venture I v.s

●.i.●

Taehyung stomped his way up the stairs, frustrated from the last conversation he had. His dear mother had started again, at his mention of him wanting to go for a casual hunt.

"In the wilderness? Amongst savage beasts? What all could go wrong, just imagine! You might return with wounds, or without a pulse. What would I do if something were to happen-"

"I understand, mother.", he mumbled and turned away. Should've just sneaked out when she was out in town.

Since he could remember, this was how she had been. Keeping him almost locked in his room, paranoid of the slightest of situations. He remembers when once he was ten and there were countable mosquitoes in the house and Kim Minha and had forcefully pushed him into a net tent while he was crying. His stomach dropped as he recalled the hazy visual of his own hands fumbling with the net, trying to tear it apart.

They all told him that it was after his father— the Crown Prince— died when Taehyung was 3. He was out for a swim in a harmless-looking lake when a venomous eel bite took his last breath away. "One can never be too careful.", was what the mourning masses said and it stuck with Minha to the extent it made her paranoid. His father's death caused his brother to become the Crown Prince and further the King. Taehyung and his mother retreated to their quieter abode here in Hongdae, on suggestion by her mother, somewhere far away from the royal family and the cursed place where her husband passed away tragically.

And since then he had been practically caged in his room, going out rarely to events, surrounded by hoards of soldiers in company of his cousins, one of them the current Crown Prince.

Shoulders drooping, he entered his room to hear a fumble in the right corner. Nearing suspiciously, he bent down to find himself eye-to-eye with a masked figure, crouched under the table by his bed. The intruder didn't move an inch, just kept looking straight at him with wide eyes.

Both pairs of eyes merely kept staring ahead till in a flash, the male pulled down the other's mask to uncover the most polished set of features he had come across. She almost seemed handcrafted to perfection. The most famous royal belles would shy away at her looks, he bet.

Huffing, the female asked, "Where are those puffed ball-gowns, some pearls, some shiny stuff?"

"Eh?"

She scrunched her lips in annoyance. "Do you not have a wife, idiot?", she pronounced each word tantalisingly slow, almost mocking him.

"No, and and that is not—"

"Darn! Such a popular prince and not a lady by your side. I've wasted my time on a moron."

In the least, Kim Taehyung was flabbergasted. This woman had openly insulted him and managed not to get thrown out. And she was still thinking of her business. Lord, patience.

"Look miss, before I call—"

In came the interruption. "Ah-ah, don't you worry. There is nothing of use here for me. I myself will be taking your leave, sire." She got up, bowed courteously and adjusted the the cloth to mask her face as she made her way to the window.

Utterly discombobulated, the man yelled out near the window, "Listen here! You have been caught red handed thieving. WHERE do you think you're off to?"

"Sir, did i take any of your possessions? Have I touched a single item in this room? Did I even grab so much as a handkerchief from your room?" Seeing the male shaking his head at each question, she continued, "Therefore, did I thieve?"

Taehyung stared blankly with darting eyes. "No?" Jisoo smirked in victory, "There, alright then. See you never!", she said, about to jump off from the window. She'd definitely chosen his room since it was the only one with a window facing the small forest by the lake, away from guarding eyes. Taehyung couldn't pretend he wasn't jealous of her freedom.