"Go away."

"B-but I love you!" the man screamed desperately as he clung to the hem of Sunggyu's pants.

The prince just groaned and rubbed his face in his hands. He kicked his leg, narrowly missing hitting the man at his feet in the head (which might have given Sunggyu some slight satisfaction; the guy was annoying). "Go away, Sungyeol-ssi. And that's an order," he growled. Sungyeol looked up at him with shining eyes, his lower lips quivering. Sunggyu tightened his fists in anger. This kid. That's when he realized he was still holding the bouquet of flowers the other had gifted to him. He threw them at Sungyeol's pathetically sad face. "And take these with you. I'm not a f***ing princess!"

Sungyeol just let the flowers fall to the floor. A soft scoff passed through his lips which were slowly upturning into a smirk. "Fine," Sungyeol relented, getting up from the floor and brushing off the dirt from his stark white pants. "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life with some boring like you anyway," he snarled as he stormed out of the throne room. The door to the room slammed shut. One of the guards rushed to open it back up, to allow in the next person, but Sunggyu's angry shout stopped him.

"Captain Lee, if you want to keep your job and your head, keep that f***ing door closed," Sunggyu shouted as he rubbed his aching temples.

Hoya's hand left the handle, and he chuckled slightly looking back up to the tormented prince (oh yes, because it was just so awful to receive confessions from hundreds of handsome suitors, male and female alike, everyday). "Your highness, if I may, that language doesn't really befit a prince," he lectured.

"No, you f***ing may not. I can talk however the f**k I want. And you can't stop me, you little-" The words halted in his throat as Hoya threw a deathly killer glare at him. Sunggyu hated to admit it, but the captain scared him...a lot. And it didn't help that he'd seen the guard beat other people into a pulp on a regular basis, and Sunggyu knew for a fact that Hoya would not hesitate to do the same to him, future king or no. "You very lovely person," the prince shifted to a happier tone and a more pleasant smile. Hoya's face relaxed into a triumphant smile.

"You look like you could use some rest, your highness. I'll tell the rest that you came down with the flu...yet again," Hoya said with a bow and then walked out of the room to deliver the message (not even waiting for Sunggyu's approval by the way, the captain tended to do whatever he thought best anyway).

Sunggyu sighed, looked at the bouquet resting on the floor, and smothered it with his foot. So much for loving me, Sunggyu thought as his eyes drifted towards the door where Sungyeol had just left moments earlier. The departure of the other didn't pain his heart though, just his head. Sungyeol was just another legacy hunter, and a good actor at that. If Sunggyu hadn't been so used to dealing with that nasty breed, he might've fallen for the man, but luckily that wasn't the case. Unfortunately, besides the captain, legacy hunters were all that he was dealing with now.

Sunggyu stood up from his throne and made his way into his chambers.

"Oh, your highness, you're looking ravishing today."

"So pretty. Like a statue or a painting."

"Oh, let me get the door for you, your highness. I would hate for anything to happen to those pretty little hands." Even the help was after him, as the maid brushed passed his side to open the door with what he assumed she thought was a seductive look. Sunggyu bit back his tongue to fight back biting words. He could snap at Hoya because although the guard was always toeing the edge of insubordination, he was loyal. This lowly chambermaid would probably tell the whole kingdom about how the so-called sweet prince was actually bitter. He wasn't before, but a recent chain of events turned him this way.

It all started when his father was turned into stone, still living though but just barely. A witch whose land was experiencing the drought was not pleased with his father's inaction (there was little he could do about the weather, and it didn't help that he joked about the witch's poor abilities not being able to conjure rain herself). The hag had cast a spell on him, making him as dry as her land. His body grew hard and cracked, like dirt in the desert. He could no longer speak, nor hear, nor even move. No one could tell if the king could even still think, or if his brain and his heart had dried up like his skin had. But he was still alive. The ghostly breath passing through his chapped lips was evidence of that. But not for long. The king was crumbling into pieces. On his hands, his fingers have been falling off one by one. Last Wednesday he had lost his entire left hand. And if he hadn't been laying down, Sunggyu was sure that he would've already lost his feet.

His mother had abandoned her duties as a queen and assumed those of a wife instead, attending to her husband's bedside, savoring each moment with him like it might be the last. Sunggyu had then assumed both roles, of king and queen, in their absence. And he was doing quiet well, until the former queen started to act like a mother again. "You need a queen, or a king. I don't care! Sunggyu, you need someone in these hard times. You can't do this alone!" she insisted. But he had been doing things alone and he had been just fine. He only started to have trouble when his mother didn't heed his objections and began having herald's announce the prince's availability and 'desire' to marry, man or woman. And so the legacy hunters began to roll in. He was fine with the princesses and other forms of royal women, from all nations. They could deal with a simple rejection. The men, on the other hand, could not. They seemed to relish in the thrill of the chase. Problem was that Sunggyu wasn't running away; to him, there was no race. He just sat there and watched his suitors run around trying to flatter him. He used to find it amusing. But now he was annoyed beyond all belief.

