Chapter 12: Chapter 9

"W-We are good. Our relationship is not bad." Taehyung stuttered out as he carefully wiped his mouth that had been stained with the peach-flavored drink.

Jimin snickered as he saw this and Jungkook nudged him, "Please don't take his word seriously. He just likes making fun of people."

Taehyung nodded awkwardly, "I dare not say anything."

"We are all friends here, nothing to be afraid of. Tell us." Jimin tittered as he saw the man lose his composure.

"What do you want me to tell you?" Taehyung tilted his head.

"About you and the crown prince." Jimin's eyes sparkled as he eagerly looked at the man.

Jungkook—also having said nothing—seemed to be somewhat interested in what Taehyung would answer to the question.

"As I said, our relationship is good. Just good! Nothing special."

"Don't lie so openly. Our country is not compassionate to liars."

"You can rest assured, I'm not lying."

Jimin seemed to be unsatisfied with the answer but he couldn't question any further—knowing that the result would be the same no matter how many times he pestered the man. This young man seemed to be like the crown prince in those manners—who knew how much he hid behind that deceiving smile of his.

When Taehyung wordlessly smiled at him—Jimin knew one thing for sure; The peace that this country had dreamt of—would one day be shattered and the cause of it would be this exact same innocent smile.

He felt conflicted and powerless; even after knowing what was to come—he still could not do anything about it.

Jimin glanced at the handsome face of his best friend, sitting beside him, and Jungkook glanced back, the two shared a look of understanding—it seemed that both of them had somewhat thought of the same thing.

"I'll trust you." Jimin suddenly exclaimed.

"Huh?" Taehyung looked at him in confusion, not understanding what the man was talking about, but he could somewhat tell how important of a hidden meaning those words carried.

Jungkook stood up as he spoke, "We'll be taking our leave then. Thank you for entertaining us."

Taehyung nodded happily as he glanced at the interlinked hands between the two—he seemed to have caught Jimin's disease of collecting other's dirty laundry.

"We wish you guys a happy future." Jimin snickered.

"Ah?"

Jungkook chuckled as he turned around and dragged the man away, "Please feel free to reach out to us if you ever come in need of our assistance."

Taehyung nodded once again as he too stood up, "If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."

Jungkook smiled, looking pleasant to the eyes, "Hmm..."

After having shared the verbal goodwills, the two bid goodbye to the young prince and went on their way.

In the corner, from behind a wall—peeped out the head of Shao Lan, who had been hiding there for this entire period.

"Why are you such a scaredy-cat?" Taehyung teased him

"I-I'm not!" Came the shaking voice of the man

"Don't lie." Taehyung looked at him straight in the eyes.

"..." Shao Lan stepped forward as he shuddered, "That general is scary."

"What's so scary about him?" Taehyung asked, feeling amused by this attendant's behavior.

Just a day ago, this man was afraid of Taehyung and now it seems that he was more afraid of the playful general who had clearly done nothing wrong to him—just a bit of interrogation, and the man already shuddered at the mere mention of the general's name.

Taehyung was curious—he really wanted to know what general Jeon had done to this man to plant such deep fear inside the man's heart—Taehyung really wished to learn his ways.

When the two generals had left, Shao Lan felt his knees go weak before they eventually gave up on him—he sighed a breath of relief that he didn't know he was holding. Just a day ago, he had been made aware of the scary aura his young Master had hidden behind that smile and now he had been kidnapped and interrogated by a man far more dangerous than this one; When he glanced at the face of his young master, he felt like this man could still be considered a demon but compared to General Jeon—Taehyung was really just a lion in front of a dragon—at least this was his conclusion for now.

Taehyung walked towards him, "You should pick yourself up. Don't always go falling on your knees for every little thing."

Shao Lan somehow mustered up the energy to stand up as he heard this, "I-I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm going out to play, I hope you don't cause me more trouble." Taehyung smiled as he patted the man's shoulder.

Shao Lan nodded, feeling a shiver go down his spine. Why the hell was everybody so good at saying things with a deeper meaning? One really needed to analyze each and every sentence that fell from their mouths.

The underlying meaning behind Taehyung's words was as subtle as the sun in the summer sky—don't follow me and don't contact my mother anymore.

But even after being warned beforehand—Shao Lan would still choose to bet on his life and go against this young master's wishes.

The reason? Because the moment he had promised to accompany Taehyung to the enemy's lair—he had already given up on the hopes of having a longer life.

Taehyung smiled as he walked past the man, knowing that no matter what advice he gave to this man, the man would still choose to follow him like a loyal dog—his mother's loyal dog.

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Seated on the throne, Yoongi looked blankly at the wall in front of him, with Hyun standing by his side—holding in his hand a set of reports that Yoongi was uninterested to listen to.

It felt empty, this place was just too..... Dead—as silent as a mourning house and the irony was that the only times it came to life was when someone actually did die.

Why would anyone want to fight for this lonely wretched seat?

"Has there been any progress?"

Hyun looked at the crown prince with an embarrassed face, "I apologize for this but we really could not find anything."

Yoongi laughed—an empty laugh filled with mockery, "Even a dog can't hide his feces that well. Dig deeper!"

