Hello my beautiful people ❤ Another chapter, another amazing fan art created by my incredible friend D! Here's the link to the full, uncensored drawing (sometimes I had to due to Wattpad's rules): https://www.deviantart.com/shineunderthemoon/art/OF-ROSES-AND-DAISIES-FIC-ON-AO3-CHAPTER-10-930873321 Please, always support artists like this ❤
I can't believe we are close to the end of this, I'm so happy for how much support this prequel is receiving, I love you all for every comment, every kudo, every time you took a moment of your lives to read my story, their story. To all the "A Wish Upon The Moon" readers: you're about to get some real feels! ❤
⚠️This story is full of music and ambience videos I carefully chose, that's why you are going to find links scattered here and there from chapter to chapter. Please, click on them when you see them to let me drag you in the best mood for of the scene! ❤
***
In the middle of the night, as the moon was full and bright in the night sky, Hwanwoong opened his eyes. He had been waiting to hear the other prince's breathing even out to make sure he had properly fallen asleep before doing anything.
He slowly slipped out of his lover's embrace to get up from his bed and he quickly wore his armor, trying not to make a single sound. He lit up a lamp for himself and he opened the door of the room.
He turned around one last time to look at the one and only man he had ever loved and he finally let tears roll down his cheeks before closing the door behind his back.
He knew every corner of the castle well enough at that point to avoid each guard along with anyone's undesired eyes and, in less than thirty minutes, he was out of the castle's walls heading to the woods.
A black horse was waiting for him tied to a tree where nobody else would have noticed. He got on its back and he started riding as fast as he could towards his kingdom: the Kingdom of Daisies.
As Hwanwoong's heart kept sinking in his chest, he ordered his horse to ride faster.
***
When Youngjo woke up, his bed was cold. His bed was as cold as he was used to find it on those early Spring days, when the sun was warm during the day but the air became chilly by night.
He slowly opened his eyes and the sunlight of a new day revealed the mess Hwanwoong and him had made out of his royal bedroom the previous night. He already missed him.
Youngjo wasn't surprised. He would have lied if he would have said so, because everything they had done the last time they had made love had truly felt like their last time. He didn't know where Hwanwoong was nor if he would have had the pleasure of meeting him again, but something deep down in his heart was telling him they would have never seen each other one more time.
The prince of the Kingdom of Roses sat up on his bed, the perfume of roses and daisies still lingering in the air reached his nostrils and he was unable to hold back his tears. A day filled with events was awaiting him: the traditional gathering of their army before leaving for the battlefield being the most important one. He let all his sadness and frustration flow out like a river on his cheeks as he brought his candid sheets to his face, inhaling in Hwanwoong's scent along with his own, one and the same.
He loved him. Kim Youngjo, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Roses was hopelessly, madly, unconditionally in love with Yeo Hwanwoong, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Daisies.
He suddenly wondered how his life would have been if he hadn't been that Kim Youngjo in that castle, in that time. Who knows, maybe he would have met a beautiful young man named Yeo Hwanwoong in such peaceful circumstances, and they would have fallen in love. They would have been free to show their love to everyone in the daylight. They would have spent their nights making love for as long and as loudly as their passion would have driven them. They would have not been as unlucky as Romeo and Juliet nor as prince Youngjo and prince Hwanwoong.
"Your Majesty?"
The prince abruptly lifted his head towards his bedroom door, recognizing Gunhak's voice.
"Your Majesty are you awake yet? It's about time you should get ready to..."
Youngjo sat on his bed, quickly sniffing and clearing his throat before speaking: "I-I am! Please, Gunhak send my dear court's men to help me with my armor."
"Of course, Your Majesty!" The knight replied before leaving him.
As the prince heard the other's footsteps getting further and further away, he noticed there was a small, white letter, on the same table Hwanwoong and him had confessed their love for each other the previous night. He stood up as if an invisible force had driven his movements and he walked towards it, taking the letter in his hands: it was a letter from Hwanwoong.
***
"I knew you would return by my side, Hwanwoong." The king of the Kingdom of Daisies commented as he was on top of his horse, right beside his son. He turned to look at the prince and he laughed bitterly when he noticed the other wasn't even looking at him, shut in the same silence he had been carrying on since he had come back to his own kingdom.
"Your Highness." Ser Lee called by his side. "Everything is set." He informed, taking a step back.
