fire from the ashes (MINWON)

chapter one

That he was here would not be a coincidence, much less a simple family visit.

"I'll be there," he promised Jisoo.

The man glanced between the three again, as if to make sure they weren't up to anything. Wonwoo didn't know if he found their faces serious enough or if he just gave up, but Jisoo sighed and offered them a reverence before backing out.

"Wow, Seungcheol here is something I would never have imagined," Soonyoung blurted out once Wonwoo's counselor was out of earshot. "Let's go to your room, I'll help you get dressed."

As they walked to Wonwoo's chambers, Jeonghan had remained strangely silent, accepting the brief pieces of information that Soonyoung and the prince provided to him about the crown prince.

Once they were inside and Soonyoung began to change Wonwoo, he couldn't resist his curiosity any longer.

"Okay, I understand that Seungcheol is a boring daddy's boy who never usually leaves the royal palace," he said. "But I don't understand what makes you so nervous, maybe he just missed you and that's why he came."

"Seungcheol never misses anyone, I don't think so" Wonwoo shook his head while Soonyoung put on him a light blue robe with bird designs embroidered in white "I know him, if he's here it's because my father gave him some task, maybe watching over me or ...make me return to the capital"

"At some point you have to return, Wonunguie," Jeonghan told him firmly but sympathetically. "You are not exiled."

"I will return when I die and they have to bury my remains along with those of my family," the prince noted gloomily. "Until then, I prefer to stay here and not set foot in that damned palace."

Jeonghan just raised his hands in a sign of peace.

"I don't know why you love Jecheon so much," Soonyoung commented, finally fixing his hair. "There's nothing here but dust, rice and pigs."

"Hey!" protested Jeonghan, who was a native of the town.

"And well, the local gem. Yoon Jeonghan" Soonyoung agreed, smiling at his friend.

Wonwoo couldn't explain to them why he loved Jecheon, simply because it wasn't the place he loved. What he loved was to be far from his father, far from all those people who, like him, had lost someone and had been left incomplete forever, far from the palace where he had lived firsthand the most horrible of his nightmares. .

"I like the fresh air, and being able to go outside" was what he said.

He knew that neither of his two friends were stupid, but as always, they didn't press the issue any further.

Soonyoung announced that he was finished and positioned him in front of the room's large mirror.

Wonwoo inspected his appearance carefully, tucking one of his long locks behind his ear. The prince knew that he was objectively handsome, with his high cheekbones and cold-looking eyes, his full lips and straight nose, his skin as light as mother-of-pearl, but he felt that something was missing, that human warmth and innocence that he once had.

"You look good," Jeonghan assured, hugging him, as if he could see the train of his thoughts. "Now come on, let's finish this meeting before lunchtime, I don't want to hear Soonyoung complain that he was waiting for us too long."

The residence was a smaller replica of the royal palace, nothing comparable to the real work, however it was big enough so that they had to walk a long way, which unfortunately gave Wonwoo time to think.

It's been a year since he hadn't seen his brother in person. The last time had been when it was the anniversary of the catastrophe with the demons and... of his mother's death, but that day Wonwoo had not said a single word, and no one had forced him to, and at first hour the next morning he had taken the few belongings he had brought with him and ordered them to bring him back to Jecheon.