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Chanyeol strolls over to the Queen’s meeting chamber.  His mind is not on the upcoming meeting with one of the most powerful people in the kingdom but stuck on two nights ago.  His best friend had hosted a small gathering of close friends at his large estate right outside the borders of the biggest city in the Kingdom.  Joyfully drunk, the small group had made their way through the city causing a load of debauchery before Chanyeol’s mind grows fuzzy with memory loss. 

Flirting with women, snatching a pair of underwear, and leaving their mark on the side of the building, Chanyeol remembers each detail as best as he can. Baekhyun drunkenly singing a song as his jug of ale sloshed about.   Trying to get a kiss from the bartender before jumping on the banquet table and pouring his ale on the crowd as his newly found Fated cheered him on.  It had been a good night.  He woke midday in a carriage bound for the castle with a hangover he did not regret.  The carriage arrived late into the evening and he rested for this meeting this morning but his mind kept wondering back to relive all of the fun.

The Queen is the most beautiful person in the Kingdom with her long red locks and youthful face.  The kingdom had many songs over her beauty and grace.  She sits today in light blue robes at her brunch table full of breads and jams.  She loves orchards and the royal grounds were full of them and Chanyeol used to play under them as a child.  No doubt these jams were all made from those lovely fruits.  Chanyeol smiles as he drapes himself over the chair across from her as he admires the spread.He reaches for the apricot spread.  “Good morning, Mother.”

There is a small upturn of lips as she takes a sip of her cup of early morning tea.  She doesn’t look at him, instead has her eyes closed as she savors the taste.  “A good birthday morning.”

Chanyeol breaks out into a wide grin as he takes a bite of bread.  The jam was especially good this year.  “Is not everyday someone’s birthday?”  He jokes.

“Those are not yours, Chanyeol. “ There is a small sort of giggle that escapes her.  One of the most refined women in the kingdom and Chanyeol was able to bring out her more playful side.  She took another sip of tea and the few seconds gave her time to regain her composure.  “There is a reason I have asked you to dine with me today.”

“Is it about White Falls?”  Because everything lately has been about White Falls these last few months.  Chanyeol does not dare speak his mind.  This opportunity was a once in a lifetime deal and he needs to act as grateful as he feels for chance to take it.  “Everything is taken care of for my leave in three months.  Uncle just has piles of stuff he needs to get out before I can move in.”

“I am aware of the complications my bumbling brother in law is making but that cannot be helped,” she says before take a long breath and taking a blueberry bread slice as a distraction.  “This is something other than that.”

The young Prince’s eyebrows rose.  Shock and anticipation run through him.  “What is more important than the land and castle that I am inheriting and expected to rule?”

“Your Fated.”

Chanyeol feels his jaw drop before turning into the biggest smile that has ever graced his face.  He didn’t even think that he would be going to find to find his Fated until he was settled in his new castle.  He leans forward and tries to stop himself belatedly for jumping to his feet.  “Am I going to see a Matchmaker?”

A small laugh passes through the woman’s throat at her child’s excitement.  “The Matchmaker.”

Chanyeol is on the other side of the table in a blink of an eye as he hugs his mother.  “Mother, thank you!”

“Of course, my child.”

Chanyeol is off to see The Matchmaker the next day at his insistence.  He could not wait as he had spent the whole of yesterday bouncing about.  The carriage aims to take him not too far away, but it feels like an eternity before he would reach his destination.

This Matchmaker, as all Matchmakers, is a witch.  A small population of these witches had ruled these lands before but were weak against the newly armed humans.  Not many left, they sat around cauldrons and whipped up healing spells and told small fortunes.  They were not respected and were considered lowlifes before a few generations back realized that they had found a potion for finding someone’s true love, the one you were Fated to be with. 

Ironic, seeing how it was known throughout the kingdom that witches who fall in love lose control of their magic.  Terrible power is unleashed unto the world.  Discovered by King Joowan, he banned witches from being in love in their Kingdom many years ago.

This new Matchmaker has never had a client unhappy with who they saw.  Some Matchmakers, poorer ones, used shoddy ingredients, not finding the true love but someone close to it.  This one did no such thing.  All of the upper class used him and everyone wanted to see him.  The witch was booked for months to come.

Baekhyun had seen this Matchmaker and just raved about him.  His Fated happened to be a mutual friend of theirs named Jongdae.  The party a few nights back brought Chanyeol to look at them at one point wrapped around together as a hint of loneliness and jealousy ran through him.  He has always wondered about his Fated as a young child, but now it was finally not only a wishful dream.

