•••
"Where are we going, Prince Minghao?" Junhui speaks up, he's been following the prince for quite some time now. The castle may seem small from afar, like any cliche looking one would be but the inside has to many floors, seven to be exact, each floor contains many rooms, at least on their floor there are eight rooms, and hallways and each hallway may contain some secret shortcut according to the prince. It was like a labyrinth with so many left and right turns. Junhui has only been to the castle garden, their bed chambers and dining hall, in which he still seeks help from the maids to point the way or he'll get lost.
Minghao stops causing to Junhui to bump on his back, "Why did you stop walking?"
Instead of a verbal reply, Minghao points at something ahead of them, following his finger, he glances up and snorts loudly at the sight.
"I have no words! No words! Mother of Topaz in the sky! Oh my-!" He leans on the wall for support, holding his arm around his stomach from laughter. Minghao hides his smile behinds his hands when the cause of their amusement went near them.
"Fancy seeing you two here." He grits his teeth in annoyance, rolling his eyes at Junhui who was now on the floor.
"What the hell are you wearing?" The older mutters, barely coherent as he laughs in between. He stands up and gives him another once over. "Why are you wearing Seungcheol hyung's thick rimmed glasses? Why is your hair parted in the middle? And why are you wearing that jumper?" Junhui scrunches his nose in distaste. Minghao raises his brow as well.
"I would never believe this day would come. You, Mingyu Kim, look horrible." The latter lets out an offended gasp, hand reaching to smack the older. "Take that back, assh-"
Minghao rolls his eyes at their banter, "Are you mayhaps looking for Wonwoo hyung, Prince Mingyu?"
The mention of his betrothed's name got his attention, "Could you tell me where he went? I have possibly opened every door at this floor on this hall and not even his shadow is found."
Junhui mumbles a "You know what his shadow looks like?" but went unheard, as Minghao ponders for a moment, "Library?"
Mingyu groans, "Which one?"
"Have you tried the one on the second floor? At the end of the third hall?" Mingyu nods, a frown marring his face, pouting at him. "I've been looking for an hour already."
Minghao snorts, patting his shoulders. Someone clears their throat. "Why are you lot here in the hallway?"
All three jerks away, looking at the person who spoke, raising a sassy brow at them. Minghao sighs in relief, "Doyoung-ssi, do you know where Wonwoo hyung is?"
Doyoung nods once, "Can you lead Prince Mingyu there?"
Nodding again, he beckons the prince to follow him, and turns at the end of the hallway. Mingyu looks confused. "He's Wonwoo hyung's personal attendant, just follow him. Also, don't piss him off." The threat got Mingyu shaking a bit before running off to follow the attendant.
He turns to Junhui who was silent the whole time. Minghao tilts his head at him, "Are you okay, Prince Junhui?"
Junhui hums lowly, "You and Mingyu seems close."
His brows scrunch in question, not minding and continues to walk, going the opposite way in which Mingyu went. Another turn and walking up the stairs, leading to another floor, he leads him to the third hallway, knocking on the fifth door. A grumble of "wait!" was heard, so they did.
"Between Mingyu and I, who's more handsome?" The question almost surprised Minghao but then he remembered he was with Prince Junhui. So he flatly stares at him, without missing a beat he says,"Prince Mingyu.'
The older prince fell on his knees, clutching at where his heart would be, looking up at Minghao with supposed tears in his eyes. "How could you say that to me, Prince Minghao?"
The latter shakes his head in amusement, gesturing for the other to stand up but it seems he wasn't done yet, "Not only you have friend zoned me, now you say another man is more attractive in your eyes? Why him, why?"
"Prince Junhui, could you stop?" The annoyed tone of his voice pushed the latter to further continue, this time, he places both hands on the floor, eyes lifelessly staring at the ceiling.
"I did everything I could to make you love me. But why have you chosen another man? Haven't I gave you enough? What has you seen in him that I don't have?" Junhui then looks at him, mirth can be seen in his eyes, "I'm sure I have a bigger di-"
Minghao clamps a hand on his mouth at the same time the door opens, looking at them weirdly. "Prince Minghao, what brings you here?"
Junhui stands from his place, dusting his pants as the man continues to stare at him weirdly. Noticing this, Minghao decides to introduce them, "Yuta-ssi, I'm sure you have heard about the marriage arrangements." Minghao makes weird hand gestures to which Yuta nods, "this is my betrothed, Prince Junhui Wen of the Ruby Kingdom."
Yuta eyes widen at that and turns to Junhui, bowing with both arms steadied at the side, "My sincerest apologies for the late greeting, Prince Junhi."
"Its Junhui, Yuta-ssi?"
"Y-yes, Prince Junhui. I'm Nakamoto Yuta, one of the c-castle's royal guard and to Prince Minghao." Yuta says in broken chinese. Minghao claps his hands to get their attention. "Is Sicheng-ge here?"
Yuta nods, face going stiff and serious. He opens the door wider for them to enter.
"So why did you bring me here?" Junhui whispers to Minghao, sitting on the lush cushions on the floor, a glass table in between them. There were incenses burning and he somewhat feels relaxed inside. "Sicheng-ge asked me if I could bring you here."
"Who's Sicheng?"
"Oh, he's my personal attendant. Like how Wonwoo hyung has Doyoung-ssi, I have Sicheng-ge. He's the one who taught me chinese."
Junhui nods in understanding. A moment later, a pretty male comes into view, face also serious but his eyes twinkled when he saw Minghao. "Prince Minghao, is there anything I can be of assistance?"
He opted to stand in front of them, imploring gaze wandering to Junhui, "Is he your betrothed?"
Minghao nods in affirmation as Sicheng claps his hands in delight. "That's good to hear. Wait, he might not understood us, I need to apologize."
"No need to. I clearly understand." Junhui says, waving his hand in dismissal. Sicheng bows his head gratefully and turns to the younger prince.
"We came like you asked. Is there a reason to it?" Sicheng nods his head and moves back in to the other side of the room. He came back a minute later, bringing a book with him, but what Junhui notices is the book is frozen, enveloped by ice. He hands it to Minghao carefully.
"Be careful, Prince. Do not drop the book."
Junhui's eyes never left the frozen piece of literature. As Minghao gently lays it on the table, his senses started going haywire. There was something pulling him to it. He sees intricate yet cryptic symbols around it and something written on the spine. The language used was strange. Junhui felt he has seen it before, but he couldn't point out where.
A tap on his shoulder pulls him out of his thoughts, Minghao asking him if he was okay, he nods and faces Sicheng.
"I don't want to sound rude, but where did you get this book and why is it that?"
Sicheng lowers his head, "I don't know. It was passed on to me by my late grandmother. She told me I need to find someone who uses ice magic, that maybe they can open it and discover what it contains. So when I saw you on the castle grounds that day and your magic, I asked Prince Minghao if I could talk to you."
Junhui raises a brow, feeling skeptic all of a sudden, nonetheless he nods and takes the book in his hands. "I assume your giving it to me then?"
Sicheng nods, bowing his head to show his gratitude.
Minghao stands and pulls the alpha with him, bidding Sicheng and Yuta goodbye.
He looks back and gives the attendant one last look, when their eyes met, Sicheng smiles at him, looking rather thrilled.
The older casts his eyes to his betrothed, "How long has Sicheng been your attendant, Prince?"
"Since I was seven, he was brought here by his older brother to work."
They descend down the stairs, going back to the direction they came from. There was something bothering Junhui, he could tell the attendant was lying, absolutely hiding.
Junhui casts the book another look, 'Who are you, Sicheng? And why are you lying?'