in-command. The young man wasn’t as bad as Jisung had originally assumed. He was actually quite patient and kind when he wasn’t around the prince, and luckily Jisung managed to avoid the royal pain in his neck. Whenever Jisung delivered a message to him, he bowed his head slightly and thanked him before diligently reading through the letter and telling him his answer to give it to Chan.

When he couldn’t find Seungmin, he just followed the next loud clanging to find his squire Jeongin. He was a clumsy, slightly nervous boy who always ran into something or dropped a piece of armor. He forwarded any message Jisung couldn’t deliver directly to the knight. Jeongin was a big part of the reason why Jisung found himself starting to like Seungmin more. The boy talked about the knight in such high praises, Jisung thought he was exaggerating at first but the more he talked to him, he seemed entirely truthful when he talked about the kind and noble knight.
Of course, Jisung also asked about a certain prince.

“His Highness can be a bit prickly…” Jeongin started after thinking about his words carefully.

Jisung couldn’t hold back a small burst of laughter, “Oh really?”

“I heard what happened when you first met… but Prince Minho also has another side, he just doesn’t show it to anyone. He’s not really good with people.”
Jisung didn’t really believe what he was telling them, he would have to see actions before he accepted that the prince cared about anyone but himself.

Of course, he couldn’t avoid the prince forever but he’d hoped that Chan wouldn’t send him directly to him. His mood for the day was ruined the second Chan handed him a letter addressed to the prince.

“Just leave it with his servant.” Chan had dismissed his complaints, “This is important and has to reach him today.”

So Jisung begrudgingly stomped up to the castle and started looking for Minho.
After showing Chan’s seal he was given a brief description of the way to his chambers and made his way up to one of the towers. A heavy wooden door was the only thing separating Jisung from what he considered was his worst enemy. He stood there for another two minutes, trying to get himself to knock when the door just opened in front of him, revealing a surprisingly friendly face.
It was the young man that had stopped the prince from embarrassing him even further during his apology. Long, blonde hair framed a beautiful, freckled face as the man looked at him with a slightly startled but warm smile.

“Oh! It’s you!” The man said when he recognized him, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m supposed to deliver a letter to Prince Minho.” Jisung explained and held up the piece of paper Chan had handed him.

“He’s not here currently. But you can leave the letter with me if you want to.”

Jisung concluded that the man was the servant Chan had told him about, and whatever ensured he didn’t have to deal with the prince was fine with him.
“Sure, here you go.”

The man reached out for the letter, his fingers lightly brushing against Jisung’s, when he suddenly gripped his arm hard and his head snapped back. Jisung thought he saw just the faintest golden glimmer in the man’s eyes.

“In a chalice lined with emeralds bright,
Lies a peril hidden from sight.
Beware the drink, so rich and rare,
For doom awaits the one who dares.”

Jisung was completely thrown off by what was happening, he tried freeing his arm from his grip but found himself unable to until he had finished speaking and stumbled backwards.
The man shook his head slightly and blinked before looking at Jisung again.

“Is everything okay? Are you going to give me that letter?” He asked as if nothing happened.

“What?” Jisung just asked, still trying to figure out what this weird episode was. Did the man not remember it?

“You… wanted to leave this letter here with me for Minho?” The man sounded confused but the confusion in his voice didn’t even close to the one in Jisung’s head.

“Um, yes. Right. Here. I’ll be off.” He quickly said, pushed the letter in the man’s hand, hoping it wouldn’t trigger another episode, and ran back home before he could say anything else. He was so spooked and confused that he didn’t even realize that the person he slightly bumped into on his way was none other than the prince.


“Chan?” He called out as soon as he entered the house. He managed to get to the study before he could even answer.

“Everything okay? You sound like you’ve seen a ghost.” Chan asked, turning in his chair to look at a heavily breathing Jisung.

“You didn’t tell me there was another sorcerer here.” Because there was no other explanation right? He'd seen the golden shine of magic in his eyes.

“Another sorcerer? What are you talking about? Calm down. What happened?”

“I delivered your letter but the prince wasn’t there but there was this blond guy, the one who was also there that day I had to apologize. And I don’t know he touched my hand and suddenly he got all weird and was saying something about chalices and doom and then he acted like nothing happened. But I saw his eyes, Chan, I saw the magic!” Jisung started rattling off.

“Wait, wait, wait. You met Felix?” Chan asked.

Jisung was caught off-guard, “Felix? As in ‘The second prince of the realm Felix’? I don’t know, is he a blonde sorcerer?”

“He isn’t really… he… it’s complicated. Felix is not a sorcerer, not like you. What did he say?”

“I don’t know, something, something chalice with emeralds and doom waiting.” Jisung tried to gather his memories but he’d been way too shocked to actually pay attention, “Can you please just explain to me what that even means? If he’s not a sorcerer, what is going on with him?”

“I’ve had my suspicions for a while… I believe he might be a seer.” Chan muttered, seemingly deep in thought.

Jisung wondered if he was supposed to know what that was, so when Chan didn’t continue his explanation he carefully asked, “So he’s seeing something?”

The older man sighed, “I’m sorry, I always forget that despite your nature, you don’t know a lot about magic. He sees the future. It’s an old form of magic, it can’t be learned and only very few bloodlines inherit this ability.”

“So how is the son of someone so anti-magic as the King…” He didn’t even need to finish his question before Chan answered.

“His mother. The King didn’t know about her ability.” He looked a bit uncomfortable.

“So is Prince Minho as well… you know?”

“No.” Chan immediately shot down the idea.

“Are you sure?”

“Completely. It’s impossible.” Chan confirmed again but Jisung could see that he was holding something back.
“Listen, what I’m about to tell you is not not common knowledge. Not even the princes know about this. Can you keep this to yourself, Jisung?”

“I mean, my whole identity is a secret. I’m kinda used to not telling people stuff.” He quipped but when he noticed Chan’s serious expression he quickly cleared his throat and added, “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

“The queen is not Felix’s mother. She died shortly before he was born.”

“I thought she died in childbirth…” Jisung wondered out loud.

“That’s what the King told everyone. Her Majesty got sick shortly after Minho was born.”

“So who is Prince Felix’s mother then?”

“The King met her after the Queen died and fell in love with her. He intended to marry her but the night Felix was born he witnessed her having a vision. He believed she tricked him to gain his power. She…” Chan sighed, “She was executed in secret so it would never come out that the King slept with a witch and sired a son.”

It was revolting, Jisung felt himself grow irrevocably disgusted with this man he’d never even met before.

“The ability to see the future usually favors the women of a bloodline, a son inheriting it is not unheard of but so rare that Felix was deemed not a threat. He’s never had more than subtle precognitions or bad feelings about situations… If he had a full-on vision now…” Chan drifted off, worried thoughts silencing him.
“You can’t talk about all of this to anyone. If someone finds out Felix has magic, I don’t think even his title could protect him.”

Jisung hadn’t planned to tell anyone. He barely knew anyone anyway, and the prince seemed a lot nicer than his older brother. He had absolutely no reason to out him as a seer and ruin his life. He nodded in agreement.

“You sound like you care a lot about him.” Jisung added.

“Minho and Felix are both like little brothers to me. I’d do anything to protect them.” Chan’s voice was so serious, Jisung believed him that he really meant it when he said he’d do anything .

Jisung was pretty sure that Felix didn’t remember the vision, or at least he didn’t mention anything to anyone. The next time he saw him was in front of the chambers of the court physician when Chan sent him to pick up a valerian draught he needed to sleep.

“Jisung! That’s your name, right? Good morning!” He greeted him with a smile.

“Y-yes that’s me, umm, your Highness.” Jisung answered him awkwardly.

The prince cocked his head to the side, “Why are you so stiff? You talked pretty freely to me last time.”

Jisung coughed slightly, “Umm… to be honest, I didn’t know you were a prince last time.” He admitted.

“Oh, but you didn’t talk to my brother this formally either from what I’ve heard.”

Jisung couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly, “Well, I didn’t really know he was a prince either when I did…”
Now that he thought about it, Felix probably thought he was incredibly stupid.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Felix just asked with an understanding smile.

“No, I’m from a small village close to the sea.”

“And you haven’t been here long, right? So you probably don’t know about the festival yet!”

“Festival?”

“Yes, at the end of next week. It’s my brother’s birthday. He’ll be of age and then Father will officially crown him as his heir, so there will be a big celebration in the whole city. Anyway, whenever there’s a festival Channie goes there with us as a guard so we can see it, and since you’re living with him you might as well join us, don’t you think?”

Jisung was a bit overwhelmed by how talkative and friendly the prince was. While he didn’t particularly want to celebrate the birthday of Prince Minho it was hard to say no to Felix’s disarming smile. He also wasn’t too fond of the crowds attracted by festivals but he had to admit he was curious.
“Thank you for the invitation, your Highness.”

“And stop it with the ‘your Highness’ stuff. You are a friend of Channie and you seem nice enough, so just call me by my name when it’s just us, please.”

Jisung hadn’t even noticed how tense his shoulders were until he relaxed at his words. He wasn’t good at the whole polite etiquette thing, so it was nice that the prince had offered to speak casually. He didn’t want to end up in stocks again after all.
“Okay, sure, umm Felix?”

Being called by his name made the prince smile so bright it was almost blinding.

“See you around then, Jisung.” He said and stepped out of his way so Jisung could enter the physician’s quarters.
Jisung briefly wondered what Felix had been doing here but then shook his head and got on with his tasks.

Chan had started teaching Jisung the ancient tongue, so he could study magic even when his teacher didn’t have time, and the young sorcerer quickly started adding new spells to his repertoire.
Unfortunately, some spells actually needed some ingredients and not just raw magic power, which is why Jisung found himself armed with a jar right outside of the city walls in the middle of the night, searching for fireflies.
When a cold breeze sent a chill down his spine, he realized that the summer was almost over and most fireflies were probably already gone, and that after sneaking out of the castle and thinking and failing hard at finding an excuse why he was running around with an empty jar at night. Luckily, nobody had stopped him yet.
Still, he walked along the edge of the forest for at least two hours until he finally spotted the faint glow of the sought bug. As soon as he found it, it was easily caught with a bit of magic that let the critter fly right into the jar.
Proudly, he went on his way back home, entering the city again through the lower city gates and making his way up.

Before he entered the side street that led to Chan’s house, he took a second to stop and look at the castle. He had to admit that it looked stunning on this full moon night. The white stone of the courtyard reflected the moonlight, making it easy to see even the smallest details. Otherwise, Jisung probably wouldn’t have seen the hooded figure sneaking through the shadows. He watched as they waited out a passing guard before swiftly disappearing behind another corner. Just for a second Jisung thought he saw the metallic glint of a weapon as their cloak was brushed away shortly by the wind.
Now, Jisung wasn’t a palace security expert or anything but an armed, hooded figure hiding from the guards did sound a bit suspicious. And considering he wasn’t an expert, his decision to follow this person was probably something Chan would scold him for if he were here.

This hooded person was honestly impressive, Jisung could barely hear any footsteps but he managed to keep up. He followed the figure to the lower city where he finally lost them in a narrow alley. He cursed silently, looking around when he heard a cacophony of high-pitched meowing right around the corner along with someone shushing them.
Jisung carefully crept around the corner, finding the cloaked figure hunched down, surrounded by at least five kittens, meowing at him.

“It’s okay, shhh, quiet down.” The cloaked figure said sweetly, placing down a small metal bowl and filling it with milk from a bottle.

Was this the same figure that he followed? Why were they so secretive about… feeding kittens?
He felt so stupid, why did he even follow this person? They weren’t an assassin or something like that, and what would he have even done if they were?
He took a step back and promptly got his foot caught on a rock, tripping and landing himself on the ground with an oomph.
The figure turned around, pulling a dagger from their belt, ready to defend themselves when they spotted him.
They were staring at each other for a second, both not knowing what to say.
His face was shadowed from his hood but he was still easily recognizable.
The person sneaking around the castle in the middle of the night to feed kittens was Prince Minho.

“Maybe he just wants to gain the kittens’ trust so he can skin them and line his winter boots.” A spiteful little voice in the back of Jisung’s mind suggested but he quickly dismissed it. The prince might be a dick but he didn’t kill baby kittens… probably…

“What are you doing here?” Minho asked, sounding so disgusted one would think he just stepped into dog shit.

“I could ask the same thing!” Jisung said before thinking. Somehow being polite and respectful towards Felix had been a lot easier.

“I’m the prince, I’m allowed to go wherever I want without having to explain myself to, what even are you, a messenger boy?”

“Then why are you sneaking out in the middle of the night? That doesn’t sound like you are allowed to be here. Me, on the other hand, I don’t have to sneak through the shadows.” Jisung defended himself.

The prince opened his mouth, presumably to give him a snarky answer, but his face betrayed that he couldn’t really defeat that logic. Jisung had to admit that he enjoyed seeing the prince speechless. His dumbfounded expression could almost be described as cute.

“So if you’re allowed to be here, you won’t mind if I call for one of the guards that just passed by, right?” He suggested.

“No. Don’t tell anyone, I… ugh… what do you want?” Minho grumbled.

Jisung enjoyed hearing that even more.
“Hmm… I want to know why you are hear. It can’t be just to feed some kittens? Are you hiding a secret lover around here somewhere? How scandalous.”

“Watch your tone, messenger boy.”

“Do you hear that? I think the guards are making another round?”

“You are infuriating.”

“Ahhh, is that Prince Minho over there?” He raised his voice slightly, not loud enough to actually alert anyone.

“There is no lover, I just came here to feed the kittens.” The prince finally admitted.

Right on cue the kittens started screaming again and tried climbing up on Minho’s boot.

“Why?” Jisung asked, genuinely confused.

“What do you mean ‘why’? Because they were hungry and obviously don’t have a mother.” The prince’s voice was so full of vitriol that Jisung could almost forget that what he said actually showed some genuine care.

“Let me get this straight, you, the prince, go out in the middle of the night to feed some hungry kittens. Have you ever thought about, I don’t know, bringing them up to the castle with you?”

“If it was that easy, I would do it. The King doesn’t like them.”

“So you’ve been sneaking out here to feed them.”

“I thought we'd already established this. So, are you going to call a guard now or not?”

Jisung was tempted to, just to mess with the prince.
Minho crouched down to pick up two of the kittens who by now had started climbing up his leg and Jisung had to admit that the sight was just the tiniest bit precious.

“I’m not…” He relented, thinking about Chan who would be so mad at him if he got Minho into trouble for no reason but spite.

“Good, also, poke some holes in the lid of that jar. Your bug or whatever is suffocating.” The prince said, turning away to put more milk into the bowl for the kittens.

Jisung’s eyes widened as he looked at his jar.
“Umm… could I… umm… I don’t have anything to make holes…” He admitted, embarrassed that he didn’t think about this earlier.

“Unbelievable.”

Jisung couldn’t see the prince’s face but he knew he just rolled his eyes as he reached for his dagger again and handed it to him.
He quickly cut some small holes in the lid of his jar and handed it back.
The prince carefully petted the head of one of the kittens as they drank more milk.

“It’s getting cold…” He blurted out after watching them for a while.

“Nobody is forcing you to stay, I don’t even know why you’re still here. Go home if you’re cold.”

“No, I mean for the kittens. It’s getting too cold for them to stay outside alone like this…”

Minho looked like he had to bite his tongue to not make some snarky, sarcastic comment, because he knew Jisung was right.

“I can take them with me…” Jisung suggested, “I can’t imagine Chan having a problem with them.”

“And why would you do that?” The prince asked defensively.

“Get over yourself, your Highness , I am not doing this for you. Who in their right mind would let a bunch of kittens freeze to death?”

It was probably hard to believe for a prince that not everything in the world revolved around him, and from the looks of it, it was equally hard for a prince to admit when he was wrong about something.

“Good, take them then.” He finally said after looking at the little furballs again for a while.

“So, my arms are kind of full now, I think I’ll have to go back home and get a basket or something or I won’t be able to carry everything.”

The prince groaned in annoyance, as if to say “I can’t believe you weren’t prepared to randomly pick up five baby cats on your nightly stroll” and took off his cloak.
“Here. Bundle them up in this.” He said as he was holding it out towards Jisung.

It took all of the young sorcerer’s efforts to not make some comment about him almost seeming like a nice person. Instead, he quickly tied up the cloak into more of a bag and started scooping up kittens into the make-shift pouch.
He couldn’t help but notice a woody smell from the cloak and wondered if it was the prince’s perfume or soap that gave it this calming scent.

Before he could then turn around to leave, Minho gripped his arm.
“If you tell anyone about us meeting here…”

“I get it, I get it. I won’t.” By now, Jisung had gotten used to keeping all kinds of secrets left and right, and this one was so insignificant compared to the others, it would be laughably easy.

“Jisung, why are there kittens messing up my priceless documents and why do you have the prince’s cloak?” was the very first thing Chan asked when Jisung came out of his room in a hurry after noticing he hadn’t closed his door before going to sleep properly and all of the kittens had escaped his room.

He’d been so tired when he finally returned last night that he hadn’t even taken off the cloak-bag before falling into his bed.

“How do you even know this is his cloak?” Jisung just asked incredulously.

“Because I’ve seen him wear it and that subtle pattern in the black is a lot more expensive than anything you brought with you. So, care for an explanation?”

“You know, they wouldn’t even get to your stuff if it wasn’t all sprawled out over the floor.” Jisung commented.

“I’ve seen your room, you are not one to talk about cleanliness. So, answer my question?” He said, holding four of the five kittens in his hands while carefully trying to push the fifth one away from a map with his foot.
Maybe the small, insignificant secrets were the hardest to keep after all.

Chapter Text

Chan promised not to tell anyone about Minho and the kittens but he also put his foot down that they could not all stay with them. Five cats were just too many.
He gave Jisung two weeks to find all of them a new home, at least he said so, Jisung assumed he wouldn’t throw them out if they were still there then.

Over the course of the week more and more people were flocking to the city in preparation for Prince Minho’s birthday. The already crowded city became so uncomfortably full that Jisung didn’t even go to the lower city anymore, instead preferring to stay at home and practice his spells, unfortunately Chan forced him to go out and find homes for the kittens.
So Jisung took a bag, put two kittens inside and made his way to the city to ask around if someone wanted to adopt him, he was miserable.
He felt awkward talking to random strangers to ask them if they wanted to adopt a cat, yet he managed to get three of the five kittens a new home by the time of Minho's birthday.

Chan even invited him to join him for the coronation ceremony and Jisung felt that he didn’t really have a choice to say no.
He’d never been to the throne room before. It was a big hall, lined with purple banners showing the King’s crest, a golden tiger. Jisung felt very out of place among courtiers, lords and ladies, maids, knights and squires.
The King was seated on his throne, he was an older man with a stern face and long, gray hair. Next to him sat Felix on a smaller throne, shortly waving to Jisung when he spotted him in the crowd.
Multiple long benches were placed in front of the throne, leaving a broad alley in the middle.
Chan sat him down on a bench in the back of the room while taking his own place near the King.

Jeongin sat down next to him, as a squire he too wasn’t high up enough to sit somewhere in the front.
“I didn’t know you would be here.” He whispered to Jisung, “I thought you didn’t like Prince Minho.”

“Chan dragged me here, believe me I’d rather be anywhere else.” He answered, lying only a little bit as he was just the tiniest bit curious.

It didn’t take long for the room to be filled, when everyone was seated and quieted down.
Soon after, the huge double doors to the room opened once again, revealing Minho in ceremonial armor with a large, purple cloak billowing behind him as he took confident steps towards the throne.

‘Tsk, his shoulders are not that broad without the armor.’ Jisung caught himself thinking.

Minho came to a stop in front of the throne, pulled his sword and knelt down, planting the weapon in front of himself, lowering his head in front of the King.
The King stood up from his throne and stood in front of him.

“Minho from the House of Lee, Prince of Levanter, do you swear your loyalty to the realm and promise to serve it faithfully?” His voice boomed through the hall.
Even though Jisung sat so far away from him, he couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated by the old man.

“I swear it.”

“Do you swear to uphold its laws and exercise justice with strength and mercy?”

‘Mercy, like you are showing sorcerers?’ Jisung thought cynically.

“I swear it.”

“Do you swear to serve the good people of Levanter with integrity and dedication?”

"I swear it.”

Felix rose and picked up a pillow holding a thin golden circlet, walking up to his father and holding it out to him.
The King took the circlet into his hands and lifted it over Minho’s head.
“Live by these oaths as a protector of our kingdom. By my god-given authority as King of Levanter, I hereby proclaim you Crown Prince Minho.”
The golden circlet was placed on Minho’s head, resting over his brow.
“Rise, my son.”

As he rose and turned towards the rest of the room, the audience started cheering.

“Long live, Prince Minho!” They yelled in unison, Jisung wondered if he was the only one not knowing what to do.

Felix went up and hugged his brother and Jisung almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing when he saw a soft smile appear on the older prince’s face. Without the defensive scowl his face always held when he talked to Jisung, the sorcerer could understand what all the realm’s maidens and boys were gushing about. He was beautiful.

Jisung blinked and shook his head, not really wanting to think about Prince Minho’s good looks. His personality was still completely unbearable.

After the coronation ceremony, most people filed out of the room. Jisung wanted to disappear in the crowd, when Felix called out his name behind him.
He thought about pretending not to hear him when Jeongin next to him put a hand on his arm.

“His Highness wants to talk to you.” He said innocently.

“Oh, thank you…” He muttered, before turning around and walking towards the group consisting of the two princes, Chan and the King.

“So, this is your ward, Chan.” The King said, his eyes wandering over Jisung’s body, assessing him as he probably wondered what Chan saw in him.

Jisung could have lived without ever meeting the man prosecuting his kind. He could feel his heart pounding, standing in front of this intimidating man felt unreal.
Chan cleared his throat, the sound pulling Jisung back into his body.
He quickly remembered at least some of Chan’s lessons and bowed deeply.

“Yes, Sire, this is Jisung.” Chan introduced him.

“You’re thin, boy. Is Chan not training you?” The old man asked.

He wondered if Chan had told everyone that he was preparing Jisung to be a soldier or a guard. He certainly was training him, just not in things the King would approve of.
“I… I am not very physically gifted. He is giving me an education though…”

The King nodded in understanding, “With a teacher like Chan you will learn to read and write in no time, I wish you luck in your future endeavors.”

Jisung couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit offended. His mother was an intelligent woman, she had taught him to read and write ages ago. Now he certainly knew where Minho got his superior attitude from.

“Thank you, Sire.” He said, swallowing his pride.

“Now, Chan, if I understand correctly, you are going to accompany my sons to the festivities later?”

“I will.”

“Good, don’t let them out of your eyesight.”

“As always, your Majesty.”

“Good, enjoy the festival.” The King stood up to retreat back to his private rooms before turning around to Minho once again, “And of course, enjoy your birthday, my son.”

Chan and Jisung had to wait for a bit in front of the princes’ chambers as they changed their ceremonial garb for something more comfortable to enjoy the festival.
When they finally joined them, the familiar scowl was back on Minho’s face when he saw Jisung.

“Why are you here?”

“Don’t be like that, Minho. I invited him to come.” Felix cut in before Jisung could answer.

“Why?” Minho asked, seemingly unable to imagine any reason why Felix could have wanted him to come.

“Because Jisung is nice, now cheer up a bit. It’s your birthday, so let’s go!” The blonde prince grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him with him.

“Be civil, okay?” Chan whispered before following the two princes.

“I am if he is.” Jisung grumbled and quickly followed as well.

There were so many people in town that even the presence of the two princes of the realm was surprisingly unnoticed by most. Chan instructed them to stay together and not stray too far, which was harder than Jisung had thought, seeing how Felix ran from one stall to another whenever something caught his eye, and a lot of things seemed to catch his eye.

He gave Jisung half of the candied fruit a vendor had given him for free when he realized who he was, and he had to admit it was one of the best things he’d ever eaten. Minho got a small bag of roasted nuts Jisung really wanted to try but he would only ask the older prince for something over his dead body. Looking at the bag alone caused Minho to slightly turn away from him as if Jisung would just steal his snack from him.
They stopped at a few stalls offering games. Chan absolutely destroyed a game testing his strength and was awarded a free pitcher of mead that he slowly sipped on over the whole evening so as to not get drunk.
Felix pulled Minho towards an archery game. Jisung had seen that Minho was scarily proficient with bow and arrow so it came as a surprise when he didn’t stand a chance against his younger brother.

“I’m no good with a sword, so I trained a lot with the bow.” He explained when he saw Jisung’s wide eyes, “But I’m also not a knight like Minho, so archery is just a hobby for me.”

“Still, that was impressive! I couldn’t hit that target if it was right in front of me.” Jisung insisted.

“I bet you’re better than you think. Come on, Channie and Minho are  already on to the next stall.” Felix took his hand and pulled him with him towards the next stall, where Minho was talking to a vendor who offered the prince a goblet of wine between an unhealthy amount of bows and praises for the glorious heir to the throne.

Jisung rolled his eyes at the suck-up when Felix’s grip on his hand suddenly got almost painfully strong.
“Felix is everything okay?”

“ Chalice lined with emeralds bright… ” He muttered absently, now almost crushing Jisung’s hand.

He recognized the line, putting himself in front of Felix when he saw the golden glow in his eyes again and hoping he could shield anyone else from seeing.

“ Doom… doom awaits… ” Felix said, looking right through Jisung before his eyes rolled back and his legs gave out under him.

Jisung caught Felix, barely able to hold him up with his untrained arms.
He looked around for Chan when he saw Minho being handed a beautiful emerald-lined golden chalice with wine.
Without thinking, he hauled Felix’s limp body the last few meters towards them, slapping the chalice out of Minho’s hand, spilling almost all of its content over the vendor’s stall and the prince’s torso.

“What is wrong with yo-” Minho started furiously, abruptly stopping when he saw Felix, hanging off Jisung’s arm.

“Lix? Lixie what’s going on?” He took his little brother from Jisung, lifting him a lot easier than the sorcerer had.

“The wine, it’s poisoned.” Jisung explained to an alarmed looking Chan.

“What? That’s ridiculous!” The vendor exploded at him.

“Are you sure, Jisung? Do you have any evidence?” Chan asked.

“I… I don’t. You have to trust me, Chan.” He said, giving him his best knowing look so he understood it had something to do with magic.
Chan nodded, taking the chalice into his hands and inspecting it and the little rest of wine that had miraculously stayed in there.

“You wouldn’t mind taking a sip, right?” He looked at the vendor, holding it out to him.

“Th-this is a fine wine, not fit for something lowly like me.”

“Drink it.” Minho looked up from Felix’s limp form with an icy gaze.

“N-no… I…” The vendor stammered before turning tail and running.

Chan was after him immediately, but the slight frame of the vendor gave him a huge advantage at weaving through the crowd of people.
Jisung looked around quickly to check if anyone was watching him but most people were looking at the escaping man, while Minho was focused on his unconscious brother.
With a short burst of magic, he pulled a wooden box from a stall into the street, hitting the fugitive in the shin and causing him to tumble to the ground where he was quickly apprehended by Chan.

“You saw what happened to him right? Did he… He wasn’t poisoned right?” Minho asked, looking up at Jisung.

“No, no, I’m not sure what happened. He just collapsed suddenly.” Jisung tried to explain without mentioning Felix’s vision.

Felix moved his head slightly before opening his eyes again. Jisung was worried for a second that his eyes would still reflect his magic but they were just their usual dark brown color.
“Min, you’re okay…” He whispered.

“I’m okay? You collapsed! What happened?” Minho put his hand on Felix’s forehead and then carefully stroked his cheek.

“I don’t know… I’m tired, my head hurts…”

“Let’s go back. You need some rest.” Minho said, shifting Felix slightly to carry him more comfortably.
Chan delivered the vendor to some nearby guards and came back to them as they escorted him away.

“Are all of you okay?”