Everything was falling into place.  He would bring his Fated to White Falls and they will live out the rest of their days in bliss.  The castle would be one of the smaller ones (as the ninth and youngest child Chanyeol had not expected even that much) by a remote village surrounded by the forest but White Falls was considered a hidden beauty in the Kingdom.  White fish, flowers, trees, and deer populated it all year round.  Bountiful in resources and a perfect place for those looking for rare gifts from mother nature.  It was a two day ride from the city and its economy was based on trade.  A gorgeous place with a newly booming economy with no threat of being attacked?  Chanyeol would happily take the land to rule with his Fated by his side.

The Matchmaker lives in a rather midsized house with a sprawling garden and white gates surrounding it.  When he stepped out, he realized there was someone outside the door to great him.  The man was short and dressed in black robes with a hood that obscured his face to hide his identity.  Baekhyun had mentioned this witch was very private.

“Welcome,” a low voice says as Chanyeol approaches him. It’s a nice voice, the type Chanyeol would like to have put him to sleep each night as it sang a lullaby.

“It’s great to meet you,” Chanyeol says as he starts towards the house.  Excitement overriding his well taught manners.  “Let us get started!”

“Very eager,” the man says with a sigh.  Chanyeol could already tell that the witch was exactly the opposite of him in terms of eagerness with his flat emotionless voice.  They walk into the house.  The sitting area is one a high noble would own but the surroundings were anything but.  Vials and bottles and boxes and books lined shelves all around the house.  Neatly labelled they sat holding things that glowed or moved and took Chanyeol’s attention.  A large cauldron sat at the far end of the area and a work bench with a desk full of papers sat next to that.  He marveled at the sight as he took a seat on the couch next to the seat that the witch took.

“Stop bouncing,” the witch instructs.  The young Prince had not even realized he had been.  “I have a few tests that will need to be performed in order to get a match, my Prince.”

“You know I am a Prince?”  Chanyeol asks in amazement.  How did he know?  It must have been magic.  Maybe witches can read minds!  Magic is so cool.  “You must be a witch!”

If Chanyeol could see the witch’s face, then he would be sure that he would be frowning.  “This is an appointment based establishment.  The Queen had mentioned it in her letter.”

Something deflates a bit in the young Prince.  “Oh.”

The witch breaths out his nose to regain composure.  “Let us get this over with a soon as possible.”  The witch flicks his wrist and barely noticeable black smoke appears and travels to his desk to fetch his paper and pen.  The Prince’s hopes are revived at the small display as a grin takes his face.  The witch grasps the pen as he leans forwards to look at Chanyeol.  The Prince is stuck by their height difference even as they sit as the small witch seems to strain himself with taking a small glance upwards at him.  “Your eyes are chestnut.”

Before the witch can write anything down, Chanyeol is stopping him.  “Hazel.”

“I am looking at them.”

“In this dim light through your dark veil!  I have seen the in all lights, as they are mine and have been my whole life.  I had a room of mirrors during my university years,” Chanyeol explains his earlier protest.  This is all about his Fated!  He could not allow for any mistakes at all!

“How excessive,” the witch mumbles with annoyance.  “I see them as Hazel.”

“Hazel,” Chanyeol corrects.  “I am a Prince and these eyes are mine.  I know I am right.”

“I do not care who you are,” the witch spits out angrily.  “I will not have the potion mess up because you cannot accept the color of your eyes.”

Chanyeol backtracks a bit.  He wants the potion to work.  It is just that he thinks what he has heard about this witch is a bit wrong.  The Prince imagined someone a bit more cheerful at making love potions.  Not a grump who seems to not even like it.  What if this witch was just short cutting him?  He would allow no such thing.  “Maybe if you-“

The witch takes off the hood and the disillusionment spell makes his face clear as day.  “Is this better?  You have chestnut eyes!”

Chanyeol has only ever seen the council of witches.  Dark robes to the ground with hats that pointed upwards towards the skies.  All of them were wrinkled and old with permanent scowls upon their face.  They stalked the halls with their ugliness making Chanyeol turn away in disgust.

This witch was nothing like them at all.  A handsome youthful face that Chanyeol would say was younger than him but he had such an air of seriousness that he had to be around Chanyeol’s age.  His skin was soft and his lips looked be downright plush, more than even his pillows back at home.  Beautiful large eyes, filled with anger, looked at him.  In conjunction with his voice, Chanyeol was astonished that no one had told him that this witch was so attractive.

Baekhyun should have warned him.

“Chestnut,” Chanyeol answers immediately, caught up in the witch’s beauty.

