chapter x. wanderers-1
As someone who appears to be quite oblivious to your own safety, you are still quite hard to track down and follow.
This thought runs through Yoongi's head as he threads his way through the market, finding trouble in following your movement as you expertly weaves through the people, delivery carts, and even the stalls.
As if you are used to slipping into the crowd of people while making sure to remain unnoticed by everyone around you.
If only that would have been the case with some other people as well. People like himself and the cloaked men who appear to be moving within your shadows because they all noticed your presence.
Yoongi curses under his breath as he nearly bumps against a burly guard standing in front a nearby drugstore, almost failing to notice the massive guy who was guarding the store while he has been keeping his eyes closely on you. He just cannot afford to look away, albeit briefly, despite risking another collision with an innocent bystander and drawing attention through his recklessness.
He has learned his mistakes after the previous encounters he had with you. Even when he wasn't chasing you directly the way he is doing it now, he still cannot shake off the memories of you suddenly vanishing into thin air just when he was finally able to track you down. All he needed to do was to blink, or glance away briefly, anything that he would do to allow you to slip out of his sight, and you were suddenly gone.
But the risk of losing you is greater now that he senses danger coming in, except that you are not making things easier for him to protect you. One too many times, you would slip out of Yoongi's line of sight and he would struggle to find you again. Making him question his ability—for the first time ever in his lifetime—to track down a target, a skill which he had taken pride of in cultivating for many years.
As the Crown Prince, Yoongi has spent years training his combatting skills and has had many experiences in hunting game together with the forest faeries. Through it all, he garnered all the skills that have been useful for him as he prepares himself for the throne, and he has been crafting these skills further as he joined the mercenary army while in the human realm.
Used against you, these skills of his seem to be worthless, and he wonders if you are secretly using some kind of a spell to help you escape each time he lays eyes on you.
A spell, that's it, he comes to a realisation as he watches you once again expertly avoiding bumping into a passing merchant who isn't showing any reaction for the near collision. Not even a glance as you slither away to continue your journey. A subtle movement comes from you as you pull the hood of your cloak to fix it into position, and your hand stops to rest on your neck for a brief moment to give Yoongi the answer he needed.
Of course, the necklace, he muses, recalling the night he visited your dream to see your ruby necklace glowing in response to the magic that he was using to see you.
The one-sided chase continues until you both finally reaches the open area which seems to be a part of the town's plaza. Here, the stalls are no longer placed so close together. There is a fountain at the center, where people gather in small groups to admire the marble statue that is standing in the middle while they all cool down next to the water.
Around the plaza, there are different shops selling out fresh goods and handmade souvenirs. Trees grow here with small patches of green grass forming circles around them to give proper resting stops with shades for the people in need of a moment to rest between their trades.
Unlike the other part of the market town, the mass of the people here are less dense. It makes it easier for Yoongi to get a clear view of your movements and to finally catch up on you. Yet he still keeps a safe distance, as he worries that his presence may alarm you more than your other suspicious stalkers would have.
When you suddenly come to a halt in front of a stall selling handmade tapestries, your eyes looking at the goods that are placed on display with wide, amused eyes, Yoongi also stops and slides behind a parked cart to give you some space. He uses this moment to catch his breath while enjoying the view, as he finally gets to take a good look at you.
He takes in the way you are dressed—the plain blouse and trousers hidden under the worn-out cloak that you are wearing are certainly adequate to hide your identity, and those pair of muddy boots cannot have been something that you simply plucked out of your fancy wardrobe for your late afternoon stroll.
She certainly has done something like this before, he wonders to himself. Just as the thought crosses his mind, he is suddenly reminded of Yijeong's story about how he first met you at the pub while you were disguising yourself as a passing traveller.
He wonders just how often you would do something like this, to slip away from your guards and blend with the common people while disguising as someone else. Thinking about this, Yoongi becomes restless. He clenches his hands as he imagines you roaming down the streets like this, yet instead of wandering in a busy market and while the afternoon sun is still glaring above his head, you are wandering in the slum area of Smotia—just like what Yijeong witnessed that one night and what his intel had reported back to him—and during the night.
No matter how powerful the spell that your necklace possesses, there is no guarantee that it could properly protect you should you ever come across anyone with the right mana to look past it. Someone like himself, for example, who has enough mana to overcome the concealing spell coming from the necklace.
