Spending an entire day without Yunho had become a foreign concept to Mingi. Even in his emotional dilemma, he wanted to be near the other man and listen to his little jokes and kind words. From the very moment that he woke up and didn't get to greet Yunho with breakfast, Mingi was restless.
His utmost worry was about Yunho's wellbeing. Even with a hunting troupe, Mingi didn't trust the abilities of that pixie murderer. He had proven to be unexpectedly challenging already, and Yunho was an excellent goal to pursue. Knowing him in jeopardy outside scared Mingi.
Secondarily, he also still tried to figure out his emotional attachment to the prince. Even if he had no confidence about the outcome, Mingi didn't need to deny himself of the attraction towards Yunho. Attraction, that had always been there, but that had sprouted on the man's compliments, his touches, and the attention he dedicated towards Mingi.
After a good night of sleep, Mingi was convinced by now that Yunho hadn't meant to lead him on just to ditch him later. He had no reason to. If anything, Yunho had been the same gentleman as he was to every person he met, and Mingi had read his signals wrong.
But as Mingi trudged down the stairs to eat breakfast by himself, he wasn't sure of that either. Everything he had heard about the prior servant before him, Yunho's relationship to San and the way he kept a polite distance from other people painted a different picture than him bathing with Mingi, lying in the hay with him, and feeding him on the royal table.
On one side, Mingi felt like the centre of Yunho's affection. On the other side, he knew that this assumption was incredibly arrogant.
Mingi shuffled into the main dining hall with a grim expression etched permanently onto his face. He wished Seonghwa were nearby to ask him for guidance. Maybe instead, Mingi could search for a romance novel in the library later to see what he might have been missing.
This time, too, Mingi found a place with Jongho and his group that was by now familiar to him. Their enthusiastic calls for him to come over alleviated his glum mood. He sat down happily, getting received with shoulder pats and appreciation for joining them.
"You didn't join the prince on his hunt?" Mingi asked into the general round after the first bite. Jongho shook his head.
"He took the elite soldiers, and only a few, so there wouldn't be too many people. Guess we will have a lazy day in." He poked a piece of potato onto his knife and ate it. "Are you enjoying your free time, too?"
Mingi glanced at his plate. He had been eating without tasting much, too distracted by his thoughts. Now that he paid more attention, he noticed the potato dish tasted similar to the one he had tried with Yunho on the royal dining table. Once more, his remorse hit him.
"I'm trying, but I find it peculiar not to attend to my duties all of a sudden. My whole daily schedule depends on the prince."
The guards snickered at him, all understanding it too well. They suggested he joined them today at sparring training to get a fresh outlook on the bleak routine. Mingi just tried to explain that he would get sliced up like a piece of ham by the lot of them when another pair of shoes neared their table. They halted behind the bench Mingi perched on. Jongho greeted the newcomer with a big smile.
"Good morning, everyone! Still space for another person?"
Mingi froze in the middle of his sentence when he heard Yeosang's voice. Thankfully, his mess up didn't get noticed since everybody scooted over a bit so Yeosang could sit next to Jongho. Right opposite of Mingi.
In his desperation to understand Yunho, Mingi had not prepared to meet Yeosang again. He considered the man a friend, but he doubted he could ask him about his predicament caused by him and Yunho. He had been sneaking, after all.
And yet, seeing Yeosang with his pretty features laugh with Jongho, Mingi understood. The man was gorgeous, even for a lower-ranking demon. With his elegant gestures and the carved features, Yeosang could be one of the rare people that married between ranks since he was pretty enough to appeal to even a prince.
Mingi was jealous of him, but he could battle that vicious notion easily. It wasn't difficult to accept that he just wasn't as pretty as Yeosang, no matter what Yunho had told him to think.
When Yeosang noticed him staring, he directed his little grin at Mingi.
"So, tell us how it's going, Mingi. Are you happy to have slipped into this position?"
Mingi couldn't help the way his eyes strayed over the other man's skin, trying to peek under the high collar of his shirt. He knew what he had seen, but his mind yearned for evidence to fuel its indignation.
"Of course. Yunho is the best master I could wish for, and I'm glad to have been received by the palace residents so kindly. If my parents knew how well I am doing all by myself, they would rub their eyes in disbelief," Mingi jested weakly. It was enough to pull laughter from the men around him. Yeosang threw his head back with giggles, too, his horns arching elegantly.
Mingi was enraptured by him, viewing him from an entirely new perspective now that he knew of his affiliation with the prince. Was he truly the only one?
"Some of us can agree on that. Working in the palace is a rare chance nobody should throw away. It's safe, too. Not that I fear too much about my horns, but in here it's the best," one of the guards agreed wholeheartedly. Jongho watched the other man over the rim of his jug.
"Aren't you afraid? The pixie stole the horns of other mighty demons, too. Even with our training, he might be powerful enough to overwhelm us."
Disbelief crossed their faces.
"How? They are so much smaller than us."
Jongho shrugged. He accepted the mushrooms Yeosang gave him from his plate without comment.
"Who knows? But better be careful with that superiority, friend. While I would like to doubt that the pixie could infiltrate the palace and come for us, he has proved to be a terrifying villain. Better be prepared."
The guards grumbled amongst themselves.
"I hope Yunho can find it today and make sure it's restrained, yes. Surely, we would execute it rather than eating it, right?" Yeosang agreed. The familiarity with which he said Yunho's name should have been telling to Mingi from the start.
He intended to stop being mad at himself. And yet he kept calling himself a fool in his mind.