“I’m glad you have seen the light,” the witch says with a professional voice but his sardonic words have Chanyeol entranced.  “What is your favorite fruit?”

Chanyeol does not think too hard and is glad for the easy answer, having trouble thinking about anything but the witch’s lips.  “Passion fruit.  My mother has many trees of them and I always thought they were the coolest looking ones when I was younger.”

“Unexpected, I thought perhaps you only knew one,” the witch comments condescendingly.  A small metal ball floats over to him and he opens it to reveal nothing.  He puts out a hand towards the Prince.  Chanyeol has an urge to take it.  “I need a piece of your hair.”

Isn’t a locket the sign of someone who has a lover?  Call Chanyeol superficial, but he does love good looking people.  “To put in your locket?”

“It’s not my locket obviously,” The witch frowns, simultaneously making him threatening and a bit cute.  Although, Chanyeol is not sure others would think so.  He imagines they would be frightened, but Chanyeol is a Prince and his death would be a bit of a problem for the witch.  The witch would probably be tortured and executed.  “This is a charm, not a simple locket.  Why would I wish to have a piece of hair of yours?”

“To remember me,” Chanyeol flirts unapologetically.  He takes a few strands of hair from his head and hands them to the witch.  He balls them up and puts it in the charm.  He puts his hand out again, a bit more hesitant this time.

The witch scoffs.  “I would like to forget you.  I will need to examine your dominant hand.”

Chanyeol watches as the witch lightly takes his large hand in his.  Lightly, he brushes past the lines, following them and making notes along the way.  His fingers are warm, like the warmth of a candle.  It tickles him a bit as he laughs.  He wonders if it is the magic.

The witch’s brows are furrowed and Chanyeol is struck by his beauty once again.  Concentrating, the witch goes over one of the top lines of his hand more than once before his lips turning downwards. “Interesting.”

“I know I am,” Chanyeol responds immediately without thinking.  He looks to the witch, but he does not seem to realize Chanyeol’s attempt.  For the first time, the Prince feels that he may have tried to woo too many drunkards into his bed during his university years.

“Your aura uses some rare ingredients,” Kyungsoo says as he stands up and starts his way towards the direction of the cauldron.  Without knowing if it was customary, Chanyeol leaves his seat to go over to the large pot.  It could fit quite a few cramped Chanyeol’s but at least he was tall enough to look inside.  The witch was small enough he needed a few stairs and the Prince wonders why he doesn’t just float.  Can witches float?

The witch does use his magic to take bring some of the various vials off the walls and Chanyeol wonders if the witch must remember where each ingredient is.  A knife flies and finely chops up some of the ingredients over boiling concoction, leaving the Prince in awe.  “Chestnuts, lavender, a tiny bit of snowberry, and a hint of snowplum and eel.”

Chanyeol realizes them as common ingredients found in White Falls and is about to comment but stops as he looks at the witch.  The witch is in his element.  Eyes closed, he looks to be completely relaxed as the potion turns a sharp red as the ingredients are added.  He looks calm doing his work, but Chanyeol seems to make out the smallest hint of a smile.  “Do you like doing this type of stuff?

The witch’s eyes turn to him and his expression returns to its neutral state.   “This is my job.”

The Prince rolls his eyes.  “But do you like doing your job?”

“Yes,” says the witch curtly.  The brewing potion starts to magically turn and mix.  Swirls of white appear in the deep red, yet seem to refuse to mix.  The witch chops up a small plant and the colors start to bleed into one another.

“Well that’s good,” Chanyeol says as he watches the potion with wide eyes like a child.

The witch flicks his wrist and the potion stops bubbling.  “And why is that?”

“I’ve got to check up on my subjects,” Chanyeol answers.   It’s not the whole truth and he hopes the witch doesn’t have a spell that knows when people lie.  Despite being a loaded Prince, his father was well loved and a fair ruler who took it upon himself to teach each one of his children to go among the people and see how they live, to care about them.  Except the witches, his mind provides.  The witch does not respond.

The potion suddenly turns pinks.  The witch lets out another small smile.  “It is ready.  All you need to do is look inside the cauldron.”

He will know who his true love is, the most important person in his life, in just a few seconds.  The reason for Chanyeol’s visit hits him like a ton of bricks as he approaches the cauldron, but a force of air prevents him from walking further.  He realizes it is the witch as he looks over to him, to see him staring wide eye into the cauldron.  “Who is it?”

The witch does not respond.