But the worst part was how jaded Sunggyu had become. He was getting a little too good at spotting false, honeyed words. For example, Sunggyu (although always thought of himself as a good looking) knew that he wasn't handsome, or at least as handsome as everyone made him out to be now (or pretty. He hated being called that. He was a man). The same maids who used to whisper about his small eyes and large front teeth were now worshiping his straight nose and hands. The hands, he didn't get. They were just hands. It was like they couldn't compliment him on anything else, found nothing else about him as pretty or perfect. And now the entire kingdom had some with his hands. And so now he protected them and covered them, as if exposing them was equivalent to being shirtless, which only seemed to add full to the fire because now a glimpse of his bare hands was now 'rare' and 'precious.'

He started to become so jaded, Sunggyu started to lose faith and trust in people. He never believed what they said or did, which led to him not believing in other things: he no longer believed himself to be handsome, he no longer thought himself as a sweet and kind hearted prince, and he no longer believed in love.

There were only two people he trusted: Hoya and his mother. He would've added his father to the list, but Sunggyu had already accepted him as dead.

Speaking of which, Sunggyu winced in thought as he rolled off of his bed. It was time for his daily visit to the old-just-barely-a-man. He hated these visits more than he hated the suitors. The suitors, he became all too familiar with. He could tell when they were lying, he could tell what they were about to do next. But his father, he didn't know at all anymore. He was a stranger with a face of someone resembling a man he used to know. Sometimes Sunggyu wished that the king would crumble into a pile of dust and put them all out of their misery.

Sunggyu walked into his father's chambers. "Good afternoon, father, mother."

"Oh, Sunggyu, you're finally here! We've been waiting," his mother cheerfully greeted him. Sunggyu held back his condescending laughter. There was no way that pile of dust had been waiting for him. But his mother was clinging strongly to whom that pile had once been as tightly as she was holding onto his caked, dried hand. It was like she was trying to hold onto a ghost.

Sunggyu sighed and tapped her hand that was holding onto his father's. "He's going to lose his only good hand if you keep doing that, mother," he warned.

She let go with a sheepish grin. "Is that so?" Then she got up. "I'll just leave you two alone then. You know, to discuss things. Our baby is doing such a good job, darling. Everyone loves him," she told her husband. Then she turned to her child. "Now if he could only find someone he loved."

"Mother," Sunggyu warned in a low tone. But she chased away his growing resentment with a quick peck on his cheek.

"I just want someone to look after you during these hard times," she responded softly before leaving the room.

"I can take care of myself," Sunggyu mumbled to himself. "I am the king." His eyes fell onto his father, laying still like a sandstone. "Well, sort of, in your absence, father," he amended. Then he puffed his cheeks as his eyes drifted over to the grandfather clock on the other side of the room. It would be just an hour before his mother returns from eating, and that was the only reason he visited his father anymore, because if he didn't attend to his father once a day, his mother wouldn't eat. He needs family, he recalled his mother's reason for not letting the staff to attend to him. He needs love, not just care.

Sunggyu felt a pang of guilt as he looked upon the petrified man in front of him. Sunggyu had stopped loving him a while ago.

---

"Nope not interested. But thank you," Sunggyu was once again, sitting on his throne, dealing with suitor after suitor, and now this middle-aged woman just asked for his hand, which was new. He hadn't received a proposal from a woman yet, and certainly not as soon as she first stepped into the room (but judging by her appearance, Sunggyu wasn't her type). Although he rejected her, he admired her boldness. She might make a good knight. I'll have to tell Hoya to follow up on her later.

The older woman turned back on her heels and left the room with honor...or so he thought. "Um, your highness."

"I told you. I'm not interested in marrying you."

A deep chuckle filled the room. "Good, because I'm not interested either." Sunggyu looked up and saw a man of small stature dressed in armor shining as if it were brand new. Sunggyu grew hot with embarrassment, having mistaken his deep voice for that woman's. The man then clicked his heels together with a sharp, metallic clang, and saluted with one hand and the other clutched onto his helmet. "Sir Nam Woohyun, reporting for duty."

"And what duty is that?" Sunggyu asked, raising an eyebrow. Well this is an interesting tactic. No one's tried this yet.

Woohyun stepped closer to the throne and leaned in. "You know that you have more business than entertaining suitors all day, right?" he retorted with a gleeful smirk. Sunggyu was speechless. Yes, he was used to having Hoya say things like this to him, but he had grown up with the guard. But this knight was a stranger and already acting with such familiarity. "I'm here for the envoy to the Wastelands."