The king nodded, allowing himself to enjoy the calmness of the nature under the cloudy sky of that day, the roar of a thunder could be suddenly heard somewhere far away above their army. He could already see the great number of red and black flags at the horizon, signaling the arrival of their opponents. He took a breath, confident he was about to succeed. "You don't have to worry, son." He spoke to the prince again. "I will make sure to find the reason of your... doubt, and I will kill him with my personal sword." He focused on his son's reaction at his words but the young man looked deprived of any form of emotion. "I hope you learnt a very important lesson during your mission."
He waited for the prince of Daisies to say anything back to him but, when it became clear the other would have never replied in any way to the king, he lifted his sword up in the sky to catch everyone's attention and let the war begin: "For the Kingdom of Daisies!!" He shouted out loudly.
The knights standing on the front row waved their white and golden flags in the air at the king's cry.
"For the Kingdom of Daisies!!"
***
Hwanwoong had ordered his horse to ride as fast as he could. He had been so fast he had managed to overcome his father's steed and he had been the first one who had reached the army of the Kingdom of Roses. He pulled out his sword and he started fighting his way in between the knights: he had to find prince Youngjo. He needed to find him. He needed to find him before his father could.
At some point, rain had started falling down violently on Hwanwoong, silently caressing the surface of his golden armor and white cloak already soaked in dirt, and blood. It had broken the prince's heart to spot the familiar faces of Dongmyeong, Gunhak and Yonghoon as he was riding in the middle of the battlefield, sincerely hoping they would have not recognized him behind his helmet.
Suddenly, the only knight wearing a completely black armor caught Hwanwoong's eyes amongst the other silver ones. The sounds of swords clashing with shields, blood splashing all over, screams of pain and death wishes that were filling his ears, quickly became muffled and meaningless. Everything had no meaning anymore because the prince of the Kingdom of Daisies had finally found his one true love in a million of other faces and he had done it before his father could have.
He jumped off his horse, leaving it free to go wherever he wanted in order to run. Hwanwoong started running as fast as he could, using his sword to hurt anyone who would have gotten in the way until he reached the prince of the Kingdom of Roses who was showing his back at him. Hwanwoong pushed him with the hilt of his sword and he watched him stumbling forward on his knees.
Youngjo's eyes grew wide in shock when he turned around and he recognized the face of his one true love behind the helmet of the one wearing the armor of the Kingdom of Daisies in front of him.
"H-Hwan-" The prince of Roses started saying before his good reflexes allowed him to dodge another one of the other's attacks. He couldn't believe his own eyes as he stood on his feet, using his sword to defend himself from his lover. "Hwanwoong!! What are you doing?" He hadn't been expecting to see the other ever again but he was even more surprised because Hwanwoong had just attacked him. Youngjo defended himself again both out of his reflexes and because there was no way he would have fought against Hwanwoong, what did the other have in mind? Was the King of Daisies watching them somewhere near enough to make his lover even pretend they were nothing but strangers?
"Do you want to win this war or not, Ravn?" Hwanwoong finally spoke, moving his sword against him again. Youngjo hadn't heard the other address him that way since the day they had first met at the sword tournament. "Stop defending yourself and fight back!!"
Youngjo couldn't help looking at the emblem decorating the surface of Hwanwoong's armor which belonged to the Kingdom of Daisies royal family: a sign only the king or the prince would have worn for a battle. "Y-You're the prince?" He asked, instinctively faking his disbelief as he failed to miss the other's sword that hit the side of his shoulder so hard Youngjo heard it resonate in his helmet.
"I'm Yeo Hwanwoong, the only crown prince of the Kingdom of Daisies." Hwanwoong suddenly bowed politely as everyone around them weren't battling and screaming in pain. "Nice to meet you, Your Majesty." He added, right before showing the other he was ready to attack again.
Youngjo kept on neutralizing Hwanwoong's attack only because his body was moving out of habit. He defended himself again when his lover used his sword to try and hit his arm. Then, he did the same when he tried to hurt his legs and once again when the other aimed at his hips.
"What are you doing?" Hwanwoong asked, quite impatiently waving his sword before using it.
The prince of Roses seemed to always manage to defend himself again and again and again. They had trained together for a long time after all: he knew all Hwanwoong's mental schemes, where he usually aimed, the body parts he tended to hit first. The prince of Daisies was growing anxious as seconds passed. What if the king would have reached them soon? What if he would have killed Youngjo right in front of him? What was Hwanwoong doing anyway? He had no idea, he just couldn't stop fighting with his lover as if they were playing a role in a theatre show. He would attack and Youngjo and he would always defend himself without counterattacking, not even once.
Hwanwoong sighed in frustration: "Fight me back!! Do you want to defend you kingdom or not?"
