The king had sent them to bed without further discussion. He had said that they needed rest so that they could properly figure out what to do next.
Minho hadn't even had the chance to introduce his brother to his daughter, which he had been waiting years to do. He wasn't even sure his brother had seen the small child clinging to his leg. Hei-ran didn't even know them, and now she thought they were just Minho's bosses or something like that.
"Come on," Minho reached down for Hei-ran and picked her up off the ground. He was back in his old room, his things still hanging around the place. "Let's go to bed," he tucked her into his bed that he had been sleeping in his entire life with a nod. "Sleep well, Hei-ran."
"Daddy... where are you going?" she looked up as he was about to go over to his desk.
"I'll join you in a little while. Just try to go to bed, okay?" Minho sat down at his old desk quietly.
"Okay," Hei-ran murmured before she tucked herself under the soft blanket and closed her eyes.
Minho pulled a load of papers from under the desk and flicked through them, nearly laughing out loud as he did so.
He had been so stupid when he was younger, dreaming of staying by himself forever with just Yongbok and Cho, riding the summer winds until the day he died.
What a life that would have been. So unrealistic though. Minho looked over at Hei-ran, his pride and joy. No, without her, he would be nothing now. He would stand for nothing. The thought of a safe world for her to live in drove him to keep going.
But still, that life he had once longer for was clear in his writings. And still, perhaps Minho found himself longing for it.
But he had other things to do. He looked through the rest of the papers and found ones from his sister in the midst of the random drawings that were scattered everywhere.
His sister... Minho blinked. He hadn't seen his sister in forever.
He sat back at his desk and thought about the old days. Before he was tangled up in this odd mess that didn't even make sense in his own head. He really... really just wanted to go home. Not this home, but back with Jisung.
Really desperately he found himself longing to return back to the few days that he and Jisung had slept side-by-side with their children, safe and happy.
He found his heart cracking just thinking about him.
And he had left him all alone.
Minho shook his head, guilt crashing over him. Was that even something that was forgivable?
He didn't know.
~oOo~
Jisung lay back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Yeong sleeping next to him gave him an anchor from dream and reality.
But he wasn't sure what he was living through right now.
He had thought... something bad had definitely happened to his husband. He was dead, or hurt, or kidnapped. For sure.
And yet there he had been, riding free like he had when they were younger at the Han Palace. He had seemed so different when Jisung had seen him, his mask being whisked away in the wind. Their eyes meet. That seemed like something out of a dream.
He wasn't sure of anything anymore. If Minho had been that free, wouldn't he have come back?
There had to be a reason that he had stayed away?
Jisung turned over and brushed his hand through Yeong's hair. "Yeong, I found your father," he whispered as Yeong twitched in his sleep. "I'm going to bring him back home."
Jisung turned back towards the ceiling.
There had to be some mistake here. There had to be a mistake somewhere. Right?
Yongbok had arrived outside his chambers and was waiting to be seen by the king.
"Come in," Jisung stood up from the bed and made sure to not wake Yeong up as he went to greet the Lee Prince. "Or why don't I come out?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Yongbok stepped back as the king walked out of his chamber in none of his fancy robes and instead dressed in plain white robes.
"We need to talk," Jisung walked out into the hall with Yongbok behind him. He got straight to the point. "We need to find Minho."
"I have a suspicion," Yongbok murmured. "You remember how we found Changbin in the same village that Minho was taken from? And now, Changbin has left."
"What do you mean?"
"I've got men in the Lee Kingdom still. I've heard reports of two men in all black and masks that traveled up into the Lee Palace. I have reason to believe that they were Minho and Changbin heading to see the king."
"His brother?" Jisung narrowed his eyes. "Minho's disappearance was reported, right? But if he's being let into the palace, his king must have known he was alive."
"Exactly, so he's involved as well. There has to be people on this side who know what's going on and have something to do what Minho's been doing."
"We need to catch them all," Jisung turned and stared Yongbok right in his eyes. "All of them. At whatever cost."
"But... Your Majesty... the Black Masks are still at large and attacks are happening almost everyday. We need to focus-"
"We need to do both," Jisung agreed. "But I have to find Minho. O-or I don't know what I'll do."
Yongbok nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty."
~oOo~
Almost the entire family was here. Minho looked around and found two of his older brothers, his oldest sister, and his daughter all at one table.
Jihoon and Ji-eun sat on either side of the king while Min-hyuk stared right at Minho. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to ask you to come back with me. It's time to get started."
"Has the Han King been brought into the picture yet?"