“I’m taking Felix back to the castle. I’m fine… I…” Minho looked at Jisung again.
“I don’t know how you knew about the wine but this is a question you’ll answer another time… For now…” Minho looked like he was in physical pain from speaking to Jisung like this, “Thank…you…”
With that, he turned his back to him and left with Felix.

“I’ll go with them, you can stay here or go home, just don’t stay out too late. We’ll talk later, okay?” Chan said before quickly following them.
Jisung decided that he didn’t want to stay there alone, so he also returned home, hoping that Felix would be fine.

Chan returned a few hours later.

“How is Felix?” Jisung came out of his room as soon as he heard the door close.

“Better, the physician has given him something against the headache and to sleep.” He said with a sigh.
“I can already imagine what happened but can you tell me your perspective?”

Jisung nodded, recalling the event. “Felix and I were just talking and wanted to follow you to the stall and then he froze up and I think he had the same vision as last time but he didn’t really repeat it completely. And then he just collapsed and I saw Minho with the goblet and I knew this was what Felix was trying to warn us about.”

“Great job, you saved Minho’s life today. I took a closer look at the goblet. The wine wasn’t poisoned, there are runes engraved into the emeralds that curse any person who drinks from it.”

“Scary, where is it now?” Jisung commented.

“I turned it in, of course. The King is searching for a way to destroy it. Unfortunately, his son almost being assassinated through a cursed object is not really helping his attitude towards magic.” Chan said as he finally took off his jacket, “You should turn in for today. Tomorrow you’ll be expected in the castle early in the morning.”

“What? Why?” Jisung asked, he came up blank when he thought about any reason why he should go there.

“Jisung, you saved the crown prince’s life. The King wants to reward you with something.”

The young sorcerer didn’t really want to talk to the King again but what choice did he have?

The next morning, Chan practically dragged Jisung out of bed and then splashed his face with cold water to wake him up properly.
When he’d said ‘early in the morning’ he really meant it apparently. The sun only started peaking over the horizon by the time they left.
Jisung was sure he was asleep on the way up to the castle, his body only moving along with Chan without his brain actually noticing what was happening.
The next time Jisung actively paid attention to where he was, he found himself in front of the throne room as Chan opened the door for him and led him inside, where the King and Minho were already waiting.
Jisung bowed after being prompted by Chan.

“There you are, I already expected you to do great things when I met you yesterday, boy, and then I heard that you saved my son’s life.” The King said as a greeting.

“Thank you, your Majesty…” Jisung mumbled.

“A feat like this deserves to be rewarded, so I’d like to offer you employment.”

Employment? He wanted to offer Jisung a job? He was currently working for Chan as a messenger boy but that was more something Chan gave him to do so he wouldn’t sit at home the whole day, he didn’t even get paid.

“That’s, umm, very kind, your Majesty.” He said, still wondering if a job was even a reward.

“You are the ward of one of my most trusted knights, and you’ve proven your loyalty by saving my son.” The King continued, “Since there has been an opening recently, I want to offer you the position of Prince Minho’s personal manservant.”

Jisung took a second to register the King’s words but then they certainly woke up his sluggish brain.
“What?” Jisung and Minho said in unison.

Chapter Text

Jisung was too stunned to say anything else, just looking at Chan in confusion, while Minho started to argue with his father.

“I don’t want him to be my servant.”

“Stop behaving like a child. After what happened with your last servant, I’d like to be sure that someone trustworthy stays close to you.”

“He stole one thing and was thrown out because of that, I can find a new person. I don’t need him.”

“I already found you a new one, if he turns out to be insufficient you can still get a new servant, but I’d like to give him a chance. So quit complaining, I have made my decision.”

“Father!”

“Minho.” The King said seriously, shutting the prince up for good.
Jisung quickly realized that it wasn’t a job offer , they didn’t ask him to become Minho’s personal attendant, the King ordered him to. It wasn’t his place to decline. If he was lucky, he could do a bad job and be fired immediately but for now he was stuck with this.

After the King dismissed all of them, Jisung finally found his words again.
“My reward is to be a servant?” He asked Chan, still not quite believing what was happening.

“You shouldn’t look down on this position too much, Jisung. A personal attendant to a prince is a prestigious position, you’ll manage his chambers, accompany him to events and see that everything around him is in order. They are also better paid than regular servants in the palace.” Chan explained, obviously trying to make light of the situation.

“But I don’t want to manage his chambers and whatever. I don’t even know how to do that.” Jisung objected.

“You’ll learn. It’s going to be okay.”

“Messenger boy, are you coming?” Minho called out from the door, equally unamused.

Jisung grumpily stomped after him, “I have a name!”

“So, you are to wash my clothes, clean my armor, wax my boots, tidy up my room, ready my horse if I need it, fetch my meals, polish my jewelry and deliver my messages.” Minho started listing things as soon as they reached his chambers.

“Anything else?” Jisung asked sarcastically.

“I don’t expect you to be able to do any of these tasks, so if it sounds like too much, go tell my father that you’re quitting.”

Now that really triggered something inside of him. While Minho was right that he didn’t know how to do most of these tasks, he wasn’t about to admit that.
He would not go to the King and tell him he was rejecting his “reward”.

“Oh yeah? Big talk for someone who wants me to do all of his work. I bet you don’t know how to do any of these things.” He challenged him but Minho didn’t jump on the provocation.

“Of course not. I’m a prince. I literally have people do things for me so I don’t have to bother with them. Was that your smart comeback?”
Jisung shortly debated if it was such a good idea to save Minho from the poison.

“Well, if you want to get rid of me, you’ll have to fire me. And my performance isn’t going to be a valid reason.” Jisung declared. He was going to excel at all of Minho’s stupid tasks, just because he knew it would piss him off that he couldn’t get rid of him.

“We’ll see. Over there are my dirty clothes, my armor is in the armory, my jewelry is in the case over there. My boots need to be fixed, so get them to the cobbler. There is a stack of letters on my desk. I want everything to be done by sunrise tomorrow. If you want to give up, just tell me.” The prince said with a smug grin.
Jisung was going to make him eat his words.

The problem of Jisung not knowing how to actually accomplish his tasks didn’t miraculously disappear and while he couldn’t admit to it in front of Minho, he didn’t have the same problem with other people.
“Jeongin~?”

“Why do you sound like you want something from me?” The boy asked suspiciously.
He’d found him in the stables where he was brushing one of the horses.

“It’s not like I want something from you… or I guess I do, but it’s nothing bad, really. It’s just… Can you tell me how to clean a suit of armor?”

“A suit of armor? Are you helping Sir Chan with his?”

“No, it’s a long story but I’m starting as Prince Minho’s attendant today and he wants me to clean his armor.” Jisung admitted with a groan.

“Let me guess, you were too proud to admit to him that you didn’t know how.” Jeongin guessed.

Jisung laughed sheepishly, “Is it that obvious?”

“Glaringly. But I get it. I’ll show you.”

He definitely owed Jeongin big time. The squire showed him exactly what he used to clean armor and Jisung was glad he asked because it really was more complicated than it looked at first. After Jeongin had left him again to get back to his own job, Jisung cleaned exactly one protective plate before coming to the conclusion that it was entirely too much of a hassle. The armor pieces were too heavy and clunky to clean easily. Jisung wondered how the knights actually wore these and could still walk around. In the end, Jisung ended up taking the clothes, armor and boots back to Chan’s house where he put everything down in his room. Chan would probably kill him if he knew how he used his magic but he wasn’t about to clean all of it by hand.

With his magic, everything washed itself while Jisung looked through his spellbook to find a way to fix the boots. After that was put into motion, Jisung grabbed the letters and went off to deliver them. Unfortunately, this and polishing the jewelry wasn’t something magic could do for him as he had to do that outside of the comfort of his room.
And even with the magical help he was busy until sundown just from the sheer amount of jewelry Prince Minho owned.
That evening he collapsed into bed right after eating dinner, not even properly talking to Chan when he asked him how his first day was.
He dreamt of Minho’s dumbfounded face when he found out Jisung accomplished everything he’d asked him to do.

The next day, Jisung brought everything with him to the Prince’s chambers even before leaving to get him breakfast. He’d probably never gotten up so easily in the morning as today. He had hoped that he could wake Minho with the loud clanging of the armor but unfortunately he was already awake, sitting at his desk and reading through some documents.
Jisung couldn’t suppress a smug grin when Minho indeed stared at him in surprise as he entered with his arms full. It was so heavy he just wanted to drop everything, the stairs had been hell but he managed to get everything up there.
The prince quickly schooled his expression but his wide eyes and slightly parted mouth would be forever seared into his mind.

“You did all this?” Minho asked as he was inspecting the boots.

“Sure did. Not everyone is a helpless noble who can’t accomplish a few simple tasks in the span of a day.” Jisung said, ignoring the fact that he would have been screwed if he didn’t have magic.

“Fine, I’ll admit it. You’re not as incompetent as I thought you would be. Happy?” The prince grumbled with an eyeroll.

“Very.” Jisung grinned at him.

“It sounds like you actually want to be my servant now.”

“No, not really. But kinda like how bothered you are about it and the pay is actually pretty nice.” It was a necessary evil to see Minho suffer and make some money while doing it.

“Oh, you want to see me bothered? You should be careful what you wish for.” Minho narrowed his eyes slightly as if challenging Jisung before moving his arm to the side and pushing the little ink jar off of his desk, “Oops. Better clean that up before it stains anything.”

Or maybe Jisung would be the one to suffer, only time would tell.
The Prince apparently had the temperament and coping mechanisms of a spoiled house cat, otherwise Jisung couldn’t explain the sheer amount of times he ‘accidentally’ pushed something off the table so Jisung had to clean it up. No matter if it was ink, wine, water or tea, nothing close to the edge of a table was safe.

With time, Jisung found himself not hating his job that much anymore. Sure, Prince Minho could be a pain in the ass, unbearably arrogant and a little shit to top it off, but sometimes Jisung found his antics to be almost funny. Apparently, he wasn’t just a douche towards poor servants, other nobles sometimes had it even worse with him, being outright mocked for bad ideas. Jisung would lie if he didn’t enjoy seeing these nobles being put in their place. And he had to admit that whenever Minho’s sharp gaze put down an earl or duchess, it was for the sake of the regular citizens, and Jisung respected that. He’d never tell that to the prince though.

Yet, the best thing about working for Minho was that Jisung also saw Felix more, as at least one of the princes was a delight to be around.
Whenever Minho went anywhere Jisung couldn’t come with him, he found himself in the younger prince’s chamber to talk. Felix almost never left the castle walls, only ever going as far as the archery range.

“I’m prone to sickness…” He told Jisung when he asked why, “I mean, you were there at the festival…”

Jisung knew it wasn’t sickness that had made him faint, he wondered if he’d been having visions for longer than Chan had thought, and he just didn’t realize because the symptoms were attributed to illness.
“So you faint a lot?” He asked carefully.

“No, but I get bad headaches, sometimes I wake up with them and then can’t really do anything but lie in bed for the whole day, and sometimes they even appear when I strain myself too much. It’s the reason why I didn’t become a knight like Min…” Felix’s shoulders slumped slightly.

“So you wanted to be a knight?”

“Of course! When Min and I were small, we always ran after Channie and wanted to be just like him, a brave knight fighting monsters and defending the innocent! And well, at least one of us made it…” He said with a sad smile, “I’ll probably never be more than the second prince. Maybe I can be an advisor once Minho is king, but it’s honestly more likely that I’ll be married off to another kingdom soon…”

“You’re getting married? To whom?”

“I don’t know. I just overheard Father say something about needing to form new alliances.”

“So you have to marry whoever your father wants you to?”

It felt wrong. Jisung had never thought about marriage before, he’d never even thought about courting someone, but he couldn’t imagine committing himself to someone like that because someone else had told him to.
“Father, or Minho when he’s king. My brother would never do that without asking me first though. But yes, it’s rare that nobles marry for love.”

“That’s… sad…” Jisung said slowly, not really knowing what else he could say.

“It’s okay, I’ve made my peace with it a long time ago. I just hope that whoever I marry one day is a nice person. Phew, this really dragged down the mood, didn’t it?” Felix let out a short laugh.

“Jisung!” A yell interrupted their little talk.

“Looks like Min is back from his meeting with Father.” Felix commented.

“Ugh, yeah. And he’s probably going to have another insufferable task for me.” Jisung groaned as he got up and walked to the door.

“Good luck!”

When Jisung returned to Minho’s side, the prince was already on his way out of his chambers.

“There you are. Pack a bag, we’ll be gone for a few days.”

“What? Where are we going?” Jisung asked.

“There is a monster terrorizing our farmers, and we’re going to kill it.” Minho explained determinedly.

“What do you mean ‘we’? I’m not a fighter, why do I have to come?”

“Because we are going to be gone for a few days and you, as my servant, are supposed to stay by my side at all times? You know sometimes I think you might be a bit slow. You’ve been in my service for weeks now, you should know that.”

“No need to be a dick about it…” Jisung mumbled but quickly shut up when Minho raised an eyebrow at him.

“So what do we need?” He instead changed the subject.

“Pack enough to last us a week, then go tell Chan and Seungmin that we’re leaving as soon as possible and get the horses ready… you know how to ride, I assume.”

“Tsk, of course I know how to ride.” He didn’t. Before he’d started working for Minho, he’d always just watched horses from a safe distance, and now he only knew how to clean them. But how hard could it be?

The sun had reached its highest point by the time everything was packed and everyone accompanying them had been gathered.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take more people?” Chan asked when he looked around the small group, consisting of him, Minho, Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin.

“We are three of the best fighters of the realm and Seungmin told me Jeongin is getting better with the sword every day, it should be fine.” Minho waved him off before mounting his horse, “Let’s go, if we leave now, we’ll make it there midday tomorrow.”

Jisung stood in front of the giant animal, nervously petting its fur. He put his foot in the stirrup like he’d seen Minho do and then tried to hoist himself up on his horse's back, which took apparently more strength than he’d expected as he just landed back next to the horse.

“Come, I’ll help you” Chan offered, recognizing Jisung’s struggle. As he helped him get an extra boost to get up on the saddle, Minho watched them with an amused grin. Jisung turned beet red, it was obvious that he’d lied before.

“Just relax into the saddle, don’t pull too harshly on the reins. Only pull slightly if you want her to stop.” Chan quickly explained, not minding Minho’s gaze, before getting on his own horse.

Jisung fell forward slightly and clung to the saddle when they started going. Being carried by a huge animal like this felt weird, he was a little scared he would lose balance and just fall off. Fortunately, Chan had chosen a very gentle, brown mare for him that just let Jisung do whatever and just followed the rest of the horses.

Minho and Seungmin were in front, while Chan was in the rear to keep an eye on everything and Jeongin was right next to Jisung in the middle of the pack.
He watched the back of Minho’s head to distract himself from his butt that had started hurting not an hour into their travel. The prince was talking to Seungmin, joking around with him from the looks of it but there were far enough in front of them that Jisung couldn’t properly hear what they were saying.

“What do you think this monster will look like?” Jeongin suddenly asked, probably just to break the silence.

Jisung looked away from the prince and towards the squire.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen a monster.” 

“I imagine it being a mix of other animals. Maybe it’s a mix of a tiger, a snake and a spider.” Jeongin thought out loud.

“Let’s hope it’s not that, that sounds horrifying…” Chan laughed as he rode up next to Jeongin.

“Which monsters have you fought, Sir?”

“Please, no need to be so formal, you are the only one in our small group that doesn’t call me by my name. Chan is fine.” The knight put his hand on the squire’s shoulder to get him to relax.
“As for monsters that I’ve fought, I helped take down a griffin once years ago. Ferocious beast, the body of a lion, the wings and head of an eagle.”

“And was it the size of a lion or an eagle?” Jisung quipped.

“Very funny, it was the size of three horses, with a wing span doubled that.” Chan rolled his eyes and fake annoyance.

“I heard about that! I didn’t know you were part of the group that took it down, Si- Chan.” Jeongin said, his eyes sparkling in awe.

“How old are you now, Jeongin?” The knight asked.

“I just turned 17.”

“17 and already on a big quest like this, Seungmin must hold you in high regard.”

Jeongin blushed slightly at the compliment, “No, no. I’m really not that good, other knights probably would have given up on me already. Sir Seungmin is very patient with me.”

“Minho said earlier you were on your way to become one of the best fighters they had, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Jisung commented.

“His Highness was exaggerating…” Jeongin said meekly.

“Well, we’ll see when we find that monster.” Chan finally let the squire off the hook.

“We should probably set up camp soon, it’s starting to get dark.” He added as he looked up into the sky. He spurred on his horse slightly to catch up to Minho and Seungmin to tell them.

“Ugh, good, I never want to sit in a saddle again.” Jisung groaned, “I can’t even feel my ass anymore.”

That got Jeongin to laugh, “You’ll get used to it, I promise.”

When it finally was time to stop, Jisung realized that his legs had fallen asleep a while ago. He tried to slowly dismount when his legs just gave in and made him ungracefully land in the mud below. He tried to ignore the chuckle coming from Minho’s direction but he was exhausted and done for today.
“Very funny, your Highness.” He put as much annoyance as possible in his voice.

“I just imagined a seasoned rider being more proficient in mounting and dismounting.” The prince chuckled as he approached him.

“Okay, so maybe I’ve never been on a horse before, my mother couldn’t exactly afford one.” He grumbled, trying to get up when he noticed a hand being outstretched towards him to help him by none other than the guy that had just laughed at him.

“I guess, you did okay for your first time riding. I just don’t get why you lied to me about it.” Minho said, probably the nicest words he had ever directed towards Jisung.
The young sorcerer could do nothing but stare at him for a second.

“Look, do you want my help getting up or not?” The prince quickly lost his patience.
Jisung hesitantly took his hand and was quickly pulled up on his feet again. He couldn’t help but be startled by the prince’s strength, banishing the thought from his mind immediately. Of course Minho was strong, he was used to fighting in heavy armor after all, nothing to marvel at, Chan was probably stronger anyway. Why was that important? Jisung didn’t know. He just wanted to stop thinking about Minho’s strong arms.

After collecting firewood and putting down their sleeping mats around a campfire, Jisung collapsed in his makeshift bed and watched the rabbits Seungmin had hunted cook over the fire.

“Going to sleep already?” Chan asked, sitting down next to him.

“No, but I can’t sit like this.” Jisung answered in reference to his sore ass.

“We’ve all been there at least once.” The knight laughed, rummaging through his pack.

“Here, I brought some salve if you want.”

“I’m not going to pull down my pants here.” Jisung immediately objected.

“Yeah, please don’t.” Minho commented as he returned from tending to his horse.

“Nobody wants you to pull down your pants here, Jisung. If you go to the forest to relieve yourself, just take it with you and put it on then. It will help, it’s your mother’s recipe actually.” Chan said, putting the small container on the ground next to him.
Jisung knew it would help if it was his mother’s concoction, she really did make the best medicine.

“Fine, but can we please never talk about my butt ever again?” Jisung grumbled as he slowly got up and took the salve.

Chapter Text

They continued their journey early the next morning.
“Walking sounds kind of nice, right? Just for a bit?” Jisung tried, dreading to go back in the saddle.
“You are welcome to walk but don’t expect us to wait for you.” Minho said, not even looking at him as he guided his horse back to the path.
“Come on, Jisung. We’re almost there.” Chan encouraged him, waiting next to his horse to help him up again.
In the end, Jisung folded and got back on the horse, although he didn’t stop grumbling about it. 

The fields that greeted them when they reached their destination should have looked lushious and plentiful at this time of the year, but they were littered with ravaged patches and smashed vegetables.

When they rode into the small village, an old woman was already there to greet them.
“Noble sirs, did the King send you?” She asked.

Minho dismounted from his horse to talk to her more easily, “He did. I am Minho, I have come with Sirs Chan and Seungmin to aid with your problem.”

The woman’s wrinkly eyes widened, “Oh dear, kind sir, you don’t happen to be the prince, are you?”

Jisung couldn’t help but roll his eyes when Minho laughed bashfully, “The very same, mylady.”

“Oh, please, I am no lady, merely an old woman and the head of this humble village. I am afraid we do not have proper accommodation for someone of your status, your Highness.” She said with a slow bow that obviously hurt her back.

“As long as we have a roof over our heads, it should be fine.” Minho looked back at them for confirmation. Seungmin and Chan nodded quickly as the latter got off of his horse and walked up to Minho and the woman.

“You have this big barn over there, if you don’t mind, we’ll stay in there with our horses.” He suggested.

“Are you sure?” The woman asked.

“We are sure, now, do you want to tell us what is plaguing you?” Chan confirmed.

Seungmin also got off of his horse and handed Jeongin the reins, “Bring them to the barn and feed them.”

Jeongin nodded and looked over at Jisung, “Can you take his Highness’s horse?”

“Uh yeah, sure.” He said, very slowly getting off his own horse, luckily not landing himself in the mud again this time.

Together they led all the horses to the barn, shortly afterwards a young boy joined them, bringing him buckets of water and horse feed. They took off the horses’ saddles and got them settled by the time the knights joined them again.

“The monster seems to be nocturnal. It destroyed the fields and even got a few sheep and a cow, but nobody has gotten a clear view of it. They only know that it’s slightly bigger than a bull.” Chan clued them in.

“Have you ever heard about something like that?” Jisung asked.

“The information we got is too vague unfortunately, we just know it’s big, an omnivore and has huge claws judging from the wounds on the dead cows.” Chan said, petting his horse before settling down on a haystack.

“So don’t get slashed and eaten sounds like a good plan?” Jisung joked, earning him a quiet snort from the prince. He turned around to look at Minho, checking if he heard correctly.
Minho cleared his throat to cover for the noise and sat down with Chan.

“So let’s wait for nightfall.” He changed the subject before anyone could question his laugh.

When the sun was about to set, they split up into two groups to cover the expansive fields surrounding the village. Seungmin and Jeongin were going to watch the animals in case the monster was hungry again while Minho, Chan and Jisung were going to guard the remaining fields, close to the forest.

“Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you stay back in the village?” Minho asked when they made their way to the fields.
He had a point, Jisung wasn’t armed, as far as Minho knew at least, it felt a little stupid that he accompanied them.

“Well, I’m not going to just sit in that barn and wait, not even knowing if y-... if Chan is okay.” Jisung quickly corrected himself. He wanted to be there in case something went horribly wrong and there was need for a magical intervention.

“Fine, but if I tell you to run, you run. No questions asked.” Minho looked at him seriously, his sharp eyes leaving no space to disagree.

“Fine, I will.” Jisung lied.

Minho went ahead slightly, giving Chan and him time to talk quietly.

“You seem to be getting along well.” Chan smiled at him.

“What are you talking about? He’s still insufferable.”

“Not insufferable enough to not joke around with him apparently. Just admit it, you are warming up to him.”

Jisung cursed Chan’s ability to read people.

“Okay, okay, you’re right. He’s not as bad as I originally thought.” He admitted.

A few hours later, the sun had completely vanished behind the horizon, drowning them in darkness.

“Can we at least light a torch or something like that?” Jisung asked, shivering slightly as he yearned for light and warmth.

“The monster might not come if it knows we’re here. So no.” Minho grumbled.

“What if we can’t see it coming?” He argued, “I can barely see you two.”

“You both have a point.” Chan tried to resolve the argument, “Let’s relocate to a place with fewer trees, then the moonlight should be enough.”

“Fine…” They both relented and followed Chan until the older knight suddenly stopped.

“What-” Jisung was interrupted by Chan shushing him.

“Over there.” Chan whispered as he pointed towards the moon enlightened field where it looked like a small mountain was pushed up from the ground. A molehill but gigantic.
Something came out of the mountain, sniffing the air.

“This isn’t good, Jisung, you have to go.” Chan said, drawing his sword. Minho did the same.

He wanted to ask why when an ear-piercing screech cut through the silence.
The dark form of the monster was now barreling towards them. In the moonlight Jisung could make out that it looked vaguely like a bull-sized mole with gigantic bug-like claws and an enormous toothy maw.
They scattered to escape the mole creature’s attack. Minho managed to deliver a cut to it but the monster was hardly bothered by it as it very determinedly went after Jisung.

“Hey!” Minho yelled to get its attention but was completely ignored.

“Why me? What the hell?” Jisung was running for his life, shortly trying to hide behind a tree that was quickly pushed over by the monster.

“Jisung! Come over here!” Chan called out. Jisung’s stamina was quickly running out, so he immediately pivoted towards the knight but was cut off by the monster.

He stumbled backwards, his foot catching on a rock, landing him on the ground.
He had to use his magic, he didn’t want to die. In his mind he went through the spells he learned, trying to think of anything but “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.” as he saw the creature’s claws closing in on him.
He closed his eyes but the slash never came.

“Would you get away instead of just sitting there?” Minho grunted. Jisung opened his eyes to Minho, blocking the claw with his sword, shaking under the strength of the creature.

Before Jisung could get up, the creature’s jaw clamped down on Minho’s shoulder. He screamed in pain as it lifted him up into the air. The prince pulled out a dagger with his free arm and stabbed it where the eyes were supposed to be. The monster shook him before flinging him against a tree. Minho hit the tree with a grunt of pain before falling to the ground limply.

Jisung wanted to check on him, from his position it had looked like the prince had hit his head. What if he was dead? What if he died trying to protect Jisung? Why would he even do that? Minho didn’t even like him!
But the monster was still right in front of him, clearly wanting to get back to his little sorcerer-shaped snack after it was so rudely interrupted.

Chan attacked it from the side, seemingly hitting a weak point as the monster screeched again and retreated enough so that Chan could pull Jisung back to his feet.

“Jisung, you need to get out of here right now.”

“What about Minho, he-”

“No, get out of here, now.” He hadn’t heard Chan’s voice in such a commanding tone until now but Jisung couldn’t leave them like this.

“Let me help, Chan!”

The monster recovered quickly, getting ready to charge at them again.
Chan clearly rang with himself, until he realized they didn’t have a choice.

“Fine, try to immobilize it. I need to get to its belly.”

Chan dashed to the side. The monster ran towards Jisung again until it suddenly sniffed the air and changed its direction to hunt down Chan.

Jisung ran over to Minho to check if he was okay, finding that he was unconscious but breathing. Finally, Jisung had some time to think. He spotted an acorn from the tree Minho had been thrown into and quickly picked it up.
He had only read about the spell he wanted to use, he hadn’t actually practiced it.

He spoke the magical command in the ancient tongue, he felt the magic rush through him, he knew it would work but the monster apparently had suddenly decided to let Chan alone and charge at Jisung again.
Surprised, Jisung dropped the acorn and stumbled back, tripping once again, this time over Minho’s legs.
The monster almost reached him. There was a low rumble as the acorn grew into a mighty oak tree in a blink, knocking over the monster, which landed on its back, struggling to get back up again.
Chan was quick to finish the job as he plunged his sword in the monster’s soft belly, piercing its heart and stopping its movement entirely.

“Jisung? Are you okay?” He helped him up once again, checking for wounds.

“Aside from a few bruises, I’m fine.”
Chan nodded and immediately knelt down to check on the unconscious prince.

“We need to get him back. His armor is dented so heavily, it might have crushed some bones. I can’t see properly, but I think I feel blood in his hair.” He assessed the situation quickly and lifted him off the ground.

Jisung knew Chan was strong but carrying a fully grown, armored man while also wearing armor was something else.
Now that his adrenaline was slowly fading, the only thing Jisung could say was, “He saved me…”

They made it back to the village where one of the young farmers was awaiting their return. He immediately ran to get help when he saw that one of them was unconscious.
They cleared a bed in one of the houses so they could treat Minho’s wounds properly. The wound on the back of his head wasn’t too big, fortunately. Chan cleaned the wound and wrapped it so it would stop bleeding so much.
The prince slowly came to when Chan and Jisung started taking off his armor to look at his arm and chest.

“What… what happened?” He muttered, hissing in pain when they lifted his arm to get the chainmail off.

“You hit your head and passed out.” Chan explained quickly.