Or the suspicious thugs that have been chasing your shadow, which—Yoongi only starts to realise now—must not have been regular humans if they manage to repel the spell and become aware of your presence among the other humans around.
While Yoongi is still deep in his thoughts, you suddenly start moving again. Yoongi nearly misses his chance to follow you when you immediately make a turn towards the row of stores right across the crowded plaza. Right from the corner of his eyes, Yoongi catches the sight of your pursuers entering the side of the plaza where he first came from. And he can tell just by one look at you to know that you have yet to notice them coming, encouraging him to move even faster.
Just like before, you expertly weave through the crowd, sometimes making it seem like you are using them as cover, concealing your tracks each time you make a sudden turn or switch direction in between the open stalls. You keep picking up your pace, and it seems to Yoongi that he is the only one who is blessed to be the quickest among your other pursuers to be able to keep up with your speed and agility. Soon enough, Yoongi starts losing sight of your other pursuers, much to his relief, as one by one they begin to slip away, as if deciding that pursuing you may no longer worth all the trouble.
But the relief that he feels is short-lived once he realises where you are heading.
Instead of walking towards a local store to continue your window shopping, you suddenly slip into a dark alleyway between two small shops that are currently closing down for their late afternoon break.
Yoongi rushes to follow you into the alleyway. His thoughts are immediately filled with concern as you disappear into the dark shadows and he suddenly loses sight of you. The moment he is welcomed by nothing more but a long, empty alley filled with discarded carts and dumpsters and no sign of your presence in sight, panic strikes him.
He takes a quick look around, making sure that nobody is following him as he begins walking deeper into the alleyway, noticing how it gets darker the further away he is from the market.
The only illumination that is helping him see through the dark path is the streaks of the afternoon sunlight penetrating through the lines of broken sunshades above his head, creating a magnificent light-work across the dark alleyway, though it is not enough to light up the entire place completely. He keeps his eyes open as he carefully advances, staying alert to the shadows around him that seem to have come alive in the dark.
A sudden movement coming from his right catches his attention. He turns and squints his eyes, trying to figure out what it is when all of a sudden, a figure steps into his path and blocks his way.
"Fates!" he curses loudly as he barely manages to catch himself before crashing into the dark figure.
He stumbles back with his hand gripping the handle of his short sword hanging against his hips. But the moment he finally gets a clear view of his intruder, everything in him stops. His hands freeze in place and his words simply die on his tongue. Even his breath is caught, causing him to unable to react or say a word until his lovely intruder speaks first,
"Hi!"
For a moment, Yoongi almost believes that he is imagining things. Yet the cheerful voice that greets him forces him to quickly recover from his shock. Something that is quite a struggle to do when his heartbeat is pacing wildly inside his chest.
The only thing he can breathe a sigh of relief from is the knowledge that his mask is still intact, helping to partially cover the expression on his face that he has no control over. Though he definitely knows that he looks nowhere near as calm as you are as you—whom he has been trailing—are now standing right before him, right within arm's reach, with your wide eyes looking back at him completely amused.
For someone who has been moving with such speed through the marketplace and making Yoongi work hard to catch up, you are looking almost too calm for comfort. And you also seem pleased with yourself for having been able to catch him off guard, catching him red-handed while he is in the middle of pursuing you like an obsessed stalker.
Blasphemy, Yoongi curses at the Fates, ticked off at how easy it was for him to fall for their wicked games. And here he is now, trapped with nowhere else to go, with the risk of revealing himself too soon before he is finally ready to do so.
I guess there is no way escaping this now, Yoongi says to himself as he takes a deep breath and tries to find some semblance of composure as he comes face to face with the one person that he has been yearning to see. Even if it means that he must endure the fiery look you have in your eyes which is meant solely for him.
Crossing your arms over your chest, you wait until your mysterious shadow responds back to you.
You cannot hold back the amused smile that you know is now showing on your face. You simply cannot believe that you have been right all along—that you haven't really been alone during your expeditions. It had doubt at first, thinking that it was purely due to your own insecurities that you kept feeling like you were being followed, watched, observed, even if you never saw any signs of someone following your shadows.