“Who is it?”  The loudness of his voice seems to knock the witch unable to keep up his wind spell as he leans over the cauldron.  Anticipation gives way to worry.  A familiar face forms in the potion.

It’s the witch.

The one right next to him.  His jaw has fallen open as he stares.  This isn’t right.  This can’t be right.  “It’s you.”

The witch shakes his head furiously, it’s the most emotional thing the other has said all day.  “Witches falling in love is forbidden.  I must have done something wrong!”

Chanyeol goes to sit on the couch as the witch whirls around the house and does the questions again to see if the potion ends up right.  The Prince is in a daze.  A Prince cannot be with a witch.  He might be fascinated by this witch, may not have anything against them personally, but this will not bode well with his Father or the kingdom.  He would either not be allowed to be with his Fated and have to take his chances with a random person, something he has never heard working out well except in fantasy stories, or be with someone who could never love him.

In his desperation, he tries to rationalize that the latter might not be so bad.  The witch did intrigue him and there was nothing to say that witches could not care for anyone, that he knows of.  It is this minute that he realizes that he does not know that much about witches in general.  They were such a small part of the population and so low on the totem pole that they did not really matter.  There were only six of them in White Falls and he assumed that their needs were being met.

The cauldron reveals the witch’s face and Chanyeol sees the other’s cheeks lose their color.  “We need to see the King or the council.”

They take Chanyeol’s carriage to the castle.  It is a quiet ride as Chanyeol tries to get his thoughts straight.  “I think it could work.”

“Are you serious?”  The witch asks.

“I’ve been thinking about it and I think it could work,” Chanyeol says.  “If it comes down to it, then I will love you and you just can’t love me.”

“Your optimism about such a wretched outcome astounds me.”

“You’ll understand me soon enough… uh, what is your name?” Chanyeol asks.

“Kyungsoo, Do Kyungsoo,” the witch provides.

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol says, feeling the name out.  It’s certainly agreeable.  He thinks that this could work, at least his optimistic side thinks that.  If he can be with the witch you looked so beautiful while making the potion, then he could be okay.  Most importantly, he thinks the alternative might devastate him.  “I like it.  Now that I think about it, I kind of like the idea.”

No one else liked the idea.

The King and Queen met them in a side room of the castle where they met subjects who came with them with concerns.  Their frowns made Chanyeol feel uncomfortable as they were assigned guards and the council of witches was called.

Chanyeol sat next to his mother as the King talked to Kyungsoo in whispers across the room.  The Queen put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.  “We will figure this out.  If anyone can do it, then it will be the council.  They will find your true Fated.”  Another Matchmaker was called in to check the results.  The witch was gorgeous and named Sooyoung.  Observed by the council, she produced the same result. 

The council collectively gasped and broke out into gossip among themselves.  No one ever had a witch as their Fated.  Only Chanyeol.

His father’s solution is to let Kyungsoo work on a new potion that would separate a Fated from each other.  In theory, it would give Chanyeol a new Fated and this whole thing could be put behind them.  With the resources of the castle to keep this whole thing quiet, only those in the room and the council were to know of this situation.  It would take some time and the King emphasized Chanyeol’s date of departure and Chanyeol hoped this wouldn’t interfere with that as well.

Chanyeol being with Kyungsoo does not even cross anyone’s mind.  All parties agree on the plan, except Chanyeol but his voice and opinion do not really matter at the moment.  Under the King’s orders, Kyungsoo is forced to cancel all of his future appointments and devote himself to finding a cure.  Chanyeol is told he may need to be with Kyungsoo as well as Kyungsoo may need him in order to collect hair samples or anything else these experimental potions may entail.

A part of Chanyeol is excited.  He leaves for White Falls in three months and had planned to spend his days reading from the Royal Collection of the royal library, but now he was going to spend a bunch of time at a witch’s house and maybe learn a bit about magic.  On the other hand, it is to break his bond to his Fated which scares him.  More than once he thought that he may not get a new Fated or his new Fated would not be his true Fated.

The first week has Kyungsoo nose deep in his personal collection of ancient texts.  He barely speaks to the Prince.  Chanyeol is alright with that as he finds himself next to the books as well.  Written in other languages or runes, Chanyeol can barely understand any of them.  The ones he does he sneaks off with.  The witch only addresses him to stop touching his books, so Chanyeol decides to anyways.  He learns that there is so much more to potion making than putting some ingredients together in a boiling pot.  

Some didn’t even need magic, just magical ingredients.  Mostly plants like the ones that glowed at night outside and make Chanyeol’s lips puff up.  Watching Kyungsoo he is remined of his love of potion making as he stands over the cauldron.

