Trapped

chapter 24

"Care to tell this servant what Your Honourable is doing?"

Min Hyun approached Kyungsoo, who was squatting down on the ground, turning over the soil with a small spade to loosen the ground for planting. After he felt it was tender enough, Kyungsoo replaced the spade with his bare hands.

"Your Honourable is ruining the garden," Min Hyun commented. The soil bed Kyungsoo was working on looked like a bald spot of an old man's head, and the garden of Royal Consort's Residence should not remind anyone of a decaying part of someone's head. Instead of vacant space, there should be blooming spring flowers, or maybe some fragrant bushes to entertain one's eyes and smelling sense.

Min Hyun stopped next to Kyungsoo, bending from his waist to look at the raised garden bed. He cringed when he saw Kyungsoo energetically wiped the sweat off his face with his dirt-covered back of hand.

"I am not ruining anything," Kyungsoo cheerfully said. "I'm sowing the seeds I got from Noh Yongmin-ssi. A spoiled princess, this beautiful plant is. Needs light, but shaded, dampened, but dry enough."

"It's ugly," Min Hyun commented blandly, referring to the empty ground Kyungsoo had dug among the vibrant blooming flowers around them. "Your Honourable is trying to change the flower garden into a crop field," he stated, matter of factly.

"No, I am not. You are exaggerating things, Min Hyun," Kyungsoo cheerfully chimed. "I'm planting medicinal herbs, not potatoes or turnips. The garden would look just fine."

"Honourable Royal Consort, please stop touching the dirt. The Royal Consort will get dirty. Please just tell me what to do; Min Hyun will do everything as the extension of your hand." Min Hyun pursed his lips with a disapproval look. Kyungsoo's face was flushed with enthusiasm, or maybe that was because he had spent quite a time under the sun.

Min Hyun clicked his tongue impatiently when he saw Kyungsoo's hands were not slowing down.

"Please stop. Honourable Royal Consort will only rub dirt all over his robe."

"No, he will not," Kyungsoo replied lightly.

Min Hyun narrowed his eyes at the nonchalant response. He dropped his formal speech and retorted indignantly. "Yes you will, and stop referring yourself like that."

"Then stop referring me as such," Kyungsoo hummed. "I have asked you to call me by my name, have I not? And I am nowhere near honourable, really." He scooped out the soil and took out some seeds from a small pouch next to him. After shoving the seeds inside - a seed for each hole - he put the soils back to cover up the seeds.

Min Hyun made a snorting sound, throwing his gaze at Kyungsoo with an expression of distaste. Dirt smudged his face, his hands digging up the soil as though he was a land worker. "You are absolutely right," Min Hyun agreed, a thoughtful frown on his face. He brought his hand toward Kyungsoo's face and softly wiped the dirt clean with his sleeve. "Better. Now you can have your Honourable title back."

Kyungsoo flashed a cheeky grin at Min Hyun, and then he carried on with his work.

Min Hyun used to look at him as if he was a tax farmer, or worse, a barbarian. The man did not say anything to Kyungsoo outside of what he thought was necessary. He would give him a momentary glance, enough to be polite, but his eyes had always been bland and far, as if he was seeing right through Kyungsoo to an invisible object behind him, seemingly a far more interesting thing compared to his face. Maybe an invisible vase or a rotten tree, for all that matters.

Somehow, especially after the incident, in a sort of good way Min Hyun's attitude had gradually changed. His overly composed and stiff manner had cracked bit by bit, revealing of what Kyungsoo assumed as Min Hyun's true self. Before, Kyungsoo felt as though he was as real as a winged horse in Min Hyun's eyes, and now when he finally materialized within Min Hyun's range of sight, he might appear so unpleasant to the latter that a permanent scowl was formed on his face. Kyungsoo chuckled. He could not find a better explanation than that.