But as that ominous presence continued to haunt you like a ghost, no matter where the magic doors kept sending you off to, you knew that you had to investigate further.
It all started back during your visit to the center of your father's most prestigious winemaking business, when you instantly felt his presence not long after you stepped out of the royal orchard house where the portal opened for you. The feeling of being watched continued to follow you as you strolled down the vineyard, and while you were never made to feel like you were in imminent danger, that feeling of someone shadowing your every move was quite hard for you to shake off upon your return to the home palace that you became wary ever since.
Once you discerned his presence, you continued to feel his presence around you ever since.
On the night you travelled back to the business district, when you stumbled into the quiet Oakes Village, and then again when you browsed through the transit town of Maplekeep. While he was not always there to shadow you in your travels, you have grown familiar to his lurking presence that you managed to recognise him among the crowd of people while you were trying to blend in with the crowd of people flooding the marketplace.
Had it been a coincidence?
You have been wondering about this for a while now, except that you have no idea how that would even be possible as you could barely predict where your journeys through the magic portals would take you to. So how would he be able to occasionally appear at the same place and at the same time as you have been, had it only been purely coincidental?
That may have been the reason why you finally found courage to confront him directly and find out the truth. Though it didn't stop you from playing around a little to test and see if you are correct in your assumptions that he has been following you close behind, when you deliberately tried to make him lose your trail and yet he kept managing to come close enough to catch up on you.
It was through your jest to initiate a play of chase when the idea to ambush him in this dark alleyway abruptly came to you. You didn't even allow yourself to think twice as slipped into hiding, without any thoughts to plan what to do next.
Suddenly he is here, standing right in front of you, and you did the first thing that you could think of to finally make contact with your shadow—by saying hi. Like an utter fool that would have put Nanny Abigail to shame.
You keep a smile on your face while wishing that you can read the expression on his face much better than this. Because aside from the shock you clearly see in his eyes, the rest of his face is partially covered by the silky thin mask that he is wearing as a disguise—much to your disappointment.
The fright in his eyes vanishes too quickly, however, as he soon sobers up. It is hard to discern his thoughts as you try to study the man under the restricted lights. And he doesn't give you much to work on as he calmly tilts his head, showing curiosity in return, before surprising you with his own greeting that comes in his deep voice, "Um...hello?"
At the sound of his voice, a sense of familiarity overcomes you from the stranger's presence. Making you feel as if you had met him before.
And not simply as your lurking shadow, but from a time before you first sensed him around you. Perhaps even long before you started using the magic doors to travel away from the home castle.
All of a sudden, you feel a deep longing blooming inside your chest. A feeling that you haven't felt for quite some time.
But it is hard to know the reason why you are feeling this way or to recognise him with his face covered by his mask. The darkness around you isn't helping much either, as the sunlight barely reaches down to this hidden spot where you had chosen to ambush him, not giving you enough illumination to be able to see him as clearly as you wish to.
"Are you perhaps lost, my kind Sir?" you calmly inquire him when he merely gives you silence other than his bemused 'hello'.
You decide to make the first move in the hopes that you can get him to talk to you. Perhaps you can coax him into moving a bit closer, or to simply slide over under the nearby streak of light so you can get a better look at the man.
Instead, his eyebrows rise in response your question. "Me?" He lets out a deep chuckle which somehow makes you feel a bit fuzzy on the inside with no particular reason.
"Not that I know of," he answers with a slight jest in his voice. "I was actually wondering if you had lost your way. Seeing that you are hanging around in such a dark place when there is a whole market with magnificent goods to look at just outside of this alley."
This time, you are the one left to feel surprised. He may not be making a move to step out of the shadows as he speaks, but getting a response out of him pleases you. It makes for a good start if you want to find some answers.
"Then perhaps you can tell me why you have been following me. What are you up to?"
His gaze flickers with wonder. "I'm not following you," he says in return while acting as if you have insulted him with your accusations, causing you to roll your eyes.
"Right. Then I suppose that was all just my imagination," you playfully scoff at him, and for a second, you almost think that you can see his lips twitching to a smile under his mask.
But you quickly brush it off since it is a bit too dark to confirm it. You convince yourself that in your need to see a reaction from him, you are made to see things that are not there.
