The Black Prince & The White Prince

White Warning

Although Baekho didn't share the same fate as Minhyun, he had his own fair share of problems. His brothers wouldn't let him rest and kept bothering him. At first it was the older one who asked him to help sort out the things in the study. Then it was the second who wanted Baekho to go for his sparring class since he wanted to catch up on reading. Baekho was pretty baffled at how much worse his brothers were treating him. They used to leave him alone or maybe it was because he snuck out more often to practice sword fighting alone. He didn't say no to either of the requests and did his best to help them.

By the time the sun set, he was pretty worn out. He sat in one of the empty rooms and tried to catch his breath. He noticed a small commotion outside and peeked out the window. He couldn't exactly see what was happening though until a guard walked passed the room he was in and saw him.

"Young master, there's a girl requesting to see you at the front gate. Should we chase her away?" The guard asked. Baekho tilted his head.

"A girl? Wait a moment. I'll be right there." Baekho couldn't imagine who it was that would come at this hour to meet him especially since he just came back too. He went down the stairs and out to the front gates.

"Please! Just let me see him," he heard the girl and recognised her voice. He quickly jogged over to the guards.

"Let her through. I know her," he said once he saw her. The guards looked at him and nodded, opening the gates to let the maid through. She gasped in relief when she saw Baekho, hurriedly going up to him.

"Bae- Sir!" She squeaked anxiously. "I have a message for you from the prince."

"The prince...? You mean Minhyun?" Baekho was surprised and quickly motioned her to follow him in. She did without hesitation. He led her back to the room he was in earlier since there was rarely anyone who used that particular room. "Tell me about it."

"Well... There's a war that will happen in 2 days time."

"What war?"

"A troop led by the princess will come and try to finish what the prince started. Remember he didn't take over your kingdom? The queen found out about that," She explained. Baekho felt his heart stop.

"I have to warn my parents... Did they find out about us?" He asked worriedly and she shook her head.

"No... at least I don't think so."

"That's one... relief. Wait. How is Minhyun?" Baekho hoped he could get a positive reply for that but when the maid avoided his eye contact, his blood ran cold. He grabbed her arms and shook her. "Please tell me.... Is he alright? Is he eating well? Sleeping well?"

She couldn't bring herself to reply Baekho and he couldn't bear her silence. "Please..."

"The prince... is hurt."

"What?! Who? Who did it? Why?" Baekho felt his anger course through his veins but knew better than to let it out on someone innocent.

"It's not a secret back at the palace but... the reason why we, the maids and guards, tend to avoid the prince is because the princess likes to vent her anger on us. If he sees that, he tries to stop her and in return, she hurts him instead of us... I'm so sorry. We can't protect him like he protects us."

"No... How could his own sister..." The maid sniffed, covering her face. She felt guilty, of course but there wasn't anything she could do either. "Don't cry. It's not your fault." Baekho patted her head.

"I'm sorry. If only he didn't protect us, he wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Minhyun will always be Minhyun. He's... nice and kind." The maid nodded and patted her cheeks to stop herself fault romantic crying.

"Oh. He asked me to give this to you." She pulled out the pocket watch and placed it on his hand. Baekho was confused but touched it gently.

"What is this for?" Baekho asked. The maid shrugged.

"I think it's a gift he didn't manage to give to you. We didn't have much time to talk about things. He probably didn't want to get me into trouble too. That's why I have to go back quickly now." Baekho clutched it tightly and nodded.

"Thank you for coming. Please... help me take care of him. Just make sure he eats and sleeps." Baekho felt pain in his chest but he couldn't just run back to Minhyun now. He had things to do. The maid nodded and bowed.

"I'm sure he would wish the same for you too. Please take care of yourself, Baekho. If fate allows, I hope we meet again in the future under better circumstances." He nodded and gave her a tight hug before walking her out from the castle. He watched as she rode back to the Black Fox kingdom. As soon as she was out of sight, he quickly went to find his parents. The only problem he needed to face was if they would even bother listening to him.

He found the both of them in their study room, still hunched over the tables and paying no attention to him.

"Mum, dad, I have something to tell you," he said as clearly as he could.

"If it's nothing important, just tell your brothers," his father said, sighing as he looked up at Baekho.

"It is important! Our kingdom will get attacked in 2 days! We need to get our troops ready for it," Baekho said, hoping that that would get their attention but neither of them seemed interested in what he had to say.

"Look. I don't know where you got such news from but no one is going to attack us, sweetie," his mother said with a small smile. Baekho got mad and slammed the table to make them both stop doing work and actually look at him.

"It's the Black Fox kingdom and they have attacked us before but I doubt you know that since you never even bothered finding out what happened to me, right?!"

"The Black Fox...?"

"Yes! So please... we won't be strong enough to fend them if we don't prepare."

"Baekho, war is a thing in the past. We do things more civilised now. They wouldn't be stupid enough to come attacking us."

That just made him even more pissed.