“Sorry, this will hurt again.” He wanted him before lifting his arm again to strip him off his clothes and padding under the armor to finally reveal his chest.

Minho whimpered in pain but let Chan just do as he pleased.
His chest and shoulder looked horrible. While the monster luckily couldn’t pierce his armor and padding, his skin was angry red, it would probably turn black and blue in the next few hours.
Chan carefully started to feel around his shoulder, earning him more groans and other pained noises from the prince.

“Can’t you be a little more careful?” He hissed. In that moment, the prince really reminded Jisung of a wounded cat, lashing out but still wanting to be helped.

“I’m really sorry, but I have to check if anything is broken.” Chan said, completely unbothered by the way the prince was talking to him.
“You have a broken clavicle. I can’t find anything else that feels out of the ordinary.” He concluded his quick examination.

“I’ll ask if they have anything to make a sling.” Jisung suggested.

“No, stay here. I’ll do it. Seungmin and Jeongin should also be back soon, I’ll catch them up to speed.” Chan said and left the room.

“Are you okay?” Minho asked when they were alone.

“Are you kidding me? You have a broken bone and you were unconscious for so long! And you’re asking me? Why did you even jump in the way to protect me? That was so stupid!” Jisung rambled off. Of course, he was grateful that Minho saved him from being giant mole food but it just didn’t make sense to him.

“Quiet down a bit… my head is killing me…” Minho complained and Jisung shut up immediately.

“You’re not a fighter. You’re just a stupid civilian who shouldn’t even have been there…” He continued, “I would be a joke of a knight if I didn’t protect you…”
His voice started drifting off slightly. Jisung concluded, he was probably exhausted from the pain.

“Well, thank you… I guess we’re even now…” Jisung said, Minho only answered with an affirmative hum.

“Can you tell me what happened after I passed out?” The prince asked, his voice was a mere whisper.

“I didn’t know part of my job was telling bedtime stories.” He quipped. Minho’s healthy arm moved as if to hit Jisung but he didn’t make much of an effort to reach him.

He sat down next to Minho’s feet.

“The monster left you alone and ran after me. Chan then came in and managed to pierce its skin and then it just kind of collapsed and died.”

“You suck at telling stories…”

“Well then you’ll have to ask Chan next time.”

“I will…” Minho mumbled before his breathing evened out and he fell asleep.

Jisung watched him for a short while, caught up on how gentle his face looked when he was sleeping.

Chan waited for him outside when he finally left Minho.
“How is he?” The knight asked.

“He’s sleeping now, but he doesn’t feel too bad to not criticise my storytelling abilities anymore.”

“Good,” he said with a relieved sigh, “And you’re really okay too?”

“My butt hurts even more than before, and I think I have some scrapes but nothing too bad. Why was that thing even after me so much? It mostly ignored you and Minho…”

“That was a moledrake. They are completely blind but their sense of smell is unparalleled, and they have a taste for magic.”

“What does that mean?”

“Back when there were still more sorcerers around, they were known mage killers. I don’t know how or why, but they could smell magic on a person and something about that made sorcerers especially tasty to them.”

“I didn’t know something like that even existed…”

“Makes sense, they are almost extinct. I’m glad you’re okay, young sorcerers usually don’t survive an encounter with a beast like this.” Chan said, pulling Jisung into a hug, “Your mother would have killed me.”

“Ouch, Chan. You’re killing me right now. Remember all the bruises?” Jisung wheezed out.

The knight quickly let go of him, “I’m sorry.”
“You should also go and rest, the villagers want to give us a cart for our way back tomorrow but it’s still going to be a tiring journey.”

Jisung nodded along, he’s been awake for the whole night, he was definitely ready to sleep for a few hours.

Even before their departure from the village the next day, Minho decided to be difficult as soon as he saw the cart.

“Chan, don’t be ridiculous, I can ride just fine.”

“You can barely stand straight and you are not supposed to move your left arm. You are going in the cart or so help me God.” Chan scolded the prince.

Seungmin and Jeongin were just standing next to them awkwardly, both definitely not in the position to talk to the crown prince like that, even if Seungmin was his friend. They all knew Chan was right, Minho had complained about a headache shortly after he woke up and got periodically so dizzy that he had to hold onto whatever was next to him to stay upright. His left arm was held in a sling now, and Jisung had seen his chest whose left side was completely bruised black and blue this morning when he helped him get dressed. The prince was definitely not in the condition to ride home by himself.
Chan and Minho had argued the whole morning about this, and finally after hours the prince realized that Chan would not budge on this.

“Your Highness, we’ve lined the cart with the softest furs and pillows he could find, please accept this humble gift as thanks for freeing us from this monster.” The old woman who had greeted them originally told him.

“You wouldn’t want their gift to go to waste, right?” Jisung added.

Finally, the prince gave in and let Seungmin help him get on the cart where he sat down, trying to hide a pout but Jisung could see the way his mouth curled into a displeased frown.

They put Jisung’s horse in front of the cart and bound the reins of Minho’s so Chan’s saddle for their way home. Jisung was relieved that he could stay on the cart too and didn’t have to get back on horseback.
Minho managed to keep his bad attitude mostly in check while they were still in the village but as soon as they were far enough away he couldn’t stop letting out an angry huff or short complaint every few minutes.
Jisung almost forgot about the gentle sleeping face or the fact that Minho had saved his life, he was so annoyed with him.
Minho would need his help doing things even more than before, considering one of his arms would be out of commission for a while, but even with his annoyance Jisung didn’t find himself to mind having to spend even more time with him. Deep inside, he felt like they would start getting along at least slightly better from now on.

Chapter Text

When they finally returned to the capital, Minho stubbornly insisted to at least ride into the city on his own horse. Something about not looking weak and beaten, not worrying the citizens. Jisung thought it was ridiculous when he saw how unsteady Minho held himself on horseback. When they passed the gate, the guards threw a few curious looks in their direction, obviously wondering how the prince had gotten hurt. Jisung heard some of them quietly talking to each other.

“Must have been quite the monster for Prince Minho to get hurt.”

“Yeah but he came out on top obviously, that’s our prince.”

“I can’t believe he’s still leading his troupe even though he’s hurt. He really is something.”

It was exactly what Minho had wanted to achieve, Jisung had to admit that it was working. People were admiring him, even if he wasn’t the one to slay the monster.
Chan helped Minho get off the horse when they got to the courtyard, only to be pushed aside by Felix who’d stormed into the yard as soon as he’d spotted them from the window.

“Min! What happened? Are you hurt?” The younger prince asked worriedly.

“I’m fine, Lix. Don’t worry. Just a broken bone and a small bump on my head, it will heal in no time.”

“I’m sorry, I fear this is my fault…” Jisung said sheepishly, looking at Felix.

“It’s not, idiot.” Minho interrupted him, “I told you, it’s my job as a knight to protect morons like you.”

“You both sound like idiots…” Seungmin muttered as he led his horse away to the stables.

Felix turned to Jisung, “Don’t blame yourself that my brother got hurt. But, I hope you know that I am holding you personally responsible for nursing him back to health.” He declared.

Jisung thought that it was part of his job anyway so he just nodded dumbly.

“I don’t need any nursing, Lix. Just because I can’t use my left arm, I’m not- ahhh…” Minho interrupted himself as he accidentally moved his arm and couldn’t suppress a groan of pain.

“I don’t want to hear it. Chan can probably report everything to Father. You’re going to bed. Jisung? Can you pick up a tincture against the pain from the physician?” Felix took over command.
None of them dared to object when they saw the determined look in the prince’s eyes as he helped his brother back to his room.

After dropping by the physician, Jisung found Minho and Felix in the older prince’s chambers.

“I don’t need to rest, I’m not tired, Felix.” Minho complained as Felix pushed him to lie down in his bed.

“Chan said you hit your head, you need to rest until you feel better.” The younger prince insisted as he pulled the blanket over him.

“Ah Jisung, there you are. Make sure he stays in bed and drinks a lot of water. Did you get the pain remedy?”

Jisung held up the little bottle the physician had given him.

“He’s my servant, you can’t tell him what to do, Lix.”

“And by now I know Jisung well enough that I know he also won’t do what you tell him to if you’re an idiot.”
Felix wasn’t wrong, Jisung was constantly questioning Minho’s orders if he didn’t like them.

“I’d rather listen to Felix, he’s a lot nicer than your Royal Grumpiness.” He agreed.

“See? I’ll go get my things, I’ll sleep here tonight. Take your medicine!” Felix declared before rushing out of the room.

Jisung went up to the bed where Minho tried to get up again, accidentally putting weight on his hurt shoulder and immediately crumpling under the pain.

“You should listen to Felix.” Jisung said as he put a few drops of the medicine on a spoon.

The prince eyed the tincture warily.
“What is it?” He asked.

“It’s made from poppy seeds.” Jisung explained, he knew a little bit about herbal medicines from his mother.

“I don’t want it then.” Minho turned his head away.

Jisung suppressed an annoyed sigh, “Seriously?”

“I don’t like it…”

“You have to be kidding me… What, should I mix it into some juice so you don’t have to taste it?”

“It’s not the taste… It makes me woozy.”

“And?”

It took Minho a second to answer. Jisung could see his ear turning red slightly.

“It’s embarrassing.” He mumbled.

“I literally wash your dirty underwear, you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about with me.”

Minho seemingly couldn’t argue with that, though his whole head started turning red.
“Fine…”

Jisung held the spoon to his mouth and Minho quickly swallowed the medicine, cringing at the taste shortly.
“See? That wasn’t so bad. Now relax, I’ll go down to the kitchens and get you and Felix something to eat.”

When Jisung returned with the food around half an hour later, Felix was back sitting on the bed next to Minho, catching him up on what they’d missed in the few days they were gone.
Minho was visibly calmer, really bundled up in his blanket and pillow, blinking tiredly as he listened to Felix. The medicine had clearly taken effect by now.

“Dinnertime.” Jisung announced when he handed Felix his plate and put Minho’s down on the older prince’s lap.

“Thank you, Jisung.” Felix said with a beaming smile before starting to eat.

“Not hungry…” Minho slurred as he poked at the piece of meat on his plate.

“Min, you have to eat, or you won’t heal properly. When did you last have a meal?” Felix directed the question at Jisung.

“He had some bread and dried meat before we packed up this morning.”

“That’s not enough. Now eat at least a little bit, Min. Where is your plate, Jisung?”

“Oh, I can eat with Chan later…”

“No, this won’t do.” Felix said, putting his plate down, “I’ll be back.”

The younger prince stood up and a second later he was already out of the room.
Jisung started watching Minho while Felix was gone, taking embarrassingly long to realize why the prince was only poking at his food. He couldn’t cut his meat with only one arm but wasn’t saying anything.
With another sigh, Jisung took Minho’s plate and started cutting up everything in tiny pieces.

“Here, now eat something.” He said when he returned the food to him.

“Feed me.” The prince demanded.

“What.”

“Feed me… I’m hurt…” Minho whined. Jisung hadn’t seen the prince like that before. His mother had told him once “Drunk words are sober thoughts” and wondered if that also applied to being slightly intoxicated by poppy seed medicine. Jisung wanted to make some sarcastic comment about Minho still having one working arm and that he could feed himself, but he had to admit that the prince was a bit adorable like this. He didn’t whine and demand things just to annoy him like he usually did, he was being honest right now.

So Jisung picked up a fork and picked up a piece of meat to hold it up to Minho’s mouth for him to eat.
The prince’s eyes were hazy as he chewed, swallowed and opened his mouth for the next piece, which Jisung quickly gave him.

“You’re so nice…” Minho slurred after eating about half his meal. His eyelids were dropping, he looked like he would fall asleep any second.
Felix finally returned with another plate that he handed to Jisung.

“Here, for you.” He said.

“Yours is probably cold now, you should take this one.” Jisung tried to switch his plate with Felix’s.

“Don’t be silly and eat.” Felix insisted before checking on his brother again.

“Are you tired, Min?”

“Yeah… Did I eat enough?”

Felix eyed the plate shortly before nodding, “It’s better than nothing. Lie down and sleep a bit.”

Minho followed what Felix told him and got more comfortable under his blanket as Jisung put his plate away.

“Are you going to stay?” He asked tiredly.

“Of course, I told you I would sleep here tonight.”

“And Jisung?” Minho’s voice was so quiet that Jisung almost didn’t hear him.

Felix looked at him questioningly, so he would answer Minho.

“Umm, sure. I’ll stay.”

He wasn’t even sure if Minho had heard his answer as he didn’t answer him anymore.

“There is poppy in the medicine, right?” Felix asked when they were sure that Minho was completely out.

“Yes, why?”

“Minho always reacts pretty strongly to poppy, even if it’s just a little dose. But it’s the best pain remedy the physician has.”

“You sound like you know your way around the physician’s medicine closet.”

“Not really, just the painkillers. I told you I get headaches frequently so I’ve tried out a lot of things but not many can help. Poppy helps me but I get headaches so often that I can’t take it every time. I tried to deal with them without it, so the physician gave me a sleeping draught. Sleep also helps and the draught isn’t as strong as poppy, so I can take it more often.”

“I’m sorry, that sounds horrible.”

“I got used to it, don’t worry about me.” Felix smiled at him.

Jisung briefly wondered how someone who was constantly in pain could be so happy and sweet. He also couldn’t help but feel for the younger prince. His problem was caused by magic slumbering deep inside of him, maybe if he knew and learned how to control it, the headaches would stop. But Chan had made him promise to never tell a soul about Felix’s magic and Jisung understood why. It would all lead to a chain reaction revealing the prince’s true origins and the truth would probably bring nothing but despair to him. It was simply not his place to decide to tell him.

“You make it very hard not to worry, you are probably the nicest person alive.” Jisung laughed slightly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, there are probably nicer people.” Felix’s face flushed slightly.

“Okay, okay maybe. But you are probably the nicest prince alive.” Jisung corrected himself, not able to keep himself from slowly glancing over to Minho’s sleeping form. The ‘compared to your brother’ was left unsaid.

Felix noticed his glance, “I don’t really know a lot of princes aside from my brother to be honest, but you underestimate him, Jisung. My brother can be a bit prickly but deep down he always means well.”

“I guess he did save my life but out of some sense of knightly duty at least…”

“You know, sometimes you’re pretty dumb.” Felix laughed.

Jisung didn’t really know what that meant but before he could ask he was interrupted by some incoherent mumbling. He froze, thinking Minho had woken up and heard that they were talking about him.
“Don’t worry, Min sometimes talks in his sleep, always has.” Felix said, calming his nerves.

“We had a lot of sleepovers when we were younger, I used to sneak into his room and hide under the blankets during thunderstorms. And then he’d cuddle me until I fell asleep again. We haven’t done this since before he started his squireship under Chan, and now as a knight and crown prince he’s even more busy. We’ll have to catch up on all of the sleepovers we missed now that he has to stay inside and heal anyway.” The younger prince grimaced, “That sounds so horribly selfish… I hope you know I don’t mean it like that. I just mean that we can make the best out of this situation.”

Jisung shook his head, “It’s okay, I know you’re not happy your brother got hurt.”

There was a short awkward silence until Felix piped up again to change the subject, “Do you want to play cards?”

Jisung stayed with Felix until way after sundown in case Minho woke up again but the older prince luckily slept soundly.
Felix offered him to stay with them overnight but Jisung politely declined as there was no place for him to sleep and he immediately shot Felix’s idea down to join them in Minho’s massive bed, so he returned back to Chan’s house in the middle of the night and went to sleep.

When Jisung returned with breakfast to the princes the next morning, Minho, as usual, was already awake, though today he at least was still lying in bed as Felix had apparently wrapped himself around him like an octopus in his sleep.
Minho tried motioning to him to be quiet but his movements were incredibly restricted by not only his injury but also his brother. While Jisung still understood what he wanted to tell him, he already came in later than usual today and the food was going to get cold.
He slowly went over to the window to open the curtains as Minho shook his head. But Jisung wouldn’t be Jisung if he just did what the prince wanted.
As soon as light filled the room, the younger prince groaned and sleepily opened his eyes.
He grumbled something that sounded vaguely like “Don’ wanna, go ‘way.” There might even have been a curse word in there but Jisung couldn’t imagine a word like that leaving Felix’s mouth.

“It’s okay, Lix, you can sleep a bit longer.” Minho said, petting his younger brother’s head.

“Close the curtains, Jisung. You heard my brother.” He hissed.

Jisung didn’t expect Felix to be such a grump in the morning, especially since Minho always rose so early. He closed the curtains again and then just stood there for a second, wondering what he was supposed to do if he wasn’t allowed to wake Felix up.

“I need to send a few messages, go get someone who can write something down for me.” Minho whispered.

“What, is it something secret I’m not supposed to read?” Jisung asked.

Minho looked at him, furrowing his brows as he tried to figure out what Jisung meant.

“Since… you don’t want me to write down your messages?”

Minho blinked, “Aren’t you still learning how to read and write from Chan?”

Jisung stared at him for a second, “I know how to read… Wait, I’ve been working for months now and you didn’t realize I can read?”

“It’s not like I gave you any tasks that required you to.” Minho defended himself, earning him another groan from Felix saying “Shut up…”

Minho lowered his voice again, “Wait then what is Chan teaching you?”

Jisung didn’t know what to say at first so he decided to deflect, “Well nothing much anymore, I’m too busy cleaning after you.”

Felix was shifting again, letting go of Minho and pulling the pillow over his head to drown out their voices.

“Sorry, Lix.” Minho whispered as he carefully got out of bed.
He was clearly still a bit dizzy but slowly made his way to the adjacent room where Jisung had put the breakfast on the table. Jisung followed him quickly.

“So what do you want me to write?” He asked after collecting paper and writing materials from Minho’s desk.

“Well, first. What is that?” Minho pointed at the bowl with his breakfast.

“Hm? It’s porridge. I thought you’d probably want something you can eat with one hand and don’t have to cut. What, are you going to complain?”

“No, it’s just… nothing… I didn’t expect you to think about that.”

“So, your messages?”

Minho started dictating his letters between bites of porridge.
First was a message to the physician about getting medication that didn’t include poppy seeds, then was a message to the King about what transpired with the monster and lastly a request for the blacksmith to fix his armor.
Jisung put everything away again.

“Anything else?” He asked before opening the door to go on his way and deliver the letters.

“Just… Did you feed me yesterday? I don’t know if that actually happened or if I was just high…” The prince’s ears were flushing red again.

“I did. Let me guess, you don’t want me to tell anyone?”

“I would appreciate that…”

“Of course.”

After delivering all the letters, Jisung returned to Minho’s chambers where he only found Felix sleepily sitting at the table and eating his own breakfast.

“Morning, Jisung…” He mumbled when he saw the sorcerer. It was already past noon but who was Jisung to judge?

“Morning, did you sleep well?” He asked.

“No… weird dreams… kept me up late…” The prince grumbled and stuffed his face with more food.

“Oh, do you want to talk about it?” Jisung asked carefully, wondering if it was something prophetic again.

“Can’t remember, felt strange though…”

Jisung presumed that he should have expected that already but it’d been worth a try.
“Where is Minho?”

“Went to pee.”
Felix really was surprisingly untalkative shortly after waking up, so Jisung didn’t press him any more.
He watched as the prince screwed his eyes shut and held the side of his head.

“Are you okay?” He asked, just to be sure.

“Head hurts again… Feel nauseous.”

“Should I get you something? Medicine? A bucket?”

“No, it’s okay. Manageable.”

Jisung nodded but kept a close eye on the prince until Minho finally returned.
“Oh, you’re back.” He greeted Jisung as he sat down on the chair opposite to Felix.

“Yes, the physician will mix up something else to help you sleep at night but says you should still take the original medicine when the pain gets too bad. The King wants to see you tomorrow morning. And the blacksmith said he’ll get to work on your armor right away but it will take a few days.”

“It’s not like I can wear it like this, he can take his time.”

Felix got up, his chair loudly screeching over the floor, catching both of their attention.
“I’m going back to bed…” He grumbled before quickly disappearing back in Minho’s bedroom.

“Lix, what-?” Minho wanted to get up and follow him but Jisung motioned for him to sit down again.

“He said he has a headache, he’ll sleep it off.” He explained quickly.

“Oh… and he doesn’t need anything?” Minho asked worriedly.

“I think he’ll say something if he needs help but for now we can’t do anything, maybe he just needs some silence.”

Minho sighed, “I hate that I can’t do anything about these cursed headaches. He’s had them for so many years now.”

“I know, he told me about them a while ago.”

“You two are… close, right? Would you say you’re friends?” Minho asked, his voice soft and calm but the question still startled Jisung.

“I mean, yes? I think we’re friends.”

“Thank you… for being his friend. We both never had a lot being princes and all but I at least had my fellow knights. You treat him like a normal person, not royalty. You’re… probably not the worst person to be his friend.”

“Watch it, your Highness , you almost sound like you like me.” Jisung quipped, grinning slightly.

Chapter Text

Jisung could have done without another major crisis until Minho was completely recovered but of course things started to pile up now.
It started with a few servants around the castle sniffling and coughing on such a regular basis that Jisung actually took notice but he didn’t think much of it. Back home his mother had always been the busiest at this time of year as the trees started blooming and a lot of people needed medicine to help them with stuffy noses and scratchy throats.
When the first person in town collapsed with a high fever, it didn’t garner that much attention, people got sick from time to time and that poor man had caught it bad.
Then more people got sick, not just in the capital, the heads of nearby villages had come to seek audience and help from the King.
Finally, when the court physician took a closer look at one of the sick maids, the situation turned really serious. A strange mark had appeared on the back of the girl’s neck, a coiled snake. The physician came to the conclusion that the illness was not caused by natural means but magic.

It went from people coughing, to fever, to the first dropping dead quicker than anyone would have thought.
Minho had to attend many meetings with his father and his advisors, and with Minho attending Jisung was forced to also listen in to the nobles talking in circles while also keeping Minho’s cup filled.

“We need to organize quarantine zones, so this sickness won’t spread even further.” Minho suggested in one of those meetings.

“It’s a wasted effort, most are already sick. Instead we should keep the castle free of this disease.” Some lord whose name Jisung didn’t even remember shook his head.

“We don’t know how many townspeople are infected, there might be more healthy people than you think.” Chan interjected, “I think his Highness’s quarantine idea is worth considering.”

“No, we’ll close off the palace, we can’t risk magic entering these halls.” The King decided.

It took Jisung’s whole willpower to not roll his eyes. ‘Too late for that, old man’ , he thought.

“Father, the townspeople are dying. We can’t just hide from this illness.” Minho argued.

The King silenced him with a stare, “Chan, have you found the cause yet?”

“No, Sire. We don’t even know yet if it is a curse or a magically inflicted disease.”

“The difference being?”

“A curse would be anchored to a person or item. If we destroy the anchor, the curse is lifted. A disease caused by magic can be cured with medicine unique to the illness.” He explained carefully. The King knew about Chan’s past as a sorcerer’s apprentice and relied on his knowledge on the subject. Jisung was still wondering how Chan had managed to still win the King’s trust. Considering he was currently harboring a sorcerer and the King was none the wiser, it was a little scary how well Chan could keep secrets.

“How will we find out?”

“If you’ll allow me, I’d want to take some knights and look for an anchor. The physician can experiment with plants to potentially formulate a cure.”

The King nodded, “Take as many as you need, but Minho will stay at the castle.”

“Father!” Minho complained, “I am a knight too.”

“You are still injured, son. And you are not a mere knight, you are also the crown prince. Now, if you can’t sit still and listen, you should go back to your chambers and rest. Keep your brother company.”

Minho stood up with a huff and stormed out the room, Jisung quickly following behind.

“Unbelievable. He is always preaching to me about serving the people. I swore my oath as a knight before I was crowned, and now he’s keeping me from actually helping.” He grumbled on his way back.

“I mean, you are still injured…”Jisung commented.

“Not you too, Jisung. Whose side are you on?”

“Yours, of course. Sorry, that was stupid.”

“Sure, I can’t wear armor or swing a sword currently, but I can still help look for this anchor thing!”

“So, you’re going right?” Jisung asked, wondering why Minho was still complaining.

“Obviously.”

“Chan won’t allow you to come with him.” He reminded him.

“Then we’ll go alone.”

“Who says I’ll come with you?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to?” Minho raised an eyebrow at him.

Jisung grinned, after these few months Minho knew him pretty well, “No, I’ll come.”

They waited until night had fallen, when the guards were due for a shift change. They quietly left Minho’s chambers and the prince led him to a hidden passageway in an older part of the castle.

“A few hundred years ago this was an emergency exit for the royal family. There was an earthquake that damaged this part of the castle so badly that it was just abandoned.” He explained in a hushed tone when he saw that Jisung was looking around curiously in the dark.

“It looks like it’s going to collapse any second.”

“It’s been like that for as long as I can remember and nothing has happened yet, so I think it should be safe.” Minho said as he held out a torch towards Jisung so he would light it.

“I can’t wait for your arm to be healed, you know I suck at making fire…” Jisung commented, taking out a flint stone and Minho’s trusty dagger. He wished he could just use magic to do it but in front of Minho that was out of the question.

“Believe me, I want to heal even faster when I see you try to make a fire. It’s painful to watch.”

“I can help.” A new voice suddenly offered, making them both flinch and turn towards the newcomer.

“Felix, what are you doing here?” Minho asked incredulously.

“I could ask you the same. I heard you were not allowed to go out.” The younger prince said as he took the fire-making tools from Jisung and lit the torch with one swift strike.

“You should go back to bed, you could get sick if you come with us.” Minho insisted.

Felix just looked at him with a stubborn expression, “And you can’t? I don’t want to sit around while you and Jisung go out to save the day. I’m also a prince of this kingdom, I also want to help people for once.”

“This is… Felix you know you shouldn’t… I mean…” Minho struggled to find the right words for what he wanted to say.

Felix quickly interrupted him, “Because I’m the poor little second prince, too frail to actually do anything to help. I’m fine, Minho. I had a good day. No pain, no dizziness, nothing. And if anything happens, I’ll go back immediately.”

“I can go with him if it comes to that.” Jisung offered.

“Ugh, fine. But you stay behind me and Jisung at all times.”

“Because a one-armed knight and a servant are the best line of defense.” Felix joked with an eye roll until he saw Minho’s serious expression, “Okay okay, I’ll stay behind you two…”

“Good, let’s go.” The older prince held up his torch and led the way.

“So what exactly are we looking for?” Felix asked when they exited the secret passage and found themselves in a dark corner of the courtyard, shielded by a few statues.

“Chan said to affect the whole town, a cursed anchor has to be placed in a public place with a lot of significance to a lot of people.” Jisung said.

“When did he say that?” Minho looked at him, confused. Chan hadn’t actually told him that, He’d read it in the spellbook.

“Umm, I live with him. He obviously talks to me. He probably told the council too after we left…” He quickly tried to cover up his mistake.

Minho nodded shortly at the explanation, but still looked a bit confused.

“So like the marketplace maybe?” Felix suggested.

Jisung shrugged, “Could be a good start.”

“And what does an anchor look like?” Felix continued his questions.

“Well, it can be an object, or a person apparently,” Minho explained, “But other than that… I don’t know.”

“So, you sneaked out of the castle and don’t actually know what you’re looking for?”

“If you say it like that, it sounds like we’re stupid.” Jisung laughed awkwardly.

“I didn’t say that, it’s just… you know…”

“It probably looks… magical… evil, you know…” Minho stammered.

Jisung cringed a bit at the fact that ‘magic’ apparently also meant ‘evil’ in Minho’s book but he guessed in this circumstance it wasn’t really wrong.

“I fear for the future of our kingdom if this is how you make plans, Min…”

“I usually make better plans, right Jisung?”

“I mean, now that I think about it… When we were hunting the moledrake, your plan was just to walk around and wait for it to show up…”

“That was… I mean what else were we supposed to do? Chan didn’t object to it.”

“It worked, Chan probably knew it would work. But he would have probably set a trap or something like that…”

“Oh, anyone could say that now.”