Yet he seems open to play along as the man lifts both of his hands. "Alright, I must admit, that I may have been unintentionally following your movements," he confesses, though you doubt that he feels any guilt for doing so. "I may have failed to realise that I was indeed following you until much later. But in my defense, I had probably done it out of instinct at first, and continued on because I was afraid that I would lose sight of you in the busy market."
"Lose sight of me?" This time, you are the one raising your eyebrows. "So you saw me browsing through the market and decided to, what—follow me to see wherever I was going?" You raise your chin as if to challenge him. "Now, why would you do something like that to a complete stranger?"
The man takes a small step forward, just enough to allow a faint trace of light to fall on the lower part of his face—the part that is covered by the thin mask—to show you a hint of a smile forming from beneath.
"You—caught my eyes," he says, sounding almost mesmerised. "Back in the marketplace, I saw you there and—"
He suddenly stops himself and immediately looks uneasy. It is quite possible that he can clearly see the look of distrust that is no doubt written all over your face and realises quickly the flaw in his unspoken words. After all, he is merely a stranger confessing to have been following you around for no apparent reason at all.
Any playfulness that he has been showing you slowly dwindles. Then he begins speaking in a gentle voice as if to reassure you, "I have no ill intention, I promise. I can explain why I was following your trail all the way here."
"Is that so? Then do tell," you challenge him, needing to hear his truth. Yet you keep your voice calm and light to try and get rid of the tension that is rising between you out of distrust. Because for some reason, you do believe him. Even if his actions seems shady, you have never once felt anything that caused you alarm. Still, you will have to listen to his reason to decide whether are not he is trustworthy. "Please kindly explain to me the real reason why you have been stalking me if not to put me in harm's way."
There is a twinkle sparkling in his eyes which resembles pride. As if your inquiry amuses him.
"Hmmm, let's see—" he starts, acting like he is thinking deeply about how to answer you. "I remember strolling through the market to see if I could find some damsel to rescue. But then a little dove appeared before me, a figure that I had never before seen wandering in a place such as this town, where people from various places would frequently come and go and no binding law nor proper guards to protect her from imminent danger."
He makes a dramatic sigh before he continues, "Before I could stop myself, I found myself following the little dove's tracks, as I suddenly felt a strong desire to keep an eye on her to make sure that this little dove wouldn't stray too far into the crowds and lose her way home."
"A damsel?" You let out an incredulous laugh. "A little dove? Are you actually talking about me?"
The man tilts his head. There is nothing condescending about the way he is looking at you nor when he was referring you to be a lost damsel, though it does make you flustered to be under his unwavering attention. His intense gaze seems to lock you in place, and it doesn't seem to be the kind that would be enough to scare you or give you the urge to run away.
In fact, he intrigues you. There is something about him that draws you in. Maybe it's his eyes? Or is it his voice? Or perhaps—
He takes another step closer, and you get to see more of his figure. You get to notice that he is also wearing a cloak with its hood pulled up to cover his head, putting more shadows onto his face even when there is enough streak of light falling down on him.
"Is it not the most fitting name?" he gently asks. He peruses you with his gaze, and you can swear that his eyes linger for a brief moment at your hips, as if he can see through the cloak to find the golden dagger that you carry with you for protection.
When his eyes rise to meet yours, they light up further with an expression that almost looks like pride and joy. "You may look nothing alike any damsel in distress that one would normally find roaming the streets, but you were moving as freely as a dove would. That's why I couldn't resist following your shadows to keep you safe."
Just as he says this, your cheeks suddenly grow warm and your heartbeat starts to pick up its pace. You have no idea why you are reacting this way to a complete stranger. Much less someone who you should be the most wary of. But his words of acknowledgement and the way he regards you with his deep eyes are affecting you more than they should.
"If I haven't been the damsel that you thought I was, then what did you see in me that still called for your attention?"
The man strolls even closer until he is standing right before you. Close enough for you to feel his warmth and the flutter of his cloak brushing against yours. Being this close, you are once again struck by the familiar sensation you feel coming out of him in waves. He stands right below a streak of sunlight, finally emerging completely from the dark shadows to make him stand out in your eyes.