"Oh!" Sunggyu exclaimed, snapping back into his professional airs, glad to finally act like a king again. But the confusion wrapped around this knight still lingered. "But you don't meet here. You meet at the West Gate. And about an hour ago." Hoya himself had led it. He said it would be good training for the new recruits because it was a simple reconnaissance mission. This must be one of them.

Woohyun rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and hung his head. "I'm a bit directionally challenged. I passed this room three times on my way to the gate. My third time I thought, 'Hey! Who's better to ask than the king?' Right? So...here I am," he explained with that grin still on his face. Why is he still grinning?

"Here you are," Sunggyu replied. This bumbling idiot, I might as well tell Hoya to let go of him now. He's useless. That woman before could probably beat him to a pulp. Sunggyu sighed, "Well, you're too late now. Captain Lee is very prompt. He does lead an army after all."

The grin finally fell from the other's face. "Oh ! I'm not going to lose my job, am I?" Sunggyu shrugged in response. Woohyun began panicking. "My father is going to be so mad," he grumbled pacing the room. He dropped his helmet onto the floor, making Sunggyu jump up at the sudden sound. His hands now gripping on the side of his head. "He's going to kill me. Hang me! Have me stoned to death! Drown me in a river!"

Sunggyu, being adept at finding lies (okay so those lies were obvious), smirked. "You're father will be fine with it. If you want pity and second chances, you'll find none here. I can't let an idiot who can't tell right from left to wield a sword in my name."

Woohyun stopped dead in his tracks. "Well, he's not going to be pleased," he responded with a snort. He picked his helmet off from the ground and dusted it. "Especially after he paid so much for this armor." He then looked back to the prince and flashed his silly grin again. "But you can't blame me for trying, like you can't blame all of these suitors for trying either."

"I guess not," Sunggyu agreed. "You can go home now, if you know where that is," he teased.

"I think I can manage," he retorted as he walked out the door, but before he closed it, he turned back to the prince. "But just to make sure..."

"It's that way."

---

 "Hm, that could work," Sunggyu thought out loud as he flipped through the pages of an old book with yellowed pages. It was his great-grandfather's edition of the Odyssey. Notes in his elegant script littered the margins, and now Sunggyu was taking some notes himself. Penelope had dodged her own suitors by saying that she would marry once her father's funeral shroud was completed. She would weave all day, and then unravel the shroud at night. But Sunggyu couldn't and didn't want to weave. Besides the plan didn't work out well for Penelope either. The only reason she had gotten rid of the suitors was because her husband had returned from war and shipwreck and killed them all. "Maybe Hoya could..."

"Maybe Hoya could what?" his guard repeated.

Sunggyu put the book down and let that subject drop. "You're back from the envoy. How was it?"

Hoya tilted his head back and forth and jutted out his chin in thought. "Good, even though we were a man down," he answered honestly.

"Ah yes, Sir Nam Woohyun," Sunggyu recalled the strange man from days before. "What did you end up doing with him?"

"Well, the thing is...I can't get rid of him," Hoya sputtered out, not being able to look the prince in the eye.

"Why not? He's useless," Sunggyu argued.

"For one, he's an idiot, but he's not useless. The kid can fight like a beast, and he's fast," Hoya explained. "If I trained him to not be a moron, he could be a great knight."

"Okay," Sunggyu trusted his captain's instincts. It hadn't led him in the wrong direction yet. "And what's the other reason."

"Huh?"

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes on Hoya. He could sense, no he knew that the other was hiding something. "You said 'for one,' so I could only assume that you have more reasons. What aren't you telling me, Hoya?"

Hoya leaned on the doorway and sighed in defeat. "He's a prince like you are, but like 16th in line or something. Anyways he has a lot of brothers and those brothers have a lot of kids, but a prince is still a prince," he rolled his eyes at his own comment. "And his father left him in our trust, as a sign of good faith between our two kingdoms. Your father had made the deal before...the incident."

"Hoya, what kingdom is he from?" Sunggyu asked but Hoya pretended not to listen, all of the sudden admiring the stonework of Sunggyu's chambers. "Captain, what kingdom?" he snapped in a grave tone.

"The Crimson Isles."

"F***ing !" Sunggyu cursed throwing his great-grandfather's book across the room.

"F***ing is right," Hoya agreed.

