Yongbok coughed as their brooms brought yet another storm of dust into the air as they swept through the musty rooms. "This is the worst..." he muttered, glancing at his cousin who was sweeping nearby. "Why did we have to come here? We could have moved to someplace that's been lived in within the last decade."
"It's fine," Minho looked through the stored blankets that were hung in a closet. "These are fine..." he looked around. The servants they had brought and the young masters worked side by side as they cleaned their new home.
The new palace, nicknamed the San Palace, reminded Minho of the young captain in the Northern Kingdom. He chuckled at the thought and continued to sweep. He never thought this was what he would be doing in the Han Kingdom.
Yongbok stretched and rubbed his back. "Did you send the letter off to your brother?"
"Hm?" Minho looked up. "Oh, no. I didn't. I should do that soon."
"Go do it now! Your room is already done and set up, so go and we'll finish up here," Yongbok waved him away down the hall.
"But-"
"Go!"
Minho sighed and walked back to his room. However nice it was, his room, or more like Jisung's room, back in the Han Palace left it behind in the dust. Minho sighed and sat down at the table which already had his ink and brushes set on it.
Minho pulled a piece of parchment from the drawer and stared down at it.
Before he began writing.
Dear Hyungnim,
I regret to inform you that I will be leaving the Han Palace. King Han is getting married to a woman and I thought that it would be better if I was not around to disturb them, especially as their family starts and they have kids.
And to answer the question that I know you're going to ask, no. I won't go home, and I'm not going to marry someone else. I will just live my life happily with Yongbok and the young masters here. That is perfectly fine with me.
Don't nag me about this please. I'm fine and I am happy.
Love,
Prince Lee Minho
Minho sat back and stared at the letter in front of him. This was good enough, right? He set the brush down and folded the parchment, stuffing it in an envelope before getting some wax from the small container to his side and stamping the ring he wore around his finger to the wax.
He left the letter there. Servants would come later and take it away to his eldest brother, who would for sure freak out about how isolated and alone Minho was out here.
But at this point, he didn't care. He was just glad to be away once and for all.
~oOo~
(One Month Later)
The stomping of horse hooves against the solid ground was a nice way to wake up on an early morning. Minho sighed and let the wind run through his long hair, which he had set free when he woke up.
His recurring headaches and colds that had plagued him for a few weeks now all went away when he was riding. He was glad for the escape from sickness, however minor the illness really was.
"Why don't we head back now?" Young Master Bang Chan yelled over the wind as he pushed his horse to keep up with Cho, who was tossing his head and running at full speed ahead of them. "It's cold out here!"
"You'll get used to it!" Minho pushed Cho even faster, covering more and more land with each stride.
"Let's stop for a break!" Bang Chan called. "My horse is getting tired!"
They stopped at a small pond nearby with tiny fish that would always leap from the waters. Minho breathed in the sweet air as he sat down on one of the stones that lined the banks. "This is nice..."
"No, it's not," Bang Chan huffed as he straightened out his robes.
Minho glanced at him and then grinned. "Whatever you say," he leaned back and closed his eyes, basking in the gentle sunlight.
Chan stared at him before shrugging and plopping down in the grass. "What do you say we go on a week trip to the ocean?" Chan asked, rubbing his forehead. "I miss the ocean..."
Minho glanced over at him, "Sure, why not. Is Yongbok allowed to come?"
"Of course!"
"Alright," Minho sat up and nodded. "We can go next week. We have nothing better to do."
"Since Seungmin and Hyunjin left back for the Lee Kingdom, it's been too quiet," Chan murmured, thinking back to the young men's departure a week before. "We should get away."
"You can go back too, if you'd like," Minho told him. "I wouldn't want to keep you here when you could have your old life back home."
"I think I like it here more, honestly," Bang Chan murmured, staring up at the clouds that passed overhead. "It's not as dramatic, for sure, and there's less things to do, but that is also a good thing as well. You come to appreciate life."
Minho laughed. "You sound like an old uncle now," he picked up one of the stones from the bank and threw it towards the water. "You can also go back to the Han Palace if you want. Young Master Park Sungjin is still there, I hear. And so is Changbin."
"I wouldn't want to leave you here with just Yongbok," Chan told him, tossing a rock in the air and catching it in his palm. "And that palace... there are too many secrets."
"What do you mean?" Minho sat up and stared at his friend.
"I mean... I feel like there is something big that we don't know... something that they are hiding from us..."
Minho scratched his head, looking around for the horses that grazed down the pond side. "I guess that's true... but I have a feeling they haven't told King Han what it is either."
"Maybe you should ask Prince Min-hyung to send a letter to your older brother. I bet he knows."
