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Jerk Barista (AU!Yoongi x OC) Part 7

This one is the longest in a while ^^; More drama ensues, and I’m sorry for all the time skips! ^^; I hope you enjoy!

Genre: angst yet again with some awkward squeezed in Words: 1,600+

First - Part 6 - Part 8

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“I told you no,” Yoongi sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration, “If I wanted a girl I would get out of here and find one.”

Jimin and Taehyung were sitting across from him in the booth they were sitting in. The three of them were hanging out at Jimin’s parent’s restaurant, which had become fairly regular for them to do. Normally Jungkook and/or Hoseok would join them, but neither of them were available. Jungkook was on a date with his new fiance and Hoseok was busy at work.

Taehyung leaned his head back against the booth’s cushion as Jimin sighed, “Hyung, it’s been year since you’ve last tried dating someone. Just because that last girl was clingy… and slightly crazy, doesn’t mean that every girl is like that. That’s why you don’t pick up girls in the bar when you’re drunk.”

“I’m single by choice,” Yoongi shook his head, “And I don’t understand why you guys have so much of a problem with it.” He took a sip of his drink as Taehyung and Jimin looked to each other, both concerned for their friend.

“It’s just because it’s been… six years since then.” Jimin slightly mumbled, trying not to talk about it too much, “and it’s like ever since you’ve been more cold hearted towards girls than before. I thought you would be over it by now-”

Yoongi shot a glare in Jimin’s direction, “I’ve been over it for years. That’s why I don’t want to date, because I’m done with what love does to people. It feels awful and I hate it. You guys can get all the girlfriends you want, but I’m content with being alone.”

Taehyung started playing with the rim of his drink, “Hyung… you are 100% over her, correct?”

“Correct.” Yoongi said without missing a beat. He grabbed one of the fries from the basket in front of them and dipped it in ketchup.

Jimin grabbed a fry as well, “Okay, then you won’t really care when we tell you that she’s back in town?”

Yoongi’s whole being froze as Jimin’s words as he had to remind himself to breath. She was back? After being gone for 6 years, she just randomly comes back?

It sounded selfish of her to do that to him.

“She’s in town to stay, too.” Taehyung added, “But we’ll spare you the details. I just know she’s moving back in with Seokjin to help him run the shop like when you used to work there.”

Yoongi took a deep breath and then continued with eating his fry, “That’s good for her. I don’t know why I needed to know this. I don’t care whether she’s here or in Alaska feeding Polar Bears.”

“Wait-” Taehyung held up his hand, “Alaska has polar bears?”

“You need to know,” Jimin ignored Taehyung, “because I would rather you be prepared than to run into her on the street and be surprised that she’s there.”

Yoongi just shrugged, “I probably wouldn’t have even noticed if she was here. I hardly talk to Seokjin anymore, so it’s almost like him and his family are on another planet from me.”

Taehyung grabbed a fry, “You’ll be seeing her for sure. Seokjin’s new place is in our building you know.

“Sh*t,” Yoongi mumbled, “I forgot about that.”

Jimin started to feel a little worried as he watched his friend, “They’re not on the same floor as you and I, but they’ll be on the same floor as Taehyung and Jungkook… if that helps at all.”

Yoongi just shrugged, “I don’t care all that much at this point. I just want it clear that I don’t want seeing her to become often. I don’t like the idea of being around her right now.”

Taehyung nodded, “Neh, we’ve already talked about this. Even Jungkook is updated on all of this, so it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Good,” Yoongi sighed, “The last thing I want is my past knocking on my door.”

It was roughly 9:00pm on a Wednesday night, which is when Jimin or Yoongi normally stopped by the store to get a few things for the week. It was Jimin’s week this Wednesday, which made Yoongi feel so relieved. It had been a long day at work, and the day just seemed like it was dragging on for forever. Everyone was trying to meet deadlines for tracks they were wanting reviewed, which included Yoongi.

He was tempted to do some editing even after he got home, but the couch was way too inviting for that to even be possible. He hadn’t been home for more than ten minutes before he was laying on that couch with his eyes closed, waiting for Jimin to get home with the food.

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. Yoongi knew it wasn’t Jimin because he wouldn’t knock, and he was too lazy to really care who else it could be.

That was until he actually opened the door and saw who was on the other side.

It was that moment when Yoongi’s own words passed through his mind, “The last thing I want is my past knocking on my door.”

When he said that, he didn’t mean it literally, but apparently, the world did.

Because the next thing he knew, he had a crying, drunk Mari sitting on his living room couch.

He didn’t know what to do in the slightest, because not only was Mari in his living room, she was also drunk and crying. Well, not only was she drunk and crying, but just the fact that she ended up there was something really confusing.

“I… I made a mistake,” she sniffed, slurring out her words, “I shouldn’t have married him, Yoongi. I shouldn’t have.”

Whoa, married? He was caught off guard at her words, but he didn’t say anything. If he did, she wasn’t in her right mind, anyway. She probably wouldn’t remember a thing by the time morning came.

Plus he didn’t even have the ability to speak at this point. The whole situation was too weird for him to process, and he didn’t like any of the thoughts he was having around her. He didn’t like seeing her in front of him again, resurfacing old feelings that he pushed out a long time ago.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?!” she suddenly cried out, which cause Yoongi to jump and his attention to move back to her. She looked horrible in her current state, and he started to feel pity for her. What could have possibly happened to her for her to end up this way?

This is your fault, Yoongi’s inner monologue started to pitch into his thoughts, if you hadn’t broken her heart those years ago, she wouldn’t have run so far away to get away from you.

He started to curse at himself in his head as he attempted to force those thoughts out of his head. It’s not his fault. He tried to apologize and she just shut him down before he could get a single word in.

“Yoongi!” Mari cried, throwing her head into her hands, “Yoongi, why did things end up this way? Why didn’t I stay here? Why did I leave you?! Why didn’t I realize the mistake in marrying someone when I knew I didn’t love them as much as I love you?!”

Yoongi swallowed his nerves and took a deep breath, trying to decide what to do. He didn’t know what to say! What do you say to a person you haven’t seen in 6 years because they ran away from you?

“Speak to me, da** it!” she let out another sob, “Don’t just watch a girl cry in front of you!”

“What do you want me to say?” Yoongi finally spoke up, causing Mari to visibly calm down. Her sobs lessened and she let out a small smile that looked funny because of her intoxication.

“I want you to say you love me, still…” she looked down at the floor and the laid down on the couch with a sigh, “I want you to save me from him. I don’t want to see him ever again. He hurt me way more than you ever could.”

Yoongi once again swallowed his nerves, but he noticed that she was falling asleep. He didn’t bother to say anything else, fearing he’d wake her up. He looked behind him to see if he had left a blanket on the back of the loveseat he was sitting on, but he didn’t see one. Sighing, he got up very quietly and retrieved a blanket from his room.

He lightly placed it over her as she lightly stirred to get more comfortable. Yoongi watched her carefully, jumping when her eyes opened and looked at him.

“Mianhae,” she slurred, “Please forgive me for what I’ve done.”

With that, she fell right asleep. She was out cold, so much so that Yoongi accidentally dropped his can of soda on the ground near her, and she didn’t flinch. Ridding of the can with a string of mumbled curses, he made his way back into his room and closed the door.

He was about to lay down in his bed and just fall asleep, cause after the night he’s had, he was more than ready for sleep. Though, in the back of his mind, he felt like staying in his room with her laying out there was rude.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, deciding to just sleep in the living room tonight. He’ll be woken up by Jimin to explain everything, anyway.

Sorry to leave off in a cliff hanger like that (like I haven’t already lol) but more will be posted soon! Hopefully tomorrow at 10am(CT) but no promises because it’s not finished yet...

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-Admin Jinnie

Jerk Barista (AU!Yoongi x OC) Part 8

This one is pretty short, but I didn’t want to leave my readers without anything today, so I decided to post something today. I’m getting really close to the end (hoping to post 10 parts!) so there’s not a long wait till this is done! I’m shooting to finish this before the end of this week, but I don’t know how that’ll go ^^;

Genre: angst? not really angst, but more confusion! Words: 700+ First - Part 7 - Part 9

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

Jimin had grabbed literally all the shopping bags in one trip, as usual, and prayed the door was unlocked like it was only have the time. Lucky for him, Yoongi remembered to unlock it for him before he got home, making it easy to get in. He ran the groceries to the kitchen quickly, sighing when he was able to rest his arms.

He made his way back to the front door to close it, and made sure to lock it before turning away. He was about to head back into the kitchen, but he noticed Yoongi was sleeping on the loveseat.

“What the…” Jimin mumbled, seriously confused. If Yoongi slept in the living room, it was always on the bigger couch, so why was tonight different? Maybe he was too lazy to move something off of it?

Jimin approached the bigger couch, only to have his breath hitch in his throat. He didn’t waste a second and ran at Yoongi, shaking him furiously to wake him up. Yoongi mumbled as he hit Jimin lightly in the head for waking him up.

“Yah, what’s your problem?” He shoved Jimin off of him, “You can put the groceries away by yourself.

“Hyung, why the h*** is Mari on our couch?” he had a crazy look on his face as he asked that, but he also felt like he was going crazy with the given situation.

“I don’t know… she was drunk when she showed up.” he sighed, “Jimin, please, don’t wake her up. I’ll explain in the morning.”

“No, Hyung, we need to call Jin Hyung over here to pick her up. If she wakes up here, we both know that she’ll freak, and Jin Hyung will be mad at us for letting him worry about her.”

Jimin had a good point, but part of it made him a little more upset than he wanted. Her showing up here not only stirred a few questions in his mind, but also gave hims a little hope that she forgave him a long time ago.

Those thoughts even made himself confused and mad about why he thought them. He should be- he needed to be over her.

“Aish, do whatever,” he ended up saying, “I don’t care what you do, just let me sleep.”

Yoongi knew it was a lie, but he needed to move on. It’s been six years, and to just loop around and do the same thing over and over would drive him nuts.

“Okay…” Jimin mumbled, moving away from Yoongi, “I’m calling Jin Hyung, then.”

“You do that…” he said through his teeth, turning around to fall asleep again.

However, he couldn’t find it in him to fall asleep again.

“Hyung!” he heard Jimin whisper yell, “Omo hyung, Mari is in our apartment right now, and it looks and smells like she drank a lot.”

He couldn’t hear Seokjin’s side, but he figured he was heading up stairs to get her and carry her back down to their apartment.

“Mwoh? Really?” Jimin mumbled, “Well… what do you want me to do?”

He started to get really confused at Jimin’s words, unable to piece together what could have been said.

“Hyung… I don’t know about that. It’s too soon.”

“Aish, I know! But I don’t know what happened or what she said before she fell asleep. She was just talking to Yoongi Hyung.”

“Arraseo. I’ll tell Yoongi Hyung. Are you sure this will work out? ...Arraseo, Jin Hyung. Bye.”

Yoongi turned over to face Jimin as he send him a nervous look and a nervous laugh came from his lips.

“Jin Hyung said he’s out of town tonight, which is probably why she got drunk without him knowing or worrying about her too much.” Jimin explained, “He also said to just leave her here and talk to her in the morning, but I don’t know how well that will go over. She might even be gone before we even wake up.”

Yoongi just nodded and glanced at her before looking at Jimin again.

“But… I think you need to just sleep in your room for tonight, Hyung. You don’t want to scare her out, do you?”

Yoongi felt a sigh escape his lips and his eyes closed in frustration. He didn’t want to care about that being a possibility, but since he did, he found himself getting up and silently heading to his room.

Jimin watched his Hyung close his door, careful to not wake Mari up, and Jimin turned to her. He gave her a sympathetic look before he begrudgingly headed to put away all the groceries.

I hope this wasn’t anything disappointing... I’m trying my best to get the next part done before tomorrow! I hope everyone is enjoying this series! Though sadly, it’s coming to an end very soon :c

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-Admin Jinnie

Jerk Barista (AU!Yoongi x OC) Part 9

Okay I really wanted to post something today but I didn’t have an actual break in the story, so the end is in an odd place... But I hope you’re just happy that I posted another one! ^^;

Genre: leaning more awkward than anything Words: 1,600+ First - Part 8 - Part 10 (Final)

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

(THIS GIF KILLS ME OMG--)

Mari felt a crick in her neck the second she woke up, as well as a killer headache. Her vision was so blurry due to the pounding headache she was experiencing, and she tried her best to clear her vision. She was confused about why she wasn't in her bed, and she was also confused about why she couldn't remember falling asleep at all.

It wasn't until she heard footsteps coming toward her that she realized where she was.

“Omo!” She cried, wincing at her headache, “J-Jimin? What the h***...?”

Jimin set down a plate of eggs and waffles he had been making right before she woke up, “I made these for you, MariChae. You should eat and take medicine before I try and explain anything to you.”

“But why am I here?” She shook her head, but grabbed the plate he had set down, “how did I end up here?”

Jimin shrugged and nervously laughed as Mari continued blinking since it was working at clearing her vision. “I honestly don't know… I wasn't the one who was here when you showed up. You were asleep by the time I got home.”

Mari felt her gut twist as she looked all around her, “then who was?”

Jimin shot her a nervous smile and just walked away, but that just made her feel even worse. She knew exactly who it was, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

“Oh God,” she mumbled, rubbing her forehead. What all did she say to him last night? Oh this is so incredibly embarrassing! She felt herself grow smaller and smaller in her seat, but she ate the food in front of her despite that. Six years apart, and that’s what she does what she comes back. She was hoping life couldn't be awkward between them since they were both older and more mature, but she doubted it.

The more she thought about it, the more she wished she was sleeping with the fish instead of on this couch.

Oh God, I probably said something about my ex-husband. She swallowed a bite of eggs and tightened her grip on her fork. What was she thinking last night?!

“Mari,” she jumped at Jimin’s voice, thankful that it wasn't Yoongi, “here, you should take this while you eat that. And I have some orange juice if you want any?”

Mari just nodded and took the pills out of his hand. She rested them on the side of the plate while Jimin headed to get some orange juice. Is Yoongi even here? She really hoped not, because maybe then she could leave and just ignore him for the rest of her life. So much for trying to make things less awkward between the two of them.

“Here,” Jimin held out the glass and she took it and drank down the pills he had given her. She expected him to leave again, but instead, he sat down on the smaller couch to her left.

She didn't bother saying anything to hope that he realized that she didn't want to talk, but he just continued sitting there.

“Mari,” Jimin sighed, looking down at the ground, “Do you remember anything from last night? At all?”

She shook her head as she chewed a piece of waffle.

“And you know it’s Yoongi who let you in last night, neh?”

Again, Mari nodded, but this time it was more hesitant.

“He wouldn't tell me what happened last night, so I don't know,” he but his lip, “and he’s still asleep in his room. That guy could sleep for days if I let him.”

Mari tried her best not to crack a smile, but she couldn’t help it. So that didn't change? She didn't think it would change, but she just found it a little funny.

Jimin smiled when he saw her holding back a smile, “I won't get him up until you tell me you’re okay with it, but I can't help it if he wakes up before then.”

Mari took a deep breath, debating whether to say her next thought or not. With little consideration, she opened her mouth after swallowing, “Couldn't I just leave?”

Jimin took a deep breath and looked away, “I was specifically instructed to keep you here to talk to Yoongi. Seokjin said it was your punishment for getting yourself drunk last night while he’s away.”

Mari mumbled a curse at both herself and her brother. She really didn't understand him sometimes. He’s so overprotective and motherly toward her (yes, motherly not fatherly) yet when it comes to Yoongi, he seems to be so careless about what happens. When she moved back, he told her that if she didn't talk to him by choice, he would make her. Sometimes she wonders what goes through his head.

It was silent for a few minutes as Mari finished her breakfast and Jimin took her plate to the kitchen. She enjoyed the food, but she was soon regretting it as she felt the food try and come back up. She forgot she had been drunk the previous night, and proceeded to run to the bathroom and throw up everything she had just eaten. She felt really bad about it and even apologized to Jimin after she got out, but he laughed it off and said it wasn't a big deal.

She had just sat back down on the couch when she felt her breath hitch in her throat. The sound of a door opening could be heard throughout the entire apartment as both Jimin and Mari froze.

Yoongi squinted as he walked out of his room, running his fingers through his hair to try and fix it.

Mari took a deep breath and mentally scolded herself when she started blushing at the sight of him. He looks so cute when he’s just gotten out of bed…

His eyes landed on Mari and then moved to look at Jimin with a confused face. It took him a few seconds, but he started remembering the situation at hand. He felt his nervous come back as he looked at Mari. On the bright side, she was still here after knowing he was here.

“Yoongi, you should talk to her,” Jimin said, patting his friend on the shoulder. He grabbed it tight and moved his mouth to his ear, whispering, “and don't screw this one up.”

His face grew red as he shoved Jimin off. Jimin just giggled girlishly and moved to his room, shutting the door and giving the two privacy that they both really didn't want. Once it was just the two of them, the room got quiet and extremely awkward. Neither knew who should speak first or what to even say, which provided an even longer silence. Yoongi took a deep breath and walked to the kitchen to get something to eat, hoping it would somehow make him feel less awkward.

Unfortunately, it did not. Thankfully for him, he didn’t actually have to start the conversation. After grabbing cereal and heading to sit on the smaller couch, Mari decided to break the silence.

“So, what was the worst thing I said last night?” she felt her heart pounding, “If I hear that, I should be prepared for the rest of what I said.” Yoongi finished chewing a spoonful as he sighed. He played everything back in his mind, and he really couldn’t tell which one she would consider the worst.

...Well, actually, that’s not true.

“Honestly, I think you would find it all embarrassing,” Yoongi just played with his cereal. Mari felt her face heat up and her heart was both racing and aching at the what he said.

“Oh God…” she winced, putting her head in her hands, feeling a little nauseous again. She had a feeling in her gut that told her exactly what she probably said, and it wasn’t anything redeemable.

Yoongi stayed silent, making Mari feel even more awkward. She was getting a little frustrated with him, even though she knew it wasn’t totally right to feel that way. This was probably as hard for him as it was for her.

“You said something about a marriage and it being a mistake.” Yoongi spoke, debating about whether or not to tell her the whole truth. It would save them from an awkward exchange, but part of him felt wrong about keeping it to himself.

Mari nodded with her head in her hands, “Yeah, I knew I said something like that. Is that the worst thing?”

Yoongi took a deep breath, “Not exactly.”

“Of course…” she mumbled through her teeth, running her fingers through her hair in distress, “What else?”

“Do you really want to know?” “Of course I do.” “Really?” “Yes, Yoongi, just tell me.” “I don’t know how to put it…” “Yoongi… just tell me. Try and quote me if you can.”

He looked away from her and then put his bowl of soggy cereal on the coffee table.

“You kept telling me that you wanted me to tell you that I love you,” he said quietly, “And then something about marrying some guy even though you didn’t love him like you love me… or something.”

Mari didn’t move a muscle and Yoongi was too afraid to move. The room was so silent and uncomfortable that even Jimin could feel it from the other room. Yoongi couldn’t tell how she was taking what he just said, and part of him didn’t really want to know.

On the inside, Mari was screaming, but on the outside she was careful to make no movements. She felt a shiver travel through her body as her thoughts started to go to dark places she would rather not be in.

Why did you run away from him?

Hopefully the last part will be posted tomorrow, but I also don’t want to rush it too much... I’m heading to the end, and hopefully the last part will be the next one... I know I’ve said that a lot, but I mean it this time! I might just have to delay it a little bit and just post a longer part... What do you guys think? I hope you’re enjoying the story!

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

-Admin Jinnie

Jerk Barista (AU!Yoongi x OC) Final

IT’S FINISHED! I’m sorry I couldn’t get this out sooner and it’s been a few days since the last one, but I wanted to make sure this ending was pretty good. I hope everyone likes it even though the very end is a little different than the rest of the story’s style. I hope it’s still enjoyable! If you liked it, don’t be afraid to tell me!

Genre: awkward and fluff, and a little something at the end~ Words: 3600+ First - Part 9

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

She broke her stiff figure by pulling up her knees and resting her head on top of them in fetal position. Her face was burning and her heart was pounding in nervousness. What went through his mind last night? Was he thinking about it right now?

“Mari…” Yoongi said really quietly, and she didn’t give him any indication she was listening. He ignored her silence and continued, “Mianhae.”

Mari blinked in shock as she lifted her head in response. “Mwoh…?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, looking down at his lap. He rubbed his nose and then took in a sharp breath, “I just felt like I really needed to say that. I feel like I can never erase what I’ve done to you, and saying sorry is the best I can do.”

Mari just looked at him, dumbfounded. What…?

“It’s sad, I know,” Yoongi laughed, but it sounded more pained than anything, “But no matter what else I do, I’m afraid if I stay close to you, I’ll hurt you again.”

“Hold on,” Mari’s face was the picture of confusion, “Yoongi, are you talking about over six years ago? At the coffee shop?”

Yoongi slightly nodded, looking a little bit like a kid that was about to be scolded by his parents.

“Min Yoongi…” Mari sighed, letting a small smile appear, “Those are the least of my worries. I’ve been hurt far worse than that since then. It was a small problem that I blew out of proportion.”

Yoongi just continued watching her talk, feeling his nerves die down a little. While this was all heartwarming, he couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated with himself. Literally 24 hours ago he said he didn’t care where she was or what she did with her life unless it was out of his.

Yet here he is, a few hours later, staring at her in the face and having a conversation with her that’s making him fall in love with her all over again.

“Oh…” was all he could say. He was at a loss for words, getting lost in his thoughts on what to do next.

Mari was about to say something again when Jimin opened his door and headed into the living room. “Mari, Jin Hyung just called me and he wants to know how things are going.”

Yoongi’s eyes moved to Jimin and Jimin smiled sheepishly at him. Seriously? That’s why he came in here?

“It’s fine,” Mari shrugged, “I guess.”

“You guess?” Jimin asked, raising his eyebrows at Yoongi. Yoongi just glared at him as Jimin now gave a nervous smile. He started to back out with his cell phone up to his ear, “I was just checking!”

“Aish,” Yoongi mumbled, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. Mari let out a slight giggle at the two of them, despite their current awkward situation. Yoongi let out a little smile at her laugh, but he attempted to hide it from her. His attempt failed as Mari looked over at him and sighed, resting her chin on her knees.

What were they even doing? They’re both around 26 and dancing around the main subject that needed to be dealt with. With Jimin making the room less awkward, it was the perfect opportunity. Jimin’s door closed and Mari watched Yoongi’s eyes move to hers.

“Yoongi…” Mari said quietly, “I’m sorry I ended up here last night and totally embarrassed myself in front of you. I’m grateful that you were kind enough to let me into your home and not leave me to do whatever I would have done.”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Yoongi shrugged, “I’m not cold hearted enough to send a drunk girl off on her own… Though now that I said it outloud… why were you drunk?”

Mari looked away from him and gave a nervous laugh, “Well… As I’ve said, my ex husband almost forced me out of town. He didn’t make me move, but he made it unbearable to be there. I moved back here as you know and right after I arrived, I saw you with Taehyung and Jimin. It made me a little upset to see you after so long, so I went home and got drunk a few hours later. It sounds petty and stupid, but sadly that’s what happened.”

Yoongi sat and listened to her story, and after she finished it he had to take a few more seconds to process everything. “I didn’t know you got married,” was his brilliant statement to everything she had just told him. She gave him a face that was the definition of cringe as she cuddled more into the blanket that was with her. She thought for a minute before scooting over a little and patting next to her to make room for Yoongi.

It was then that he finally saw the old Mari again, looking so innocent and vulnerable. Of course she was neither of these things now, but he couldn’t help but see the Mari he had fallen in love with all those years ago.

He got up off the small couch and sat down next to Mari, leaning against one side of the couch. Mari leaned on the other one as they both started talking once again.

“This story is going to sound really awful, because it is, but I married him about two years ago. We had been dating for about six months when he asked me to marry him, and I was too afraid to say no. I had no one around me to tell me it was a bad idea, and I didn’t even tell Seokjin Oppa until he received the wedding invitation. We had a small wedding and didn’t even go on a honeymoon.”

Yoongi just continued listening as Mari would pause to think about her next sentence and then continue speaking.

“I really thought I loved him, but part of me knew I didn’t love him enough. He was so hard to love and he was hard to please as well. I don’t make a good housewife, and that’s all he wanted me to be. I told him I had a degree and I would have liked to use it, but he didn’t care at all. I ended up staying at home a lot of the time and hardly ever went out.”

“It’s honestly amazing how long I stayed with him,” she sighed, leaning her head against the side of the couch. She looked from Yoongi to her knees as he just stayed silent, ready to continue listening.

“It took me about a year and a half for him to finally let me have a job, but he told me I wouldn’t have it long since he wanted a child. The moment he started to say that, I realized that if I didn’t want to have to deal with him for the rest of my life, I better get out now. About a week after he told me he wanted a kid, I told him I wanted a divorce…”

Yoongi noticed her trail off, hesitating to explain the rest. He could only imagine what had happened after that, and he was about to tell her to stop where she was. Before he could get a word out, he saw tears fall from her eyes and drip on the blanket. She covered up the wet spots with her arms and was trying to pretend she didn’t start crying. Yoongi was not about to let her pretend she was okay, so he reached out and pulled her head up by her chin.

She began to shake and sniff when she looked him in the eyes. Yoongi was a little shocked by how she had seem so cool and collected telling him about all these horrible things, only to fall apart in the matter of seconds. Maybe it was just a girl thing he didn’t understand, but he was having issues figuring out what to do.

Thankfully, she answered that question for him. She shifted positions and moved closer to him, and he let her rest her head on his shoulder. He found himself awkwardly moving his arm around her and try to comfort her, finding this all new and weird. He had a few previous girlfriends, but none of them would snuggle up to him like this. They were almost touch-me-nots, and plus he didn’t date them for long enough to have more than a kiss and an occasional hug.

While he felt slightly awkward at first, her breathing started to relax him as he did what felt natural and pulled her closer. She sniffed a few more times before taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

“Y-Yoongi…” she tried to say something but he shushed her and shook his head.

“I don’t have to hear anything else, Mari,” he said softly, “I don’t want you to have to say anything out loud that you’re not ready to say.”

Mari wiped the tears from her eyes, “I’ve already had to say it out loud. I had to tell Seokjin Oppa. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know how I would have been able to survive divorcing him.” More tears came as she felt herself crying a little harder, “He’s really an amazing brother, and I’m his deadbeat sister who makes terrible decisions.”

“Yah,” Yoongi looked at her but she moved her face into his shoulder to try and hide, “You’re still his little sister, and just because you’re in this bad situation doesn’t make you a deadbeat. All it means is that you’ve realized that you need to turn your life around.”

Mari peaked one of her eyes out to glance at Yoongi, hiding it again when she saw him looking at her, “I just wish I could do something for him like he does for me.”

“You will one day,” Yoongi nodded, rubbing her back softly, hoping it would help her relax, “Besides we both know he doesn’t mind. He’s probably one of the nicest people in Korea.”

Mari smiled at that and nodded in his shoulder, “Yeah… he really is.”

It was comfortably silent in the room for a few minutes as the two just sat together listening to the other breathe. Mari looked up at Yoongi who had closed his eyes and she smiled, feeling more tears form in her eyes. She couldn’t believe that she was really sitting with Min Yoongi, the love of her life, and he didn’t even mind how close she was. She couldn’t help but feel her love for him growing stronger the longer she looked at him.

Yoongi slowly opened one of his eyes, locking onto Mari’s. Both his eyes opened to look at her as her heart started racing even faster. He felt his moving faster as a blush was creeping on her face.

Mari mentally scolded herself for blushing, but their close proximity, added in with her train of thought, provided a scenario she couldn't help but blush at.

Yoongi thought for a moment before he pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. He felt a blush creep onto his own face as he took a deep breath, “You know that you have me and the other guys now. It doesn’t matter what happened with that jerk you married. He can’t do anything to you anymore.”

Mari sniffed slightly and swallowed a lump that was forming in her throat. She had only dreamed of him saying something sweet to her like this, so having it actually happen was overwhelming for her. His eyes opened to look at her and she looked to him, barely able to contain herself.

Before either of them registered anything, Mari’s lips crashed on his, and his lips immediately responded. The kiss felt desperate and heated, but at the same time it was passionate and careful. Yoongi’s arms pulled her closer and Mari leaned into him more as they broke for air and then kissed again. Mari’s arms moved from underneath the blanket to his neck, fingers moving through his hair. The kiss was getting even more heated the longer they kissed, and Mari’s mind felt a little panicked all of the sudden.

All too quickly she pulled away and felt a whole mix of emotions hit her at once. Yoongi’s face was really red and his mind and common sense was slowly coming back to him. Mari moved her arms back under the blanket and wrapped it tightly around her, feeling her body shake a little.

Yoongi’s confused yet aroused state suddenly dissipated as he felt her body quivering, not sure whether to touch her or to let her move away from him. Mari had buried her face into her knees once again, sitting as far away from him as she could get.

All he could do was sit there and wait, because the last thing he wanted to do was upset her further. Was it the kiss? She was the one that kissed him, so maybe she’s regretting it?

“Yoongi,” Mari’s voice was hushed and Yoongi’s eyes were on her. She lifted her head a little, but only so much that her voice was a little clearer, “I need to tell you.”

She hugged her knees closer and looked up, afraid to meet eye contact with him. She wanted to move closer, but at the same time, it was hard for her to. She wasn’t ready to do it again, even if it was with Yoongi… She wanted to- God she wanted to so bad, but she just wasn’t ready.

“Mari…” Yoongi started to whisper, but she cut him off.

“He forced me to have sex with him,” Mari started, taking deep breaths to get through her explanation, “Not only did he force me to have sex, it was unprotected sex.”

Yoongi felt his eyes widen at her words as he wished he could pull her closer. By the look on her face, he could tell she was not taking any of it well, “Mari… Oh God…”

“I-” Mari stopped to take another deep breath, “I’ve been on several different types of birth control since then, but I’m… I’m terrified.” She felt more tears, “I don’t want to kill a baby inside of me, but I also don’t want to have any more ties to that b******.”

Yoongi couldn’t help it anymore and reached out to pull her a little closer. She slowly moved closer to him and leaned against him again. He wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her head, “Mianhae, MariChae… I swear I’ll f***ing kill that guy if I have to. I’ll be here to protect you, as well as Seokjin Hyung.”

Mari took another deep breath and totally relaxed in his arms. She felt really comfortable and safe in his arms, and he helped all of her fears melt away. “I’m sorry I broke down right then. I don’t want you to think I wasn’t enjoying the kiss…”

Yoongi’s chin rested on her head, “I didn’t think it was because of that… I honestly didn’t even think about what made you think of it.”

Mari’s face started to turn a deep shade of red as his next words came out, “What made you think of it?”

“I- uh…” she suddenly got really nervous, turning her head away from his, “My mind was just wandering.”

Yoongi got confused with her words up until he noticed her face was a deep shade of red. He could only imagine what was going through her mind, so he just let her by. “Ah, arraseo.”

There was another comfortable silence between the two, and Yoongi even started dozing off. It wasn’t till Jimin bursted into the room and scared both of them awake, “OH MY GOD FINALLY.”

Mari and Yoongi jumped to different sides of the couch as they gave Jimin an unimpressed look. Mari found herself suppressing giggles only seconds later when Jimin bowed in apology.

“Mianhae… I’m just happy you two are finally together. It’s about time.”

Yoongi’s face got red, “Jimin, we’re-”

“-thankful that you’re happy for us, but don’t scare us next time, please?” Mari gave him a nervous smile and Jimin just laughed and nodded.

Yoongi looked over to Mari and she looked to him with a smile on her face. He couldn’t help but sigh as a smiled appeared on his face.

It was only months later that Yoongi and Mari had gotten so comfortable together that they weren’t nervous around the other anymore. Their growing comfort lead the rest of the guys to start placing bets on when they would have sex, when they would move in, and when they would get married, and in what order those would happen.

As time kept going by and more and more bets were won or lost, Mari and Yoongi found themselves getting married. After making sure she wasn’t going to have her ex-husband’s baby, she told Yoongi that she was okay with having sex. Him being awkward and weird when it came to relationship things he had never done before, he suggested they marry first. He was afraid that Mari would say no, but she actually found the idea better than hers.

Needless to say, They moved in first, got married second, and had sex last. In the end, I think Seokjin won the order and Jimin won the time it would take until the events happened.

On a more serious note, the two of them went back to some of their old habits like Mari leaving a mess and Yoongi having to clean it up somehow, but it worked for the two of them.

“Yoongi,” Mari spoke as Yoongi looked up from the TV. She was laying in his lap and he leaned down and placed a short kiss on her lips. “Is it hard for you to believe that we actually ended up being together?”

Yoongi laughed and nodded, “Definitely. I thought I was over you 100% and was planning on avoiding you when I came back.” He paused for a few seconds as Mari started to sit up and look him in the eyes from his level, “And all I can say is thank God you decided to get drunk that night.”

Before Mari could say a word, Yoongi placed a little passionate kiss on her lips, causing her heart to flutter. “Yoongi, you are such a fluffball…”

His eyebrows raised, “What?”

“Fluffball,” Mari repeated, giggling, “Who knew you could be so sweet in a relationship even if you come off as not liking girls.”

Yoongi just took a deep breath and shrugged, “I think it’s just you infecting me. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

“Aigoo,” Mari smiled and poked his nose, “You’re starting to say really cheesy things, you know.”

“Once again, that’s you infecting me,” Yoongi shrugged and closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the couch. “Can I ask you something? It might be out of line, but I’m curious…”

Mari looked him in the eyes again as he opened his, “What is it?”

He swallowed some nerves and debated whether he should say it or not.Maybe it was too out of line… he didn’t want to upset her…

“Ah… I’m afraid to ask…”

“Yah, you’ve brought it up, now you have to say it,” Mari pouted, causing Yoongi to groan. One of his biggest weaknesses was her pouting, and she know it all too well.

“Aish, fine…” he mumbled, “...Am I… uh… better?”

Mari blinked several times and then raised her eyebrows, “Huh? Elaborate?”

Yoongi scratched the back of his head with a nervous look on his face, “Am I better than he was…?”

Mari just stared at him for a few seconds before she understood what he was trying to ask. She didn’t changed her expression one bit and just stared at him, causing him to look away and start to get up.

“N-Nevermind,” he spoke, moving away from her, “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Mari couldn’t contain her reaction anymore as she began giggling at him, causing him to turn around and glare at her. He laughs didn’t stop as she got up and moved to Yoongi, wrapping her arms around him, “Omo, you are too cute…”

Yoongi’s face was so hot you could grill something on it as he slowly began to hug her back. She continued laughing for a few more seconds before pulling away to look at him. His red face made her giggle a little more, but she stopped when he looked away from her in a pout.

She moved his head to look at her as she brushed her nose against his, breathing on his lips. He caved in to temptation as he leaned in to kiss her. She returned the kiss and deepened it in a matter of seconds. The kiss was getting really heated really fast as Mari broke away for air. Yoongi looked at her with lustful eyes as she just smirked.

“You’re way better than him in every way…” she whispered, running her hand down his chest, “No one can beat you.”

Yoongi found a smirk forming on his face as he picked her up and pressed her against the wall, placing a heated kiss on her lips. She returned it with the smirk still on her face, thinking about how easy it was to please him sometimes.

“I hope you know what you’ve started,” he whispered in her ear as she giggled. She knew very well because she could feel it.

“I know,” she whispered back, “and I’m more than ready for it.”

Yoongi gave her another kiss, except this one was more sweet than anything. She ran her fingers through his hair and her other hand was placed on the side of his neck. When they pulled away, she sighed and smiled, “I love you, Min Yoongi.”

