imperial | yeonbin

| 06 |

Yeonjun quietely walked behind the young man, not wanting to make much sound otherwise they'd be caught. But the autumn leaves made this an insanely hard task. The leaves let out a small gruntle as Yeonjun trampled over them. It wasn't awfully loud but nonetheless even the slightest sound they made put Yeonjun on the edge.

Yeonjun was well aware of the fact that right now, if anyone were to catch them, they'd be instantly executed or worse be put in jail.

Yes, the worst-case scenario was not death but being put in jail.

Dominia was known for quite a few things. Apparently, the best bread in the entire continent could only be found in the local shops here. Well, Yeonjun had grown up eating most of the stale bread anyways so that was something he couldn't really confirm. But the delicious, rich aroma of freshly baked, buttery bread that he used to get to smell but never eat, possibly indicated that this conception was indeed true.

Dominia was also known for its incredibly sexist basis for almost everything. Not sexism on the basis of their primary gender, but sexism on the basis of their secondary gender. Whether you were male or female, if you lived in Dominia it didn't matter. What mattered was whether you were an alpha, beta, or omega. Omegas were not technically of 'high status' but their sparse population had made them very valuable. Betas had no status, really. They were never given preference, despite composing the majority of the population. Lastly, Alphas. Alpha's had the highest possible status below the royal family in the entire kingdom. The King especially maintained all the ridiculous customs concerning Alphas. Including having the coronation outfit being made by an Alpha which the entire reason Yeonjun was risking his life right now.

The third thing Dominia was famous for was its prisons. Dominian courts seldom sentenced criminals to death and public executions in particular were a rare sight. This could cause someone to assume it's okay to commit a crime since you're not going to die mostly. And that's where the problem lies. Prison life in Dominia is hell. So much of a nightmare it is, that 43% of the inmates commit suicide every year. 

So yes, those prisons, though torture chamber would be a more appropriate word for it, were one thing Yeonjun desperately wanted to avoid. 

Both of them walked in silence. Yeonjun did feel bad for roping this random kid into his mess but right now, he really had no choice. 

Yeonjun stared at the back of the boy walking in front of him. They had been walking for a good 5 minutes but he had yet not been able to see the face of the boy. He was hiding his face on purpose, and maybe for good reasons.

"Hey, what's your name?" asked Yeonjun, in a small whisper. 

A small pause. "Hu-wei" replied the boy.

Yeonjun narrowed his eyes. Because he was unable to see the guy's face, he wasn't able to figure out whether he was lying or not.

"I'm Leo." lied Yeonjun. 

"Leo...how can I be sure that you're not here to assassinate the king? I have proved my purpose of this unorthodox visit but you haven't. The only reason I'm assisting you is that you currently possess the only way of entry for both of us. And while you can easily ask me to escort you by brute force and there is no obligation for you to answer, I'd like it if you can give me some assurance that I'm not performing treachery to the crown."

Yeonjun let out a small chuckle.  What a formal kid and what a weird way of speaking. "Don't worry, I don't hate this place that much that I'd kill the king. I was in charge of making the crown prince's coronation outfit and I accidentally put in a fake sapphire in the royal outfit. So, before anyone notices, I wanted to re-stitch it."