Chanyeol takes his time going around the enormous garden.  Many of the plants are abnormally tall and Chanyeol cannot identify most of them.  Flowers as big as his head with yellow stripes and ones that swayed even when there was no wind.  He is in awe of them.  He feels like a child again in his mother’s orchard.  When he had asked about the garden the witch’s head had whipped around to him.

“You are not allowed in the garden,” he says immediately from the desk across the room.

“Uh,” Chanyeol starts intelligently, “I’ve been there all day.”

“Many of those plants will kill you,” Kyungsoo says, a hint of anger in his voice.  “Many are also delicate and at least one dies when a human touches it!”

“None of them died,” Chanyeol quickly says.

Kyungsoo massages his temple. “You are such a pain.  Can you not just sit quietly as I try to get us out of this mess?”

“Sorry.”

Trying not to bother the witch, as he keeps getting scolded, he keeps to himself and reads the books that he has brought form the Royal Collection.  It was what he was going to do anyways as he waited for his departure to his new castle.  Now, he just has to watch his head as magical ingredients fly around his head as Kyungsoo refuses to talk to him.

The witch is not easily ruffled like the ones at court.  Someone who could handle Chanyeol’s excitement and annoying tendencies.  The Prince can see why Kyungsoo would be chosen to be his Fated.  He writes to Baekhyun about the problem as he sits in Kyungsoo’s house as the witch opens book after book, searching for a clue on where to begin.

At the end of the week, Kyungsoo expresses that he needs to go to the Royal Library as nothing he has is of any use.  They take the carriage to the castle later into the day with  a list of books recommended by the council. If the Royal Library didn’t have a potion, then Kyungsoo was on his own to make one up.

The Royal Library was the biggest and oldest library in the Kingdom.  It filled up the whole left wing of the castle.  Academics and witches from all over the world come here to read the texts containing all known knowledge of the Kingdom.  With the King’s permission, they were allowed to enter one of the restricted areas.  There were three restricted areas, yet Chanyeol has only ever been to one: the Royal Collection.  The Royal Collection was home to the history of the crown, specially to be passed from families of the crown to families of the crown in order to consult those who have experienced their unique position.  Few people were allowed in the  Restoration room as it held books that were worn down or almost illegible or damaged and in need of recopying.  The last was the Dark Records.  Potions and spells that have been deemed unsafe by the council either in the wrong hands or just in general.

Due to it being so late in the day, there are few people to see them together.  Kyungsoo is familiar with the library enough to not need help finding unrestricted books but are in need of a keeper in order to access the Dark Records.  Kyungsoo walks up to the nearest one and Chanyeol is trying to catch up after being left on another aisle.  The witch was quiet when he moved.  “I am Kyungsoo, Matchmaker of the circle of the Royal Labyrinth.”  He hands her a small letter.  “We have permission from the King to access the Dark Records.”

“Of course, Matchmaker,” the woman says with a small bow as she opens the letter.  She notices Chanyeol as he catches his breath after catching up to them.  She bows to him as well.  “Prince Chanyeol.”

They take a small walk towards the administrative part of the library before arriving at the Dark Records.  The room was dark as the name implied.  The books looked much older than those in the Royal Collection and it was also much colder.  Some of the books glowed or shivered or hummed or sang.  It felt so alive and also a bit creepy.  He turns to the keeper.  “This is so much cooler than the Royal Collection.”

This perks the witch’s interest.  “You have been to the Royal Collection?”

“Prince Chanyeol is a frequent visitor to our library,” the keeper answers for Chanyeol.  She goes to head out and motions to the large bell next to her.  “Please ring the bell when you would like to leave and someone will escort you out.”

The Prince puts waves to her.  “Thanks, Seohyun!”

The witch turns to him.  “I never took you for a reader.”

“I do alright,” Chanyeol answers.  It is a bit of an understatement, he reads all the time.  He is frequently bored and alone much more than he would like to be, especially when his friends are so spread out and he was a Prince in a castle full of older servants and older siblings who took to teasing him.  It was more comforting than anything.  He is almost afraid to touch any of the books, so follows Kyungsoo and only opens books he does.  “I want to read all I can before I leave for White Falls.”

“It must be an important trip if the King mentioned it,” Kyungsoo comments, flipping through one of the glowing books that hums.

Chanyeol frowns a bit.  “It is not just a trip.  I’m taking over for my uncle as the new ruler of White Falls.  My uncle is growing old and cannot keep up the duties the position entails, not that he ever had when he was young.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrow raises, but he doesn’t stop flipping through the book, causing the humming to get louder.  “Just given land and a castle.  Must be nice to be a Prince.”

