JEONGGUK WAKES UP to a pounding head, as if someone is repeatedly banging the edge of a stick right at the back of his skull.
And maybe that really is what's about to happen.
As soon as his senses snap awake, he's immediately bombarded by the thick smell of cow and animal dung.
His first thought goes like this; gross, is this what hell smells like?
His next thought is something along the lines of; where's the fire though? because if this is hell then it has been awfully misinterpreted.
But then he mentally smacks himself because first of all, why would he be in hell? He's considered himself a good person up until now—well, other than the fact that he's insulted royalty before. But he can't get condemned just because of that, right?
He peels his eyes open and almost at the same time, his muscles start to ache. Jeongguk lets out a groan before coming to realise what position he's currently in.
He's—
Hanging upside down, with his feet tied up to hook in the ceiling. What the h—
"You come through yet?"
Jeongguk whips his head to the side so fast he could've suffered from whiplash, only to meet Taehyung's unamused, half-lidded eyes.
What is going on—
Jeongguk scans his eyes around the room. It looks like they're in the middle of a large barn, which explains the smell. So, he's definitely not dead yet (he doesn't know whether or not to be relieved). In one end of the room, he spots what looks like a spot of blood on the hay and swallows down the lump forming in his throat.
"Where..." Jeongguk attempts to shake his legs free from the ropes but to no avail, even when he tries reaching up with his hands. "Are we?"
Taehyung lets out a frustrated huff before crossing his arms over his chest. He doesn't seem to be panicking as much as Jeongguk despite being in the exact same position.
"Who knows?" He answers, kicking his legs upwards. "Looks like we're not getting out of these anytime soon."
When Jeongguk still doesn't give up, Taehyung turns around to face him and adds, "I've tried, kid. It's impossible."
Groaning, Jeongguk finally relents. He lets his arms fall over his head in a gesture of defeat. "This shouldn't be happening," he mutters under his breath. "How long has it been?"
"It's still dark outside," Taehyung answers.
He's not supposed to be here. There's no way he's going to die just like this—
A creaking sound resounds in the room, and the pair raise (more like lower) their gazes at the three—no, four entering the barn. By the looks of it, the man in the middle appears to be the one in command, judging by the tattoos donning his arms, his shaved head, muscular body and overall intimidating demeanour. He does have a long beard though. Looks like he hadn't shaved in a year.
They're not Miradorians are they? If they were they would be in dungeon, or worse, killed.
The man raises his hands and claps, a loud laugh of mockery escaping from his lips. "Well, well. The pretties are finally awake. I hope you had a pleasant night's sleep."
From the corner of Jeongguk's eye, he can see Taehyung clench his jaw. "Who are you? What do you want from us?" The commander grits out.
Bossman gestures for someone to get him a stool before settling down with a smug look on his face. Leaning in towards the two captives, he asks, "You're from the palace, aren't cha?"
Jeongguk glances over to Taehyung, who screws his lips shut. Seeing how the commander is acting, he decides not to answer. However, bossman isn't having any of it. He sends a gesture to one of his men and before Jeongguk can register anything, there's a cracking sound as a fist collides with the side of Taehyung's face.
"If you don't answer I'll hit the other one too," Bossman says, sounding bored already.
Taehyung spits out the blood collecting in his jaw, hissing, "Why don't you make a smart guess?"
"Your armours and your swords. They're all from the capital. And you have the badge of the royal family on ya so I take it you must be someone important."
"Bravo!" Taehyung cheers, clapping his hands slowly, but it's nothing short of sarcastic. Jeongguk almost gapes at him in disbelief at how bold he's being right now. And Taehyung just has the audacity add in a mumble, "Why'd this idiot still ask in the first place."
He manages to earn himself another hard punch across the face, and Jeongguk himself flinches at the impact. Is the commander always like this—
Bossman doesn't seem to be offended by that though. Instead, he rubs his hands together and looks them each in the eye. "The villagers need food. We need food. While all of you nobles hide behind your fancy stone walls, sitting in front of mountains of food on your plates, people like us have been starving because of this famine."
"The king has been well informed. We can't feed so many people all at once. We're working on it," Taehyung hisses out between the pain that's now colouring his cracked lips.
"We've waited long enough. And it seems very likely that King Han is planning on letting us starve to death."