“I love you, too, Kim MariChae.”

Ah!!! It’s over! I’m actually pretty sad, because like with Emotionless, it’s a bitter sweet thing when you finish a story you’ve been working on! I hope it was enjoyable to the very end! Please stick around my blog for more stories that I’ll post soon! I only post things, I don’t reblog, so if you turn on notifications for this blog it won’t blow up your notifications! Wow shameless advertisement is shameless Thank you for reading!!!

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

-Admin Jinnie

When Fangirling About K-Pop Around Friends Pt 11

(BTS Festa)

Me: omg I can't take this anymore

Friend: what?

Me: J-Hope is planning something

Friend: oh, right, Koreans

Me: he is doing SOMETHING AND I DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT I-

Friend: omg SHUSH we are in public

Me: BUT HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO HASNT POSTED A SONG OR A COVER OR-

Friend: *covers mouth* I GET IT this hope guy is planning something you don't like

Me: but I do like it

Friend: but you just said you don't like it

Me: how could I not like something the great Jung Hoseok would release?

Friend: Jung who? I thought you were talking about some hope guy-

Me: he is the literal SUN AND I WILL SUPPORT HIM WITH EVERYTHING I HAVE

Friend: oh my god PLEASE CALM DOWN

Me: okay okay

Me: I will

Friend: good

Me: yeah

Friend:

Me:

Friend:

Me:

Friend:

Me: BUT WHY IS HE THE ONLY MEMBER WHO DIDNT HAVE A SONG FOR THE FESTA-

Friend: OKAY, that is the last time I hang out with you in public

(Masterlist: http://k-popscenxrios.tumblr.com/post/123669134408/funny-scenarios-masterlist?is_related_post=1 )

-Admin Jinnie

Flashdrive (Yoongi x OC)

Oh no I have another high school AU because I’m trash for high school AUs. I actually wrote this ages ago and I’m just now posting it because I was too lazy to actually post this earlier. I actually have like one or two other stories that are finished but I’m just lazy x.x

Summary: School group projects were the absolute worst, and I just had to be paired up with him.

Words: 4,700+ Genre: Fluff because I love fluff all day every day

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

"What do you mean you didn't do anything on the project?!" I yelled, frowning at the guilty culprit. Who did he think he was?! The project is due tomorrow and we still have so much to do! We agreed that we would work on certain parts then fix it all so that it looked nice and presentable, but thanks to him, we only have half the project done, not including the editing.

"It's no big deal," he shrugged as I shot another glare at him, "it didn't take you long to work on your part, so if you help me it shouldn't take us-"

"Wait," I stopped him, "did you think that everything would be okay because I could just do your part for you? Min Yoongi, I cannot believe you!"

He slightly glared at me, "You gave me the harder portion of the project, and I'm not as smart as you are, Miss 'I have to get 100s on everything'."

I stomped over to the chair he was sitting in as I made sure my shout didn't echo throughout the classroom. While the school was mostly empty, I still didn't want it to travel down the halls.

"It's not my fault that I actually care… and you're just too busy sleeping all the time!" I barked back at him, "You could get better grades if you just tried."

Yoongi sighed and put his feet up in the chair that was across the row from his, right in my way. I frowned and kicked his feet down, pulling him up from the chair he was practically laying in.

"What?" He glared at me as I grabbed his arm, attempting to pull him to the computer lab.

"We have to go finish this project, Min Yoongi," I spat at him, "I knew this would happen when we got paired up."

Yoongi just glared at me, "Would you stop using my full name? Just use Suga-"

"Shut up, Min Yoongi, I'll call you whatever I want."

"Yah, I'm a year older than you, show some respect!"

I glared at him and pulled on his arm again, but he was too strong for me.

"I'll show you respect once you give me a good reason to." I snapped at him as he scoffed.

"I just did; I'm older than you." He glared at me as he threw my hand off.

"Then act like it, Min Yoongi."

We were both silently glaring at each other for a few moments before Yoongi just scoffed again and bumped my shoulder while trying to pass me.

"Yah!" I called to him, but he just ignored me and continued walking, "where are you-"

"Are you coming?" He called back at me, causing my eyebrows to slightly raise.

"Coming...?"

"To the computer lab, Pabo."

I blinked and watched him disappear around a corner, causing me to rush after him. What exactly was that just now?

I quickly caught up to him and he stuck his hands in his pockets, pulling a flash drive out of one of his pockets.

"I thought you didn't work on it?" I raised an eyebrow as he rolled his eyes, "I had your flash drive. You gave it to me, remember?"

I stayed silent and looked at the flash drive, my face turning slightly red, "R-right..."

I quickly grabbed it from his hand as I bumped his shoulder while rushing past him. Did I really just give him my flash drive? What was I thinking? I have personal documents that he could've gotten into if he wanted…

What was I thinking?

I quietly moved to the computer furthest from him as he followed behind me. I sat down in the chair and plugged the flash drive in, nervously turning the computer on.

“You got quiet all the sudden,” Yoongi said from behind me as I ignored him, “It’s kinda weirding me out.”

I attempted to brush off my nerves as I looked to him and raise an eyebrow, “And you’re standing five meters away from me when you should be sitting at this computer working on your portion of the project.”

He made a stupid face at me and then sat down in the seat next to me, “Why do you always seem to be pissed off?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “I’m only this way when I’m around lazy people like you.”

He scoffed and let out a little laugh as I turned back to look at the computer. We were silent again as I clicked on the powerpoint that my lazy partner didn’t bother to…

“...What?” I looked at the powerpoint and blinked several times, “You told me you didn’t do it…”

“I said I didn’t do anything to your flashdrive, Pabo. I did my portion of the project.”

I looked over to Yoongi who was slouched in his chair, putting his feet up on the computer desk. We were both silent as I sat there, processing what exactly just happened.

“Y-yah!” I cried as I shoved his chair, making it roll so that his feet dropped. He just smirked and laughed at me as I crossed my arms across my chest, “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

Yoongi just sighed and rolled back next to me placing his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and propping his feet back up on the computer desk, “Your reaction was priceless, so I just went along with it.”

I glared at him for the 20th time today as he just smirked, making me want to slap it off. “That was cruel, Min Yoongi. This is why no one likes you.”

He looked to me and raised his eyebrows, moving his feet back down to the floor. He rolled the chair closer to mine as I tried to back away. My chair quickly hit the wall as he continued moving closer.

“Some people do like me,” he said, leaning closer to me.

“Y-yah, you’re getting too close,” I tried to push him away, but the wheels on our chairs got hooked together, so neither of our chairs moved.

My nerves started to grow as his intense eyes burned into mine, causing my eyes to stay on his. I continuously cursed myself as my heartbeat even started to increase. My mind started to flash back to last year when I started to develop a huge crush on him, only for him to be extremely rude to me when I tried to talk to him.

I tried to get closer to him, but my friends eventually got me to see how much of a jerk he was. Ever since then, I’ve looked down on him as the lazy jerk that he is.

...So why is his closeness making my heart race?

“You’re being quiet again,” he spoke as I snapped out of my thoughts.

“And you’re getting too close,” I barked back at him, but he just raised his eyebrows again in a way that made my blood boil. He’s confusing me way too much right now.

“Does it bother you?” he asked as he started lean in even closer and I placed a hand on his chest to push him back.

“Y-Yes, it does,” I silently cursed myself for stuttering, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“It wouldn’t be bothering you if it had been last year, would it?”

I blinked at his words, but on the inside I was screaming. He probably went through my documents, he probably saw one with his name on it, and he probably clicked on it.

I felt my nerves shoot up as he smirked. He could tell that I realized what he was talking about.

“So, what was it that it said again?” he asked me as I glared at him, “it said that you… liked me… right?”

I knew where he was trying to go with this, and I was not gonna let him sit here and make fun of me. No matter what, I was gonna walk away the winner.

“It doesn’t matter what it said,” I shrugged off my previous nerves with those words. I’m determined to win this.

“Why not?” he asked as we both intensely stared at each other.

“Because I came to my senses. I was wasting my time liking a jerk like you, Min Yoongi.” I spat back at him, but his expression didn’t waver.

“Came to your senses?” he asked, “if that’s true, then why were you getting nervous a minute ago when I moved closer to you?”

“Because anyone would?” I replied, crossing my arms across my chest. I was gonna win this. He doesn’t have anything over me that could make me break, especially since I don’t like him anymore.

Yoongi copied my moves as I smirked. He didn’t have anything but to copy me? This will be so easy.

“You called me handsome,” he stated as I shrugged.

“Just as any girl would say about a crush she has on a guy.” I responded as he didn’t move.

“You said you missed when I had an obvious lisp. You called it adorable.”

“Of course I would say that, I had a crush on you. What was I supposed to say?”

“You said you wanted to kiss me,” he started to lean toward me as my eyes widened.

“I did not!” I defended, “I never once said that to anyone!”

“But you thought it, right?”

I glared at him and leaned closer to him, “I didn’t think that even once.”

He stayed where he was as I smirked, “I could go like this all day, you know.”

He stayed quiet and I raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to say something. His expression was blank and he stayed quiet for a few more seconds.

“Not once, hm?”

I blinked and nodded once, “Yep. Not every girl thinks about that you know. I didn’t say I was in love with you, it was just a crush-”

I was cut off by his lips crashing onto mine, and my eyes widened as I pushed him away.

“Wh-what the-?”

“You’ve thought about it now, right?”

"Well of course I have! You kissed me!"

It was silent between us as I glared at him, and he slightly smirked at me which made my blood boil.

"Well you can't say that you haven't thought about it now, can you?"

My glare intensified as he just continued to smirk, "Of course not. Do you think that’ll make you win?”

His smirk was still as strong as ever as I felt my hands curl into fists. “No.”

“Then why would you-”

I was cut off again as his nose brushed against mine. My breathing stopped short, my eyes widened, and my heart was beating a million miles a minute. I looked into his eyes and they were looking back at me with humor.

I swallowed nervously as my fist unclenched and laid limp in my lap. Why was I so nervous…?

“You’re enjoying this,” he whispered, his breath coming in contact with my chin and lips.

After his words processed, I looked at him with a look of horror and shoved him off, “I am no-”

“It took you a while to shove me off.” he shrugged, moving close to me again. Aish, when will he stop?!

“I was caught off guard!” I defended, but his look of amusement and joy from my pain didn’t falter.

“But you weren’t caught off guard when I kissed you? You reacted fast to that.”

I blinked a few times and frowned while thinking about it. I couldn’t think of anything to say…

“You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

My eyes widened and I shook my head furiously, “I did not!”

“So you wouldn’t want me to do it again?”

I swallowed and then looked away, shocking myself with my hesitance in answering his question. Surely I didn’t want him to… I couldn’t have enjoyed…

Before I could gather all my thoughts, his lips were on mine again, and I could feel his smirk against my mouth.

I found my heart thumping even harder as his lips stayed on mine, and I found myself become slightly addicted to the taste of his lips.

In those few minutes I had lost all of my thoughts and reasonings; all I could think about was how Yoongi’s lips felt really good against mine. Dare I even say, I started to kiss him back.

I think I took him by surprise when my lips moved against his, but he didn’t fail to pull me into another kiss after we broke for air.

My hands actually started moving up his chest, slowly grabbing his shirt to pull him a little closer.

After a few more seconds, we broke for air again. Instead of kissing again, we both looked at each other as we tried to catch our breath.

It wasn’t till he spoke that my mind came back to me, “You don’t like me anymore, huh?”

My eyes slowly became wider as his smirk played on his face again. My hand let go of his shirt and I cleared my throat, trying to find another way to explain what just happened.

But my heart was yelling at me something I’d rather not hear.

“So if you’re actually in love with me, can you stop playing hard to get?” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, looking extremely attractive as he did so. He did that to me on purpose…

“I am not-!” I paused as his words processed, “...Wait, stop playing hard to get?” I asked, looking away from him, “Stop playing hard to get how?”

Yoongi slightly groaned as he leaned back in his chair, looking away from me. Is he... Blushing?

"I'm just saying go out with me already. You know, cause you like me and everything."

My eyebrows raised as a smirk was finding its way on my face. Was Min Yoongi confessing to me?

"Yah... Are you confessing to me?" I asked, not bothering to hide my smirk. He shot up and glared at me rolling his chair away slightly.

"What the- why would I be confessing to you??" He continued glaring as I just rolled closer in my chair and put a hand on his cheek.

"Yoongi, are you really going to lie to me again?" I asked, gaining back my cocky attitude. He thought he could throw me under the bus without me bringing him with me?

"Y-yah-" his glare wavered for a second before looking away, moving my hand from his face.

“Come on, Yoongi~,” I sang in his direction, and he turned away from me. His face was so red and I was loving teasing him. I’ve never seen him like this, so I felt very powerful. I, of all people, can make the one and only Min Yoongi blush and feel embarrassed. I decided to throw my pride to the wind just to tease him.

“Oppa~,” I smiled, and his eyes widened. He looked to me and then to the floor with a more embarrassed look on his face. Omo this was so fun.

“What the h***, Jun Minyoung…” Yoongi said my name for the first time today as I just continued acting all cute to make him uncomfortable. I would die if anyone else saw me right now, but I was having too much fun having this power over Yoongi. This was so evil, but I loved it.

“What~?” I pouted, but Yoongi didn’t dare look at me, “Oppa… I thought you liked me, yet you won’t even look at-”

Yoongi grabbed me by the tops of my arms as his red face looked up to face mine. His eyes were slit open in a glare as I snapped out of my teasing state. He looked so pissed and embarrassed at the same time, and despite feeling slightly intimidated, I loved seeing him like that.

“You’ve got some nerve…” he mumbled, moving his face closer to mine. I tried to swallow my nerves as he stopped inches away from my face. I could feel his breath on my lips, and I tried to not focus on the fact that he was so close. I found the courage in myself to glare back at him as he seemed slightly surprised that I did so. Did he not think I had the nerve to stand up for myself?

“I do,” I ended up replying as his grip on my arms loosened. He leaned back in his chair a little as his hands left my arms and his eyes shifted to the ground. His attitude is all over the place today…

It was painfully silent in the room for a while until he changed positions again. He seemed to regain his confidence, which I felt myself smiling at. As I said, he is all over the place today.

He glared at me as I laughed, and it caused me to laugh a little harder. “God, what are you laughing at?” He said in annoyance. I covered my mouth and cleared my throat to try and stop the giggles, but it was failing.

He took a deep breath and his face turned red. For once in my life, I witnessed Min Yoongi at a loss for words. This was a great show that I was getting to witness.

Without saying anything else, he turned to the computer and started to go through the project as if nothing had happened. I had almost forgotten that we were in here for our project.

“Min Yoongi,” I shook my head, “you can't just avoid this subject now. You've dug your hole too deep to get out of.”

He turned to look at me with a glare on his face, but it was weak compared to the previous ones.

“There’s nothing else to talk about. Just forget everything that was said.” He tried to shrug it off, but I was not about to let him get away with it.

“If you like me, Yoongi, just tell me. I'm not going to tease you like I did a minute ago.” I cleared my throat, watching his face turn a deeper shade of red. He glared at me once more, and this glare was a little stronger than the first one.

“I don't like you,” he snapped, but he didn't sound confident at all. “Who would like someone like you?”

“If you don't like me, why did you ask me out?” I didn't let his comments get to me. If a lie like that got to me, I wouldn't stand a chance getting him to admit it.

Though part of me was wondering why I cared so much about making him admit it.

And the other part of me knew the answer, but wasn't going to admit it.

“I didn't…” he lied through his teeth, and I just sighed. Was I going to have to?

I took a deep breath and rolled my chair closer to him as I grabbed his hand. His eyes widened at the contact as he tried to pull away from me, but I held onto his hand as tight as I could.

“Let go,” he mumbled, but I didn't even respond. Instead, I pulled his hand closer to me where it rested in my lap. He glanced at me for a few seconds before he looked back at the computer screen in front of him.

“Min Yoongi, do you realize how pathetic you’re being right now?” I asked, hoping to get a reaction out of him. As I expected, he turned to look at me with a glare.

“I am not being pathetic!” He yelled in defense, but I took another deep breath and pulled him towards me. Our faces were quickly only inches apart as I raised my eyebrows.

“Tell me, Yoongi,” I started to speak before his brain could register what just happened, “how uncomfortable is this making you right now?”

He didn't say anything and he just looked at me with panicked eyes. I've never seen him so helpless before, and I couldn't deny that I loved it. Who knew that someone like me could break him so easily?

My mouth was only inches from his as his breath quickened against my skin. He swallowed and his eyes tried to find anywhere to look at other than me. He was holding himself together by thin threads up until I finally broke them all with one sentence.

“It's not a sin to like someone, Yoongi… especially if they like you back.”

It took him less than a second to press his lips against mine as I sighed against his skin. This kiss felt a lot more genuine than the others as his lips moved against mine slowly. He pulled my chair to hit his as I put my arms on his shoulders. He pulled away for a few seconds before putting one hand on the back of my neck and pulling me in for another kiss. I kept my eyes closed as Yoongi caressed my face with one hand and ran his fingers through my hair with the other.

“Whoa.”

I was quick to react to the voice as I shoved Yoongi off of me. The face that I turned to look at nervously was thankfully not a teacher, but it was not much better. It was one of Min Yoongi’s friends… I think his name is Hoseok, but I'm not too familiar with him so I'm not sure.

“Hyung-”

“What are you doing here?” Yoongi suddenly asked and Hoseok smiled. His smile made me smile even though I knew Yoongi was unhappy with him being in here.

“I was looking for you because Namjoon was supposed to give Jungkook a ride home, but he left without him. Jin Hyung is really upset because he has singing lessons and can't take him home and I don't drive to school so…”

I tried to hold back a few giggles and Yoongi sighed and put his head in his hands. It was interesting seeing this side of his life, even if I was only getting little bits of detail.

“What about Jimin?” He asked in a whiny tone that was muffled by his hands. That made it harder for me to not laugh as I looked at Hoseok who was smiling at me.

“He’s with Taehyung somewhere, but I haven't been able to find them.”  He smiled sheepishly as I sighed, looking from Yoongi back to Hoseok. I never realized how adorable he was until now, and I was having issues not gushing over it.

Yoongi looked up at Hoseok and nodded before waving him off, “Fine, I'll take him home, but leave me alone, tell him to just wait by my locker or something.”

Hoseok nodded and then looked at me with his adorable smile. “I'm sorry I ignored you Minyoung, I know Hyung’s mad so I better go.”

“Wait-” I said before he started to head out and Yoongi looked at me with a weird look. “How did you know my name? We’ve never been in the same class, and I'm not someone people talk about.”

Hoseok nodded and looked at Yoongi with his smile that seemed to hardly leave his face, “Hyung may have said a thing or two.”

I raised my eyebrows and was about to turn to look at Yoongi when he got up and started to make his way to the door way.

“I've gotta take Jungkook home so I'll-”

I was quick to get up and catch his arm, only to pull him closer and rest my cheek on his arm, “you talked about me to your friends?” I felt my heart flutter at the thought as Yoongi refused to look at me and tried to shoo Hoseok away.

“He definitely has brought you up a few times…” Hoseok said as he started to flee the room before Yoongi could kill him, “have a nice day love-birds!”

“Why you-” Yoongi grumbled in this throat with clinched teeth, but I stopped him from going anywhere.

“Hey, you can’t just walk away on that note,” I scolded him, but he avoided my gaze. “Do you really like me that much?” I felt a smile cross my face as he continued looking anywhere but at me.

“Don’t rub it in,” he grumbled, pulling me with him out of the room. I continued to hold onto his arm and taunted him a little more.

“So you’re actually a fluff ball, but you pretend not to be?” I poked his arm, but he ignored me. I couldn’t stop smiling as I saw his cheeks turn light red.

“Fluff ball?” he scoffed, “Who do you think I am?” His eyes were slit like he was glaring, but he didn’t look my way. Judging from what happened earlier, I knew he would break easily if he tried to act tough in front of me.

“I think that you’re a lot more complicated than you let on,” I seriously answered, switching gears. “You put on a tough exterior, but you’re actually really sweet…”

He didn’t say anything as I looked at his sleeve. I picked off a stray blonde hair that was probably his as I continued talking, “I like that sweet Yoongi better than the tough Yoongi.”

His eyes glanced at me for a second before sighing and halting his steps. I stopped along with him as I continued watching him. I was about to open my mouth and say something to him, but before I could, he turned and placed a kiss on my forehead.

I felt a blush creep on my face as he pulled away from the kiss, looking me in the eyes. His face was turning an even deeper shade of red the longer he looked at me, and I smiled.

He didn’t waste any time before leaning in for a soft kiss on the lips. It was the softest kiss he had given me today as I smiled and kissed him back. He was being so gentle with me that I couldn’t believe that it was actually Min Yoongi that I was kissing.

We didn’t kiss for too long in fear of being seen, but once we pulled away, we stayed close. He looked at me and gave me a real, genuine smile for the first time today. I sighed and smiled back at him, giving a small peck on the lips.

Sweet Yoongi was going to be the death of me.

“Hyuuuuung!” I heard someone call down the hall. The two of us stepped apart slightly as a boy who I assumed was Jungkook ran around the corner behind us. “There you are! Oh…”

He looked at me for a second, not knowing what to say or who I was. Once he looked to Yoongi, a smile appeared on his face that reminded me of a bunny. Why do he and all of his friends have cute smiles?

“You must be Minyoung Noona,” he slightly bowed towards me as I bowed slightly in reply, “I’m Hyung’s friend Jungkook.”

“I know,” I smiled, “I heard he has to take you home.”

Jungkook nodded as he looked back at Yoongi, “Yeah, Hyung, I need to be home soon! Whatever is going on here, please hurry.” He smiled apologetically in my direction, “I don’t want to rush you two, but I really don't want to get in trouble.”

“It's alright,” I replied while looking back at Yoongi. He was looking at me with a look I didn't understand before he turned to Jungkook.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. Jungkook nodded and messed with the straps on his backpack.

I looked at Jungkook and then at his backpack when I suddenly realized something.

“Omo…” I whispered, catching Yoongi’s attention. He raised an eyebrow at me as I turned around and started to run in the direction we came from. I was about to run past him and just yell goodbye back at him, but I found myself thinking of another idea.

I quickly placed a kiss on his cheek before continuing to run off. It looked like he hadn't even registered what happened until I yelled back at him.

“I left my stuff in the lab! I'll see you two tomorrow!” I called, waving at them. Jungkook waved back at me before I disappeared from their sight.

“Nice one, Hyung~.”

“Don't. Just go to the car.”

Yoongiiiiiii Omg I love Yoongi so much But really who doesn’t?

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

Admin Jinnie

the bedroom hymns ● chapter i

⟶ Chapter summary | It is time for your night escapade to come to an end, for you to return to the real world and face the reality waiting back home. You return home celebrating the brief sense of freedom that you found tonight, completely oblivious to the presence secretly watching you from afar.

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Fantasy au, Fairytale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 8,2k words ⟶ Ratings & Warnings | +18 / M for Mature; nothing much for this chapter, only appearances of alcohol use, drinking, rumours about serial killers, mentions of abductions ⟶ Story Masterlist | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Taglist: @borahaerhy​ — @manjir0 — @veronawrites​ — @petalsofink​ — @mrskimjoon​ — @piecsblog​ — @lithelilith​ — @janura26 — @itsshaydeekaydee​ — @unsureofwhathappens​

chapter i. when the stars are aligned

Even when the night has turned dark and deep, the beauty of Smotia is hard to conceal.

Perched atop of one of the highest hills on the outskirts of the city, you earn a good view of Smotia from high up. Normally, you wouldn’t have lingered far too long during your night excursions, in fear of getting lost track of time—which is something that has happened to you before—and for getting found out that you had escaped from home or being recognised by someone you may come across. But your curiosity had drawn you up here, unable to deny your desire to have one last good look of the place that you call home.

Keep reading

blind!yoongi

decided to finally rewrite this damn thing.

what’s in it: fluff, smut, female!reader, cursing(?) word count: over 9k lmao

++++

There was a bit of a problem.

“_____, could you please stop staring at him for five seconds and help us with this problem set?” Your friends voice brought you out of your reverie and you dragged your eyes away from the boy that had been plaguing your thoughts.

Conversations floated all around you in the bustling coffee shop located conveniently on campus, and you heard a loud laugh come from the table he sat at, one of his friend’s head pulled back with mirth, the boy’s lips quirked up in a satisfied smirk.

The boy in question was in your Music Theory class. He sat in the back, never took notes, and constantly whispered to his friend beside him. The whispers were distracting on their own, but the boy was also disarmingly beautiful with pouty lips and sleepy eyes.

He never looked you in the eyes.

Keep reading

lilac;

member- yoongi

genre- fluff, au

words- 1,819

summary-  “au where you have a stripe of your soulmate’s hair color on your wrist and if they dye their hair the stripe changes colors” soulmate!au

a/n- !!! im sure you guys have seen this au idea before, but i still hope you like my take on it! btw it is an au, but everything is the same except that people have soulmates. BTS is still famous in this! (this gif was the closest to lilac i could find lol)

The club’s lights hurt your eyes, but that may be the liquor talking.

“How long have we been here?” you ask your closest friend, Euna, with a bit of boredom laced between your words. She only shrugs.

“Like an hour. Why?” she asks while taking a swig of her beer. You sigh and shake your head.

Keep reading

I Ship It | Suga ft. Jin

Summary lines: Different members of BTS are subtly matchmaking other members to you

“I swear, he’s not scary. A little serious…okay, a lot serious. But when he hears you’re ARMY, he’ll be very nice, I promise you.” Jin smiled as he led you through the hallways of BigHit.

You’re Jin’s classmate and you got to work with him through two projects in the past two semesters, lucky you! He had such a brotherly feel to him, with a dash of motherly care, of course.

You knew that he wouldn’t be showing up on school grounds for a while now, since BTS had quite a bit of work to prepare for the next album. So you were going to be a good friend, and ARMY, by supporting him through school work; helping him catch up, reminding him of any upcoming quizzes or homework he can actually turn in online, etc. As his gratitude, he invited you for coffee in the local coffee shop while you share class notes with him, but first, stop by to say hi to all the BTS members!

The dance line was in the dance studio, stretching out before practicing some new moves. You actually got to see a glimpse of the legendary serious J-Hope as he was making small moves to track his choreo. When he saw an unfamiliar face, he immediately stopped to know who you were. Jin had introduced you and J-hope automatically turned into his sunshine state and shook your hand vigorously. Luckily you haven’t seen anything concrete so the choreo was safe to continue to work on. Jimin was a smiling angel and Jungkook was polite.

V and Rap Monster were in Rap Monster’s studio. Apparently V was sharing some new lyric ideas with Rap Monster one-on-one. You could probably guess that V was going to be able to participate in one of the songs in the next album and that was always exciting. You’ve never been to their fan meets or got to see them up close and personal before. V had such a deep voice and looked beautiful. Rap Monster was a dimpled mess in his studio. Oh, and his studio!!! You felt like there was a rush of a thousand philosophical gurus rushing into your body, inspiring you to work hard.

Now Suga, you knew he was just as sweet as his name, even if he didn’t show it as readily as everyone else, but you knew what you saw majority is probably what you’re going to get. Also he’s only mostly sweet for the people he is closer to. He was so straightforward, you don’t expect him to be anything else but what you saw through a camera lens. Even so, he made you nervous. It didn’t help that he was your favorite.

You’re pretty quiet and subtle. Every performance and interview, there was a essence to him that kind of threw you off. A little unpredictable when he would be serious and straightforward, or when he would let loose and goof off with the rest of Bangtan. You really liked relaxed people because they made you feel at ease and you tend to enjoy peaceful friends. What if you were accidentally clumsy and he scolded you at first meet? You are so timid and you’re scared that his presence makes it difficult for you to breathe.

Jin knocked on Suga’s studio door and you subtly cowered behind his broad shoulders. Jin turned his head to look at you and gave you a smile like, “Why are you so cute?” He took you by the elbow and pulled you forward to stand next to him rather than behind him.

“Come in.” Jin opened the door and nodded his head for you to follow him in. You took in the atmosphere of his room. You’ve seen the pictures and it didn’t do it justice. If Rap Monster had the presence of a thousand philosophical gurus in his room, Suga had a thousand musical prodigies in his. You felt sensitive to all his musical instruments and tech in the room; all of this to create music, his music. The speakers would overflow with his sound and his taste. The screens can reveal his secret notes. Rap Monster had his tech off as he spoke with V earlier, so it didn’t hit you as strong. Rather, Rap Monster’s presence was wise and caring, even if he was slightly younger than you. He was the leader type indeed. But as second-in-command, Suga’s presence was strong as well.

“Hey, Suga. I brought a friend from school, y/n. We’re going to the coffee shop down the street but I wanted her to meet everyone first.” Suga finished his last application to his current song and minimized his work before you could see clearly, which you couldn’t anyway since you stayed far away and couldn’t see anything on the screen behind your view of his head.

He swiveled on his chair and finally saw you. He saw you. Not as ARMY, but as y/n, whoever you are as a person. Timid person, for sure. You weren’t sure why, but this didn’t hit you the same way as when you met the others. He had a piercing gaze, but it wasn’t to judge you or anything. Just to recognize the stranger in his sanctuary. Was this intruding to him?

“Hi.” He gave a small smile and wave like you’ve seen him so many times when taking pictures.

“Nice to meet you.” You knew he wasn’t supposed to be an intimidating person at all, so you did your best to calm down and not make him feel like you were intimidated. You gave a polite smile in return.

“What class are you in with Jin?”

“Body Expressions.”

“That sounds fun. So it’s like reading body language.”

“More of how to express it, but yes, if you can read it, you can probably express it just as well.” Bringing up the class reminded you that you could practice the theories right now. Read Suga and express confidence and calmness.

You recalled when he minimized his windows, his shoulders slightly raised. He wasn’t expecting you and he felt the need to be aware of the stranger. But after your greeting, his shoulders relaxed again. Below his piercing gaze, his lips were not tight and subtly curved upward more than straight or curved downward. He was relaxed so you weren’t intruding his personal space. His feet were straight forward, directed at your direction, so you were actually the center of his attention. He wasn’t griping on his arm rests but his hands hovered over him as his arms were rested.

“So we’re going to get coffee, do you want me to bring you back anything?” Jin grabbed Suga’s attention. Suga swiveled the chair slightly at Jin, but his feet stayed where they were.

“Black coffee please.” Jin nodded and looked between the two of you. Suga just stared at you, with no indication on his part that he felt uncomfortable at all. You on the other hand, are not used to his roommate’s piercing gaze. Whether or not Jin made it worse is up to perspective.

“Y/N tells me you’re her favorite. So she’s a little nervous.” Jin told Suga and you looked at him horrified.

The corners of Suga’s lips twitched upwards and he looked back at you.

“Oh yeah? What do you like about me?” Countless fans have expressed their affection to Suga, this was nothing new.

“U-um…I’m not too good with words.” You looked down, guilty. This is practically a once in a lifetime opportunity and you didn’t prepare yourself to express yourself as thoroughly and as sincerely as you wanted to.

“It’s okay then. You can tell me next time.” Suga smiled at you. You smiled back and quickly excused yourself and Jin. You left the room fanning yourself as your mind repeated his last two words over and over.

Out of your hearing range, Jin quickly turned back to Suga and asked, “What do you think about her?”

“She’s quiet.” Suga said and quickly spun back to his work.

As Jin and you left the building, Jin couldn’t wipe the grin off his face, he was so excited. He vowed to himself to take you back here another time to tell Suga what you think of him because he already knew what Suga thought.

His roommate loves quiet.

This is a short series I’m going to be doing. Not every member will be matched, but every member will appear in the series. If you wanna know who is going to be matched, I’ll give you a hint. During the “BTS, please choose” corner, there was one question where they were split 4-3 where Suga and Jin were not in the same group. That question has all the extroverts in the same group + 1.

I’ve got A Confidence Game to work on and finish off Jungkook’s First Impression Scenario, but I’m kind of deciding to change career paths after I’ve just walked my commencement and finishing up my credits this summer (and that’s still an issue to address)...it sucks and anxiety is filled to the brim, but it must be done. Have patience please. So until then, here’s another short series for you to anticipate.

Also, thank you @bangtan-writing for helping me out with sorting out some thoughts for this scenario series.

2 (Guess who!) | 3 (Guess who!)

BTS Min Yoongi… | incoming smutty thoughts | MDNI

No but hear me out

Yoongi letting you ride his face and use him however you please. He knows you are tired, frustrated, and stressed. The only thing he wants is to make you feel good. Tongue flat against your needy cunt. He hums in approval as your hips move back and forth, the vibration of his humming adds a new feeling that brings you over the edge. “Ngh, mmmm, yesss… yessss,” his words muffled by your pussy grinding on his face. He sucks your clit so fucking good and when you are about to cum, he flips you over and his fingers are in you. Curling them while his tongue is on your sensitive bud. “Let go, make a mess for me. Fuck… look at you. Cum all over me, baby.”

the bedroom hymns ● prologue

⟶ Chapter summary | Was it simply an urban legend, or a myth, or perhaps a curse? Smotia may have been known as a prosperous land, rich in its resources and nature, thriving with its hardworking men and women. But the world also talks about its mystery, about the mysterious evil residing in the shadows, waiting in silence, watching every single one of your move.

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Fantasy au, Fairy Tale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 6,9k words ⟶ Ratings & Warnings | +18 / M for Mature; nothing much for this chapter, only appearances of alcohol use, drinking, rumours about serial killers, mentions of abductions, mentions/depictions of domestic abuse ⟶ Story Masterlist | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Taglist: @veronawrites​​ - @petalsofink​​ - @mrskimjoon​​ - @piecsblog​​ - @lithelilith​​ - @borahaerhy​​ — @manjir0​​

prologue. the bluebeard’s tale

There is a dark tale looming across the Land of Smotia.

A tale that has been passed down from one generation to another, spoken by the elders to keep the young from wandering out of their homes during nightfall, and to keep the men from committing bad deeds and sin.

The tale speaks of an evil being that lurks in the night and haunts the towns in the dark. Any mention of this evil being would instil fear among the people. Even the little children would cry and shudder when they hear his name. Yet it never stops people from whispering his name, gossiping about all the things that he may have done to earn such a reputation, and telling each other about the origin story of his existence and how his name ever came to be in the first place.

Weiterlesen

the bedroom hymns ● prologue

⟶ Chapter summary | Was it simply an urban legend, or a myth, or perhaps a curse? Smotia may have been known as a prosperous land, rich in its resources and nature, thriving with its hardworking men and women. But the world also talks about its mystery, about the mysterious evil residing in the shadows, waiting in silence, watching every single one of your move.

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Fantasy au, Fairy Tale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 6,9k words ⟶ Ratings & Warnings | +18 / M for Mature; nothing much for this chapter, only appearances of alcohol use, drinking, rumours about serial killers, mentions of abductions, mentions/depictions of domestic abuse ⟶ Story Masterlist | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Taglist: @veronawrites​​ - @petalsofink​​ - @mrskimjoon​​ - @piecsblog​​ - @lithelilith​​ - @borahaerhy​​ — @manjir0​​

prologue. the bluebeard’s tale

There is a dark tale looming across the Land of Smotia.

A tale that has been passed down from one generation to another, spoken by the elders to keep the young from wandering out of their homes during nightfall, and to keep the men from committing bad deeds and sin.

The tale speaks of an evil being that lurks in the night and haunts the towns in the dark. Any mention of this evil being would instil fear among the people. Even the little children would cry and shudder when they hear his name. Yet it never stops people from whispering his name, gossiping about all the things that he may have done to earn such a reputation, and telling each other about the origin story of his existence and how his name ever came to be in the first place.