The Crimson Isles were named after the extraordinarily amounts of red clay in its soil making the land and the sea around it red. But others say that the sea is painted with the blood of their enemies, which tells you a lot about their people, a quick tempered lot with a fighting prowess to back up their anger. They were a violent bunch, which made them notoriously hard to negotiate with. Their strength laid in their arms and not their words, so if they didn't get what they wanted or didn't understand the terms (which happened often), you were dead. But you couldn't ignore them either because their isles lied in between Sunggyu's kingdom and the kingdoms on the other side of the ocean. It was a strategic alliance, an important one. And Sunggyu's father had been a savant when it came to dealing with those ruthless people. Their relationship with the Isles is better than it's ever been. Or at least it was. This Nam Woohyun might sour it.

But yet, that kid did not seem to fit in with the Crimsonite type. He was small, slim, and...happy, very very happy. He looked more apt to paint pottery than to be a fierce warrior. And Sunggyu had seen Woohyun's older brothers. They were more terrifying than Hoya. They were tall like mountains, and one of them had their teeth filed into points (Sunggyu didn't want to find out what they were used for). And  yet some things made sense: how he was good at fighting, how he was a little dumb, and why he talked like he was at the same level as Sunggyu (because he was, technically).

Maybe Woohyun wasn't joking about what his father would do to him. But he was lying. Either way, Sunggyu didn't want to find out or worsen the relationship between both kingdoms. What am I going to do with him?

"Ho-hyung!" a shout came from the hallway.

Hoya groaned. "And did I tell you that he has taken a liking to me?"

"What? Why?" Sunggyu asked with an amused laugh.

"He says that I remind him of his brothers," Hoya answered quickly bracing himself for the onslaught that was about to come.

"Ho-hyung! There you are!" Woohyun exclaimed as he caught sight of the guard. He walked into the room and also saw Sunggyu sitting in the chair looking at him inquisitively. "Uh, I mean, Captain, at your service," he saluted to the other. Then he turned to bow to the other. "And your highness."

Hoya turned towards the young knight with an annoyed expression. "You know that you're in his majesty's private quarters without an invitation."

"But I have an important message," he said with a pout. Hoya then rolled his eyes at the young knight, and a long sigh passed through his lips. "Wah! That's how my brother always looks at me. It's uncanny, really!"

"Just give me the message," Hoya groaned sending an apologizing glance to Sunggyu, but the prince didn't mind. He was happy to see someone else besides himself frustrate the captain.

"I completed the task you gave me," Woohyun answered proudly.

Hoya shook his  head a couple of times and looked at him in disbelief, his eyes slightly bulging out of his skull. "You fought against all the senior knights already?!"

"Well, not all," Woohyun answered back sheepishly, kicking his foot against the stone floor. "Some of them surrendered before I even entered the combat ring." Hoya puffed out his cheeks in frustration and rubbed his temples. He had given Woohyun that task, hoping to at least get the younger off his back for a week, but it only had been a few hours. And now He'd have to teach the senior knights who quickly surrendered a lesson in honor. "Oh! Now you look like my sister!" Hoya began to raise his fist against Woohyun, but suddenly the knight was on the other side of the room next to Sunggyu, raising his hands in defeat. "Whoa! Now you're really like Noona! Have you met her before?"

Sunggyu couldn't hold it back anymore and began laughing. The two soldiers looked at him in confusion, which made him laugh even harder. This kid, how is he even a prince? He has no manners, but then again, he is a Crimsonite. But this brash, rude young man was exactly what the prince needed right now. "Captain," Sunggyu squeaked out as he laughed. "I think that I have the perfect task for him. You can leave us now." And the captain was more than happy to do so; he bowed and quickly left the room. Sunggyu then faced Woohyun and gestured him to sit down across from him. Woohyun did so with apprehension painted all over his face. His chain mail underneath his robes made an unpleasant scratching noise as he sat down. "Why didn't you tell me you were a prince from the Crimson Isles?"

Woohyun raised an eyebrow. "You mean you didn't recognize my name when I introduced myself? I knew yours, Prince Kim Sunggyu of the Crystal Shores," he spoke condescendingly. "Your studies must've been lacking."

Sunggyu scoffed. "There are like 150 princes on those damn islands."

"Look, it's really not that hard. There's me, Boohyun, Kyuhyun, Soohyun, Sunghyun, Hyemi, my oldest sister, Hyeri-"

"Okay, okay," Sunggyu admitted defeat. No wonder why he can't remember simple directions. His mind is too full with the name of his damn siblings. He had only memorized the name of those closest in succession to the throne, the only ones he'd probably be dealing with. But his lazy study method seemed to backfire in this situation. "So," Sunggyu began to shift the conversation. "You're in my care now, as an agreement between our fathers."

"Yup," Woohyun replied happily. "As you can imagine, there's not much opportunity for me back in the Isles. And I'm a bit of a black sheep over there. So my father thought that there was more opportunity for me to be distinguished here, and by the looks of your dismal army, he was right. And I was the runt back home!"

