"I think I have a lead on the missing maids case."
"What lead?" Jeonghan jumped out of his bed with the unannounced arrival of the third Prince.
Without a second breath, Wonwoo explained all about Jangmi and the letters of Nako.
"Are you sure some mere letters will give us a lead." Jeonghan sighed as he gestured Wonwoo to take a seat.
"At least it's something substantial and it can serve as an evidence to some extent, if we find Nako mentioning any weird occurrences before her disappearance in the letters."
"Did you read these?" Jeonghan pointed to the small heap of 50 something letters.
"I brought it straight to you."
"Then let's read it. Oh! but I already had dinner should I ask the cook to prepare some for you?"
"No I had dinner at Mingyu's home."
"That's not proper or safe for a Prince. I guess you are no longer afraid of poisoning."
"My apologies." Wonwoo didn't want to waste time in useless banter, so he bowed deeply to the prince hoping to end this conversation.
"Let me call Seungcheol, I don't think we can can read all these by tonight." Jeonghan pointed towards the letters.
"If Mingyu wasn't a Kim, reading these would have been faster. Should we call him inside?" He continued.
"No we must not, I don't know why but that girl Jangmi didn't want her family to know about the letters. We should at least respect that." Wonwoo insisted.
Jeonghan wasn't planning to let Mingyu in their investigation either so he had no problem with it.
As soon as Seungcheol arrived they brooded over the letters without wasting any time. Wonwoo was finally able to read now, due to Jeonghan's efforts to make Wonwoo read heaps of offlicial reports.
Dear Jangmi,
I miss you dearly, thankfully I can write to you. The work in the palace is exhausting. Cleaning, washing and everything but at least this way my parents won't marry me off. I promise I will gather enough money and then we can leave this place and live together somewhere far away.....
Dear Jangmi..
It's been five weeks now. I miss and yearn your touch. I am happy to know you are doing well. Did you know Prince Sangwoo tried to bully me today, but Prince Iseul saved me. He is a very warm and kind person.....
Dear Jangmi,
You know that I only love you. Don't be jealous of Prince Iseul. Did you dance in the rain today?
I hope that you know every rain reminds me of you, I can still sniff the smell of your hair and how your lips tasted........
As the three of them read letters after letters, Seungcheol's ears turned into the color of cherries.
Wonwoo's heart pained for both. He was well aware of the fears under which these girls were living. He smiled to himself as he read Nako expressing her love and yearning for Jangmi. He understood how desperate Jangmi was that she took the risk to bare a part of her which could risk her life. He internally cursed himself for not reading it first, he didn't want to be the one to out her.
He glanced towards both the people sitting in front of him and he was ready to either mansplain, manipulate, murder or blackmail them to save Jangmi's life.
"I don't think this could be used as an evidence but we can surely use it as a lead and I think it's better to burn these with Jangmi's permission of course." Jeonghan was the first to speak.
"Great! Because I was about to blackmail you to save Jangmi if you said something else." Wonwoo chuckled as he took in the profile of the crown prince fondly.
"It's cute I assume two people falling in love despite all odds and our Wonwoo wanting to protect them." Jeonghan playfully flicked Wonwoo's forehead.
"Now let's read all these letters, I guess it's already midnight." Wonwoo grabbed another letter and ignored the playful glances of the prince. He was glad the Crown prince had no prejudices and he desparately wished to find Nako against all odds.
Dear Jangmi...
I know things were very hard these past few days but I think we can finally leave this place together. I was offered a job along with Maehwa and Noori. It's 5000 silvers per season, we are asked to tell no one about it, according to the man all we have to do is clean, wash clothes and carry firewood in a huge residence near the border. I think I will ask the man if I can bring you. We can earn enough money with this work and live in a secluded happy place just like we always talked about. I will talk with the man and I will write you back about the details. I am so happy, you know it's a secret place for important guests, the man says we are no longer mere palace maids and we have to remain nameless after this. We are to be provided food and shelter and all we have to do is stay and serve in that place for a very long time but we can't contact anyone from our family. You are my family Jangmi, we can finally live together for a very long time. Please come with me Jangmi, I will wait for your response.
"Well, this was the last letter. I think for now we can look for this man, secret residence near the border and records about Nako,
Maehwa and Noori." Wonwoo surmised.
"For how long did this Nako disappear?" Seungcheol pondered.
"Since this summer. Her parents asked about her apparently but there were no records of her. Who deals with the appointment of maids and their records?"
"The Kims!" Both Jeonghan and Seungcheol exclaimed.
"I met Prince Iseul today at the tavern. He found someone from the enemy kingdom smuggling different types of poison a few days back. So, let me guess Kims are dealing with the export and import as well."
"Yes. Everything is pointing towards the Kims, but there is no evidence to prove it." Jeonghan sighed.
"Things can't be that simple."
"Yeah, I agree with Prince Wonwoo." Seungcheol admitted.
"Thanks Hyung."
"Aaaaahhh...why can you call Seungcheol
Hyung, but not me." The Crown prince whined as he kicked Wonwoo softly.
"Yes...yes erm... Jeonghan Hyung." Wonwoo chuckled as he took in the warm smiles of both the older guys.
With a new found motivation and lead, they went through past records to find information they might have missed.
The night melted into dawn. The three of them were sprawled across the floor with heaps of old records and scattered letters around them.
Seungcheol was the first one to wake up. He took in the angelic morning glow of the crown prince and decided to clean the chamber before waking up the prince.
He grabbed Jeonghan up and forced him to wake up as he whined. He was so used to the daily shenanigans of the crown prince that now no amount whining worked on Seungcheol.
He forced the crown prince to stand up straight and gently woke the younger prince up.
