That evening, Yoongi went to drink tea in the Hwang manor which was home to one of the oldest court officials who was rather close to the late king.
Yoongi had never liked the man simply because of this man's tendency to change colors. When the old king had died, this man was one of those court officials who were against Yoongi ascending the throne and his excuse for it was because he felt like everyone should respect the wishes of the late emperor. It was bullshit. The man didn't want Yoongi to ascend the throne because of selfish reasons.
After a few weeks of the death of the old emperor, this man had secretly sent in a petition to change the court. Since there were no other heirs except Yoongi, he proposed that the government should change its workings; there should be no one ruler and instead there should be ten people who would rule together, the decisions taken would be among these ten selected people. He proposed a more democratic government.
Yoongi didn't dislike the idea but when he investigated about it a bit further, he wanted to laugh his ass off at the brains of this cunning old man. The ten candidates who would rule were preset and out of which, six were related to him. He was basically proposing the idea to let his family and friends rule this nation under the facade of a democratic rule.
It was a laughable joke and there was no way Yoongi would ever agree to it.
Although this old Hwang was on his father's side and disliked Yoongi, he would never show his feelings openly. He was like a fox in a shepherd's clothing. Waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
The old man whose face had seen the ruins of time, wore a smile as he welcomed the crown prince. His wrinkles became even more apparent as his lips curled upwards. He looked innocent at first glance and if Yoongi didn't know this man any better, he would be fooled to think that this man was as innocent and harmless as he looked.
"Your highness, welcome to my humble home."
Yoongi only nodded as he stepped in. He didn't like this old fox but he had no reason to fire him from the court and with that being the case, he couldn't outrightly show his hatred towards this man, however, this didn't mean that he was going to fake friendliness.
The old man was one of those proud types of people who felt like they were better than the rest and deserved to be respected. In his eyes, although he referred to Yoongi as his highness, a title much above him, it was all empty words. He had not even an ounce of respect for the crown prince, this foolish man was much younger in age than him and didn't know how the world worked.
Yoongi knew that behind that friendly smile, the man had such little respect for him but he was naturally not going to call him out for it.
The old face, wrinkly, and smiling didn't change but the feelings of the owner underwent a change to the south. He felt like this crown prince was an eye sour, always acting so mighty as if nothing in the world could touch him. Not showing respect to elders, he was sure to one day get himself into big trouble.
The two people who were at odds headed inside where there was a table prepared for them, placed on the table was delicious snacks and a teapot with two cups on either side of the table.
The snacks and the tea looked inviting but Yoongi would naturally not dare touch them. Even though he had said that he was here for tea, he was not going to drink something that might very well contain poison.
He sat down on one side and didn't even glance at the snacks or the tea, his eyes were focused on the old man who sat in front of him.
"Your highness, what brings you here?" The man cut to the chase since he was also not interested in making small talks with this young crown prince.
"I'm here to show my condolences."
"Huh?" The man was shocked. Nobody from his family had died and he didn't get any sad news so why was this crown prince here and why was he saying such things?
"It's just that I got this news of this certain official committing suicide and I remembered you."
"What does it have to do with me? If someone was sick of living, they'd naturally do such a thing, why should that bring the crown prince all the way to my doorsteps?"
Yoongi smiled.
From the reaction he got, it was clear that this man knew exactly what Yoongi was talking about. He had taken the bait and all that was left to do was lure the fish in.
He had caught a really big fish.
"I remember seeing you two together some time ago. You looked to be great friends so I thought old Hwang would be aggrieved to see your friend commit such a thing."
Old Hwang's face twisted as he could no longer keep the smile up, he knew exactly what this crown prince was trying to do and he was not very pleased with it, "We are not friends. I hardly know him, I stumbled upon him once, that was it."
"Oh really?" Yoongi was smirking behind the veil, "But if you two do not know each other, how do you know who I am talking about?"
Old Hwang gulped as cold sweat started to form on his forehead. He had been tricked by this hideous bastard.
Yoongi's visit here was short because there wasn't really anything he wanted to say or do, he merely wanted to see if his guesses had been right and now that he had got such a reaction out of this man, he was sure of what he was to do next, he had got the answer he was looking for.
Staying here and talking any further would just be a huge waste of time.
The crown prince stood up abruptly, "I trust you Old Hwang. We might not have the best relations but since you are my father's old friend, I would naturally not want to blame you or suspect you. My trust is hard to buy so I really hope you don't disappoint me."
Although he had said he trusted the man and held good feelings towards him, only a fool would believe it to be true.
Old Hwang was no fool and when he heard the crown prince, he saw through the words and could detect the threat hidden behind it.