"You're still a runt here too," Sunggyu retorted looking the man up and down. Woohyun shifted in his spot, becoming aware of his still small size. "But I think that I could use your talents elsewhere." 

"Hm? Where?"

Sunggyu leaned forward and spoke in a low but mischievous voice, "How would you like helping me deal with the suitors?"

Woohyun's eyes darted around as he pointed to himself. "ME?!" he asked in shock.

Sunggyu nodded, stood up, and picked the book off the floor. He walked over and plopped it in Woohyun's lap. "Read this for ideas on how to deal with them, especially book 22," Sunggyu ordered and then walked out of his chambers, leaving the knight dumbfounded. Sunggyu chuckled to himself as he walked down the palace halls with a spring in his step. With any luck, all of his suitors would be dead or at least badly injured by the next day. Maybe having a Crimsonite under his roof wouldn't be so bad.

---

 But Sunggyu was wrong. He apparently didn't know the nature of Crimsonites like he thought he did, that or Nam Woohyun was just an enigma. The next morning, Woohyun barged into his chambers as Sunggyu was having breakfast, with two large codices in his hands. He dropped them onto Sunggyu's breakfast table his a thud, his hot tea splash onto the back of his hand. Thankfully he was wearing his gloves or else he would have been badly burned. "Aish! Watch it!" Sunggyu growled.

"Sorry, Gyu," Woohyun said as he sat across from the prince and started to eat his breakfast. But that's not what ticked off the royal.

"What did you just call me?"

"Gyu," Woohyun repeated as he chewed on a sweet roll. He looked up at noticed Sunggyu's annoyed face. "Does it really matter? We're both princes. I am not calling you, your highness."

"Yes it does matter," Sunggyu insisted, tearing the rest of the roll from Woohyun's hands and stuffing it in his mouth. "You're under my care," now he was the one speaking as he chewed loudly. "You're under me!" Woohyun giggled ertedly at that. Sunggyu rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Okay, then, Sunggyu," he proposed. Sunggyu just narrowed his eyes as he drank from his cup. "Sunggyu...hyung?"

"Hyung-nim."

"Fine, hyung-nim," Woohyun spoke as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth. "Anyway, I compiled a lists of suitors that I think will be good for you," he explained as he tapped on the top book. "And I told my father about my new position and he was excited. A member of his family having a hand in planning the future of one of the biggest kingdoms." He whistled and pulled out the book from underneath the other. "He even came up with his own suggestions. Eh, they're mostly members of my family, like all of my single sisters. Hyekyung has the most teeth, so she's a good catch." He said proudly as he opened up the page to his said sister. Sunggyu tried hard to keep the contents of his breakfast in his stomach. Woohyun laughed at Sunggyu's reaction, as if he almost expected it, and closed the book with a slam. He picked up the other book and opened it up to a random page, revealing a sweetly smiling woman who had all of her teeth. "I also made one of my own."

"Oh thank goodness!" Sunggyu exclaimed in relief as he reached for Woohyun's list and shoved his father's list off of the table. The prince began to flip through the list, seeing some familiar faces but also a few new ones in the mix, but they were all attractive. Sunggyu looked up at the other curiously as he continued to flip through. "Do you really think you'd be better at this than you're father?"

Woohyun was drinking from his teacup. He swallowed and answered, "I'm good at reading people. I think that you know who'd you like." He ended with a wink.

Sunggyu scoffed. "Aren't Crimsonites just fighters and not lovers?"

The teacup was put down onto the table roughly. Sunggyu had apparently touched the nerve, and although Woohyun's face was still smiling, the corner of his mouth was twitching. "You obviously don't know us well. We're just a bunch of barbarians to you because we're not as smart, and we have short tempers. But don't believe all the stories, hyung-nim. We love as fiercely as we fight. How else do you think my father has so many children?" He ended with a joke to lighten the mood.

Sunggyu looked down at his lap, pretending to adjust the napkin in his lap but he was shielding his embarrassed expression. "I'm sorry to have offended you, Woohyun," he apologized. He then lifted up his head after regaining composure. "I've misjudged you." And I'm sorry for assuming that you'd kill all of the suitors. "You do seem to know what you're doing," he complimented the other, and it wasn't just flattery. Sure having an attractive mate was important, but Woohyun also complied a list of pros and cons and their assets. The fellow prince knew what was important for a royal match.

"I told you," Woohyun smiled proudly as he peered over onto the pages of the book. "See any you like?" 

"Um, this one isn't bad," Sunggyu said in a shy voice, pointing to the page that he'd been staring at for awhile.

Woohyun choked on the roll he was eating. "Really? Prince Myungsoo from the Greenlands?"

