✓ the hooded princess • kim seungmin

t w e n t y

It would be embarrassing too if she found out.

Ah, what is this?

Just before he was running and his heartbeat haven't slowed down yet. The male is confused whether the beating now is because of the short run or the question.

"Let's go." the princess' voice brought him back to reality.

"Are you returning to the main circle?"

"I need to see if someone's injured."

"You are undercover right now, Your Highness."

The girl mentally slapped herself. She turned to him with a rather uncomfortable look yet the worry still evident. She couldn't seem to sit still when knowing the person she's been searching for years was out here, just less than a mile from her.

"Let's get you checked first," he gently tugged on her sleeves. This was the first time he saw Eunkyung seem genuinely worried. Her eyes travelled everywhere, fingers rubbed onto one another and her feet wanted to run. Seungmin wasn't sure what he supposed to do. "Hey,"

"What if he hurts the people...?" she silently muttered while turning to him, and on the verge of crying. "I... I was the one who brought him here I shouldn't go to the libraries in the first place oh my god—"

"Hey hey," the guy held both of her wrists to prevent her from pulling her hair.

"What if–"

"No. No more what if. Listen, I'm sure he won't do anything now because the four royal guards are searching for him."

"Knights."

"Knights— okay whatever. He won't hold a hostage when the knights have guns with them. Does he carry any weapons?"

The princess hastily nodded. "Two knives. He could stab anyone with it if–"

"Guns work faster than knives, Eunkyung. He needs to escape from this place so taking anyone with him as a threat consumed more time than running away. Nothing's gonna happen, okay? They are fine." he reassured her.

"What if he break in someone's house to hide?"

"Then they have to check every houses and shops here. Do you remember his face? You can draw, right?"

Again, the princess nodded with her eyes full with hope.

"Good," he patted her head over the hood with a smile. That action made Eunkyung froze for awhile and that went unnoticed by him as he continued saying, "Let's get your leg checked first and you can start drawing as a reference."

When the hand got off her head, Seungmin adjusted the hood to make sure she was covered properly. Eunkyung couldn't look up. Seungmin was taller than her so all she could see was his covered chest area. Somehow she felt grateful she's that short so she wouldn't see his face at these times. Seungmin then tied the loosen strings tighter, making her flinch slightly.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled. "Let's take another way to the castle. I'm sure he used different paths. Can you walk?"

Get... just get along with him this once, she whispered to herself with her eyes closed. The guy couldn't see her face anyway. If he wanted to then he need to bend a little to reach her level under the hood.

"I'm not paralysed yet." the girl silently cursed herself for giving a cynical answer.

They began to walk as Seungmin stifled a laugh at the reply. "I'm sorry for crashing on you earlier. The guy seem surprised to see me, I wonder why."

"It's alright, not your fault anyway," she tried to walk closer to him since she didn't want to risk looking up and people saw her face. "I think he has a connection with Han."