“Stop bickering, you two.” Felix interrupted them.
The younger prince pushed them to start walking, “So, we’ll start at the marketplace and just look for something out of place.”

Luckily, in the middle of the night way past the curfew the King had put up a few days ago, not many people were around to disturb them in their mission. The only people they needed to look out for were Chan and the guards but at the moment they were nowhere to be seen.
Felix pointed to the large fountain in the middle of the marketplace, “If I were to place an evil artifact somewhere, I’d put it in there.”
They took a closer look at the large stone structure. Jisung took the torch from Minho so the prince could look for any secret hiding spots.
Minho even jumped into the water to look at the basins that were too high to look into from the ground.

“What are you kids doing there?” A gruff voice asked from one of the buildings surrounding the marketplace.
Jisung lifted the torch to reveal an older man, stomping towards them.

“Are you messing with the well? Don’t you have anything better to do in these hard times?” The man started ranting until Minho took a step towards him.

“Please lower your voice, I can assure you we are not here to cause trouble.” He said, lifting his good arm in a placating manner.

“Anyone could say that! Who-” The man was interrupted by a coughing fit so heavy that it almost brought him to his knees.

“Are you okay?” Felix asked and ran up to the man.

“Felix, don’t-” Minho wanted to reach out to his brother to keep him away from the coughing man but the younger prince had passed him on his left so his injured arm got in the way.
Felix slowly rubbed the man’s back as he helped him get back up.

“Felix?” The man asked, taking a good look at the young man who was helping him.

“You are… Prince Felix? And you?” He looked at Minho again, “Prince Minho! I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize you in the dark.” He quickly apologized.

“Please go back to your home and rest. Don’t worry about us being here, okay?” Felix slowly started guiding him back to where he came from.

“I am unbelievably sorry, your Highnesses. I-” He was coughing again.

“It’s okay, we scared you. No need to apologize. Go back to bed and rest. You look very sick.”

As soon as the door was closed and Felix returned to them, Minho slung his arm around him.

“Are you crazy? We are investigating a mysterious illness and you get that close to a sick man?” He chastised him.

“He almost collapsed right in front of us. Somebody had to help him.”

While the two of them were quietly arguing, Jisung heard footsteps approaching them.

“There was someone yelling over there, Sir. I am sure of it.” He heard someone say.

“Someone is coming. We need to go.” Jisung hissed as he pulled at Minho’s arm.

The princes snapped out of it and looked in the direction of the noises.
“Okay, go. Over there into the alley.” Minho decided and herded towards their hiding spot, he took the torch from Jisung and dumped it into the fountain to extinguish the flame.

“Over there! I think I saw someone!” Another voice exclaimed.

“Go look who it is.” Chan’s familiar voice commanded whoever was with him.

Minho grabbed Jisung by the shoulders, “Take Felix back to the castle. I’m going to stay behind.”

“What? Shouldn’t I stay behind? I wasn’t personally told to not leave the castle.” Jisung argued.

“There is a curfew, idiot. You aren’t allowed to be out here as much as I am. You being here would only be suspicious.”
He had a point, in the end Minho was still crown prince, he would probably not be punished severely if he even was punished at all.

“Are you sure, Min?”

“Just go, you two.”
Minho waited until they were both hidden further down in the alley before he stepped out of it, startling the two guards.
Felix and Jisung listened to an exhausted sounding Chan scolding Minho for being here.

“Jisung? Are you here too?” Chan called out into the alley where Jisung and Felix pressed themselves even further into their hiding place.
The knight groaned in annoyance, “He better be in his bed when I return later…”
He gave a few more orders to the guards before personally leading Minho away.

They waited a while longer before Jisung got up to see if they were safe to leave.

“Okay, let’s go.” Jisung said but Felix didn’t answer.
He looked back at the prince who was just staring into nothing.
“Oh no, no not again. Felix?” He knelt down to take a closer look at him. Even in this darkness, Jisung could see the subtle golden shimmer in his eyes.
He slowly reached out to him to take his hand.
As soon as their hands touched, Felix grabbed his in an iron grip, looking at him with pure despair filling his golden eyes.

A puppet brought from foreign lands
With strings pulled on by vengeful hands.
When sun is dimmed and trust is failed,
There comes an end to magic’s lie.
When what was hidden is unveiled,
Know, dead will live and love shall die.

Felix’s eyes rolled back as he slumped forward.
Jisung didn’t have time to process the meaning of the ominous words. The grip on Jisung’s hand loosened as he lost consciousness.

“Felix, Felix, wake up.” Jisung whispered, shaking the prince carefully.

His face scrunched up a bit but his eyes didn’t open.
While Felix wasn’t the tallest, or most muscular, man, he was still too heavy for Jisung to carry. Someone like Chan or Minho could probably pick him up with one arm but Jisung struggled to barely get him on his back. His legs shook beneath him as he pushed himself up. He hadn’t even gotten used to the weight of Minho’s armor, he was glad that he didn’t have to carry it around in the last few weeks since the prince couldn’t wear it anyway, and Felix’s dead weight felt a lot heavier than that.
Slowly, he carried Felix out of the alley and back towards the entrance of the secret passageway when the prince luckily stirred on his back.

“Minho?” He muttered sleepily.

“Nope, sorry. Just me.” Jisung said through gritted teeth, struggling not to lose his balance as the prince on his back started to move.

“Jisung? Can you let me down?”

“Gladly, but can you stand?”

“I think so…”
Jisung leaned against a wall so he didn’t just collapse when he let Felix off of his back.

“What happened?” The prince asked, holding his head.
Jisung took the few seconds he needed to catch his breath to think about what to tell him.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“We hid in the alley, and Channie called out for you. You pulled me a bit closer to stay hidden… and I don’t know was there someone else? I remember a young man with long, blonde hair…”

“There was nobody but us.” Jisung said, wondering if Felix was remembering something from his vision.

“Oh… maybe I just dreamt it…”

Felix still looked a bit disoriented and ready to just fall into his bed to sleep for at least 12 hours.

“We’re almost back, let’s go back to your room.” Jisung suggested.

“Of course, yes…” Felix carefully held onto Jisung’s arm for stability as they walked back to his chambers.

Luckily, there were no more obstacles on their way, Jisung was glad when they finally reached the prince’s door.

“Jisung? Can you promise me something?” He asked before entering his chambers.

“What is it?”

“Please don’t tell Min that I collapsed again. He would just blame himself for letting me come with you.”

Jisung didn’t know if that was a good idea, “What if you get worse?”

“I won’t. Trust me. Minho knowing would just lead to him worrying about something he can’t control anyway.”

“Fine, okay. I won’t tell him.”

“Thank you… Good night, Jisungie.” Felix yawned as he disappeared behind the door.

Jisung stood there for a second, hung up on the nickname but in the end he couldn’t help but smile.
Minho had asked him if he and Felix were friends and by now it really felt like it.

Chapter Text

He’d somehow made it home before Chan so when he came to check on him, he was already in bed and didn’t have to explain where he went. He thought about telling Chan about Felix’s vision but then he would have to explain why he’d been with Felix, and why he'd let Minho go to town alone, and then it would all just lead to him finding out he’d been there too and Jisung didn’t want another scolding.
The next morning, Jisung returned to the castle as early as possible, picking up breakfast from the kitchen and quickly making his way to Minho.
When he ascended the stairs to get to Minho’s chambers he was greeted by a guard posted in front of the door.

“Morning.” The guard said, stepping aside to let Jisung in.
He nodded in reply and entered the room.
Minho was, again, already up when Jisung put the breakfast down on the table.

“There you are, you weren’t seen last night, right?” Minho asked before even greeting him.

“We weren’t, I don’t think I would be here and Felix would probably also have a guard in front of his door.”

“Ugh, can you believe it? Father was furious and is now confining me to my chambers! I’m 21 and he’s treating me like a child.” Minho complained as he sat down in front of his breakfast.

“I thought being crown prince would give you more… I don’t know freedom? Like nobody gets to tell you what to do…”

Minho let out a short laugh, “Well nobody but the king… honestly, I had more freedom before my coronation.”

He cleared his throat shortly and Jisung quickly filled his cup with water from a pitcher when he reached for it. Minho nodded appreciatively and took a sip of water.

“Did anything else happen after I left?” He asked.

“No, nothing at all…” Jisung said, maybe a bit too quickly when he thought about carrying Felix back to the castle. Now, he remembered that chilling prophecy Felix had delivered yesterday. This one was way more vague and ominous than the one about the poisoned chalice.

“You’re a terrible liar, I can practically hear you thinking.”

‘If you only knew… ’ Jisung thought.

“There was a dog that chased us on our way back… Gave us quite the scare…” He lied, hopefully a bit better than before.

“But you two are good right? Nobody got hurt?”

His arms and legs were still a bit sore from carrying Felix through half the city but he just shook his head.

“Nobody got hurt.” He repeated what Minho said to confirm.

“Thank you for watching out for Felix, I owe you something.”

“I just did my job. Remember? You tell me to do something and I do it. Saving your royal ass is one of my daily tasks.”

“I saved your ass a few weeks ago, don’t get too cocky.” Minho laughed and continued eating his breakfast.

“I don’t know, what are you going to do about it? I might just tell all the servants that you’re helpless as a baby without me.”

Minho rolled his eyes, “Nobody would believe you.”

“Are you sure?” Jisung grinned. Minho halted and stared at him for a second, evaluating if he was serious.

Jisung meanwhile eyes some of the contents of the prince’s breakfast.

“You could buy my guaranteed silence though.” He suggested with a grin.

Minho followed his gaze and let out an amused huff as he picked up the fresh grapes.
“You really are getting cocky, extorting something from a prince like that.”

He placed the grapes on a second smaller plate and pushed it towards Jisung.

“Maybe, but you like it when I talk to you like that. It’s part of my charm.” He grabbed the plate and popped one of the grapes in his mouth. Grapes weren’t really in season right now but somehow Minho still got the sweetest fruits delivered to him.

Minho mumbled something Jisung didn’t quite catch, something that sounded like “You’re lucky you’re—” but he refused to repeat himself after Jisung asked.

It took all of half a day before Minho got bored cooped up in his chambers.
Even with a broken clavicle, he could at least take a walk outside, but now he wasn’t even allowed to do that.

“Do you want to play cards?” Jisung suggested but Minho just sighed and brought up that he couldn’t play properly with only one hand.
“A book?” Jisung asked but Minho didn’t feel like reading.
“I could go get Felix?”

Minho agreed to that but when Jisung went and knocked on the younger prince’s door his servant opened and informed him that his headache had returned that morning so he was sleeping at the moment.
Jisung returned to Minho with the bad news and the prince just answered with a sigh.

“Tell me more about yourself.” Minho prompted after a while of just sitting around.

“You want to know something about me? Why?” Jisung asked while he was folding clothes. If Minho was following his usual routine, Jisung would be alone right now and wouldn’t have to do this by hand, but he was stuck like this for now.

“You’ve been with me for what? Half a year? And I realized that I don’t know that much about you.”

“And now you’re bored enough to ask?” Jisung didn’t want it to sound as rude as it did. But Minho just raised his head and lifted his eyebrow like he did so often when Jisung said something impudent.

“You know, if you don’t want to talk about it, you could just say that.”

“No, sorry, it’s okay. What do you want to know?”

“Where did you grow up?”

“Oh, it’s a small village near the sea to the east. You probably wouldn’t even know it if I told you the name…”

“Try me.” Minho said with a competitive spark in his eyes.

After Jisung told him the name, Minho blinked for a second, “Of course I know it.”

Jisung eyed him suspiciously, “Oh really? Did you visit the fort on the hill near the village?”

“Exactly, the earl there is a good friend of my father.”

Jisung couldn’t keep in his laughter, “You liar, there is no fort on a hill. You have no idea where I’m from.”

“Hey, you are still speaking to your future King.” Minho scolded him lightly, clearly not serious.

“Am I? All I see is a lying prince.”

“You are so infuriating.”

“Are you sure your heart beats that fast because of anger?”
Jisung didn’t even know why he said it but as soon as he realized, his eyes widened and he could feel his head heating up.
Minho looked at him equally surprised.

“Um, I’ll just bring the empty plates back to the kitchen…” Jisung said quickly and slipped out of the room.
It was stupid but he just liked to rile Minho up a bit. He wanted to be slightly infuriating, because the way the prince raised just one eyebrow and stared at him with those dark, piercing eyes was one of the most beautiful interesting things he’d ever seen. And his surprised look just now, his eyes wider and small mouth slightly open, it was seared into his mind.
He convinced himself that his comment was just another way to get a reaction out of the prince. Just because it was so fun to try to get a reaction out of this perfect person.

When Jisung returned a while later, Minho luckily didn’t mention his comment again. The prince had settled on an armchair near the window and taken to read a book after all and Jisung didn’t dare to interrupt him like this so he just started cleaning up.
The silence between them was only disturbed by Minho clearing his throat from time to time.

“Can you get me something to drink? The water’s empty…” The prince spoke up after a while again.

“Is everything alright? Is your throat scratchy?” Jisung asked carefully.

“Just a little, don’t worry. I’m not sick.” Minho assured him but Jisung was still suspicious.

“Don’t look at me like that, I barely talked to that man last night and stood a few paces away from him. I’m not sick.” Minho repeated.

“Okay, okay, I’ll get you some honey and sage tea, just in case.”

“Could you also go check on Felix? He came really close to that man yesterday…”

“Of course.”

Jisung took the water pitcher and made his way to fetch some water and pick up honey and sage.
On his way back, he made another attempt to visit the younger prince, but yet again a servant opened the door.

“His Highness needs sleep. You can come back tomorrow, he often feels better after a day of rest.” The young man assured him.

“Sorry, but… he’s not sick right?”

“Are you worried he caught this mystery plague? How would he? He hasn’t left the castle since all of this started.”

“I know, just. He’s not coughing, right? No fever?”

“No, it’s just his usual headache.”

“Okay, thank you. I’ll tell Prince Minho. He is worried.”

The servant nodded, “I will tell his Highness that his brother thinks of him.”

With that, the young man closed the door again and Jisung was on his way back to Minho to bring him his tea.

A day later, when Jisung entered the prince’s chambers it was surprisingly dark in there. Usually, Minho was up before Jisung got to him. His chambers were positioned perfectly so that the morning sun lit up every corner but today the curtains were still drawn.
Jisung put the breakfast down on the table. Before he could open the bedroom door, he already heard heavy coughs sounding from inside.
He cursed under his breath as he slowly opened the door, revealing Minho still in bed.

“Good morning?” He greeted him carefully.
Minho just answered with a pained groan.

Jisung grabbed a piece of cloth, a scarf, from Minho’s dresser and tied it over his mouth and nose before he went up to the prince.
Sweat clung to his brow, his blanket was halfway discarded as if he couldn’t decide if he was hot or cold. Minho coughed again, wincing as the motion hurt his broken bone.
Jisung carefully put his hand on Minho’s forehead and immediately noticed how hot he felt. The prince leaned into his cool touch as he slowly opened his eyes.

“I guess I was sick after all…” He rasped out.

“No shit. When did the fever start?”

“Few hours ago…”

“Can you move your head to the side?” Jisung asked.

Minho nodded and did as he said. Jisung quickly checked the back of his neck and found the dreaded mark of the magical disease, a coiled snake.
He cursed again as he quickly took a few steps back.

Minho looked at him with exhaustion in his eyes, “Is it bad?”

Jisung didn’t know what to say. It was indeed bad that Minho had contracted a fatal disease that they hadn’t found a cure for yet but the prince knew that, panicking about it wouldn’t help in any way.

“I’m going to be back soon. Hold on, okay?” He excused himself quickly and went back to the door where the guard was posted outside. He carefully opened the door, the cloth still covering his mouth and nose.
The guard looked at him confused.

“You have to go tell the King that Prince Minho is sick. He is also bearing the curse mark.” He quickly told him.

“But… I’m not supposed to leave my post…” The guard stammered.

Jisung was quickly starting to get annoyed, “Didn’t you hear me? The crown prince is sick, idiot. I can’t leave the chambers in case I am also infected. Go tell the King or Sir Chan, and somebody needs to check on Prince Felix.”
The guard nodded nervously and left.

While he was waiting for the guard to return he went back to Minho, giving him a cup of water and wetting a piece of cloth in the water pitcher to put it on his forehead and cool him down.

“Jisung?” He heard Chan call him from outside, so he quickly returned to the door.
“What’s going on? The guard said something about Minho being sick?” The knight asked.

“He’s running a fever and is coughing a lot. He has the mark on his neck.” Jisung explained.

“What about you?”

“I’m fine, I don’t feel sick or anything. Listen, somebody should check on Felix. His servant told me yesterday that he wasn’t feeling well.”

Chan nodded, “I’ll check on him and inform the King. Do you need anything?”

Jisung thought about it for a second, “Something to fight the fever, maybe more pain medication and…” He hesitated, “Can you get me my book?”

“Jisung… this is dangerous business.” Chan warned him.

“I know but…” Jisung looked back to the room as if Minho would walk out of his bedroom suddenly and then behind Chan to check that they were alone before he continued with a whisper, “If magic caused this disease maybe it can also cure it?”

Chan looked conflicted.

“Please, Chan. I’ll be careful. Nobody is going to come in here and Minho will probably not leave his bed for a while.”

“Fine, okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

It didn’t take long after Chan left until another servant knocked on the door and put a tray with medicine and other supplies down for Jisung to pick up after they were gone.
He hurriedly brought them inside and went back to Minho’s bedside.
By now, the prince had fallen asleep again so Jisung had to carefully shake him awake.

“Hey, I have some medicine for you.”

Minho furrowed his brow, “Is it poppy again?” His voice was still raspy.

“No, I don’t think so. It’s mostly to help with the fever and the coughing, and some honey for your throat.”

The prince hummed appreciatively and obediently opened his mouth when Jisung held a spoon with the medicine to his lips.
“Why are you still here?” He then asked.

“What do you mean? I’m your servant, it’s my job to take care of you.”

“But this is no ordinary illness… you could have left when you realized I was infected.”

Jisung just realized that he didn’t even think about leaving to save himself once.
“I guess, but who would sit here and give you your medicine then? And I spent the whole day with you yesterday, I am probably also already infected and just not feeling it yet.”

“Still… thank you… and I’m sorry for dragging you into this. We wouldn’t be in this situation if I’d just stayed in the castle like Father said…”

“No, don’t talk like that. You just wanted to help and do what’s right.”

“I’m still sorry…”

“Just go back to sleep, you’ll feel better when you wake up.”
At least Jisung hoped that he’d feel better.

Minho’s breath, while still labored, evened out quickly, Jisung guessed there was something in the medicine to help him sleep.

Chan returned a few hours later, placing a bag at the door with spare clothes and the magic tome buried at the bottom.

“How is Felix?” Jisung asked once Chan was at a safe distance away from the door.

“He’s fine. He’s not sick. But if he was in contact with one of you yesterday, it might still develop. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Chan said.

Jisung still didn’t dare to tell the knight that they were with Minho that night, it was better if he believed that they had been in contact later.

“If you want to write to your mother, I’ll return tomorrow and take your letter.” Chan was so visibly worried about him, he looked a bit like a kicked puppy.

“I’m fine, Chan. I don’t even feel sick. I would just worry her for no reason.”

“If that changes, please let me know.”

“I will. I guess, I’ll get to reading then.” Jisung said, lifting up his bag.

Chan nodded, “Good luck.”

The rest of the day Jisung split his time between tending to Minho and sitting in the corner next to the bedroom door reading through his spellbook while the prince slept.

The spells and rituals Chan had recorded over time were well-organized. The first part of the book was dedicated to what Chan had dubbed “tangible magic”. It encompassed magic influencing the physical world around them, from making things float to transforming one thing into another, from setting fires to creating water, to locating people and objects.
The second part contained “intangible magic” and Jisung was still struggling to wrap his head around it. Chan himself had told him that he never managed to figure it out as it required a lot of natural talent to master such an abstract form of magic. It influenced energies, whatever that meant Jisung wasn’t completely sure yet. He found a spell that made it possible to communicate with spirits, one that apparently showed ‘bonds’ people had to each other (Jisung also didn’t know what that meant), and one that could make the spellcaster hear thoughts and even charm people to do the caster’s bidding. Apparently, future sight was also a type of this intangible magic but the book repeated that it wasn’t a skill learnt but inherited.

To Jisung’s disappointment, there was no “Cure All Diseases Spell” but he found a cooling spell that might help him keep Minho’s temperature down. He didn’t dare cast it directly on the prince’s body, he had never tried the spell after all and apparently it was easy to accidentally overdo it and he really didn’t need a royal icicle.

Instead he used it to cool down the wet rag he had placed on Minho’s head and the prince was just delirious enough from the fever and medicine that he didn’t even question it and only responded with a relieved sigh.
The prince was sleeping a lot but luckily he became a bit more coherent in the evening.

“How are you feeling?” Jisung asked when he noticed that he was awake.

“Peachy…” Minho said unconvincingly, clearly wincing from the pain in his throat from speaking. Jisung quickly gave him something to drink and a bit more honey to soothe his throat.

“What about you?” He asked when he could speak again.

Jisung realized just then that he had been so absorbed in his spellbook that he didn’t even realize that the expected symptoms weren’t hitting him.
He shrugged dismissively, “I don’t know, I feel normal I think…”
He wondered if the disease only hit certain people but there hadn’t been a clear pattern with the people that had gotten sick before. The only thing that made him different was his magic.
Now that he thought of it, Felix also didn’t seem to be affected even though he had the most contact with a sick person out of all of them.

“Stop thinking so hard, it will hurt your head.” Minho joked weakly.

“Stop talking so much, it hurts your throat.” Jisung quipped back.

The prince pouted slightly, “Then tell me something… I’m bored…”

“Do you really want more boring backstory of your servant?”

“I don’t think you’re boring… tell me more about your village…”

Jisung huffed in amusement, he couldn’t imagine what exactly found Minho interesting about his exceedingly ordinary life before coming to the castle but he couldn’t help but find it endearing that he asked.

“Well, there is a harvest festival every fall. It’s the biggest festival of the year so everyone’s always really excited.” He started talking, watching as Minho was basically glued to his lips as he spoke.
“It’s by far not as big as the one here in the city of course. But there is also this tradition that young men give daisies to a maiden they like and if the girl likes him too she would braid the daisies in her hair.”

“Did you ever gift a daisy to a girl?” Minho interrupted his story.

“Umm, no…” Jisung flushed red, “I don’t really… I don’t really like girls like that…”

“And did you give one to a boy then?”

Jisung didn’t know why Minho was so hung up on that. He was a bit embarrassed that he’d never had a relationship before but he couldn’t help but answer, “Once… but he didn’t really… yeah… I don’t really want to talk about it…”

Fortunately, Minho didn’t press him further so he just continued with another topic.
“There were games too like an apple pie eating contest and apple bobbing.”

“Lot of apples…” Minho commented.

“Yeah, there are a lot of apple orchards surrounding the village so we have a lot of them.” He explained.

Minho wanted to say something else but was interrupted by a series of coughs. Jisung got him something to drink.
“It’s time for your medicine again.”

“No… not yet…” The prince complained.

“Don’t be a baby about it, it’s good for you, it helps with the coughing.”

“But it makes me loopy and I want to keep talking to you…”

“You’re already loopy with that fever.”

“But… different loopy.”

Jisung couldn’t help but laugh slightly at his antics.
“I’ll continue to talk to you even after you’ve taken the medicine.”

“Promise?”

“Promise, now come on, open up.” He said as he filled a spoon with more of the elixir.

Minho took the medicine, even if he cringed a bit at the taste.
“So, there are apple trees all around your village. Are your family farmers who tend to them?” He then quickly jumped back into Jisung’s story.

“No, my mother is the local herbalist. She makes the best medicine in the world, I don’t think even your royal physician can compete with her.”

“And your father?” Minho’s voice was already a bit more quiet than before as he fought against the medicine trying to put him to sleep.

“I don’t actually know my father. He left my mother before I was born, he could be who knows where, he could be dead. I don’t really care to be honest.”

“Oh…” Minho said quietly, “I’m still sorry…”

“It’s okay, I’ve had a long time to come to terms with the fact.”

“I barely remember my mother. She died when I was very young.” Minho didn’t sound particularly sad, it was probably the same as with Jisung that he had just accepted the circumstances over the years, but his hazy eyes showed how much he missed her.
“I have an image of her in my head, but I don’t know if it comes from my own memory or her portrait.”

Jisung wasn’t sure if that was Minho’s way to emphasize with him, to show him that he knew how it felt to only have one parent, or if his story had just reminded him of his mother and the fever made him more loose-lipped than usual, but he didn’t care. It felt nice to talk to someone who understood.

“I saw, she was beautiful.” Jisung said. The portrait was placed in an alcove of the throne room and showed the King, 20 years younger with dark hair and a strong build, and the former queen, with cat-like grace and endlessly kind eyes and a face so delicate as if it was sculpted by an artist. Minho looked a lot like her actually.

The prince was slowly drifting back to sleep, clearly struggling to keep his eyes open.
“Tell me more about your festival…” He slurred.

Jisung indulged him, talking about more of the very apple-themed games and the dances. He only stopped when he heard Minho snoring quietly. He stayed a little while longer, watching over the prince. If the sickness progressed like it did with the others Minho would have a few more days at least. Or rather, Jisung had a few more days to find a way to cure him.

Chapter Text

Minho got worse over the next four days. Every day he became less coherent, slept more. Minho went from still holding full conversations, to giving only one word answers, to just humming in agreement or disapproval, to Jisung not being completely sure he was even listening.
Jisung tried cooling him down even harder but it felt like the more he tried the more the fever would rise. He couldn’t do much but keep him hydrated and as cool as possible.
He knew it got really bad when after giving him something to drink, Minho muttered a quiet “Thanks, Lix…”
When Jisung tried to correct him, the prince just hummed but didn’t actually listen to him as he closed his eyes again to go back to sleep.
Chan returned twice a day in case either Jisung’s health took a turn for the worse or he found something that could help in the book. After they realized that Jisung was apparently not affected by the illness, Chan dared to enter the chambers to discuss what exactly Jisung should be looking for.

“There are too many plants and herbs, we don’t have the time to test all of them. Minho is… not doing well. I don’t know how long he can hold on…” Jisung slumped into the knight on the morning of the third day of Minho’s sickness.
If someone had told him seven months ago that he would feel like crying over Prince Minho, he would have laughed in their face but now he didn’t feel like laughing. Over the last few months, he had grown to like the prince in all of his sarcastic, playful, stubborn and self-sacrificing glory. Seeing him so delirious that he didn’t even recognize who stood before him… Jisung hated it down to his core.

“You’re right…” Chan sighed, “It’s taking too long…”
Deep eyebags marked the knight’s face, Jisung knew he already wasn’t sleeping a lot on a regular basis, being so worried about Minho probably meant that he hadn’t seen his bed in days.

“The only person who knows the answer, is the one who casted the spell…” He continued, deep in thought.

“There is a locating spell in the book but it says I need something of the person I’m looking for.” Jisung showed Chan the page and the knight quickly read over it again.

“How aware is Minho of his surroundings?” Chan then asked.

“Barely, you could probably set the room on fire and he wouldn’t notice. Why?”

Chan didn’t answer him immediately, seemingly deep in thought.

“Why? What does that have to do with anything?” He repeated.

“It’s risky… But you need something with a connection to this person, and while the curse might not be a physical thing it might be enough…” Chan explained slowly, “The sickness and the curse are an extension of the caster’s magic, it’s really hard, especially since you’re still inexperienced but it might work.”

“I am supposed to channel the spell through Minho?” Jisung asked.

“Not exactly, more like through the illness that has attached itself to him.”

Jisung looked back down to his book, his grip on it tightening, “I’m not sure I get it but I need to try.”

“I feel like I’m not telling you this enough because you get into the most ridiculous little spats with Minho, but you’re a very bright young sorcerer. I believe in you.”

