third person
Asking Seungmin to come along was not really a good one. The King was delighted when his princess suggested it to him — with a hesitant Hyunjin — but what she never expect was to be in the same car with the guy. As what her father said, “should he be with you in the same car, after all we cannot let him alone when you are the one who invites him.”
In short, Eunkyung regretted this.
Worse, when she was in her formal dress and Seungmin wearing a dark grey long sleeves button up shirt that has extra laces dangling at the wrist area, and a long red coat on top of it matching with a pair of pants that had the same color as the shirt. He almost look like a prince, undeniably attractive with the minimal make up on his face. Earlier that morning when he arrived Eunkyung could see the smoky shade on his eyelids.
She hated that.
The ride was quiet. Seungmin had his eyes attached to the outside where trees surrounding them. He looked calm, while the girl was freaking out in the inside because of the dress she had to wear.
It's hot!
The dress she was wearing was the least dressy for her, as a royal. It was a navy blue dress, with the long sleeves are very sparse fabric, exposing her arm underneath. The lower part of the dress was not as big as she used to wear when she had to attend ceremonies. Overall it was an okay, but sitting here next to Seungmin just added the hotness and uncomfortableness in her even the guy did not even do anything.
Seungmin glanced towards the driver at the front seat. He then turned his head to her, only to see she was struggling with her dress.
"What's wrong?"
That startled her. Seungmin gave her a questioning look while she frowned with her lips pursed, a perfect visualisation of someone who needs help but hesitant to ask them.
"Nothing."
The guy blinked his eyes once before nodding, turning back to the window. Eunkyung let out an inaudible sigh as her hand tried to reach the zipper on her back. She didn't realise it was not zipped properly until she felt her hair brushed over her skin.
Unfortunately for her, her hand couldn't reach it. Moreover when her hair was in the way.
"Need help?"
"W-what? No." she shook her head but Seungmin leaned closer to her side.
"Lift your hair." he said while his eyes moved to the sit in front of the princess. The girl secretly gulped as she did what he said. With that she could feel Seungmin's hand reaching for the zipper. His fingertips lightly brushed on her skin which made her tensed up.
Seungmin zipped the dress, and leaned back to his seat without sparing a glance towards the girl. If she was to be honest, she really appreciated him for not looking but would she say it out loud? No.
The approximately thirty minutes finally came to an end. This was Seungmin's first time going down here after nearly ten years. He could see some of the villagers lined up to welcome them. He got out when the car stopped and went to Eunkyung's side while looking around.
"If the King is now here, will the villagers tell him about the murder?" he asked in the lowest voice as possible, leaning down a bit to match Eunkyung's height.
The girl shook her head lightly, "If he's bringing another royal for a tour, the villagers will not talk to him as a sign of respecting the visitor."
"Won't he ask about the royal reporter?"
The girl remained silent as her heart shattered. Seungmin could not tell what she was feeling at that moment since she had to keep her face smiling. But the glint of sadness was evident in her eyes.
"He doesn't care about it," she waved the villagers with a gentle smile. Then there was a small boy running towards her direction and hugged her legs, chin pressing on her knees. The girl patted his head. "Hello young man."
"Pretty princess!" the boy squealed, making her laugh. The mother of the boy was a bit scared when her son suddenly did that but sighed in relief.
Eunkyung squatted down to match the boy's height. She didn't care about her dress touching the ground. "What's your name, boy?"
"Minhee!" he jumped a bit and put a finger up. "Mama says my name is Minhee!"
"What does Minhee mean?"
He put a finger on his chin, humming as he tried to remember. "Bright! Mama says I'm cheerful and bright that's why my name is Minhee!"
The villagers around them cooed at the cuteness. Eunkyung giggled, "You're right, it means brightness. So keep smiling and don't hurt people around you, okay?"
The boy nodded firmly with his hand raised up on his head to make a salute sign. Eunkyung got up and brushed her dress before bidding goodbye with the boy.
Seungmin, who was witnessing the whole interaction had a smile on his face. Without realising he continued to watch her interacting with the others.
Maybe with adoration is his eyes.
"What are you looking at?"
But that didn't last long. Eunkyung noticed that and immediately glared, killing the smile off his face.
Damn, she's nice to everyone but me.