“It is,” Chanyeol answers truthfully.  He goes to pick up the humming book when Kyungsoo puts it down, but is stopped by a hand on his wrist and a glare.  The Prince smiles sheepishly as they continue.  The next book is very old and also very small, words crammed into a very small space.  Carefully, Kyungsoo goes through each page as if each one was a treasure.  “You really love books.”

“All witches love books,” Kyungsoo answers.

“Yes,” Chanyeol says, “but you have so many at your house.  I only saw books about magic.  Do you have others?”

If Chanyeol had never set foot in Kyungsoo’s house, he would know that the witch loved books.  The witch opened each book as if the slightest touch might bring a tear.  He reads quickly, skimming over line after line as he tries to find an inkling of a potion that has been made to break a Fated bond.

“Some.”

“What are the others?”  Chanyeol asks curiously.  He barely knows anything about this witch except that he is really dedicated to his craft.

“Miscellaneous.”

“Like what?”

Kyungsoo looks up to him.  “I am trying to read.”

“Oh, of course.”

The sun sets and they find nothing in any of the recommended books by the council.  Chanyeol could not read most of the books written in runes but he skimmed through others with no luck.  At the end of the day, he asks Seohyun but she has only ever heard of love potions, not break up potions.

Kyungsoo visits the Dark Records room for two days as he skims through the whole collection.  The only keeper who is a witch says that there are some books who hint on how to make the potion, but nothing more than that.  With notes completed, Kyungsoo returns to his house to start experimenting.

Chanyeol likes Kyungsoo’s house more than the Dark Records.  He’s been cooped up in the castle since he was a kid and anything that wasn’t the castle was always exciting.  It was why he loved visiting his friends when he was a child or loved every single second of university.

Kyungsoo spends the majority of his time being consumed by his work.  This leaves Chanyeol to his own devices and the large historical book of his ancestors falls to his lap.  He thought past kings would be exciting!  Why do they all spend hours writing about taxes?

“I tire of reading,” he announces to the room, sprawled on one of the couches.  He smiles a bit when he realizes that he has caught the witch’s attention who turns to him.

“It is early morning,” Kyungsoo says.  “You have barely started.”

“Yes,” Chanyeol says, sitting up a bit straighter.  The witch’s eyes are too wide for his face and even when annoyed he looks really nice.  “But, my father has me reading old history books from the Royal Collection to see if another similar event has happened before.”

“Event?”  The crease between Kyungsoo’s eyebrows deepens.  “This is a serious problem.”

“It is not that serious.  No one has died or anything.”

“Do you know nothing?”  Kyungsoo says as he goes to sit on the chair next to Chanyeol.  “Witches cannot fall in love.  They ruin everything when they do.  It is best for our emotions to be under control.”

“You seem pretty angry to me,” Chanyeol teases with a smile.  The small scrunched up face Kyungsoo makes before putting on his neutral expression on is cute.  “Maybe you’re not a witch.”

“There is no doubt I am a witch,” Kyungsoo says as he sits back in his chair.

I don’t know,” Chanyeol muses, “you’re not really that ugly or old like the council.”

“The council is ancient, as I am young,” Kyungsoo explains.  “I must be a witch because my parents were witches.”

“Maybe they lied.”

“Humans cannot do this,” the witch says as he snaps his fingers.  A flower appears in front of his face, large and yellow before bursting into green flames and landing on Chanyeol, making him flail.  He realizes immediately that it does not burn as it fizzles out, leaving nothing.

Chanyeol looks up to Kyungsoo with the largest grin he can produce.  “That is so cool!”

After putting together some notes, Kyungsoo is ready to try and make some test potions.  He goes into his garden and Chanyeol is there with him to ask about every single plant that he knows nothing of.  Most of them are magical, only can be grown by witches and he stares at each and every one like they are the best things in the world.

He likes Kyungsoo a lot more like this.  The witch is obviously in love with his work and this garden falls under the scope of ‘work’ so he spends a bit more time talking about it then he normally would before asking Chanyeol to shut up.

“What is this?”  Chanyeol asks pointing to the yellow stalk.

“Roads of the Night,” Kyungsoo answers.  “The tops produce seeds at night during the full moon.  They are used in sleeping potions.”

“And this?”

“Cherry Pipes.  They cure seasickness when boiled.”

“And these?”

Kyungsoo turns to him from his spot gathering one of the plants.  “Do you ever stop talking?”