Jisung’s cheeks flushed as he stammered something like “What? No… I’m not… No… I… Thank you…”
He couldn’t deny being praised like this felt good.

Chan gently pushed him towards the bedroom door.
“I’m going to wait right here,okay?”

Jisung nodded, clutching the book to his chest before entering.
The room by now really smelled like sickness even though Jisung made sure to air it out regularly. Opening the window was the first thing he did before sitting down. Minho moved his head slightly when he heard the door but was too tired to actually look who entered. He groaned pathetically when Jisung sat down next to him and exchanged the wet rag on his forehead. Jisung gave him a sip to drink and set the book down on the bed next to the prince.
Minho was drifting somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, his eyes closed and breathing heavily.

“It’s okay, I’ll make sure we’re getting medicine for you…” Jisung muttered, more for himself than the prince.
He read through the right page of the spellbook again and carefully took Minho’s hand. Jisung closed his eyes and started whispering the right words for the spell, focusing on Minho’s hand in his.

He was flying high up in the air. The ground was so far away, a farmer he spotted walking over his field looked even smaller than an ant.
Suddenly, his body was yanked through the air, towards his target.
He spotted the capital, easily recognizable with the beautiful silhouette of the castle, and was rushing towards it.
His body was closer to the ground now as he approached the castle.
Before he could think about if the sorcerer he was looking for was right under their noses, a very familiar tower came into focus. A very familiar tower with a very familiar open window. Two people were inside the window, one lying in bed, the other sitting next to them, clutching their hand.

Jisung snapped out of the spell and shook his head. Chan had told him it was difficult to channel his spell through something he couldn’t see. He let go of Minho’s hand as the only thing that had accomplished was that his spell had located the Prince himself.

“Stupid magic, I know where Minho is… he is right in front of me…” He muttered.

He thought about it for a second before trying to not actually touch Minho but hover his hands over him before trying the spell again but the magic didn’t have anything to latch onto.
He held his hand again, trying to focus not on Minho directly but the spell turned out not only but when he managed to execute it correctly again it gave him the same result of showing him the tower.
He groaned in frustration, trying to cast the spell over and over again was draining. He felt himself getting tired and losing his concentration more easily.

He felt like he only had the energy for one other spell before he desperately needed a nap and something to eat, so before he lost it to another failed spell, he tried thinking about it more.
He kept accidentally focusing on Minho instead of the curse. Because in the end he didn’t know how to focus on the curse. It wasn’t something he could see or touch, he tried imagining what the curse looked like but the spell just fizzled out when he did that. He needed something physical.

‘If only there was a physical representation of the curse…’ Jisung thought before immediately halting and cursing himself for being an idiot.

There was a physical representation of the curse on Minho’s body, the mark of the snake on the back of his neck.
He gently pushed Minho’s head to the side, revealing the edges of the mark.
The prince groaned again and leaned into Jisung’s cold touch when he carefully put his hand on the back of his neck.

“Yeah, yeah, I wonder if you’d do that if you were more awake…” Jisung whispered.
He closed his eyes again and focused on the mark before casting the spell again.

He was flying once again like he did the few times before when he’d cast the spell.
The view by now was familiar, the hills and villages passing under him, Jisung had seen them many times before today.
He was about to end the spell when he realized he was approaching the capital again, thinking he would just locate himself and Minho again but this time he wasn’t towards the castle, he was flying past it over the town.
He passed the upper city, quickly approaching the outskirts of the lower city. Right at the city walls, a small house came into view.

When the spell ended, he hadn’t actually seen the person but he could give Chan a detailed description on where the house was. The knight was off immediately, planning to take a handful of guards with him under the guise of receiving a tip from a concerned citizen.
As soon as he was gone, Jisung returned to Minho’s side, giving him his medicine.
He was so tired from trying the spell so many times, he could barely keep his eyes open.
Without thinking about really anything he fell into the next comfortable napping place and fell asleep, only realizing when he woke up that he’d slept next to Minho in his bed.

Jisung was woken up by Chan calling his name outside.
He couldn’t even begin to start processing that he’d slept next to Minho when he jumped up and quickly followed Chan’s calls.

“What? What is it?” He asked, sleepily.

Chan pushed a small bottle into his hands.
“Make sure that Minho drinks all of this.”

“What? You mean, you found the cure? Did you arrest the guy who did that?”

“We… we did.” Chan said hesitantly, “I’ll explain later. Give Minho his medicine.”

Jisung rushed back into the bedroom, shaking Minho gently to make sure he was awake.

“What…” Minho asked quietly, not even opening his eyes.

Jisung put the bottle against his lips and tilted it slowly for Minho to drink. Even though he was careful, Minho almost choked on the medicine as it poured down his throat.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jisung quickly apologized and gave him some time before he gave him the rest.
When the bottle was empty, Minho took a deep breath as his lungs seemed to immediately clear up.
He opened his eyes slightly.

“What was that? It tastes horrible…” He rasped out. Jisung couldn’t help but laugh when the relief hit him that Minho wasn’t going to die under his care.

It wasn’t a miracle recovery, he still looked weak but the medicine had helped a significant amount in regaining his lucidity. The mark on his neck had faded slightly but was still there.

“He needs more than one dose to fully recover.” Chan explained when Jisung returned to him, “The problem is getting our hands on it.”

“What do you mean? Just get more?”

“It’s not that easy. The medicine is made from yellow wood bark and we only had enough for two doses. The first one we used to test its effectiveness, the second one went to Minho. Yellow Wood doesn’t grow in our kingdom. It can only be found in the Kingdom of Miroh.”

“So? Then get it from there.”

“We’ve already sent Seungmin as a messenger. Their king is protective of his resources, we might need to strike a deal with them to take enough with us to cure everyone who is ill.”

“What if he doesn’t want to give us anything?”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s highly unlikely. Miroh is a small country that can only benefit from Levanter being in its debt, maybe we can even form an alliance.”

“When is Seungmin going to be back?”

“If everything goes well, a week. Let’s hope the medicine bought us enough time.”

Jisung sighed. So they weren’t completely in the clear after all.
“What about the one responsible? You caught them right?”

Chan immediately looked uncomfortable again, “We did…”

Jisung just looked at him, urging him to continue.

“The culprit really was in the house you pointed out. He’s an 11 year old boy…”

Jisung’s jaw dropped, “A child did this? Are you sure?”

“He confessed.” Chan confirmed, “His mother was executed a few months ago for witchcraft, he wanted to take revenge. Apparently, he only wanted to target the King but he lost control of the spell.”

“What is going to happen to him now?” Jisung almost didn’t dare to ask.

“Right now he is locked up in the dungeon. The King hasn’t decided yet what to do but… he’s not known to show mercy to any kind of sorcerer, even if they are children.”

“But… Chan, that’s… We have to do something.”

“He is responsible for the death of so many people…” Chan said, trying to justify it but he was still so visibly unhappy with the thought of sending a child to their grave.

Jisung couldn’t help himself but relate to the child, even if he did almost kill Minho and so many other people. If he was telling the truth, all this mess was just an accident. He was just a child grieving for his mother, if Jisung was in his situation he’d probably lose control of his magic too.

“The execution won’t take place immediately, the King wants to wait until peace has been restored and the cure has been handed out to everyone. I think he plans to burn him at the stake as a celebration that the curse has been lifted…” Chan’s voice sounded detached, as if he didn’t allow himself to think too much about this messed up situation.

“Chan, that’s so… fucked up.” Jisung didn’t know a better word to describe it.

The knight sighed deeply, “I know… I’ll try to convince him to change his mind.”

“Can I do something to help?”

“No, just try to get Minho back to his feet. We first have to wait until Seungmin returns, hopefully with more yellow wood bark.”

With the first dose of the cure, Minho was able to eat something more filling than soup for the first time in 4 days.

“I’m full, Jisung…” He whined after a few bites of meat and potatoes.

“Just a little more, we don’t know if you’re going to get worse again and you need your strength.” Jisung chided him, picking up the fork and holding another potato to Minho’s mouth.

The prince sighed and gave in and managed to eat half the plate in the end.
“You can have the rest…”

Jisung realized he wouldn’t eat any more so he shrugged and helped himself to the rest.

“You stayed with me the whole time?” Minho asked when he had settled back down.

“I told you, I would stay with you. Why are you surprised now?” Jisung spoke through a mouthful of potatoes.

Minho laughed shortly when he looked at him, “The way you eat is fascinating.”

“What do you mean?” He said as he shoved a piece of bread in his mouth, his cheeks completely filled out with food.

The prince’s mostly silent laugh turned into a series of coughs. Jisung stopped fooling around and swallowed his food, quickly grabbing a cup of water for Minho.

“Are you okay?” He asked after the prince had something to drink.

The prince nodded and ran his hand through his hair, grimacing slightly.
“Can you let in a bath for me? I feel disgusting, and I think I want to bathe before it gets worse again…”

“Yeah, of course. How is your arm? Do you think you can do it alone?” Jisung asked.

Minho was silent for a few seconds.
“Could you help me?” His voice was quiet and Jisung could see his ears turning red.

“Of course.”

The prince’s chambers included a washing room with a big metal bathtub.
It was a bit embarrassing for Jisung that before he’d come to the capital, he’d never seen a bathtub made of metal before. He wondered how something like that cost. Jisung pulled a cord that rang a bell somewhere under them in the castle.
The water was delivered through a pumping system under a castle where servants heated up water and then pumped it up so it would flow right into the bathtub. The technology was fascinating really.
Jisung waited for the tub to fill up and then pulled the cord again to signal the staff downstairs that they could stop.
He returned to Minho and slowly helped him get out of bed. The prince wanted to stand for himself at first but was clearly still feeling a bit faint and involuntarily clung to Jisung who helped him get to the adjacent room and sit on the small stool next to the tub.

“It’s still a bit too hot to get in. Do you want lavender or cherry blossom scent?” Jisung asked as he picked up the soap bars and bottles Minho used the most.

“I don’t really care. Which one do you like more?”

Jisung wasn’t sure why his opinion mattered but he thought about it for a second, “Neither. I think I like jasmine best.”

“I almost never use that one…” Minho commented, leaning on the wall behind him to hold himself up more easily.

“You did when you saved me from the moledrake.” Jisung remembered the scent weirdly well.

“I did?”

“Yeah, I think it smells nice.”

“Maybe I should use it more often…” Minho said absentmindedly as he watched Jisung put the soap into the bath and then tested the water with his fingers.

“It should be fine now. Come on, let me help you.”

Luckily, Minho’s sleeping clothes were very loose so it wasn’t hard to get him out of it. The prince shivered slightly as air hit his heated skin.
Jisung helped him get into the bathtub and Minho immediately relaxed into the heat.

“Lean your head back.” He said as he picked up a smaller bowl and scooped up some water.

Minho did as he was told and looked up at Jisung as he carefully poured some water over his hair.
“Your hands are really soft…” He commented when Jisung started massaging the soap into his hair.

Jisung laughed, “What’s going on with you lately? You’re awfully nice to me. Is your fever spiking again?”

“It’s just the truth…” Minho said, closing his eyes and enjoying the treatment.

“Sure…” Jisung shook his head in amusement, not really believing him.

“It is.” The prince insisted, looking at him again with those beautiful cat-like eyes.

“Don’t be stupid… Close your eyes again, I’ll rinse your hair now.”

Jisung helped Minho dry off and get into a fresh set of clothes. The prince looked just about ready to go back to sleep now that he was relaxed and clean.
Jisung sat him down in an armchair first to have some space to change the sheets on the bed. He felt the prince’s eyes on him the whole time until he finally helped him get back into bed.

“Can you talk to me until I fall asleep again?” Minho asked and Jisung didn’t even try to say “No” to his beautiful, tired eyes.

“If you want to, but you’ll have to take the cough medicine first.”

Minho reluctantly accepted the bitter, syrupy tincture before lying down and looking at him expectantly.

“Just to be clear, I’m only doing this because you’re sick. As soon as you’re better, I am not going to tell bedtime stories to a grown man anymore.” Jisung joked. He wasn’t sure if he would actually refuse if Minho asked him directly.
“Okay, so what do you want to know?”

“Your mother is a herbalist, right? Why didn’t you become one?”

That actually sparked another laugh from Jisung, “I’m not good at mixing medicine, there was this one time…”

Chapter Text

The longer Seungmin was gone the worse Minho’s condition again. After a few days, the mark on his neck had returned to its former state and the prince was barely conscious between Jisung feeding him soups and water.
Felix had started showing up in front of the door, demanding to see his brother as he heard he was doing better and it hurt Jisung to turn him away. He was the only one who knew that Felix was immune to the sickness and he’d rather not explain how and why to anyone.

“You’ll be the first one to know when it’s safe to come in.” He tried placating him through the closed door.

“But you’re not sick either. I’ll just do whatever you do to keep safe.” Felix argued.

That made sense but how would Jisung explain that he was immune too? Not knowing what else he should do, he started coughing.

“I’m… sick too… For some reason it didn’t affect me as badly as Minho…” He said, wondering if he was overdoing it with the coughs in between talking.

Felix was silent for a second, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Just… Can you just tell me how you two are? I haven’t seen you or Min in almost two weeks and I don’t have a lot of other people to talk to…”

Jisung wanted to open the door and spend time with Felix but Chan had chided him lots of times that he shouldn’t let anyone in, in case it would reveal his secret.
“I’m sorry, Felix.” He said, “As soon as Seungmin is back and we’re both healthy, we’ll spend so much time with you, you’ll probably want to get rid of us.”
He thought for a second, “We’re both okay. Could be better of course. Minho is sleeping, I’m probably also going to lie down again soon.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Minho was doing better than before he got the medicine a few days ago, but he was back to a state of barely being awake and fever high enough to make him barely able to hold a conversation.

“I’m glad… Please get better soon. I…” Felix’s voice broke off shortly, “I’ve been having some scary dreams.”

Jisung blanched at the idea that Felix had a bad prophetic dream about them, he was relieved the prince couldn’t see him.

“What were they about?” He asked carefully.

“I don’t fully remember…” Felix started, “But there was a snake and it was crushing Minho, and he didn’t really fight back.”

That sounded definitely bad, Jisung thought.

“I’ve had this dream more than once in the last few days and it just makes me worry, you know? I usually don’t remember my dreams but that one it’s-”

“It’s just a dream, Felix. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.” Jisung tried to calm him down while he himself was also trying not to overthink too much what this could mean.

He still hadn’t even processed the last full prophecy Felix had a few weeks ago, between taking care of Minho and looking up spells he hadn’t really had the time for thinking about impending doom.

Felix was silent for a few seconds again, “Yeah, you’re probably right…”

“Umm… I’m going to take a nap now if you don’t mind…” Jisung tried to end this conversation before the topic became even more uncomfortable, luckily Felix didn’t argue.

“I’m also going to go back to my room… I heard that they caught the culprit but nobody is telling me anything, I wanted to go see for myself who’s responsible for this but Father forbids it…”

Jisung could imagine why. Felix didn’t really seem like the type of guy who would accept a child to be executed, the King probably wanted to spare himself the argument that would ensue. He briefly wondered what Minho would do when he found out. He hoped the prince would be on the same side as him but what if he wasn’t? Jisung didn’t want to think about what he’d do if Minho wanted to see the kid dead too. He could probably never look at the prince in the same way.
He shook his head, trying to banish these thoughts. He didn’t even know what he would do and he certainly wasn’t the condition to pass judgement like that right now.

“Jisung? Are you still there?” Felix asked and Jisung realized that he hadn’t answered him.

“Yes, sorry. Maybe they are still dangerous and the King doesn’t want to risk you being near them?” Jisung suggested. He felt so bad for lying to him but what else was he supposed to do?

“Probably… anyway… sleep tight, Jisungie.”

“Bye, Felix…”

If Seungmin had returned a day later, Jisung didn’t know what he would have done. When the knight finally returned with a whole carriage of yellow wood bark, Minho was barely strong enough to lift his head to drink the medicine.
Luckily, the medicine worked fast. After two days with 4 doses of the tincture, Minho was feeling almost normal again. He was still coughing a bit from time to time, but the fever had completely receded.
Every morning, Jisung checked Minho’s neck for the slowly fading mark.

“How are you feeling?” Minho asked at the start of the third day.

“Me? I’m good.”

“I just thought I should check your neck too… I can’t believe you managed to keep tending to me while you were also sick…”

“Oh, umm… no worries, I looked into the mirror earlier. I can’t see anything.” Jisung laughed awkwardly. He was glad that Minho had apparently been so out of it that he hadn’t even realized that Jisung wasn’t sick.

“The mark is gone. I think we can finally leave.” He quickly changed the topic.

“How many days has it been? I kind of lost track of time…” Minho admitted.

“I’m not surprised, you were sleeping most of the time. You were ill for almost three weeks.”

“Three weeks… That means it’s already May, right?”

“It’s almost June actually. Chan kept me up to date through the door. Don’t worry you didn’t miss that much.”

“Is there a lead on the culprit?” The prince asked as he checked how well he could move his arm and carefully started dressing himself.

“There is… Chan caught them, that’s how he found out about the cure…” Jisung told him hesitantly.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Minho looked at him, almost offended that Jisung withheld information.

“I mean, you weren’t exactly in the right mind for the last few weeks…”

Minho thought for a second, “I guess you’re right. Sorry… Catch me up then.”

Jisung hesitated again but in the end he had to tell Minho what he knew, he would learn about the kid soon enough anyway.
He watched Minho’s features harden, his eyes sharp and furious but Jisung couldn’t really tell where that anger was directed.
When Jisung was finished, Minho pulled on his jacket and left the room, the door shutting with a loud bang behind him.
Jisung was stunned for a second before he quickly ran after the prince.
He followed Minho down the stairs and almost bumped into Felix. Apologizing to the younger prince, he didn’t stop and instead ran after Minho.

The prince didn’t stop until he reached the throne room. The doors slammed open as he entered, startling the King and Chan out of a quiet discussion.

“Son, I see you are doing much better.” The King greeted him.

“Is it true, Father? You are planning to execute a child?” Minho cut right to the chase.

Jisung was awkwardly standing behind him as Chan sent him a look that could only mean “So, you told him…”

The King shook his head, “I am planning to execute a dangerous sorcerer.”

“The culprit you caught is a child?” Felix, who had followed them, asked from behind Jisung.

Chan stepped between the King and Minho and raised his hands in a placating manner, “Let’s all calm down first, okay?”

“Calm down? When I am supposed to accept that a child is going to burn at the stake?” Minho pushed back.

“You of all people should want the culprit to be brought to justice. You almost died, Minho.”

“This is not justice, it’s cruelty.”

The King stood up from his throne and made his way towards Minho, “I won’t be chastised by my son.” He motioned Chan to back away, his attempt to de-escalate the situation completely failed. Minho was slightly shorter than his father, making the King even more intimidating than Jisung had thought until now.

“Father, Min is right, this is-”

The King cut him off immediately, “Keep out of this, Felix.”

The younger prince’s mouth snapped shut at the King’s harsh tone.

“Don’t talk to him like that.” Minho immediately jumped to defend his brother.

“I will talk to both of you however I like. You are both out of line. That fever must have cooked your brain, you are forgetting your place.”

Minho raised his head in defiance, “Really? Because I feel like my head is much clearer than yours right now.”

“Oh is it? Then what in your great wisdom are you suggesting I do with this dangerous individual who is responsible for countless deaths?” The King challenged him.

Minho looked a bit taken aback before quickly catching himself again, “He’s a small child whose grief was taken advantage of by evil forces. I agree that he deserves punishment but not death.”

“Your Majesty…” Chan interrupted, “Prince Minho has a point. Many of your subjects would scorn the idea of a child dying, even if they are responsible…”

Jisung wasn’t sure if Minho had wanted to make that point but he was glad that Chan was here to twist his words into something useful.
The King rolled his eyes, something Jisung had seen Minho do so many times it was interesting to see where he got it from.

“And then he grows up and he’ll bring even greater devastation. There is only one deal with sorcerers, they should not exist.”

Minho threw his hands up in frustration, “You can’t be serious!”

“I am doing what I have to do to protect my kingdom. I am done with this argument, I will not change the sentence. The sorcerer will burn by the end of next week.” The King said as he walked back towards his throne.

“Father, how can yo-”

“Chan, escort my sons back to their chambers. I don’t want to see them here again until they decide to apologize for their behavior.”
Chan looked a bit apologetic but he couldn’t go against a direct order from the King.

Chan brought them all back to Minho’s chambers. As soon as the door was closed, Felix finally dared to speak again.
“Channie, you won’t let this happen, right?”

“I will try to dissuade the King but in the end my hands are bound…”

“Then we have to do something!” Felix insisted.

Chan sighed, “I fear that it’s not that easy…”

“Why not?”

“Chan is right, Lix…” Minho grumbled, obviously frustrated.

“Why can we not do anything?” Felix repeated.

“If the boy was miraculously freed, the King would know you two were behind it.” Chan explained.

“And?” Felix asked defiantly.

“His Majesty is not thinking clearly when it comes to magic. He could revoke Minho’s and your claim to the throne and turn back to a succession through adoption.”

Jisung cut in, “That’s possible?”

“It is. It's usually used when the reigning monarch doesn’t have any biological heirs.” Minho said grimly.

“So if you try to get the kid out of his death sentence, you can’t become king anymore?” Jisung asked Minho.

“It could happen.” Chan confirmed instead of the prince.

Jisung thought for a second, “What if Minho and Felix are with the king when the child is freed?”

“Then who’s going to do it?” Felix asked.

Chan seemed to catch on immediately, “Jisung, no.”

“Why not? I can do it.”

Minho’s eyes widened, “Are you crazy? If you get caught…”

“Don’t worry. I will deny that you put me up to it and nothing will lead back to you.” Jisung tried to put off his concerns.

“Do you really think I care about that?” The prince looked almost angry, “If you get caught, you’re getting executed right along with the boy.”

“Then I won’t get caught.”

“That’s way too dangerous, Jisungie!” Felix joined his brother’s side.

Chan’s face was dead serious, “You are not going to do this. I promised your mother to keep you safe.”

“I can disguise myself! Chan knows the guards’ schedule. Maybe we can make it look like he escaped with magic.” Jisung argued.

“We are not talking about this anymore. You are not going to do that, and we can’t just set him free anyway. While I don’t think he should be executed, he deserves some form of punishment for causing so many deaths.” Minho shot down his idea again.

Jisung crossed his arms, “Well, it’s either set him free or let him die, because the King doesn’t seem like he wants to change his mind, and since you all can’t do anything, I’m the only logical choice.”

None of them came up with a counterargument, they knew he was right even if they weren’t happy about it.

“Can you leave us alone for a second?” Minho asked, looking at Chan and Felix.

He grabbed Jisung by the arm and pulled him towards the bedroom as the other two slowly left the room.
As soon as they were gone, Minho turned to look at him again.

“Why are you so insistent on throwing your life away on this suicide mission?”

“It’s not a suicide mission. Why are you all underestimating me? If you knew what I can do…”

“And what can you do?” The prince asked harshly, making Jisung realize his slip of tongue.

“I… umm…” He stammered as he tried to come up with an explanation that wasn’t magic.

“Exactly, Jisung, you are a servant, a commoner. You don’t have any combat training, or experience in infiltrating places. If you try to free this boy, you will get caught and you will die.” There was a quiet fury about the prince, Jisung thought he looked even angrier than earlier when he’d talked to the King.

He was reminded of what Felix had told him a while ago, “Minho can be a bit prickly but deep down he always means well.”
Minho was indeed angry with him but it stemmed from a place of caring.

“I just… I want to help the boy…” Jisung said, his confidence slightly worn down by Minho’s berating.

“I don’t want him to die either, but you cannot throw your life away for a boy you have never met, who killed so many people.”

“I’m just a servant…” Jisung started, “I’m not important.”

“You absolute moron.” Minho grabbed his shirt and crashed their lips together. Jisung’s world stopped for a second, his brain completely incapable of processing what was happening.
When Minho let go of him, he couldn’t do anything but stare at him with his mouth slightly agape.

“You’re important to me .” The prince said.

“Wha-...” Jisung could still feel where Minho’s lips had touched his, so much softer than he’d had ever imagined. He couldn’t deny that he’d grown to like Minho. He’d found himself watching the prince during council meetings or while he was working at his desk and Jisung was cleaning the room more than once. When Minho had gotten sick he didn’t even think twice before trying to care for him, even when he didn’t know yet that he was immune. He wanted to stay close to Minho as much as possible. But in the end, Jisung was a commoner, not just that, he was a sorcerer, and Minho was the crown prince of the most anti-magic kingdom of this world. Never in his life had he imagined Minho would actually kiss him.

“I’m… I’m sorry, I should have asked.” Minho took another step back when he realized Jisung stopped reacting to anything.

He had completely lost his ability to form coherent sentences, “No… I… umm… you…”

“Are you okay?” Minho asked.

Jisung nodded shortly. Just the tiniest spark of mischief sparked in the prince’s eyes.

“Do you want me to do it again?”

His brain didn’t need to work properly for him to know the answer, as he quickly nodded.

Minho smiled as leaned in again, kissing him a second time. This time slower, less heated but equally as sweet.
Jisung’s head finally caught up again as he carefully reciprocated. He’d never kissed anyone like that before, he didn’t really know what to do so he just relied on Minho to guide him. Somehow they ended up on the armchair in Minho’s bedroom with Jisung sitting on the prince’s lap.
When they separated again, he couldn’t help but lay his head on Minho’s shoulder as the prince put his arms around him. He felt slightly dazed, even if the kiss wasn’t long.

“Please don’t risk your life so easily…” Minho repeated a lot softer than earlier, sounding a lot more vulnerable, “I need you…”

Before the others returned to the room, Minho quickly fixed Jisung’s hair that had become a little tussled.

“Did Minho talk some sense into you?” Chan asked.

“I… guess you could say that…” Jisung tried not to blush furiously.

He had promised Minho not to do anything stupid. But when both princes were required to attend a reception of a diplomat from the Kingdom of Miroh on Jisung’s free day, he saw his chance.
He practiced magic with Chan and overplayed his exhaustion before going to bed. He had moved on to slightly more advanced magic that came in useful now.

He bundled up a few pillows and books under his blanket and used a spell to layer a very thinly veiled illusion of himself sleeping over them. In the dark and if Chan didn’t try to walk up and touch him, it was a great distraction.

He climbed out of his window and quickly made his way to the dungeons. Before he entered, he entered a dark alley and took out a mirror from his pocket.
The spell he wanted to use wasn’t one he’d ever tried before on a human, he just hoped it would work. Transformations were more difficult than simple illusions since he had to actually change his body instead of just putting a picture over it. He had practiced transformations on some plants, changing the color of their petals. He didn’t always succeed but he was getting better at it. He focused on his features in the mirror.

It took him two attempts but he saw the color of his hair change into a honey gold color, he’d tried to go for a bright blonde but this would work too. His slightly puffy cheeks started to slim down and his jawline became sharper. His skin became lighter and a bit rougher.
When he was finished he almost did not recognize himself in the small mirror.

He still pulled on the hood of his cloak just to be sure, and made his way down to the dungeons.
It was dark and cold, the only light came from a small lantern on a table in the corner where the guard was seated.
He took a small bottle from his pocket, Minho didn’t need the sleeping draught anymore now that he felt better. He levitated it carefully, letting it float up and over towards the guard. He threw a small pebble into the corridor with the cells, catching the guard’s attention long enough for him to look away from his cup.

“Be quiet over there, brat!” He yelled.

Jisung managed to put the elixir into the cup before he noticed. It didn’t take long until he heard the clang of a helmet that fell to the ground as the guard fell asleep on his chair, slumped over the small table.

“Sorry…” He whispered as he picked up the cell keys and quickly snuck towards the cells.
The dungeons were fairly empty right now, not much crime going on while the whole city kept away from each other as much as possible in fear of catching a life-threatening disease.
He followed the sound of quiet sniffling towards the back where he saw a young boy, curled up at the back of a cell, silently crying.
He looked spooked when he spotted Jisung.