This crown prince was warning him.
Old Hwang would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about it. He looked down at this man who was too young and immature according to him, but this man was also the crown prince who had the power to behead the old man.
"I heard your daughter was sick last week, I hope she'd okay now," Yoongi spoke before he went away, not waiting around for the answer.
Old Hwang was shaken and this was exactly what Yoongi had wanted.
Yoongi would never seek him out on the basis of an empty threat, he must have found something and the thought made Hwang lose a night of peaceful sleep as he suffered through insomnia, tossing and turning the entire night. What had the crown prince found? He was sure he had covered his tracks so what could it be that gave him out?
.
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.
.
Just because Taehyung didn't feel cold didn't mean it changed the weather or how it affected him.
It was winter and taking a dip in a pond, running around a palace soaking wet, not changing out of the wet clothes, all of these were the signs of asking to get sick.
It came as no shock that the next day, Taehyung was lying in bed with a warm cloth over his head and wrapped in warm blankets. He had fallen sick.
Shao Lan had never seen this young master fall sick before, it wasn't like he had personally known him for that long so he was naturally unaware of how Taehyung was when he was sick. Today, he was in for a lot of shock and headache because back in his own country, Taehyung had only gotten sick a few times and all of those times hadn't ended up happily.
Taehyung could hold his liquor well. No matter how much he drank, he'd never get high, at least even if he was drunk, he was still acting like his usual self. It was rare to see him acting like a drunkard. The only time Taehyung seemed out of his mind was when he touched no liquor but was sick. Sickness caused him to act quite differently than his normal self.
Shao Lan had heard a bit about it but he had no experience seeing it for himself so when Taehyung suddenly held his hand and started crying, Shao Lan was at a loss at what to do.
At first, Shao Lan was sure that this man was drunk but when the doctor had diagnosed him to be simply sick, Shao Lan couldn't believe it.
Taehyung was already a troublemaker as it is but now that Shao Lan looked down at the crying youth he felt his head starting to ache.
Hyun came back to report this news to Yoongi who was getting ready to confront Taehyung about the hairpin. He wasn't going to ask him directly, he planned on beating around the bush and making an excuse to see if Taehyung still had the hairpin, but now that he had heard that the man had fallen sick, he no longer remembered the hairpin and was thoroughly worried.
He canceled all of his work for the day and went to visit Taehyung with medicines.
When Taehyung saw Yoongi coming, he instantly wiped away his tears and smiled brightly, "You are here!"
Yoongi moved forward as he saw the enthusiastic Taehyung falling from his bed as he tried to reach out to him.
Taehyung thought the man was hugging him and so he hugged him back.
Yoongi was stunned at the spot.
"Did he get drunk?" Yoongi questioned Shao Lan who was standing in the corner, scared to stand near this crown prince.
"N-No, your highness." Shao Lan stuttered.
"Then why is he like this?" Yoongi knew Taehyung well to know that this reaction wasn't normal for him.
Taehyung looked up at Yoongi's face which was covered behind the veil. Their faces were so close that the veil really didn't do much to hide his face, "Your cruel!"
Shao Lan suddenly felt like he was intruding on a very private conversation.
"I'm cruel?" Yoongi asked as he stared back at Taehyung.
Taehyug bobbed his head up and down, "You are the worst!"
"???"
Shao Lan didn't know if he should stop this young master from speaking any further or if he should just leave the two alone but after thinking about it a bit he decided to quietly sneak away from the room. It wasn't like he could snatch the man away from the crown prince and shut him up so this was the best thing he could do. If he wasn't present in this scene, he would naturally not be blamed for what happened next. He could only pray that the crown prince doesn't behead the sick young master.
"I'm the worst?" Yoongi put Taehyung back on the bed and tucked him inside the blanket.
Taehyung nodded as he frowned, "You are the cruelest bad man alive!"
Yoongii chuckled as he heard the whiny tone of the man who was acting like a child whose candy had been stolen.
"And why am I the cruelest bad man alive?" Yoongi asked as he took a seat on the side of the bed.
Taehyung looked at him and pouted, "You are a thief!"
Yoongi chuckled, "And what did I steal?"
"My heart."
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A/n: A drunk/sick Taehyung coming up in next chapter. XD
I support you Tae, Yoongi stole my heart too. (;
Happy new year guys <3
Here is a special something
Did you guys make a wish for the new year?
I wished for a yuri on ice season 2
\(TuT)/
Like always,
Thank you for reading 💖
Have a nice day 💜
Eat healthy, stay hydrated and look forward to a happier year 💜💜