"Then what do you want from us? You want to use us as blackmail?" Jeongguk finally finds himself speaking up. Bossman glances over to him, before a large grin crosses his features.
"Maybe. Actually we were planning on releasing one of you to inform your king but this sounds like a better plan, don't you think? Lowers the risk of one of you escaping and never coming back eh?" Collective laughs sound from behind him, and Taehyung throws Jeongguk an unimpressed glare.
"You just had to ask, huh?"
Bossman finally stands, dusting his clothes. "If you're really that important someone will come looking for ya. Until then, stay put like the good little puppies you are."
And with that, the group leaves the room and the doors slam shut behind them, followed by the sound of chains rattling and the click of a lock.
As soon as they're left alone again with only the sound of their heavy breathing, Jeongguk cracks his knuckles and attempts to swing his body. Taehyung watches with furrowed brows as the younger heaves himself back and forth like a fish hanging from a rod.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" Jeongguk pants out before swinging his upper body towards the nearest wooden workbench. However, he keeps losing his grip, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration.
"You look ridiculous," the commander comments curtly.
Jeongguk pauses his movements to give the other a sharp glare. "It's better than nothing. The people living near the mountains are more aggressive than the ones in the cities. We'll just have to hope they don't end up eating us like cannibals."
Taehyung's eyes widen, and for the first time ever, Jeongguk sees the commander's cold-hearted expression slip from his face. "C-Cannibals?"
The younger boy gives him a look meant to display disbelief. "There's cannibals living in those mountains, didn't you know? Everyone's supposed to know that. That was why I didn't want to go any further."
Back in Moonrock, it was a commonly known fact, but apparently in the Capital people don't really bother with things like that.
"Well everyone gets told to stay away from the mountains but they don't usually mentions cannibals. You mean people who... eat other people?"
"You're the commander! You're supposed to know these things."
Jeongguk shakes his head and resuming what he was doing prior. Using every ounce of energy left in his system, he heaves his body forwards. Once. Twice. And finally on his third try, his manages to grip onto the edge of the wooden bench, barely missing it.
It's one of the perks of living in the village. When you have nothing else to do you'll want to hang yourself upside down from a tree like a possum just for the sake of it. A weird hobby, but what matters is Jeongguk enjoys it. He did fall off once though, hurt his ankle real bad. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
Taehyung widens his eyes in surprise as Jeongguk's success, but still manages to counter, "I've only been appointed last year!"
Jeongguk does a double-take, a sparkle in his eyes at the newfound information. Taehyung seems to have realised it too, because he lets out a gasp and holds a threatening finger in front of Jeongguk's face.
"That still doesn't give you the right to disrespect me. Or so help me I will break your fingers myself."
Rolling his eyes like a rude brat (as usual), Jeongguk stretches his fingers out with much effort, and manages to reach a small piece of metal on the middle of the table. It's not sharp enough to cut through thick rope, but it'll have to do.
"You still have a lot to learn then," Jeongguk mumbles as he folds his upper body in half to reach his feet. Taehyung watches in half amazement, half disbelief, as Jeongguk repeatedly scrapes the metal piece against the ropes. It's tiring work, considering gravity and all, but eventually the ropes loosen and Jeongguk unceremoniously drops to the ground with a loud thud.
"For instance," Jeongguk groans, stretching his limbs. "How to free yourself from those ropes."
"It's not like I can't," Taehyung counters bitterly. "I'm just... too tired to move. It's been a hell of a day."
A lame excuse, even Jeongguk can see that. He shrugs. "Whatever you say. Now that I look at it from this angle, you literally look like a pig waiting for slaughter."
Taehyung's eyes flit over to him in a glare. "You little—"
"Why do all you nobles always insist on doing things on your own," Jeongguk mumbles under his breath before shrugging and walking away. "I'm here if you need me."
Seeing Jeongguk head towards the door, Taehyung groans and finally relents. "Fine, fine. Help me out of this thing!"
Jeongguk chuckles, eyes curving in small crescents in triumph. "There it is."
It's not possible for him to leave this place in one piece without the commander anyway, and as much as Jeongguk hates to admit it, he needs the So he searches around for something sharper before settling on a small scythe he miraculously finds laying around among the haystacks.