“Don’t be scared, I’m a friend.” Jisung whispered as he started unlocking the cell door.

“Who… who are you?” The boy asked, looking at him with fear in his eyes.

“I told you, I’m a friend. I’m going to get you out of here.” Jisung opened the door with a friendly smile.

“B-but… I hurt so many people…” Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes.

“As far as I heard you didn’t mean to, right?”

The boy quickly shook his head, “The spell… she said it would only hurt the King.”

“She? Who is ‘she’?” Jisung asked but then he heard a sound from outside the cell, concluding they didn’t have the time to talk here.
He held out his hand to the boy who hesitantly took it.

“Are you really helping me to get out of here?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t lie about that. Now come on.”

The guard was luckily still asleep when they snuck past him, Jisung made sure to close the cell door again, locked it and returned the key. If everything went according to plan, they would not leave a trace and from the guard’s perspective, the boy would have just disappeared from a locked cell.

The courtyard was too obvious to escape so he took a risk by leading him into the castle and towards the secret passage Minho had shown him weeks ago.
They had a few close calls, hiding under stairs and in broom closets when a guard passed them but they actually made it to the entrance of the secret passage.

Jisung dared letting out a relieved sigh when he held the hidden door open for the boy but immediately regretted it when he heard a voice behind him, “Hey! Who are you?”
He heard Seungmin’s familiar voice behind him. If the knight was here, the feast to greet the diplomat had to be over already.
Jisung cursed and quickly hurried inside.

“Stop!” Seungmin yelled as he followed him.

Jisung grabbed a torch and ignited it with magic, the boy’s eyes growing wide.
“You are like me…” He gasped.

“Yes, no time to talk to. We have to run. Down the stairs, two right, two left.” He said as he grabbed the boy’s hand again and started running.

The door behind them opened again as Seungmin reached it.
“Jeongin! Get reinforcements, someone is freeing the sorcerer!”

Jisung couldn’t blame him for chasing them. Every knight was under direct orders of the King. Even Chan wouldn’t have gotten around reporting them.
They couldn’t evade him for long, Jisung could feel him catching up to them.

“I’m so sorry…” Jisung muttered under his breath as he turned around, threw the torch towards the knight and used a spell to make the flames big enough to create a barrier between them.
Seungmin stopped and Jisung was just glad his plan worked until he saw the fire growing as it fed from old tapestries and wooden beams that looked like they should have collapsed decades ago.
He didn’t have time to wait and see what would happen as he quickly followed the boy again.
He heard a loud crash as the first stones came down and the whole passage started collapsing.
He heard Seungmin alert the reinforcements that there was a fire but he couldn’t focus on that as they finally made it outside and close to a small gap in the walls, just big enough for a child to fit through.

“Do you know where east is?” Jisung asked him quickly.
The boy nodded.

“Great. Head east, follow the big river. In a few days you will reach a small village with a church built out of red stones. Ask for Eunji and tell her…” He thought for a second, “Tell her Ji sent you and that you are like me and you need to run and hide. Do you understand?”

The boy nodded again, “Thank you. Thank you so much!” He wailed.

“No need to thank me. Now run before the guards catch up.”

The boy quickly crawled through the hole.

Jisung was about to leave when he heard the child’s voice again, “Wait. The pretty lady gave me the spell. The pretty lady with the golden hair.” He said before running away.

Chapter Text

It was pure chaos in and around the castle as everyone present worked to keep the fire contained to the old, abandoned part of the building. If Jisung had known how easily flammable the old passage was, he would have tried to find another way to get away from Seungmin. He hoped the knight was okay but he could also use the focus on the fire to get away.

He made it back to Chan’s house, stopping in another alley to drop his disguise before climbing back into his room. He carefully looked into the hallway as he couldn’t hear Chan’s ungodly snoring anywhere in the house. He concluded that he was also back at the castle to help with the fire, probably still awake anyway and seeing the fire light up the sky.
Jisung wanted to help too, but he’d used so much magic tonight. As the adrenaline of being chased slowly subsided, he found himself swaying slightly, his knees getting a bit wobbly as he crashed down on his bed, breaking the illusion spell that still kept up the image of him sleeping. He fell asleep almost immediately.

He woke up with a crick in his neck as he’d slept weirdly on top of the books and pillows that were still piled on his bed, but this was not what woke him up.

“Jisung.” A stern voice next to called him. He groggily opened his eyes and found Chan standing next to his bed with his arms crossed. Jisung noticed the dark circles under the man’s eyes, betraying a completely sleepless night.

“Do you have something to tell me?”

“Wha-?” Jisung asked, sitting up slowly and yawning as his sleepy mind still had to catch up.

“Last night, the boy was freed from the dungeons by another sorcerer. Seungmin said it was a man with short, blond hair. They escaped and set fire to the castle. You don’t happen to know anything about that, right?”

The sleep vanished from his mind almost immediately, “N-no?”
It wasn’t his most convincing lie, he had just woken up after all.

“You still have blond streaks in your hair.” Chan said, unamused.

Jisung sprung up and quickly looked into a small mirror on his wall just to find his usual reflection. Realizing Chan had lied to him to get him to slip up, he sheepishly turned around to face his guardian.

“You have to be kidding me…” Chan groaned before immediately switching his tone.
“What were you thinking?!” He yelled, “What if you were caught? Seungmin saw you and was close to catching you!”

“But you and Minho wouldn’t do anything! What was I supposed to do?” Jisung tried defending himself.

“So you just went into this without any kind of back-up? Do you realize how reckless and stupid that was?”

“But I made it! And I wasn’t caught!”

“And you burned down most of the old western wing of the castle! You were incredibly lucky that nobody got seriously hurt!”

“So… Is Seungmin okay?” He asked hesitantly.

“He has some scrapes and minor burns but he got out mostly unharmed.”

Jisung let out a sigh of relief, the last thing he wanted was to hurt someone, a friend especially.

“So, where is the kid? You weren’t so stupid to hide him here, right? If I open your closet, he’s not going to come tumbling out?”

“No! No, I sent him away… I hope Mom can help him get to a neighboring kingdom or at least somewhere else safe far away from the capital.”

“Then let’s hope he can make it there alone…” Chan just said, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Maybe he can go back wherever his home is?” Jisung suggested.

On his way back last night he started thinking more about what the boy had said and Felix’s prophecy.
“ A puppet brought from foreign lands
With strings pulled on by vengeful hands”
The boy must have been the puppet, Jisung thought. And this lady he mentioned was the one pulling the strings in the background.

“What do you mean?” Chan asked.

“Well, he wasn’t from here, right?” Jisung asked to clarify.

“As far as I know his mother and him came from a town a day’s travel north of here.”

“But he has to be the puppet!” Jisung argued, “Are you sure?”

“What are you talking about? A puppet?”

Jisung realized that he hadn’t told Chan about the prophecy because it would give away that he’d been out with Minho and Felix.
“Um… so there might have been something else I didn’t tell you…”

Chan being so tired from being up all night came to Jisung’s favor as the man was too exhausted to scold him for too long. He eventually had to let him go anyway so Jisung could go to work.
There were already workers and servants everywhere, cleaning up scorch marks and trying to rebuild the abandoned castle wing.
As always, Minho was already up when Jisung brought him his breakfast.

“Did you hear already?” Minho said instead of “Good morning”.

Jisung nodded, “Chan told me.”

“I can’t believe another sorcerer managed to sneak into the dungeons… Father is furious…”

“He doesn’t think you or Felix had anything to do with this, right?”

“No, none of our servants match the description Seungmin gave of the culprit.”

Minho sighed, “I don’t know what to think. On one hand I’m glad that the boy won’t die, on the other… who knows what this unknown sorcerer is going to do. The boy was already desperate enough to turn to magic for revenge, the sorcerer might corrupt him even further…”

Jisung couldn’t blame Minho for his view of magic, he’d been raised with it after all. He was just glad that he wasn’t so full of hate like his father. Still, it made him a bit uncomfortable talking about it like that.
“Let’s change the subject to something else. It’s too early to think about something so grim.” He suggested.

Minho laughed shortly, “Let me guess, you got up only five minutes before you made your way here.”

“No…” Jisung said honestly yet unconvincingly because he knew that that was how he usually did it.

Minho shook his head and started eating, pushing a piece of bread with some cheese on it over to Jisung, “You probably haven’t even had breakfast yet. Eat with me.”

Jisung sat down and ate the piece of bread Minho had given him, suddenly unsure of what to say. It wasn’t the first time Minho shared his meal with him but after what happened a few days ago… the kiss… it felt weirdly domestic. Yet, Jisung was confused. After that kiss they hadn’t actually done anything. Did he misinterpret the situation? Did kissing someone mean something else to the prince?

“I can hear you thinking.” Minho commented, startling Jisung back to reality.
He noticed that the prince was watching him, his head slightly cocked and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“Just… this is good bread…” Jisung mumbled as he felt his cheeks flush.

“Hm, I was hoping you were thinking about me.” The prince said unashamedly 

Jisung almost choked on the bread as he looked at Minho with wide eyes.

The prince grinned when he saw his expression, “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately.”

Jisung had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation. It would be much easier if he didn’t like Minho, he’d just tell him to knock it off and leave him alone. But he did like him very much, and he liked the idea that Minho thought about him and that’s why he was left flailing.

“You did?” He managed to squeak out.

The prince’s eyes lit up even more when Jisung answered him, like a cat finally catching a mouse, “Of course. Did you think I forgot about our little encounter?”

“No… it’s just… you didn’t mention it again.”

“You looked a little spooked, I thought I should give you some time.”

Jisung took a deep breath to brace himself.
“So… what are we?” He asked and somehow that took even more courage than breaking into the dungeons.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether you like me or not.”

“So you’re really serious about… about liking me?” Jisung asked hesitantly. There was no doubt in his mind that he liked Minho, he wanted to kiss him again, hold his hand, stay with him for as long as possible. But what could a prince see in him?

“Do I not seem serious?”

Jisung really couldn’t judge from his tone, “I mean, you’re a prince. You could probably be with anyone you wanted.”

Minho rolled his eyes, “Most of them are bootlickers and brown-nosers. You’re… different…”

“But the King would probably…”

“My father doesn’t need to know about everything I do.” Minho got up, walked around the table and took his hand.
“I understand if this is too much pressure for you. It’s not worth the risk if you don’t feel the same.”

“I… I do!” Jisung quickly said, standing up and accidentally knocking over the chair, flinching at the loud noise.

He didn’t mean to give Minho a false impression. Yes, if they were caught there could be dire consequences, Jisung losing his job was probably the best outcome. But what was one more secret to keep?

Minho smiled at him and kissed his hand, “I’m glad. Then would you allow me to court you?”
Jisung’s answer was obvious.

Jisung didn’t actually know what Minho had meant when he asked to court him and he was too distracted to ask by the prince’s lips meeting his.
That day Minho seemed to use any chance he could get to give Jisung a kiss. It got so much that Jisung actually wasn’t able to finish his tasks for that day but it wasn’t like Minho minded.
When he returned the next day, Minho handed him a small flower. Unfortunately, Minho had some official business to take care of today, so they couldn’t get as close as the day before. Still, whenever Minho looked at him, he couldn’t help but smile. Jisung would have said they were incredibly subtle. Felix however…

“Are you two sleeping with each other?” The younger prince asked as soon as the three of them found themselves alone in a room.
Jisung just spluttered some incoherent words at the accusation while Minho just sighed.

“You couldn’t find a nicer way to ask that, could you?”

“Well, are you?”

Jisung couldn’t believe how calm Minho was considering somebody just found out about them in the matter of a single day.

“We haven’t slept with each other, Lix… but, well… I may have started courting Jisung.” Minho admitted.

“Ugh, finally. You’ve been pining for each other for months.”

“So you’re not going to tell anyone?” Jisung asked hesitantly.

“Of course not, dummy. You’re my friend and I’m happy for you both.” Felix pulled Jisung into a hug.

“Min, if you ever hurt Jisungie’s feelings, I might kill you.” The younger prince sent a joking glare towards his brother while still keeping Jisung in his arms.

“Hey, shouldn’t you be on my side?” Minho complained.

“But Jisung is so much more adorable than you.”

“I’m not adorable…” Jisung grumbled as he got out of Felix’s hug only to land in Minho’s arms who pulled him close and pressed a quick kiss on the back of his head.

“You are.” Minho muttered into Jisung’s hair, making him flush red again.

The next week brought the first summer heat with it.

“What are your plans today?” Jisung asked as he and Minho had breakfast together, a now regular occurrence.

“I was thinking we could ride out after I’ve finished training.” Minho suggested.

Jisung grimaced slightly, “You know I’m not a good rider…”

“I promise we won’t go far. I already have a destination in mind.”

“Okay, fine. But this place better be worth it.”

“Great. Will you come watch training?”

“Then who’s going to wash your clothes? I watched you yesterday and you were very impressive.” Watching the fight training of the knights the day before had ended with Minho and Jisung making out in the closet with the training weapons. Something about the prince beating someone in a sword fight was really attractive to Jisung.

“But what if I’m not motivated enough to beat Seungmin’s ass when you’re not there?” Minho asked while kissing his cheek.

“You’re unbelievable.” Jisung laughed, “Maybe I’ll have some time to watch after I finish.”

“Perfect.”

Jisung turned his head so Minho could kiss him properly when there was a knock on the door, making them both flinch away from each other as Jisung quickly stood up and tried to look busy.

“Come in!” Minho called out.
The door opened and a servant entered the room.

“Your Highness, the King desires to speak to you in his chambers.” He said with a deep bow.

“I’ll be right there.”

The servant nodded and excused himself with another bow.

“So, we’ll see each other later then?” Jisung asked when the servant was gone.

“After training, come to the stables. I’ll get the horses ready.”

“Should I bring anything?”

Minho grinned, “Just your cute butt.”

Jisung had mostly gotten used to Minho flirting with him but sometimes he still caught him off-guard, “D-Don’t just say that just out of nowhere.”

“Try to stop me.” Minho laughed and left the room before Jisung could say anything else.

A few hours later when Jisung made his way to the stables Minho was already waiting for him. Next to Minho’s pure white stallion stood the calm, brown mare Jisung had been on before.

“There you are, ready?” He asked as he handed Jisung the reins.

“I guess I have to be…” Jisung sighed.

Minho helped him get onto the horse this time.

“Aren’t people going to wonder why we’re riding out together?” He asked nervously.

“I mentioned that I was going on a short little hunting trip to blow off some steam.” Minho explained, pointing to the bow fastened to the saddle of his horse.

“We’re not actually going hunting, right?” He wasn’t sure if Minho may consider a hunting trip a romantic outing because Jisung certainly didn’t.

“No, don’t worry. I’ll just get a rabbit or two on our way back. Now come on, let’s go.” Minho said as he mounted his horse and led the way out of the city.

“So where are we going?” Jisung asked as soon as they had left the city walls behind them.

“You’ll see.” Minho just answered cryptically.

“Come ooon, being mysterious doesn’t suit you.” Jisung whined playfully.

“Maybe I should just lead you around the city until you can’t sit on a horse anymore…” The prince teased.

“Okay, okay, I won’t ask again. Just promise me we won’t be long. My butt is already hurting…”

“I promise we will be there before you know it.”

They were quiet for a bit. It was a comfortable silence of them just enjoying each other’s company.
Whenever Minho’s horse got a bit too far ahead, he made sure to slow down so Jisung could catch up again and they could ride side by side.

“What did the King want from you this morning?” Jisung asked after a while. It was unusual that Minho was called directly to his father’s chambers.

“He’s feeling under the weather. If it gets worse, I’m supposed to hold the knighting ceremony next week in his stead.”

Jisung had to think for a second, there was something tingling on the back of his mind.
“Right! Jeongin’s going to be a knight!”

“And just in time to participate and lose to me in the joust on the King’s birthday.” Minho grinned, seemingly a bit too excited about beating him.

“You’re not going to go easy on him? I mean, it’s his first tournament…”

“Maybe, but I’m not going to let him win. It’s the first year since forever that Chan is not participating, and that means the victory is mine for the taking.” The prince’s competitive streak was showing.

“What about Seungmin?”

Minho laughed, “Please, he doesn’t stand a chance against me in a joust.”

“Maybe I’ll put some bets down on Seungmin and Jeongin.” Jisung thought out loud.

Minho turned around to him, looking at him with wide eyes, “You wouldn’t!”

Jisung just shrugged, he didn’t even know if there was betting at the tournament but if there was he would probably bet on Minho anyway.

They'd been riding through a forest for a short while when they finally stopped. Jisung didn’t really see why Minho had wanted to bring them here, it didn’t look special or anything.

“Stay here and wait for me, okay?” Minho said before disappearing behind a few trees with his horse.
Jisung was caught a bit off-guard but waited until Minho returned a few minutes later, without his horse. He took the reins of Jisung’s horse and led him in the same direction he’d disappeared in earlier.

“Close your eyes?” He asked.

“Can’t I get off the horse first?”

“Okay, okay.” Minho relented and helped him off his horse.

Jisung closed his eyes as Minho took his hand and led him to their destination.
They stopped and Jisung waited for Minho to say something.
When he didn’t, he finally asked, “Can I open my ey- Minho!” He was interrupted by the prince planting a kiss on him, startling him slightly.

He opened his eyes and found Minho grinning mischievously at him before he finally looked around where they were.
A gigantic oak tree dominated this little forest section, a small pond right before it. Sunlight broke through the thick canopy, causing the pond to glitter almost magically. It was a dreamy sight straight from legend.
A few meters away from the pond, Minho had put down a large blanket and placed a platter of small finger foods on it. There even was a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Do you like it?” Minho asked, sounding a bit unsure after Jisung hadn’t spoken in a while.

It snapped Jisung out of his thoughts.
“Y-yes! Minho, this is beautiful.” He quickly said, “How did you find this place?”

“Stumbled over it by chance a few years ago, and I thought if I ever really liked anyone I would bring them here. Come sit down.” Minho pulled him towards the blanket and pushed him to sit.

He sat down too and immediately started rummaging through his bag, “I brought something for you.”

He pulled out two small pastries and put them both down in front of him.
“Are those…”

“I saw you eyeing these when Felix had some. I thought you probably wanted to try them.”

Jisung picked up the small pastry and bit off a small piece. He couldn’t help but groan when the sweet yet slightly tangy flavour hit him.
“I think this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” He said before quickly devouring the rest of the treat.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked Minho, not even waiting until he’d swallowed all the food when he noticed the prince watching him closely, “You… didn’t put anything in it, right?”

“I just think the way you eat is fascinating. You look like a squirrel.” He laughed slightly, making Jisung get a bit self-conscious, hiding his face slightly by turning away.

“Nonono, don’t get me wrong. It’s adorable!” Minho turned his head back towards him, “I promise, I’m not laughing at you.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Minho kissed him again and pulled him into his arms so they could cuddle.

“Do you want the other one?” Jisung held up the second pastry.

“You can have it, I brought it just for you. Do you want something to drink?” Minho lifted the wine bottle slightly.

Jisung hesitated slightly, “I haven’t really had wine before…”

“Oh, I didn’t know. I have some water in my saddle bag.” Minho said, shifting to get up when Jisung stopped him.

“No, no it’s okay. I’ll try a little bit.”

“Are you sure? You’ve had alcohol before, right?”

“I had a beer at a festival before…”

“Maybe you should eat a bit more before you have some. Just to be sure.” Minho kissed his temple and picked up some of the fruit he brought to feed to Jisung.

Jisung bit off a piece of strawberry, “Are you also going to have some or did you bring all of this just for me?”

“I chose everything with you in mind, but I’ll admit that I may have overdone it slightly, so I guess I’ll help you.”

“How kind of you, Sir Knight.” Jisung laughed and ate the rest of the strawberry.

Jisung could have stayed like this forever, with Minho’s strong arms wrapped around him and the prince kissing his head from time to time. He had a small sip of wine, which was surprisingly sweet. Even after just one glass, he started feeling the effects of the alcohol, becoming increasingly giggly.

“Maybe one glass is enough for you.” Minho commented when he noticed the change in Jisung.

“Are you saying I’m drunk? I’m not drunk.” Jisung said, not able to suppress a giggle.

Apparently, his laugh was infectious as Minho also started laughing, “Your head is completely red, darling. You look like a sweet little tomato.”

“I’m not a tomato, you… you…” He looked around to find anything, “You pastry...”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” Minho looked at him like he’d just told the greatest joke of all time.

Jisung laid his head on Minho’s chest, “No… I like pastries…”

“I feel like I’m repeating myself but how are you so adorable?” Minho asked, still laughing slightly, as he tilted Jisung’s head back and kissed him again.

They stayed like this for a while, cuddling and feeding each other little treats. Jisung even took a quick nap on Minho’s shoulder while the prince carded his fingers through his hair.
They made their way back a few hours later when Jisung felt a bit better and was able to hold himself on horseback again.

“Do you want to stay with me tonight?” Minho asked after they had returned the horses to the stables and handed them to some stablehands.

“What about Chan? He will know if I don’t come home today…”

“Don’t worry about Chan, we’ll find an excuse.” Minho said as he slowly led him away towards the castle, with no real resistance from Jisung.

“Okay, fine. But let go of my hand before anyone sees us.” Jisung gave in and followed Minho back to his chambers.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Minho pulled him into a deep kiss, his tongue carefully exploring Jisung’s mouth while his hands roamed over his body. Jisung immediately answered by hesitantly slipping his hands under Minho’s shirt. He’d never been this close to anyone but he knew he wanted to get even closer to the prince.
He could feel Minho smile against his lips before separating from him shortly and pulling off his top to give Jisung better access.
Jisung marveled at Minho’s well-toned body and suddenly got self-conscious of his own thin frame.

Minho sensed his hesitation, “Do you want to stop?”

“No… it’s just… I’m not…” He vaguely gestured to Minho’s muscles.

“Why do you think I’d care about that? I bet you’re perfect the way you are.”

Jisung really couldn’t resist the prince’s charming smile. He slowly took off his top, hiding slightly behind his own arms.
Minho carefully took his arms and pulled them away.

“Beautiful.” He whispered before kissing him again and Jisung couldn’t do anything but melt under his attention.

The next morning Jisung woke up in the prince’s bed, cuddled up to him as Minho, already awake as always, stroked his back.
It had only been a little over a week since their first kiss, but at that moment it became absolutely clear to him that he was utterly in love with the prince.

Chapter Text

Jisung had to return home eventually or Chan would actually become suspicious of his absence. Minho and him had agreed that Felix should stay the only one knowing about them being together. They trusted Chan of course, but they both couldn’t really predict what his reaction would be, so they wanted to keep it to themselves for now.
Unfortunately, again, Jisung wasn’t as sneaky and deceptive as he thought he could be.

When he returned the following evening, Chan greeted him with a tight hug, “God, there you are. I was worried.”

Chan was a bit overbearing but it still warmed Jisung’s heart that he cared so much.

“I’m not a child…” Jisung complained.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Chan let go of him, “You just didn’t return home. If I hadn’t heard from Felix that he saw you in the castle today, I would have sent one of my men to look for you. Where were you?”

Chan quickly looked him over until his gaze got stuck on Jisung’s neck.

“Wh-what?” Jisung asked as his hand flew to the spot Chan had looked at, it hurt the tiniest bit to touch. He quickly turned to look into a mirror behind Chan. Multiple bruises painted his neck purple, making Jisung immediately flush the brightest red color, giving the bruises even more contrast. He remembered Minho biting and sucking at his neck last night. Had his neck looked like this the whole day? He had talked to so many people, they must have noticed!
“I-it’s not what it looks like… I… I fell and… umm…”

“Jisung, it’s okay… I know what love bites look like.” Chan didn’t sound mad. Jisung briefly wondered why he had expected him to be angry. “Is this… something permanent or just fooling around?”

It was so embarrassing to talk to Chan about this, Jisung wanted to hole himself up in his bed and never come out again.
“Permanent… I hope…” He mumbled.

“Look, I’m not going to judge. If you don’t want me to get to know your…” Chan cleared his throat, “your friend… I won’t dig. Just, if it’s a young woman… Your mother told you about these types of things, right?”

Forget his bed. Jisung wanted to be swallowed by the ground.
“You do not have to talk to me about these things! I know everything I need to know! And… and it’s a guy so you don’t have to worry about me getting anyone pregnant, so please just stop talking!”

Luckily, Chan seemed almost as uncomfortable as Jisung himself and didn’t press him further.
“Okay, I’m going to trust you with this and umm… I mean I’m not your father or anything but I’d love to meet him sometime and I’m here to support you if you have problems…”

His offer was really sweet but Jisung was too busy dying of embarrassment to appreciate the gesture.
“Thank you, Chan…” He muttered as he quickly shuffled over to his room. Fortunately, the man decided to leave him alone.

The next week arrived surprisingly quickly, bringing not only the preparations for the King’s birthday with it but also Jeongin’s knighting ceremony.

“Silver or gold?” Minho asked him when he looked through his jewelry. The King let him carry out the ceremony after all so he could recover before the birthday celebrations started.

“Hmm… are you going to wear your crown?” Jisung put his arm around his waist and laid his head on the prince’s shoulder. Minho was slightly taller than him but not so much for it to be uncomfortable to hug him like this.

“I probably should, it’s official business after all and Jeongin deserves the effort since the King himself won’t knight him.”

“Then gold to match the crown?” He suggested. When he’d still lived with his mother, he would have never imagined ever talking so casually about stuff like this. The only gold thing he’d ever seen then was his mother’s ring that had been given to her by his father. She had barely worn it since it got in the way of her work and she also didn’t want to attract the attention of any unsavoury folk by wearing something with such high value.
Any one of Minho’s rings was probably worth ten times more than his mother’s ring. It was strange how much everything for Jisung had changed in the last few months.
Minho finally picked out a few rings with matching stud earrings.
After he was finally finished getting dressed, he turned around to Jisung, “How do I look?”

“Perfectly regal.” Jisung said and kissed him shortly. Minho’s hair had gotten fairly long for his standards, framing his face beautifully. He wanted to run his hand through it but he didn’t want to ruin his look before the ceremony, maybe they could get back to that idea afterwards.

Minho took a deep breath, taking Jisung’s hand and lacing their fingers together.

“Nervous?” Jisung asked.

“Probably not as much as Jeongin, but this is the first time Father lets me do something like this. I don’t want to mess it up.”

“I’ll be right behind you, and you practiced what you have to say and do so many times. You can do this.”

“I wish you could stand beside me and hold my hand just like this.”

“Maybe one day.”

“Surely one day.”

The throne room wasn’t as full as it had been at Minho’s coronation. Only a few knights and their squires were present, Felix sat on one of the smaller thrones, talking to Chan, while Seungmin and Jeongin stood with an older couple. The man’s almond-shaped eyes that almost completely closed when he smiled and patted Jeongin’s back proudly immediately betrayed him as Jeongin’s father, which meant the woman with beautiful reddish-brown hair next to him was likely his mother.

Jeongin was wearing a well-made doublet with his family crest embroidered on the chest, a red fox on blue ground.
Jisung held the door open for Minho and everyone started to take their seats as he entered.
He followed Minho to the front where the prince sat down on the King’s throne. Jisung took his place behind him.

“Jeongin of House Yang. Please step forward.” Minho spoke up when everyone had taken their place and had quieted down.
Jeongin walked forward and got down on one knee in front of him.

“Sir Seungmin of House Kim, are you vouching for this young man’s courage, sense of justice and nobility?”

Seungmin stepped forward as well, “I do.”

“Are you vouching for his mercifulness and generosity?”

“I do.”

“As his master, are you deeming his training finished and him ready to receive knightly honor?”

“I am. He is ready.”