"What I saw was a valiant dove," he says, referring to you with the new endearment which he has given you, making your heart flutter more intensely, "a dove that was curious and bold, flying with her wings fluttering through the breeze while looking so eager to experience the little adventures which she was so invested in. A dove that glowed under the sun as she was enjoying her small chance of freedom. But in her joy, she seemed to disregard her own safety, forgetting the fact that the world—no matter how beautiful it is—wouldn't be as safe as she thought it would be."
His words draw a smile to your face. "Let me guess," you playfully point out, "you are a poet."
The man laughs. "I'll be whatever you want me to be, little dove. As long as you would allow me to fly alongside you during your visit to this town. That way I can be your second pair of eyes to keep a look out of your surroundings for you while you get to bask in your little freedom. I might also act as your second dagger to protect you should harm ever decides to come your way."
His comment may be light and playful, yet his words strike at you so deeply that they pull at your heartstrings. The way he describes the way you are enjoying your little excursion makes you draw a deep inhale of breath and feel relieved at the same time.
As if he knows just how much this small chance of freedom truly means to you.
But how would he know?
The moment you start wondering about this, you almost laugh at yourself. You cannot believe just how gullible you suddenly sound, even to yourself, for believing that a stranger might know more about you than other people around you would.
He could be no different than a predator trying to corner his prey. Just like any predator, he can simply be an expert in recognising weaknesses to find someone to prey on. And in this case, that someone could be you.
But he still recognises your need for freedom. Regardless of how he was able to see it without ever getting too close, it still stirs warm, fuzzy feeling rising in your chest. The feeling that comes from being seen.
"How did you know that I am not from around here? Was it really that obvious?" you question him further while trying to push down the little spark of joy that you are starting to revel in.
His gaze softens. "I just know it," he simply says with a wistful tone of voice, making you wonder just how much he truly knows about you.
Despite how open he has been in answering your questions, you can tell that he is still hiding something. He may have claimed to have no ill intention, but you have no doubt that he may still have other intentions than to simply protect a lone damsel in a strange land.
This raises your curiosity enough which leads you to question him directly, "Was it also the reason why you were following me back at the royal orchard house and kept your eyes on me while I was strolling down the vineyard? To keep me safe?"
He looks taken aback. Unlike before, when you constantly surprised him with snarky returns during your banters, his awe feels more potent. Because, obviously, he would have never expected that you have been noticing his presence on other accounts as well.
While he takes his time to respond, your lips curl to a coy smile as you add, "Yes, I know that you were also there. I may have grounds to believe that I sensed your presence on other events and places as well."
Seeing how much you seem to enjoy catching him off guard, the man lets out a baffled laugh. "So you already caught me."
"You're not even going to deny it?" you ask him with your eyebrows raised.
Your question draws a smile to his face that grows wide enough the mask can barely hide if from you.
"I could try and I know I won't succeed," he says while shaking his head. "You already saw right through me before I even tried to make up a lie to cover up my poor lack of judgement. I might be a terrible liar or I just cannot seem to lie to you. Whatever the case may be, I just know for sure that it would be best not to even try and risk making a fool out of myself by giving you an outright denial."
For some reason, he only intrigues you even more with this confession of his. "A poet who isn't good at lying. How interesting."
He shrugs. "I already told you that I can be whatever you want me to be. I could be nothing more but a traveller who is visiting the town and looking for a place to stay before going to the next destination. Not entirely different than what I'm assuming to be your intention as well. But I must listen to my heart as it decides to do one last good deed before I depart from this town."
While he appeals to you with his reasons under the golden streaks of the afternoon sunlight, you take this chance to have a proper look at him.
The cloak that he is wearing may not have any emblem or embroideries added to its fabric, yet you can easily tell that it is not just a regular cloak that any common people would be wearing. The leather belts he wears over his attire and the golden chains hanging at the front which hold the cloak and his armour together are also showing more truth about him than what he is letting you to believe.
And unlike you, who keeps your dagger hidden under your cloak, he has his short sword completely exposed, hanging right at the hip. You had even caught him reaching for it right before you revealed yourself to him, so you know for sure that he is capable enough to use it to protect himself and fight against any threat coming at him.
Even without the emblem to identify himself, his demeanour, the smooth way that he speaks and his gentle gesture, the humming energy that you can somehow sense coming from him, and the way he is meticulously dressed his part are all forcing you to recall a certain mercenary whom you met quite a while ago. Allowing you to have a good guess of who he might be.