“No,” Chanyeol answers immediately.  “Don’t you like talking about this stuff?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo answers, “but your incessant questions make it a bit difficult to concentrate.”

“Wouldn’t you rather tell me about all these things?”  Chanyeol asks.  He is loving this little education lesson he is getting.

“I would rather make the potion that will make it so your father will not murder me.”

“My father won’t do that,” Chanyeol says.  “He is a fair King.  If this doesn’t work, then he’ll just make me marry someone else.  Don’t worry.”  Chanyeol fears that outcome and worries about it immensely.

“I find it difficult to believe you.”

Kyungsoo starts testing some potions by putting them in the cauldron or putting small vials of liquid on small objects and testing them on small bugs.  Chanyeol finds that he no longer needs to read to get his entertainment. 

Smokes of different color or sparks are produced randomly.  The potions will engulf the room with sweet smells or turn into large bubbles that stick to all sorts of different objects.  At one point, Chanyeol’s vision changed so that all colors were inversed.  He laughed for over a minute at Kyungsoo’s green hair.

The only downside was Kyungsoo frustration.  His mood was turning more and more sour as the next two weeks progressed.  His frown deepened as the days went on and was more snippy than usual with Chanyeol’s antics and persistent questions.  The Prince writes to Baekhyun to ask about what do when Jongdae gets angry.  Baekhyun writes such a sappy response that Chanyeol burns it in one of the potions.  It turns it green.

After a walk through the garden, Chanyeol finds the witch at his desk, a pen and paper in the air with much nicer handwriting than what he uses for his regular notes.

“Are you writing to someone?”  Chanyeol asks, pulling over one of the stools over to Kyungsoo’s work area.  Something he does quite regularly.

“A friend,” Kyungsoo answers.  “I need some guidance on how I am to proceed.”

Chanyeol looks at him curiously.  The Prince has mentioned quite a few of his friends over their month together.  He frequently writes to them, yet Kyungsoo has never mentioned having any friends.  Witches are outcast to most humans but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have witch friends.  “Is your friend a witch like you?”

“Yes, Joonmyun works as a keeper in one of the northern cities,” the witch explains.

“What is he like?  Does he look old and shriveled up as the council?”  Chanyeol asks.

“Are you ever going to give up your fairytale impressions?”  Kyungsoo asks, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.

“I would if the council weren’t so old.  Does he look old?”

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo says honestly.  Chanyeol is about to ask how he doesn’t know what his own friend looks like, but he continues, “he feels like blue lilacs.”

“What do you mean ‘he feels like blue lilacs’?  You don’t feel people as flowers.”

“I’m not human.  Witches can feel the auras around other living things.  It is how I found those ingredients for you during your appointment.  They describe you,” the witch explains as he puts the finishing touches on his letter.  Signing it and folding it up before whisking it away to another part of the house.  “Humans seem to be a bit in tune with flowers as they are pretty accurate when predicting their language.”

“Witches are weird,” Chanyeol says as he picks up a withered rose from one of the vials on Kyungsoo’s cramped shelves.  “What do roses mean?  What about lilacs?  Blue lilacs?  Daisies?”  He looks to the vial next to it and it is a shriveled flower but it feels hot to the touch.  “What even is this?”

A book hits him on the back of the head.  “Hey!  Did you just throw a book at me?”

The witch turns to him with a bit of a smirk.  Chanyeol doesn’t think he has ever smiled in his presence before this.  “A book on flowers floated towards your head.”

“Doesn’t feel like a nice gentle float.” The Prince rubs the bruise that will surely form.  “Anyways, can’t you just tell me?  It’s more exciting when you talk about it,” Chanyeol whines.

“All you do is read all day anyways,” Kyungsoo justifies.  “I have things to do.”

With a huff, Chanyeol situates himself on the coach and starts to read.  An hour later he is flipping between two pages.  “Kyungsoo!  I need nuts and yellow roses!”

“For what reason?”

“I am making my friend a bouquet,” Chanyeol answers as he stands.  “Nuts and yellow roses are perfect.”

“Yellow roses I understand, but nuts mean stupidity,” Kyungsoo responds, full body turned towards him.

“Someone needs to remind him,” Chanyeol shrugs.  He remembers Sehun once losing a bet and was forced to steal pies from the local baker.  It took him a whole day to remember that his own family owns that bakery and he was not really stealing at all.

“Your stupidity astounds me,” Kyungsoo says as he gets back to his work.  An actual smile on his lips.  Chanyeol is entranced and calls today a victory.