Jeongin’s head was bowed but Jisung could see him not being able to suppress a smile as he was practically buzzing from excitement.
A servant handed Seungmin white cloth, which he quickly unfolded to reveal as white cloak that he placed over Jeongin’s shoulders.
Minho had explained most of the rituals and steps to Jisung before, the white cloak was apparently a sign of Seungmin believing in the purity of Jeongin’s soul and intentions.

For the next step, Jisung handed Minho a small richly-decorated container.
Minho opened it and dipped his finger into the salve inside.
He drew a line on Jeongin’s forehead. Jisung didn’t remember what this part was a sign for, he had been too busy nibbling on Minho’s jaw and earlobe to get his attention to actually listen to his explanation of these ancient customs.

“To determine your worth I will listen to your oath.” Minho said as he handed the container back to Jisung who put it away quickly.

Jeongin took a deep breath, “I vow myself to honesty and courage, to compassion and honor. I vow to protect those who cannot protect themselves, to stand tall in the face of danger, to never cheat or lie and to serve the people of this realm without hesitation.”

Jisung wondered if sorcerers were included in this group of people but doubted it.
Some of the knights shared some confused looks, Jisung couldn’t really interpret, while Felix hid a smile behind his hand.

“I, Crown Prince Minho of Levanter, accept your oath in the name of his Majesty the King.”

Jisung stepped forward again to hand Minho his ceremonial sword, a dull, golden blade with a jewel-encrusted hilt.
Minho drew the sword and tapped it lightly on Jeongin’s shoulders.

“With the authority instilled to me by the King, I pronounce you Sir Jeongin, a knight of Levanter.”
Jeongin rose as Minho handed the sword back to Jisung.

There was some polite clapping and some cheers but the whole ceremony was over fairly quickly after the actual knighting.
As Jeongin was congratulated by his parents and Seungmin, Minho took a few steps back to talk to Jisung again.

“See? Everything went well, you looked very respectable. Almost like you’re already king.” Jisung whispered.

“I looked respectable? Did you like that?” Minho teased.

“You have no idea.” Jisung couldn’t help but smile, he wanted to kiss him right here and now but with so many people in the room it would remain an idea inside his head.

“Min! Seungmin is going to take Jeongin to a tavern in town to celebrate!” Felix called out.

Minho sighed before turning around to the group again, “Let me guess, you want to join them?”

“Of course, and you and Jisung should come too!”

“Only if you don’t have anything else to do, your Highness.” Jeongin said, bowing his head shortly.

“No need to be so formal with me. Just call me Minho, we are brothers in arms now after all.”

As Minho stepped forward and put his hand on Jeongin’s shoulder, Jisung felt his chest tighten a bit. He wanted to keep Minho’s attention. He blinked, surprising himself with his thoughts. Was he jealous? That couldn’t be, it wasn’t like Minho had any romantic feelings towards Jeongin, why would Jisung be jealous? But Minho could just openly show physical affection to any other person in this room, even if it was just a friendly pat on the shoulder. Jisung was different though. In the end, he was Minho’s servant and that created a social barrier between them in public. So maybe he really was jealous and he hated it.

Minho decided to change before joining them, giving him and Jisung a bit more time alone in his chambers.
“You’re awfully quiet. Is everything okay?” Minho asked as he pulled off his rings and put them back into the box.

“I’m good…” Jisung said unconvincingly.

Minho picked up on his sullen tone, pulling Jisung into his arms and kissing him deeply.
“Why the pout, my dear?”

“I’m not pouting…”

“You are. Tell me what’s bothering you.” Minho brushed his fingers through Jisung’s hair. He couldn’t help but melt into his touch and smile.

“It’s stupid. I just couldn’t wait to be alone with you again and at the tavern later, we’ll have to be separate again.”

“I know what you mean. But if my father somehow found out about us…”

“I understand. But it doesn’t make the situation any better.”

“How about we only stay for a little while. Felix probably has to return to the castle early anyway, we can go back with him. And when we’re back here…” Minho didn’t have to finish his sentence for Jisung to know what he meant. He just hoped the prince would put his marks in a less visible spot than Jisung’s neck this time. 

Jeongin was clearly a bit on edge about a friendly night at the tavern with people that had been his superiors until today. While Minho was still his prince, he made it clear that Jeongin was to treat him as a fellow knight first and a prince second. Additionally, Jisung believed that it was impossible not to feel at ease when around Felix, so while Jeongin was visibly nervous in the beginning, an hour or so later he relaxed and even joked around freely with the others.

“You brat definitely made an impression, just changing up the oath.” Seungmin laughed, ruffling Jeongin’s hair.

“You’re lucky, Minho was the one holding your ceremony, I’m not sure if the King would have accepted it like that.” Chan shook his head and took another sip of his beer.

“Well, I obviously would have just taken the normal oath if his Majesty had been there…” Jeongin mumbled and hid his face behind his beer jug.

Jisung now really felt like he was missing something, “What was wrong with his oath?”

Seungmin let out an amused huff, “Well, the oath we all took is ‘I vow myself to honesty and courage, to compassion and honor. I vow to protect the citizens of Levanter against all its foes, to stand tall in the face of danger, to never cheat or lie and to serve the King without hesitation.’”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have accepted this vow considering I’m going to be King one day.” Minho said, his tone serious but Jisung knew by now that he was only teasing.

Jeongin’s eyes widened, “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, your Highness!”

Minho’s mouth broke into a smile, “I told you to call me by my name, and I don’t mind your oath. You made a worthy vow that I am going to keep you to it.”

“I like it more than the usual one.” Felix commented and while Jisung didn’t say it out loud he agreed.

“I’ll do my best to follow it.” Jeongin promised.

Chan patted the young knight’s back, “You are going to do great.”

Jeongin blushed slightly, “Thank you…”

“Now, let’s order another round. Tavernkeep! Another round of beers and…” Minho looked at Jisung’s empty glass, “and one glass of juice.”
Jisung didn’t trust himself to drink alcohol with so many people around. His tolerance was already really low. What if he slipped up and tried to drunkenly kiss Minho? It was just too risky so he kept to juice.

The others though were slowly starting to get more than a little tipsy, laughing and chatting loudly. Jisung could feel himself growing anxious, just from being around too many people for too long. He’s always been like this, he liked being around people he liked but sometimes he just needed to be alone. But this was Jeongin’s big celebration and nobody else looked like they were about to leave yet, Minho had just ordered another round for them after all.

“Hey, are you okay?” Felix, who sat right next to him, asked.

“Of course, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Jisung laughed off his concern, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

The prince seemed to accept this answer as he started pulling on Chan’s arm to go look at the small group of bards that had started playing music a little while ago.
He turned to talk to Minho instead but he was currently busy teasing Seungmin about something that happened with a dog.

“You should have seen him, Jeongin. The way he looked at me, he looked exactly like that little dog.” He managed to bring out between fits of laughter.

Jeongin looked like he tried to suppress his own laughter but couldn’t keep it in after all.

“I did not look like that dog.” Seungmin grumbled.

“You did! Completely drenched and with big, sad eyes, and the dog sat right next to him with the exact same look!”

Jisung hadn’t heard the beginning of the story, so the joke was kind of lost on him but he also didn’t want to interrupt, so he just took a sip of his juice. His anxiety continued climbing and he found himself unable to focus on anything but his own breathing, everything else became too exhausting.
He needed some fresh air, the tavern was just too loud. When he finally couldn’t take it anymore, he stood up quickly, accidentally knocking over his chair.
Seungmin, Jeongin and Minho looked at him in surprise.

“Uh, sorry…” Jisung picked up the chair and almost ran out of the tavern. On the way, he bumped into Felix and Chan.

“Jisungie! Isn’t the music great? Come dance with me!” The prince smiled but Jisung could only stare at him like a startled deer.
His breath hitched as a beer mug exploded on a table nearby.
Felix looked towards the commotion, giving Jisung a chance to slip out of the tavern.

As soon as he made it out and cold air hit his face he felt like he could breathe again. The noise inside was now muffled and there weren’t so many people around him anymore.
He needed to go home and hole himself up in his room but for now he had to catch his breath and lean against the cool stone wall.
He hadn’t lost control of his magic like that in months, he just hoped nobody saw.

He closed his eyes and focused more on his breathing when suddenly someone touched his shoulder. He flinched away and looked at the offender but was only met by Minho’s spooked eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you alright, Darling?”

Jisung didn’t know what to say, except “Don’t… don’t call me darling, we’re in public…”

“Nobody is here, don’t worry.” Minho said with an easy smile.

“I need to go home, I can’t stay any longer…” Jisung tried to explain.

“Did something happen? Did anyone say or do anything to you?”

“No, no… this is just me getting overwhelmed. It happens. There is too much going on around me and too many people in general, I don’t like it.”

Minho thought for a second, “Can I help you somehow?”

“No, it’s alright. I just need time alone.”

“Can I kiss you goodnight?”

“Someone might see…”

Minho carefully took his hand and pulled him into an alleyway where he gently pushed him against the wall so they were out of sight.
“Nobody will see us here.” Minho whispered and kissed him gently.

Jisung couldn’t argue with that and just basked in the attention of his favorite person. Contrary to the crowd in the tavern, he found himself not minding being alone with Minho for any amount of time.

“Sleep well, get better soon, dear.”

“I will, thanks to you.”

Minho ran his fingers through Jisung’s hair and stroked his cheek with his thumb, “You could also go back to my chambers and wait for me there.”

“How long are you going to stay?”

“Not too long if I know you’re waiting for me.”

“It’s a tempting offer…”

“I could make it even more tempting, love.” Minho started kissing him on his cheek and slowly travelled down his neck while he also pulled him closer by the waist.

Jisung couldn’t suppress a chuckle, relaxing in Minho’s embrace, his anxiety from earlier almost completely forgotten.
“Okay, but don’t take too long.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Jisung had made himself comfortable in Minho’s bed and had already dozed off slightly when the prince joined him, crawling under the blanket clumsily as the alcohol hindered his usually so graceful movements.

“Are you sleeping already?” He slurred as he pulled Jisung into his arms.

“No, not anymore. Did you have fun?”

Minho hummed in agreement and burrowed his nose in Jisung’s hair.
“You’re so cuddly when you’re drunk.” Jisung laughed.

“I’m always cuddly with you, love. You’re like a sweet little kitten, I just can’t resist you.” Minho kissed the shell of his ear and nipped on it playfully.

“You are definitely a lot more sappy when you’re drunk.”

“I’m not that drunk…”

“You definitely are.”

Minho laughed quietly, Jisung could feel his breath on his neck, “Maybe I am.”
It didn’t take long for them to fall asleep in each other’s arms.

The king’s birthday approached quickly, bringing countless people into the city for the festivities. As on Minho’s birthday, vendors set up stalls with games and delicious food, at every corner stood a bard playing joyful tunes for the cheerful crowd. There was an arena set up for duels and grounds for the jousting tournament.

“Why were there no tournaments on your birthday?” Jisung asked Minho as they watched builders set up the jousting arena.

“My birthday is in the same week as the Day of the Dead, tournaments aren’t allowed during that time.” He explained.

“Oh, that… sucks…”

Minho laughed, “Not a friend of tournaments?”

“I mean, I’ve never been to one. I guess I don’t know what I’m missing?”

“I’ll make sure you’re going to enjoy it. I’ll dedicate all of my wins to you.”

There was a short pinch on Jisung’s butt that made him jump a bit, “M-minho, what if anyone sees?”

The prince had been growing bolder lately with his affections, causing them to almost get caught multiple times.
“I’m sorry, I’ll try to control myself.” The prince grinned, his smile already betraying that he wouldn’t.

A few days later it was time for the celebrations. The tournaments started early in the morning as lords and knights from all over the kingdom wanted to participate, so they would take most of the day before in the evening there would be a big banquet.
Jisung helped Minho get his horse ready and get into his armor. It was the first time he actually wore the full plate armor after months of injury and sickness.

“Are you sure you’re ready? You’ve been out of commission for so long.” Jisung worried as he closed one of the buckles.

“Afraid I’m going to lose?”

“Losing means falling off your horse in full armor, you could get seriously hurt. And what if one of the lances pierces you?”

“The lances are made to break on impact so they only push the opponent off the horse at most and don’t actually do lasting damage. And I am wearing armor so even if something goes wrong, I’m protected.”

The thought of falling off a horse still scared Jisung, he couldn’t fathom why Minho wasn’t worried about it.

“How about a kiss for good luck?” The prince asked, “So you can be sure, nothing will happen to me?”

Jisung rolled his eyes at the blatant flirting before giving him a quick kiss.
“Kick Seungmin’s butt.”

“I’m planning to.”

Jisung took his place next to Chan stands next to the arena. Luckily it wasn’t too crowded as it also hosted the royal family and important nobles who were visiting. Behind Jisung there were a few young daughters and sons of nobles gushing over the competitors.

“Did you hear? Prince Minho is participating even though he was sick for so long.”

“What if he accepted my favour and rode in my honor. I don’t think I would even care if he won, I would just pass away and plan the wedding.”

“How would you plan a wedding if you passed away?”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“The prince never accepts favour, idiot.”

Jisung knew what they were talking about. Knights competing in a tournament would often accept favors, small trinkets like scarves to tie around their equipment for good luck.
It was no surprise Minho didn’t accept any as it would mean that he was eyeing someone to court.

“Are you excited for your first tournament?” Chan asked next to him.

“I don’t understand who voluntarily participates in something like this.” Jisung said honestly.

Chan let out a small laugh, “It’s thrilling. Like riding into battle without the actual fear of death, it gets the heart pumping.”

“Why aren’t you participating? It sounded like you were the reigning champion.”

“I thought I should give the younger knights a chance for once.” Chan said with a shrug but Jisung could see there was something else.
He stared at Chan for a few seconds, noting his deep eyebags and slightly stiff posture. He sharply poked the knight in the lower back, causing him to barely suppress a hiss of pain.

“Your back is hurting… you’re not participating because you’re getting ol-”

“Okay fine, fine. Don’t say it out loud. My back has been hurting for a while, sitting on a horse is torture.”

“You know, if you slept in your bed instead of at your desk…”

“I know, I know. You don’t need to chastise me. I’m well aware, thank you.”

“If Seungmin and Felix-”

“Don’t you dare tell them, Jisung. I mean it. I will throw you out.”

Before Jisung could say another thing, fanfares announced the arrival of all competitors.
Sixteen knights rode into the arena, Jisung could immediately pick out Minho on his white stallion, Seungmin with his crest showing a hunting dog and Jeongin with the fox emblem. He recognized a few other knights but most of the competitors only came to the capital for the celebrations.

The crier greeted the crowd, “Your Majesty, your Highness, Lords and Ladies, Men and Women and everything in between, welcome to the jousting tournament where these brave knights standing before you compete for eternal glory!”

The crowd cheered.
The King rose from his throne that oversaw the whole arena, “I also welcome each and every one of you. After the hardships our kingdom faced this year, we deserve a celebration like this. So cheer and celebrate to your heart’s content! I also welcome our esteemed guest from the far-away Kingdom of Miroh. Without their supply of Yellow Wood Bark we could not have overcome this terrible plague. Welcome Prince Hyunjin.” He gestured to a young man seated next to Felix.

The young man seemed a bit awkward and shy as he gave a short wave to the crowd. His sandy blonde hair was tied up in a small ponytail.

“Now, may everyone compete fairly and according to knightly conduct. Good luck to all these brave knights! You may begin!” The King ended his speech and sat back down.

“Thank you, your Majesty! Without further ado, our first two competitors are…” The crier turned over two plates displaying names in a wooden tournament bracket.

“Sir Jeongin of House Yang and our very own Crown Prince Minho!”

Jisung couldn’t help but feel sorry that Jeongin’s first opponent ever in a tournament was Minho.
The other knights filed out of the arena as Minho and Jeongin took their horses to opposite sides of it.
They were both handed their lances and brought their horses into position.

“Oh what do we see here? Is that a token of affection on the prince’s saddle?” The crier pointed out, turning Jisung’s attention to it.
It was a small piece of dark green cloth affixed to his saddle, it wasn’t anything special but Jisung immediately recognized it as the scarf he thought he lost. In summer, he used it mostly to soak up sweat since it was very light cloth. He couldn’t believe Minho had stolen his scarf for this. He wanted to be angry at Minho for being so careless but he couldn’t bring himself to actually hate this gesture. A warm feeling spread from his chest to his face.

“Since when… Jisung, do you know what this is about?” Chan asked, shocked that Minho might be courting someone in secret.
Jisung just shook his head, unable to say anything.

Jeongin, to be fair, didn’t do a bad job, at least Chan said so as Jisung didn’t know anything of the intricacies of jousting, but in the end he lost his balance and landed on the ground, earning Minho his first win.
Minho raised his broken lance in victory, before dismounting and helping Jeongin up. The crowd cheered as Minho was declared the victor and the next competitors entered the arena.

It took a while until Jisung stopped flinching at the loud sound of lances meeting metal armor, breaking and splintering as one, or both opponents landed in the dirt, but he couldn’t deny that he started enjoying watching. Minho practically blew through his first three opponents, landing him in the finale to nobody’s surprise.
His last opponent was a knight Jisung didn’t know.

“Let me introduce our final two competitors of this fine tournament. You all know his Highness Prince Minho, who has been a fearsome competitor for years. At last year’s tournament he barely lost to Sir Chan of House Bang who does not compete this time. Most bets are on him winning this year even though he has just recovered from illness! His opponent stems from the Kingdom of Miroh, Sir Changbin of House Seo!”

Minho’s opponent wasn’t a very tall man but what he lacked in height he made up for in muscle. All the knights looked a bit bulkier in their armor but this guy was huge. He carried the banner of a red boar on black ground.

“He is the personal guard of his Highness the Prince of Miroh and one of their best knights! But is he good enough to beat our Crown Prince? We will see!”

“He’s good, I think Minho is really going to have a hard time against him.” Chan muttered as he watched them get their horses in position.

“He is?”

“He is incredibly accurate with his lance and he’s a very steady rider, he’s not going to fall off easily.”

“But Minho is better, right?” He asked, immediately going back to worrying.

“I don’t know… Whoever wins, it’s going to be close.”

Jisung looked up to where Prince Hyunjin sat, gripping the fabric of his pants as he was focused on the arena. He also looked a bit worried, which made sense considering his knight was also in the finale.
A flag was waved, signalling the riders to start. The first round was over quickly, lances crashed into armor simultaneously, both held themselves on the back of their horses.

“A draw…” Chan muttered as lances were exchanged and both got ready to charge again.

Jisung bit his lip, anxious to see the outcome.
The second round, Minho managed to push aside Sir Changbin’s lance, landing a hit himself.

“Point to Minho, if it’s another draw he’s going to win.” Chan commented.

They got their new lances, Sir Changbin brandished his, pointing it towards the stands, a small charm twinkling at its hilt.
He charged again and Jisung couldn’t watch as the lance hit Minho right in the chest, knocking him back and off his horse.
A short stretch of silence went over the arena until Minho raised his arm, signalling that he was fine, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

“And that’s it! The winner of this tournament is Sir Changbin of House Seo from the Kingdom of Miroh!”

Jisung hurried to get down to help Minho get up and check if he was truly fine.
By the time he made it to the prince, luckily someone had already helped him get up because in retrospect Jisung wouldn’t have been able to pick him up in full armor.
As soon as they made it back to Minho’s tent, where he had prepared himself earlier, Jisung hugged him, “God, are you okay?”
Someone entered behind them, making Jisung immediately flinch away from Minho as if that would prevent the newcomer from seeing them.

“Calm down, it’s just me.” Felix said, “But yes, same question. Are you okay, Min?”

Minho threw his helmet on a small table, “I’m good, maybe a bit bruised.” He huffed, obviously frustrated, “I thought I could win this year with Chan out of the competition. This is… ugh.”

Felix sighed in overplayed relief, “Oh good, the only thing hurt is your pride.”

“Hey, this is serious!” Minho complained and Jisung couldn’t help but laugh at their little squabble.

“Is it though?”

“You little brat…”

“If you can argue with Felix about that, you can’t be too badly hurt.” He grinned as he loosened the straps holding Minho’s armor together.
Minho grumbled something about being older than both of them and deserving more respect but overall dropped it as Jisung freed him from the metal prison that was his armor.

“I have to go back now, Father wants me to show Prince Hyunjin around before the banquet later…” Felix said, uncharacteristically unenthusiastic.

“What’s wrong? You don’t get along?” Minho asked, probably ready to put the foreign prince in his place in case he was rude to his little brother.

“No, that’s not it. I don’t want to sound mean, because he is very nice. He’s just a bit… strange I guess…”

“What did he do?”

“Nothing really. I can’t really explain it. It’s just that I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before and I have a weird feeling about him.”
Minho furrowed his brow as he thought for a second, “Are you sure you’re not mistaking him with someone else? I don’t think we’ve had any dealings with Miroh before the plague.”

“Just forget what I said, it’s stupid. I have to go back now. See you later!” Felix left the tent before Minho could say anything else.

“Strange… a person Felix doesn’t get along with, I didn’t think they existed.” Jisung joked.

“I hope he really is as nice as Felix said he is and he gets used to him, he needs more friends.”

“You’re so overbearing, one would think you’re his mother instead of his brother.”

“So cheeky, do you not have anything better to do than running your mouth?” Minho pulled him towards himself, keeping him in place with two hands on his butt.

“I don’t know, I have some more things I want to say. You stole my scarf.”

“I borrowed it.”

“You borrowed it without permission to use as a good luck charm.”

“It didn’t work very well though. I lost after all.”

“Maybe it would have worked if I had given it to you, instead you stole it like a petty thief.”

“I am a thief. First, I’ll take your scarf, then a kiss, and then your heart.”

“You mixed up the order, master thief.”

“I didn’t.” Minho pulled him into a kiss so sweet that it made Jisung forget what he’d wanted to say.

Chapter Text

After almost being caught making out by Chan who’d wanted to check on the prince after his fall, Jisung and Minho decided to go look at the stalls set up around town. On Minho’s birthday, Jisung had been too caught up on having to spend time with him to really enjoy the festival. He had to admit that the crowd was almost bearable when the prince sneakily held his hand while pushing through.
Last time, he had only tried some treats that Felix had decided to share with him, but this time he almost had to stop Minho from getting him yet another sweet because he was already starting to feel a bit sick because of it.
Jisung tried his luck at fishing a small fish from a huge tub to win a prize but failed miserably.

“Let me try.” Minho took the small net from Jisung’s hand.

“Fine, but it’s harder than it looks.”

“I got one!” Minho smiled at him and held up the net presenting the fish he caught.

“As expected of his Royal Highness. Congratulations!” The stand owner said, showing Minho the array of prizes he could choose from.

They left the stand before Minho pulled Jisung into a small alley and put something in his hand. Jisung looked down to see a small wooden squirrel.
“It’s you.” The prince said with a grin.

Jisung had always been a bit self-conscious about his round cheeks but he knew Minho wasn’t trying to insult him. The first time the prince had told him that he found his cheeks cute, he’d thought he was mocking him, but by now he knew he was serious. He smiled as he took the small figurine, regarding it fondly. When Minho compared him to a squirrel, it was coming from a place of love.

“You won this for me?”

“I can still give it to Felix if you don’t want it.” He teased.

“No, too late! You already gave it to me!” He protested playfully, pressing the small figure to his chest.

Minho laughed and put his hand up to Jisung’s face like he usually did when he was about to kiss him but quickly took it away when he noticed someone else coming into the alley.
“Let’s go see some more stalls. Do you want another pastry?”

“I think if I eat one more I am going to explode.”

“Can’t have that, I still need you.”

They left the alley and made their way back to the castle where they spotted Felix talking to the two visitors from Miroh in the courtyard.
“Min! There you are.” Felix barely suppressed a relieved sigh. He was clearly exhausted from entertaining their guests alone.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Prince Minho.” Hyunjin bowed his head politely yet a little awkwardly. Jisung wondered if it was because as a Prince himself, he wasn’t used to bowing to anyone.

“The pleasure is all mine, your Highness.” Minho answered equally politely while keeping his distance.

There was an uncomfortable pause after the greetings as both prince’s didn’t seem like the best conversationalists. Minho didn’t like meeting new people but to keep up an open, welcoming front he had to get out of his comfort zone a little.
He cleared his throat, “Sir Changbin, it’s nice to meet you too outside of competition.”

The knight wore a serious expression that gave Jisung goosebumps. Was that just his neutral expression or did he have a problem with Minho? He didn’t know.
He looked over to Minho who really tried hard to contain his annoyance at the knight’s silent stare but Jisung knew all his little tells by now. He could see him shifting his jaw a little.

Prince Hyunjin laughed awkwardly, “Please excuse him, he’s not good at small-talk. And you are?” He looked over to Jisung.

“This is my attendant, Jisung.” Minho answered for him.

“Oh, you must be close if you are visiting the festival together.”

“Jisung is more than just an attendant, he’s a good friend and Chan’s ward.” Felix explained before Minho could say anything else.

“How sweet. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, umm, your Highness.” Jisung almost forgot to bow and then accidentally bonked his head against Minho when he quickly tried to remedy his mistake.

“I’m on my way back to my chambers to get ready for the banquet. You should probably also go back soon.” Minho said, stepping slightly in front of Jisung so nobody could see how his face flushed in shame.

“Good idea, Min. I’ll come with you.” Felix immediately jumped on the idea.

“We should return too, your Highness.” Changbin finally spoke in a low voice, clearly only directed at Prince Hyunjin and nobody else.

The prince nodded in agreement and turned to Felix.
“Thank you for showing us your city. I had a lot of fun.”

“No need to thank me. I also had fun. See you at the banquet, yes?”

“I’m looking forward to it. You too, Prince Minho.”
And with that Changbin and Hyunjin left towards the guest quarters.

Felix physically relaxed and let out a sigh as soon as they were gone.
“That bad?” Minho asked.

“No… ugh I don’t want to gossip, it’s so mean.”

“Lix you are probably the nicest person at court. If something is bothering you about Prince Hyunjin…”

“It’s not that he’s bothering me, he just… Min, he is so boring. Every conversation with him is so stifled. I tried so hard to make him feel comfortable but I’m exhausted.”

“He could just be anxious?” Jisung suggested.

“I don’t know, maybe, but I’ve spent the whole day with him and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about him. Please help me later at the banquet. I need someone to talk to who is actually giving interesting answers, not just empty platitudes, or I will go crazy.”

Minho ruffled his brother’s hair, “I’ll be right next to you, don’t worry. And Jisung will be somewhere behind us with a pitcher of wine in case you need it.”

“I will hold you to that!” Felix said, fixing his tousled strands before leaving them.

“So, should I just make sure your glass is always full at the banquet?” Jisung asked while Minho looked through his closet for what he was going to wear.

“Felix’s servant is responsible for his cup, and mine… I’ll give you a sign when talking to Prince Hyunjin becomes too tedious.”

“You could just not talk to him, right?”

“It’s not that easy. His kingdom helped us through a crisis, we have to be gracious and thankful. And, well, we are probably going to see him more often in the future.”

“Miroh is so far away, he could just visit now and then never again?”

Minho sighed, “Father hasn’t confirmed anything but I am pretty sure what he’s planning, Felix probably has also picked up on it. Miroh didn’t help us for free and they can only profit from an alliance with Levanter.”

“I don’t get it.”

“You know, you are so perceptive and smart sometimes and then that brain of yours just goes poof .”

“You’re one to talk, Lord My-Plan-Is-To-Walk-Around-And-Wait-For-The-Monster. Just explain it to me.”

“Father probably made a deal with Miroh that Felix is going to marry Hyunjin. It’s just a matter of time until he announces it.”

Felix had told Jisung about the possibility that he would have to marry for political reasons and that he was fine with it as long as the other person was nice but being confronted directly with this felt wrong.
“But Felix doesn’t like him…” He argued weakly.

“That doesn’t matter, unfortunately… I mean, the best case scenario is that Prince Hyunjin really is just a bit anxious around new people. Felix said he’s nice, maybe he just needs time to warm up.” Minho took out a silver-embroidered black tunic that he decided on wearing, “Can you get me the amethyst earrings?”

