Meanwhile…

Strolling into the adjourning wing in search of a place to wash up, Jejung, who is totally unaware of the chaos going on in the main wing, is carrying on with his life as usual.

Since the day Jejung returned with Yuchun’s reply, Yunho hadn’t bothered to seek audience with him. Casting him aside in one of the many unoccupied rooms, the king does not acknowledge his existence aside from assigning him an and personal handmaiden. Not even paying heed to the ‘fact’ the Jejung does not speak their language.

The Japanese prince is already used to the cold shoulder, never asking for more. Even Yunho’s return isn’t reported to him but he is honestly disinterested. Hoping to just live the rest of his days here as peacefully as possible, he treats the place like a hotel where he will eventually check out, dead or alive.

Hearing the excited squeals of two children as they run around, Jejung could understand most of what they were saying since he was taught some Chinese back home. Wandering what the fuss is about, he leaves the items in his hands behind and steps out into the pavilion. Spotting a boy and a girl running around and peeking to check for adults, he can sense that they are up to some mischief.

The two kids are the grandchildren of the old ambassador and the old man had brought them along with him on this visit. Jejung knows them but have not spoken to them since he was busy entertaining their grandfather. They do not notice his presence. After all, Jejung’s footsteps tend to be a little lighter than a normal person’s.

Following them out of curiosity or whatever reasons even he himself cannot fathom, he can sense trouble despite them not doing anything out of the norm at all. Arriving in front of the construction site, near completion at the farthest end of the palace, somewhere south of where he is staying, Jejung’s brows furrowed as the boy he was tailing points to the infrastructure.

The ambassador’s granddaughter was hesitant at first when her brother suggested that they explore the interior, but she followed suit. Jejung emerged from where he was hiding as soon as they disappear into the dark building.

POV from Jejung

That man... Yunho. He is really irresponsible I must say. We all know that the ambassador’s visit is an important thing and oniisama will always be there to play host.

I understand that the old man can be really rude, but at least he is nowhere near as disgusting as that guy from Mongolia. That man is a ert and I really dislike him. Oniisama taught him a pretty bad lesson after he tried to do something to m… Anyhow, I don’t know if he is still alive, but I know he is definitely crippled. Oniisama is that type of a person…

Only oniisama can do something like that and get away with it. The alliance members are mostly terrified of him.

On the contrary, this man called Yunho is a complete pushover. You can see it on his face. He might look unfriendly and all, but I can’t really sense any sort of evil aura surrounding him. If you get what I mean... This is probably also the reason why oniisama likes to take advantage of him like that.

He was missing for a couple of days and I overheard the maids saying that he is attending the matrimonial ceremony of oniisama and the boy, Junsu. My brother-in-law to be exact, both ways. We have become unexpectedly close to one another overnight thanks to the marriage thing going on.

I really hope oniisama treats him well. He has a cheerful disposition and I truly wish him all the best. I believe he can at least provide oniisama a little bit of sunshine back home. I was the type to bring down everyone’s mood… I think.

Anyhow, I was just minding my own business when the two kids that came along with the old man passed me by. They were saying something about exploring the palace and there is obviously nothing wrong with that… except that there are no escorts with them. They were celebrating their victory after managing to lose their ‘stalker nannies’ but that is really none of my business as well.

I was only ‘invited’ to do a simple cultural exchange with them, which somehow ended up like a Japan-China exchange. I won’t complain since I think I did a pretty acceptable job.

Back to the kids. I didn’t know why I followed them but we ended up in a section of the palace that even I was unaware of. There is obvious constructions going on, with the workers nowhere in sight. Out for lunch perhaps? I am not too sure myself.

The place is a mess now that I am paying attention to my surroundings. The walls are peeling and there are puddles of rain everywhere... a lot of fixing needs to be done before anyone can start using this place though. Then, for a moment, I lost sight of the two kids but they somehow reappeared on what seems to be the third level.

That led me to think about how they managed to get up there… besides the broken stairway that is. How many storeys are there in here anyways? I reckon they should just demolish this place. There are too much hazards around here.

Take that balcony those kids are playing on for example. The supporting beams are shifting as though there is an earthquake. We experience a lot of earth quakes back home when the giant carp moves… or whatever the legend is. That infrastructure looks like it’s going to collapse anytime. How is that even safe for humans to walk on?

Wait a minute… Did I just say that those two kids are playing on it?

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“Hey!! You two!! Come down now!!” Calling out with that airy and melodious voice, trying to increase the volume despite the terrible echoes, Jejung addresses them in Chinese. The kids immediately stopped fooling around with the gaps on the flooring and looks over the fragile railings.