"Presumably. I can't imagine anyone to enjoy the macabre taste of a murder pixie." The guard shook his head to himself. Everybody in their round agreed before they dug into their food again. They dropped the discussion about the horror creature soon in favour of merrier topics. Mingi mostly kept quiet, thinking about Yunho and Yeosang. He feared saying something wrong to the other servant, to give away the information that was likely a secret between the prince and Yeosang.
Mingi didn't want to lose either of them as his friends.
Most hours of his free day went into Mingi trying to brush up on his acting skills. For him, acting as if he had seen nothing and rejecting Yunho's advances in a gradual decline sounded like the best method. He didn't want Yunho to mess with his heart any further. To deny him, Mingi would need to stay stubborn, however, since Yunho would keep triggering the yearning Mingi harboured him.
The fact that weighed most on Mingi's miserable heart was that Yunho would respect those boundaries. He would heed Mingi's words instead of showing the upset that would give his own feelings away.
Mingi didn't know how to help himself. Next time he visited the town, he would ask Seonghwa about these matters. Hopefully, the man had made a similar experience in the many confessions he had received.
The few hours Mingi tried to spend reading proved to be a waste. He could barely concentrate on the letters, even when his eyes skimmed them multiple times. The only part of the book he remembered after finishing with it was the title. How Pixies Enchant.
In the afternoon, he took a walk to get his mind off things. He wanted to visit Ave, but only remembered that she wasn't there when he halted in front of her empty bay. Instead, he petted a few other horses as well as a three-headed puppy dashing around in the stables. Without Yunho, the day seemed bleak. The weather didn't invoke the wish to take a walk outside either.
Time passed at a languid pace. It was late in the evening when Mingi perked up at hearing the resonating call of a horn echoing through the castle walls.
The signal to open the gates and ready for the greeting of a royal.
Mingi was on his hooves within seconds. Haphazard fingers threw on his shirt and buttoned it in a hurry as he dashed from his room to run down the stairs. He could hear the commotion in the main hall already before he got to see it over the railing of the staircase.
The group had ridden in through the main gates, and the stable boys hurried to surround them already and take care of the heated horses. As Mingi hastened down the stairs, Yunho just slipped from Ave's back to get greeted by a bunch of curious servants and impatient advisors.
Yunho didn't seem injured. The sight of his unmarred skin lifted an immense weight off Mingi's shoulders.
For a fleeting moment, their eyes met when Mingi reached the bottom of the stairs. Then Yunho turned to respond to the questions rapidly fired at him.
"We didn't catch him. He wasn't alone and we couldn't foresee his companion and the beast he tamed attacking us."
"What beast, Your Highness?" People with parchment scrolls assembled around him, jotting down his every word. As the horses got led off, some space cleared that Mingi used to slip through before more people would follow.
"An Ignizoth. Likely, the pixies tamed it to their will. It was too mighty for us to pick a fight with unprepared."
Mingi had never heard of a creature like that, but it had to be powerful for the group of their elite fighters to reconsider.
Smoothly, Mingi slipped to Yunho's side to undo the leather arm cuffs he wore. Yunho held his arm out for him to work and didn't mind Mingi's fumbling. Behind him, San huffed out his annoyance at their failed mission.
"Two pixies and a beast, understood. Did you get a look at the killers?"
Yunho shook his head. Mingi ducked under his arm to undo the leather straps that held his shoulder piece to his upper body. Around them, the agitated crowd pushed and shoved at each other to get a closer look and dip in for the interview. When Mingi stumbled over somebody else's hooves, Yunho carefully shielded him with an arm around his waist. It didn't touch him, just hovering behind him to ensure safety.
Heart fluttering and breath brushing against Yunho's collar bone, Mingi willed his fingers to cooperate.
"I didn't. They wore black hoods and fled through the nooks we couldn't enter. Their magical auras were powerful, however, and the scent of demon blood clung to their clothes."
As soon as Mingi freed him of the last leather armour, Yunho began walking. He created a path through the parting crowd. In his shadow, Mingi rushed along.
"I will reply to more questions tomorrow at the consultation. Please release no stories until after that. The pixies are agitated, but I doubt they will dare another attack tonight."
Still, the writers now bothered San and the other members of the group with their questions. Sneakily, Yunho and Mingi fled up into Yunho's chambers. Mingi dumped the armour on the ground, getting ready to clean it and sort it back to its place. In the meantime, Yunho took off the heavy weapon belt around his hips and put his arms back on the shelf one by one. No need to clean them; he hadn't used them.
Mingi was focused entirely on his scrubbing task, but he was relieved to have Yunho around him again. The proximity of the man eased the day's tension, even when it brought back all the other anxiety.
Just as Mingi picked up the next piece to dawn the sponge upon it, Yunho crouched opposite of him. His hair was messy, but his eyes were kind as they searched for Mingi's gaze. Nervously, Mingi met them.
"Do you have any plans tonight, Mingi?"
When the servant mutely shook his head, the prince smiled gently at him.
"Then let me take you through the portal to see the snow. Just for a while, let's flee our duties here. And I'll make sure to clear up any misconception between the two of us, too."
Warmth so overwhelming and relieving flooded Mingi's chest that he would have collapsed if he hadn't sat on the ground already. When he nodded at Yunho full of gratitude, the prince stretched out his hand towards him.
Mingi took it and allowed the other man to pull him to his feet. Out of the room, and straight into the portal that would take them into a realm where it didn't matter who they were.