Jisung walked over to the jewelry box to get them.
“Why are you so calm about this? Shouldn’t you be a bit more worried that your brother probably has to marry a stranger?”

“It’s normal. Of course, it sucks but Felix has been prepared for this possibility since he was old enough to understand what marriage is.”

It all still felt wrong to Jisung but Minho didn’t seem to worry and Felix also didn’t freak out. Maybe it really was just something royalty had to deal with.
He didn’t want to think about it anymore, after all these were all just theories, nothing was confirmed.

“Which perfume do you want to wear?”

“Jasmine.”
A smile spread over Jisung’s face. The scent really did fit the prince best in his opinion.

The banquet was held in a hall near the throne room that could easily fit the huge tables that were set up. One table was set up in a way that overlooked the rest of them, seating the royal family, Prince Hyunjin, Sir Changbin as the winner of the joust, Chan, and a few more high-ranking officials. Minho was seated to the King’s right, Felix next to him and followed by Prince Hyunjin. Chan sat on the King’s left with Sir Changbin. Seungmin and Jeongin were also present but seated with the other knights at one of the other tables while Jisung’s place was standing at the wall behind Minho with a pitcher of wine.
Even though Jisung had stuffed himself in the city earlier, when the food was brought out his mouth watered from the smell alone. Of course only the best things would be served for the King’s birthday with exotic fish and seafood Jisung had never seen in his life, multiple roasted deer, and only the freshest vegetables found in all of Levanter.

“Mi- Your Highness, watch out it’s still raw…” Jisung warned Minho when he stood next to him to fill his cup with wine.

Minho laughed breathily, “It’s supposed to be, raw fish is a delicacy in some regions.”

Jisung couldn’t imagine that it tasted good but he was also interested. If they’d been alone he would have asked if he could try some but in this situation this would only seem suspicious.
As he returned to his place behind them, he made sure to stay close enough to listen to what they were talking about so he wouldn’t be bored to death.

“You are not a knight, Prince Hyunjin, is that correct?” The King asked, looking over to his guest.

“No, I’m not. Mirohian royalty trains with the knights but does not take an oath.”

“So you are trained with the sword?” The King continued.

“I am.” The prince kept his answers short. Jisung knew what Felix had meant when he said that it was exhausting to talk to him.

“Have you thought about competing in a tournament?”

“No, I’m not that good with it. I’m not bad but I am by far not the best. Sir Changbin is one of our best knights, he represents our small country in these matters.”

The King also seemed uninterested in continuing to talk to him and instead turned to said knight to question him more.

“You are trained with the sword? I personally favour the bow.” Felix tried to strike up a conversation.

“I have heard about that. I’d love to see you shoot one day.”

“So, you aren’t fond of shooting yourself?”

“Miroh is not known for its archers.”

Jisung couldn’t see Felix’s face but he knew that he was struggling to find a way to continue the conversation after this non-answer.

“So you are only passable with a sword and you can’t shoot. What can you do?” Minho asked suddenly.

“Minho!” Felix scolded him slightly for the rude question.

Prince Hyunjin also looked a bit caught off-guard.
“Me? I…” He thought for a second.

“I’m just asking. You are the heir to the throne of Miroh, right? As a fellow Crown Prince…”

“I’m not the Crown Prince…”

“Sure, you aren’t crowned yet, right? But you are the oldest child of the King of Miroh, right?”

Prince Hyunjin looked a bit uncomfortable, fidgeting with his hands.
“I am the oldest but… it isn’t me who is going to inherit the throne…” He said so quietly that Jisung almost couldn’t make it out.
Now Minho was the one who didn’t know what to say.
“My younger sister is going to be the heir as soon as she is of age…”

Felix looked over to Minho, not saying anything but his eyes were clearly asking a question. Minho just shrugged slightly and quickly ate something so he didn’t have to say anything.

“Um… I apologize if my brother’s question has made you uncomfortable.” Felix jumped in to do damage control for Minho as he didn’t look like he would say anything.

“It’s quite alright. She is better fit to rule a country than I am…”

“If you’re not training in any martial arts, what are your hobbies?” Felix asked, steering the conversation towards a lighter topic.

Hyunjin hesitated slightly before answering, “I draw and I like music.”

Jisung had to admit that Felix was pretty good at keeping up conversation even if he wasn’t behind it with his heart, as he told the prince that he himself was horrible at drawing.
Minho was visibly checked out of the conversation, Jisung had seen his handwriting and small doodles the prince had made so he knew he was also hopeless when it came to calligraphy or drawing. He liked to sing sometimes, just absentmindedly when he thought nobody could hear him, but he would never talk about that. He didn’t even talk to Jisung about it because he was embarrassed even though his voice was beautiful, as clear as a bell in Jisung’s ears.

“Jisung?” He snapped out of his thoughts when Minho called him, realizing that he missed that his glass had been empty for a while now.

“Sorry.” He said, quickly filling it up again.

“Can you go tell the kitchen that I want some of the food and dessert sent up to my room later?”

“Of course, but you could have eaten more before they brought out the dessert if you’re still hungry.”
Minho just looked at him with raised eyebrows until Jisung caught up.
“Oh, it’s for me. Makes sense. I’ll be right back.”

After all the months that Jisung had worked for Minho, the kitchen staff was already used to Jisung popping in and ordering some food to be brought up to the prince’s quarters and were kind enough not to ask how Minho alone ate so much food.
By the time Jisung returned to the banquet hall, the guests from Miroh had already excused themselves and left as they would return home early in the morning.
The King apparently used his birthday to drink as much wine as possible, which was why Chan was worriedly trying to get him to drink some water in between.

Minho was trying to convince Felix that it was time to go to bed as he also seemed to have had a little too much to drink.
“Noooo, Min! I’m fiiiine!” The younger prince complained through short bursts of laughter.

Minho looked at Felix’s servant who stood behind him, “Why did you give him so much? You should know he’s a lightweight.”

“I’m sorry, I thought he had enough to eat to balance it out…” The servant bowed deeply in apology.

“Don’t be mean to Jakey-Jakey. He just did what I asked him to do.”

The servant blushed at the nickname, “Um… I’ll get him to bed, your Highness. I promise.”

Minho sighed and looked around, “Ah, Jisung you’re back. Can you get Seungmin?”

Jisung nodded and made his way to the knights’ table where Seungmin sat.
Only a few minutes later, Seungmin was escorting Felix and his servant back to the prince’s chambers.

“Are you ready to leave too or do I need to get Chan?” Jisung asked quietly.

“I held myself back, I’m barely tipsy.” Minho said as he stood up.

“Are you already leaving, son?” The King slurred.

“I’m still sore from my fall today, so I will turn in early today.”

“Fine, fine. But come see me tomorrow, there is something I need to discuss with you.”

Minho nodded and excused himself before leaving with Jisung.
As soon as the door of Minho’s chambers closed behind them, the prince pulled Jisung into a kiss.
While Jisung was a bit surprised, he still leaned into him and ran his hand through Minho’s soft hair.

“Everything alright?” He asked when they separated.

“I’m just a bit stressed.”

“You just had the most delicious smelling meal I can imagine, what could stress you out?”

“There is something fishy going on with Prince Hyunjin. Maybe Felix and I were wrong about the marriage plan.”

“What makes you say that?”

All these political intricacies were going over Jisung’s head. Maybe Prince Hyunjin had said something while Jisung was down in the kitchens that made him suspicious, because nothing he’d heard rang any alarm bells in his head.

“He’s not the heir to the throne. Father wouldn’t marry Felix off to someone without any prospect to become King or Queen. Sure, we are in Miroh’s debt but Father is not blind, a union between them doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, Prince Hyunjin is going home tomorrow anyway. Maybe the King will tell you his plans when he’s gone because it’s not something he’s supposed to hear…”

“Maybe…”

“You’re thinking too much. Let politics be politics for a night and kiss me.”

“You are unbelievable.” Minho laughed and kissed him again.
Jisung stood on tiptoes to signal Minho what he wanted without having to stop.
The prince immediately understood and lifted him up, his strong arms holding him steadily as Jisung wrapped his legs around him.

Just as Minho’s hand started wandering under Jisung’s shirt, there was a knock at the door, making them both flinch so hard that Minho almost dropped him.

“Your food, your Highness.” A female voice from outside announced.

“Ah, yes. My servant will bring it inside, you may leave it in front of the door, thank you!” Minho called out as he carefully let Jisung back down.
As soon as the maid was gone they both burst out into laughter from getting spooked like this and after finally getting the food inside and trying it, not only did he come to the conclusion that raw fish could actually be very tasty but also that no dessert could be as sweet as Minho’s kisses.

The next morning he was woken up by Minho pulling into an embrace and nuzzling his hair.
He groaned and stretched his limby as he slowly opened his eyes.

“Good morning, love.” Minho whispered into his ear.

“How late is it?”

“Almost noon, I have to go see my father soon.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” Jisung asked, not in a hurry, just curious because Minho usually woke up so early.

“I kept you up pretty late last night, I thought you would appreciate some rest.”

“Why thank you, kind sir.” Jisung cuddled into him to enjoy the skin contact as long as possible before they had to leave and act like they had a normal prince-attendant relationship.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay like this for only a few minutes. Minho kissed him on the crown of his head before slowly getting up and putting on his clothes. Jisung wondered if Minho would be able to stay in bed with him for as long as he pleased when he was King one day, but he doubted it.

Jisung was just about ready to walk out of the room when Minho held him back by the arm.
“You know how I kept your scarf as a good luck charm?”

“You stole it, but go on.”

“I want you to have something of mine to keep as well.”

He took his hand and dropped something into it. When Jisung took a closer look at it, he recognized it as one of Minho’s countless rings, a silver band with rose colored jewels.
“Minho… you know I can’t wear this… People would ask questions…”

“I thought about that!”
Minho pulled a thin silver chain from his pocket.
“You can wear it around your neck and under your clothes with this. Nobody will know.”

“Are you sure? You only got my filthy scarf, I can’t just take this.”

“I want you to take it though. Please don’t think about the value, I have tons of rings. I don’t know what else I could give you that’s small enough to keep it on you at all times.”

He took the ring and put it on the chain, holding it open so he could put it around Jisung’s neck.
Jisung sighed, how could he say no to him when he looked at him with such sincerity?
He turned around as Minho put the necklace around him and closed it behind him.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, I’m only repaying you for stealing your scarf.”
Jisung put the necklace under his shirt and kissed Minho one last time before they had to go see the King.

His Majesty was already waiting for Minho when they made their way down to the throne room.
“You’re late.”

“I’m sorry, Father. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s alright, come sit with me.” The King briefly looked at Jisung, “Get us something to drink.”

Jisung bowed slightly and went to pick up a pitcher of water on the other side of the room.

“So, what did you think of Prince Hyunjin?” The King asked, cutting right to the chase.

Minho thought for a while, “I think he is the only person I’ve seen that hasn’t become best friends with Felix five minutes after meeting him.”

“Yes, he was rather… shy, wasn’t he?”

“I don’t really know if it was shyness or something else. I think you should ask Felix more about him. He spent more time with him than me.”

The King nodded, “I was more interested in your first impression.”

“Why? What’s this about Father?”

“As you know, we owe Miroh a great deal. Their medicine saved so many people, including yours. They are proposing an alliance.”
Minho nodded, listening to his father. It was exactly what he had predicted. Jisung was a bit impressed by how well this lovable idiot knew politics.
“Of course, we do not have a lot to gain from this alliance but we are in their debt so I accepted their offer.”

“You are going to let Prince Hyunjin marry Felix?”

“No, Prince Hyunjin is going to marry you.”
The water pitcher slipped out of Jisung’s hand, shattering into a million pieces on the ground.

Chapter Text

“What are you doing, boy?” The King asked gruffly as water and tiny glass shards hit his feet.

“I… I’m sorry, it just slipped out of my hand. I’ll get a broom.”

Jisung looked over to Minho briefly. The prince seemed to still be processing what he’d heard. His mouth was slightly opened as if he wanted to talk but the words just didn’t come to him. As he turned around to fetch a broom and mop, the King started talking to Minho again but his own thoughts were too loud to listen to his words.
‘Don’t think, just do your job.’ The words echoed in his mind again and again as he tried to keep his hands from shaking too hard.
He started picking up the shards and dried the floor when Minho finally started talking again.

“I can’t marry him, Father…”

“Minho, don’t start like that. The deal has been made.”

“And you didn’t think to talk to me first?”

“What would you have done? I offered them Felix marrying the princess but she is already promised to someone else. Prince Hyunjin marrying you was the only thing they agreed to.”

“So I have no choice in this? I’m the Crown Prince!”

“Breaking this deal is going to ruin Levanter’s reputation. If we ever need help with anything again, which of our allies is going to come to our aid if we are known for not repaying our debts?”

“I am already involved with someone else.” Minho just burst out, freezing Jisung in his place on his knees where he was still trying to sweep up all the glass.

“I saw the token on your saddle, but now it’s time to stop fooling around, son. Prince Hyunjin will return in a month with a courting gift and official proposal. I want you to prepare something for him as well.”

“But…”

“I’m done arguing. You have a month to come to terms with this decision and when Prince Hyunjin returns, I expect you to at least pretend you are excited.”

“I can’t do that, Father.”

“You can and you will. For our country and for your future.”

When they left the throne room, Minho didn’t even wait until they made it back to his room. Luckily there were no servants or guards around to see the prince pulling his servant into a crushing hug.
“I won’t let it happen. I promise I won’t let it happen.” He muttered into his shoulder.

“But… how? It sounded like there was no other option…”

“I’ll find a way.”

Felix learned of the marriage plans on the same day, storming into Minho’s chambers in the afternoon.
“There you are! What are you planning? How can I help?” He said, practically jumping Minho and forcing him into a hug.

“So you’ve heard?” Minho asked as he tried maneuvering his limbs around his brother to get into a more comfortable position.

“Of course, you should have come talk to me immediately. So what is the plan?”

That was a good question. They had tried to come up with one for hours.
The easiest way to avoid marrying Prince Hyunjin would be to just run away together but Jisung didn’t even dare suggest it. He had to think of a conversation he had with Felix and Minho a few months ago.

“What would you do if you could just stop being a prince and do whatever you want?” Jisung had asked them when they had spent a quiet evening together when Minho was still recovering from his broken clavicle.

Felix had jumped on the question immediately, “I’d want to travel! I’ve never been outside of Levanter, I’ve barely even left the capital. If I could do anything I’d travel the world.”

“Where would you want to go first?” Minho had asked with a smile, looking like he could listen to his brother talk forever.

“An island, no wait, a beautiful mountain range. Maybe a mountain range on an island? There are so many things I haven’t seen yet!”

“When I’m King I’ll make sure you can travel as much as your heart desires.”

Felix’s smile had turned a little sad, “You know I can’t, Min… It’s dangerous and what if my health is getting worse again…”

“I don’t care. We’ll have found a cure for your headaches by then, I’ll make sure of it. And Chan can come with you or something to keep you safe.”

Jisung still didn’t know if it was stubbornness or optimism that had fueled Minho’s words but it had made Jisung hopeful that Felix’s dream would come true.
“What about you? What would you do if you could do anything else?”

Minho had looked at Felix, genuinely curious about his answer. But the Crown Prince hadn’t immediately answered like Felix, he’d just thought for a while until he finally said, “I don’t know what I would want to do more than this. I want to be King one day, it’s been my goal for as long as I can remember.”

“Uh, not true. When you were six you wanted to slay a dragon!” Felix teased.

“Shut up, you wanted to find a unicorn.”

So Jisung wouldn’t even bring up the possibility of running away, he didn’t want to put Minho in the situation to choose between him and becoming King. They had to find another way.
“Maybe you can talk to Prince Hyunjin when he’s back. I doubt that he wants to marry you any more than you want to marry him.” Felix suggested.

“How do you know that?” Jisung asked.

Minho looked equally clueless.
“You two have to be kidding me. Did you not notice how he and his guard looked at each other?”

“You mean Sir Changbin?”

“Of course I mean Sir Changbin. I bet Prince Hyunjin and him are in the same situation as you two, so he probably doesn’t want to marry you either.”

Jisung really didn’t know how Felix could be so sure but he also hadn’t really paid too much attention to the two visitors.
“You two can be so oblivious, seriously. But anyway, Prince Hyunjin might have been a bit closed off and distant but he was nice overall, talking to him at least won’t make it worse, right?”

Minho sighed, “You’re right, it’s worth a try. I’ll still try to talk Father out of it before he even arrives here…”

Jisung was still a bit unsure about that plan, “What if he doesn’t agree?”

“Then we’ll think of something else. We still have time. Prince Hyunjin will arrive here in a month but they aren’t going to get married immediately. There are still some rites they’d have to do in the weeks before the wedding.” Felix explained.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t want to do these rites with him…”

Jisung’s questioning look was enough for Felix to understand that he didn’t know what exactly they meant.
“It starts with exchanging gifts, and then after a priest will lead them through a few rituals together to ensure a happy marriage I guess. Some have to be done on particular days like a full moon or exactly ten days before the wedding and so on.”

“It’s like courting but supervised by someone that checks if you are putting in enough effort but also staying decent…”

Jisung blushed slightly, considering that Minho and him hadn’t exactly “stayed decent” in their relationship.
“Is… that a requirement?”

“Not necessarily… But you are supposed to prove the purity of your intentions in these rituals, you know, that you are not just there for lustful reasons but for the person? It’s honestly a bit weird and outdated but also kind of cute, right?”
Of course Felix would try to see the positive side of something like supervised dating but Jisung still thought it was strange.

“So you are going on dates with Prince Hyunjin?” He looked over at Minho.

He knew it wasn’t really his choice but there was a small voice in his head asking “What if he has more fun with him?”

“Only if I can't avoid it and I am going to hate every second of it.” Minho pulled him closer with one arm and placed a kiss at his temple. While Jisung felt slightly more secure, there was still that fearful little voice in the crevices of his mind that wondered why a prince would even be interested in a lowly servant in the first place.

Jisung’s mood was down for the rest of the day, though he tried to put on a brave face in front of Minho. It didn’t help that Chan noticed his downtrodden demeanor when he returned home that evening.
“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” He answered unconvincingly. He was tired from pretending all day.

He must have looked incredibly sad because Chan just approached him and pulled him into a strong hug. He couldn’t help but relax slightly in Chan’s arms and suddenly everything hit him at once.
Of course, Minho’s and his relationship had been doomed from the start. What had he been thinking? That they would live happily ever after? Minho was royalty. He was literally the second most important person in the entire kingdom and he was just Jisung, a sorcerer-in-training and enemy no. 1 to Levanter.

“Hey, it’s okay. Let it all out.” Chan rubbed his back soothingly, Jisung didn’t know when he’d started crying but at the moment it didn’t feel like he could stop any time soon. Chan didn’t say anything else and just sat down with him to comfort him.
By the time he had stopped crying, there was a big wet spot on Chan’s shoulder.

“Do you want to talk about it?”
Jisung just shrugged. His head hurt and he was tired from crying.

“Is it about your” Chan cleared his throat, “your friend?”
He nodded pathetically.

“Trouble in paradise, I assume?”
Another nod.

Chan sighed, “Young love can be like that. Did you have a fight?”
He shook his head.

“Oh, something more complicated?”
He nodded.

“Would you believe me if I told you that it all gets better in the end? But sometimes it has to get worse first.”

“I don’t want it to get worse though…”

Chan let out a short breathy laugh, “Understandable. I don’t know what exactly is going on but I bet the situation is not as dire as it seems at first. If you two truly love each other, you’ll get through this.”

As generic as Chan’s advice sounded, it made Jisung feel a bit better.
“Thank you, Chan…”

“Of course, Jisung. That’s what I’m here for. Now come sit down and eat something. I heard Minho fought with the King again, you must be exhausted from taking care of him after.”

Chan probably meant to make a fun, light comment about Minho being difficult, but being reminded of the reason why Minho fought with his father made him feel a bit worse again.
But he had to eat and the rich, thick stew the kitchens had prepared felt like the perfect comfort food.

The month leading up to Hyunjin’s return rushed by so quickly that it did nothing to calm Jisung’s anxiety.
Minho had gone from arguing with the King almost daily for the first two weeks to not talking to him unless absolutely necessary to keep up appearances. By now it was clear that the King wouldn't budge on his decision. A day before Hyunjin was said to arrive, Minho (with Felix’s help) had come to the conclusion that he had to just play along until he could talk to the foreign Prince alone.

Jisung hated the idea and Minho knew it. The prince tried to make it up to him by clinging to him every second they were alone, showering him in kisses, but it did nothing but remind Jisung of why he was like this in the first place: Because they could lose what they had.
He trusted Minho to take care of everything but the fear of what could happen soured his mood anyway. He tried to hide it, he enjoyed every second he spent with the prince but he struggled to go to sleep at night, knowing that when he woke up they would be one day closer to Hyunjin returning and stealing Minho from him.

Felix was sure he would agree to help them, that he didn’t want to marry Minho any more than Minho wanted to marry him, but Jisung couldn’t control the ugly feelings in his chest, viewing Prince Hyunjin as competition.
When the news reached them that Prince Hyunjin’s carriage had passed the city gates, Jisung helped Minho get ready. The prince looked stunning with his golden crown and his embroidered doublet.

“We’ll be fine, I promise.” Minho whispered, putting his hands on Jisung’s cheeks and pulling him into a soft quiz.

“I won’t look at you, but know that whenever I smile at Prince Hyunjin, I’ll be thinking of you instead.”

Minho pulled the chain with the ring out from under Jisung’s shirt and caressed the piece of jewelry with his thumb.
“This is the sign that you are the only one on my mind.”

Before Jisung could answer, there was a knock on the door.
“Your Highness? Your presence is needed in the throne room to welcome Prince Hyunjin.” A servant spoke from outside.

“I’ll be right there!”
Minho put the ring back under Jisung’s shirt and gave him another kiss before making his way down to the throne room.

Waiting for Prince Hyunjin to arrive in the throne room was torture, Jisung thought. Minho had told him that he didn’t need to be there but he thought that it would be even worse if he didn’t know what exactly was happening.
Minho was standing next to his Father as they waited, Felix was slightly behind them, trying to keep a straight face but the worry was obvious from Jisung’s position.

The door opened and revealed Prince Hyunjin and Jisung had to admit that he was gorgeous. His clothes were red, the color of Miroh, and equally as finely embroidered as Minho’s. He wore a golden amulet around his neck with his kingdom’s crest, the serpentine dragon. His long, blonde hair was brushed back, showing a pair of beautiful, ruby earrings that somehow accentuated his beauty even more. And to Jisung’s surprise, he was smiling brightly, a lot more expressive than he’d been the last time he'd visited.
Behind him, as last time, was Sir Changbin, visibly trying to look stoic but his face looked more than just a bit disgruntled, it was intimidating.

“Prince Hyunjin, welcome back. I hope your journey was pleasant.” The King greeted the prince.

Prince Hyunjin bowed his head, “I am grateful that I was invited back, your Majesty.”

He looked over to Minho and bowed his head again, “Prince Minho, it is nice to see you again. I hope our union will be a joyful one.”

Minho cleared his throat, “As am I…”

From the looks of it, he quickly had to remind himself to smile. As soon as he did, it looked quite natural but a part of Jisung was relieved that he knew it was fake.
Prince Hyunjin turned around slightly to Sir Changbin behind him who handed him a small box.

Hyunjin slowly walked towards Minho and bowed again before presenting the box to him, “Please accept this gift as an official start to our courting.”

The King was staring figurative daggers at Minho, a clear warning to behave and accept the gift.

“I… thank you, Prince Hyunjin.” He took the box and opened it, yet Jisung couldn’t properly see what was inside from his position.

“The last time I was here, I noticed the wonderful earrings you were wearing, so I hoped these would be to your liking. They are made from gold and a rare type of gem found in Miroh, it’s called Rainbow’s Kiss as drops of many different colors are trapped in it.”

“They are beautiful. Thank you.” This time his reaction wasn’t completely faked, Jisung knew what Minho looked like when he saw something he liked.
He closed the box again and picked up a small box from his throne.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to get you, but please accept this gift.”
Minho hadn’t picked anything out, the King had after Minho had tried to argue that he couldn’t marry Hyunjin because he didn’t even know anything about him, so he wouldn’t even know what to get him as a courting gift.

Minho’s hands shook slightly, after Prince Hyunjin had taken the box from him, he quickly hid them behind his back.
Hyunjin gasped as he opened the box and revealed an amethyst necklace. Purple amethysts were the national gem of Levanter as it shared its color with the King’s crest. This necklace in particular had apparently belonged to Minho’s mother, which was why it was so hard for him to give it to Hyunjin when he didn’t even plan to actually marry him.

“I will cherish this gift forever.” The prince exclaimed, looking at Minho like he’d picked him a star from the night sky.

“You must be exhausted from your journey, a servant will lead you to your chambers and will return to you when dinner is served. We’ll discuss the details of your engagement then.” The King decided.

Prince Hyunjin bowed again before following one of the King’s servants out of the room.
“I expect you to continue playing nice with Prince Hyunjin, and before you even know it, you will fall for him.” The King sat back down on his throne as he looked at Minho.

Jisung saw Minho balling his fist behind his back but a simple “Yes, Father…” was all that left his mouth.

When they left the throne room together, Felix quickly came after them.
“Did you see Sir Changbin’s face? Now I am absolutely sure that there is something between him and Prince Hyunjin.”

“Are you sure that isn’t just how his face looks? The prince was clearly excited to see Minho…”

“Maybe he’s just a good actor.”

They made it back to Minho’s chambers where Jisung was immediately pulled into a hug and kissed.
“I hated this… every part of it.” The prince muttered between kisses.

“Me too…”

“Okay you two lovebirds but this could be your chance to talk to Prince Hyunjin.” Felix interrupted them.
Minho stopped with the kisses and looked at his brother.

“You’re right, sorry. Let’s go.”

Jisung had never had a need to go to the guest chambers of the castle, they were located in the North tower, far away from the princes’ quarters.
Felix stayed back to not overwhelm Prince Hyunjin but Jisung had insisted on going with Minho. When they knocked on the door it didn’t take long for someone to open but instead of the Prince the one who opened was Sir Changbin.

“Yes?” He asked, really keeping to the bare minimum of politeness.

“I need to talk to Prince Hyunjin.” Minho declared, not asking but telling the knight. Jisung wondered if part of growing up as a prince was that he didn’t ask for things from people below him.

Sir Changbin didn’t say anything at first and just seemed to look Minho up and down.
“His Highness can’t talk right now.”

“I will be quick.”

The knight was not budging.
“That doesn’t change the fact that he cannot talk to you right now. You’ll see him at dinner, your Highness.”

“It’s about the engagement.”

“As far as I know the details will be discussed over dinner, you can wait until then.”

Jisung could feel Minho getting annoyed with the knight. There weren’t many people aside from his father who told him no.
“You’re in my castle, Sir Changbin. I am not asking you to get Prince Hyunjin…”

“I’m in your father’s castle, your Highness . And my answer is the same. He cannot talk to you right now. You will see him at dinner.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“Mi- Your Highness, stop…” Jisung tried but just from the way he had met Minho he knew he didn’t like backing down in situations like this.

“I’m Prince Hyunjin’s personal guard and as long as you are not married to him, I don’t see why you would have any right to disturb him when I have clearly told you that he can’t see you right now.”

Minho opened his mouth to speak again when Jisung carefully grabbed his arm, “You can come back later, your Highness…”
Sir Changbin really looked at Jisung for the first time and the young sorcerer just wanted to hide from his intense gaze.

“Ugh, fine.” Minho grumbled and turned to leave.

Sir Changbin closed the door again but as Jisung turned to follow Minho he thought he’d heard the knight and the prince talking inside.
He couldn’t quite make out the words but the tone Sir Changbin spoke in to Prince Hyunjin was so incredibly soft that it was hard to believe that it was the same person Minho and him had just talked to.