"Why not?" Sunggyu pressured the other, feeling offended at his reaction. "His kingdom grows the best produce of all the kingdoms. They already export often from our ports. It would be a good alliance," he explained rationally. "Besides, he's handsome, so our kids will be too," he said a little more quietly.

Woohyun laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair. "Hyung-nim," he cried from the floor. He crawled back onto his seat, wiping tears from his smiling eyes. "I don't know if you remember your biology lessons, but that's not how reproduction works."

"We'll use magic then," Sunggyu plainly suggested. It wasn't unheard of for couples to use magic in that way, especially for royal families.

Woohyun scoffed, "Because magic works so well for your father." Sunggyu looked up at him with a threatening glance, clutching a butter knife in his hands. Woohyun raised his hands in defeat. "Sorry. It's just that my family prefers to do things the old fashioned way," he explained. "Magic free. We're not like Greenies who use magic a little too freely." He pointed an accusing finger at Myungsoo's photo.

Sunggyu folded his hands in front of his mouth. "What's that supposed to mean?" he challenged.

"These people are notorious for cosmetic magic," the other prince answered. "That's probably not even his natural face. It's too perfect." He made a face that almost looked like a snarl at the photo in front of him. Then he looked up at Sunggyu and smiled handsomely. "Not like me. I'm a natural beauty." He framed his chin with his hands.

"You think that you're handsome?" Sunggyu sputtered with a laugh. The prince had to admit, the Crimsonite had some...interesting quality to him, but he was putting himself above the level of the statuesque Kim Myungsoo in terms of looks. It was like comparing a mutt to a show quality dog.

The other frowned. "Maybe not at first sight," he admitted. "I get more handsome the more you look at me."

"And what happens if they stop looking?"

Woohyun's mouth hung open for a few moments as he searched for an answer. Sunggyu also thought that the other would admit defeat and was about to suggest another match, but Woohyun finally found words, "I'll make them look! Like this!" he announced as he started to make bunny ears with his fingers and swayed back and forth in his chair, making squeaky, whining noises. "Like this!"

Sunggyu just watched the other, completely astonished. "How the Hell are you even a Crimsonite?"

"Oh! You sound just like Boohyun-hyung!"

---

 "What were you thinking?" Sunggyu asked as he looked upon his wheezing father. "What were you thinking, taking Woohyun into our home?" His pulled his hand away from where it was resting, over his father's hand, and placed it on his knee, unconsciously rubbing the dust on his pants. "He's nothing but trouble," Sunggyu mumbled as he recalled the events from earlier today. Woohyun was better than Hoya at chasing the suitors away, sometimes stopping them before they even stepped through the door. Sunggyu may have been free of the suitors, but he couldn't rid himself of the Crimsonite prince, who kept following around asking pestering questions: 'What do you like, hyung-nim? Long hair, short hair? Man or Woman? Tall or short? Fat or skinny? Come on, hyung-nim, why won't you answer me? Why? Why? Why? Why?' This had been the first time all day he was alone (well, sort of); the guards had stopped Woohyun from following him inside his father's chambers. 'Okay, I'll just wait out here then.'

"You've had to have met him, had to have seen him before you agreed to the arrangement, right?" Sunggyu lamented to his father, who was just stiffly staring at the ceiling. "You're not that foolish to allow anyone in our halls. It took you weeks before you trusted Hoya," Sunggyu groaned, hanging his head. "I just don't understand...and why am I even talking to you? It's not like you'll give me an answer." He raised his gaze to look into his father's empty eyes. "But I really wish you would. I really wish that-"

"Oh sorry, honey. We'll just wait outside until you're done," he heard his mother say. Wait 'we'll'?  Sunggyu looked up and much to his horror (but not surprise) Woohyun was standing next to his mother, and his arm was linked with hers.

Sunggyu immediately stood up. "Uh, no I was just finishing up."

"Are you sure, honey?" the queen objected. "Because Woohyunnie and I could just come back later." Huh? Woohyunnie.

"Your majesty, I'll leave you three alone for some quality family time," Woohyun said, finally gaining some sort of sense. He let go of the queen's arm gently. "It's probably been a while since you three had some free time together. I'll take my leave," he stated as he walked out the door, but before he left he called out to Sunggyu, "Hyung-nim, we'll discuss later."

Sunggyu scoffed. When did he become so professional? When did he get manners? As he was contemplating this, a hand rested on his shoulder. "It's been a while since I've seen you talk with your father," his mother declared with a sad smile.

Sunggyu took her hand and led her into the chair by his father's beside. "Uh, we had some matters to discuss," he passed over. "But, mother, do you know him?"