"Here. I know you still don't like me, so I'm only doing this because you're my 'superior',"Jeongguk says, holding it out for Taehyung to take, but still not bothering to look at him. The commander seems to contemplate on whether or not to drop his ego, and in the end, accepts the help anyway.
As soon as Taehyung's cut himself free, they look around to see if there's any way they can leave this place without using the main door. Unfortunately though, their only way out is chained closed from the outside.
"We don't have our weapons with us. As soon as we step outside they'll cut us down without hesitating," Jeongguk mumbles, nibbling on his bottom lip anxiously as he pushes his ear against the door to try and listen in on whatever is happening outside the barn.
Taehyung nods in affirmation. "So it's true that most commoners despise nobles. They're obviously just keeping us here to torture us, make sure we suffer just as much as they do."
"He had a point though," Jeongguk says. When the commander raises a questioning brow, he explains, "The rich are too rich, and the poor are too poor. It's not like rich nobles want to sacrifice their lands and storehouses to peasants anyway. Commoners are just like dogs waiting for scraps from under the table. So I won't blame them for being hostile."
Taehyung releases a sigh. "And this famine's definitely not helping. We're really in a tough spot right now."
Jeongguk hums in agreement. He manages to peak through a small slit in the wooden door and catches people walking past every once in awhile. "So, you have any ideas, commander?"
He turns to Taehyung, who answers, "We can't break out from the inside, so we'll have to wait for them to come get us."
"A bit too risky, don't you think?"
"It's our best option. We catch them off-guard, overpower them, and then get away before anyone else can notice. Sounds like a good plan to me."
"We can't wait for long though. The princess is still stuck in the middle of the forest. Be best if we get back before more angry villagers find them," Jeongguk says. And then an idea pops into his head and he raises a knuckle to the door. "There's someone guarding the door outside. Want to call him in?"
Taehyung stares at him for a moment, before realisation downs on him. "You're more daring than I thought," he says before nodding in approval.
Sucking in a deep breath, Jeongguk knocks against the door three times, just loud enough to alert the man outside. Through the slit, Jeongguk can see him turn around with a very much puzzled expression on his face. Jeongguk knocks again as a way of telling the guy that he wasn't dreaming about it.
The pair step back when the man outside pulls out his keys and starts opening the lock. Taehyung readies a wooden plank at the side, and as soon as the man enters the barn, Taehyung smacks it against the back of his head.
Bingo! The man falls to the ground face-first and doesn't get up.
"That was easier than I expected," the commander says as Jeongguk quickly shuts the barn doors to prevent suspicion. "Now help me hide this guy."
They end up burying the poor man under a stack of hay, but making sure not to suffocate him. Taehyung pushes the doors apart just enough for him to stick his head out for a couple seconds to check the coast.
"It's dark outside. We won't be spotted if we move in the shadows. But there's a few men keeping guard so we have to be quiet. We'll head back towards the forest and find our way from there."
Jeongguk nods and they carefully make their way out, ducking behind a small hut when they hear footsteps passing by. It seems like no one's taken notice of their escape yet, so it's best if they move fast. These people are quite lax on security, but what else can villagers do?
As they silently find their way around the tiny huts and barns, Jeongguk allows himself to look around. It's much different from Moonrock, where the buildings are much bigger and more developed. The smell of farm animals and dung is what sticks out the most. These native people must be really desperate to want to kidnap them for blackmail.
How come the king hasn't given them help yet?
"Incoming!" Taehyung whisper-shouts to him and grabs Jeongguk's arm, tugging him back into the shadows when a villager walks by, a large heavy torch in his hand. "Stop daydreaming will ya?" Taehyung reprimands him.
"Sorry," Jeongguk says.
Releasing a sigh, Taehyung pokes his head out. "Okay, on my signal." He raises a closed hand up. "Now."
As soon as Taehyung puts a foot out—
"THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED! SEARCH THE AREA!"
Oh for the love of God—
Jeongguk stumbles back when Taehyung does, both of them equally taken aback by the loud shouts that collectively tear across the sky. This is bad. This is so bad.
"Shit," Taehyung curses under his breath. "How did they find out so soon—"
"THERE THEY ARE! UNDER THE HUT!"