His breath got stuck in his throat when he saw Youngjo opening his arms as if he were waiting for the other to hug him: "I won't fight you, my love." He sincerely said.
The heart of the prince of Daisies sank at the same sweet way the other had been addressing him until the previous night when they were just a naked body over another naked body on his bed. For the very first time in his entire life, Hwanwoong found himself panicking. He didn't know what to do.
Hwanwoong's body kept moving on his own as his father had taught him. He tightened his grip around his sword's handle. Maybe they could have kept fighting until he would have had any idea about what to do aside from killing the prince of the Kingdom of Roses or letting him kill him. Hwanwoong didn't want to as much as he didn't think the other would have, even if the prince of Daisies would have asked him to. "Then, I will kill you." He firmly said before attacking him again.
***
Knights after knights from both sides started falling on the ground, tinting with blood the bright green of the grass and the brown trucks of the trees around them. The sound of dead bodies tumbling on the ground along with the screams of agony felt unusual and wrong in the peculiar peaceful silence of the forest situated in between their kingdoms that was unfairly being used as a battlefield.
After what seemed like hours of attacking prince Youngjo without breaking his defenses, Hwanwoong started feeling his hand going numb and sweat getting in his eyes, bothering his sight. "You can't defend yourself forever." He said, taking a moment to breathe and to stretch his neck.
Youngjo suddenly pulled out his helmet: "I will stop when you attack me for real, my love."
Hwanwoong quickly got rid of his helmet too, abruptly throwing it away: "This is not the right time nor place for you to call me like that, Youngjo." He replied, biting his tongue when he realized he had called the other's name without using any title, easily betraying his hard façade in front of him. "I am attacking you! I have been attacking you since my sword hit your armor!" He added, emphasizing his words waving his own sword in the air.
The other prince smiled tenderly in a strange contrast with his face dirty with blood and sweat: "No, you are not. You have been holding yourself back since the beginning. I know how you fight and this is not you, Hwanwoong." He used the back of his hand to wipe his forehead. "You are going gentle on me because you know I would never attack you. I'm the one who should ask what you are doing."
Hwanwoong pointed his sword at him: "You are talking nonsense, Your Majesty." He said before attacking him again, despite knowing deep down inside that the other was right about everything.
"You know we don't have to do this, my love." Youngjo spoke softly when their swords collided and their faces found themselves being very close to each other. "We can find another way and convince our fathers to stop this. Even if you win this battle, you will soon find out that a part of our army is already waiting for yours at our castle's walls to defend our people from your planned attack."
Hwanwoong's eyes went wide in surprise. The other's knights would have been ready to face a battle only someone from the prince of Daisies close circle of trusted ones would have known about. It had been his father's idea, to keep the army of the Kingdom of Roses occupied in the woods as a less numerous army would have surprised the few remaining at their citadel.
Something must had gone wrong but Hwanwoong had been sure about that information, it had been Youngjo himself who had shared his plans with him, with one of his most trusted knights.
Suddenly, the thought Youngjo might had shared with him important pieces of information that were not true hit Hwanwoong so hard he hoped he was simply living in one of his nightmares.
"You knew." He stated, taking a few shaky steps back. If the other prince had managed to trick him, he must had discovered Hwanwoong had been the spy. There would have been no other explanations. "How long?" He asked as memories of the previous night they had spent making love and confessing each other's feelings started filling his mind. "How long have you known, Youngjo?"
"Enough time."
He simply replied as if he hadn't been knowing the spy was Hwanwoong for God knows how long. The prince of Daisies almost dropped his sword at the way the other was still looking at him as if he were the one and only love of his life. "Y-You knew I was a spy and you let me sleep beside you?" He couldn't keep his voice from shaking when he asked.
Youngjo shook his head: "I knew I was safe with you."
Prince Youngjo's blind trust, his pure love, his deep dark eyes sweetly looking at him felt like an arrow going straight to Hwanwoong's heart. He had betrayed the other, he had been revealing all their plans and strategies to the knights of the Kingdom of Daisies since the beginning. Youngjo's people were dying because of him and yet, there the Prince of Roses was, feeling safe and sound while standing on a battlefield in front of him, knowing the other would have never hurt him.
"There's no other way, my love."
Tears filled Hwanwoong's eyes as his sudden desire to just grab the other's hand and run away together collided hardly with the reality of the battlefield, and their fathers, and their titles, and their responsibilities, and the fact they were two men and there was no future for them, no matter how much they would have put themselves into it. War is all about winning and both the king of the Kingdom of Roses and of Daisies were determined to win it or to die trying.