"The King is already far ahead, Your Highness." he spoke calmly. Eunkyung turned to where his father and the other royals were. The villagers also had left the entrance, leaving both of them alone there.
The princess turned to the other way round, "Let's go."
Seungmin's eyes slightly widened, "Where?"
She didn't reply as she walked to the rows of houses. They were all wooden, not bricked or cemented like they had up there on the hill. Very contrast. Seungmin couldn't detach his eyes from the poor houses and feel bad. He never knew there's people living in this state.
How do they survive?
He kept following the girl to the end of the village. This time, the voices of the villagers were completely blocked out. They were too far away.
Stood in front of them was an old house but it looked better than the wooden houses the villagers had. It looked firm, as if the wooden was furnished into a stronger one and there's leaves decorating the roof and on each sides.
It was a small cottage.
The trees had grown on the house, if he looked at it properly. Even so, the windows were still in a good condition, there were no scratches or broken glasses. Everything seem fine.
"Whose house is this?" he asked after observing it.
"My old house." she said while peeking through the dusted window. Then she took out a key from her hidden pocket on her dress before pushing it in.
But then she froze.
The door was already unlocked.
Seungmin stood next to her and immediately checked around before pulling her hand off the tomb. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"I... I don't know." her heart beat started to get faster than before. The house was always kept locked because there's no one living there. Sonia, as in her grandmother passed away before she moved to the castle. Only Eunkyung has the key to get in.
She pulled out the key while Seungmin slowly twisting the door knob with his arm in front of her, in case if someone or something from inside jumps on her. At that moment she ignored his hatred towards the guy and let him did it.
As soon as he opened it, he noticed a huge unknown black machine in front of him and it started to grumble when he pushed the door open.
In a flash, Eunkyung could feel her body was pushed aside and she almost stumbled back but Seungmin managed to catch her. They somehow landed on the ground and a loud sound of a bow releasing went passed behind him.
She was too shocked that everything registered when she realised Seungmin was over her, wincing. And she noticed his hand was slightly trembling against her wrist.
"Oh my god," she breathed out while pushing him off her slowly. The arrow got stuck in the tree trunk. "Did... did you hurt anywhere?" she didn't know what to do. The thing could have killed the guy if he didn't see the machine and was not fast enough to move away.
Seungmin couldn't say a word. The grip on her wrist tightened as he closed his eyes, thinking of the possibilities that could happen earlier.
"S-seungmin?" worry washed over her. "Oh god I shouldn't have brought you here. Let's return."
"I'm okay." he carefully got up and pulled the princess along. They brushed off the dirt from their clothes and hands. Eunkyung was contemplating whether she should go on or return to her family. Worse, she had no idea what was waiting inside the house.
The door was left ajar. Carefully, she walked in, trying not to hit anything with Seungmin following behind her.
"All is just the same," she said. "The only thing that changed was that thing." she pointed to the arrow machine that has strings attached to the door.
"When was the last time you visit here?"
"More than one month ago, I think." she went to one of the rooms and was about to open it but hesitated.
On the other hand Seungmin was looking around. The living room only has two couches that seemed too old and dusty. The interior design of the house was an open design so he could see the dining room, the kitchen and the back door on the left side. At the other side there were three doors, one of them being the toilet.
He noticed the girl stood still in front of a door which he assumed would be the bedroom. Though there's fear remained in him, he pulled the girl aside and opened the door.
Luckily there's nothing coming through. Both of them went in.
The room was so small. There's only one bed, a one sided shelf that could be used as a wardrobe and a small bedside table.
"What are we doing here actually?" he finally asked the question that had been playing in his mind ever since he came here. Eunkyung still didn't tell him the reason why he had to tag along.
For you to prove to me.
"For this." she pulled out a bundle of papers from the drawer. Seungmin coughed at the dust that greeted his nose and frowned.
"What's that?"
"The reports." The guy leaned in to see the handwriting of an adult scattered on the papers. He had to pinch his nose as Eunkyung flipped the papers and dust kept flying around. "The reporters wrote all of this as an update but never get to submit it to the King. So they passed it to me."
"Why didn't you give the King?" he asked genuinely curious.
She sighed, "I told you I can't. They will find out I've been sneaking out here. And the last reporter was sick before being killed," she went to the last page and saw the date, "Two months ago."
