"The two masters may be unaware, but even small places like this need to pay taxes." The man who was standing on the side spoke up with a face that looked like he was about to spit out all his frustrations and anger, "It didn't use to be so bad before. The taxes used to be low and only certain prosperous businesses needed to pay them but a few years ago, the government officials came by and started threatening us. They started taking taxes from everyone no matter how small their business was."
Yoongi was quite amused to hear this since, he as the crown prince, had no idea that he had given such an order.
Old Lao's face had lost all its color as he heard the man, he immediately stood up and tried his best to shut the man up, "It is to be expected! To be expected! The capital needs money to protect us. Who are we to judge?!"
Yoongi stepped forward and interfered, "Young man, who told you about these so-called taxes?"
"Wasn't it Old Lao himself who informed us? If it hadn't been for him, we would've all been unaware of such wrongdoings."
The man called Old Lao was dripping with cold sweat all over his forehead. he was praying in his mind for this man to shut up. Didn't he know that talking too much would lead to cutting short his own lifeline?!
Fooling the common people was easy but fooling these two elites was another story. To pull out ten gold coins over a chicken, they looked to be from noble birth, would they not find out the truth?!
Taehyung was just getting invested in this spicy story. He held onto Yoongi's hand and stopped him from moving forward.
The crown prince needed to remember that he was still in his disguise. Making a move in that monk attire was really not the brightest idea.
"Old Lao, how long have you been paying taxes?" Taehyung asked with an amused smile.
Old Lao's soul had seemed to leave his body. He was as good as a dead man now. A dead man who wouldn't even be getting a grave to bury himself in.
"A-a few months ago" He gulped
"A few months?! Why are you lying? Hasn't it been a few years?" The man really seemed to want to drag Old Lao down as he unknowingly dug up a trap for him. It was a pity that Old Lao had considered this man a friend. This man was a daily customer and would be seen gambling from time to time so it came as no shock that the two came to have a good relationship, but now that things had turned out this way, Old Lao regretted not choking this man to death.
Taehyung, "A few years?"
Yoongi, "I don't think there were any taxes on gambling unless it was in a famous gambling house."
Gambling houses were the real deal. It was a place where all rich gamblers would go to squander off their money. Poor people had no entry in such places. The customers there were all rich and were looking for some excitement in life. The gambling there would get so crazy that sometimes people would gamble on their lives. It was a place that dealt with thousands of gold coins and seeing as how much income is created, it was only natural that the capital couldn't shut it down.
They couldn't shut it down because of the money involved so they found an alternative and decided to profit from it hence heavy taxes were placed on gambling houses. The taxes paid by these big businesses were in no manner considered little.
Although there were taxes placed on the big gambling houses, as long as Yoongi knew, there were no taxes taken from these Street gamblers. Their business was just too small for the capital to put them in their eyes.
With the case being as such, it was clear that someone was lying to these people and coveting their money and the question remained: Who was the liar?
Old Lao seemed to know a lot but was probably unwilling to share the information he knew. He was a mere accomplice or maybe not even that. He could very well be someone's puppet and to have him willingly confess the truth right now was impossible. What type of thief would readily stretch out his hand and ask to be imprisoned?
Taehyung, "Old Man Lao has been paying taxes for the last few years?"
Old Lao started stuttering and didn't know what he was supposed to do. it was as clear as day that he had been caught by these two people and now he had no way out. The only thing he could do was, like a dog, tuck his tail between his legs and thicken his skin as he grabbed all the money and made a run for it.
Taehyung broke out laughing as he saw this.
The man looked behind and saw the two men still standing at their original positions, not bothering to chase after him. He thought he was now safe. He thought he could get away so he laughed at his own intelligence and ran a bit further.
Yoongi didn't move but it didn't mean he was going to let that man get away so easily. This man was very important in what would happen in the next few months. He was the start of a bigger scheme unfolding that would wreck the internal working of the country's government.
Hyun who had seen everything uncover didn't need Yoongi to order him as he already knew what he was supposed to do.
Old Man Lao who thought he was the faster fox ran into some trouble on his way to escape. This trouble came in the form of the royal guards who arrested him on the spot and dragged him into prison where he was held captive and tortured for more information.
Yoongi looked at Taehyung with an indecipherable expression.
Hyun had been doing his best to uncover dirt on the high-seated officials yet he came back empty-handed whereas, this man who had not even been in this country for a whole month just so happened to find the key part of how to Dig up the dirt.
Yoongi was not wrong in judging this man. Taehyung seemed to know a lot more than he let on. It was really a pity how everyone thought him to be a useless troublemaker. If his country had seen the hidden value inside him, he would have certainly become a powerful monarch.
Yoongi sighed as he smiled. It was good as it is. If Taehyung's country couldn't see the diamond in the rough, Yoongi would. Taehyung was now his person and this fact made Yoongi extremely happy.
