The Four Musketeers (TXT TaeGyu story)

Chapter 13 - The Conspirators

AG/N: This is author's ghost talking. Your girl thought it was a good idea to work out at 7am. Actually it wasn't that bad considering that I usually work out in the evening when it's about 37°C outside and now it was only 23 but still I'm kinda dying. ANYWAYS, new chapter!

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The next few days flew by in a blink of an eye. Waking up early in the morning, cleaning the castle for most of the day, quick lunch break, work, then training with Yoongi, work, work and work, then bedtime.

As the prince's masquarade ball was nearing, the work in the castle became much more than it was before. Every inch had to be clean and nicely decorated for the party. Taehyun hasn't met Prince Beomgyu ever since the accident with the hot air balloon, but honestly, he didn't really mind. He was still mad about the other's behavior. What he didn't know was that the prince was constantly looking for him in his freetime.

During one of their late night talks, he confessed everything that happened to the other boys which only left Kai with his jaw dropped and Yeonjun and Soobin smirking. He told them in detail about the air balloon, the view of Paris, how he saved Beomgyu and how kind the prince was to him until he mentioned the musketeer thing.

'Why are you grinning like that?' pouted Tae which made the two oldest's smirks grow even more.

'If I didn't know you I'd say you have a crush on the prince~' sang Yeonjun. Tae frowned.

'I don't! He laughed at me! He was such a jerk!'

'A jerk with beautiful chocolate brown eyes and fluffy hair' sighed Kai dreamily hanging from his bed upside down. Taehyun yeeted a pillow at the youngest's face. He decided he won't talk about to prince to neither of them anymore.

Also let's not forget about the musketeer trainings with Yoongi. The boys slowly became better and better at fighting, developed a better stamina and strength. They used the mannequins in the room to learn the weaknesses of a possible opponent and they even fought each other sometimes.

Taehyun became much better at using a sword than before. Yeonjun still used the ribbons he showed the first time; Yoongi even taught the oldest of the four more fighting techniques with them which he was very thankful for. Kai would yeet his fans [still not MOAs lol] all over the room without hitting anything and even managed to catch them after, and Soobin actually learned how to catch the pearl he was throwing with the sling with only two fingers. He was also good at using a bow and sometimes practiced with that.

Currently Yeonjun, Soobin and Kai were sitting on the ground munching on some food they got from the kitchen, while Taehyun was fighting with Yoongi.

Sword hit sword as the two of them were circling around each other. When they did this for the first time, Yoongi managed to unarm Taehyun in less than a minute. This time the fight was on for several minutes. Finally Taehyun's last move knocked the sword out of Yoongi's hand.

'Yeeeeesss, Tae!' clapped Yeonjun. The other two started cheering too with sparkling eyes. This was the first time when any of them managed to win against their instructor. Taehyun looked back at Yoongi, his eyes shining and his face warm from all the fighting as he was trying to steady his breathing.

Yoongi just smiled satisfied.

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'This is crazy!' shouted Soobin into the void as they left the castle at night.

'We are becoming better and better' agreed Yeonjun.

'I can't believe you defeated Monsieur Yoongi!' added Kai, shaking Tae's arm. Taehyun giggled.

'I know right!' he gasped. 'Nothing can stop us, guys! We should celebrate this!'

'Yeah, let's go!' agreed the others quickly. They laced their arms together as the four of them skipped their way onto the dark streets of Paris. When they were together really nothing could stop them.

As they were walking down the street, suddenly they heard noises from one of the alleys. As they turned around the corner, they could see people walking with huge chests and boxes around carriages. Taehyun quickly hid behind a stack of boxes that were next to the back door to one of the shops and gestured to the others to join him. The four of them were peeking out from behind the boxes.

'Aren't those the regent's people?' asked Kai, recognizing a male with beard. He was the one who got scolded by Monsieur Philippe after the chandelier almost fell on Beomgyu.

'What are they doing?' squinted his eyes Yeonjun. There were only a few lampposts on the streets that proved some light, so they couldn't see much.

The bearded man gestured to the servants to put one of the chests on the ground. They opened it up. It held colorful swords inside. They seemed to be decorations.

'These are the perfect swords for the prince's sword dance' the man grinned as he took a blue sword in his hands. Something red sparkled up in the dark which made Taehyun gasp and reach into his pocket. What he saw was the man's knife that was put on his belt. It had small rubies around the grip. Tae fished out the piece of ruby he found the other day next to the chandelier's ropes.

'Look! It's the same gemstone!' he showed it to the others.

'The regent's people did all of that?' wondered Soobin.

'It would make sense' said Yeonjun. 'They are insiders after all. They know about every step of Beomgyu.'

'Look! What's happening?' gasped Kai. They turned back towards the man. He suddenly pulled out an actual blade from the toy sword.

'Perfect!' he said, swaying the sword in the air a few times. Kai almost screeched loudly but Soobin quickly put his palm on the youngest's mouth, shutting him up. The man put the sword back in the chest and gestured to the servants to take it.

The boys waited till everyone left in silence, all of them deep in thoughts.

'The regent's people are conspiring against the prince' concluded Yeonjun.

'But why would they want to kill him? How the hell would that benefit them?' panicked Soobin pacing back and forth.

'What should we do now?' asked Kai.

'We need to report this!' decided Tae. 'We saw the blade! We have proof!'

'Let's go!' agreed the others as they rushed back towards the palace.

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The four boys were knocking on the back door where they enter the staff room with full force. Madame de Bossé opened it up annoyed.

'Oh, it's just you. What are you boys doing here? Your shift is over' said the woman.

'We have to talk to Prince Beomgyu. Now!' said Taehyun.

'I told you already. You don't even exist to the prince!'

'But this is an emergency!' butted in Yeonjun.

'What emergency could you out of all people have with the prince?' snorted the Madame.

'Don't you understand? The prince's life is in danger!' Kai was really losing his patience.

'We won't leave until you let us talk to him' stepped to the front Soobin and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

'Then you'll be here for a long time' grinned Madame de Bossé and was about to shut the door into the boys' faces but Soobin was faster. He stopped the door with his foot, then as if it was planned, him and Kai stepped forward and simply picked up the woman.

'W-what? What are you doing?! Put me down!' shouted Madame de Bossé. The two boys did as said, they dropped her onto the grass outside the building, then ran after Yeonjun and Kai who were already inside.

They needed to find someone to talk to quickly.