Jeongguk wants to dig a hole in the ground and bury himself in it. Before either of them can make another move, five or six villagers surround them, long sharp knives pointed right at them.
They're completely trapped.
"We tried," Jeongguk mumbles over to Taehyung, who sighs in exasperation.
"That was quick. I only left you for a half hour," a familiar voice rises from among the group of men. The same bossman approaches them again and Jeongguk shoots him a glare.
"If you intend to escape, very well then. Let's see if you can walk away from this." He gestures to his men, who close in on the pair standing in the middle.
Jeongguk presses his back against Taehyung's. He scans his eyes through each of the villagers' faces and sees something he doesn't expect to find—fear.
These people aren't angry. They're afraid. Some of them are so skinny that Jeongguk can spot their bones poking through their skin.
There's no way he can fight them. Not when they're like this.
"What do we do now?" He asks as the villagers draw closer, weapons gleaming under the light of their torches.
"There's no point negotiating, right?"
Jeongguk gulps when the man in front of him grits his teeth at him, flashing what looks like sharp canine teeth. Jeongguk definitely doesn't plan on turning into human stew today, so he picks up a small wooden stick from the ground and holds it up to defend himself.
He's sure that he looks ridiculous right now, but it's better than nothing.
"Hurt them, but try not to kill them," Taehyung reminds him in a small whisper that Jeongguk takes to heart.
Some of the men surrounding them break out into mocking laughter at Jeongguk's appearance, but when one of them makes a move to lunge at him, the young knight is quick enough to duck and knock the man's knife out of his hand before landing a kick to his abdomen. The attacker stumbles back, and like a switch has been flicked, all hell breaks loose.
Another man launching himself at Jeongguk, and two quick slashes barely catches his cheek. He deflects the next series of attacks with the wooden stick, but it doesn't last long and snaps apart.
Wood splinters as Jeongguk drops the stick and resorts to using his bare fists. They've trained for this before. And he knows how to fight without weapons. But when you've got several knives slashing at you all at once you're bound to get at least one scratch.
Eventually, he manages to reach for one of the abandoned knives on the ground and raises it up.
The messy clash of blades tear across the night sky.
Jeongguk holds his position as the man in front of him presses the knife closer to his face. With as much energy as he can conjure, he pushes his own knife back and sends a kick to the man's shin, causing the latter's legs to buckle. Another kick and his body is flying across the air and unceremoniously crashing into a pile of firewood.
Jeongguk hits his chest several times to catch breathing, feeling his muscles throb after twisting his core. Something wet trails down his temple; sweat or blood, he doesn't know. He doesn't even know how many hits he's taken because everything is starting to get numb. Blows rain down on the two of them repeatedly, but Jeongguk fights back with just as much vigour.
These people don't fight very well, but they have numbers to their advantage. Jeongguk struggles to control the amount of force he puts into his attacks, careful not to hit them anywhere vital.
From the corner of his eye, he can only see quick motions as Taehyung does the same. It's the first time Jeongguk has seen the commander in real action. And wow, he is inhumanely fast. It's obvious that the commander is holding himself back a lot, by the way he controls the amount of force he puts into repelling the villagers' attacks.
So this is why he's the commander.
They're progressing well. They've already knocked out a lot of their attackers.
They're so close to escaping.
So close to going home—
Until Jeongguk hears the sound of a child crying. He turns around to see a little girl standing by the door of one of the huts, watching the entire ordeal with her body frozen to the ground in what undeniably looks like fear.
Something about her reminds him an awful lot of Miri. And no, he knows he's not supposed to be thinking of Miri at such a critical time as this—
He smells the blood before he feels it.
Cold metal drags across his side in one clean, swift motion. His brain can't process the pain, but his body does.
He drops to the ground, finally letting his walls crumble and give out to exhaustion. His knife falls out of reach and the only thing he can hear now is the pounding of his own heartbeat in his ears, and the muffled sound of Taehyung's voice calling out for him as his head hits the dirt beneath him.
Everything after that is goes by in a blur.
Jeongguk still remembers the time when famine hit their town when he was a kid. It went on for a full two years until all their storehouses were emptied of food.
He could never forget because that was the only time his father had allowed him to leave Moonrock with him to try and get some food supplies from other faraway towns where the soil was more fertile.
