✓ the hooded princess • kim seungmin

f i f t y o n e

He sighed again, where did all the good moments go?

He returned to the ground and sat on his previous cloth. Water dripped from his hair and bare body. Jisung did not bother putting any clothes on to dry himself.

Reaching over a water bottle, he drank it and looked around. Nobody was really there. At least he's safe whenever he wanted to go here.

As his eyes roamed around, he caught something stood still on the ground. It was an old wooden signboard. The guy went there to read it. He remembered seeing this when he was still young.

They don't take this off, he thought while shaking the signboard a bit. The wood was firm. He hummed at the sturdiness.

Just then, he noticed small writings carved at the bottom corner of the sign. He leaned over to read the messy letters.

은, 미나! ♡
(eun, mina!)

Eunkyung, he muttered under his breath. With that, all of the memories from ten years ago flooded his mind.

This forest is exactly the place where Mina was stabbed.

༆

Even though she needed to stay home for two weeks as ordered by Eunji, Eunkyung still went out a few days after.

Her reason was, she's rested enough for five days after being rescued and they have kept her for another four days. She was dying out of boredom.

On top of that, today was the first day of the evacuation process.

Yoongi had spent the money they have to buy necessities for the villagers. The king could not even protest him because the queen was also on the prince's side. It's like everyone in the family was against him. No doubt, Yoongi is more functional than the king.

In her emerald gown with tiara on top of her head, Eunkyung got off and looked around. There were volunteers arranging the food, drinks, toiletries blankets and others. As soon as the prince's arrival was announced, everyone stopped working and bowed respectfully.

He gave a short speech inside the building while Eunkyung looked around. The princess was supposed to stand by his side but her being her, she refused to and preferred moving around while listening rather than standing like a statue for five minutes. If only her sisters were there as well, she would have received a thirty minutes lecture for not acting like a real royal family.

Yes, even after years of living with them, Eunkyung still disliked the protocol.

The speech finally ended and they resumed their work. Yoongi prevented Eunkyung to help.

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"I told you not to come," her brother gave her a thin smile, not wanting the people see him scolding his sister in front of public. "You actually still need to rest, Eunkyung."

"Will you allow me to shop around?"

"No. Just stand and watch."

She let out a groan but obeyed nonetheless. For her, it is better to escape from the castle for awhile. At least she could talk with the volunteers.

The problem is, she is not friendly. The people found her a bit intimidating unlike her older sisters.

Eunkyung was about to follow her brother like a lost child when a hand tapped her shoulder. She turned, "Yes?"

There, Soobin grinned while waving his hand, "Hi."

She gasped, "What are you doing here?" she asked with a hint of shock and happy. Her face lit up at the presence of her old friend.