Weiterlesen

the bedroom hymns ● chapter i

⟶ Chapter summary | It is time for your night escapade to come to an end, for you to return to the real world and face the reality waiting back home. You return home celebrating the brief sense of freedom that you found tonight, completely oblivious to the presence secretly watching you from afar.

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Fantasy au, Fairytale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 8,2k words ⟶ Ratings & Warnings | +18 / M for Mature; nothing much for this chapter, only appearances of alcohol use, drinking, rumours about serial killers, mentions of abductions ⟶ Story Masterlist | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Taglist: @borahaerhy​ — @manjir0 — @veronawrites​ — @petalsofink​ — @mrskimjoon​ — @piecsblog​ — @lithelilith​ — @janura26 — @itsshaydeekaydee​ — @unsureofwhathappens​

chapter i. when the stars are aligned

Even when the night has turned dark and deep, the beauty of Smotia is hard to conceal.

Perched atop of one of the highest hills on the outskirts of the city, you earn a good view of Smotia from high up. Normally, you wouldn’t have lingered far too long during your night excursions, in fear of getting lost track of time—which is something that has happened to you before—and for getting found out that you had escaped from home or being recognised by someone you may come across. But your curiosity had drawn you up here, unable to deny your desire to have one last good look of the place that you call home.

Weiterlesen

the bedroom hymns ● chapter ii

⟶ Chapter summary | Your father has never been a man with many words, but he has always been a man with many secrets, and now there is someone else sharing your deep curiosity, waiting for a chance to unravel them.  

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Crown Princess!reader, Fantasy au, Fairy Tale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 7,4k words ⟶ Ratings & Warnings | +18 / M for Mature; nothing much for this chapter, only mentions of alcohol use, drinking, intoxications, mentions of abductions, mentions of arranged marriages, depiction of war ⟶ Story Masterlist | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Feedback | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Permanent Taglist | @borahaerhy — @manjir0 — @veronawrites — @petalsofink — @mrskimjoon — @piecsblog — @lithelilith — @janura26 — @itsshaydeekaydee — @unsureofwhathappens — @tarahardcore — @piratequeen-impact — @idkjustlovingbts — @purplebeebs​ — @dungeonwitchy​ — @valentinesbts​

chapter ii. the wicked king

Once upon a time, long before Nythelean Empire rose to power and The Citadel stood proudly at the heart of the city, nothing existed within the Land of Smotia but the endless spread of untouched fertile land surrounded by the untamed woodland and wild mountains.

Weiterlesen

the bedroom hymns ● chapter viii

⟶ Chapter summary | As Yoongi returns home, he is welcomed by the shadows of his past, and the secret behind his journey being challenged and questioned. At the same time, you slowly begin to unravel your father’s secrets, as you begin to learn more about his magic,  and you continue following the shadows of his footsteps to find out what he has planned.  

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader  ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Crown Princess!reader, Fantasy au, Fairy Tale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 12,1k words ⟶ Ratings | PG-13, +18 / M for Mature for future chapters; mentions of war, dark magic, a brief mention/hint of stalking  ⟶ Story Masterlist | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Feedback | Music Playlist | Ko-fi

⟶ Author’s note | We’re finally getting a long chapter! I contemplated between dropping this part as a full chapter or to split it into two, but I figured it would be best to combine the scenes as they work much better if being shared and told at the same time. That being said, I might be taking a break from posting the chapters for a couple of weeks (just a week or two, maybe) to finish the rest of the upcoming chapters so we can have some more regular updates. I’ll be back soon with more thrilling scenes, I promise. But for now, I hope this long chapter will fill your days as we wait for the next ones to come :)

chapter viii. chasing shadows

Yoongi never truly understood why he was able to find solace while he was staying in Smotia until he finally returned home.

Emburn Empire, Min Yoongi’s home kingdom and the home of the fairies, can be quite distinctive compared to any other kingdoms that inhabit the Land of Far Far Away. Its vast territory rises from one of the most sequestered regions of the fairy tale land, divided into three separate sections connecting Emburn Empire with the three different elements of nature which support the empire as a whole—on the land, its landed territory that is united with the main continent of the fairy tale land; on the water, the small province floating against the rough waves of the Carmine Sea; and on the air, presented by the patch of island housing the main government of Embun which levitates gracefully above the continent, floating among the thick white clouds on the blue-grey sky above.

Here, much like in Smotia, greens in various hues cover the expanse of Emburn. Widespread of green grass and a vast variety of trees blanket the range of hills, with dense clusters of tall trees crowning the rising terrains and stowed between the dip of valleys. Some trees grow here just as wide as the people’s homes and almost as tall as the sky above, with many that are almost older than the entire empire itself. Thick clusters of wild ivy smother the stone walls of the Imperial Palace and the people’s houses in the towns, and flowers bloom in a myriad of shapes and colours that only exist here in the Emburn Empire.

Yoongi recalls all the dawns and mornings he spent sitting on top of the tallest hills in Smotia, looking away from the towns and the mercenary camps to enjoy the sight of the canopies of trees and the widespread meadows and finding similarities there to the sea of green waiting for him back home. Oftentimes, he would wonder how the empire that was built within the human realm could have given him a sense of familiarity which reminded him of his home. Whenever he remembered how Smotia existed in the borders between two realms, he would find himself wondering if the similarities had been deliberately created to mirror their closest neighbour, albeit their existence is separated by the portals hidden in the depth of the Elcester Forest. And that was before Yoongi learned of the truth about the Wicked King’s true antecedents and the true history behind his ascension as the ruler of the Nythelean Empire.

Had King Aneas done it on purpose, then? That he had built his new home in the human realm which resembled the land where he had once been, taking everything that he had learned from his former ally about making use of the land’s resources to establish his empire and to support his people?

Because just like how Nythelean Empire gain their resources from the Land of Smotia, the fertile land, the green hills, the abundant woodlands and fresh springs that spread all over the territories of Emburn are the ones that have helped the empire and its people to thrive for a long period of time. But unlike in Smotia, resources are not the only things that the people of Emburn could gain from nature.

One look was all he needed to see, through the first sight that Yoongi had taken from his homeland on the day he emerged in the bluffs after leaving Smotia behind, to remind him that the two empires are not one and the same. Arriving at the bluffs at dawn, he traveled towards the southeast of Earthpeak Cliffs and across the borders between kingdoms, where the sight of the territory of Emburn first welcomed him. The green hills of the landed territory of his homeland opened for him like a warm embrace. The sight and the feeling that overcame him as he marched his loyal mare, Aspen, through the borders had been almost comparable to what he experienced the first time he first came through the borders of Smotia.

Yet all the similarities ended once he finally reached the area where the landed territory of Emburn and the capital city were connected, where the first sign of Emburn’s distinctive nature could be seen.

What doesn’t exist in the vast fertile land of Smotia is magic. The same kind of magic that exists here in every part of the land, drifting in the air that Yoongi breathes, and is constantly felt by every single inhabitant living within the territories of Emburn Empire. This old magic is what becomes the empire’s source of power ever since the day it was established and built by Yoongi’s ancestors, with the emperor and empress sitting on its throne becoming the pillar and the core that hold the magic together, binding it and keeping it stable for many years.

It is the same powerful magic that allows the capital city of Emburn and the Imperial Palace to defy gravity, levitating far above the mainland and higher than the peaks of Earthpeak Cliff, the tallest rocky mountains which stand above the Carmine Sea.

The sight of the levitating capital city which Yoongi saw the moment he reached the heart of Emburn had become clear evidence and reminder of how different his homeland truly is, not only compared to the human land of Smotia but also to all the places he visited throughout his journey. Beyond the sight of the sea of green that welcomed him in the landed provinces, appeared to his eyes the majestic sight of Marble Falls, the flowing waterfalls that descend all the way from the grounds of the Imperial Palace in the sky and down to the Armere River that flows between the range of hills in the grounded region of Emburn in the mainland.

This powerful magic was first found by the ancient fairies who once roamed this part of the fairy tale land, passed down to Yoongi’s blood ancestors who built the empire from the ground up to create a peaceful haven for the fairies in Far Far Away land. The magic that still exists today, the one that is holding the empire together in the present, and the same magic that becomes the cure to Yoongi’s ailment, helping him piece together the bond that he has with his mana which has grown weak and fragile during his time away from home.

It had only taken Yoongi mere seconds after breathing in the fresh air here in Emburn and stepping through the gates of the Imperial Palace for his power to begin knitting itself together. He could feel every fractured piece of his mana strengthening itself until his powers began coursing through his body once again, until he was finally able to heal. In an instant, his senses were heightened, the mana flow within him stopped rebelling against him and it began to calm down, settling peacefully the way it should have been.

Days have gone by since his arrival, and before he realises it, those days are slowly turning into weeks. Albeit his mana has yet to fully return to its normal state, Yoongi is quite relieved to have made the decision to return home, allowing him the chance to not only recover the magic within him but also to gain more strength before he returns to finish his journey.

Sometimes, when he would roam through the imperial palace on his own, he would be filled with guilt and realisation that he should have probably listened to Yijeong’s advice about returning to Emburn so he could recover. If only he had listened and hadn’t been so stubborn about staying in Smotia, knowing that the chances of him finding what he was after had been slim, perhaps he would have been able to use his powers when he needed them the most.

But that was all in the past now, and all he can focus on now is to recover completely while thinking of ways to make up for his obstinacy once he gets back to where Yijeong is. Because recovering his powers hadn’t been the only thing that Yoongi had managed to gain by coming home.

Ever since the moment he arrived back to the land of Far Far Away, Yoongi immediately noticed the peculiarity hanging in the air. He could easily sense the turbulences happening in the fairy tale land, recognising immediately that something had been brewing in his absence. Warning bells kept ringing in his head as he entered the home castle with cautions upon his arrival. His shoulders had been heavy, not knowing what to expect as he made his way to see his parents.

While it wasn’t bad news which welcomed him home, the odd exchange that he had with his mother during their first reunion didn’t help much to reassure him about the situation.

“Was it really necessary for you to be away for so long? What could have been more important than being here, for you to prepare for the crown and handle the matters around the empire in place of the Emperor?” 

Empress Ariane had always shown Yoongi a form strict of love, as she had always placed the matters of the crown and the empire above everything else, including her own son. In her eyes, Yoongi is not just her biological son, but the Crown Prince and the sole heir of the Emburn Empire, and she has always reminded Yoongi of his role at every chance she gets. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Yoongi when she immediately brought up his duty to the empire and the crown upon his return home, to remind him of the need for him to focus on preparing himself to take the Emperor’s place once it was due time for him to take the responsibility.

Yet there was something in the way the Empress addressed the matter which had been bothering Yoongi. His own conscience has been brewing with suspicions, and it has kept nagging him in the back of his mind that he finds it hard to shake the thoughts away, even to this day.

“What if something happens to—” the Empress’ words broke and shattered at the mention of the Emperor while they sat together in the throne room the day Yoongi first came to see her. Hurt flickered through her gaze, though she quickly blinked it away before Yoongi could say something about it or look deeper into her thoughts at that moment. “What if something happens while you are out there running amok doing heavens know what? You know I wouldn’t be able to handle this entire empire by myself.”

Yoongi never said a thing in return except making a promise that everything would be okay, regardless of what the Empress was trying to imply. There was no need for her mother to finish her words, as Yoongi could already hear it in his head.

What if something happens to the Emperor?

“Nothing is going to happen. I am sure of it.” Yoongi said this to the Empress with full conviction, as he had truly made sure of the safety of the empire and the Emperor before his departure from home.

Emperor Aymon, the ruler of the Emburn Empire and Yoongi’s biological father, has been bedridden from a mysterious illness which started two years ago. The ailment had come out of nowhere, when the strong and healthy Emperor unexpectedly started to grow weak. It had all begun with the Emperor losing control of his mana flow, until the magic within him began fighting back against him, erupting through his whole body while hurting him from the inside. Once the powerful mana began to simmer down, it almost seemed like every drop of magic within him had been wasted, and so did his soul.

Even the entire empire was hurting, as his magic—that was supposed to stabilise the powerful magic within the home of the fairies—started weakening. The unexpected changes of weather caused the crops to fail and prevented fishing ships from sailing out across the Carmine Sea. Earthquakes and storms happened every so often that people kept having to build new homes, while a series of peculiar illnesses began to spread in towns.

To this, the Emperor had chosen to lock himself in one of the tallest towers in the Imperial Palace, not only for the sake of himself and to prevent his magic from harming people around him, but also to preserve the magic that he had left to keep his empire under control. Even once the Empress and the High Priest of Emburn managed to aid him in stabilising the empire with their magic, Emperor Aymon remained in his refuge while doing his best he could to find a way to heal.

Yoongi still remembers the days he spent with the Emperor during the height of his sickness. The fairy king had always appeared to his eyes as the most powerful being he had ever known. But during that period of time, it seemed to him that his father was withering right in front of his eyes, appearing more frail than he used to be as the Emperor laid down on the massive bed where he had been resting during the time of his illness.

But at the same time, the Emperor still appeared to him as the strongest person he had always known. When even at his most critical condition, the Emperor still did his best to fulfil his duty as the ruler to use the rest of his magic to keep the empire and their homeland from crumbling apart.

If only Yoongi had been as indifferent as how the Empress had made him to be—both to the Emperor’s condition and the turbulences occurring in his home kingdom—he would have thought that Empress Ariane’s inquiries had come from a place of concern. The concern she might have felt for the Emperor’s wellbeing, and what might happen to the empire with the Crown Prince being away during the Emperor’s absence.

Yet, seeing the truth now, Yoongi remains haunted by a lingering doubt.

Unbeknownst to the Empress, Yoongi had visited Emperor Aymon not long before leaving Emburn. Not only had the Emperor always known what Yoongi had been up to during his time away from home, but it had actually been the Emperor himself who sent him off on his journey in the first place.

“I want you to do me a favour while I still exist in this realm. It will be quite challenging of a task should you take it, and it wouldn’t be an easy path, but it is necessary that you go into this journey to prevent the upcoming turmoil that may arise in the Land Far Far Away in the near future.”

That day, the Emperor sat down on his bed, his back resting on the headrest as he spoke to Yoongi. He seemed resolved as he relayed his request to his son. But for the most part, he also appeared resigned, as if he was ready to welcome the end of his time should it come to him. But for the first time after a while, Yoongi had also noticed that his father had looked like he was in a much better shape than he usually would, which gave him a sense of relief, albeit briefly. Because no matter how well-shaped he looked as he sat there looking into his son’s eyes, the Emperor’s voice still showed how weary he truly was.

“If you are willing to take this challenge for me, you have to promise me two things,” Emperor Aymon said then. His voice came out stern, and his words came like a warning that Yoongi had no other choice but to agree and make a promise to follow his words. Only then did the Emperor continue with the list of requirements that Yoongi needed to follow. “One, you must go into this with an open mind and forget everything that you’ve learned about the war between kingdoms that was written in the books. Two, you must never let your mother know about my request. Promise me this.”

Yoongi had questioned this specific request from his father at first, yet the warnings given to him had made him grow cautious enough to make sure that he wouldn’t be leaving the Emperor alone without someone watching over him while Yoongi was away. Before he left, Yoongi had ordered a few of his trusted men to keep watch on the Emperor, warning them to trust nobody except for Yoongi. Not even the Empress herself.

He hated not being able to trust his own mother, but the situation that happened after had proven that he had made the right call. As now that even the Empress and the Royal Aides are being placed under close watch, the Emperor’s condition has been getting better. Though Yoongi has been adamant about keeping this information a secret between himself and his men, that not even the Empress knows about the Emperor’s improving health.

It has caused him to feel unsettled, not knowing who to trust even in his own empire. Yet the situation had only given him more reason to do what his father willed him to, as he set off to fulfil not only the Emperor’s request, but also his own intention.

Tonight would be the last night Yoongi would be spending at his home.

Tomorrow, he would have to decide if he should return to Smotia and regroup with his men, or if he should start investigating the Wicked King more closely to know what he is up to. Yoongi knows that he has been gone from his camp for too long, and through the reports sent to him by his men, he has heard that many things have been happening with the Nythelean Empire since the day he left Smotia.

It has made him feel anxious, suddenly afraid that he would miss the perfect opportunity of accomplishing his tasks, now that the Wicked King is on the move. Once again, he regrets for not taking his time to recover sooner, as his departure from Smotia seems to have only caused him the long restless nights filled with all the ’what ifs’, wondering if Fates are trying to stop him from doing what he is required to do.

To calm his thoughts, Yoongi steps away from his bedchamber once the night has fallen. When the night is deep, Yoongi often feels a heavy awareness hanging in the air around him, as if warning him about the shift happening in the fairy tale land and there is something looming in the horizon that he needs to be wary of.

Normally, he would simply reside in his room when this happens, where the stiff tension that he has been constantly feeling would not be able to mess with his mana flow. Or, he would spend the night in the library, trying to make sense of everything that the Emperor had told him as he dives right into the books that were written about the ancient kingdoms, the great war between kingdoms that had once rattled the land of Far Far Away, and about the ancient magic spells—one of which had been the same one that had allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream.

Tonight, Yoongi chooses to spend his time roaming through the dark hallways of the Imperial Palace with no destination in mind.

For the first time after a long while, he allows his mana to lead the way instead of giving in to the silence. He tracks down even the passageways within the castle that he had rarely traveled through—passing the vacant rooms and the Royal Guards’ posts, past the Great Hall where the empire would often hold their annual festivities, and he continues walking until he suddenly finds himself crossing the palace’s courtyard and entering the Lumina Apex Hall, where the source of the elemental magic that the Emperor has casted onto the palace’s grounds can be found.

Originally built by his ancestors as a temple to worship the moon—which was once believed to be the source of Emburn’s magic—the Lumina Apex Hall has become a fixture within the Imperial Palace’s grounds where the Emperor would spend late hours in the night to cast his magic, casting the spells that are needed to maintain control of his empire and its vast territories under his reign.

With walls and pillars built with Clayntine stone, one of the most durable materials that could only be found in the land of Emburn, and windows made of Shadow Crystals, the Lumina Apex Hall lights up in the nightfall with structures that reflect the moonlight perfectly like mirrors. Located at the center of the Royal Garden, the structure is partly covered with a layer of wild vines growing along its walls and pillars which have rapidly developed with time. Thick hedges and flowers blooming in pastel colours line up on either side of the pathway leading to its front door which has been left unlocked for the Empress and the Royal Priests’ daily visit.

A burst of energy welcomes him as Yoongi enters through the door. There are no lights inside the main atrium, yet moonlight streams through the Shadow Crystals that form the dome ceiling above the atrium, illuminating the hall perfectly with streaks of soft light spreading across the stone floors and bouncing against the stone walls. Standing at the center of the atrium, his eyes roam through the walls around him.

Even here, inside the stone walls, vegetation grows rapidly between the pillars. The overgrowth of vines appears along the pillars, bushes rise from the ground to cover the pale-coloured walls, and a thin layer of grass emerges where the floor tiles made of Osnite stones are split. As Yoongi looks up, he gets to see the bright display of stars which adorn the night sky of Emburn. The sight of the dancing aurora in copper and gold in the sky should have been daunting, when Yoongi notices that the shades seem darker than they usually would, presenting the shadows of peril in its wake.

Yet the sky seems brighter tonight than it usually does, with stars glimmering in the night sky, surrounding the aurora like a protective blanket. Somehow, it gives Yoongi a sense of peace to be walking under such a phenomenon as he steps towards the center of the atrium, where a small pond made of Clayntine stone stands on its own, taking over the space at the heart of the Apex Hall. Around the pond, specks of silver and cyan blue glitters appear to be floating around it instead of a flowing stream, beginning from its center and moving out towards where the streaks of moonlight are falling into the room.

He reaches out to touch the silver specks, feeling them crackle against the tips of his fingers before he retracts his hand. Smiling at the sight of the flowing magic that is the essence of Emburn Empire, he turns away and walks across the atrium to reach one of the glass doors of the Hall which leads to another part of the Royal Gardens that only the Emperor and his trusted people could enter.

Under his touch, the door opens for him, and Yoongi walks out through the pathway that has become familiar to him after all the years he has become acquainted with this place. A core memory from his childhood returns to him as he walks down the gravel-covered pathway, though the overgrown hedges and blood orchids blooming all around him are nothing like what he had seen many years ago.

He was a mere child when he first walked down this pathway with his father holding his hand, long before Emperor Aymon took the throne and during the time Yoongi’s father was slowly taking over the empire’s business with their alliances. To the Emperor, those visits had been about introducing Yoongi to his future duty and responsibility as the future Crown Prince of Emburn, while to Yoongi, the memories that had been engraved in his mind from that period of time hold an entirely different meaning to him.

Beyond this pathway is a magical place, the portal gate which acts as the border between realms and the bridge that connects Emburn Empire to the other kingdoms in the mainland of the land Far Far Away. It was through this magic gate that the Emperor had been able to travel freely between kingdoms and realms, to be able to visit their allies and neighbours while keeping the homeland from being exposed to external threats, and without having to lose connection to the source of Emburn’s magic—just like what happened to Yoongi during his journey. It wouldn’t be until later, once Yoongi takes the throne as the new ruler, when he would be required to do the same, though he would still be able to cross the portal gate whenever he needed to.

The Eden Isle Gardens is what the magical portal gate is called, and it is the one place that Yoongi would always come to visit whenever he returned home.

For many years, ever since he was a child, he would secretly escape to this place whenever he needed a moment of reflection. This has been a place of refuge where he would be able to find peace, and a place that holds one of his most treasured memories which Yoongi has kept for many years.

Even in the Emperor’s absence, the vegetation in this part of the magic garden grow beautifully. The Emperor’s magic remains strong here, keeping the grounds fertile, the grass and hedges perfectly trimmed instead of growing rapidly, and the portal gates secured, with nobody else but Yoongi and Emperor Aymon holding the key and memorising the spell that would help them activate the portals when needed. Yoongi follows the path that has been adorned with blood orchids growing left and right, fairy dust leading his way through the areas that moonlight is unable to penetrate, until he finds the center of the garden, to the place where Yoongi would always return to.

At the center of the garden, surrounded by a small pond and blooming blood orchids, stands a small gazebo made of Shadow Crystals. His legs feel light as Yoongi walks across the boardwalk across the pond to reach the gazebo, while a sense of deja vu fills him as he takes a seat inside, right at the spot which overlooks a locked steel gate which has always caught his attention.

Once in the past, that steel gate had been one of the magic portals that the Emperor would use for his journeys. It was the main bridge connecting his empire to their former ally, another empire which the former Emperor of Emburn, Yoongi’s grandfather, had managed to form a tight bond with. A close and mutual relationship which lasted until the height of Emperor Aymon’s reign.

But as Yoongi looks out through the steel gate now, there is nothing left out there but the wastelands and the ruins of the fallen empire that was once superior in its reign.

After the war between kingdoms, the territory which lies beyond the portal has become a forbidden area for anyone to enter. With remnants of hazardous toxins and black magic that may still linger in the area after the war, nobody has been allowed to come across the borders and into the wastelands for many years. From this side of the connecting portal, the steel gate is secured with chains made of Magraonor steel and locks that are bound with magic spells casted by the Emperor and the High Priest.

Even though Yoongi wouldn’t be able to walk across the gate with all those spells preventing him from seeing what is beyond the darkness, he can picture it inside his head. Through his distant memory, he still recalls the majestic empire that had once been the most peaceful place in Far Far Away, the home of the elves, fairies, and powerful mages who once loved to travel between kingdoms to spread their knowledge about ancient magic and healing remedies. But if only he would close his eyes tonight, the brilliant images of the fallen empire that he once remembered would not be the image that he sees.

Another reason why Yoongi has been doing all he could to evade sleep tonight was the dreams. Ever since he used the spell which allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream, and ever since the day he arrived back home, a different kind of dream has been haunting his long, restless nights.

In his dream, he saw himself crossing over the steel gate, the chains and locks had been broken and he could easily walk across the borders to enter the wastelands. He saw himself walking up the steps to the fallen empire’s home castle, surrounded by nothing but shadows and the ruins that had been said to fill the barren territory, and a thick layer of white mist following him as he reached to where the main palace should have been.

Everything about the dream has been daunting, and it has only solidified his concerns about the peculiar shift happening in Far Far Away. While he never got to see what was waiting for him at the end of those steps, to see what was hidden behind the thick mist and beyond the broken stone walls, he still remembers the feeling of unease that lingered through his chest as he was stuck inside the dream, the eerie shadows that seemed to follow him through the mist as he entered the wastelands, and the feeling of death that seemed to linger.

The unnerving sensation he felt was so strong that he could feel it touching his skin even as he opened his eyes upon his return to the waking world. Even now, as he silently recalls the sights he saw in his dreams, his body shudders, while the same uneasiness fills his chest, warning him about the darkness that may come to visit.

As Yoongi sits silently at the center of the magic garden, under the dome roof of the glass gazebo overlooking the high hedges and broken pathway leading to the steel gate, he is unable to look away from the darkness beyond him. Lost in the faint memories that he has of the past, he doesn’t notice it when a black cat enters the premises, sauntering between the hedges filled with blood orchids and over the glimmering pond before finally joining him to lie down in the gazebo.

The black cat follows Yoongi’s gaze, as if trying to understand what the man is thinking so deeply about. The cat suddenly slides closer and rubs itself against Yoongi’s calf to gain his attention before sitting back on its hind legs, with his curious eyes looking out towards the nothingness beyond the gate.

“We used to slip away and escape to this place when we were kids, didn’t we?” a deep voice speaks. “What a wonderful time that was, when we were nothing more but oblivious little children who knew nothing about the world.”

Yoongi turns to the black cat with a smile, recognising the voice that had just spoken to him, allowing him to identify this mysterious cat that had just decided to join him in his wonderings. “Indeed, we were. Those moments back then were truly irreplaceable,” Yoongi says, responding to the cat as he turns his gaze back at the steel gate. “We used to run away from the tutors to hide in this place, and then played hide and seek until the sun came down and Father would have to come down here himself to fetch us.”

“Those were the days,” the black cat softly chuckles. The cat falls silent for a moment before it softly continues, “This was also the place where you met her for the first time, wasn’t it?” The cat turns to look at Yoongi as the other does the same, and they exchange gazes with each other when the cat adds, “I’m talking about Her Majesty, Queen Milena.”

Sighing, Yoongi looks around the garden and reminisces about the past. “This was the place—” he says, as his memory takes him back to that moment in time from many, many years ago, when he was nothing more but a little boy who could barely able to speak fluently, yet was curious enough to follow his father to see what the Emperor was up to when he suddenly changed his plans with Yoongi to come to this place, only to find out that the Emperor was having important guests visiting. While the Emperor went on a stroll with his guest, Yoongi came to the gazebo to meet the young Princess Milena, the future queen who was resting while staying under the shade. The young Crown Princess of their neighbouring empire welcomed Yoongi with a warm smile, a sight that to this day remains to be the most glorious thing about her for Yoongi to remember.

“We did come across each other in this place for the first time, but it was beyond that gate where I used to be able to see her—” Yoongi says, pointing at the locked steel gate, while his memory once again takes him back to those days when Emperor Aymon took him along during his visits past the steel gate. Back then, a remarkable empire stood proud and strong on the other side of the gate, with the sun shining brightly on its prosperous land. Now, there is nothing there but the dark void and the flowing white mist that haunts him in his sleep.

The black cat looks out towards the steel gate and, as if knowing what Yoongi had just been thinking about, says, “And now there is nothing left there but the wastelands.”

“Is that really the truth?” Yoongi questions almost distractedly, and the cat scoffs.

“Only you would question it.”

The blunt comment draws a smile to Yoongi’s face, and he turns back to look at his peculiar companion to say, “The only thing I’m questioning right now is why you chose to come here while disguising in that form. I didn’t expect that you would follow me all the way back home, Yijeong.”

The black cat, Yijeong, stretches out and lies down near Yoongi’s feet before answering, “As a concerned friend, I was worried when I didn’t get a word from you since you went home. I had to slip out in disguise to move easier when following you. This form was the perfect choice since nobody would pay attention to a black cat strolling through the gardens. Did you notice that you were being followed by guards? I’m not sure if they know what you’re up to, but it seems that they’re determined to keep people away from the gardens to give you some privacy.”

Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anyone other than the two of them, Yoongi still steals a glance over his shoulder, looking back to where these royal guards that Yijeong mentioned might be standing by. Somewhere near the Apex Hall, no doubt, as it would be rare for regular guards to be able to come this far. The only exception was given to Yijeong, as the son of the Empire’s General, the only other person aside from the Emperor who has access to visit this magical place. Just like him, Yijeong has been trained and prepared to replace his father once the time comes, to one day stand by Yoongi’s side once he takes over the throne and rules the empire, and he had been trained all the spells that would be needed for him to do his duties.

“I noticed having extra shadows following me since I left my room,” he says, before facing towards the center of the gardens again and settling back against the glass wall on the side of the gazebo, though he turns his attention towards the other side of the gardens this time, where fireflies are beginning to appear around the pond. “I’ve had guards shadowing me since I got back, so I already expected them to follow me here too. But I didn’t care. They wouldn’t be able to enter this place anyway.”

“I guess you’re right,” Yijeong says as he lays his chin on his paw. “What were you expecting to find by coming here anyway?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, then I started strolling through the palace’s grounds, looking for some kind of a distraction,” Yoongi answers with a deep sigh. “I suddenly felt like I needed to get out of the palace, and I suppose that’s how I found my way here.”

Yijeong says nothing for a moment, before he questions Yoongi with a hushed voice, “Something was bothering you. Has the Emperor’s request been weighing heavily on you?”

His question draws a frown to Yoongi’s face. Yoongi had never truly revealed the true purpose of his expedition into the human realm, not to his loyal men and even to Yijeong, except to simply mention that it was a royal duty that was needed to be done under the Emperor’s request. Yijeong may have never questioned it out loud, and despite his willingness to stay by Yoongi’s side and to join him on his journey, Yoongi had always known that his best friend had been curious, if not suspicious about what he aimed to find.

It was not until the day Yoongi had to depart from camp, leaving behind Smotia to return home, when he finally pulled Yijeong aside to tell him everything—about the true reason why he left home, about why he had chosen to remain in Smotia, or why he had to keep a close eye on the Wicked King.

Only Yijeong knows what their true mission was, and what the Emperor had requested Yoongi to find without Empress Ariane ever knowing.

“Find my childhood friend. Find Milena. Help me find out what happened to her, and if she is still alive, bring her home. I cannot leave this realm without having any knowledge of her fate. I can’t die regretting that I couldn’t do anything to save her. If you can find ‘him’, then you might be able to find out if he still has her.”

Yoongi understood it quite well when Yijeong complained about being kept in the dark. Thankfully, his friend was quick to forgive him, knowing that such a big secret would cause a myriad of other problems should it ever get out, or for the Empress to hear that her own husband had made such a request. Even though it has been such a long time since both Yoongi and Yijeong ever came across Queen Milena, they both still remember how jealous the Empress had been of the Emperor’s friendship with his closest friend.

But sharing this secret only gave little relief to Yoongi’s heart, because there is still one more secret that he holds dear, unable to find a way to reveal it to Yijeong when he still has his own doubts. That finding Queen Milena, a mission that might be fundamental for the Emperor’s road to healing, has only been a small part—if not the first step—of Yoongi’s personal goal. And he has yet to be able to share this with anyone, even Yijeong, because he has never truly shared the real story of his first encounter with Queen Milena in the magic gardens.

Because that day, Queen Milena had not been sitting in this gazebo on her own, and only Yoongi and the Emperor knew Queen Milena’s secret which had been hidden until now.

Just as Yoongi is silently pondering if he should share his secret with his best friend, the air around them suddenly shifts. There is an invisible weight that breezes through the bushes, stirring the peacefulness that has been accompanying Yoongi in his wallowing. Even Yijeong becomes alert as he stirs by his side that Yoongi instantly rises, already prepared to use his magic to connect to the elements around them so he can see what is happening. But before he can even begin summoning his mana, Yijeong snaps his head to focus on him. His best friend’s gaze remains on his chest just as warmth begins to form against his skin, while the mana flow within him seems to be reacting to the sensation rising around them.

“Hey, Yoongi?” Yijeong says with a spark of surprise lathering his voice.

“Yeah?” Yoongi answers with his eyes focusing back and forth between Yijeong and the gardens, noticing how the leaves are swaying with the unsettling breeze.

“Why is that thing glowing? Did you do something or are you conjuring your mana to have it reacting like that?”

“No, I’m not doing any—” Yoongi starts to respond when his amulet—which has been hanging from his neck and down to his chest the whole time he was here—begins vibrating. He looks down and touches the amulet, which is now glowing in his hand as he lifts it up to get a better look. Blue light shimmers from the center of the amulet, flickering and swirling even stronger as he brings it up, inadvertently pointing it towards the locked gate that was supposed to lead him to their fallen neighbour.

His breath is caught, as he slowly begins to understand what is happening. There is only one reason why the amulet would be reacting this way, even if it makes no sense at all for it to be trying to lead him towards the forbidden territory beyond the sacred gate. And then, something finally dawns on him.

“You know, this amulet has been lighting up quite often since I got back home,” he whispers almost to himself, while the voice inside his head adds, ever since the dreams started happening. “But this is the first time it’s doing something like this.”

This can only mean one thing. “I think someone is using his magic to create portals, and they have been moving around between realms.”

Yijeong slowly rises, while Yoongi’s heartbeat picks up, beating rapidly in his chest right after he says those words. “Do you know who it might be? Can it be possible that—” Yijeong begins to question him, only for him to see Yoongi shaking his head, chucking to himself with disbelief when he says,

“It’s impossible, but—”

And it seems almost too good to be true just to think about it. Yoongi swallows hard as he wonders about this, as he can no longer qualm the rising hope blooming in his chest when he adds, “I think I know who it might be.”

She’s so close. How could it be? 

Yoongi has no idea how it could possibly happen, but he can sense you being so close to him that he can almost feel your presence within arm’s reach. His body trembles with anticipation, excitement, and his worries rising at the same time. Seeing that there is light appearing, hope waiting at the end of his journey, Yoongi slowly releases his amulet and kneels down beside his best friend.

If he wants to find the truth, and find you, then he will no doubt need help to achieve it.

“Yijeong, I need you to listen to me carefully—”

Your hands feel clammy as you stand right in front of another silver door.

Unlike the other doors that you have seen so far, this one looks the most ordinary and a bit—old. Made of deep-coloured wood, its front is adorned with embellishments made of thin silver linings that are crafted in intricate curves formed in floral patterns, and they all seem to glint in the dimly lit hallway. You probably shouldn’t be intimidated by its size and the intricate details that you are seeing, but not surprisingly, your knees are already shaking with the mere thought of opening this door filling your head.

Deep down, you already know that whatever you may come across once you step through this door, it will be far from ordinary. This is what you have learned so far from these silver doors after venturing into them for the past few days, as it had become one of your past afternoon activities once you are done with your daily lessons and royal duties.

The shock that you gained after entering the first silver door remained within you for quite a while. Pure disbelief had followed you after coming back out of the door, not entirely sure if what you encountered that day had been real. If only you hadn’t found yourself stumbling back into the hallway of Stargrave Castle or nearly spraining your ankles on your way back to your bedchamber, perhaps you would simply think that you were dreaming. That there was no way you could have gone back to The Citadel, or that the door had connected you back to the smaller—and slightly bland-looking—study room which your father, King Aneas, would often spend his time working in with his men back at the capital.