"You and I both know that you are more than just a regular traveller," you simply state once you are beginning to have a good grasp of his true identity. Looking straight into his eyes, you lay out everything about him that you have surmised through your keen observation. "You are a part of the notorious mercenary army that has been exploring and spreading through the continent. I might even surmise what the people around the continent have been calling you, as I've heard the brotherhood's name being whispered among both the common folks and the nobles."
The name of the mercenary group echoes through your thoughts as your eyes linger briefly at his shiny sword. Ever since the day you spoke with your father's advisors about the possibility that they were behind the rise of rebellion forming in the outer districts of Nythelean's territory, it seems that their name has been engraved in your memory for good.
The Brotherhood of Jorn.
The brotherhood of men from all over the continent that have banded together under the same purpose, the same pretext, which is to build an army of capable men to protect their kin and the common folks that are not under the jurisdiction law of the reigning monarch. And the mercenary group has since multiplied in numbers, with so many young men who have not been eligible to become the royal guards and knights joining the brotherhood to earn their keep.
"You may not be wearing their emblem or the armour that those who are part of the mercenary group would often wear when they are in public," you continue while pointing at the armour on his chest which is only partly hidden under his cloak and then at his sword, "and your disguise may have fooled others, allowing them to think that you a mere traveller passing through on your way to the Capital. But I can tell that you are one of them. And I wouldn't be surprised if that is true. I know that your men work for the Barons and merchants who travel through this area and the districts surrounding the Land of Smotia."
The pride look presented through his eyes becomes clearer. "Seems to me that I had underestimated you," he says with a low chuckle. "First, you showed me that you have a remarkable sense of awareness when you were weaving your way through the market while trying to shake me off of your trail. And secondly, you are quite knowledgeable about weapons and the politics happening in the continent."
His acknowledgement brings a smile to your face. "So I was once again correct with my assumptions?
Once again, he shakes his head. "There was never a point in denying it, is there?" With a soft chuckle, he then straightens himself to his full height. "Perhaps admitting the truth should be enough to show you that I truly have no ill intention upon approaching you."
Hearing this, you can only exhale a relieved breath. The truth is, even if you never once felt intimidated by his presence, everything that you said to him just now has been a gamble. You had no idea what kind of threat he may bring upon you and yet, at the risk of your own safety, you still confronted him to finally have some answers.
You may not have all of the right answers to ease your mind just yet, but knowing that he isn't posing a threat to you is enough for now. Because that means that you will be able to continue with your expeditions while learning about your father's magic.
And you wouldn't have to worry about losing your newfound freedom through your secret escape just to avoid danger.
"I suppose I can take your word," you simply say to him, "for now."
He nods, understanding your need to be cautious. "Then the only thing that I can do is to make sure I won't disappoint you by showing you otherwise once you've placed your faith in me. And now that the truth is finally out in the open—" he starts to say just as he glances sideways, as if something has caught his attention from the other side of the dark alleyway, "this might be a good time to let you know that I was not the only one in this place who had set their eyes on you."
You quickly glance around, despite not sensing any other presence but your own from the other parts of the alley. It is also quite hard to see through the shadows now that the golden sunlight is beginning to descend from the sky above, as the day is shifting towards the coming evening.
"What do you mean?"
"This is actually another reason why I had to follow your tracks, even when I told myself that I shouldn't come any closer. Have you not noticed any other movement following your shadows other than mine?" he questions you with his voice lowered and his hands touching lightly on your upper arms as if to stop you from moving away from his cover, as he is using his body to hide you from sight. "Look over my shoulders, discreetly, and tell me what you see."
With your brows furrowed, you lean forward to sneak a glance from over his shoulder. A task that is so simple, yet so hard to do, when the feeling of his chest brushing closely to yours and the woody scent wafting from his body are all too distracting to help you to focus.
"Do you see now what I meant when I talked about your disregard for your own safety?" he whispers to you. With the lack of distance between you, his deep voice seems to be brushing at your skin. Even as the mask that he has been wearing remains to cover his face.
You blink and try once again to focus on what you are supposed to be doing. The moment you open your eyes again, that is when you finally see them.