"Woohyun?" she asked as she sat down. Sunggyu nodded. She took up her husband's hand in hers and smiled softly. "We've known him for years. Whenever your father and I went to the Crimson Isles, we'd joke and say that Woohyun was our substitute for you. He used to follow your father around like you used to. It was cute. And he's a really sweet boy." She ended gazing upon her son's confused face.

"How come I've never heard of him before?"

A soft chuckle filled the still air. "Honey, you know how jealous you used to get. We can joke about Woohyun replacing you now, but back then it would've had you in tears."

Even now Sunggyu had to fight down the bile swirling in his gut. He may have grown older, but he never grew out of his jealousy issue. He just got better at hiding it. "I wasn't that bad," he grumbled.

"You were," his mother gently chided, twining her free hand around her son's. "Anyway, on our last visit there, his father had expressed some worry about Woohyun, whether he'd find his place in the Isles or would he have to go elsewhere." Sunggyu laughed in his mind at that statement. Woohyun's father was a bear of a man, who tied bones in his beard. It was hard to imagine him casually speaking with his parents about the worries of parenthood. His mother's voice called his attention back. "Your father offered him a place here, a high advising position, but Woohyun insisted on working his way up the chain of command by his own merit. We made the agreement to look after Woohyun and came back home. Then your father fell ill, and a few days later Woohyunnie came. We were so wrapped up with our own problems that we forgot all about Woohyunnie. Isn't that horrible? He said it took him two days to find the palace."

Sunggyu winced. The palace was in the dead center of the city, and the ports were only a mile or two away. He really is directionally challenged. "Well, he seems to be okay now," he tried to soothe his mother.

She nodded. "He told me all about the new position that you gave him. I'm glad that you're finally taking the matter seriously." Sunggyu swallowed hard, shoving the guilt back down. He didn't want to admit to his mother that he only hired the Crimsonite in hopes that he would slaughter every last one of the suitors. "It's good," she continued. "You need someone during these hard times."

She was starting to sound like a broken record.

---

 "What does she mean by that? I can take care of myself," Sunggyu grumbled as he walked back down the hall, to the throne room to deal with more business (doing actual business this time, meeting with the leading merchants).

"Then I guess you don't need me then," Hoya suddenly appeared at his side.

Sunggyu hit him in the shoulder. "Stop doing that. You scared me."

"You scare easily, huh?" Woohyun appeared on his other side.

Sunggyu jumped up at yelled at the newcomer. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Woohyun shrugged like it was obvious. "One of the merchants may be a good match for you." Sunggyu saw Hoya nod in agreement out of the corner of his eye. The prince groaned. Woohyun was supposed to divert the suitors and not become a friggin' matchmaker.

The prince stopped in the middle of his tracks, and the other two followed suite. "Captain, go ahead and secure the room as I discuss matter with my...advisor," Sunggyu called him for lack of a better term. Hoya accepted his orders and went on ahead. Sunggyu then turned to Woohyun who was smiling brightly at his new title (he was moving up the ladder quite quickly). "You stay here," Sunggyu ordered, pointing a finger into the other's chest. "I forbid you from attending the meeting."

Woohyun rolled his eyes. "Then how can I do my job?"

"You don't," Sunggyu snapped back, and he started to make his way down the hall. But he was halted by a hand grabbing the back of his collar. "What the-"

"Sorry, hyung-nim," Woohyun spoke darkly. "But I'm coming with you." Sunggyu was about to object, but Woohyun cut him off. "You seem to misunderstand me a lot. I'm not doing this just for you. Your life is not the only one affected by this marriage."

"You don't think I know that," Sunggyu argued. "This decision will affect the entire kingdom. I'm well aware of that. That's why I'm-"

"I'm talking about your mother, the queen."

"Huh?"

"You really don't get why she's so desperate for you to get married, do you?" Woohyun challenged, raising an eyebrow, putting his hands into his pockets. Sunggyu opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words to speak. "I thought so...You need someone during these hard times," the Crimsonite repeated his mother's words. She must have complained to him about me. "Yes, she means now, but she also means these kinds of hard times." Sunggyu looked at him blankly. "Your father. She wants to know that if you ever end up in a situation like your father, you have someone to take care of you like she does for him. She wants to see you set up before something terrible happens to her...Her health isn't good, hyung-nim."

Sunggyu chewed on his lower lip. He was well aware of the queen's declining health. Her face was becoming sunken and gray. He has had nightmares of his mother becoming a dried up corpse like his father. "Did she tell you all of that?" he asked.

Woohyun shook his head. "She didn't have to. Like I said before, I understand people." The both of them stood there silently for a few moments. 

"They're ready for you, your highness," Hoya called from the end of the hall.

"I'm coming," Sunggyu announced and began to walk down the hall. He then glanced behind him and saw Woohyun still standing still. "Why are you just standing there? Come on," he beckoned to the other.