But you were well awake to feel it when the dusk came in and your skin was covered by the bumps rising as the temperature dropped so rapidly. And you were definitely awake when the palace’s maid came to help you prepare for dinnertime. You even held a long and steady conversation with her while she was brushing out the knots in your hair, further proving that you were walking in the real world instead of being stuck in a long, extended dreamscape.

Yet those things couldn’t stop you from questioning your own sanity as you laid down on your bed that night, particularly when you recalled the conversation that you ’heard’ from your hiding spot when you were in the study room. But then you looked out the window of your bedroom, the curtains left open as you had wished to see the stars and you saw a glimpse of the same copper aurora which had captivated you on the night of your arrival, the magical display of light once again making its appearance known to you as it danced in the sky above the calm ocean.

The sight quickly reminded you of how different and peculiar everything should be in this place. It made you realise that the odds of you actually being transported back into a different place across the realm would not have been impossible. It was hard to deny it when you remembered experiencing jumping into a burning flame to get into this realm, and that magic did exist in this place in ways that you couldn’t possibly imagine.

It was your own curiosity which had drawn you back to the same hallway after you were done with your lessons on the next day. At first, you considered going through the same door again, if only to prove that you hadn’t been dreaming and that you were completely sane. But then your father’s voice echoed through your mind as you stood in front of the same door, reminding you of his warning to only try one door at a time.

As you wished to be able to see more, you stepped away from the first door. There was no humming sound calling you back when you left it behind, while an odd pull was felt through the air, and you followed it until you found another silver door not too far away.

The silver door which soon became your second to try out had been smaller in size compared to the first one you had gone into. Yet you still entered with caution. You came through the door thinking that you would be prepared to find another surprising revelation, only to feel the shock filling your entire being when you walked through the door to come out through a small cabinet, and you found yourself emerging into the royal waiting room that was located within the city hall in the capital city of Smotia.

There was nobody around to catch you as you came out of the waiting room. After finding the podium on the first floor, right where your father’s throne was placed for him to acquire during formal ceremonies, you continued to make your way to the upper floors. Having been to this place often times before to accompany your father, you found no trouble in finding the main balcony, where the King would stand before the people of Smotia as he leads various ceremonies and rituals together with you by his side and his loyal ministers shadowing his movements.

Sure enough, as you looked down from the balcony, the Elysium Square was presented right before your eyes. The town’s square where the people would gather to see their King and to celebrate the empire’s annual events, and oftentimes, to simply enjoy the free time they have during their daily lives.

The same way the people were doing as you looked down from above. Keeping yourself in the shades to avoid being seen, you saw how the town’s workers were walking down the pavements as they were on their way home, making quite a haste to make sure that they would return to their dwellings before dusk. There were also little children playing around the fountains, while their mothers kept their busy eyes to watch over them while gossiping on the sides.

Just like the day before, when you felt your knees buckling beneath you in shock, you had to hold on to the railings as you watched the people below, the faint voices of their laughter became solid proof that you had been once again sent away from your new home. A memory flashed through your mind just then, of how each time you were supposed to attend the royal gathering alongside your father, the King himself would never ride the royal carriage with you to reach the city hall.

Each time, your father would somehow arrive not long after you would, with not a sight of another royal carriage arriving at the city hall to bring him all the way from The Citadel. Turning back to the hall where you came from, you could almost picture it, to see the King walking down the hall before emerging through the main balcony to greet his people, his daughter, and his men, without a single person witnessing how he had truly arrived.

With your curiosity deepened, you continued your adventure for the next few days by trying out two different silver doors, both of them lined up within a nearby hallway just beyond the King’s study room. And just like the previous ones, each of these doors took you back to different areas in the land of Smotia which you had become most familiar with.

The smaller one took you back to the town’s church.

You came out through the storage room door at the back of the church and, in your shock, you came so close to bumping into the head priest while you were busy taking in your surroundings. It was pure luck that you had been quick enough to slip into a nearby room which was thankfully empty, that you were able to avoid getting seen by the head priest who walked by with his helpers.

When the coast was clear enough for you to slip out of the room, the evening mass was just starting to take place. You may have recovered from your shock by then, yet once again, your mind was caught in a battle between acceptance and denial to make your exit. Fallen prey to your own curiosity, as you wanted to get a closer look instead of leaving with questions shadowing your thoughts, you returned to the room where you had been hiding in. From one of the wardrobes you found, you managed to grab a commoner’s cloak for you to borrow, using it to hide your identity as you slipped between the parishioners who came for the head priest’s sermon and gain his blessings.

As everyone around you was listening to the head priest’s sermon with rapt attention, the burning candles on the altar swaying with the breeze, their soft lights illuminating the walls and the dais while giving a serene feeling into the whole church, your attention remained on the side doors leading to the back halls where you came from. Once again, you could almost see the shadows of your father, sauntering through the back halls with his magic before appearing at the altar without anyone noticing or wondering where His Majesty had come from.

The next silver door you tried had appeared to your eyes like a work of art. The carvings on the wood panels had been the ones to draw you in, before you noticed that the silver embellishments that marked the door seemed to have silver specks floating around it, drawing more of your attention to have a closer look. That was before the humming voices began to call for you, pulling you in, enchanting you to slide in the key and open the door for a new adventure.

The magic door brought you to the orchard house that was part of the royal winery on the outskirts of the capital city. Located beyond the borders of the Elcester Forest where the wide, open plane was rich and fruitful enough for the vineyard to grow massively, it was the place which produced the royal wine that the King would often serve to his special guests during royal dinners and important events that were held by the empire.

Despite recognising the place almost immediately, you still took your time to look around to find clues, any signs that may confirm your suspicions. Leaving the main house, you browsed through the warehouse and stockrooms, not stopping until you finally found the crates of bottles that were being prepared to be sent away to The Citadel. It wasn’t until you saw the royal crest marking the crates and the bottles when you finally confirmed it, that the place had indeed been another one of the King’s properties which was situated within the territory of Smotia.

Back in the part of the empire which existed in the human realm.

You walked across the clearing with a mixed feeling of awe and trepidation. The day was beginning to settle down to dusk by the time you were venturing through the property, with the sun descending into the horizon, spreading more shadows than light through the open vineyards. It allowed you to stay in the shade to avoid being seen, and to be able to watch the workers from a safe distance. As the night was closing in, there were only a small group of people left working at the winery. Most of them were just finishing up, either at the warehouse or the stockrooms where they kept the crops. They all seemed busy with their own tasks to notice you, though it didn’t stop you from feeling like someone was watching your movement, causing you to become even more cautious while you were feeding your curiosity.

It was after the last trip you took through the silver doors when you finally came to a realisation, to finally understand the secret behind them. Once you accepted that your little adventures had not been a dream or imagination, and that what you encountered had not been mere illusion, you finally understood what these silver doors were.

Portals.

The silver doors that your father had given you access to have been magic portals, with powerful spells that would bring you to different places, allowing you to emerge in different realms, and perhaps even beyond.

If only you hadn’t had the talk with your father on the day you first arrived in this castle, or taken the time to understand more about this new realm and learn about magic since you have been here, you would have simply thought that you have indeed gone crazy. But all the days you spent learning about the fairy tale land and the magic that lies within the realm have only helped you to understand everything better, and you soon realised that this was the magic that your father mentioned the day he handed you the bundle of keys that you are now holding in your hand.

“Within each one of the silver doors, there is a strong kind of magic. One that has been so demanding of our family’s powers, exists under my control, and it is also the type of magic that should be kept secret, no matter what. Once you go through them, you will understand why it is important for me to defend this castle and our home territory.”

Was this the reason why your father brought you back to this place after so long, after spending years keeping you away from it? Did he want you to learn about his magic after protecting you from it? Was this the reason why he handed you these keys, to show you the power of magic that has been passed down in your family?

But then the most important question still haunts you to this day—

Has this been His Majesty’s way of being able to travel to different places in a short amount of time so he could handle his business, to be able to do his duty without having to travel far and long so he could continue taking care of his empire?

With this new knowledge, your curiosity has been growing stronger than your fear, and you have more questions plaguing you each day. Questions that you would have to keep to yourself until the day your father would return home.

Until then, you would gather more information through your lessons and from opening more magic doors. Perhaps, the more you get to see the magic behind these doors, the more you can see this new world as you continue venturing through these portals, then you will be able to learn and understand more about your father’s magic and this magical realm, and find out who you truly are.

That was the reason why you are standing here tonight, right in front of yet another silver door that has drawn your curiosity that you find it hard to look away. The silver embellishments on the door are glimmering right before your eyes, as they reflect the soft glare of moonlight that has penetrated into the hallway through a nearby window.

The moonlight that rarely accompanies you whenever you are about to embark on your own little adventure.

In your previous trials, you have only chosen the short period of time in the late afternoon after tutoring hours to slip out of your bedchamber and venture into these halls. Keeping the short timeframe that your father had given you for these adventures, you have always used the sign of dusk to remind you to return home, allowing you to be back right before dinnertime.

Today has been different. Tutoring hours lasted longer than usual, when Lord Gordan took over your afternoon lessons and sat you down to teach you about your family’s ancestry. The extra lessons didn’t end until dusk finally came, when Nanny Abigail took over guarding you as she led you straight to dinner in the royal dining hall.

It wasn’t until long after dinnertime when you finally found the chance to slip out of the bedchamber. The absence of Lord Gordan and Nanny Abigail when you stepped out of the room, and the absence of the lady maids in the hallway wasn’t so much of a surprise, but it was quite a shock to find that there had been no guards standing by outside of your bedchamber. Just like how it would have been back at The Citadel when you could barely see yourself going around the palace without at least one guard following you.

It made you curious, yet you spent no time wondering about it, and took the chance to slip out of your quarters and find your way back to this hallway of silver doors.

There were no palace staff in sight as you walked down the halls, but you did catch a sight of a pair of guards standing in their post in a nearby hall, though they seemed to be focused on guarding the King’s study room to notice you slipping into the shadows behind the pillars as you made your way into this place. Glancing towards the end of the hall and to the opposite way, you make sure that the coast is still clear, and nobody would catch what you are doing as you move closer to the silver door.

This time, there is no humming sound coming out of the door to summon you, as if beckoning you to come closer and choose this door for you to open tonight. Yet the silver key that you are holding seems to vibrate against your palm the closer you come towards the door before you. The vibration is strong enough to cause the rest of the keys in the bundle to jingle that you have to press your palm around them to keep them from making too much noise, afraid that it might draw someone’s attention and you would miss the chance to see what lies beyond the magic door.

Knowing that you won’t have much time left before the guards would begin their evening patrol and your absence in the bedchamber gets discovered, you reach back and pull up the hood of your cloak to cover yourself before walking through the door. Learning from past experiences, after finding yourself emerging into unexpected places and coming close to being seen or recognised, you realised that you would have to be more careful to avoid getting caught by someone and accidentally exposing your father’s secret during your trips.

That was why you decided to be much safer tonight, to disguise yourself as you go through with your secret escapade.

Under the half-ragged cloak that you have often worn whenever you escaped from The Citadel at nightfall, you have chosen to wear a commoner’s clothes—a plain, dark-coloured tunic top and a pair of tight breeches—instead of your daily dresses. The pair of boots that would normally be hidden under your bed have replaced the low pair of heels that you wore during today’s tutoring hours and afternoon lessons.

With a deep inhale of breath and a silent prayer, you turn the vibrating key which has somehow become warm in your hold, and gently open the door.

You suck a deep breath as you emerge into a bedroom that looks nothing like the rooms you have seen all around the magic castle so far. The room you walk into appears to be quite small yet cozy, with a queen-sized bed positioned right at the center of the room, covered with a couple of fluffed pillows and fresh sheets, with a thick furry blanket folded on the foot of the bed. There is a shaded lamp on top of the side table right beside the bed, and a cold, unlit fireplace on the opposite wall. Right in front of the fireplace, a brown felt that appears to have come from a deer is laid to cover the wooden floor, making you think for a second that you might be inside a hunter’s lodging, until something draws your attention to make you think otherwise.

On your right appears to you a wooden door. Even while being closed shut, you can still hear the muffled sounds of people chatting and cheering, the sounds of glass clinking and cutleries hitting tables and plates, and the rough voices of men shouting and calling names. The noises that you hear are enough to give you a hint to figure out where you currently are, as they bring you back to the scene you encountered a period of time ago during your late-night trips into town. Though doubt fills your mind, as you still find it hard to believe it to be true unless you can see it with your own eyes.

You turn towards the door, and the door from which you came in from grabs your attention. Looking at it now, it seems to be the door of a walk-in closet. But just like the other portals, magic has turned it into something else. Through the half-opened door, instead of seeing the interior of a closet, you see the sight of the magic portal that is still open. There is nothing there but the sight of a dark void with swirling blue lights floating at the center. The dark void seems eerie to you, yet you no longer look at it with fear as you know that this magical sight is what will lead you back to the magic castle once you are done venturing here.

The sound of a man’s laughter and the loud cheers that follow draw your attention back to the bedroom door. Curious to know where you might have ended, you carefully make your way to it. The wooden floor creaks beneath your booths, making your breath hitch, and you silently pray that the noises outside would drown the sounds you are making as you slowly reach for the doorknob and turn it open. To your relief, the door has been left unlocked, and you carefully pull it open just an inch. Just enough for you to see what is on the other side.

The muffled sounds you heard suddenly clear out and immediately hit you straight in the face—the loud chattering that seems to come from dozens of rowdy men and the boastful laughter that you heard earlier, with the sounds of glasses clinking against each other or hitting against wooden tables. Seeing nothing but a wooden walkway and railings as you open the door, you realise that you are currently on the upper floor of an establishment, while the noises seem to have been coming from downstairs. The familiar scent of booze, dust, and burning candles wafts through the air, and you stifle a gasp as you soon realise where you are.

Moving in haste when you barely have the chance to recover from shock, you shut the door with a soft click and turn the other way. Across from you appears a window, left partly opened for the cold night breeze to flow into the room, blowing the thin curtains that have little to do to shield the lights coming from the street outside. With shaky legs, you walk towards the window and look down.

Just as suspected, you see the bustling street of the business district of Smotia right down below, with people passing by as they are making their route home or searching for a place of leisure after a long day of hard work. You can easily recognise the street you are looking at, because you had ventured into the same street the last time you slipped away from home.

Still busy taking everything in, you almost miss the sound of firm footsteps and the creaks on the wooden floor outside of the bedroom, until you hear them coming closer towards the bedroom door. A low and deep voice calls out from outside the door, snapping you out of your shock, “Anee? Is that you?”

Turning sharply with a gasp, you rush to close the door to the closet, hiding the glimmering portal before rushing into the small bathroom on the other side of the fireplace to hide.

“You didn’t tell me that you were coming tonight—”

The deep sound of voice fades just as the bedroom door opens merely seconds after you close the bathroom door shut. “Anee? Are you here?” the man calls out again after coming to a halt. “Huh. That’s funny, I thought I heard someone here.”

Just when you expect him to leave after finding the room empty, you hear the man entering the room instead. The floor creaks more intensely under his boots, and you hold your breath as you sense him coming towards the window. Peering through the seams between the door and the wooden frame, you catch the sight of the man as he stands in front of the window, looking down the street with a sigh.

“Must have been my imagination, then. ’Am getting old for this, I swear,” he seems to mumble to himself before he gently shuts the window, and as he bends, you get to see him more clearly to recognise him. The illuminating street lights from outside the window are helping you to see his face.

Sir Elias.

A woman’s voice is heard from outside the room, calling for him, and the man turns to walk away. “Nothing, love. I thought I heard someone in the room, is all,” he calls out to whoever was calling him as he makes his way to leave the bedroom.

“Who is it? Is it Anee?” the woman’s voice seems muted as she remains outside the bedroom, with the noises from below rising in the background.

“Nah,” Sir Elias chuckles lowly. “It’s just the wind—” he calls out to the woman that you assume to be his wife as he turns and begins walking away, before adding gently under his breath, “Or maybe I just missed that bloody sucker.”

You remain still as you listen to the faint click sound of the door coming to close, followed by the sound of Sir Elias’ heavy footfalls over the wooden floor fading in the distance, until silence fills the room.

It isn’t until you take a few more deep breaths and steady your shaking hands before you finally open the door, looking around you to make sure that the bedroom is completely empty before finally stepping out of the bathroom. With a deep, exhale of breath, you come down to your knees in your relief and rest back against the bed. Your eyes turn to the window, now closed shut to shield the voices from the town below, leaving you in the stifling silence where your mind once again becomes the loudest.

The silver door has taken you back to The Rare Roots, the local pub right at the center of the business district in Smotia, and straight into one of the rented rooms on the upper floor of the pub, which Sir Elias had offered you to take the night you came here.

Your head spins as questions after questions continue to fill your mind.

Why would the King have direct access to a local pub in the business district of Smotia?

And why would Sir Elias—the owner of the local pub who you have never once seen coming to visit The Citadel—be calling your father by his childhood name, as if they have known each other personally for a very long time, or that he would expect the King to be appearing in one of his rented bedrooms as if it would be such a normal occurrence to happen here?

You remain in the bedroom for a while longer, looking around to find any sign that your father had truly been here, while the night passes by with the muffled sounds from the crowd of The Rare Roots below penetrating through the silence. The noises out there are loud, but not loud enough to drown your thoughts as you take a seat at the foot of the bed, trying to make sense of your findings.

The curtains by the window have been left open after Sir Elias’ departure, allowing the figure that has been moving in the shadows to look his way in, watching your movements in silence, his presence completely unbeknownst to you. Perched atop the roof of the next building, he gets a clear view of you. Of the way you seem to be wallowing so deep in your thoughts that you are unaware of the pair of eyes that are keeping a close watch on you.

And he continues to watch over you, taking his time to take the sight of you in and memorise everything he sees of you until you finally slip away, disappearing into one of the doors which acts like the portal bringing you back home. That is when he also makes his move, stepping back into the shadows to return to where he belongs, filled with the delight of victory that comes after finally finding what he was after.

Found you. Finally, I’ve found you, he wonders to himself, as he slips away and disappears through the shadows of the night.

— © 2023 Yoonia, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind, translations, unsanctioned adaptations are not allowed.

the bedroom hymns ● chapter viii

⟶ Chapter summary | As Yoongi returns home, he is welcomed by the shadows of his past, and the secret behind his journey being challenged and questioned. At the same time, you slowly begin to unravel your father’s secrets, as you begin to learn more about his magic,  and you continue following the shadows of his footsteps to find out what he has planned.  

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader  ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Crown Princess!reader, Fantasy au, Fairy Tale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 12,1k words ⟶ Ratings | PG-13, +18 / M for Mature for future chapters; mentions of war, dark magic, a brief mention/hint of stalking  ⟶ Story Masterlist | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Feedback | Music Playlist | Ko-fi

⟶ Author’s note | We’re finally getting a long chapter! I contemplated between dropping this part as a full chapter or to split it into two, but I figured it would be best to combine the scenes as they work much better if being shared and told at the same time. That being said, I might be taking a break from posting the chapters for a couple of weeks (just a week or two, maybe) to finish the rest of the upcoming chapters so we can have some more regular updates. I’ll be back soon with more thrilling scenes, I promise. But for now, I hope this long chapter will fill your days as we wait for the next ones to come :)

chapter viii. chasing shadows

Yoongi never truly understood why he was able to find solace while he was staying in Smotia until he finally returned home.

Emburn Empire, Min Yoongi’s home kingdom and the home of the fairies, can be quite distinctive compared to any other kingdoms that inhabit the Land of Far Far Away. Its vast territory rises from one of the most sequestered regions of the fairy tale land, divided into three separate sections connecting Emburn Empire with the three different elements of nature which support the empire as a whole—on the land, its landed territory that is united with the main continent of the fairy tale land; on the water, the small province floating against the rough waves of the Carmine Sea; and on the air, presented by the patch of island housing the main government of Embun which levitates gracefully above the continent, floating among the thick white clouds on the blue-grey sky above.

Here, much like in Smotia, greens in various hues cover the expanse of Emburn. Widespread of green grass and a vast variety of trees blanket the range of hills, with dense clusters of tall trees crowning the rising terrains and stowed between the dip of valleys. Some trees grow here just as wide as the people’s homes and almost as tall as the sky above, with many that are almost older than the entire empire itself. Thick clusters of wild ivy smother the stone walls of the Imperial Palace and the people’s houses in the towns, and flowers bloom in a myriad of shapes and colours that only exist here in the Emburn Empire.

Yoongi recalls all the dawns and mornings he spent sitting on top of the tallest hills in Smotia, looking away from the towns and the mercenary camps to enjoy the sight of the canopies of trees and the widespread meadows and finding similarities there to the sea of green waiting for him back home. Oftentimes, he would wonder how the empire that was built within the human realm could have given him a sense of familiarity which reminded him of his home. Whenever he remembered how Smotia existed in the borders between two realms, he would find himself wondering if the similarities had been deliberately created to mirror their closest neighbour, albeit their existence is separated by the portals hidden in the depth of the Elcester Forest. And that was before Yoongi learned of the truth about the Wicked King’s true antecedents and the true history behind his ascension as the ruler of the Nythelean Empire.

Had King Aneas done it on purpose, then? That he had built his new home in the human realm which resembled the land where he had once been, taking everything that he had learned from his former ally about making use of the land’s resources to establish his empire and to support his people?

Because just like how Nythelean Empire gain their resources from the Land of Smotia, the fertile land, the green hills, the abundant woodlands and fresh springs that spread all over the territories of Emburn are the ones that have helped the empire and its people to thrive for a long period of time. But unlike in Smotia, resources are not the only things that the people of Emburn could gain from nature.

One look was all he needed to see, through the first sight that Yoongi had taken from his homeland on the day he emerged in the bluffs after leaving Smotia behind, to remind him that the two empires are not one and the same. Arriving at the bluffs at dawn, he traveled towards the southeast of Earthpeak Cliffs and across the borders between kingdoms, where the sight of the territory of Emburn first welcomed him. The green hills of the landed territory of his homeland opened for him like a warm embrace. The sight and the feeling that overcame him as he marched his loyal mare, Aspen, through the borders had been almost comparable to what he experienced the first time he first came through the borders of Smotia.

Yet all the similarities ended once he finally reached the area where the landed territory of Emburn and the capital city were connected, where the first sign of Emburn’s distinctive nature could be seen.

What doesn’t exist in the vast fertile land of Smotia is magic. The same kind of magic that exists here in every part of the land, drifting in the air that Yoongi breathes, and is constantly felt by every single inhabitant living within the territories of Emburn Empire. This old magic is what becomes the empire’s source of power ever since the day it was established and built by Yoongi’s ancestors, with the emperor and empress sitting on its throne becoming the pillar and the core that hold the magic together, binding it and keeping it stable for many years.

It is the same powerful magic that allows the capital city of Emburn and the Imperial Palace to defy gravity, levitating far above the mainland and higher than the peaks of Earthpeak Cliff, the tallest rocky mountains which stand above the Carmine Sea.

The sight of the levitating capital city which Yoongi saw the moment he reached the heart of Emburn had become clear evidence and reminder of how different his homeland truly is, not only compared to the human land of Smotia but also to all the places he visited throughout his journey. Beyond the sight of the sea of green that welcomed him in the landed provinces, appeared to his eyes the majestic sight of Marble Falls, the flowing waterfalls that descend all the way from the grounds of the Imperial Palace in the sky and down to the Armere River that flows between the range of hills in the grounded region of Emburn in the mainland.

This powerful magic was first found by the ancient fairies who once roamed this part of the fairy tale land, passed down to Yoongi’s blood ancestors who built the empire from the ground up to create a peaceful haven for the fairies in Far Far Away land. The magic that still exists today, the one that is holding the empire together in the present, and the same magic that becomes the cure to Yoongi’s ailment, helping him piece together the bond that he has with his mana which has grown weak and fragile during his time away from home.

It had only taken Yoongi mere seconds after breathing in the fresh air here in Emburn and stepping through the gates of the Imperial Palace for his power to begin knitting itself together. He could feel every fractured piece of his mana strengthening itself until his powers began coursing through his body once again, until he was finally able to heal. In an instant, his senses were heightened, the mana flow within him stopped rebelling against him and it began to calm down, settling peacefully the way it should have been.

Days have gone by since his arrival, and before he realises it, those days are slowly turning into weeks. Albeit his mana has yet to fully return to its normal state, Yoongi is quite relieved to have made the decision to return home, allowing him the chance to not only recover the magic within him but also to gain more strength before he returns to finish his journey.

Sometimes, when he would roam through the imperial palace on his own, he would be filled with guilt and realisation that he should have probably listened to Yijeong’s advice about returning to Emburn so he could recover. If only he had listened and hadn’t been so stubborn about staying in Smotia, knowing that the chances of him finding what he was after had been slim, perhaps he would have been able to use his powers when he needed them the most.

But that was all in the past now, and all he can focus on now is to recover completely while thinking of ways to make up for his obstinacy once he gets back to where Yijeong is. Because recovering his powers hadn’t been the only thing that Yoongi had managed to gain by coming home.

Ever since the moment he arrived back to the land of Far Far Away, Yoongi immediately noticed the peculiarity hanging in the air. He could easily sense the turbulences happening in the fairy tale land, recognising immediately that something had been brewing in his absence. Warning bells kept ringing in his head as he entered the home castle with cautions upon his arrival. His shoulders had been heavy, not knowing what to expect as he made his way to see his parents.

While it wasn’t bad news which welcomed him home, the odd exchange that he had with his mother during their first reunion didn’t help much to reassure him about the situation.

“Was it really necessary for you to be away for so long? What could have been more important than being here, for you to prepare for the crown and handle the matters around the empire in place of the Emperor?” 

Empress Ariane had always shown Yoongi a form strict of love, as she had always placed the matters of the crown and the empire above everything else, including her own son. In her eyes, Yoongi is not just her biological son, but the Crown Prince and the sole heir of the Emburn Empire, and she has always reminded Yoongi of his role at every chance she gets. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Yoongi when she immediately brought up his duty to the empire and the crown upon his return home, to remind him of the need for him to focus on preparing himself to take the Emperor’s place once it was due time for him to take the responsibility.

Yet there was something in the way the Empress addressed the matter which had been bothering Yoongi. His own conscience has been brewing with suspicions, and it has kept nagging him in the back of his mind that he finds it hard to shake the thoughts away, even to this day.

“What if something happens to—” the Empress’ words broke and shattered at the mention of the Emperor while they sat together in the throne room the day Yoongi first came to see her. Hurt flickered through her gaze, though she quickly blinked it away before Yoongi could say something about it or look deeper into her thoughts at that moment. “What if something happens while you are out there running amok doing heavens know what? You know I wouldn’t be able to handle this entire empire by myself.”

Yoongi never said a thing in return except making a promise that everything would be okay, regardless of what the Empress was trying to imply. There was no need for her mother to finish her words, as Yoongi could already hear it in his head.

What if something happens to the Emperor?

“Nothing is going to happen. I am sure of it.” Yoongi said this to the Empress with full conviction, as he had truly made sure of the safety of the empire and the Emperor before his departure from home.

Emperor Aymon, the ruler of the Emburn Empire and Yoongi’s biological father, has been bedridden from a mysterious illness which started two years ago. The ailment had come out of nowhere, when the strong and healthy Emperor unexpectedly started to grow weak. It had all begun with the Emperor losing control of his mana flow, until the magic within him began fighting back against him, erupting through his whole body while hurting him from the inside. Once the powerful mana began to simmer down, it almost seemed like every drop of magic within him had been wasted, and so did his soul.

Even the entire empire was hurting, as his magic—that was supposed to stabilise the powerful magic within the home of the fairies—started weakening. The unexpected changes of weather caused the crops to fail and prevented fishing ships from sailing out across the Carmine Sea. Earthquakes and storms happened every so often that people kept having to build new homes, while a series of peculiar illnesses began to spread in towns.

To this, the Emperor had chosen to lock himself in one of the tallest towers in the Imperial Palace, not only for the sake of himself and to prevent his magic from harming people around him, but also to preserve the magic that he had left to keep his empire under control. Even once the Empress and the High Priest of Emburn managed to aid him in stabilising the empire with their magic, Emperor Aymon remained in his refuge while doing his best he could to find a way to heal.

Yoongi still remembers the days he spent with the Emperor during the height of his sickness. The fairy king had always appeared to his eyes as the most powerful being he had ever known. But during that period of time, it seemed to him that his father was withering right in front of his eyes, appearing more frail than he used to be as the Emperor laid down on the massive bed where he had been resting during the time of his illness.

But at the same time, the Emperor still appeared to him as the strongest person he had always known. When even at his most critical condition, the Emperor still did his best to fulfil his duty as the ruler to use the rest of his magic to keep the empire and their homeland from crumbling apart.

If only Yoongi had been as indifferent as how the Empress had made him to be—both to the Emperor’s condition and the turbulences occurring in his home kingdom—he would have thought that Empress Ariane’s inquiries had come from a place of concern. The concern she might have felt for the Emperor’s wellbeing, and what might happen to the empire with the Crown Prince being away during the Emperor’s absence.

Yet, seeing the truth now, Yoongi remains haunted by a lingering doubt.

Unbeknownst to the Empress, Yoongi had visited Emperor Aymon not long before leaving Emburn. Not only had the Emperor always known what Yoongi had been up to during his time away from home, but it had actually been the Emperor himself who sent him off on his journey in the first place.

“I want you to do me a favour while I still exist in this realm. It will be quite challenging of a task should you take it, and it wouldn’t be an easy path, but it is necessary that you go into this journey to prevent the upcoming turmoil that may arise in the Land Far Far Away in the near future.”

That day, the Emperor sat down on his bed, his back resting on the headrest as he spoke to Yoongi. He seemed resolved as he relayed his request to his son. But for the most part, he also appeared resigned, as if he was ready to welcome the end of his time should it come to him. But for the first time after a while, Yoongi had also noticed that his father had looked like he was in a much better shape than he usually would, which gave him a sense of relief, albeit briefly. Because no matter how well-shaped he looked as he sat there looking into his son’s eyes, the Emperor’s voice still showed how weary he truly was.

“If you are willing to take this challenge for me, you have to promise me two things,” Emperor Aymon said then. His voice came out stern, and his words came like a warning that Yoongi had no other choice but to agree and make a promise to follow his words. Only then did the Emperor continue with the list of requirements that Yoongi needed to follow. “One, you must go into this with an open mind and forget everything that you’ve learned about the war between kingdoms that was written in the books. Two, you must never let your mother know about my request. Promise me this.”

Yoongi had questioned this specific request from his father at first, yet the warnings given to him had made him grow cautious enough to make sure that he wouldn’t be leaving the Emperor alone without someone watching over him while Yoongi was away. Before he left, Yoongi had ordered a few of his trusted men to keep watch on the Emperor, warning them to trust nobody except for Yoongi. Not even the Empress herself.

He hated not being able to trust his own mother, but the situation that happened after had proven that he had made the right call. As now that even the Empress and the Royal Aides are being placed under close watch, the Emperor’s condition has been getting better. Though Yoongi has been adamant about keeping this information a secret between himself and his men, that not even the Empress knows about the Emperor’s improving health.

It has caused him to feel unsettled, not knowing who to trust even in his own empire. Yet the situation had only given him more reason to do what his father willed him to, as he set off to fulfil not only the Emperor’s request, but also his own intention.

Tonight would be the last night Yoongi would be spending at his home.

Tomorrow, he would have to decide if he should return to Smotia and regroup with his men, or if he should start investigating the Wicked King more closely to know what he is up to. Yoongi knows that he has been gone from his camp for too long, and through the reports sent to him by his men, he has heard that many things have been happening with the Nythelean Empire since the day he left Smotia.

It has made him feel anxious, suddenly afraid that he would miss the perfect opportunity of accomplishing his tasks, now that the Wicked King is on the move. Once again, he regrets for not taking his time to recover sooner, as his departure from Smotia seems to have only caused him the long restless nights filled with all the ’what ifs’, wondering if Fates are trying to stop him from doing what he is required to do.

To calm his thoughts, Yoongi steps away from his bedchamber once the night has fallen. When the night is deep, Yoongi often feels a heavy awareness hanging in the air around him, as if warning him about the shift happening in the fairy tale land and there is something looming in the horizon that he needs to be wary of.

Normally, he would simply reside in his room when this happens, where the stiff tension that he has been constantly feeling would not be able to mess with his mana flow. Or, he would spend the night in the library, trying to make sense of everything that the Emperor had told him as he dives right into the books that were written about the ancient kingdoms, the great war between kingdoms that had once rattled the land of Far Far Away, and about the ancient magic spells—one of which had been the same one that had allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream.

Tonight, Yoongi chooses to spend his time roaming through the dark hallways of the Imperial Palace with no destination in mind.

For the first time after a long while, he allows his mana to lead the way instead of giving in to the silence. He tracks down even the passageways within the castle that he had rarely traveled through—passing the vacant rooms and the Royal Guards’ posts, past the Great Hall where the empire would often hold their annual festivities, and he continues walking until he suddenly finds himself crossing the palace’s courtyard and entering the Lumina Apex Hall, where the source of the elemental magic that the Emperor has casted onto the palace’s grounds can be found.

Originally built by his ancestors as a temple to worship the moon—which was once believed to be the source of Emburn’s magic—the Lumina Apex Hall has become a fixture within the Imperial Palace’s grounds where the Emperor would spend late hours in the night to cast his magic, casting the spells that are needed to maintain control of his empire and its vast territories under his reign.

With walls and pillars built with Clayntine stone, one of the most durable materials that could only be found in the land of Emburn, and windows made of Shadow Crystals, the Lumina Apex Hall lights up in the nightfall with structures that reflect the moonlight perfectly like mirrors. Located at the center of the Royal Garden, the structure is partly covered with a layer of wild vines growing along its walls and pillars which have rapidly developed with time. Thick hedges and flowers blooming in pastel colours line up on either side of the pathway leading to its front door which has been left unlocked for the Empress and the Royal Priests’ daily visit.

A burst of energy welcomes him as Yoongi enters through the door. There are no lights inside the main atrium, yet moonlight streams through the Shadow Crystals that form the dome ceiling above the atrium, illuminating the hall perfectly with streaks of soft light spreading across the stone floors and bouncing against the stone walls. Standing at the center of the atrium, his eyes roam through the walls around him.

Even here, inside the stone walls, vegetation grows rapidly between the pillars. The overgrowth of vines appears along the pillars, bushes rise from the ground to cover the pale-coloured walls, and a thin layer of grass emerges where the floor tiles made of Osnite stones are split. As Yoongi looks up, he gets to see the bright display of stars which adorn the night sky of Emburn. The sight of the dancing aurora in copper and gold in the sky should have been daunting, when Yoongi notices that the shades seem darker than they usually would, presenting the shadows of peril in its wake.

Yet the sky seems brighter tonight than it usually does, with stars glimmering in the night sky, surrounding the aurora like a protective blanket. Somehow, it gives Yoongi a sense of peace to be walking under such a phenomenon as he steps towards the center of the atrium, where a small pond made of Clayntine stone stands on its own, taking over the space at the heart of the Apex Hall. Around the pond, specks of silver and cyan blue glitters appear to be floating around it instead of a flowing stream, beginning from its center and moving out towards where the streaks of moonlight are falling into the room.

He reaches out to touch the silver specks, feeling them crackle against the tips of his fingers before he retracts his hand. Smiling at the sight of the flowing magic that is the essence of Emburn Empire, he turns away and walks across the atrium to reach one of the glass doors of the Hall which leads to another part of the Royal Gardens that only the Emperor and his trusted people could enter.

