imperial | yeonbin

| 23 |

Beomgyu clenched his jaw as he walked out the throne room. The audacity of that wayward prince. Acting all high and mighty when in reality, he had been discarded by his own family. 

Beomgyu was the last one to leave the throne room. He had asked some of the guards to escort Taehyun to his quarters and he merely asked Yeonjun to leave the room the after Taehyun left. And it was only after the throne room was empty, that Beomgyu could let off some steam. 

Everything that had been happening over the past couple of days was crazy stressful for Beomgyu. Beomgyu had been made head of security solely because he was the only person the king could trust regarding Yeonjun's safety. But what he forgot to consider was Beomgyu's fierce loyalty towards Soobin. 

Yeonjun may be the crown prince for namesake but he would never  ever be a Royal. He was an outsiders. A commoner. Nothing more than that. 

Beomgyu glanced at the clock and shook his head. He initially had intended to visit the soldier's quarters to ensure that Soobin had settled in nicely but he didn't have the time to do that. He had to focus on the task that the King had given him. 

The task of silencing everyone who ever knew of Choi Soobin as the crown prince. 

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Taehyun walked behind the guards lazily, humming. He was quite content actually. Although he really didn't care who he was getting married to, he was glad that it was a hot prince. At least then their public appearances would be a feast for everyone's eyes. 

Taehyun was aware of Dominia's weird custom of hiding the crown prince until the coronation ceremony, which obviously he found weird but who was he to complain? He just wondered why they would hide a face like that from the public?

Even the prince's first cousin was hot. If Taehyun was being honest, the cousin was more his type than the crown prince. 

Taehyun replayed the meeting in his mind again. Something was off about the crown prince. Taehyun, out of all people, was not one for royal manners and obligations but the crown prince seemed inexperienced. Sure, he was hot and looked extremely good in a prince's outfit. But that what irked Taehyun. It merely looked like an outfit on the man, not a position. 

"We're here" said the guard, bowing down and opening the door to a luxurious living quarters. "Any requests can be sent through the guards stationed outside your door."

Taehyun titled his head and pointed at Kai. "I want him inside the room."

The guard looked at each others, reluctant. "That...um..."

Taehyun chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't eat him. Besides, your head of security is yet to deliver my goods to me. Oh dear, how can I do without that?"

The guards looking Kai, who had no expression on his face. They thanked that their stars that it wasn't them going to room of the omega prince who was known to sleep around. 

"Very well, sir." was all they said as Taehyun and Kai walked into the room. 

Taehyun immediately went and lied down on the bed, sighing loudly. He turned and looked at Kai. He patted the spot beside him. "Come, sit here."

Kai simply shook his head. 

Taehyun pouted and looked up. "I'm not gonna do it with you. I like moans."

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Yeonjun would never get used to the title of crown prince. Not in this lifetime at least. 

But that didn't mean he shouldn't take advantage of the title. 

Yeonjun decided to explore the palace. He had been living in these luxurious quarters but he never really had the chance to look around the palace. Especially since Beomgyu was behind his ass 24/7. 

Yeonjun walked out, dressed lightly. The palace was beautiful, he had to give it. And it made Yeonjun almost wonder how much money it took to maintain a place of this size. This is what the taxes were probably used for. 

Yeonjun's eyes widened. Money. Shit, during this entire ordeal, he had completely forgotten about his stash of money, hidden at his home. His stash to move to Arteriaus. He wasn't just going to let that be. 

Just like he wasn't going to let himself become King. 

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The royal library had all sorts of books. But it didn't have a How To Ask Questions Without Seeming Like A Shady Person 101, unfortunately. Because right now, it was just the book that Yeonjun needed. 

Yeonjun was aware that to enter and exit the palace as one of the staff, you needed a specially engraved card. The one the weird person had in his hand the day Yeonjun snuck into the palace. He knew that much. What he didn't know was what it took to get one of those. He couldn't simply waltz out of the palace as crown prince. The only option he had was to disguise himself as a servant. And if he managed to get out of the palace, alone, he would immediately grab his money and run away. Yeonjun's mind wandered to the place called Rehmat, maybe he could run away there. 

But to be honest, that seemed like a far fetched plan. And it wasn't something Yeonjun had the guts to execute. He still held onto his life dearly. So, he ditched the running away part of it and decided to focus on the 'getting the money' part of it. 

The only person who Yeonjun could approach regarding this was Beomgyu. But Beomgyu was completely out of the question. The said man hated his guts. And if Yeonjun told Beomgyu that he wanted to head back into the city to grab a measly (for Beomgyu) sum of money, Beomgyu was sure to throw the money onto Yeonjun's face then and there. Yeonjun didn't want that. He had been saving that money for years. He had done all sorts of odd jobs, went days without eating food, sometimes munching on stale bread, to save up that money. He wasn't going to let that be. 

The other person Yeonjun could ask was...Soobin. Sure even Soobin didn't like Yeonjun (then again, who in this palace did?) but Yeonjun felt with Soobin there was a shot. 

It wouldn't hurt to ask, right? Soobin was more likely to allow him to leave the palace than anyone else, right?

Right?

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"Absolutely not. Are you crazy?" whispered Soobin, surprised at the words that came out of Yeonjun's mouth. Was he actually stupid?

Yeonjun joined his hands in front of Soobin. He had to somehow convince Soobin. It was by pure luck Yeonjun had found Soobin outside the soldier's quarters seemingly heading towards the stables. Figuring that Yeonjun might never have the chance to talk to Soobin so privately, he seized the opportunity. 

"Please. That money means a lot to me."

Soobin rolled his eyes. "You are the Crown Prince of Dominia, you practically have all the money in the land."

"That money is different," said Yeonjun, the desperation evident in his voice. "It's money that I've earned since I was 5 or 6 years old. It means a lot to me."

Soobin remained silent. Every rational part of Soobin was telling him not to agree to Yeonjun's sayings. After all, why should he help Yeonjun? 

But something about Yeonjun losing something he had worked for his entire life, hit Soobin differently. Sure, he disliked Yeonjun but he knew the feeling all too well. 

Sometimes Soobin wished he didn't have this emphatic side to him. He was wished he was more cold and ruthless like Beomgyu. But looking at this alpha in front of him, Soobin just couldn't bring himself to say no. 

"Fine. I'll get to the card but under one condition."

Yeonjun's eyes lit up. "What is it?"

"I'm coming with you."

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