Hwanwoong looked around them, noticing the way the red and black colors of the Kingdom of Roses knights armors were mixing with the white and golden of the Kingdom of Daisies ones. The conflict between those colors had been going on for centuries and he knew there was nothing two young princes like them could have done to stop it, unless they would have done something truly relevant.
Something that would have broken the line that connected them to their ancestors and their mistakes that had forced them in the situation they were. Something that would have allowed the two of them to freely love each other forever. He looked at the moon, full and bright in the cloudy sky as the rain had stopped falling and the first lights of dawn were already lightening up the darkness of the night.
That was the moment the prince of Daisies remembered one of his favorite bedtime stories his mother the queen would tell him when he was little. It was about a poor boy with a pure heart who had lost his dear dog and who had made a wish upon the moon to bring it back. The merciful moon had been able to see what was inside the boy and she had been so kind to fulfill his wish, saving his dog.
Hwanwoong had never believed those stories but he felt so desperate in that moment that, for once, he wanted to believe in them. He wanted to feel as hopeful as that story had made him feel as a child. He looked up, silently making one simple wish coming deep from his heart while keeping his eyes on the full moon above them. Then, he looked at his sword and an idea came suddenly in his mind.
Hwanwoong lifted his weapon up again, looking a Youngjo. "Maybe... There is a way." He said, turning his sword upside down to point the tip in a crack on his armor where it protected his chest.
Youngjo stopped breathing as soon as he understood what the other was hinting at, panic starting to take over in his entire body uncontrollably. He immediately rushed towards Hwanwoong to keep him from doing something insane. "Hwanwoong, put your sword down. What are you-"
His words died in his throat when the other prince kicked him away. Hwanwoong watched the prince of the Kingdom of Roses hopelessly falling on the ground in a puddle of someone else's blood as he used his own sword to stab himself straight where his heart was.
Youngjo's eyes went wide in shock at what Hwanwoong had just done right in front of him.
"How could you do it?" He desperately screamed out loud.
Hwanwoong's legs gave out and he fell on his knees, smiling: "Come with me..." His eyes moved up to look at the moon one last time before meeting Youngjo's again. "D-Do you trust me, my love?"
The prince of Roses bent down as well to make their forehead meet, his heart beating like a drum.
He started inevitably wondering what he would have done with his life if Hwanwoong wouldn't have been a part of it. He tried to imagine his future without the young man he loved by his side and that made him realize that, under those conditions, he didn't want a future in the first place.
"I do." He replied as a single tear left a clean track on his dirty cheeks. "I do, my love."
The prince of the Kingdom of Roses tightened his grip around the handle of his own sword as he leaned in to connect their lips one last time before he stabbed himself, right in his heart as well.
Their bodies fell on the ground at the same time, the blood gushing out of their wounds mixing as much as the color of their armors that clearly belonged to opposite armies.
The loud sound of horn could be heard amongst all the knights on the battlefield, signaling the death of the princes as well as the end of the conflict in between their kingdoms once and forever.
Youngjo jolted awake on his bed, blinded for a moment by the sunshine peeking through his window.
He mindlessly brought a hand to his own chest, his heart was pounding like a hammer on his ribcage.
He tried to calm himself down, taking slow deep breaths before opening his eyes again, getting conscious of what was surrounding him: he was safe and dry in his own room, a nice smell of pancakes reaching his nostrils, probably Seoho making breakfast as he did every day for his flat mates and closest friends. It had been a dream, as always.
Youngjo swept away a thin layer of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and he got up to go have a shower and get ready for another day at university.
***
How are my "A Wish Upon The Moon" readers doing after this final cut? xD
(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should know this story is a prequel to my other story. You can read if you want to see how Youngjo and Hwanwoong's story will end up in the future) ❤
It seems like yesterday I finished posting "A Wish Upon The Moon" and I was writing this prequel that is so dear to me as much as these characters. I'm so emotional and I really wish I didn't have to let them go but as everything in life, we should enjoy the moment and make it meaningful while we can exactly because it doesn't last forever. I want to thank every single one of you, readers, for your incredibly supportive comments, bookmarks, votes or even for silently reading this story. You made me smile in a moment of my life that is still full of changes and new challenges and I will never forget a single one of your kind words to me ❤
Please check out my other works in ONEUS fandom and let's be friends! If you want, you can always be updated on all the new stories I'm writing (at the moment I have like 4 Rawoong in progress so, stay tuned ❤) when I will publish them! You can subscribe to my profile here on Wattpad or follow me on Twitter (@likeaky21) or OA3 (@likeasky21) ❤
Thank you to everyone for loving this story again and for making me feel this happy ❤