Under his touch, the door opens for him, and Yoongi walks out through the pathway that has become familiar to him after all the years he has become acquainted with this place. A core memory from his childhood returns to him as he walks down the gravel-covered pathway, though the overgrown hedges and blood orchids blooming all around him are nothing like what he had seen many years ago.

He was a mere child when he first walked down this pathway with his father holding his hand, long before Emperor Aymon took the throne and during the time Yoongi’s father was slowly taking over the empire’s business with their alliances. To the Emperor, those visits had been about introducing Yoongi to his future duty and responsibility as the future Crown Prince of Emburn, while to Yoongi, the memories that had been engraved in his mind from that period of time hold an entirely different meaning to him.

Beyond this pathway is a magical place, the portal gate which acts as the border between realms and the bridge that connects Emburn Empire to the other kingdoms in the mainland of the land Far Far Away. It was through this magic gate that the Emperor had been able to travel freely between kingdoms and realms, to be able to visit their allies and neighbours while keeping the homeland from being exposed to external threats, and without having to lose connection to the source of Emburn’s magic—just like what happened to Yoongi during his journey. It wouldn’t be until later, once Yoongi takes the throne as the new ruler, when he would be required to do the same, though he would still be able to cross the portal gate whenever he needed to.

The Eden Isle Gardens is what the magical portal gate is called, and it is the one place that Yoongi would always come to visit whenever he returned home.

For many years, ever since he was a child, he would secretly escape to this place whenever he needed a moment of reflection. This has been a place of refuge where he would be able to find peace, and a place that holds one of his most treasured memories which Yoongi has kept for many years.

Even in the Emperor’s absence, the vegetation in this part of the magic garden grow beautifully. The Emperor’s magic remains strong here, keeping the grounds fertile, the grass and hedges perfectly trimmed instead of growing rapidly, and the portal gates secured, with nobody else but Yoongi and Emperor Aymon holding the key and memorising the spell that would help them activate the portals when needed. Yoongi follows the path that has been adorned with blood orchids growing left and right, fairy dust leading his way through the areas that moonlight is unable to penetrate, until he finds the center of the garden, to the place where Yoongi would always return to.

At the center of the garden, surrounded by a small pond and blooming blood orchids, stands a small gazebo made of Shadow Crystals. His legs feel light as Yoongi walks across the boardwalk across the pond to reach the gazebo, while a sense of deja vu fills him as he takes a seat inside, right at the spot which overlooks a locked steel gate which has always caught his attention.

Once in the past, that steel gate had been one of the magic portals that the Emperor would use for his journeys. It was the main bridge connecting his empire to their former ally, another empire which the former Emperor of Emburn, Yoongi’s grandfather, had managed to form a tight bond with. A close and mutual relationship which lasted until the height of Emperor Aymon’s reign.

But as Yoongi looks out through the steel gate now, there is nothing left out there but the wastelands and the ruins of the fallen empire that was once superior in its reign.

After the war between kingdoms, the territory which lies beyond the portal has become a forbidden area for anyone to enter. With remnants of hazardous toxins and black magic that may still linger in the area after the war, nobody has been allowed to come across the borders and into the wastelands for many years. From this side of the connecting portal, the steel gate is secured with chains made of Magraonor steel and locks that are bound with magic spells casted by the Emperor and the High Priest.

Even though Yoongi wouldn’t be able to walk across the gate with all those spells preventing him from seeing what is beyond the darkness, he can picture it inside his head. Through his distant memory, he still recalls the majestic empire that had once been the most peaceful place in Far Far Away, the home of the elves, fairies, and powerful mages who once loved to travel between kingdoms to spread their knowledge about ancient magic and healing remedies. But if only he would close his eyes tonight, the brilliant images of the fallen empire that he once remembered would not be the image that he sees.

Another reason why Yoongi has been doing all he could to evade sleep tonight was the dreams. Ever since he used the spell which allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream, and ever since the day he arrived back home, a different kind of dream has been haunting his long, restless nights.

In his dream, he saw himself crossing over the steel gate, the chains and locks had been broken and he could easily walk across the borders to enter the wastelands. He saw himself walking up the steps to the fallen empire’s home castle, surrounded by nothing but shadows and the ruins that had been said to fill the barren territory, and a thick layer of white mist following him as he reached to where the main palace should have been.

Everything about the dream has been daunting, and it has only solidified his concerns about the peculiar shift happening in Far Far Away. While he never got to see what was waiting for him at the end of those steps, to see what was hidden behind the thick mist and beyond the broken stone walls, he still remembers the feeling of unease that lingered through his chest as he was stuck inside the dream, the eerie shadows that seemed to follow him through the mist as he entered the wastelands, and the feeling of death that seemed to linger.

The unnerving sensation he felt was so strong that he could feel it touching his skin even as he opened his eyes upon his return to the waking world. Even now, as he silently recalls the sights he saw in his dreams, his body shudders, while the same uneasiness fills his chest, warning him about the darkness that may come to visit.

As Yoongi sits silently at the center of the magic garden, under the dome roof of the glass gazebo overlooking the high hedges and broken pathway leading to the steel gate, he is unable to look away from the darkness beyond him. Lost in the faint memories that he has of the past, he doesn’t notice it when a black cat enters the premises, sauntering between the hedges filled with blood orchids and over the glimmering pond before finally joining him to lie down in the gazebo.

The black cat follows Yoongi’s gaze, as if trying to understand what the man is thinking so deeply about. The cat suddenly slides closer and rubs itself against Yoongi’s calf to gain his attention before sitting back on its hind legs, with his curious eyes looking out towards the nothingness beyond the gate.

“We used to slip away and escape to this place when we were kids, didn’t we?” a deep voice speaks. “What a wonderful time that was, when we were nothing more but oblivious little children who knew nothing about the world.”

Yoongi turns to the black cat with a smile, recognising the voice that had just spoken to him, allowing him to identify this mysterious cat that had just decided to join him in his wonderings. “Indeed, we were. Those moments back then were truly irreplaceable,” Yoongi says, responding to the cat as he turns his gaze back at the steel gate. “We used to run away from the tutors to hide in this place, and then played hide and seek until the sun came down and Father would have to come down here himself to fetch us.”

“Those were the days,” the black cat softly chuckles. The cat falls silent for a moment before it softly continues, “This was also the place where you met her for the first time, wasn’t it?” The cat turns to look at Yoongi as the other does the same, and they exchange gazes with each other when the cat adds, “I’m talking about Her Majesty, Queen Milena.”

Sighing, Yoongi looks around the garden and reminisces about the past. “This was the place—” he says, as his memory takes him back to that moment in time from many, many years ago, when he was nothing more but a little boy who could barely able to speak fluently, yet was curious enough to follow his father to see what the Emperor was up to when he suddenly changed his plans with Yoongi to come to this place, only to find out that the Emperor was having important guests visiting. While the Emperor went on a stroll with his guest, Yoongi came to the gazebo to meet the young Princess Milena, the future queen who was resting while staying under the shade. The young Crown Princess of their neighbouring empire welcomed Yoongi with a warm smile, a sight that to this day remains to be the most glorious thing about her for Yoongi to remember.

“We did come across each other in this place for the first time, but it was beyond that gate where I used to be able to see her—” Yoongi says, pointing at the locked steel gate, while his memory once again takes him back to those days when Emperor Aymon took him along during his visits past the steel gate. Back then, a remarkable empire stood proud and strong on the other side of the gate, with the sun shining brightly on its prosperous land. Now, there is nothing there but the dark void and the flowing white mist that haunts him in his sleep.

The black cat looks out towards the steel gate and, as if knowing what Yoongi had just been thinking about, says, “And now there is nothing left there but the wastelands.”

“Is that really the truth?” Yoongi questions almost distractedly, and the cat scoffs.

“Only you would question it.”

The blunt comment draws a smile to Yoongi’s face, and he turns back to look at his peculiar companion to say, “The only thing I’m questioning right now is why you chose to come here while disguising in that form. I didn’t expect that you would follow me all the way back home, Yijeong.”

The black cat, Yijeong, stretches out and lies down near Yoongi’s feet before answering, “As a concerned friend, I was worried when I didn’t get a word from you since you went home. I had to slip out in disguise to move easier when following you. This form was the perfect choice since nobody would pay attention to a black cat strolling through the gardens. Did you notice that you were being followed by guards? I’m not sure if they know what you’re up to, but it seems that they’re determined to keep people away from the gardens to give you some privacy.”

Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anyone other than the two of them, Yoongi still steals a glance over his shoulder, looking back to where these royal guards that Yijeong mentioned might be standing by. Somewhere near the Apex Hall, no doubt, as it would be rare for regular guards to be able to come this far. The only exception was given to Yijeong, as the son of the Empire’s General, the only other person aside from the Emperor who has access to visit this magical place. Just like him, Yijeong has been trained and prepared to replace his father once the time comes, to one day stand by Yoongi’s side once he takes over the throne and rules the empire, and he had been trained all the spells that would be needed for him to do his duties.

“I noticed having extra shadows following me since I left my room,” he says, before facing towards the center of the gardens again and settling back against the glass wall on the side of the gazebo, though he turns his attention towards the other side of the gardens this time, where fireflies are beginning to appear around the pond. “I’ve had guards shadowing me since I got back, so I already expected them to follow me here too. But I didn’t care. They wouldn’t be able to enter this place anyway.”

“I guess you’re right,” Yijeong says as he lays his chin on his paw. “What were you expecting to find by coming here anyway?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, then I started strolling through the palace’s grounds, looking for some kind of a distraction,” Yoongi answers with a deep sigh. “I suddenly felt like I needed to get out of the palace, and I suppose that’s how I found my way here.”

Yijeong says nothing for a moment, before he questions Yoongi with a hushed voice, “Something was bothering you. Has the Emperor’s request been weighing heavily on you?”

His question draws a frown to Yoongi’s face. Yoongi had never truly revealed the true purpose of his expedition into the human realm, not to his loyal men and even to Yijeong, except to simply mention that it was a royal duty that was needed to be done under the Emperor’s request. Yijeong may have never questioned it out loud, and despite his willingness to stay by Yoongi’s side and to join him on his journey, Yoongi had always known that his best friend had been curious, if not suspicious about what he aimed to find.

It was not until the day Yoongi had to depart from camp, leaving behind Smotia to return home, when he finally pulled Yijeong aside to tell him everything—about the true reason why he left home, about why he had chosen to remain in Smotia, or why he had to keep a close eye on the Wicked King.

Only Yijeong knows what their true mission was, and what the Emperor had requested Yoongi to find without Empress Ariane ever knowing.

“Find my childhood friend. Find Milena. Help me find out what happened to her, and if she is still alive, bring her home. I cannot leave this realm without having any knowledge of her fate. I can’t die regretting that I couldn’t do anything to save her. If you can find ‘him’, then you might be able to find out if he still has her.”

Yoongi understood it quite well when Yijeong complained about being kept in the dark. Thankfully, his friend was quick to forgive him, knowing that such a big secret would cause a myriad of other problems should it ever get out, or for the Empress to hear that her own husband had made such a request. Even though it has been such a long time since both Yoongi and Yijeong ever came across Queen Milena, they both still remember how jealous the Empress had been of the Emperor’s friendship with his closest friend.

But sharing this secret only gave little relief to Yoongi’s heart, because there is still one more secret that he holds dear, unable to find a way to reveal it to Yijeong when he still has his own doubts. That finding Queen Milena, a mission that might be fundamental for the Emperor’s road to healing, has only been a small part—if not the first step—of Yoongi’s personal goal. And he has yet to be able to share this with anyone, even Yijeong, because he has never truly shared the real story of his first encounter with Queen Milena in the magic gardens.

Because that day, Queen Milena had not been sitting in this gazebo on her own, and only Yoongi and the Emperor knew Queen Milena’s secret which had been hidden until now.

Just as Yoongi is silently pondering if he should share his secret with his best friend, the air around them suddenly shifts. There is an invisible weight that breezes through the bushes, stirring the peacefulness that has been accompanying Yoongi in his wallowing. Even Yijeong becomes alert as he stirs by his side that Yoongi instantly rises, already prepared to use his magic to connect to the elements around them so he can see what is happening. But before he can even begin summoning his mana, Yijeong snaps his head to focus on him. His best friend’s gaze remains on his chest just as warmth begins to form against his skin, while the mana flow within him seems to be reacting to the sensation rising around them.

“Hey, Yoongi?” Yijeong says with a spark of surprise lathering his voice.

“Yeah?” Yoongi answers with his eyes focusing back and forth between Yijeong and the gardens, noticing how the leaves are swaying with the unsettling breeze.

“Why is that thing glowing? Did you do something or are you conjuring your mana to have it reacting like that?”

“No, I’m not doing any—” Yoongi starts to respond when his amulet—which has been hanging from his neck and down to his chest the whole time he was here—begins vibrating. He looks down and touches the amulet, which is now glowing in his hand as he lifts it up to get a better look. Blue light shimmers from the center of the amulet, flickering and swirling even stronger as he brings it up, inadvertently pointing it towards the locked gate that was supposed to lead him to their fallen neighbour.

His breath is caught, as he slowly begins to understand what is happening. There is only one reason why the amulet would be reacting this way, even if it makes no sense at all for it to be trying to lead him towards the forbidden territory beyond the sacred gate. And then, something finally dawns on him.

“You know, this amulet has been lighting up quite often since I got back home,” he whispers almost to himself, while the voice inside his head adds, ever since the dreams started happening. “But this is the first time it’s doing something like this.”

This can only mean one thing. “I think someone is using his magic to create portals, and they have been moving around between realms.”

Yijeong slowly rises, while Yoongi’s heartbeat picks up, beating rapidly in his chest right after he says those words. “Do you know who it might be? Can it be possible that—” Yijeong begins to question him, only for him to see Yoongi shaking his head, chucking to himself with disbelief when he says,

“It’s impossible, but—”

And it seems almost too good to be true just to think about it. Yoongi swallows hard as he wonders about this, as he can no longer qualm the rising hope blooming in his chest when he adds, “I think I know who it might be.”

She’s so close. How could it be? 

Yoongi has no idea how it could possibly happen, but he can sense you being so close to him that he can almost feel your presence within arm’s reach. His body trembles with anticipation, excitement, and his worries rising at the same time. Seeing that there is light appearing, hope waiting at the end of his journey, Yoongi slowly releases his amulet and kneels down beside his best friend.

If he wants to find the truth, and find you, then he will no doubt need help to achieve it.

“Yijeong, I need you to listen to me carefully—”

Your hands feel clammy as you stand right in front of another silver door.

Unlike the other doors that you have seen so far, this one looks the most ordinary and a bit—old. Made of deep-coloured wood, its front is adorned with embellishments made of thin silver linings that are crafted in intricate curves formed in floral patterns, and they all seem to glint in the dimly lit hallway. You probably shouldn’t be intimidated by its size and the intricate details that you are seeing, but not surprisingly, your knees are already shaking with the mere thought of opening this door filling your head.

Deep down, you already know that whatever you may come across once you step through this door, it will be far from ordinary. This is what you have learned so far from these silver doors after venturing into them for the past few days, as it had become one of your past afternoon activities once you are done with your daily lessons and royal duties.

The shock that you gained after entering the first silver door remained within you for quite a while. Pure disbelief had followed you after coming back out of the door, not entirely sure if what you encountered that day had been real. If only you hadn’t found yourself stumbling back into the hallway of Stargrave Castle or nearly spraining your ankles on your way back to your bedchamber, perhaps you would simply think that you were dreaming. That there was no way you could have gone back to The Citadel, or that the door had connected you back to the smaller—and slightly bland-looking—study room which your father, King Aneas, would often spend his time working in with his men back at the capital.

But you were well awake to feel it when the dusk came in and your skin was covered by the bumps rising as the temperature dropped so rapidly. And you were definitely awake when the palace’s maid came to help you prepare for dinnertime. You even held a long and steady conversation with her while she was brushing out the knots in your hair, further proving that you were walking in the real world instead of being stuck in a long, extended dreamscape.

Yet those things couldn’t stop you from questioning your own sanity as you laid down on your bed that night, particularly when you recalled the conversation that you ’heard’ from your hiding spot when you were in the study room. But then you looked out the window of your bedroom, the curtains left open as you had wished to see the stars and you saw a glimpse of the same copper aurora which had captivated you on the night of your arrival, the magical display of light once again making its appearance known to you as it danced in the sky above the calm ocean.

The sight quickly reminded you of how different and peculiar everything should be in this place. It made you realise that the odds of you actually being transported back into a different place across the realm would not have been impossible. It was hard to deny it when you remembered experiencing jumping into a burning flame to get into this realm, and that magic did exist in this place in ways that you couldn’t possibly imagine.

It was your own curiosity which had drawn you back to the same hallway after you were done with your lessons on the next day. At first, you considered going through the same door again, if only to prove that you hadn’t been dreaming and that you were completely sane. But then your father’s voice echoed through your mind as you stood in front of the same door, reminding you of his warning to only try one door at a time.

As you wished to be able to see more, you stepped away from the first door. There was no humming sound calling you back when you left it behind, while an odd pull was felt through the air, and you followed it until you found another silver door not too far away.

The silver door which soon became your second to try out had been smaller in size compared to the first one you had gone into. Yet you still entered with caution. You came through the door thinking that you would be prepared to find another surprising revelation, only to feel the shock filling your entire being when you walked through the door to come out through a small cabinet, and you found yourself emerging into the royal waiting room that was located within the city hall in the capital city of Smotia.

There was nobody around to catch you as you came out of the waiting room. After finding the podium on the first floor, right where your father’s throne was placed for him to acquire during formal ceremonies, you continued to make your way to the upper floors. Having been to this place often times before to accompany your father, you found no trouble in finding the main balcony, where the King would stand before the people of Smotia as he leads various ceremonies and rituals together with you by his side and his loyal ministers shadowing his movements.

Sure enough, as you looked down from the balcony, the Elysium Square was presented right before your eyes. The town’s square where the people would gather to see their King and to celebrate the empire’s annual events, and oftentimes, to simply enjoy the free time they have during their daily lives.

The same way the people were doing as you looked down from above. Keeping yourself in the shades to avoid being seen, you saw how the town’s workers were walking down the pavements as they were on their way home, making quite a haste to make sure that they would return to their dwellings before dusk. There were also little children playing around the fountains, while their mothers kept their busy eyes to watch over them while gossiping on the sides.

Just like the day before, when you felt your knees buckling beneath you in shock, you had to hold on to the railings as you watched the people below, the faint voices of their laughter became solid proof that you had been once again sent away from your new home. A memory flashed through your mind just then, of how each time you were supposed to attend the royal gathering alongside your father, the King himself would never ride the royal carriage with you to reach the city hall.

Each time, your father would somehow arrive not long after you would, with not a sight of another royal carriage arriving at the city hall to bring him all the way from The Citadel. Turning back to the hall where you came from, you could almost picture it, to see the King walking down the hall before emerging through the main balcony to greet his people, his daughter, and his men, without a single person witnessing how he had truly arrived.

With your curiosity deepened, you continued your adventure for the next few days by trying out two different silver doors, both of them lined up within a nearby hallway just beyond the King’s study room. And just like the previous ones, each of these doors took you back to different areas in the land of Smotia which you had become most familiar with.

The smaller one took you back to the town’s church.

You came out through the storage room door at the back of the church and, in your shock, you came so close to bumping into the head priest while you were busy taking in your surroundings. It was pure luck that you had been quick enough to slip into a nearby room which was thankfully empty, that you were able to avoid getting seen by the head priest who walked by with his helpers.

When the coast was clear enough for you to slip out of the room, the evening mass was just starting to take place. You may have recovered from your shock by then, yet once again, your mind was caught in a battle between acceptance and denial to make your exit. Fallen prey to your own curiosity, as you wanted to get a closer look instead of leaving with questions shadowing your thoughts, you returned to the room where you had been hiding in. From one of the wardrobes you found, you managed to grab a commoner’s cloak for you to borrow, using it to hide your identity as you slipped between the parishioners who came for the head priest’s sermon and gain his blessings.

As everyone around you was listening to the head priest’s sermon with rapt attention, the burning candles on the altar swaying with the breeze, their soft lights illuminating the walls and the dais while giving a serene feeling into the whole church, your attention remained on the side doors leading to the back halls where you came from. Once again, you could almost see the shadows of your father, sauntering through the back halls with his magic before appearing at the altar without anyone noticing or wondering where His Majesty had come from.

The next silver door you tried had appeared to your eyes like a work of art. The carvings on the wood panels had been the ones to draw you in, before you noticed that the silver embellishments that marked the door seemed to have silver specks floating around it, drawing more of your attention to have a closer look. That was before the humming voices began to call for you, pulling you in, enchanting you to slide in the key and open the door for a new adventure.

The magic door brought you to the orchard house that was part of the royal winery on the outskirts of the capital city. Located beyond the borders of the Elcester Forest where the wide, open plane was rich and fruitful enough for the vineyard to grow massively, it was the place which produced the royal wine that the King would often serve to his special guests during royal dinners and important events that were held by the empire.

Despite recognising the place almost immediately, you still took your time to look around to find clues, any signs that may confirm your suspicions. Leaving the main house, you browsed through the warehouse and stockrooms, not stopping until you finally found the crates of bottles that were being prepared to be sent away to The Citadel. It wasn’t until you saw the royal crest marking the crates and the bottles when you finally confirmed it, that the place had indeed been another one of the King’s properties which was situated within the territory of Smotia.

Back in the part of the empire which existed in the human realm.

You walked across the clearing with a mixed feeling of awe and trepidation. The day was beginning to settle down to dusk by the time you were venturing through the property, with the sun descending into the horizon, spreading more shadows than light through the open vineyards. It allowed you to stay in the shade to avoid being seen, and to be able to watch the workers from a safe distance. As the night was closing in, there were only a small group of people left working at the winery. Most of them were just finishing up, either at the warehouse or the stockrooms where they kept the crops. They all seemed busy with their own tasks to notice you, though it didn’t stop you from feeling like someone was watching your movement, causing you to become even more cautious while you were feeding your curiosity.

It was after the last trip you took through the silver doors when you finally came to a realisation, to finally understand the secret behind them. Once you accepted that your little adventures had not been a dream or imagination, and that what you encountered had not been mere illusion, you finally understood what these silver doors were.

Portals.

The silver doors that your father had given you access to have been magic portals, with powerful spells that would bring you to different places, allowing you to emerge in different realms, and perhaps even beyond.

If only you hadn’t had the talk with your father on the day you first arrived in this castle, or taken the time to understand more about this new realm and learn about magic since you have been here, you would have simply thought that you have indeed gone crazy. But all the days you spent learning about the fairy tale land and the magic that lies within the realm have only helped you to understand everything better, and you soon realised that this was the magic that your father mentioned the day he handed you the bundle of keys that you are now holding in your hand.

“Within each one of the silver doors, there is a strong kind of magic. One that has been so demanding of our family’s powers, exists under my control, and it is also the type of magic that should be kept secret, no matter what. Once you go through them, you will understand why it is important for me to defend this castle and our home territory.”

Was this the reason why your father brought you back to this place after so long, after spending years keeping you away from it? Did he want you to learn about his magic after protecting you from it? Was this the reason why he handed you these keys, to show you the power of magic that has been passed down in your family?

But then the most important question still haunts you to this day—

Has this been His Majesty’s way of being able to travel to different places in a short amount of time so he could handle his business, to be able to do his duty without having to travel far and long so he could continue taking care of his empire?

With this new knowledge, your curiosity has been growing stronger than your fear, and you have more questions plaguing you each day. Questions that you would have to keep to yourself until the day your father would return home.

Until then, you would gather more information through your lessons and from opening more magic doors. Perhaps, the more you get to see the magic behind these doors, the more you can see this new world as you continue venturing through these portals, then you will be able to learn and understand more about your father’s magic and this magical realm, and find out who you truly are.

That was the reason why you are standing here tonight, right in front of yet another silver door that has drawn your curiosity that you find it hard to look away. The silver embellishments on the door are glimmering right before your eyes, as they reflect the soft glare of moonlight that has penetrated into the hallway through a nearby window.

The moonlight that rarely accompanies you whenever you are about to embark on your own little adventure.

In your previous trials, you have only chosen the short period of time in the late afternoon after tutoring hours to slip out of your bedchamber and venture into these halls. Keeping the short timeframe that your father had given you for these adventures, you have always used the sign of dusk to remind you to return home, allowing you to be back right before dinnertime.

Today has been different. Tutoring hours lasted longer than usual, when Lord Gordan took over your afternoon lessons and sat you down to teach you about your family’s ancestry. The extra lessons didn’t end until dusk finally came, when Nanny Abigail took over guarding you as she led you straight to dinner in the royal dining hall.

It wasn’t until long after dinnertime when you finally found the chance to slip out of the bedchamber. The absence of Lord Gordan and Nanny Abigail when you stepped out of the room, and the absence of the lady maids in the hallway wasn’t so much of a surprise, but it was quite a shock to find that there had been no guards standing by outside of your bedchamber. Just like how it would have been back at The Citadel when you could barely see yourself going around the palace without at least one guard following you.

It made you curious, yet you spent no time wondering about it, and took the chance to slip out of your quarters and find your way back to this hallway of silver doors.

There were no palace staff in sight as you walked down the halls, but you did catch a sight of a pair of guards standing in their post in a nearby hall, though they seemed to be focused on guarding the King’s study room to notice you slipping into the shadows behind the pillars as you made your way into this place. Glancing towards the end of the hall and to the opposite way, you make sure that the coast is still clear, and nobody would catch what you are doing as you move closer to the silver door.

This time, there is no humming sound coming out of the door to summon you, as if beckoning you to come closer and choose this door for you to open tonight. Yet the silver key that you are holding seems to vibrate against your palm the closer you come towards the door before you. The vibration is strong enough to cause the rest of the keys in the bundle to jingle that you have to press your palm around them to keep them from making too much noise, afraid that it might draw someone’s attention and you would miss the chance to see what lies beyond the magic door.

Knowing that you won’t have much time left before the guards would begin their evening patrol and your absence in the bedchamber gets discovered, you reach back and pull up the hood of your cloak to cover yourself before walking through the door. Learning from past experiences, after finding yourself emerging into unexpected places and coming close to being seen or recognised, you realised that you would have to be more careful to avoid getting caught by someone and accidentally exposing your father’s secret during your trips.

That was why you decided to be much safer tonight, to disguise yourself as you go through with your secret escapade.

Under the half-ragged cloak that you have often worn whenever you escaped from The Citadel at nightfall, you have chosen to wear a commoner’s clothes—a plain, dark-coloured tunic top and a pair of tight breeches—instead of your daily dresses. The pair of boots that would normally be hidden under your bed have replaced the low pair of heels that you wore during today’s tutoring hours and afternoon lessons.

With a deep inhale of breath and a silent prayer, you turn the vibrating key which has somehow become warm in your hold, and gently open the door.

You suck a deep breath as you emerge into a bedroom that looks nothing like the rooms you have seen all around the magic castle so far. The room you walk into appears to be quite small yet cozy, with a queen-sized bed positioned right at the center of the room, covered with a couple of fluffed pillows and fresh sheets, with a thick furry blanket folded on the foot of the bed. There is a shaded lamp on top of the side table right beside the bed, and a cold, unlit fireplace on the opposite wall. Right in front of the fireplace, a brown felt that appears to have come from a deer is laid to cover the wooden floor, making you think for a second that you might be inside a hunter’s lodging, until something draws your attention to make you think otherwise.

On your right appears to you a wooden door. Even while being closed shut, you can still hear the muffled sounds of people chatting and cheering, the sounds of glass clinking and cutleries hitting tables and plates, and the rough voices of men shouting and calling names. The noises that you hear are enough to give you a hint to figure out where you currently are, as they bring you back to the scene you encountered a period of time ago during your late-night trips into town. Though doubt fills your mind, as you still find it hard to believe it to be true unless you can see it with your own eyes.

You turn towards the door, and the door from which you came in from grabs your attention. Looking at it now, it seems to be the door of a walk-in closet. But just like the other portals, magic has turned it into something else. Through the half-opened door, instead of seeing the interior of a closet, you see the sight of the magic portal that is still open. There is nothing there but the sight of a dark void with swirling blue lights floating at the center. The dark void seems eerie to you, yet you no longer look at it with fear as you know that this magical sight is what will lead you back to the magic castle once you are done venturing here.

The sound of a man’s laughter and the loud cheers that follow draw your attention back to the bedroom door. Curious to know where you might have ended, you carefully make your way to it. The wooden floor creaks beneath your booths, making your breath hitch, and you silently pray that the noises outside would drown the sounds you are making as you slowly reach for the doorknob and turn it open. To your relief, the door has been left unlocked, and you carefully pull it open just an inch. Just enough for you to see what is on the other side.

The muffled sounds you heard suddenly clear out and immediately hit you straight in the face—the loud chattering that seems to come from dozens of rowdy men and the boastful laughter that you heard earlier, with the sounds of glasses clinking against each other or hitting against wooden tables. Seeing nothing but a wooden walkway and railings as you open the door, you realise that you are currently on the upper floor of an establishment, while the noises seem to have been coming from downstairs. The familiar scent of booze, dust, and burning candles wafts through the air, and you stifle a gasp as you soon realise where you are.

Moving in haste when you barely have the chance to recover from shock, you shut the door with a soft click and turn the other way. Across from you appears a window, left partly opened for the cold night breeze to flow into the room, blowing the thin curtains that have little to do to shield the lights coming from the street outside. With shaky legs, you walk towards the window and look down.

Just as suspected, you see the bustling street of the business district of Smotia right down below, with people passing by as they are making their route home or searching for a place of leisure after a long day of hard work. You can easily recognise the street you are looking at, because you had ventured into the same street the last time you slipped away from home.

Still busy taking everything in, you almost miss the sound of firm footsteps and the creaks on the wooden floor outside of the bedroom, until you hear them coming closer towards the bedroom door. A low and deep voice calls out from outside the door, snapping you out of your shock, “Anee? Is that you?”

Turning sharply with a gasp, you rush to close the door to the closet, hiding the glimmering portal before rushing into the small bathroom on the other side of the fireplace to hide.

“You didn’t tell me that you were coming tonight—”

The deep sound of voice fades just as the bedroom door opens merely seconds after you close the bathroom door shut. “Anee? Are you here?” the man calls out again after coming to a halt. “Huh. That’s funny, I thought I heard someone here.”

Just when you expect him to leave after finding the room empty, you hear the man entering the room instead. The floor creaks more intensely under his boots, and you hold your breath as you sense him coming towards the window. Peering through the seams between the door and the wooden frame, you catch the sight of the man as he stands in front of the window, looking down the street with a sigh.

“Must have been my imagination, then. ’Am getting old for this, I swear,” he seems to mumble to himself before he gently shuts the window, and as he bends, you get to see him more clearly to recognise him. The illuminating street lights from outside the window are helping you to see his face.

Sir Elias.

A woman’s voice is heard from outside the room, calling for him, and the man turns to walk away. “Nothing, love. I thought I heard someone in the room, is all,” he calls out to whoever was calling him as he makes his way to leave the bedroom.

“Who is it? Is it Anee?” the woman’s voice seems muted as she remains outside the bedroom, with the noises from below rising in the background.

“Nah,” Sir Elias chuckles lowly. “It’s just the wind—” he calls out to the woman that you assume to be his wife as he turns and begins walking away, before adding gently under his breath, “Or maybe I just missed that bloody sucker.”

You remain still as you listen to the faint click sound of the door coming to close, followed by the sound of Sir Elias’ heavy footfalls over the wooden floor fading in the distance, until silence fills the room.

It isn’t until you take a few more deep breaths and steady your shaking hands before you finally open the door, looking around you to make sure that the bedroom is completely empty before finally stepping out of the bathroom. With a deep, exhale of breath, you come down to your knees in your relief and rest back against the bed. Your eyes turn to the window, now closed shut to shield the voices from the town below, leaving you in the stifling silence where your mind once again becomes the loudest.

The silver door has taken you back to The Rare Roots, the local pub right at the center of the business district in Smotia, and straight into one of the rented rooms on the upper floor of the pub, which Sir Elias had offered you to take the night you came here.

Your head spins as questions after questions continue to fill your mind.

Why would the King have direct access to a local pub in the business district of Smotia?

And why would Sir Elias—the owner of the local pub who you have never once seen coming to visit The Citadel—be calling your father by his childhood name, as if they have known each other personally for a very long time, or that he would expect the King to be appearing in one of his rented bedrooms as if it would be such a normal occurrence to happen here?

You remain in the bedroom for a while longer, looking around to find any sign that your father had truly been here, while the night passes by with the muffled sounds from the crowd of The Rare Roots below penetrating through the silence. The noises out there are loud, but not loud enough to drown your thoughts as you take a seat at the foot of the bed, trying to make sense of your findings.

The curtains by the window have been left open after Sir Elias’ departure, allowing the figure that has been moving in the shadows to look his way in, watching your movements in silence, his presence completely unbeknownst to you. Perched atop the roof of the next building, he gets a clear view of you. Of the way you seem to be wallowing so deep in your thoughts that you are unaware of the pair of eyes that are keeping a close watch on you.

And he continues to watch over you, taking his time to take the sight of you in and memorise everything he sees of you until you finally slip away, disappearing into one of the doors which acts like the portal bringing you back home. That is when he also makes his move, stepping back into the shadows to return to where he belongs, filled with the delight of victory that comes after finally finding what he was after.

Found you. Finally, I’ve found you, he wonders to himself, as he slips away and disappears through the shadows of the night.

— © 2023 Yoonia, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind, translations, unsanctioned adaptations are not allowed.

the bedroom hymns ● chapter viii

⟶ Chapter summary | As Yoongi returns home, he is welcomed by the shadows of his past, and the secret behind his journey being challenged and questioned. At the same time, you slowly begin to unravel your father’s secrets, as you begin to learn more about his magic,  and you continue following the shadows of his footsteps to find out what he has planned.  

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader  ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Crown Princess!reader, Fantasy au, Fairy Tale retelling au ⟶ Word count | 12,1k words ⟶ Ratings | PG-13, +18 / M for Mature for future chapters; mentions of war, dark magic, a brief mention/hint of stalking  ⟶ Story Masterlist | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Feedback | Music Playlist | Ko-fi

⟶ Author’s note | We’re finally getting a long chapter! I contemplated between dropping this part as a full chapter or to split it into two, but I figured it would be best to combine the scenes as they work much better if being shared and told at the same time. That being said, I might be taking a break from posting the chapters for a couple of weeks (just a week or two, maybe) to finish the rest of the upcoming chapters so we can have some more regular updates. I’ll be back soon with more thrilling scenes, I promise. But for now, I hope this long chapter will fill your days as we wait for the next ones to come :)

chapter viii. chasing shadows

Yoongi never truly understood why he was able to find solace while he was staying in Smotia until he finally returned home.

Emburn Empire, Min Yoongi’s home kingdom and the home of the fairies, can be quite distinctive compared to any other kingdoms that inhabit the Land of Far Far Away. Its vast territory rises from one of the most sequestered regions of the fairy tale land, divided into three separate sections connecting Emburn Empire with the three different elements of nature which support the empire as a whole—on the land, its landed territory that is united with the main continent of the fairy tale land; on the water, the small province floating against the rough waves of the Carmine Sea; and on the air, presented by the patch of island housing the main government of Embun which levitates gracefully above the continent, floating among the thick white clouds on the blue-grey sky above.