“CRACK!!” A loud sickening sound of wood splitting causes Jejung’s eyes to widen. Shifting his legs subconsciously, he ended up scaling the ladders to reach the now dangling balcony on the third floor.

Breathing calmly as he scrutinises the source of the sound, Jejung knew he had to act quickly. The beams have split and the balcony is already dangling in between the second and third storey. “Don’t move! Stay calm.” Neither of the kids moved as instructed by Jejung but the little girl is already wetting her eyes. The silence became deafening.

“CRACK!!” Another horrid splitting caused Jejung’s heart to skip a beat as he finally reaches the third floor. This time, the railing is the one to give way, causing the girl to slide off as she is huddling right next to it.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, her dress was somehow caught in the broken pieces, causing her to dangle in mid-air. The boy is paralysed and staring into Jejung’s eyes so fearfully that the prince finds it disturbing. “Hey! Can you grab onto your sister?” He asked once but the boy remained frozen.

Unfazed by the possible three storey plunge, contrary to the timid nature he appears to have; Jejung stepped out from the safety zone and entered the balcony, causing it to shift a little. His movements were so stealthy that the balcony stopped moving once he got on. “Hey!” Calling out to the boy again, only his echoes responded so he knows he will have to go solo.

his tongue once, he sits down and slid over to the edge where the little girl was hanging from, hands on and crying like a baby. “Don’t cry. Give me your hand.” Holding onto the only part of the railing still left intact, the prince coaxed the girl into obeying. He knows he does not have too much time to waste.

Reaching over and pulling her up, he removes his obi and ties the end of the long piece around his waist, lassoing it around the nearest secured beam nearby and securing it. Then, tucking her under one arm, he can feel the ground moving once more and he knows he needs to get the boy fast

“Find them!!” “Are they in here?!” A few voices broke the tensed silence that Jejung was trying to maintain and their careless loud blustering as well as echoes shook the fragile structures further.

“WHAT THE?!” The ground shook as the rest of the balcony crumbles with the beams and lands in front of the few shell shocked servants as well as the ambassador himself, ducking as they yell out.

Clear cries of distress from the children followed as soon as the dust and remaining pieces of debris were done falling. The old man immediately looked up and backed away dramatically, mouth wide open.

Looking up, one can see that there is a single person dangling from a piece of cloth with two children on either sides of his torso. Jejung had managed to launch himself over in the nick of time and grabbed a whole of the boy, seconds before the extension collapsed.

“Did you guys find them?” Entering shortly after is Yunho as the king follows the directions of his flustered servants. Raising his head to look at the same direction where all in the dumbfounded group are facing, Yunho found himself gawking as well.

“Get them down!” Ordering the stupefied servants after swiftly snapping out of it, Yunho realised that the journey up will be tough. There is no usable stairwell around.

Then, just as he brainstorming for solutions, Jejung started to scale the sash, instructing the girl to hold onto him while he climbs up with ease. The children were holding onto him so tightly that scratches and bruises are forming on his flawless skin, but he hang on despite the pain.

The only thing he is concerned about is the loosening flaps of his kimono, since there is really nothing to hold his garments in place without the sash. He is just thankful that it was his own clothes he is wearing instead of the hanbok provided to him.

Heaving himself and the children onto safe ground on the third floor, Jejung is drained of all energy. It’s been years since he last had such a ‘good’ workout and he is worn out. Lying on his back, staring into the ceiling, he pulled his clothes tightly around and as the two children hangs on, refusing to let go of their saviour.

It was only until the long ladders came did they reluctantly part ways with their hero.

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POV from Yunho

What the heck was all that?

I will be damned. A series of unfortunate events?

This part of the palace is out of bound to everyone unless they are there to fix it. That particular building extension has been there since forever and I think my great grandfather used to play there when he was a toddler.

That’s how old it is. The place is mouldy and threatening to collapse after every storm so I never allowed my Su to play in there either. He used to go there with me as the nanny after getting my parents’ permission… but that was when we still had our milk teeth on. Or rather, when Su still had his and I was in the process of growing my adult ones.

I should’ve just tore it down. The place becomes a best spot for trouble to breed in times such as this.

What is truly disturbing is the fact that HE has to be one to rescue the kids. HE is good. Pardon me for gawking. Playing the hero with such ease… he is possibly not human. He seem to have a sort of inert ability to do things that I’ve never expected he did know how to. Very baffling…