Wonwoo swam through the same nightmare of a man with a scar and something burning. He saw a hairpin adorned with a beautiful flower like pattern engraved in it smeared with blood. He extended his hand to grab the hairpin....
"My Lord!" Seungcheol exclaimed as Wonwoo grabbed his cheeks suddenly.
Wonwoo squished the soft hairpin in confusion and he felt a smell of melon invading his consciousness.
Wonwoo woke up in horror as he found himself literally squashing the cheeks of the stoic guard. He looked at Seungcheol in horror as he saw the color of his left cheek turn red.
"I......I....a...a...am sorry. Well I will meet you guys later. Good morning." Wonwoo bowed and left the chamber in a flight.
"Mingyu is in the fourth chamber of the west corridor." Seungcheol screamed behind Wonwoo as the he ran away.
He anxiously walked through the corridors into a room to find Mingyu crumpled into a shrimp. The feeling of guilt was more stronger than his embarrassment. He totally forgot about Mingyu last night and left him in the cold to solve a crime.
He sat near Mingyu and brushed away his hair from the eyes. Wonwoo couldn't tear his hand away from those beautiful locks of raven hair.
"H...Hyung?"
"What!" Wonwoo jumped away from the sleeping man towards the wall.
"You ate sweets all night?"
Wonwoo's heart melted at those puppy eyes, he really wanted to tell Mingyu but he couldn't risk any chances now that they really had a lead.
"Not sweets, we were looking at a few past records."
"Huh? Oh! Right... it's okay you don't have to tell me anything."
Mingyu's sweet reassuring smile tore Wonwoo's heart apart but he knew better to not fall harder for this raven eyed boy.
"I will tell you everything someday if you decide to stay." Wonwoo mumbled. No matter how he denied, his heart was screaming to be near Mingyu for as long as possible.
____________
For the next few days he let Mingyu train him without any complaints. On the other hand Jeonghan was unable to find any information or records of Nako, Maehwa or Noori.
Seungcheol was unsuccessful as well in locating any residents near the border big enough to inhabit the disappearing maids.
Their only hope was Jangmi, they avoided their best to include Jangmi in this mess but now she was the only clue left.
"We will need Mingyu to meet her." Jeonghan whined.
"I know that. But we can't tell him the truth can we now?"
"Wonwoo ya tell him that you fancy her or something and that you want to meet her."
"No absolutely not!" Wonwoo was adamant to not follow Jeonghan's ideas.
"So tell me do you have a better idea?"
"Tell him that we want to ask her about Nako as she was her friend. That's all." Wonwoo shrugged.
"And reveal that we are investigating the disappearing maids."
"He will never hurt Jangmi that much I am sure." He sighed at the crown prince's assumptions.
"But he can hurt our investigation and us. I have nothing against him, he is an amazing talent but I can't risk the only lead after all these years. Seungcheol will go to her."
"As you wish." Wonwoo bowed in defeat and left Jeonghan's company.
Now all he could do was go back to his tiring training with Mingyu and wait for Seungcheol to return.
"Hyung concentrate!" Mingyu snapped his fingers in front of a lost Wonwoo.
"Huh! Yes...yes..turn and spin and..."
"No! you are supposed to spin and turn." Mingyu rolled his eyes and stopped Wonwoo from mixing up the moves.
"Hyung, let's stop for today."He grabbed him by his wrist and led Wonwoo inside the residence.
"Thanks."
"Hyung are you alright? I don't mean to pry but you seem so lost these days." He continued.
"Do you ever feel like you are going in circles with no destination." Wonwoo pondered as he opened the door of his chamber.
"Well, once I was lost in the woods. I was kind of scared." Mingyu scratched his head as he walked inside.
"Yeah. We are investigating something, it feels like we know the answer but we don't know where to look for it." He turned around and pointed at Mingyu who was giving him the puppy eyes.
"And I am not going to tell you what we are investigating."
Mingyu rolled his eyes and spread his whole tired body on the floor. He knew he was getting too comfortable with the Prince, which was in fact improper but as long as Wonwoo allowed he was ready to break every decorum.
His eyes lingered at the prince for a long time as the older one shuffled in his bed to and fro.
Staring at the prince eventually tired him out and finally led him into the halls of blissful sleep.
After a while he woke up with a start as the prince yet once again struggled to get dressed.
"You keep struggling to get dressed everyday, why don't you accept my help or take an eunuch? " He yawned as he slowly settled himself into a sitting position.
"No need."
"So cold."
"You better dress up too. We are leaving for the Crown Prince's residence." Wonwoo added as he struggled to make his hair presentable.
"Will you just accept my help really..." Mingyu groaned as he walked up to the prince to fix his hair.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Wonwoo's eyes widened as the taller guy took the comb from his hand.
Every stroke of the comb made Wonwoo shudder, this was too intimate for him, his chest was pounding like a hailstorm. He shut his eyes praying Mingyu didn't hear his beating heart.
Mingyu caressed Wonwoo's hair like it was rare linen, his heart skipped a beat whenever his hand brushed against the prince's ear. He felt weird whenever he was close to the crown prince, he didn't hate this feeling yet it scared him.
He gently raised Wonwoo's hair into a bun, let a few unruly strands out and adorned it with a binyeo. (비녀,traditional hair pin)
"All done." Mingyu took a long look at his creativity and he was satisfied.
"Thank you." Wonwoo slowly opened his eyes to take in the creation of Mingyu. He had to agree his hair seemed nicer when Mingyu fixed it, otherwise it was always a mess of hair strands here and there.
"Let's go." He coughed in embarrasment when he found Mingyu staring at him and walked out of his chamber gesturing Mingyu to follow him.