Here, much like in Smotia, greens in various hues cover the expanse of Emburn. Widespread of green grass and a vast variety of trees blanket the range of hills, with dense clusters of tall trees crowning the rising terrains and stowed between the dip of valleys. Some trees grow here just as wide as the people’s homes and almost as tall as the sky above, with many that are almost older than the entire empire itself. Thick clusters of wild ivy smother the stone walls of the Imperial Palace and the people’s houses in the towns, and flowers bloom in a myriad of shapes and colours that only exist here in the Emburn Empire.

Yoongi recalls all the dawns and mornings he spent sitting on top of the tallest hills in Smotia, looking away from the towns and the mercenary camps to enjoy the sight of the canopies of trees and the widespread meadows and finding similarities there to the sea of green waiting for him back home. Oftentimes, he would wonder how the empire that was built within the human realm could have given him a sense of familiarity which reminded him of his home. Whenever he remembered how Smotia existed in the borders between two realms, he would find himself wondering if the similarities had been deliberately created to mirror their closest neighbour, albeit their existence is separated by the portals hidden in the depth of the Elcester Forest. And that was before Yoongi learned of the truth about the Wicked King’s true antecedents and the true history behind his ascension as the ruler of the Nythelean Empire.

Had King Aneas done it on purpose, then? That he had built his new home in the human realm which resembled the land where he had once been, taking everything that he had learned from his former ally about making use of the land’s resources to establish his empire and to support his people?

Because just like how Nythelean Empire gain their resources from the Land of Smotia, the fertile land, the green hills, the abundant woodlands and fresh springs that spread all over the territories of Emburn are the ones that have helped the empire and its people to thrive for a long period of time. But unlike in Smotia, resources are not the only things that the people of Emburn could gain from nature.

One look was all he needed to see, through the first sight that Yoongi had taken from his homeland on the day he emerged in the bluffs after leaving Smotia behind, to remind him that the two empires are not one and the same. Arriving at the bluffs at dawn, he traveled towards the southeast of Earthpeak Cliffs and across the borders between kingdoms, where the sight of the territory of Emburn first welcomed him. The green hills of the landed territory of his homeland opened for him like a warm embrace. The sight and the feeling that overcame him as he marched his loyal mare, Aspen, through the borders had been almost comparable to what he experienced the first time he first came through the borders of Smotia.

Yet all the similarities ended once he finally reached the area where the landed territory of Emburn and the capital city were connected, where the first sign of Emburn’s distinctive nature could be seen.

What doesn’t exist in the vast fertile land of Smotia is magic. The same kind of magic that exists here in every part of the land, drifting in the air that Yoongi breathes, and is constantly felt by every single inhabitant living within the territories of Emburn Empire. This old magic is what becomes the empire’s source of power ever since the day it was established and built by Yoongi’s ancestors, with the emperor and empress sitting on its throne becoming the pillar and the core that hold the magic together, binding it and keeping it stable for many years.

It is the same powerful magic that allows the capital city of Emburn and the Imperial Palace to defy gravity, levitating far above the mainland and higher than the peaks of Earthpeak Cliff, the tallest rocky mountains which stand above the Carmine Sea.

The sight of the levitating capital city which Yoongi saw the moment he reached the heart of Emburn had become clear evidence and reminder of how different his homeland truly is, not only compared to the human land of Smotia but also to all the places he visited throughout his journey. Beyond the sight of the sea of green that welcomed him in the landed provinces, appeared to his eyes the majestic sight of Marble Falls, the flowing waterfalls that descend all the way from the grounds of the Imperial Palace in the sky and down to the Armere River that flows between the range of hills in the grounded region of Emburn in the mainland.

This powerful magic was first found by the ancient fairies who once roamed this part of the fairy tale land, passed down to Yoongi’s blood ancestors who built the empire from the ground up to create a peaceful haven for the fairies in Far Far Away land. The magic that still exists today, the one that is holding the empire together in the present, and the same magic that becomes the cure to Yoongi’s ailment, helping him piece together the bond that he has with his mana which has grown weak and fragile during his time away from home.

It had only taken Yoongi mere seconds after breathing in the fresh air here in Emburn and stepping through the gates of the Imperial Palace for his power to begin knitting itself together. He could feel every fractured piece of his mana strengthening itself until his powers began coursing through his body once again, until he was finally able to heal. In an instant, his senses were heightened, the mana flow within him stopped rebelling against him and it began to calm down, settling peacefully the way it should have been.

Days have gone by since his arrival, and before he realises it, those days are slowly turning into weeks. Albeit his mana has yet to fully return to its normal state, Yoongi is quite relieved to have made the decision to return home, allowing him the chance to not only recover the magic within him but also to gain more strength before he returns to finish his journey.

Sometimes, when he would roam through the imperial palace on his own, he would be filled with guilt and realisation that he should have probably listened to Yijeong’s advice about returning to Emburn so he could recover. If only he had listened and hadn’t been so stubborn about staying in Smotia, knowing that the chances of him finding what he was after had been slim, perhaps he would have been able to use his powers when he needed them the most.

But that was all in the past now, and all he can focus on now is to recover completely while thinking of ways to make up for his obstinacy once he gets back to where Yijeong is. Because recovering his powers hadn’t been the only thing that Yoongi had managed to gain by coming home.

Ever since the moment he arrived back to the land of Far Far Away, Yoongi immediately noticed the peculiarity hanging in the air. He could easily sense the turbulences happening in the fairy tale land, recognising immediately that something had been brewing in his absence. Warning bells kept ringing in his head as he entered the home castle with cautions upon his arrival. His shoulders had been heavy, not knowing what to expect as he made his way to see his parents.

While it wasn’t bad news which welcomed him home, the odd exchange that he had with his mother during their first reunion didn’t help much to reassure him about the situation.

“Was it really necessary for you to be away for so long? What could have been more important than being here, for you to prepare for the crown and handle the matters around the empire in place of the Emperor?” 

Empress Ariane had always shown Yoongi a form strict of love, as she had always placed the matters of the crown and the empire above everything else, including her own son. In her eyes, Yoongi is not just her biological son, but the Crown Prince and the sole heir of the Emburn Empire, and she has always reminded Yoongi of his role at every chance she gets. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Yoongi when she immediately brought up his duty to the empire and the crown upon his return home, to remind him of the need for him to focus on preparing himself to take the Emperor’s place once it was due time for him to take the responsibility.

Yet there was something in the way the Empress addressed the matter which had been bothering Yoongi. His own conscience has been brewing with suspicions, and it has kept nagging him in the back of his mind that he finds it hard to shake the thoughts away, even to this day.

“What if something happens to—” the Empress’ words broke and shattered at the mention of the Emperor while they sat together in the throne room the day Yoongi first came to see her. Hurt flickered through her gaze, though she quickly blinked it away before Yoongi could say something about it or look deeper into her thoughts at that moment. “What if something happens while you are out there running amok doing heavens know what? You know I wouldn’t be able to handle this entire empire by myself.”

Yoongi never said a thing in return except making a promise that everything would be okay, regardless of what the Empress was trying to imply. There was no need for her mother to finish her words, as Yoongi could already hear it in his head.

What if something happens to the Emperor?

“Nothing is going to happen. I am sure of it.” Yoongi said this to the Empress with full conviction, as he had truly made sure of the safety of the empire and the Emperor before his departure from home.

Emperor Aymon, the ruler of the Emburn Empire and Yoongi’s biological father, has been bedridden from a mysterious illness which started two years ago. The ailment had come out of nowhere, when the strong and healthy Emperor unexpectedly started to grow weak. It had all begun with the Emperor losing control of his mana flow, until the magic within him began fighting back against him, erupting through his whole body while hurting him from the inside. Once the powerful mana began to simmer down, it almost seemed like every drop of magic within him had been wasted, and so did his soul.

Even the entire empire was hurting, as his magic—that was supposed to stabilise the powerful magic within the home of the fairies—started weakening. The unexpected changes of weather caused the crops to fail and prevented fishing ships from sailing out across the Carmine Sea. Earthquakes and storms happened every so often that people kept having to build new homes, while a series of peculiar illnesses began to spread in towns.

To this, the Emperor had chosen to lock himself in one of the tallest towers in the Imperial Palace, not only for the sake of himself and to prevent his magic from harming people around him, but also to preserve the magic that he had left to keep his empire under control. Even once the Empress and the High Priest of Emburn managed to aid him in stabilising the empire with their magic, Emperor Aymon remained in his refuge while doing his best he could to find a way to heal.

Yoongi still remembers the days he spent with the Emperor during the height of his sickness. The fairy king had always appeared to his eyes as the most powerful being he had ever known. But during that period of time, it seemed to him that his father was withering right in front of his eyes, appearing more frail than he used to be as the Emperor laid down on the massive bed where he had been resting during the time of his illness.

But at the same time, the Emperor still appeared to him as the strongest person he had always known. When even at his most critical condition, the Emperor still did his best to fulfil his duty as the ruler to use the rest of his magic to keep the empire and their homeland from crumbling apart.

If only Yoongi had been as indifferent as how the Empress had made him to be—both to the Emperor’s condition and the turbulences occurring in his home kingdom—he would have thought that Empress Ariane’s inquiries had come from a place of concern. The concern she might have felt for the Emperor’s wellbeing, and what might happen to the empire with the Crown Prince being away during the Emperor’s absence.

Yet, seeing the truth now, Yoongi remains haunted by a lingering doubt.

Unbeknownst to the Empress, Yoongi had visited Emperor Aymon not long before leaving Emburn. Not only had the Emperor always known what Yoongi had been up to during his time away from home, but it had actually been the Emperor himself who sent him off on his journey in the first place.

“I want you to do me a favour while I still exist in this realm. It will be quite challenging of a task should you take it, and it wouldn’t be an easy path, but it is necessary that you go into this journey to prevent the upcoming turmoil that may arise in the Land Far Far Away in the near future.”

That day, the Emperor sat down on his bed, his back resting on the headrest as he spoke to Yoongi. He seemed resolved as he relayed his request to his son. But for the most part, he also appeared resigned, as if he was ready to welcome the end of his time should it come to him. But for the first time after a while, Yoongi had also noticed that his father had looked like he was in a much better shape than he usually would, which gave him a sense of relief, albeit briefly. Because no matter how well-shaped he looked as he sat there looking into his son’s eyes, the Emperor’s voice still showed how weary he truly was.

“If you are willing to take this challenge for me, you have to promise me two things,” Emperor Aymon said then. His voice came out stern, and his words came like a warning that Yoongi had no other choice but to agree and make a promise to follow his words. Only then did the Emperor continue with the list of requirements that Yoongi needed to follow. “One, you must go into this with an open mind and forget everything that you’ve learned about the war between kingdoms that was written in the books. Two, you must never let your mother know about my request. Promise me this.”

Yoongi had questioned this specific request from his father at first, yet the warnings given to him had made him grow cautious enough to make sure that he wouldn’t be leaving the Emperor alone without someone watching over him while Yoongi was away. Before he left, Yoongi had ordered a few of his trusted men to keep watch on the Emperor, warning them to trust nobody except for Yoongi. Not even the Empress herself.

He hated not being able to trust his own mother, but the situation that happened after had proven that he had made the right call. As now that even the Empress and the Royal Aides are being placed under close watch, the Emperor’s condition has been getting better. Though Yoongi has been adamant about keeping this information a secret between himself and his men, that not even the Empress knows about the Emperor’s improving health.

It has caused him to feel unsettled, not knowing who to trust even in his own empire. Yet the situation had only given him more reason to do what his father willed him to, as he set off to fulfil not only the Emperor’s request, but also his own intention.

Tonight would be the last night Yoongi would be spending at his home.

Tomorrow, he would have to decide if he should return to Smotia and regroup with his men, or if he should start investigating the Wicked King more closely to know what he is up to. Yoongi knows that he has been gone from his camp for too long, and through the reports sent to him by his men, he has heard that many things have been happening with the Nythelean Empire since the day he left Smotia.

It has made him feel anxious, suddenly afraid that he would miss the perfect opportunity of accomplishing his tasks, now that the Wicked King is on the move. Once again, he regrets for not taking his time to recover sooner, as his departure from Smotia seems to have only caused him the long restless nights filled with all the ’what ifs’, wondering if Fates are trying to stop him from doing what he is required to do.

To calm his thoughts, Yoongi steps away from his bedchamber once the night has fallen. When the night is deep, Yoongi often feels a heavy awareness hanging in the air around him, as if warning him about the shift happening in the fairy tale land and there is something looming in the horizon that he needs to be wary of.

Normally, he would simply reside in his room when this happens, where the stiff tension that he has been constantly feeling would not be able to mess with his mana flow. Or, he would spend the night in the library, trying to make sense of everything that the Emperor had told him as he dives right into the books that were written about the ancient kingdoms, the great war between kingdoms that had once rattled the land of Far Far Away, and about the ancient magic spells—one of which had been the same one that had allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream.

Tonight, Yoongi chooses to spend his time roaming through the dark hallways of the Imperial Palace with no destination in mind.

For the first time after a long while, he allows his mana to lead the way instead of giving in to the silence. He tracks down even the passageways within the castle that he had rarely traveled through—passing the vacant rooms and the Royal Guards’ posts, past the Great Hall where the empire would often hold their annual festivities, and he continues walking until he suddenly finds himself crossing the palace’s courtyard and entering the Lumina Apex Hall, where the source of the elemental magic that the Emperor has casted onto the palace’s grounds can be found.

Originally built by his ancestors as a temple to worship the moon—which was once believed to be the source of Emburn’s magic—the Lumina Apex Hall has become a fixture within the Imperial Palace’s grounds where the Emperor would spend late hours in the night to cast his magic, casting the spells that are needed to maintain control of his empire and its vast territories under his reign.

With walls and pillars built with Clayntine stone, one of the most durable materials that could only be found in the land of Emburn, and windows made of Shadow Crystals, the Lumina Apex Hall lights up in the nightfall with structures that reflect the moonlight perfectly like mirrors. Located at the center of the Royal Garden, the structure is partly covered with a layer of wild vines growing along its walls and pillars which have rapidly developed with time. Thick hedges and flowers blooming in pastel colours line up on either side of the pathway leading to its front door which has been left unlocked for the Empress and the Royal Priests’ daily visit.

A burst of energy welcomes him as Yoongi enters through the door. There are no lights inside the main atrium, yet moonlight streams through the Shadow Crystals that form the dome ceiling above the atrium, illuminating the hall perfectly with streaks of soft light spreading across the stone floors and bouncing against the stone walls. Standing at the center of the atrium, his eyes roam through the walls around him.

Even here, inside the stone walls, vegetation grows rapidly between the pillars. The overgrowth of vines appears along the pillars, bushes rise from the ground to cover the pale-coloured walls, and a thin layer of grass emerges where the floor tiles made of Osnite stones are split. As Yoongi looks up, he gets to see the bright display of stars which adorn the night sky of Emburn. The sight of the dancing aurora in copper and gold in the sky should have been daunting, when Yoongi notices that the shades seem darker than they usually would, presenting the shadows of peril in its wake.

Yet the sky seems brighter tonight than it usually does, with stars glimmering in the night sky, surrounding the aurora like a protective blanket. Somehow, it gives Yoongi a sense of peace to be walking under such a phenomenon as he steps towards the center of the atrium, where a small pond made of Clayntine stone stands on its own, taking over the space at the heart of the Apex Hall. Around the pond, specks of silver and cyan blue glitters appear to be floating around it instead of a flowing stream, beginning from its center and moving out towards where the streaks of moonlight are falling into the room.

He reaches out to touch the silver specks, feeling them crackle against the tips of his fingers before he retracts his hand. Smiling at the sight of the flowing magic that is the essence of Emburn Empire, he turns away and walks across the atrium to reach one of the glass doors of the Hall which leads to another part of the Royal Gardens that only the Emperor and his trusted people could enter.

Under his touch, the door opens for him, and Yoongi walks out through the pathway that has become familiar to him after all the years he has become acquainted with this place. A core memory from his childhood returns to him as he walks down the gravel-covered pathway, though the overgrown hedges and blood orchids blooming all around him are nothing like what he had seen many years ago.

He was a mere child when he first walked down this pathway with his father holding his hand, long before Emperor Aymon took the throne and during the time Yoongi’s father was slowly taking over the empire’s business with their alliances. To the Emperor, those visits had been about introducing Yoongi to his future duty and responsibility as the future Crown Prince of Emburn, while to Yoongi, the memories that had been engraved in his mind from that period of time hold an entirely different meaning to him.

Beyond this pathway is a magical place, the portal gate which acts as the border between realms and the bridge that connects Emburn Empire to the other kingdoms in the mainland of the land Far Far Away. It was through this magic gate that the Emperor had been able to travel freely between kingdoms and realms, to be able to visit their allies and neighbours while keeping the homeland from being exposed to external threats, and without having to lose connection to the source of Emburn’s magic—just like what happened to Yoongi during his journey. It wouldn’t be until later, once Yoongi takes the throne as the new ruler, when he would be required to do the same, though he would still be able to cross the portal gate whenever he needed to.

The Eden Isle Gardens is what the magical portal gate is called, and it is the one place that Yoongi would always come to visit whenever he returned home.

For many years, ever since he was a child, he would secretly escape to this place whenever he needed a moment of reflection. This has been a place of refuge where he would be able to find peace, and a place that holds one of his most treasured memories which Yoongi has kept for many years.

Even in the Emperor’s absence, the vegetation in this part of the magic garden grow beautifully. The Emperor’s magic remains strong here, keeping the grounds fertile, the grass and hedges perfectly trimmed instead of growing rapidly, and the portal gates secured, with nobody else but Yoongi and Emperor Aymon holding the key and memorising the spell that would help them activate the portals when needed. Yoongi follows the path that has been adorned with blood orchids growing left and right, fairy dust leading his way through the areas that moonlight is unable to penetrate, until he finds the center of the garden, to the place where Yoongi would always return to.

At the center of the garden, surrounded by a small pond and blooming blood orchids, stands a small gazebo made of Shadow Crystals. His legs feel light as Yoongi walks across the boardwalk across the pond to reach the gazebo, while a sense of deja vu fills him as he takes a seat inside, right at the spot which overlooks a locked steel gate which has always caught his attention.

Once in the past, that steel gate had been one of the magic portals that the Emperor would use for his journeys. It was the main bridge connecting his empire to their former ally, another empire which the former Emperor of Emburn, Yoongi’s grandfather, had managed to form a tight bond with. A close and mutual relationship which lasted until the height of Emperor Aymon’s reign.

But as Yoongi looks out through the steel gate now, there is nothing left out there but the wastelands and the ruins of the fallen empire that was once superior in its reign.

After the war between kingdoms, the territory which lies beyond the portal has become a forbidden area for anyone to enter. With remnants of hazardous toxins and black magic that may still linger in the area after the war, nobody has been allowed to come across the borders and into the wastelands for many years. From this side of the connecting portal, the steel gate is secured with chains made of Magraonor steel and locks that are bound with magic spells casted by the Emperor and the High Priest.

Even though Yoongi wouldn’t be able to walk across the gate with all those spells preventing him from seeing what is beyond the darkness, he can picture it inside his head. Through his distant memory, he still recalls the majestic empire that had once been the most peaceful place in Far Far Away, the home of the elves, fairies, and powerful mages who once loved to travel between kingdoms to spread their knowledge about ancient magic and healing remedies. But if only he would close his eyes tonight, the brilliant images of the fallen empire that he once remembered would not be the image that he sees.

Another reason why Yoongi has been doing all he could to evade sleep tonight was the dreams. Ever since he used the spell which allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream, and ever since the day he arrived back home, a different kind of dream has been haunting his long, restless nights.

In his dream, he saw himself crossing over the steel gate, the chains and locks had been broken and he could easily walk across the borders to enter the wastelands. He saw himself walking up the steps to the fallen empire’s home castle, surrounded by nothing but shadows and the ruins that had been said to fill the barren territory, and a thick layer of white mist following him as he reached to where the main palace should have been.

Everything about the dream has been daunting, and it has only solidified his concerns about the peculiar shift happening in Far Far Away. While he never got to see what was waiting for him at the end of those steps, to see what was hidden behind the thick mist and beyond the broken stone walls, he still remembers the feeling of unease that lingered through his chest as he was stuck inside the dream, the eerie shadows that seemed to follow him through the mist as he entered the wastelands, and the feeling of death that seemed to linger.

The unnerving sensation he felt was so strong that he could feel it touching his skin even as he opened his eyes upon his return to the waking world. Even now, as he silently recalls the sights he saw in his dreams, his body shudders, while the same uneasiness fills his chest, warning him about the darkness that may come to visit.

As Yoongi sits silently at the center of the magic garden, under the dome roof of the glass gazebo overlooking the high hedges and broken pathway leading to the steel gate, he is unable to look away from the darkness beyond him. Lost in the faint memories that he has of the past, he doesn’t notice it when a black cat enters the premises, sauntering between the hedges filled with blood orchids and over the glimmering pond before finally joining him to lie down in the gazebo.

The black cat follows Yoongi’s gaze, as if trying to understand what the man is thinking so deeply about. The cat suddenly slides closer and rubs itself against Yoongi’s calf to gain his attention before sitting back on its hind legs, with his curious eyes looking out towards the nothingness beyond the gate.

“We used to slip away and escape to this place when we were kids, didn’t we?” a deep voice speaks. “What a wonderful time that was, when we were nothing more but oblivious little children who knew nothing about the world.”

Yoongi turns to the black cat with a smile, recognising the voice that had just spoken to him, allowing him to identify this mysterious cat that had just decided to join him in his wonderings. “Indeed, we were. Those moments back then were truly irreplaceable,” Yoongi says, responding to the cat as he turns his gaze back at the steel gate. “We used to run away from the tutors to hide in this place, and then played hide and seek until the sun came down and Father would have to come down here himself to fetch us.”

“Those were the days,” the black cat softly chuckles. The cat falls silent for a moment before it softly continues, “This was also the place where you met her for the first time, wasn’t it?” The cat turns to look at Yoongi as the other does the same, and they exchange gazes with each other when the cat adds, “I’m talking about Her Majesty, Queen Milena.”

Sighing, Yoongi looks around the garden and reminisces about the past. “This was the place—” he says, as his memory takes him back to that moment in time from many, many years ago, when he was nothing more but a little boy who could barely able to speak fluently, yet was curious enough to follow his father to see what the Emperor was up to when he suddenly changed his plans with Yoongi to come to this place, only to find out that the Emperor was having important guests visiting. While the Emperor went on a stroll with his guest, Yoongi came to the gazebo to meet the young Princess Milena, the future queen who was resting while staying under the shade. The young Crown Princess of their neighbouring empire welcomed Yoongi with a warm smile, a sight that to this day remains to be the most glorious thing about her for Yoongi to remember.

“We did come across each other in this place for the first time, but it was beyond that gate where I used to be able to see her—” Yoongi says, pointing at the locked steel gate, while his memory once again takes him back to those days when Emperor Aymon took him along during his visits past the steel gate. Back then, a remarkable empire stood proud and strong on the other side of the gate, with the sun shining brightly on its prosperous land. Now, there is nothing there but the dark void and the flowing white mist that haunts him in his sleep.

The black cat looks out towards the steel gate and, as if knowing what Yoongi had just been thinking about, says, “And now there is nothing left there but the wastelands.”

“Is that really the truth?” Yoongi questions almost distractedly, and the cat scoffs.

“Only you would question it.”

The blunt comment draws a smile to Yoongi’s face, and he turns back to look at his peculiar companion to say, “The only thing I’m questioning right now is why you chose to come here while disguising in that form. I didn’t expect that you would follow me all the way back home, Yijeong.”

The black cat, Yijeong, stretches out and lies down near Yoongi’s feet before answering, “As a concerned friend, I was worried when I didn’t get a word from you since you went home. I had to slip out in disguise to move easier when following you. This form was the perfect choice since nobody would pay attention to a black cat strolling through the gardens. Did you notice that you were being followed by guards? I’m not sure if they know what you’re up to, but it seems that they’re determined to keep people away from the gardens to give you some privacy.”

Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anyone other than the two of them, Yoongi still steals a glance over his shoulder, looking back to where these royal guards that Yijeong mentioned might be standing by. Somewhere near the Apex Hall, no doubt, as it would be rare for regular guards to be able to come this far. The only exception was given to Yijeong, as the son of the Empire’s General, the only other person aside from the Emperor who has access to visit this magical place. Just like him, Yijeong has been trained and prepared to replace his father once the time comes, to one day stand by Yoongi’s side once he takes over the throne and rules the empire, and he had been trained all the spells that would be needed for him to do his duties.

“I noticed having extra shadows following me since I left my room,” he says, before facing towards the center of the gardens again and settling back against the glass wall on the side of the gazebo, though he turns his attention towards the other side of the gardens this time, where fireflies are beginning to appear around the pond. “I’ve had guards shadowing me since I got back, so I already expected them to follow me here too. But I didn’t care. They wouldn’t be able to enter this place anyway.”

“I guess you’re right,” Yijeong says as he lays his chin on his paw. “What were you expecting to find by coming here anyway?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, then I started strolling through the palace’s grounds, looking for some kind of a distraction,” Yoongi answers with a deep sigh. “I suddenly felt like I needed to get out of the palace, and I suppose that’s how I found my way here.”

Yijeong says nothing for a moment, before he questions Yoongi with a hushed voice, “Something was bothering you. Has the Emperor’s request been weighing heavily on you?”

His question draws a frown to Yoongi’s face. Yoongi had never truly revealed the true purpose of his expedition into the human realm, not to his loyal men and even to Yijeong, except to simply mention that it was a royal duty that was needed to be done under the Emperor’s request. Yijeong may have never questioned it out loud, and despite his willingness to stay by Yoongi’s side and to join him on his journey, Yoongi had always known that his best friend had been curious, if not suspicious about what he aimed to find.

It was not until the day Yoongi had to depart from camp, leaving behind Smotia to return home, when he finally pulled Yijeong aside to tell him everything—about the true reason why he left home, about why he had chosen to remain in Smotia, or why he had to keep a close eye on the Wicked King.

Only Yijeong knows what their true mission was, and what the Emperor had requested Yoongi to find without Empress Ariane ever knowing.

“Find my childhood friend. Find Milena. Help me find out what happened to her, and if she is still alive, bring her home. I cannot leave this realm without having any knowledge of her fate. I can’t die regretting that I couldn’t do anything to save her. If you can find ‘him’, then you might be able to find out if he still has her.”

Yoongi understood it quite well when Yijeong complained about being kept in the dark. Thankfully, his friend was quick to forgive him, knowing that such a big secret would cause a myriad of other problems should it ever get out, or for the Empress to hear that her own husband had made such a request. Even though it has been such a long time since both Yoongi and Yijeong ever came across Queen Milena, they both still remember how jealous the Empress had been of the Emperor’s friendship with his closest friend.

But sharing this secret only gave little relief to Yoongi’s heart, because there is still one more secret that he holds dear, unable to find a way to reveal it to Yijeong when he still has his own doubts. That finding Queen Milena, a mission that might be fundamental for the Emperor’s road to healing, has only been a small part—if not the first step—of Yoongi’s personal goal. And he has yet to be able to share this with anyone, even Yijeong, because he has never truly shared the real story of his first encounter with Queen Milena in the magic gardens.

Because that day, Queen Milena had not been sitting in this gazebo on her own, and only Yoongi and the Emperor knew Queen Milena’s secret which had been hidden until now.

Just as Yoongi is silently pondering if he should share his secret with his best friend, the air around them suddenly shifts. There is an invisible weight that breezes through the bushes, stirring the peacefulness that has been accompanying Yoongi in his wallowing. Even Yijeong becomes alert as he stirs by his side that Yoongi instantly rises, already prepared to use his magic to connect to the elements around them so he can see what is happening. But before he can even begin summoning his mana, Yijeong snaps his head to focus on him. His best friend’s gaze remains on his chest just as warmth begins to form against his skin, while the mana flow within him seems to be reacting to the sensation rising around them.

“Hey, Yoongi?” Yijeong says with a spark of surprise lathering his voice.

“Yeah?” Yoongi answers with his eyes focusing back and forth between Yijeong and the gardens, noticing how the leaves are swaying with the unsettling breeze.

“Why is that thing glowing? Did you do something or are you conjuring your mana to have it reacting like that?”

“No, I’m not doing any—” Yoongi starts to respond when his amulet—which has been hanging from his neck and down to his chest the whole time he was here—begins vibrating. He looks down and touches the amulet, which is now glowing in his hand as he lifts it up to get a better look. Blue light shimmers from the center of the amulet, flickering and swirling even stronger as he brings it up, inadvertently pointing it towards the locked gate that was supposed to lead him to their fallen neighbour.

His breath is caught, as he slowly begins to understand what is happening. There is only one reason why the amulet would be reacting this way, even if it makes no sense at all for it to be trying to lead him towards the forbidden territory beyond the sacred gate. And then, something finally dawns on him.

“You know, this amulet has been lighting up quite often since I got back home,” he whispers almost to himself, while the voice inside his head adds, ever since the dreams started happening. “But this is the first time it’s doing something like this.”

This can only mean one thing. “I think someone is using his magic to create portals, and they have been moving around between realms.”

Yijeong slowly rises, while Yoongi’s heartbeat picks up, beating rapidly in his chest right after he says those words. “Do you know who it might be? Can it be possible that—” Yijeong begins to question him, only for him to see Yoongi shaking his head, chucking to himself with disbelief when he says,

“It’s impossible, but—”

And it seems almost too good to be true just to think about it. Yoongi swallows hard as he wonders about this, as he can no longer qualm the rising hope blooming in his chest when he adds, “I think I know who it might be.”

She’s so close. How could it be? 

Yoongi has no idea how it could possibly happen, but he can sense you being so close to him that he can almost feel your presence within arm’s reach. His body trembles with anticipation, excitement, and his worries rising at the same time. Seeing that there is light appearing, hope waiting at the end of his journey, Yoongi slowly releases his amulet and kneels down beside his best friend.

If he wants to find the truth, and find you, then he will no doubt need help to achieve it.

“Yijeong, I need you to listen to me carefully—”

Your hands feel clammy as you stand right in front of another silver door.

Unlike the other doors that you have seen so far, this one looks the most ordinary and a bit—old. Made of deep-coloured wood, its front is adorned with embellishments made of thin silver linings that are crafted in intricate curves formed in floral patterns, and they all seem to glint in the dimly lit hallway. You probably shouldn’t be intimidated by its size and the intricate details that you are seeing, but not surprisingly, your knees are already shaking with the mere thought of opening this door filling your head.

Deep down, you already know that whatever you may come across once you step through this door, it will be far from ordinary. This is what you have learned so far from these silver doors after venturing into them for the past few days, as it had become one of your past afternoon activities once you are done with your daily lessons and royal duties.

The shock that you gained after entering the first silver door remained within you for quite a while. Pure disbelief had followed you after coming back out of the door, not entirely sure if what you encountered that day had been real. If only you hadn’t found yourself stumbling back into the hallway of Stargrave Castle or nearly spraining your ankles on your way back to your bedchamber, perhaps you would simply think that you were dreaming. That there was no way you could have gone back to The Citadel, or that the door had connected you back to the smaller—and slightly bland-looking—study room which your father, King Aneas, would often spend his time working in with his men back at the capital.

But you were well awake to feel it when the dusk came in and your skin was covered by the bumps rising as the temperature dropped so rapidly. And you were definitely awake when the palace’s maid came to help you prepare for dinnertime. You even held a long and steady conversation with her while she was brushing out the knots in your hair, further proving that you were walking in the real world instead of being stuck in a long, extended dreamscape.

Yet those things couldn’t stop you from questioning your own sanity as you laid down on your bed that night, particularly when you recalled the conversation that you ’heard’ from your hiding spot when you were in the study room. But then you looked out the window of your bedroom, the curtains left open as you had wished to see the stars and you saw a glimpse of the same copper aurora which had captivated you on the night of your arrival, the magical display of light once again making its appearance known to you as it danced in the sky above the calm ocean.

The sight quickly reminded you of how different and peculiar everything should be in this place. It made you realise that the odds of you actually being transported back into a different place across the realm would not have been impossible. It was hard to deny it when you remembered experiencing jumping into a burning flame to get into this realm, and that magic did exist in this place in ways that you couldn’t possibly imagine.

It was your own curiosity which had drawn you back to the same hallway after you were done with your lessons on the next day. At first, you considered going through the same door again, if only to prove that you hadn’t been dreaming and that you were completely sane. But then your father’s voice echoed through your mind as you stood in front of the same door, reminding you of his warning to only try one door at a time.

As you wished to be able to see more, you stepped away from the first door. There was no humming sound calling you back when you left it behind, while an odd pull was felt through the air, and you followed it until you found another silver door not too far away.

The silver door which soon became your second to try out had been smaller in size compared to the first one you had gone into. Yet you still entered with caution. You came through the door thinking that you would be prepared to find another surprising revelation, only to feel the shock filling your entire being when you walked through the door to come out through a small cabinet, and you found yourself emerging into the royal waiting room that was located within the city hall in the capital city of Smotia.

There was nobody around to catch you as you came out of the waiting room. After finding the podium on the first floor, right where your father’s throne was placed for him to acquire during formal ceremonies, you continued to make your way to the upper floors. Having been to this place often times before to accompany your father, you found no trouble in finding the main balcony, where the King would stand before the people of Smotia as he leads various ceremonies and rituals together with you by his side and his loyal ministers shadowing his movements.

Sure enough, as you looked down from the balcony, the Elysium Square was presented right before your eyes. The town’s square where the people would gather to see their King and to celebrate the empire’s annual events, and oftentimes, to simply enjoy the free time they have during their daily lives.

The same way the people were doing as you looked down from above. Keeping yourself in the shades to avoid being seen, you saw how the town’s workers were walking down the pavements as they were on their way home, making quite a haste to make sure that they would return to their dwellings before dusk. There were also little children playing around the fountains, while their mothers kept their busy eyes to watch over them while gossiping on the sides.

Just like the day before, when you felt your knees buckling beneath you in shock, you had to hold on to the railings as you watched the people below, the faint voices of their laughter became solid proof that you had been once again sent away from your new home. A memory flashed through your mind just then, of how each time you were supposed to attend the royal gathering alongside your father, the King himself would never ride the royal carriage with you to reach the city hall.

Each time, your father would somehow arrive not long after you would, with not a sight of another royal carriage arriving at the city hall to bring him all the way from The Citadel. Turning back to the hall where you came from, you could almost picture it, to see the King walking down the hall before emerging through the main balcony to greet his people, his daughter, and his men, without a single person witnessing how he had truly arrived.

With your curiosity deepened, you continued your adventure for the next few days by trying out two different silver doors, both of them lined up within a nearby hallway just beyond the King’s study room. And just like the previous ones, each of these doors took you back to different areas in the land of Smotia which you had become most familiar with.

The smaller one took you back to the town’s church.

You came out through the storage room door at the back of the church and, in your shock, you came so close to bumping into the head priest while you were busy taking in your surroundings. It was pure luck that you had been quick enough to slip into a nearby room which was thankfully empty, that you were able to avoid getting seen by the head priest who walked by with his helpers.

When the coast was clear enough for you to slip out of the room, the evening mass was just starting to take place. You may have recovered from your shock by then, yet once again, your mind was caught in a battle between acceptance and denial to make your exit. Fallen prey to your own curiosity, as you wanted to get a closer look instead of leaving with questions shadowing your thoughts, you returned to the room where you had been hiding in. From one of the wardrobes you found, you managed to grab a commoner’s cloak for you to borrow, using it to hide your identity as you slipped between the parishioners who came for the head priest’s sermon and gain his blessings.

As everyone around you was listening to the head priest’s sermon with rapt attention, the burning candles on the altar swaying with the breeze, their soft lights illuminating the walls and the dais while giving a serene feeling into the whole church, your attention remained on the side doors leading to the back halls where you came from. Once again, you could almost see the shadows of your father, sauntering through the back halls with his magic before appearing at the altar without anyone noticing or wondering where His Majesty had come from.