Hyun bobbed his head up and down, "I'm sure we'll be able to find something."

"Hmm..." Yoongi looked at him from the corner of his eyes, "What about Jungkook? Didn't he abduct someone?"

"Ah! That! Taehyung's attendant has been safely returned to the peach blossom manor. This was done personally by the general."

Yoongi chuckled, "What was the result of the interrogation?"

"This." Hyun's cheeks flared up as he thought about the answer, "The discovery was certainly very interesting."

"Hmm?"

"Do you want me to read out the report submitted by the general?"

Yoongi nodded, "What did he write?"

Hyun looked at the piece of paper in his hand, written on it with crude handwriting were the words he was rather embarrassed to even look at, but now he had to thick out his skin and recite it word-to-word.

"Heyo Yoongi!" Hyun spoke in a low voice, looking expectantly at the man

Yoongi chuckled in amusement as heard this, "Continue."

"I asked that man a few questions and got a few answers. The answers were boring and uninteresting, nothing worth listening to. He's a fun guy but I don't believe him."

"....."

"That's it?"

"It continues." Hyun answered, "But there was one amusing answer I found, I'm sure you'd like to know it as well. He said that I need not be wary of him since the two countries were going to reconcile through matrimony soon kekeke.... Is your highness planning to marry prince Taehyung?"

Yoongi's eyes went wide and, after a second of recovering from the initial shock, he broke out laughing. This had been the first time Hyun had seen this man laughing out so openly like this.

"To write such a letter, it's so like him." Yoongi commented.

Hyun unconsciously smiled as he saw the unexpectedly lighthearted reaction, "The general has certainly not changed."

"You're right." Yoongi laughed, "Makes me want to visit him. Where is he?"

"He was last seen visiting the peach blossom manor."

"I see." Yoongi nodded, "What about Jimin?"

Hyun felt a cold sweat drip from his forehead, "He was accompanying him."

Painted across Yoongi's face was an indecipherable expression that could not be seen past the veil, but the dangerous aura suddenly emitted by him could not go unnoticed.

Hyun felt the atmosphere go cold.

Yoongi sighed, "pointless..."

"Huh?" Hyun looked at him cautiously

"Hyun, have you ever wanted to hide someone away from everything and everyone, even the people you trust?" Before Hyun could answer, Yoongi added further, "What would you call that kind of feeling?"

It took a few minutes of silence for Hyun to think up of a sensible answer and Yoongi seemed to have been waiting for it.

"I think the feeling is called possessiveness."

"...."

"Possessiveness is not good for your highness. You should learn to let go." Hyun advised confidently, not quite understanding what the topic was even about.

Yoongi, "....."

Hyun, "....."

"Get out!" Yoongi snapped

"Y-Yes, your highness." Hyun stuttered out as he quickly turned around and walked himself out from the throne room—stupidly wondering as he did—how had he angered the man this time?

Yoongi leaned backward as he took off the veil and looked at the ceiling, feeling extremely tired even after having done nothing strenuous.

He felt mentally exhausted ever since he had taken Taehyung to the training fields. He had been constantly questioning himself, questioning what this overly glorified chair meant to him, questioning what he really wanted to do with it.

He wanted peace, a peace that no matter how much he wished for, never seemed to come any closer to him.

This was exhausting...

Yoongi was clear on his thoughts and was a man who trusted his instincts—if he felt that someone had good intentions towards him, he'd smile and never do that person any harm, however, if somebody got ill intentions towards him or this country, he'll never spare the person any mercy.

Blatantly speaking—he ran on his instincts, never dwelling on the consequences of his actions. This was the reason why he had made Taehyung the prince and treated him so well up until now. It had all been his own gut feeling—his heart's wish.

Yoongi liked to get to know his subjects—to the point that it could be said that he was the ears on their walls—a stalker of sorts. It was only natural that he had come to know about the floating rumors and he accepted the fact that he was the reason these rumors existed.

In all honesty—he liked Taehyung—maybe even 'loved' him.

To comment on his feelings further was pointless. The man had never known what was the feeling people called love? Was it the same kind of good feeling you'd have towards your parents and close friends? If so, then he knew that he loved Taehyung as much as he loved his mother—at least until her final moments.

Was this love the kind of love people were talking about? The kind where you want to protect and spoil them? If so, then he would not be ashamed to admit it.

The rumors about Taehyung being the next empress? Yoongi could only laugh as he heard it... Wasn't Taehyung a man, how could he be called an empress? That would be a direct disrespect to the man's gender. If by any chance, Taehyung were to be married to Yoongi, in the future, he would most certainly be given the rightful title of the emperor.

If the crown prince could be a bit more sure of his feelings, he'd certainly not be ashamed to accept it and would openly ask for Taehyung's hand in marriage but at the moment, he was not sure, and in this state of uncertainty—he dare not act hastily.

Maybe one day, if these feelings blossomed into something more—something uncontrollable... Maybe then, he'd finally be able to make up his mind and make a wise decision.

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A/n: Hello to my lovely readers.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

We finally get to learn more about Yoongi's POV.🧐

Next update would be on Monday, 7th December 2020.🤩

Please look forward to it

Have a nice day🤗

Take care of your health and

always remember that this author loves you 💜💜