"No, we want you to be there when we do," Changbin, who was standing in the corner cut in. "He's found that Minho is alive and well, and he'll be sure to go after us now. We need to bring him into this before anything happens back in the Han Kingdom."
The king sat back with a sigh. "Have you finished your training now?"
"I have."
"Then you're ready?"
"Yes."
"We've got to move forward then," Min-hyuk nodded. "And you're right, we need the Han King as well. I'll come with you."
"Thank you," Changbin bowed his head.
"Daddy?" Hei-ran lay in Minho's lap. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, baby," Minho picked Hei-ran up and hugged her to his chest. "This is some of your family, Hei-ran."
"Who are they?" she stared up at him with wide eyes.
"These are your uncles," Minho pointed to Jihoon and Min-hyuk. "And this is your aunt."
"What about Uncle Changbin?"
Changbin chuckled in the corner. "I'm right here, Hei-ran."
"And what is your name?" Ji-eun leaned in with a smile and picked Hei-ran up from Minho's lap. "You're so pretty."
"I'm Hei-ran, Auntie," Hei-ran gave her charming smile that made Ji-eun fall for her in seconds. "You're very pretty too!"
Ji-eun blushed and looked over at her younger brother, the king. "Say hello. This is your niece."
Min-hyuk looked slightly uncomfortable but he took Hei-ran in his arms as well. "So... you are Lee Hei-ran?"
"Yes!" Hei-ran nodded with a very serious face. "I'm Lee Hei-ran. But who are you?"
"Hei-ran-ah," Minho cut in. "This is your uncle, the king."
"Call him 'Your Majesty'," Changbin called from the back. "He's the king, so you must be respectful, Hei-ran."
"But... if you're my uncle and you're the king, then am I a princess? Is my father the prince?"
"Yes, he is," Min-hyuk stared down at her like he wasn't sure what to do. "But you're not a princess yet."
"I'm not?" Hei-ran looked over at her father. "But Daddy always calls me his princess. Am I not one?" she looked up at Min-hyuk with huge sad eyes.
Min-hyuk gulped, not being able to look away from her cute face. "I can make you one, though. Do you want to be a princess of the Lee Kingdom?"
"Yes!" Hei-ran threw her hands up in the air. "That sounds great!"
Minho shook his head. Hei-ran always loved more. More and more and more. "Come here," Minho stood up and took Hei-ran from Min-hyuk's lap, bowing his head as he did so. "I'm sorry."
"That's fine," Min-hyuk adjusted his clothes and turned away to hide the cute look on his face. "I'll make a degree that makes her a Lee Princess. She's your daughter after all."
Minho grinned and nodded. "Then we should be leaving soon, Hyungnim. The sooner that we get going, the sooner we can bring Jisung in and the sooner we can get started with our plan."
"That sounds good," Min-hyuk nodded as he stood up and looked around. "We should leave tomorrow if we can and get there in a day and a half if we can. Let's all have dinner tonight, alright?"
"Sounds good," Ji-eun stood up after her brother and bowed her head to the king as he nodded and walked out of the room.
Jihoon stood up as well. "Is there anything I can get you?" he looked over at his brother. "If you need anything, I can get it for you."
"That's fine, Hyungnim. I just want to have dinner with you, that's all."
"Then let's do that tonight. I guess I'll see you then."
"Yes," Minho bowed his head and stepped back as his second oldest brother and Ji-eun left one after the other, leaving just Minho, Hei-ran and Changbin in the room.
"It's too bad that Yongbok and Min-hyung couldn't be here," Minho muttered as he shook his head. "We almost had the entire family."
"That kid before with your second brother... Prince Lee Yongjae, isn't it? Why is he not here? Are you two not very close?"
"Um, yeah no. He and Yongbok never got along very well and so I didn't like him very much either. You remember when Yongbok had to leave for a few months back when we were all living at the Han Palace? He had to come back here and defend his right as his father's heir because Yongjae was gathering followers to back him up as the heir."
"I totally forgot about that," Changbin shook his head. "He left me just like that back then. I thought I'd never see him again."
"Yeah, well... once he finds out that you were with Master Sang-hyuk and me the entire time, he's going to kill you, you know."
"I know," Changbin sighed. "I've been mentally preparing this entire time."
"Good luck," Minho stood up with Hei-ran pulling at his robes. "Let's go, Hei-ran. Do you want to go see horses?"
"Yes!" Hei-ran pumped her fist in the air as she and her father walked out of the room, leaving just Changbin behind.
Changbin sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'm not ready to die yet though..."