Right at the entrance of the alleyway where you came in from, suspicious men are hovering like wild dogs. Two of those men are tall and burly, while the rest are lean, yet they all look equally as rough as the infamous street thugs that you have heard being talked about during your previous travels, with scars on their skin and muscles bulging from beneath their clothes.
While they are all wearing common people's clothing, every single one of them are packed with weapons hanging on their chests, hips, and back, even some on their legs, which would be enough to intimidate others—various-sized daggers, knives, and small swords that would be easy for them to swing while being in the crowd.
"Who are they?" you whisper to him as you slink back down to take cover, making use of his broader body to shield you from their sight. Even though none of those men seem to be paying attention to the dark space within the alleyway.
Not yet, anyway. As they are still busy looking around towards the market and the streets beyond the alley, as if they are searching for a specific person that may slip in between the people who are moving from one shop to another.
"Wait—are they looking for me?" you ask him with a sharp whisper. Just thinking about being a target to this thugs seems baffling. You mentally chastise yourself for being so complacent—after being able to have smooth travels where no threats were present, or having anyone noticing your presence at all before—and for celebrating too soon when you found out that the man who is now shielding you in the shadows had been a threat. When the truth is that you have yet to escape the possible danger that was truly threatening to get in your way.
"My best guess would be that they are the local thugs that have been roaming around the market town. They have been causing disturbances around here, causing troubles with travelling merchants and visitors that had come here to shop. They would steal money, pick their pockets, and oftentimes force small shops to pay up 'security money' to keep them from messing up their stores. It is one of the main reasons why more and more merchants and shop-owners hire mercenaries like myself and my brothers to protect their business—and themselves—from thugs like them."
He looks straight into your eyes after revealing this to you. "I'm sure they could easily tell that you were a newcomer, a fresh face that they could prey on."
You merely scoff at this. "Well, if that truly was what they thought about me, they would be wrong. No one is making a prey out of me."
His eyes sparkle with awe and pride. "I have no doubt about it at all," he says, "but I would still advise you to stay close to me to avoid getting into any trouble."
He stops to gauge your reaction to his offer. When he notices how wary you are still, he bends down to meet your gaze and reassure you, "I won't hurt you. I promise."
Your lips twitch to a smile. "How am I supposed to trust you when I don't even know your name?" you question him. "And don't get me started with that mask. I feel like out of everyone around here, there is more chance of you being a thief or a thug than those men would be."
"You're right. How silly of me," he says with a soft chuckle. Keeping his eyes on you, he brings his hand up and gently plucks his mask off, revealing his face to you.
The moment you see him, something seems to come alive inside your chest. You have no idea what it is or why your body is reacting this way. Even that same sense of familiarity, filled with a peculiar feeling of yearning, returns to you tenfold, even when you cannot remember if you have ever met him before.
But you find it hard to figure things out when you are too awe-struck by his face, his smile, and the warm gaze he is giving you now.
"My name is Min Yoongi," he says, introducing himself as he takes your hand and kisses the back of it. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss—"
"Call me _____," you carefully introduce yourself in return, surprising yourself with how easy it feels. To feel so much weight being lifted from your shoulders when you simply give him your name.
Just a name.
Without any title attached to it. Without any attachment to your father, the crown, and the royal palace clinging onto you. As if you have been reborn into a completely different person while still being you.
And you absolutely love how liberating it feels.
"________," Yoongi repeats with a wistful tone of voice, as if he is entranced by your name. The sound he makes brings warmth to your face, which gets more intense when his gaze seems to grow sharper when he is saying your name.
There is also a peculiar twinkle in his eyes that draws you in once he hears introducing yourself, as if your name itself has become a spell that puts him in a trance. Yet the look disappears too quickly before you get to see it more clearly.
"Do you trust me, _____?" he asks you while he is still holding your hand in his.
"Yes," you find yourself answering him in a similarly wistful tone of voice. Not because you are suddenly put under his spell—though you have no doubt that he may be capable of doing so—but because you do trust him.
Not only because of how captivated you are by him, but also because for some odd, questionable reason, his presence feels like home.
And it puts you at ease to simply take his hand and allow him to take you away. For you suddenly have faith on him to believe that he will be able to keep you safe. "Yes, I trust you," you muse with a smile. "Now take me away from here."