And because of this, Jeongguk knows very well what it feels like to go to sleep with an empty stomach. He also knows how bad it hurts seeing his father sacrifice the little food they have just to make sure Jeongguk got more than enough to help him grow.
The people in his town weren't exactly quiet about the famine though. Jeongguk heard that at the time, several groups of starving people had gone to raid some of the wealthy noblemen's storehouses. It brought around lots of chaos and disorder. Up until the point where some lives were lost in the process.
People do... scary when they're desperate.
So Jeongguk can't blame them for that. But he doubts the upper-class would ever understand how desperation would feel.
After all, when you live alone in a house fit for ten people, with a storehouse full of food that's eventually going to go to waste, you wouldn't bat an eyelash at the people below you.
There's no fairness in that.
But when is life ever fair anyway?
Jeongguk falls in and out of consciousness, his breath heavy and his body screaming out in pain.
"He'll make it. He's going to be okay."
The muffled voices around him grow louder the more he tries to listen, but he can't move.
He can't move.
The hands of darkness are grabbing at him again. Harder. Dragging him in.
And it's so fucking hard to move—
"—if we don't get back to the Capital as soon as possible, he'll die. We don't have any medical supplies to treat him now."
"But—"
"I won't let my knight die."
Jeongguk shuts his eyes, fighting against the force pulling him away to feel a gentle hand on his forehead, holding him so carefully—
"We won't let him die. That's an order."
And with one last heave of breath, he embraces the pain.
It's all about luck.
Whether or not you'll be born into the home of a rich, powerful family or into a tiny farmhouse of a poor one.
Jeongguk was born in the middle. So he's grateful for one thing at least.
And maybe, just as the princess had said, he'll be able to make his way to the top. In a way, she gave him a chance; a chance to never starve again, and to never watch his father counting the little coins they have with a worried frown on his face.
He's not completely hopeless after all.
He's his father's son.
"Jeongguk."
"Hey, Jeon."
"Jeon Jeongguk!"
His eyes slowly flutter open and he squints to adjust to the sudden brightness in his surroundings. As things slowly come into focus, he finds himself staring into a pair of eyes that he has familiarized himself very well until now.
"Are you okay? Your face was all scrunched up in your sleep. Does your wound still hurt? Why does it feel like you have a fever—"
"Y-Your highness?" Jeongguk greets half-heartedly, feeling too weak to withdraw his fingers from her hand.
Wait— her hand?
Saeron quickly feels for Jeongguk's forehead and frowns, but before she can belt out another series of questions, Jeongguk speaks up again. "What happened?"
He looks around the room. This time when he wakes up, he's thankfully, not hanging upside down. He's tucked into a nice, warm bed with a blanket that smells like fresh flowers, and the sun is blaring down onto his face from the open window at the side of the room. This is a familiar room.
An awfully familiar room...
Wait—
His eyes widen in realisation that this is his room.
His room.
Home.
He's actually home.
Groggily, he sits up to lean against the headstand when a sharp pain shoots through his body, with the worst part of it all being the right side of his torso. He hisses in pain, immediately clutching his side as he clenches his jaw.
Saeron sighs in disapproval. "Be best if you don't move so suddenly like that. You'll give your body a shock."
Jeongguk lets out a loud gasp, freezing until the pain reduces to more tolerable throbs. "Why am I here? Where's father?"
The princess stares at him for a moment, as if trying to make sure that Jeongguk didn't open up his wound in the process of moving. And then she looks up at him and says, "I suggested we bring you here because you'd bleed out before we could reach the Capital. Your father is outside preparing food for you."
Jeongguk furrows his brows at her in disbelief. "H-How," he lets out another pained groan before regaining his composure. "How did we get away?"
Saeron's gaze falls to stare at the sheet, and at that gesture, Jeongguk realises that something is definitely off. "He didn't..."
"He did," the princess finally answers. "You went down. The commander was overpowered. He did what had to be done."
"So he killed them? They were just hungry villagers looking for food—"
"They were hostile. They certainly had no problem killing you."
Jeongguk clenches his fist. It's true. But a part of him still feels like it could've turned out better. Now some of the villagers are dead, all because he was careless and went down before he and the commander could make it out.
He should've been stronger.
Maybe those people would still be alive—
"It's just a few casualties, Jeon. But you're here, you're alive. That's what matters," the princess adds, pulling Jeongguk out of his whirlwind of thoughts.
