✓ the hooded princess • kim seungmin

f i f t y t w o

When they reached the hill that was facing the village down there, they slowed down. Seungmin tugged on the lead line to walk next to Winter and Jasper complied.

"Hey," he whispered. The princess turned to him, confused as to why he was whispering.

"Yes?"

"You look stunning today." he said before jumping off Jasper. Eunkyung scoffed in disbelief. She carefully got down and as soon as her feet touched the ground, her body was engulfed in a big hug. She yelped in surprise.

The guy rocked her back and forth, making it's impossible for her to escape. She gave up and just looked up to him.

"You love hugs." she remarked.

"Give me a moment before the guards arrive." he said. "We couldn't even get out of the house. These days were so boring."

"Actually, I did. There's an evacuation process at the orphanage and I went there yesterday." she admitted and Seungmin's face turned into some sort of a betrayed expression. Eunkyung quickly added, "I mean, Yoongi is leading it so I want to see how it goes. I'm going there tomorrow, too. Do you want to come along?"

"I'm not sure if father will allow me but I'll try." he detached the hug once they heard horses coming.

"It's a private evacuation. Others do not know about this because Han and Yunseo are still down there." she faced the village below them. The area near her old cottage was almost empty and she hoped they would not realise what was going on soon. "If they know, half of the villagers' lives are in danger. They still have the grenades with them."

"Is everyone moving out?" he asked while sitting down. He pat the grass next to him for her to sit.

"Not everyone, unfortunately. The last batch will arrive tomorrow and they will take action." she hummed, unsure. "Let's hope everything will go as planned."

༆

Darkness took over the evening.

Jisung once again left the house to buy dinner because both of them refused to cook that night. He got tantrums from Yunseo so he immediately went out. Dealing with the older guy was tiring. He wonder if he could escape from him.

And if he could, what would Jisung do next? He did not have any places to go.

This has been playing in his mind for the past days. On the first day he stepped into this cottage, he started to wonder again where his family could have went. He looked everywhere in the kingdom but found no one.

Sometimes, Jisung laughs at his pathetic self. He shook his head slightly and walked past the empty houses. Maybe not empty but they just turn off the lights, he assumed.

But it was too dark and empty.

"Where is everyone..." he muttered to himself as suspicion arose. Just then he found a bright light from the other side. A small oh left his lips as he rushed there.

"The market is still open." he sighed in relief. If not, he needed to face Yunseo's anger again.

Jisung bought a simple meal for two. He decided not to return yet as he walked further into the market. After years of living up there, Jisung had forgotten how the village looks like.

To be precise, how his house looks like.

The fairy lights were hung on the white tents, illuminating the night. The memory Jisung had about this place was blurry but deep down, he knew he recognise it. He missed this.

There's a lot of things that he missed.

Jisung was a child who lost his family when he was six years old and lost his childhood when he turned seven. His life was not enjoyable like other children. He barely had friends. Because of this, he hated his past.

Things changed however when he arrived. There's a small fountain in the middle of the road. He remembered this clearly. The guy walked more before he stopped in front of a house located next to monument.

His old house.

He spotted so many differences from what he remembered. The house was lighted up with laughter of the current living family and delicious smell of food. Slippers messily scattered at the doorstep. Jisung assumed they had guests coming over.

His heart cracked at the sight presented to him.

Stood in front of the house was a lonely boy, who's witnessing a happy family that he could never have.

"Food is here." he announced as he entered from the back door.

"Took you long enough." Yunseo grunted. He waited until Jisung finished preparing before devouring the meal like he did not eat for months.

"The houses seem empty." Jisung spoke up while he washed some dirty dishes in the sink. "It's safe to go out for now."

Yunseo slowly munched his food with his eyebrows furrowing. "What do you mean empty?"

"Half of the villagers disappeared. The houses are dark and quiet. I bought this meal at the other side of the village because there's no one here."

Silence filled the atmosphere for a moment. Jisung started to eat at the dining table, as usual. He just knew that Yunseo already had plans in his mind.

༆

a short chapter :'/

after making a rough calculation, this story will end most likely around chapter 60+ phew finally. the longest story yet.