"You'll find that my Hyungnim is just as secretive as the Han people."
"He wouldn't even tell you?"
"Especially me. All my older siblings think I'm still young and immature and don't know anything."
"But you're old enough to get married?"
"I guess so."
Chan rolled his eyes and stood back up. "Come on, let's get back to the palace before Yongbok eats our heads off. That's not something that I want to happen today."
The two boys stood up from the banks and gathered their horses before they turned back and ran back to the San Palace.
(AN: For those of you who don't know, San (산) means mountain is Korean)
When they arrived they sent their horses to the small stables that were on the property and walked towards the main group area where Yongbok and Min-hyung usually had breakfast waiting for them.
Sure enough, Yongbok and Min-hyung were waiting as usual, but the usual bright atmosphere was dark when they entered the hall and Minho frowned, sitting down next to his older brother. "What is it?"
Yongbok and Min-hyung were hunched over a piece of paper that, as Minho peered closer, had the seal of the Han Palace. He looked between them. "What is it?"
"It's a report from Captain Jeon," Min-hyung murmured, looking over the written text. "He says that there have been an increase in Black Mask assassin attacks within the capitol, and he and Captain Mingyu even caught one in the Han Palace two nights ago, attempting to get into the King's chamber."
Minho's eyes rose. "They aren't very good if they get caught like that."
"It doesn't matter," Yongbok murmured, sitting back on his cushion. "They're getting better, and we have not prepared anything against them."
Minho shrugged and started picking at the rice in front of him. Min-hyung glanced at him and then back to the piece of parchment in the center of the table. "Do you want to go back-"
"No," Minho said stiffly, setting his chopsticks down, having only taken a few bites. "I'm not going back. If you are so concerned, feel free to go back yourself. I'm staying here."
With that Minho stood and left the room, the eyes of his companions following him as he went. Min-hyung sighed and scratched his head. "What are we supposed to do?"
"We have an alliance with them through Prince Minho and King Jisung's marriage. Even if they are not together, they are still married. It's part of our agreement to protect the Han royal family. We should send for more men back home and bring them here to protect the King and Queen."
"Then I'll do that," Yongbok nodded. He stared after where Minho had disappeared and sighed. He had sent countless letters to Changbin, worrying about Minho and stressing Changbin to try and send the now crowned "Queen" away.
Changbin had replied that he had tried to do the same thing already, but Jisung's mind was made up and he was not going to change it.
Stubborn young, idiotic king.
Yongbok was just about done with the Han King.
Back in his room, Minho was writing.
Since he had arrived in the San Palace, his new favorite hobby was writing. The characters spilling from his brush tip, he wrote of a broken love story between a grounded horse, and the clouds up above.
He wrote of heartbreak and betrayal.
Short story after short story he had written in the last, each one more depressing then the one before. He did not show anyone these stories that he had written and instead kept them tucked in his desk.
Now he sat behind that desk, writing yet another story. This time, he wasn't even sure what it was about, only the main character. A young boy who feels the tug at his heart to return home to the forests but is forced to stay in a bustling city because he is to be married to a rich man's daughter.
Minho set his brush down, staring down at the filled paper. He sighed and slumped forward, holding his head.
His head throbbed still, the pain not going away. He coughed into his silk sleeve so hard it brought tears to his eyes. He gasped for breath and sat back in his chair.
He was tired, he decided, settling down in the silks that made up his bed. He closed his eyes, laying on his back.
He didn't know how long he slept, but the retreating footsteps of someone woke him from his sleep.
He glanced outside, finding that the sun was setting. He looked around, finding that the room was empty. Instead, he found a piece of paper sitting on the desk.
It was from the Han Palace.
Minho tore it open and stared down at the paper. It was from Jeongyeon, but addressed to Yongbok. He read it anyway.
And found himself shocked.
Dear Prince Yongbok,
I know that this is not a good time and that you must be stressed, but my friend, I can feel the baby in my stomach. It is going to be here in this world soon. And honestly, I would like Minho to come see him. If anything were to happen to him, I would want Minho and you to raise him for me. That is how much I trust you.
So please, if you can, please ask Minho to come when my baby is born to greet him in this new world.
Sincerely,
Princess Han Jeongyeon
Minho stared down at the letter. The baby was coming soon?
His heart swelled as he found himself smiling down at the paper. A baby... a new spirit coming down to this earth to make it better. He could tell, this baby was going to be a good child. A good man, and a good prince.
He gulped. But that would mean that he would have to leave the San Palace and go back to the Han Palace.
He shook his head. If Princess Jeongyeon was trusting him and asking him and Yongbok to come, then he would gladly return for a few days.
And he would deal with the problems that came from that late.