Woohyun smiled again with that stupid grin. "Coming hyung-nim!"

---

 The meeting had quickly turned from discussing economic matters to the merchants parading their eligible daughters. One of them even managed to crawl under the table and onto Sunggyu's lap. Woohyun had quickly whisked her away and escorted her out of the room, but the violated feeling still remained. I'm a person, not an object that you can play with. He whined as he sunk in deeper into his bath, inhaling the scents of herbs that were supposed to soothe and calm him down (they weren't working). All I wanted to do was have a normal business meeting.

"Hyung-nim!" a shout came from outside of his bath. Oh no! Maybe I could just drown myself right now, the prince thought sinking further and further into the bath until his head was submerged. But a rough hand pulled him out of the water. "Hyung-nim, you're going to drown if you do that." That was the point.

"Why are you here? I'm busy, if you hadn't noticed" Sunggyu asked flicking water into the other's face. He laughed when Woohyun winced and wiped the water from his face along with his usual smile.

"I contacted Prince Myungsoo, you know, the only you were drooling over," he teased. Sunggyu now splashed water in his direction.

"Was not!" he insisted. "I just thought he might be a good partner. That's it."

Woohyun reached over for the nearest thing to wipe his face, which happened to be Sunggyu's robes. Sunggyu just clicked his tongue, already used to the Crimsonite's careless behavior. After he was finished drying off, Woohyun threw the robe into the corner of the room. He let out a great, frustrated sigh. "Is that all you're looking for? A good business partner?"

"Maybe a friend too," Sunggyu added as he watched his finger make small whirlpools in his bathwater.

"Maybe a friend," Woohyun mocked. "And you said that my people were ignorant in love."

"What do you know?" Sunggyu challenged as he sunk lower, submerging his lips under the water.

"My parents," Woohyun answered as he sat on the edge of the large tub.

Sunggyu snorted, making bubbles emerge and water splash everywhere. He lifted himself out of the water. "But your father has about 20 wives!" he exclaimed.

Woohyun smiled warmly and dipped his hand into the bath water, watching the ripples. "Yea, but he loves my mother. She's the only one he didn't behead when he divorced her." Sunggyu shivered at how casually Woohyun had said that. It was a running joke throughout the rest of the kingdoms that in the Crimson Isles, you divorce by beheading the other. It's one thing to joke about it, and another to treat it lightly. "And he allowed her to still live in the palace. And she continued to raise me, which might be the reason why I ended up different the rest of my siblings. Their mothers died when they were young, but mine's still alive." It was like it was some sort of triumph, but it made Sunggyu's stomach to grow heavy.

"But he's no longer married to her," Sunggyu argued.

Woohyun smirked and flicked water in Sunggyu's direction. The droplets hit his shoulder, narrowly missing his face. Sunggyu pouted, causing Woohyun to giggle in victory. "That's only because she can no longer give birth, and my father needs more heirs because, well, heirs don't last long in my kingdom. But he kept her around. That's love."

Sunggyu looked amused. "Because he didn't behead her?" he asked.

"Those women deserved to be beheaded, trust me. We just don't air out our dirty laundry like some other countries," Woohyun slapped Sunggyu with his words. Sunggyu narrowed his eyes on the other. Yes, all the kingdoms knew about his father's condition, but he couldn't help it that the Crystal Shores was the largest trading post. Nothing remained a secret there for long. "No, love is when you hold onto someone even though the other had already given everything that they could to you."

Sunggyu sunk down into the water and allowed Woohyun's words to sink into his mind. All he could think of was his mother holding onto the living corpse that was his father. She did love him, but Sunggyu didn't think it was a healthy kind of love. Would someone want to do that for him? Would he do that for someone else? Could he? Sunggyu doubted it. He was selfish. He didn't know if he'd ever find someone he loved more than himself.

He then suddenly felt a prodding on his right hand, which was gripping the edge of the bath tub tightly. Sunggyu looked over curiously. Woohyun was poking at his hand as if it was something extraordinary. "You know, this is first time I've seen your hand without a glove on," Woohyun announced picking at Sunggyu's fingers. The prince immediately plunged them into the water. Woohyun shrugged. "I don't get what all the fuss is about. They're just hands. They're not even big or have any cool looking scars," he said as he stared at the ripples in the water blurring the hands. "Now my big brother has huge hands, and he was bit by a dragon. A dragon, hyung-nim! Now those are hands worth praising."

"I agree," Sunggyu replied sinking into the bathwater, starting to feel relaxed even with the other's overwhelming presence there.

"You know what they say about big hands, hyung-nim," Woohyun teased as he peered into the bathwater, searching.

Sunggyu splashed water into the other's face. "Big gloves," he finished.

"Eung."