The next silver door you tried had appeared to your eyes like a work of art. The carvings on the wood panels had been the ones to draw you in, before you noticed that the silver embellishments that marked the door seemed to have silver specks floating around it, drawing more of your attention to have a closer look. That was before the humming voices began to call for you, pulling you in, enchanting you to slide in the key and open the door for a new adventure.

The magic door brought you to the orchard house that was part of the royal winery on the outskirts of the capital city. Located beyond the borders of the Elcester Forest where the wide, open plane was rich and fruitful enough for the vineyard to grow massively, it was the place which produced the royal wine that the King would often serve to his special guests during royal dinners and important events that were held by the empire.

Despite recognising the place almost immediately, you still took your time to look around to find clues, any signs that may confirm your suspicions. Leaving the main house, you browsed through the warehouse and stockrooms, not stopping until you finally found the crates of bottles that were being prepared to be sent away to The Citadel. It wasn’t until you saw the royal crest marking the crates and the bottles when you finally confirmed it, that the place had indeed been another one of the King’s properties which was situated within the territory of Smotia.

Back in the part of the empire which existed in the human realm.

You walked across the clearing with a mixed feeling of awe and trepidation. The day was beginning to settle down to dusk by the time you were venturing through the property, with the sun descending into the horizon, spreading more shadows than light through the open vineyards. It allowed you to stay in the shade to avoid being seen, and to be able to watch the workers from a safe distance. As the night was closing in, there were only a small group of people left working at the winery. Most of them were just finishing up, either at the warehouse or the stockrooms where they kept the crops. They all seemed busy with their own tasks to notice you, though it didn’t stop you from feeling like someone was watching your movement, causing you to become even more cautious while you were feeding your curiosity.

It was after the last trip you took through the silver doors when you finally came to a realisation, to finally understand the secret behind them. Once you accepted that your little adventures had not been a dream or imagination, and that what you encountered had not been mere illusion, you finally understood what these silver doors were.

Portals.

The silver doors that your father had given you access to have been magic portals, with powerful spells that would bring you to different places, allowing you to emerge in different realms, and perhaps even beyond.

If only you hadn’t had the talk with your father on the day you first arrived in this castle, or taken the time to understand more about this new realm and learn about magic since you have been here, you would have simply thought that you have indeed gone crazy. But all the days you spent learning about the fairy tale land and the magic that lies within the realm have only helped you to understand everything better, and you soon realised that this was the magic that your father mentioned the day he handed you the bundle of keys that you are now holding in your hand.

“Within each one of the silver doors, there is a strong kind of magic. One that has been so demanding of our family’s powers, exists under my control, and it is also the type of magic that should be kept secret, no matter what. Once you go through them, you will understand why it is important for me to defend this castle and our home territory.”

Was this the reason why your father brought you back to this place after so long, after spending years keeping you away from it? Did he want you to learn about his magic after protecting you from it? Was this the reason why he handed you these keys, to show you the power of magic that has been passed down in your family?

But then the most important question still haunts you to this day—

Has this been His Majesty’s way of being able to travel to different places in a short amount of time so he could handle his business, to be able to do his duty without having to travel far and long so he could continue taking care of his empire?

With this new knowledge, your curiosity has been growing stronger than your fear, and you have more questions plaguing you each day. Questions that you would have to keep to yourself until the day your father would return home.

Until then, you would gather more information through your lessons and from opening more magic doors. Perhaps, the more you get to see the magic behind these doors, the more you can see this new world as you continue venturing through these portals, then you will be able to learn and understand more about your father’s magic and this magical realm, and find out who you truly are.

That was the reason why you are standing here tonight, right in front of yet another silver door that has drawn your curiosity that you find it hard to look away. The silver embellishments on the door are glimmering right before your eyes, as they reflect the soft glare of moonlight that has penetrated into the hallway through a nearby window.

The moonlight that rarely accompanies you whenever you are about to embark on your own little adventure.

In your previous trials, you have only chosen the short period of time in the late afternoon after tutoring hours to slip out of your bedchamber and venture into these halls. Keeping the short timeframe that your father had given you for these adventures, you have always used the sign of dusk to remind you to return home, allowing you to be back right before dinnertime.

Today has been different. Tutoring hours lasted longer than usual, when Lord Gordan took over your afternoon lessons and sat you down to teach you about your family’s ancestry. The extra lessons didn’t end until dusk finally came, when Nanny Abigail took over guarding you as she led you straight to dinner in the royal dining hall.

It wasn’t until long after dinnertime when you finally found the chance to slip out of the bedchamber. The absence of Lord Gordan and Nanny Abigail when you stepped out of the room, and the absence of the lady maids in the hallway wasn’t so much of a surprise, but it was quite a shock to find that there had been no guards standing by outside of your bedchamber. Just like how it would have been back at The Citadel when you could barely see yourself going around the palace without at least one guard following you.

It made you curious, yet you spent no time wondering about it, and took the chance to slip out of your quarters and find your way back to this hallway of silver doors.

There were no palace staff in sight as you walked down the halls, but you did catch a sight of a pair of guards standing in their post in a nearby hall, though they seemed to be focused on guarding the King’s study room to notice you slipping into the shadows behind the pillars as you made your way into this place. Glancing towards the end of the hall and to the opposite way, you make sure that the coast is still clear, and nobody would catch what you are doing as you move closer to the silver door.

This time, there is no humming sound coming out of the door to summon you, as if beckoning you to come closer and choose this door for you to open tonight. Yet the silver key that you are holding seems to vibrate against your palm the closer you come towards the door before you. The vibration is strong enough to cause the rest of the keys in the bundle to jingle that you have to press your palm around them to keep them from making too much noise, afraid that it might draw someone’s attention and you would miss the chance to see what lies beyond the magic door.

Knowing that you won’t have much time left before the guards would begin their evening patrol and your absence in the bedchamber gets discovered, you reach back and pull up the hood of your cloak to cover yourself before walking through the door. Learning from past experiences, after finding yourself emerging into unexpected places and coming close to being seen or recognised, you realised that you would have to be more careful to avoid getting caught by someone and accidentally exposing your father’s secret during your trips.

That was why you decided to be much safer tonight, to disguise yourself as you go through with your secret escapade.

Under the half-ragged cloak that you have often worn whenever you escaped from The Citadel at nightfall, you have chosen to wear a commoner’s clothes—a plain, dark-coloured tunic top and a pair of tight breeches—instead of your daily dresses. The pair of boots that would normally be hidden under your bed have replaced the low pair of heels that you wore during today’s tutoring hours and afternoon lessons.

With a deep inhale of breath and a silent prayer, you turn the vibrating key which has somehow become warm in your hold, and gently open the door.

You suck a deep breath as you emerge into a bedroom that looks nothing like the rooms you have seen all around the magic castle so far. The room you walk into appears to be quite small yet cozy, with a queen-sized bed positioned right at the center of the room, covered with a couple of fluffed pillows and fresh sheets, with a thick furry blanket folded on the foot of the bed. There is a shaded lamp on top of the side table right beside the bed, and a cold, unlit fireplace on the opposite wall. Right in front of the fireplace, a brown felt that appears to have come from a deer is laid to cover the wooden floor, making you think for a second that you might be inside a hunter’s lodging, until something draws your attention to make you think otherwise.

On your right appears to you a wooden door. Even while being closed shut, you can still hear the muffled sounds of people chatting and cheering, the sounds of glass clinking and cutleries hitting tables and plates, and the rough voices of men shouting and calling names. The noises that you hear are enough to give you a hint to figure out where you currently are, as they bring you back to the scene you encountered a period of time ago during your late-night trips into town. Though doubt fills your mind, as you still find it hard to believe it to be true unless you can see it with your own eyes.

You turn towards the door, and the door from which you came in from grabs your attention. Looking at it now, it seems to be the door of a walk-in closet. But just like the other portals, magic has turned it into something else. Through the half-opened door, instead of seeing the interior of a closet, you see the sight of the magic portal that is still open. There is nothing there but the sight of a dark void with swirling blue lights floating at the center. The dark void seems eerie to you, yet you no longer look at it with fear as you know that this magical sight is what will lead you back to the magic castle once you are done venturing here.

The sound of a man’s laughter and the loud cheers that follow draw your attention back to the bedroom door. Curious to know where you might have ended, you carefully make your way to it. The wooden floor creaks beneath your booths, making your breath hitch, and you silently pray that the noises outside would drown the sounds you are making as you slowly reach for the doorknob and turn it open. To your relief, the door has been left unlocked, and you carefully pull it open just an inch. Just enough for you to see what is on the other side.

The muffled sounds you heard suddenly clear out and immediately hit you straight in the face—the loud chattering that seems to come from dozens of rowdy men and the boastful laughter that you heard earlier, with the sounds of glasses clinking against each other or hitting against wooden tables. Seeing nothing but a wooden walkway and railings as you open the door, you realise that you are currently on the upper floor of an establishment, while the noises seem to have been coming from downstairs. The familiar scent of booze, dust, and burning candles wafts through the air, and you stifle a gasp as you soon realise where you are.

Moving in haste when you barely have the chance to recover from shock, you shut the door with a soft click and turn the other way. Across from you appears a window, left partly opened for the cold night breeze to flow into the room, blowing the thin curtains that have little to do to shield the lights coming from the street outside. With shaky legs, you walk towards the window and look down.

Just as suspected, you see the bustling street of the business district of Smotia right down below, with people passing by as they are making their route home or searching for a place of leisure after a long day of hard work. You can easily recognise the street you are looking at, because you had ventured into the same street the last time you slipped away from home.

Still busy taking everything in, you almost miss the sound of firm footsteps and the creaks on the wooden floor outside of the bedroom, until you hear them coming closer towards the bedroom door. A low and deep voice calls out from outside the door, snapping you out of your shock, “Anee? Is that you?”

Turning sharply with a gasp, you rush to close the door to the closet, hiding the glimmering portal before rushing into the small bathroom on the other side of the fireplace to hide.

“You didn’t tell me that you were coming tonight—”

The deep sound of voice fades just as the bedroom door opens merely seconds after you close the bathroom door shut. “Anee? Are you here?” the man calls out again after coming to a halt. “Huh. That’s funny, I thought I heard someone here.”

Just when you expect him to leave after finding the room empty, you hear the man entering the room instead. The floor creaks more intensely under his boots, and you hold your breath as you sense him coming towards the window. Peering through the seams between the door and the wooden frame, you catch the sight of the man as he stands in front of the window, looking down the street with a sigh.

“Must have been my imagination, then. ’Am getting old for this, I swear,” he seems to mumble to himself before he gently shuts the window, and as he bends, you get to see him more clearly to recognise him. The illuminating street lights from outside the window are helping you to see his face.

Sir Elias.

A woman’s voice is heard from outside the room, calling for him, and the man turns to walk away. “Nothing, love. I thought I heard someone in the room, is all,” he calls out to whoever was calling him as he makes his way to leave the bedroom.

“Who is it? Is it Anee?” the woman’s voice seems muted as she remains outside the bedroom, with the noises from below rising in the background.

“Nah,” Sir Elias chuckles lowly. “It’s just the wind—” he calls out to the woman that you assume to be his wife as he turns and begins walking away, before adding gently under his breath, “Or maybe I just missed that bloody sucker.”

You remain still as you listen to the faint click sound of the door coming to close, followed by the sound of Sir Elias’ heavy footfalls over the wooden floor fading in the distance, until silence fills the room.

It isn’t until you take a few more deep breaths and steady your shaking hands before you finally open the door, looking around you to make sure that the bedroom is completely empty before finally stepping out of the bathroom. With a deep, exhale of breath, you come down to your knees in your relief and rest back against the bed. Your eyes turn to the window, now closed shut to shield the voices from the town below, leaving you in the stifling silence where your mind once again becomes the loudest.

The silver door has taken you back to The Rare Roots, the local pub right at the center of the business district in Smotia, and straight into one of the rented rooms on the upper floor of the pub, which Sir Elias had offered you to take the night you came here.

Your head spins as questions after questions continue to fill your mind.

Why would the King have direct access to a local pub in the business district of Smotia?

And why would Sir Elias—the owner of the local pub who you have never once seen coming to visit The Citadel—be calling your father by his childhood name, as if they have known each other personally for a very long time, or that he would expect the King to be appearing in one of his rented bedrooms as if it would be such a normal occurrence to happen here?

You remain in the bedroom for a while longer, looking around to find any sign that your father had truly been here, while the night passes by with the muffled sounds from the crowd of The Rare Roots below penetrating through the silence. The noises out there are loud, but not loud enough to drown your thoughts as you take a seat at the foot of the bed, trying to make sense of your findings.

The curtains by the window have been left open after Sir Elias’ departure, allowing the figure that has been moving in the shadows to look his way in, watching your movements in silence, his presence completely unbeknownst to you. Perched atop the roof of the next building, he gets a clear view of you. Of the way you seem to be wallowing so deep in your thoughts that you are unaware of the pair of eyes that are keeping a close watch on you.

And he continues to watch over you, taking his time to take the sight of you in and memorise everything he sees of you until you finally slip away, disappearing into one of the doors which acts like the portal bringing you back home. That is when he also makes his move, stepping back into the shadows to return to where he belongs, filled with the delight of victory that comes after finally finding what he was after.

Found you. Finally, I’ve found you, he wonders to himself, as he slips away and disappears through the shadows of the night.

— © 2023 Yoonia, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind, translations, unsanctioned adaptations are not allowed.

the bedroom hymns ● chapter xiv

⟶ Chapter summary | To answer your curiosity, Yoongi presents you with a challenging offer. Is your desire to learn about this new realm and his secrets strong enough for you to risk revealing your own secrets? Or will you remain loyal to the promise you made to your father to protect the family’s secret? 

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader  ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Crown Princess!reader, Fantasy AU, Fairy Tale retelling ⟶ Word count | 6,785 words ⟶ Ratings | PG-13, +18 / M for Mature for future chapters; include classism, black magic, alcohol consumption ⟶ Story Masterlist: The Bedroom Hymns | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Feedback | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Author’s note | Here’s the second part of what was meant to be a part of the previous chapter. I hope this answers a lot of questions. Have fun reading!

chapter xiv. red strings-2

You fall silent as you feel a slight drop in your stomach. 

You should have expected that he would demand a fair trade right away. If only you have had enough time to figure out what to say, to plan just how much you are able to share about yourself without having to lie to his face should he chooses to answer your questions with honest truth. 

Taking a slow drink from your glass, you take your time to contemplate your options. “Maybe—” you slowly begin, “I can tell you a little bit about myself for a fair exchange.” 

Yoongi squints his eyes. There seems to be a hint of suspicions in the way he is looking at you. At first, he says nothing. Not a single response to your offer. Perhaps he can already tell that you wouldn’t be able to give him everything that he might be demanding from you. 

It makes you feel discouraged when you think that he may change his mind and you won’t be getting some answers. But Yoongi surprises you when he suddenly shrugs and smiles. 

“Very well, then. I guess that’s fair,” he says, though you cannot really make out the tone of his voice, or if he’s still going to be truthful when he hums, “Where do I start?”

Yoongi says this while slowly rubbing his chin. “Well, I suppose that you know who I am by now,” he finally begins, his eyes showing a playful glint which only helps lessen your worries and doubts. 

“Do I?” you question him in return, mirroring the playful tone of his voice. “We’ve only met once before this, putting aside the other times when you shadowed my movements. I know your name, and I know that you are a part of one of the most notorious brotherhood of mercenaries known within the continent. But I had assumed that your men have only been roaming the human realm. But here you are now.” 

Yoongi’s lips rise slowly to a crooked grin. “That is quite an interesting part to note, isn’t it?,“ leaning forward once again, he places his crossed arms on the table to get closer to you. “And I’m not talking about us meeting in different realms, but the fact that I never specifically told you to which brotherhood I am belonged to, when I could’ve been a part of any mercenary group that is currently active among the people,” he calmly drawls, while your eyes grow wide, realising your blunder. “And yet, you were able to recognise the insignia that belongs to our brotherhood and figured out that I am a part of it.” 

Silently laughing at yourself, you realise that he is right. 

Yoongi had never once mentioned the name of the mercenary army group that he is a part of, and yet, he has never once tried to deny it whenever you brought it up. Both in the market town and here, you have yet to see Yoongi wearing the insignia that belongs to the brotherhood. 

But there is no denying that everything about him had made it easy for you to link him to the mercenary group which is known to be moving among the commoners, both within the territories of your father’s empire, and also in various neighbouring territories.

Not to mention, each time you lay your eyes on Yoongi, you would be reminded of the nameless mercenary who had caught your presence that night in The Rare Roots; his demeanour, the way he carries himself, his speech, and the most defining characteristic that you have felt from him so far, his aura. 

“I’ve told you that I’m no damsel,” is what you tell him in return, hinting at his connection to the aforementioned mercenary group. “In almost every place that I’ve traveled to, I’ve either met some of your men, your brothers in arms, or seen traces and trails left behind by your brotherhood.” 

In this case, you are not entirely lying to him. This is something that you have caught on during your excursions as of late. Aside from learning more about your father’s activities in the various places that you have visited so far, you have also been following the trails left behind by the mercenary army by using everything that you have learned from Advisor Kim and the Royal guards’ reports. 

You recall seeing the insignia in various places in the midst of your excursions, either worn by a passing member of the mercenary army or plastered on the walls, pillars, and any other places visible for the commoners to see; a public declaration to show that the brotherhood are on the people’s side and not the royals’. 

“You have made quite a name among the people, no matter which kingdom or empire you have come across,” you add while tipping your chin at the engraved insignia, “I never expected that I’d be seeing that crest here too, in a completely different realm.”

You lean forward on the table, mirroring his gesture as you murmur softly to him, “It wasn’t hard to put two and two together after what we talked about the last time we met, but you were the one who gave it away when you denied none of the things I said about you being a part of that movement.” 

A surprised look flickers through his gaze. “You are a smart one, little dove,” he says, completely amused. “As I’ve said before. I shouldn’t have underestimated you.” 

You lean back in your seat, feeling victorious. “No, you shouldn’t have.” 

He mirrors your movement as he settles back in his chair, except that he follows it by lifting his shimmering tankard, taking a swift drink before he speaks again. Once the drink is lowered, a determined look fills his eyes, as if talking about this would require him to take off the mask that he normally wears when he is with you. 

You can tell the difference when he looks at you straight in the eyes, his chin lifted, and there is a different flair coming from him. A new sense of authority that would have been intimidating should a commoner stand right before him. 

Not you, however, when you have grown used to facing something similar, a presence that feels more intense, whenever you have to come face to face with your father. 

“You’re right. I am a part of the brotherhood. I can’t tell you more other than the fact that I work alongside my brothers to serve the people who are willing to hire our service and pay for our hard work with gold. Be it a local merchant, a commoner, or a nobble, we serve them with everything that we have for an exchange of a good pay,” he says, sounding proud, subtly hinting that he may have quite an important role in his brotherhood of mercenaries that he is keeping from you, “as for crossing the borders between the realms—” 

He tugs at the bamboo hat that he has been wearing and starts taking it off. “Not every men who had joined the brotherhood would be capable of moving from one realm to another so easily,” he explains as he tosses his hat away. For some reason, the gesture draws your attention, and you find yourself getting completely fixated on it that you can’t take your eyes away from him. 

“Only a handful of us had come from the magic realms, most of us coming from various territories within the Land of Far Far Away, while the other members who had later joined us once we started the movement are regular humans, mostly commoners from the human realm who we encountered in our journey and volunteered to join our purpose.” 

You can almost picture the mercenary army growing steadily in size with the passing time, reaching all the common people directly than the royal aids of your father’s empire ever could. “And that purpose would be gaining gold coins from whoever is willing to pay for your service?”  

But is that all there is to it? 

You cannot help but wonder, unable to truly believe that it could all be that simple, when almost every men working under your father’s ruling has believed otherwise. The memory of your past conversation with one of your father’s Royal Advisors return to you. About the mercenary army that was suspected to be a part of the rebellion movement which has been silently rising among the people of Nythelean Empire. 

“That is correct,” he says, “well, that’s mostly the reason why we do this for a living. But there are also others who have their own purposes in joining our movement.” 

You tilt your head, finding this suspicious. Your shoulders grow tense, your spine feels cold. “What kind of—purposes?” you ask him, while your mind begins running wildly. 

Does he really have nothing to do with the rebellion? Or is his brotherhood truly the rebel army as suspected by the Royal Guards?  

While you are looking at him with suspicions, Yoongi carries with him an easy air, as if he has nothing dark or sinister to hide. He keeps the same light attitude when he answers, “Protection. The ability to protect their family, their hometown, their livelihood, to be able to defend against any crime and any physical threats—the kinds of harm that would always get overlooked because they were hurting the commoners and not the nobles with storages of gold coins—or any possible threats that may harm them and their family directly.” 

A smile lifts on your lips as relief slowly washes over you. “So you’re vigilantes, doing all the work that the royal army working under the ruling of the kings and emperors couldn’t, is that what you’re saying?” 

Yoongi barks out a laugh. “You can put it that way,” he says. “It’s more like a security work for the people. But we also provide a chance for the common people to rise and lend their strength.”

He takes another drink and continues, “Out there, in the small towns and settlements that are far out of reach from the empires and their law, there are commoners who had trained for their lives to serve as knights, only to fail from claiming their places in the knighthood because they had no noble blood or any high standing in the society. That’s where we come in, as we welcome them under our wings and give them a place to serve, to use their skills and put their training to good use.”

Good use. Those words sound like music to your ears. The kind of music that eases your worries. There is a hint of suspicions still lingering in your mind, yet you find yourself believing his words. 

It’s almost as if you can feel it; the truth that his words carry with them, the genuine pride coming out through his voice when he speaks about the brotherhood that has been seen as the villains by the royals. 

“And not all of them are capable of using magic or casting spells?” you choose to ask rather than sharing your doubts about the brotherhood. “Or whatever it is that you use to move between realms?”

Yoongi shakes his head. “Regular humans don’t know anything about magic. Even the ones who are able to cast powerful spells will not be able to travel across the realms so easily. Only the gifted ones can do it.”

“Like you do.” 

He gives you a smile. “Like me.” 

Once again, you tilt your head while you try to process all of this. “And all of the traveling has to do with your work in the mercenary? But why do you must venture through the human realm, when you could’ve had more chances here?” You take a quick glance around, once again being drawn to the vast farmland which spreads right before your eyes. “What kind of work are you doing here now?” 

Yoongi licks his lips. The gesture steals your attention from his words, drawing a hint of warmth out of your skin. It is another new sensation that you have never felt before. But then again, never once had you ever felt so drawn to someone like this, not as much as how he has you drawn to him like a moth drawn to a flame. 

“Why the human realm?” he repeats your question with a hum as he looks out towards the view. The faraway look in his eyes tells you that there is a story in there, before he simply answers, “It’s hard to explain, really.” 

The corners of his eyes crease a little when he smiles. “I can’t say that it had all been a deliberate choice to raise an army of mercenaries out there in the human realm. I think you would be able to understand this, but it all started a long time ago, when I first came into the human realm in search of an adventure. We call it as ’soul-searching’, a personal mission that I had taken to venture far, far away from home to find my purpose in life.” 

You return his smile just then, because you can understand him well enough, as you have been doing just the same thing. Going out to new places, stepping into foreign lands, all because your soul craved for a new adventure, to write a new story, and to be able to see the world. 

“I never planned to stay long in the human realm, but then as more and more friends, other men and old colleagues left the magic realm to join me, we formed ourselves a small alliance to be able to have more means and reasons to remain in the human realm for a bit longer, while also find ways to give back to the people and the community that had welcomed us with open arms, despite never knowing who we were or where we came from. And then, one thing lead to another—” 

“And your small group or adventurers become a rogue army working alongside the humans.” 

“Once again, you are correct,” he answers with a proud smile. “As to why I am here, it’s the same reason why I’ve been to the places where you encountered me before. I’m doing the same kind of work that I did in Narlès, and similar to most of the work I’ve done back in Smotia”—one corner of his lips lifts to a grin—”like that day when I followed your trails at the royal winery.” 

His gaze softens as you roll your eyes. 

“We usually do the same details of work whenever we are hired by people in the human realm. But when it requires me to travel across the borders and return to this realm, the work varies,” he adds, this time with a hint of fierceness in his voice. Proud and bitterness mixing together. “And these jobs come with bigger risks. Hence the disguises and the hidden armoires. But I do earn bigger pay when I succeed.” 

This has you raising your eyebrows. Curiosity comes through you as you take a closer look at his attire. 

Dressed as a local commoner, he looks quite unassuming that he would be able to roam around without raising suspicions. Unlike back in Narlès when he had at least shown his weapons under and over his unmarked cloak and dark-coloured outfit, this time, you are sure that he has numerous weapons hidden under his simple clothes. 

The same way you are hiding your golden dagger under your skirt, hidden from view but easy for you to reach whenever necessary. 

“You’ve been to Smotia. This place might look similar, but it is still entirely different. Not only with the magic that exists here, but also with the people that resides in this place and their way of living,” he explains, his words mirroring every single thought you had about this place since you had first gotten here. 

“There is a secret about this place that requires us to keep a close eye on the territory. A dark secret,” he says with a secretive smile. “But I’m sure that you’re used to something like this.” 

You realise what he is hinting at. Once again, the past conversation you had with the farmers follows you. You bristle as you recall the warning that was given to you and how it had reminded you of home. Your old home, and the dark rumours that everyone whispered all the way into the palace’s walls.

“These stories have been passed around from one generation to another, and I’m sure most people who live in this place and have learned about the tales for a long time won’t even know whether or not these stories are real, or if they are nothing more but an urban legend told by the elders to keep everyone here safe and keep things in order.” 

“Like the rumours that the people have been spreading in Smotia.” 

Yoongi gives you a solemn nod. “Smotia isn’t the only place that holds a dark secret. This place, and many other places—kingdoms, empires, even the small, lawless towns and rogue settlements—all have their secrets. It doesn’t matter whether we are in the human realm, or right here, within the magic realm of Far Far Away. People loves to tell stories, dramatising any event that happened sometime in the past to make use of them to keep the younger ones in line.” 

You are not entirely surprised to hear this. Old tales live among the people who still speak of them. They are the reason why local traditions and customs exist in the first place. But it is interesting to know that even in different realms, such thing still exists. 

Yoongi continues to speak. “For those of us with magic skills or have enough mana to endure the magic present in places such as Grimm, we would travel to and fro and pay regular visits to such places. Not only for the purpose of running our mission or for hired jobs, but also in between our duties, just so we can be here to observe, to protect, and even to hunt—”

“Hunt…what?” 

A pinch folds itself inside your chest. A myriad of scenarios start their callous plays inside your head; your father’s assassination attempt, the unmarked mercenary soldiers that followed you through the depths of the Elcester Forest, the attempts to infiltrate The Citadel. 

“Anything that may cause any disturbances happening within the Land of Far Far Away. The small and invisible threats that always start from the most inconspicuous places. Being vigilant and moving under our own rule allow us to get closer to the sources before they rise rapidly to become a bigger threat to the entire realm,” Yoongi answers after a beat of silence and a whole round of wild imagination running through your head. 

He gives an easy rise of his shoulders as it’s not a big deal. “Of course, we are only a small army roaming through a vast magical realm, where each territory, every strong empire within the realm have their own rules. Some kingdoms even cast their strong spells around their territories that won’t allow us to walk past their borders as easily as we would’ve liked. But we do what we can, keeping watch for the people that may be overlooked should any harm ever comes.” 

Spells to keep people out of a territory? 

Of course, you wonder to yourself as you start recalling everything that you have learned so far about the safety measures that an empire must abide to in order to keep its palaces, territories, and the people within safe. 

You are also reminded of the action that your father had taken after the latest breach which happened at the main palace, and how the royal guards at the Stargrave Castle have been keeping the same tight security to make sure that the empire’s territory is secured from any possible threat while in the King’s absence. 

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to think that there would be kingdoms that would use magic and spells for protection. Knowing what you know now, you begin to wonder if your father had also done the same to increase the security at the empire’s territories. Surely, there had to be a reason why he had forbidden you from stepping out of the palace through the front gate. 

Leaving you only relying on the magic portals to be able to step foot out of the palace whenever you need a chance to escape. 

It should be a powerful spell then, you wonder to yourself as you imagine having a force of magic protecting the empire, making you wonder just how powerful the King’s magic truly is, or if he ever had help from the strongest mages in the empire. 

Silently, you remind yourself to question about this to Lord Gordan the next time you sit with him to learn about royal defence or when you are sitting with Lady Laurel for your next magic lessons.  

When he notices that you have no more questions to ask of him, Yoongi crosses his arms over his chest and turns the focus of the conversation on you. “Now, it’s your turn to tell me more about you, little dove,” he calmly says, keeping his eyes on you when he points out, “You’re no mere traveller.” 

His words sound more like a statement instead of a question, and it shouldn’t surprise you that Yoongi would begin his digging into your secret by pointing out something that may have been quite obvious. 

Keeping your voice steady, as your father’s voice once again echoes through your head to remind you about keeping your family’s secret, you give him a smile and stiffly nod. “No, I’m not.”

“And you can travel across the realms.” 

Your heartbeat picks up. “Not that I’ve done this for a long time, nor am I an expert like yourself. And I’m not doing this for a noble purpose like you do,” you find yourself admitting to him, before deciding that perhaps you can share with him at least a part of your truth without revealing who you truly are. 

“You have probably figured out by now where I initially came from,” you begin, and when Yoongi says nothing to respond to this, you simply continue, “The human realm has been the only home that I’ve known for as long as I can remember, even if I never got to truly see any other places in the human realm itself aside from the place where I lived.” 

Yoongi immediately frowns at this. You can tell that he is surprised to hear this, and you can already guess that he probably wouldn’t like to hear what you are about to share with him next. 

“I…was sheltered almost my entire life, kept from the world, hidden in the shadows”—being kept as a secret while you were caged within the palace’s walls—”so I would take every chance I could get, sometimes steal it, just to be able to see the world outside that I was never allowed to see. Before, all I could do was to slip out of my window to travel across the town, then the city, and then I’d venture into the secluded places where people wouldn’t be able to recognise me. A chance to escape and experience freedom.” 

The more you reveal this part of yourself, Yoongi’s gaze seems to grow darker. It feels unsettling, yet comforting at the same time. Because it almost seems like he is enraged at your situation. That he is becoming angry—for you. 

When had anyone ever felt this kind of concern for you? 

You try to remember, before realising soon enough that not even your governess, Nanny Abigail, the closest person to you since your days back at The Citadel, had ever voiced her concern about you being sheltered and hidden from public view. If any, she seems to have always encouraged and supported the King with his decisions, while often convincing you that it would have been better to remain within the palace’s walls for your own safety. 

Thinking about this makes you feel upset and bitter, so you quickly push these thoughts away, rather than allowing it to pester your thoughts when you should be enjoying this wonderful moment that you have with Yoongi. 

“I might not like you in the sense of crossing the realms, because I have no control of it,” you allow a little more truth to come out. “As a matter of fact, I surprised myself when I arrived here. Never had I expected that I would find my way to a town where magic exists, when I had only been seeing these places through the books that I’ve been reading.” 

As you laugh softly to your confession, Yoongi’s frown slowly fades as he curiously says. “You are not familiar with the magic realm.” 

You shake your head. “No, I am not. Not yet, at least. Everything is new to me. I’m still learning,” you admit to him with a bashful smile. “I spend my time learning about magic and this realm through the books, never knowing that I might be able to get the chance to visit these places and learn about them directly.” 

Yoongi’s expression seems to grow softer after hearing your words. “Is that the reason behind all these questions? All the curiosity that you always have with you?” he asks you, “All because you’ve never had the chance to see the world with your own two eyes, much less this realm we are in?” 

Slowly, you nod your head. “I have so many questions but not many that could answer them,” you answer him with a deep exhale of breath, recalling the hours you spent digging into the books in the library only to never feel satisfied enough with what you have found. 

Yoongi’s lips twitch to a grin. “And you expected me to answer them for you.” 

“Maybe not all of them, but you are the one available right now for me to speak to,” you admit to him with a soft giggle, making him smile, as if the sound of your laughter pleases him. “And, now that I’ve shared all of this with you, as of now, you have become one of the limited people who knows about my secret.” 

“I’m going to guess that there’s not a lot of people,” he says with a gentle voice, to which you answer with a nod while you solemnly keep the real answers in your head—

The truth is, you are the only one who actually knows about my secrets. The only one who knows that I’ve been traveling to different places. The only one who knows that I exist while the world revolves in blissful ignorance. 

In your silence, Yoongi takes this moment to take a good look at your face while you are lost in deep thoughts. He seems to have found something in you when he murmurs to you softly, “You can sense my magic.” 

His words catch you off-guard, but you try your best to control your emotions. “It’s not like I’ve learned how to use magic, or to even have it inside me at all,” you slowly admit to him while recalling your father’s words about magic, how it resides within you, passed down from his bloodline.

But you have never truly felt it, and your father never had the chance to show it to you or to teach you more about it before he had to leave the palace for his royal duty. 

“But, I’ve learned how to sense them ever since I first arrived in this realm,” you continue, while Yoongi seems intrigued to hear this. 

For some reason, you feel no guilt about sharing this with him. You just don’t feel like it would be particularly necessary to hide this, as this is a new ability that you have been honing through your afternoon lessons with Lady laurel and Lord Gordan, after all. 

In fact, seeing his reaction, you suddenly start feeling hopeful that perhaps he can help you understand about this new ability that you have been gifted with yet still cannot understand, much less to wield it at your own will. 

The ability to detect other mana or aura from your surroundings—be it on the places where you are at or within the people you are with. 

This was said to be the first step of practising your own magic and sharpening your mana while you wait for your father to guide you through the rest. Of course, you haven’t started learning more than the basics, nothing but the theories and the principles behind it, yet you have secretly learned enough on your own to identify the magic that is present around you. And you have learned enough to recognise the energy that you can feel coming out of Yoongi.

And what you can sense from him has only been making you feel more curious about him. The strong pull that keeps drawing you to him. The essence of his magic—

Right at the same time, the same curiosity flickers through Yoongi’s gaze. “What do you sense from me when that happens?” 

His question—and the way he says it—sounds surprisingly reassuring, and it prompts you into answering him truthfully. 

“Serene. Otherworldly,” you start describing what you feel, recalling the tingling sensations that you felt upon sensing his magic, when you first realised that they were coming from him. “It feels comforting and intimidating at the same time. And quite—captivating, as if there is a strong pull coming from your magic that keeps drawing me in.” 

Familiar. 

Because it feels eerily similar to the magic that you have grown used to. Similar to the magic that you have been feeling coming from your father’s portals. The strong pull that you feel from Yoongi reminds you too much of the strong charm that sends you across various realms that you find in the magic doors, which often feels like invisible dust brushing at your skin that would sometimes linger with you long after you have stepped across the portal. 

The first time you felt it while you were with him back at Narlès, you had chalked it up as having the portal’s magic lingering in your skin because of how different the weather was compared to home. Now, however, the moment you are back in Yoongi’s presence and feeling the same sensation all over again, you finally realise that it hadn’t been the case at all.  

With tilted head, you take a good look at Yoongi, wondering why it is possible for him to have the kind of magic that seems to resemble your father’s. Through your lectures, you have learned that the type of magic that a person obtains may differ depending on the source of its powers, and would often differ according to where the person resides in or which empire they are from.