Seungmin took the bundled papers and his eyes ran down the pages. There were names of the victims and where they were buried. His eyes twitched when he read the cause and how they were killed. "This is bad."
"Very much."
"We shouldn't stay here." he let out a nervous laugh as he proceeded on reading the other page. Eunkyung didn't bother to read along since she had to tip toe to reach the level. Her eyes went to his right hand.
He was still wearing the hand wrap. Actually, he never takes it off.
But then she noticed red liquid dripping out. Instinctively she grabbed his hand, making the book fell on the wooden floor and emitted a loud thud. Seungmin was shocked at the action but didn't say anything. "You're bleeding."
"Oh, might be from the fall earlier. My hand scratched on the ground."
Without saying anything she took off the hand wrap. The guy was about to stop her but it was too late.
She saw a long scratch across his palm.
"Seungmin—"
"This was long ago." he cut her off. She observed the scar and it did look like from years ago. "I didn't get it stitch so sometimes it would open if I went too rough."
"Where did you get it?" she asked, sounding rather urgent.
"Does it matter?" his eyebrows furrowed, feeling weird at the question. Then he realised something. "Wait a minute, are you doubting me?"
Eunkyung didn't say anything. She had this serious but doubting look as she slightly narrowed his eyes towards him. Her eyebrows almost met as a sign of not believing him.
Seungmin pulled his hand and took the hand wrap from her. "Are you serious, Eunkyung?"
That was the first time in a while he calls her by her real name. His voice dropped an octave lower as he picked up the fallen bundled papers and handed it to her, "You brought me here to see if I'm related to all of this or not? Until this day? Just because we had that talk on the hill the other day?"
He got that all right, weirdly everything was hit on the spot.
He was afraid when Eunkyung told him about the village, and since that the girl doubted him. She thought he was afraid because she found out.
The princess zipped her mouth shut as she noticed the disappointed look in him. He didn't say anything more and left her, going straight to the sink to wash the wound. As the water ran down his hand he hissed a little. They sting.
"What is this thing?" A new voice appeared.
He jumped a bit at the new voice and quickly turned around, only to see Eunji walking in. Eunkyung's eyes went wide.
"Eonnie!"
"What is this?" she walked around the black machine and gasped, "Wait, who put this here?"
"Eonnie what are you doing here?!" The youngest among them exclaimed in frustration as she pulled her sister away from the thing.
Eunji threw her a weird look, "Since when do you call me eonnie? That sounds weird coming from you." Eunkyung groaned. "What is this thing doing here, Eunkyung? Why is there an arrow stuck in the tree?"
Said girl went silent as she looked at her with pleading eyes desperately. Eunji turned to Seungmin and the guy froze, eyes blinking twice.
"Are you telling?" she cocked her eyebrow and his eyes moved to Eunkyung who was looking down the floor, shoulders slumping down.
"Someone broke in," the girl muttered, taking the attention again. "And... he almost get stabbed with it."
"What?!" Eunji shrieked, jolting her. "Why did you bring him here? Do you know he could have get killed?!"
Eunkyung nodded slowly, still not looking up with her hand gripped the book. Seungmin sighed at that and went to the siblings. "It's fine, nothing happened anyway."
"That's just a luck. Let's leave now."
"Why are you here eonnie?"
"Your mom told me to get you because she knows how you love hanging out at the river but I saw the door opens so I know you'd be here. You seriously need to stop worrying others with your actions, Eunkyung. First, your best friend's death, then the sword fighting class and now this? You're putting Seungmin in danger as well."
"I told you to stop mentioning about her!" she raised her voice and looked at her teary eyed.
"Then stop doing this because of her!" the sister yelled back.
"I'm not! I'm doing this for the villagers!" she threw the book on the floor. Eunji picked it up and didn't bother to look at it since she already know what was it about. She was close to her youngest sister so she knew about the village as well.
To say Seungmin was not startled was a lie. He was stuck in between the sibling quarrel and he was in no place to interfere.
"Well now you've got this, I'll hand them to father." the older said and immediately left. Eunkyung breathed heavily as the anger slowly subsided.
"Let's leave now." Seungmin said quietly as he walked out.
Eunkyung felt like crying.
She disappoints two people today.
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