"How could you say that?" He hates how he sounds so weak, so defeated in front of her.
But she plasters on a small bitter smile and says, "The world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. People are bound to die, Jeon. Blood will be spilt. And it's about time you know what it means to be a knight."
When she squeezes his hand, Jeongguk finally looks down to see where their fingers are connected, and once again, an unusual feeling of warmth wraps around his heart. He knows she's trying to reassure him as best as she can, but he can't help but feel like utter shit.
"Trust me, I'm just as devastated as you are. I've seen people die. I've watched them bleed until their bodies went dry and every single time, I die a little inside too. But we have to move on and let it go. You told me last night didn't you. Don't beat yourself up over something you can't control. It's not your fault."
Jeongguk releases a sigh before leaning his head back against the wall. When the princess' fingers finally slip from his own, he finds himself chasing for the warmth that was there before, but to no avail.
"By the way," he hears her let out a small laugh. "That was the first time you addressed me properly."
He turns back to her in confusion and sees the smile growing on her face as she repeats in a drawled tone, "Your highness?"
When he finally recalls it again, he opens his mouth to speak but she shuts him up immediately. "If it were someone else I would've had their tongue cut off already."
Jeongguk raises a brow. "So I'm an exception?"
She subtly brings a hand up to tame some of his wayward strands, her fingers carding through his hair as though she'd done this a thousand times before. It's the first time she's ever done something so... intimate—can this be considered intimate?—to him that Jeongguk is rendered speechless.
Humming, she answers, "Maybe one day I'll consider extracting yours."
Jeongguk licks his bottom lip. He lets a couple beats pass before saying, "Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"This. Sitting beside me. Holding my hand."
Saeron tilts her head to a side as if wondering why he would be asking such a question. "You were hurt."
"Since when did you care?"
Again, he didn't mean to sound salty, but it certainly came out a little more aggressive than be intended for it to be.
"Don't be ridiculous. You're my knight. I... I had to worry," the princess answers, but Jeongguk takes note of the way she's lowered her voice this time, as if partially hoping he wouldn't catch it.
They're interrupted when the door of the room finally opens to reveal the man Jeongguk been longing to see for so long. It's the look of relief on his father's face that makes Jeongguk want to cry.
"Father—"
"Jeongguk!" His father rushes to him, pulling him into a gentle embrace. Jeongguk's wound throbs a little more at the movement, but nothing compares to how happy he feels at that moment, breathing in his father's familiar scent, feeling warm protective arms encircling over him like a cocoon.
He can't help but cry into his father's shoulder, clutching onto the man so tightly. Like he doesn't want to ever let go again.
Tear after tear slips down his cheek. After weeks of pent up fear and loneliness, he finally allows himself to let it free—to break the dam and to lay it out on his father's shirt. He doesn't even care that he's finally, finally exposing his most vulnerable self to a royal. All he knows is that there's no holding himself back anymore.
"I missed you so much," he breathes, and when he feels his father tightening his hold, he cries a little harder.
"That's my boy. My precious boy. I'm so proud of you." His father soothes him with a hand behind his back, stroking him lightly like he has always done.
Jeongguk doesn't even realise that the princess is walking away to give them space, but when he does look back up, she's already gone.
Taehyung wraps the bandage around his arm, wincing as he tightens in and struggles to tie it up properly with one hand. When he fails for the fourth time, he lets out a frustrated groan and slumps down on the wooden bench.
Looking around, he sees the princess stepping out of the small house. When their gazes meet, she approaches him and offers a hand. "Need some help?"
"I'm fine, actually," Taehyung says, but when Saeron persists, he finally relents and allows her to tie his bandage for him. "How is he?"
"He's alive," she answers flatly. She secures the bandage on his arm before leaning back against the bench with a sigh.
Taehyung blinks at her in curiosity. "What's on your mind?"
"I'm going to have to pry him away from his father again," she answers. And then she releases a small, bitter laugh. "What can be done?"
Taehyung nods in understanding. He casts a glance back at the house. "It was he who saved you, wasn't it?"
"Smart."
The commander chuckles, leaning forwards to rest his elbow on his lap. "So you took him in because you owed him a debt?"
"Maybe."