Just like the people within the sun empire that were said to be blessed by the sun itself, and the empires that were said to have claimed the blessings of the Moon and the Gods that are believed to reside in the sea. 

Would it be possible that your father’s magic may have come from the same source as Yoongi’s? 

Before you can figure out how to bring this up, Yoongi continues to speak, focusing on your magic as if he knows that you haven’t learned much about how special your ability truly is. 

“For anyone who acquires the gift of magic or born with mana within them, they will be able to feel or sense it when magic exists around us. At least, most of us do,” he explains, smiling, while your mind flies back to the old farmer who may have felt your mana when you first met him. Then Yoongi surprises you when he adds, “But it takes a different kind of gift and talent to be able to recognise or identify someone else’s magic by sense alone.” 

“And that’s something that you are incapable of.” 

But I might. 

Yoongi nods his head. “That must’ve been the reason why you were able to notice my presence while I was following you. It was my magic that you sensed when you couldn’t see me.” 

You tilt your head, realising that he might have been right. And he may not have noticed that he had just solved one of the biggest mysteries that have been plaguing your thoughts as of late, when you could never explain to yourself the reason why you had always been able to sense Yoongi’s presence even before you could see him there. 

“But I can tell you this—” he continues, “I can feel the mana within you. For me, it feels like an unrefined diamond, glowing inside you. Except that there is something that is shielding it, protecting it like a veil.”

A shield? It isn’t much of a surprise to hear that you have an unrefined mana, as you are still lacking in training. But to know that there is something protecting it is another matter. “But—how?” 

Yoongi presses his lips together as if he is feeling unsure with his answer. “I wish I know,” he says with a regretful smile. “If I have to make a comparison, try to picture a door. A door that has been kept closed and locked so tightly that it would take an effort to open it. Right behind that closed door is your mana. That is how shielded your energy is.” 

“So—you’re saying that if I want to be able to find my magic and use it, I have to open that door?” you question him, suddenly feeling light-headed and confused. Yet every word he is giving you makes sense. 

Is that the reason why your tutors have refrained from teaching you magic, and had always insisted that you should wait for the return of the King?

“I supposed you can say that,” Yoongi says with a nod. “But that’s not all. I can tell that you also have magic all over you. Although it feels more like a protection spell that is meant for you, not for the mana you have inside you.” 

Hearing this only leaves you feeling more confused. Until you finally remember the reactions you saw earlier from the farmers working on the field when they saw you walking away, as if they had just realised that you were there. 

Thinking about this, you raise your eyebrows. “The kind of protection spell that may hide me even in plain sight?” 

He stifles a smile as he says, “Something like that.” He also seems—proud, to see that you are able to figure it out before he can explain further.  

“Yet you can’t recognise its form or where it came from,” you guess again, while Yoongi’s expression shifts when he stiffly nods.  

“No, I’m afraid I can’t. The only thing that I can tell you is that it seems to have been placed on you instead of it developing naturally, because it feels entirely different compared to the mana flow I’m feeling from you. I can feel these two separate energies flowing both from within and around you as I’m sitting here with you.” 

Sinking back in your seat, you say nothing to this, and choose to hide your expression as you take a hefty drink from your glass. For a while now, you have suspected that something like this may exist. That you may have some kind of magic surrounding you at times. It would only make a whole lot of sense of everything that you have been questioning and wondering about.

The fact that you have been able to escape the palace during the night without people noticing you, but only while you were right outside of the palace’s walls. Common people who would walk by without seeing you when you passed them in the streets, or the royal guards who would fail to notice you slipping through their tight patrol. 

As if you were never there. 

Instinctively, your hand finds your necklace that is hidden under your cloak, and you anxiously begin toying the gem with your fingers the way you always do when you are lost in deep thoughts and in need to focus. 

You start thinking about all those nights you spent roaming the dark streets in Smotia and the afternoons you spent wandering away from the palace, recalling all the significant moments and events, to try and put all the pieces together. You have never have believed that you were a master of disguise, so skilful in hiding your identity that you managed to remain unnoticed during your trips to the outside world. 

Unlike Yoongi, perhaps, who seems to be quite an expert if putting up disguises. He would no doubt be able to blend in with the locals with his disguises, avoiding unwanted attention that may put a risk to his duties.  

Thinking about this now, the odd expression worn by the mercenary soldier that you met at The Rare Roots begins to make more sense. When he looked at you as if you had magically appeared right in front of him and he was completely caught off-guard that he had let his mask slip. And for some reason, you can almost see that same expression coming out of Yoongi as he is silently watching you—the cold, amused look coming out of his eyes, as if he is trying to solve a puzzle, or a mystery, and he would be able to find the answer by simply looking at your face. 

More questions come to mind, and they slip out of you in soft whispers while you are trying to solve this mystery. “How is that possible?” you first ask yourself, before your gaze lands back on Yoongi who hasn’t said a word, giving you the chance to ruminate on this new revelation about yourself. 

“If I am protected with a spell, like you said, how did you manage to notice me?” You just cannot help but wonder out loud. 

Both in Narlès and here in Grimm, Yoongi has always been the one to find you first. Compared to how you would have had to approach someone and talk to them first to get them to notice you—just like the farmers you met earlier and the people you talked to on your previous excursions. 

Just as you are waiting for him to respond, you catch Yoongi’s eyes as they move. A barely visible flicker that is so subtle that you would miss it if only you blink. And you are partially sure that his gaze has landed right at your necklace, at the fingers that are brushing against the golden embellishments securing the ruby pendant that seems to be reflecting the sunlight as you twirl it in your touch. 

All of a sudden, a blurry image from your almost-forgotten dream comes back to you. 

Yoongi’s eyes remind you of the pair of dark eyes drifting down to your collarbone, eyeing on the necklace that you were wearing even in your dreams. The deep voice that almost felt like a whisper, a murmur, when the man in your dream spoke of as if he had just gotten an answer to the riddle that he was so desperate to solve, “The necklace. Of course. I should’ve known.”

Carefully, you lower your hand, opting to take Yoongi’s attention away from the necklace. His curious gaze is starting to make you feel uncomfortable, too vulnerable, that even the necklace is starting to feel hot under his dark, perusing eyes. 

“I might have a theory,” Yoongi begins as his eyes find yours again. This time, the look that he is giving you seems a bit more cautious. As if he is treading carefully through this, and you understand why when he says, “But I might have to show it to you to prove it, since it would mean using my magic to understand, and I can do that if you would allow me to.”  

As he stops talking, you can almost hear the unspoken words that he is keeping to himself as he regards you with a smile. A silent promise that also becomes a challenge that he offers you in exchange of any secret that you may choose to share with him—

This secret I can reveal to you, as long as you are willing to reveal yours. 

— © 2024 Yoonia, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind is not allowed. unsolicited translations are not allowed.

the bedroom hymns ● chapter xiv

⟶ Chapter summary | To answer your curiosity, Yoongi presents you with a challenging offer. Is your desire to learn about this new realm and his secrets strong enough for you to risk revealing your own secrets? Or will you remain loyal to the promise you made to your father to protect the family’s secret? 

⟶ Title | The Bedroom Hymns: a Bluebeard’s twist ⟶ Pairings | Min Yoongi x female reader  ⟶ Genre | Fairy Prince!Yoongi, Crown Princess!reader, Fantasy AU, Fairy Tale retelling ⟶ Word count | 6,785 words ⟶ Ratings | PG-13, +18 / M for Mature for future chapters; include classism, black magic, alcohol consumption ⟶ Story Masterlist: The Bedroom Hymns | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢ ⟶ Main Masterlist | Mailbox | Taglist | Feedback | Music Playlist | Ko-fi ⟶ Author’s note | Here’s the second part of what was meant to be a part of the previous chapter. I hope this answers a lot of questions. Have fun reading!

chapter xiv. red strings-2

You fall silent as you feel a slight drop in your stomach. 

You should have expected that he would demand a fair trade right away. If only you have had enough time to figure out what to say, to plan just how much you are able to share about yourself without having to lie to his face should he chooses to answer your questions with honest truth. 

Taking a slow drink from your glass, you take your time to contemplate your options. “Maybe—” you slowly begin, “I can tell you a little bit about myself for a fair exchange.” 

Yoongi squints his eyes. There seems to be a hint of suspicions in the way he is looking at you. At first, he says nothing. Not a single response to your offer. Perhaps he can already tell that you wouldn’t be able to give him everything that he might be demanding from you. 

It makes you feel discouraged when you think that he may change his mind and you won’t be getting some answers. But Yoongi surprises you when he suddenly shrugs and smiles. 

“Very well, then. I guess that’s fair,” he says, though you cannot really make out the tone of his voice, or if he’s still going to be truthful when he hums, “Where do I start?”

Yoongi says this while slowly rubbing his chin. “Well, I suppose that you know who I am by now,” he finally begins, his eyes showing a playful glint which only helps lessen your worries and doubts. 

“Do I?” you question him in return, mirroring the playful tone of his voice. “We’ve only met once before this, putting aside the other times when you shadowed my movements. I know your name, and I know that you are a part of one of the most notorious brotherhood of mercenaries known within the continent. But I had assumed that your men have only been roaming the human realm. But here you are now.” 

Yoongi’s lips rise slowly to a crooked grin. “That is quite an interesting part to note, isn’t it?,“ leaning forward once again, he places his crossed arms on the table to get closer to you. “And I’m not talking about us meeting in different realms, but the fact that I never specifically told you to which brotherhood I am belonged to, when I could’ve been a part of any mercenary group that is currently active among the people,” he calmly drawls, while your eyes grow wide, realising your blunder. “And yet, you were able to recognise the insignia that belongs to our brotherhood and figured out that I am a part of it.” 

Silently laughing at yourself, you realise that he is right. 

Yoongi had never once mentioned the name of the mercenary army group that he is a part of, and yet, he has never once tried to deny it whenever you brought it up. Both in the market town and here, you have yet to see Yoongi wearing the insignia that belongs to the brotherhood. 

But there is no denying that everything about him had made it easy for you to link him to the mercenary group which is known to be moving among the commoners, both within the territories of your father’s empire, and also in various neighbouring territories.

Not to mention, each time you lay your eyes on Yoongi, you would be reminded of the nameless mercenary who had caught your presence that night in The Rare Roots; his demeanour, the way he carries himself, his speech, and the most defining characteristic that you have felt from him so far, his aura. 

“I’ve told you that I’m no damsel,” is what you tell him in return, hinting at his connection to the aforementioned mercenary group. “In almost every place that I’ve traveled to, I’ve either met some of your men, your brothers in arms, or seen traces and trails left behind by your brotherhood.” 

In this case, you are not entirely lying to him. This is something that you have caught on during your excursions as of late. Aside from learning more about your father’s activities in the various places that you have visited so far, you have also been following the trails left behind by the mercenary army by using everything that you have learned from Advisor Kim and the Royal guards’ reports. 

You recall seeing the insignia in various places in the midst of your excursions, either worn by a passing member of the mercenary army or plastered on the walls, pillars, and any other places visible for the commoners to see; a public declaration to show that the brotherhood are on the people’s side and not the royals’. 

“You have made quite a name among the people, no matter which kingdom or empire you have come across,” you add while tipping your chin at the engraved insignia, “I never expected that I’d be seeing that crest here too, in a completely different realm.”

You lean forward on the table, mirroring his gesture as you murmur softly to him, “It wasn’t hard to put two and two together after what we talked about the last time we met, but you were the one who gave it away when you denied none of the things I said about you being a part of that movement.” 

A surprised look flickers through his gaze. “You are a smart one, little dove,” he says, completely amused. “As I’ve said before. I shouldn’t have underestimated you.” 

You lean back in your seat, feeling victorious. “No, you shouldn’t have.” 

He mirrors your movement as he settles back in his chair, except that he follows it by lifting his shimmering tankard, taking a swift drink before he speaks again. Once the drink is lowered, a determined look fills his eyes, as if talking about this would require him to take off the mask that he normally wears when he is with you. 

You can tell the difference when he looks at you straight in the eyes, his chin lifted, and there is a different flair coming from him. A new sense of authority that would have been intimidating should a commoner stand right before him. 

Not you, however, when you have grown used to facing something similar, a presence that feels more intense, whenever you have to come face to face with your father. 

“You’re right. I am a part of the brotherhood. I can’t tell you more other than the fact that I work alongside my brothers to serve the people who are willing to hire our service and pay for our hard work with gold. Be it a local merchant, a commoner, or a nobble, we serve them with everything that we have for an exchange of a good pay,” he says, sounding proud, subtly hinting that he may have quite an important role in his brotherhood of mercenaries that he is keeping from you, “as for crossing the borders between the realms—” 

He tugs at the bamboo hat that he has been wearing and starts taking it off. “Not every men who had joined the brotherhood would be capable of moving from one realm to another so easily,” he explains as he tosses his hat away. For some reason, the gesture draws your attention, and you find yourself getting completely fixated on it that you can’t take your eyes away from him. 

“Only a handful of us had come from the magic realms, most of us coming from various territories within the Land of Far Far Away, while the other members who had later joined us once we started the movement are regular humans, mostly commoners from the human realm who we encountered in our journey and volunteered to join our purpose.” 

You can almost picture the mercenary army growing steadily in size with the passing time, reaching all the common people directly than the royal aids of your father’s empire ever could. “And that purpose would be gaining gold coins from whoever is willing to pay for your service?”  

But is that all there is to it? 

You cannot help but wonder, unable to truly believe that it could all be that simple, when almost every men working under your father’s ruling has believed otherwise. The memory of your past conversation with one of your father’s Royal Advisors return to you. About the mercenary army that was suspected to be a part of the rebellion movement which has been silently rising among the people of Nythelean Empire. 

“That is correct,” he says, “well, that’s mostly the reason why we do this for a living. But there are also others who have their own purposes in joining our movement.” 

You tilt your head, finding this suspicious. Your shoulders grow tense, your spine feels cold. “What kind of—purposes?” you ask him, while your mind begins running wildly. 

Does he really have nothing to do with the rebellion? Or is his brotherhood truly the rebel army as suspected by the Royal Guards?  

While you are looking at him with suspicions, Yoongi carries with him an easy air, as if he has nothing dark or sinister to hide. He keeps the same light attitude when he answers, “Protection. The ability to protect their family, their hometown, their livelihood, to be able to defend against any crime and any physical threats—the kinds of harm that would always get overlooked because they were hurting the commoners and not the nobles with storages of gold coins—or any possible threats that may harm them and their family directly.” 

A smile lifts on your lips as relief slowly washes over you. “So you’re vigilantes, doing all the work that the royal army working under the ruling of the kings and emperors couldn’t, is that what you’re saying?” 

Yoongi barks out a laugh. “You can put it that way,” he says. “It’s more like a security work for the people. But we also provide a chance for the common people to rise and lend their strength.”

He takes another drink and continues, “Out there, in the small towns and settlements that are far out of reach from the empires and their law, there are commoners who had trained for their lives to serve as knights, only to fail from claiming their places in the knighthood because they had no noble blood or any high standing in the society. That’s where we come in, as we welcome them under our wings and give them a place to serve, to use their skills and put their training to good use.”

Good use. Those words sound like music to your ears. The kind of music that eases your worries. There is a hint of suspicions still lingering in your mind, yet you find yourself believing his words. 

It’s almost as if you can feel it; the truth that his words carry with them, the genuine pride coming out through his voice when he speaks about the brotherhood that has been seen as the villains by the royals. 

“And not all of them are capable of using magic or casting spells?” you choose to ask rather than sharing your doubts about the brotherhood. “Or whatever it is that you use to move between realms?”

Yoongi shakes his head. “Regular humans don’t know anything about magic. Even the ones who are able to cast powerful spells will not be able to travel across the realms so easily. Only the gifted ones can do it.”

“Like you do.” 

He gives you a smile. “Like me.” 

Once again, you tilt your head while you try to process all of this. “And all of the traveling has to do with your work in the mercenary? But why do you must venture through the human realm, when you could’ve had more chances here?” You take a quick glance around, once again being drawn to the vast farmland which spreads right before your eyes. “What kind of work are you doing here now?” 

Yoongi licks his lips. The gesture steals your attention from his words, drawing a hint of warmth out of your skin. It is another new sensation that you have never felt before. But then again, never once had you ever felt so drawn to someone like this, not as much as how he has you drawn to him like a moth drawn to a flame. 

“Why the human realm?” he repeats your question with a hum as he looks out towards the view. The faraway look in his eyes tells you that there is a story in there, before he simply answers, “It’s hard to explain, really.” 

The corners of his eyes crease a little when he smiles. “I can’t say that it had all been a deliberate choice to raise an army of mercenaries out there in the human realm. I think you would be able to understand this, but it all started a long time ago, when I first came into the human realm in search of an adventure. We call it as ’soul-searching’, a personal mission that I had taken to venture far, far away from home to find my purpose in life.” 

You return his smile just then, because you can understand him well enough, as you have been doing just the same thing. Going out to new places, stepping into foreign lands, all because your soul craved for a new adventure, to write a new story, and to be able to see the world. 

“I never planned to stay long in the human realm, but then as more and more friends, other men and old colleagues left the magic realm to join me, we formed ourselves a small alliance to be able to have more means and reasons to remain in the human realm for a bit longer, while also find ways to give back to the people and the community that had welcomed us with open arms, despite never knowing who we were or where we came from. And then, one thing lead to another—” 

“And your small group or adventurers become a rogue army working alongside the humans.” 

“Once again, you are correct,” he answers with a proud smile. “As to why I am here, it’s the same reason why I’ve been to the places where you encountered me before. I’m doing the same kind of work that I did in Narlès, and similar to most of the work I’ve done back in Smotia”—one corner of his lips lifts to a grin—”like that day when I followed your trails at the royal winery.” 

His gaze softens as you roll your eyes. 

“We usually do the same details of work whenever we are hired by people in the human realm. But when it requires me to travel across the borders and return to this realm, the work varies,” he adds, this time with a hint of fierceness in his voice. Proud and bitterness mixing together. “And these jobs come with bigger risks. Hence the disguises and the hidden armoires. But I do earn bigger pay when I succeed.” 

This has you raising your eyebrows. Curiosity comes through you as you take a closer look at his attire. 

Dressed as a local commoner, he looks quite unassuming that he would be able to roam around without raising suspicions. Unlike back in Narlès when he had at least shown his weapons under and over his unmarked cloak and dark-coloured outfit, this time, you are sure that he has numerous weapons hidden under his simple clothes. 

The same way you are hiding your golden dagger under your skirt, hidden from view but easy for you to reach whenever necessary. 

“You’ve been to Smotia. This place might look similar, but it is still entirely different. Not only with the magic that exists here, but also with the people that resides in this place and their way of living,” he explains, his words mirroring every single thought you had about this place since you had first gotten here. 

“There is a secret about this place that requires us to keep a close eye on the territory. A dark secret,” he says with a secretive smile. “But I’m sure that you’re used to something like this.” 

You realise what he is hinting at. Once again, the past conversation you had with the farmers follows you. You bristle as you recall the warning that was given to you and how it had reminded you of home. Your old home, and the dark rumours that everyone whispered all the way into the palace’s walls.

“These stories have been passed around from one generation to another, and I’m sure most people who live in this place and have learned about the tales for a long time won’t even know whether or not these stories are real, or if they are nothing more but an urban legend told by the elders to keep everyone here safe and keep things in order.” 

“Like the rumours that the people have been spreading in Smotia.” 

Yoongi gives you a solemn nod. “Smotia isn’t the only place that holds a dark secret. This place, and many other places—kingdoms, empires, even the small, lawless towns and rogue settlements—all have their secrets. It doesn’t matter whether we are in the human realm, or right here, within the magic realm of Far Far Away. People loves to tell stories, dramatising any event that happened sometime in the past to make use of them to keep the younger ones in line.” 

You are not entirely surprised to hear this. Old tales live among the people who still speak of them. They are the reason why local traditions and customs exist in the first place. But it is interesting to know that even in different realms, such thing still exists. 

Yoongi continues to speak. “For those of us with magic skills or have enough mana to endure the magic present in places such as Grimm, we would travel to and fro and pay regular visits to such places. Not only for the purpose of running our mission or for hired jobs, but also in between our duties, just so we can be here to observe, to protect, and even to hunt—”

“Hunt…what?” 

A pinch folds itself inside your chest. A myriad of scenarios start their callous plays inside your head; your father’s assassination attempt, the unmarked mercenary soldiers that followed you through the depths of the Elcester Forest, the attempts to infiltrate The Citadel. 

“Anything that may cause any disturbances happening within the Land of Far Far Away. The small and invisible threats that always start from the most inconspicuous places. Being vigilant and moving under our own rule allow us to get closer to the sources before they rise rapidly to become a bigger threat to the entire realm,” Yoongi answers after a beat of silence and a whole round of wild imagination running through your head. 

He gives an easy rise of his shoulders as it’s not a big deal. “Of course, we are only a small army roaming through a vast magical realm, where each territory, every strong empire within the realm have their own rules. Some kingdoms even cast their strong spells around their territories that won’t allow us to walk past their borders as easily as we would’ve liked. But we do what we can, keeping watch for the people that may be overlooked should any harm ever comes.” 

Spells to keep people out of a territory? 

Of course, you wonder to yourself as you start recalling everything that you have learned so far about the safety measures that an empire must abide to in order to keep its palaces, territories, and the people within safe. 

You are also reminded of the action that your father had taken after the latest breach which happened at the main palace, and how the royal guards at the Stargrave Castle have been keeping the same tight security to make sure that the empire’s territory is secured from any possible threat while in the King’s absence. 

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to think that there would be kingdoms that would use magic and spells for protection. Knowing what you know now, you begin to wonder if your father had also done the same to increase the security at the empire’s territories. Surely, there had to be a reason why he had forbidden you from stepping out of the palace through the front gate. 

Leaving you only relying on the magic portals to be able to step foot out of the palace whenever you need a chance to escape. 

It should be a powerful spell then, you wonder to yourself as you imagine having a force of magic protecting the empire, making you wonder just how powerful the King’s magic truly is, or if he ever had help from the strongest mages in the empire. 

Silently, you remind yourself to question about this to Lord Gordan the next time you sit with him to learn about royal defence or when you are sitting with Lady Laurel for your next magic lessons.  

When he notices that you have no more questions to ask of him, Yoongi crosses his arms over his chest and turns the focus of the conversation on you. “Now, it’s your turn to tell me more about you, little dove,” he calmly says, keeping his eyes on you when he points out, “You’re no mere traveller.” 

His words sound more like a statement instead of a question, and it shouldn’t surprise you that Yoongi would begin his digging into your secret by pointing out something that may have been quite obvious. 

Keeping your voice steady, as your father’s voice once again echoes through your head to remind you about keeping your family’s secret, you give him a smile and stiffly nod. “No, I’m not.”

“And you can travel across the realms.” 

Your heartbeat picks up. “Not that I’ve done this for a long time, nor am I an expert like yourself. And I’m not doing this for a noble purpose like you do,” you find yourself admitting to him, before deciding that perhaps you can share with him at least a part of your truth without revealing who you truly are. 

“You have probably figured out by now where I initially came from,” you begin, and when Yoongi says nothing to respond to this, you simply continue, “The human realm has been the only home that I’ve known for as long as I can remember, even if I never got to truly see any other places in the human realm itself aside from the place where I lived.” 

Yoongi immediately frowns at this. You can tell that he is surprised to hear this, and you can already guess that he probably wouldn’t like to hear what you are about to share with him next. 

“I…was sheltered almost my entire life, kept from the world, hidden in the shadows”—being kept as a secret while you were caged within the palace’s walls—”so I would take every chance I could get, sometimes steal it, just to be able to see the world outside that I was never allowed to see. Before, all I could do was to slip out of my window to travel across the town, then the city, and then I’d venture into the secluded places where people wouldn’t be able to recognise me. A chance to escape and experience freedom.” 

The more you reveal this part of yourself, Yoongi’s gaze seems to grow darker. It feels unsettling, yet comforting at the same time. Because it almost seems like he is enraged at your situation. That he is becoming angry—for you. 

When had anyone ever felt this kind of concern for you? 

You try to remember, before realising soon enough that not even your governess, Nanny Abigail, the closest person to you since your days back at The Citadel, had ever voiced her concern about you being sheltered and hidden from public view. If any, she seems to have always encouraged and supported the King with his decisions, while often convincing you that it would have been better to remain within the palace’s walls for your own safety. 

Thinking about this makes you feel upset and bitter, so you quickly push these thoughts away, rather than allowing it to pester your thoughts when you should be enjoying this wonderful moment that you have with Yoongi. 

“I might not like you in the sense of crossing the realms, because I have no control of it,” you allow a little more truth to come out. “As a matter of fact, I surprised myself when I arrived here. Never had I expected that I would find my way to a town where magic exists, when I had only been seeing these places through the books that I’ve been reading.” 

As you laugh softly to your confession, Yoongi’s frown slowly fades as he curiously says. “You are not familiar with the magic realm.” 

You shake your head. “No, I am not. Not yet, at least. Everything is new to me. I’m still learning,” you admit to him with a bashful smile. “I spend my time learning about magic and this realm through the books, never knowing that I might be able to get the chance to visit these places and learn about them directly.” 

Yoongi’s expression seems to grow softer after hearing your words. “Is that the reason behind all these questions? All the curiosity that you always have with you?” he asks you, “All because you’ve never had the chance to see the world with your own two eyes, much less this realm we are in?” 

Slowly, you nod your head. “I have so many questions but not many that could answer them,” you answer him with a deep exhale of breath, recalling the hours you spent digging into the books in the library only to never feel satisfied enough with what you have found. 

Yoongi’s lips twitch to a grin. “And you expected me to answer them for you.” 

“Maybe not all of them, but you are the one available right now for me to speak to,” you admit to him with a soft giggle, making him smile, as if the sound of your laughter pleases him. “And, now that I’ve shared all of this with you, as of now, you have become one of the limited people who knows about my secret.” 

“I’m going to guess that there’s not a lot of people,” he says with a gentle voice, to which you answer with a nod while you solemnly keep the real answers in your head—

The truth is, you are the only one who actually knows about my secrets. The only one who knows that I’ve been traveling to different places. The only one who knows that I exist while the world revolves in blissful ignorance. 

In your silence, Yoongi takes this moment to take a good look at your face while you are lost in deep thoughts. He seems to have found something in you when he murmurs to you softly, “You can sense my magic.” 

His words catch you off-guard, but you try your best to control your emotions. “It’s not like I’ve learned how to use magic, or to even have it inside me at all,” you slowly admit to him while recalling your father’s words about magic, how it resides within you, passed down from his bloodline.

But you have never truly felt it, and your father never had the chance to show it to you or to teach you more about it before he had to leave the palace for his royal duty. 

“But, I’ve learned how to sense them ever since I first arrived in this realm,” you continue, while Yoongi seems intrigued to hear this. 

For some reason, you feel no guilt about sharing this with him. You just don’t feel like it would be particularly necessary to hide this, as this is a new ability that you have been honing through your afternoon lessons with Lady laurel and Lord Gordan, after all. 

In fact, seeing his reaction, you suddenly start feeling hopeful that perhaps he can help you understand about this new ability that you have been gifted with yet still cannot understand, much less to wield it at your own will. 

The ability to detect other mana or aura from your surroundings—be it on the places where you are at or within the people you are with. 

This was said to be the first step of practising your own magic and sharpening your mana while you wait for your father to guide you through the rest. Of course, you haven’t started learning more than the basics, nothing but the theories and the principles behind it, yet you have secretly learned enough on your own to identify the magic that is present around you. And you have learned enough to recognise the energy that you can feel coming out of Yoongi.

And what you can sense from him has only been making you feel more curious about him. The strong pull that keeps drawing you to him. The essence of his magic—

Right at the same time, the same curiosity flickers through Yoongi’s gaze. “What do you sense from me when that happens?” 

His question—and the way he says it—sounds surprisingly reassuring, and it prompts you into answering him truthfully. 

“Serene. Otherworldly,” you start describing what you feel, recalling the tingling sensations that you felt upon sensing his magic, when you first realised that they were coming from him. “It feels comforting and intimidating at the same time. And quite—captivating, as if there is a strong pull coming from your magic that keeps drawing me in.” 

Familiar. 

Because it feels eerily similar to the magic that you have grown used to. Similar to the magic that you have been feeling coming from your father’s portals. The strong pull that you feel from Yoongi reminds you too much of the strong charm that sends you across various realms that you find in the magic doors, which often feels like invisible dust brushing at your skin that would sometimes linger with you long after you have stepped across the portal. 

The first time you felt it while you were with him back at Narlès, you had chalked it up as having the portal’s magic lingering in your skin because of how different the weather was compared to home. Now, however, the moment you are back in Yoongi’s presence and feeling the same sensation all over again, you finally realise that it hadn’t been the case at all.  

With tilted head, you take a good look at Yoongi, wondering why it is possible for him to have the kind of magic that seems to resemble your father’s. Through your lectures, you have learned that the type of magic that a person obtains may differ depending on the source of its powers, and would often differ according to where the person resides in or which empire they are from.

Just like the people within the sun empire that were said to be blessed by the sun itself, and the empires that were said to have claimed the blessings of the Moon and the Gods that are believed to reside in the sea. 

Would it be possible that your father’s magic may have come from the same source as Yoongi’s? 

Before you can figure out how to bring this up, Yoongi continues to speak, focusing on your magic as if he knows that you haven’t learned much about how special your ability truly is. 

“For anyone who acquires the gift of magic or born with mana within them, they will be able to feel or sense it when magic exists around us. At least, most of us do,” he explains, smiling, while your mind flies back to the old farmer who may have felt your mana when you first met him. Then Yoongi surprises you when he adds, “But it takes a different kind of gift and talent to be able to recognise or identify someone else’s magic by sense alone.” 

“And that’s something that you are incapable of.” 

But I might. 

Yoongi nods his head. “That must’ve been the reason why you were able to notice my presence while I was following you. It was my magic that you sensed when you couldn’t see me.” 

You tilt your head, realising that he might have been right. And he may not have noticed that he had just solved one of the biggest mysteries that have been plaguing your thoughts as of late, when you could never explain to yourself the reason why you had always been able to sense Yoongi’s presence even before you could see him there. 

“But I can tell you this—” he continues, “I can feel the mana within you. For me, it feels like an unrefined diamond, glowing inside you. Except that there is something that is shielding it, protecting it like a veil.”

A shield? It isn’t much of a surprise to hear that you have an unrefined mana, as you are still lacking in training. But to know that there is something protecting it is another matter. “But—how?” 

Yoongi presses his lips together as if he is feeling unsure with his answer. “I wish I know,” he says with a regretful smile. “If I have to make a comparison, try to picture a door. A door that has been kept closed and locked so tightly that it would take an effort to open it. Right behind that closed door is your mana. That is how shielded your energy is.” 

“So—you’re saying that if I want to be able to find my magic and use it, I have to open that door?” you question him, suddenly feeling light-headed and confused. Yet every word he is giving you makes sense. 

Is that the reason why your tutors have refrained from teaching you magic, and had always insisted that you should wait for the return of the King?

“I supposed you can say that,” Yoongi says with a nod. “But that’s not all. I can tell that you also have magic all over you. Although it feels more like a protection spell that is meant for you, not for the mana you have inside you.” 

Hearing this only leaves you feeling more confused. Until you finally remember the reactions you saw earlier from the farmers working on the field when they saw you walking away, as if they had just realised that you were there. 

Thinking about this, you raise your eyebrows. “The kind of protection spell that may hide me even in plain sight?” 

He stifles a smile as he says, “Something like that.” He also seems—proud, to see that you are able to figure it out before he can explain further.  

“Yet you can’t recognise its form or where it came from,” you guess again, while Yoongi’s expression shifts when he stiffly nods.  

“No, I’m afraid I can’t. The only thing that I can tell you is that it seems to have been placed on you instead of it developing naturally, because it feels entirely different compared to the mana flow I’m feeling from you. I can feel these two separate energies flowing both from within and around you as I’m sitting here with you.” 

Sinking back in your seat, you say nothing to this, and choose to hide your expression as you take a hefty drink from your glass. For a while now, you have suspected that something like this may exist. That you may have some kind of magic surrounding you at times. It would only make a whole lot of sense of everything that you have been questioning and wondering about.

The fact that you have been able to escape the palace during the night without people noticing you, but only while you were right outside of the palace’s walls. Common people who would walk by without seeing you when you passed them in the streets, or the royal guards who would fail to notice you slipping through their tight patrol. 

As if you were never there. 

Instinctively, your hand finds your necklace that is hidden under your cloak, and you anxiously begin toying the gem with your fingers the way you always do when you are lost in deep thoughts and in need to focus. 

You start thinking about all those nights you spent roaming the dark streets in Smotia and the afternoons you spent wandering away from the palace, recalling all the significant moments and events, to try and put all the pieces together. You have never have believed that you were a master of disguise, so skilful in hiding your identity that you managed to remain unnoticed during your trips to the outside world. 

Unlike Yoongi, perhaps, who seems to be quite an expert if putting up disguises. He would no doubt be able to blend in with the locals with his disguises, avoiding unwanted attention that may put a risk to his duties.  

Thinking about this now, the odd expression worn by the mercenary soldier that you met at The Rare Roots begins to make more sense. When he looked at you as if you had magically appeared right in front of him and he was completely caught off-guard that he had let his mask slip. And for some reason, you can almost see that same expression coming out of Yoongi as he is silently watching you—the cold, amused look coming out of his eyes, as if he is trying to solve a puzzle, or a mystery, and he would be able to find the answer by simply looking at your face. 

More questions come to mind, and they slip out of you in soft whispers while you are trying to solve this mystery. “How is that possible?” you first ask yourself, before your gaze lands back on Yoongi who hasn’t said a word, giving you the chance to ruminate on this new revelation about yourself. 

“If I am protected with a spell, like you said, how did you manage to notice me?” You just cannot help but wonder out loud. 

Both in Narlès and here in Grimm, Yoongi has always been the one to find you first. Compared to how you would have had to approach someone and talk to them first to get them to notice you—just like the farmers you met earlier and the people you talked to on your previous excursions. 

Just as you are waiting for him to respond, you catch Yoongi’s eyes as they move. A barely visible flicker that is so subtle that you would miss it if only you blink. And you are partially sure that his gaze has landed right at your necklace, at the fingers that are brushing against the golden embellishments securing the ruby pendant that seems to be reflecting the sunlight as you twirl it in your touch. 

All of a sudden, a blurry image from your almost-forgotten dream comes back to you. 

Yoongi’s eyes remind you of the pair of dark eyes drifting down to your collarbone, eyeing on the necklace that you were wearing even in your dreams. The deep voice that almost felt like a whisper, a murmur, when the man in your dream spoke of as if he had just gotten an answer to the riddle that he was so desperate to solve, “The necklace. Of course. I should’ve known.”

Carefully, you lower your hand, opting to take Yoongi’s attention away from the necklace. His curious gaze is starting to make you feel uncomfortable, too vulnerable, that even the necklace is starting to feel hot under his dark, perusing eyes. 

“I might have a theory,” Yoongi begins as his eyes find yours again. This time, the look that he is giving you seems a bit more cautious. As if he is treading carefully through this, and you understand why when he says, “But I might have to show it to you to prove it, since it would mean using my magic to understand, and I can do that if you would allow me to.”  

As he stops talking, you can almost hear the unspoken words that he is keeping to himself as he regards you with a smile. A silent promise that also becomes a challenge that he offers you in exchange of any secret that you may choose to share with him—

This secret I can reveal to you, as long as you are willing to reveal yours. 

— © 2024 Yoonia, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind is not allowed. unsolicited translations are not allowed.