Taehyung looked back at the monk who was staring at him and instinctively flashed a warm smile.
"Honey, am I that handsome?"
"..."
The crowd that was going haywire at Old Lao's escape came to a sudden pause as they heard this.
No matter how intelligent or calculative this man was, he was still the same shameless Taehyung that would manage to shock people the moment he opened his mouth.
Yoongi felt it was lucky that he had a straw hat on that could hide his expression cause if not, he would've been in big trouble.
Taehyung took Yoongi's hand and pulled him away from the crowdârunning away from the scene. The crowd which had been shocked thoroughly by the relationship of the two couldn't stop their mouth from blabbering even after the two men had left.
It was already shocking for them to see two noblemen entering a small local gambling spot, it was more shocking for them to see Old Lao throw away his dignity and running for his life but the thing that shocked them the most was the last line the young man said to the monk who had come along with him.
This was scandalous news.
A monk and a young master were in that type of relationship?!
It was enough to shake the earth and the heavens.
In the span of a week, this wild news had somehow spread throughout the country. People just couldn't keep their ears and mouth shut. Thank god they didn't know the real identity of the two people cause if they did, this news would have become a hot topic for the next few generations.
Taehyung and Yoongi went back to their respective manors and although with time, they came to hear the news of the two wild geese*, they would never react to it.
*two wild geese here refers to Taehyung and Yoongi.
General Park had even especially sought out the crown prince to tell him the story of the monk and the young master. As expected, the story had been so spiced up that even Yoongi couldn't recognize it anymore.
From Taehyung just calling him honey, it became a famous tale of forbidden love.
When Taehyung came across this story of forbidden love he couldn't help but break out laughing at such bullshit.
The tale went something like this:
A nobleman once went hunting up the mountains where he got lost and injured. A monk who was devoid of the world and lived in seclusion atop the mountain was doing his daily routine of taking a stroll down the mountain path where he came to stumble upon this injured young master.
The monk took him back to his temple, treated his wounds, fed him, and gave him a place to stay. The two lived harmoniously together and eventually developed feelings for each other. They were afraid to confess their feelings and hence, with a heavy guilty heart they hid away their love for each other until one day, they could no longer take it anymore.
The monk confessed to having fallen in love with the man and the man who had held the utmost respect for the monk couldn't accept the man to leave his righteous devoid path and come after him who was unholy.
The man decided to say his goodbyes and leave the temple but the monk followed after him all the way to the city. When the man saw the monk's persistence, he couldn't contain his feelings anymore and it burst out with him eloping away with the monk. The two then roamed the city disguised as commoners and roamed the mountains as a couple.
With the blessings of the heavens, they lived happily ever after.
"..."
The story became so famous that it even became a part of a street play.
Yoongi could only grab at his aching head and Taehyung would only laugh as he heard this.
Whoever had made this story up was certainly talented in the art of storytelling. It had gotten so out of hand that even the people from the royal court would sometimes talk about it.
Yoongi didn't want to throw away his monk attire and disguise but he was forced to because after that day, every time he went out to stroll the streets, the people would look at him weirdly and would start mumbling amongst themselves.
It was truly troublesome and so Yoongi changed his disguise.
However, the only thing that really changed was the color of his clothes. From the plain white clothing, it became a light blue colored robe that looked to be plain yet was very expensive.
The quality of the material was fine and comfortable but it was hard to decipher if this was some sort of rare fabric or if it was common fabric.
The people with higher backgrounds would not have trouble judging it. One look and they'd be able to say that this was a rare piece of clothing that was hard and expensive to come by, but the streets that Yoongi roamed through were all congested with people who were rather poor and couldn't see the difference between something being expensive and something being cheap. For them, what looked shiny was expensive and what looked plain was cheap.
Everyone saw a monk wearing light blue-colored attire and it was different from the said attire of the monk from the famous story hence no one paid attention to him anymore.
This was how the story of forbidden love became the crown prince's biggest embarrassment and Taehyung's favorite entertainment.
_______________________________________
A/n: The story of forbidden love kekeke...
I would pay to see it acted out on screen.
I will add a detailed alternate storyline for this forbidden love story in the extras.
Next update is on Christmas (25 Dec, 2020)
Not a Monday but I just wanted to role-play as Santa and give my lovely readers a chapter as a presentð¦ð
Wait, presents remind me of a certain readers birthday.
Early happy birthday Naniiiiiiiiibeach
ðð
Since I'm a day early, I'm hopefully the first person to wish you. \(^~^)/
Maybe I should do this for the birthdays of all my loyal readers.
Just leave your birthdays in the comments section and if I'm feeling extra happy, I might update on your birthday.
With that said,
Take care everyone ðð
Eat and drink plenty. Stay healthy in body and mindâ¨
In case some of you have exams currently (like me)
All the best for your exams tooð
Hope you rock themâ¨