"That makes sense."
Not far from them, the other three knights are gathered on a mat under a tree, munching down on some bread Dr Jeon offered them earlier.
Taehyung hums at the sight. "Who would've thought one day we'd end up being hosted by a Jeon."
Saeron chuckles at that, shaking her head. Heaving a breath, she says, "The town's waking up. We should head back inside before anyone sees us. It'll be hard to explain if rumours go around."
Jeongguk flinches as his father replaces his bandages again. The previous one has already been soaked in blood, and even Jeongguk is amazed at how he's still alive after all of that.
"I missed you," he finds himself whispering.
His father seems to catch it, because the man leans back to give him a smile. "That's the third time you've said that, Gguk-ah."
"I know. I just needed to get it off my chest," Jeongguk says with a frown. Awhile ago he managed to sit up when his father offered to feed him some herbal soup that could ease the wound, and he feels a slightly bit better than before so that's progress.
Jeongguk scoots over a little to give his father space to sit beside him, and the man takes Jeongguk's hand into his own. He lets his father trace his fingers on his hand, relishing in his father's touch while he still can.
"Jeongguk," the man finally says. "It's not too late to run away."
Jeongguk raises his head. "What do you mean?"
"Look at you," His father says, and Jeongguk instantly recognises the concern etched all over his face. "You've gotten skinnier, you grew out your hair, you have scratches all over your body. And you barely escaped death tonight. I don't want this to happen to you anymore. I can't be a father who watches his son get destroyed."
Jeongguk parts his lips to answer, but nothing escapes his tongue. His father looks to the door, as if checking if there's anyone outside before continuing.
"We still have a chance to escape. We'll run far away from this place, build a new home, start a new life. They'll never find you again."
"What are you saying—"
"I have two horses prepared behind the house. We can keep the others occupied long enough for us to—"
"I can't leave."
His voice breaks off as a lump forms in his throat. Jeongguk's father pauses, looking at him in confusion.
"I can't just... go, father. I'm a knight now. I belong at the palace."
He surprises himself at his own words. Why is he saying all of this? Since when does he think he belong among people who despise him? After all those long, exhausting nights sitting in front of the fireplace with no one by his side to comfort him, why does he still want to stay? It's like someone else has taken over his mind. And Jeongguk can't understand it, but he knows he's not regretting any of it.
His father blinks at him, almost looking bewildered by Jeongguk's persistence. "Don't give me such excuse. Being a knight is not a privilege, it's a punishment."
"No," Jeongguk says. "I... Father, I'm much stronger than before. I've learned how to fight. I know how to read and write. I'm becoming a much better person—what if this is what I was destined for?"
His father stares at him, and for a moment he doesn't say anything, too dumbfounded to answer. And then, after a long, prolonged pause, he finally says,
"There's no such thing as destiny. This... this wasn't what your mother would've wanted from you."
"She would've wanted me to be great."
"No, she would've wanted you to live."
In a small voice, Jeongguk answers, "By running away for the rest of my life?"
At that, his father purses his lips. Jeongguk squeezes his hand reassuringly. "I came home, will you forgive me now?"
For awhile, the room is curtained in silence, with Jeongguk quietly waiting for a reaction. Anything at all. He comes to accept anything his father would hurl his way; whether he would curse him or disown him.
Jeongguk certainly didn't expect his father wrap his arms around his body again. Jeongguk allows himself to melt into his father's embrace one more time, humming softly in content.
"You're the stubbornest boy I've ever known. But you're stronger than I could've ever imagined."
"You taught me," Jeongguk answers, burying his face into his father's shoulder. He breathes in his father's scent again, wanting to memorise it forever. Just so he would never have to feel alone again.
He reassures his father with promises. Promises to come back again, to make him the proudest father in all of Elios.
Promises that he promises he will never break.
Outside his bedroom door, Saeron releases a jagged breath. Finally having the courage to step away from it, she lowers her head.
Her heart clenches in her chest.
Author's Note:
So this was an hour overdue the update schedule but its here! This was a little harder to write than the previous chapters because damn, I despise writing fight sequences they're just a pain to describe.
Anyway, enjoy this one.
Or all my hard work will be in vain.
I may or may not come back to check for grammar mistakes and such later because right now my brain is too dry to function.