Chanyeol’s favorite day happened two days later with Kyungsoo physically standing in front of one of his massive bookshelves.  This was odd behavior for a witch who can magically float objects around so it caught Chanyeol’s attention.  He stands up to inspect the special bookcase.

“What are you doing?”  Chanyeol asks conversationally.

“I need to check the garden,” Kyungsoo mumbles as if nothing was wrong with that answer.  It was almost like it was a reflex and Kyungsoo did not even know that he was speaking aloud.

“We go to the garden every day!”  The Prince exclaims.  Maybe the stress was getting to the young witch.  Maybe he wasn’t feeling well.  “The door is over-.”

Suddenly, a door appears where the bookshelf once stood.  Large and made of oak.  Eyes wide, Chanyeol asks, “Is this where the garden is?”

“What garden?”  Kyungsoo asks quickly, turning to Chanyeol.  “This is only a supplies closet!”

“But you said you were going to the garden!  Can I come with you?”

The witch bats his hand in front of the Prince.  “Just a slip of the tongue.  Go back to your reading.”

Chanyeol has no intention of going back to rows and rows of dates.  Reaching over Kyungsoo’s head, he grabs the door knob and pushes it forward only to be met with a dark void.  With a small push he brings himself and the witch inside of a dark room.

Kyungsoo makes a small noise, but Chanyeol barely registers it.  The room was massive and there were clearly walls but there were so dark you could barely notice where the garden ended.  Plants of all kinds were everywhere, deep in soil.  Chanyeol could hear water running from somewhere.  The whole room gave off a vibe of deep, dark magic.  “You lied!  You said it wasn’t a garden.”

“I know what it said,” Kyungsoo says as he stands up from being pushed and dusts himself off.  He looks up to find Chanyeol bouncing around from plant to plant.  He sighs.  “Will you stay put?”

“It’s so beautiful,” the Prince comments as he kneels to find a dark purple tulip looking bud.  It smelt like wine.  He goes to reach out.

“Stop!”  The witch says, pulling his arm back.  “Do not touch anything.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll die and the King wants his mistake alive for some reason,” Kyungsoo explains.

Quite use to the witch’s insults (they’re kind of like shows of affections if Chanyeol didn’t think too hard about them), the Prince rolls his eyes.  “He loves me.”

“Charming.”

“Charming,” Chanyeol laughs to himself.  He turns his head to some flowers to the side of his face.  “There look like regular tiger lilies.  Will these kill me?”

The witch looks up to him.  “I can make them.”

“Not what I meant.”

“No, but I invest a lot of time tending to all of the plants here and I do not wish them disturbed.  Many of these plants have been through many generations of witches, they are fragile,” Kyungsoo explains.

“I can keep my hands to myself!”

This does not stop Chanyeol from asking endless questions to Kyungsoo.  He has never seen floating plants.  He has never seen daffodils that seem to dance in sync.  He has never seen a small tree smoking a pipe.  Curiosity has always been a constant companion of his and now Kyungsoo is actually answering every question of his.  He’s never had the witch’s attention for so long before.

He points to a small group of green grass looking plants.  “What are those?  What are they used for?”

Kyungsoo smirks.  “Dill.  Cooking.”

Sheepishly they keep going until he finds a rose growing under a glass box.  The petals seemed to be made of water, yet held their shape as it floating in the box.  “What is this?”

“Cadaverine,” Kyungsoo says.  “Used to cure a plague many years ago, although safe for humans, witches can go mad from the stuff.  They lose control of their powers.  Virtually undetectable in water or other drink like substances.”

“Like when they fall in love,” Chanyeol says.

Kyungsoo hesitates for a second.  “Yes, I believe so.”

The Prince watches the small box for a few more seconds before trailing after Kyungsoo.  He liked the witch more here than when he worked.  He seemed much more in his element.  Sometimes, Chanyeol wants to ask why he became a Matchmaker instead of a magical herbologist.

They round a couple of tall trees and then Chanyeol realizes that the rest of the verdant garden is devoted to a gorgeous plant.  Ranging from white to deep red, twisted vines seemed to sear for each other as they grew.  They were small, yet when two were encircled a deep pink flower with large vibrant petals surrounded them and enclosed the middle.  “What is this?”

“Their nickname is ‘Lovers’,” Kyungsoo explains almost reverently.  He points to a full-grown plant and points to the individual plants.  “Two ‘lovers’ come together and when pollinated produce this…”

Gently, he pries the flower apart and pulls out the inside.  The Prince tilts his head.  “Cotton?”

“Powder,” Kyungsoo says.  “It is the main ingredient in the potion that figures out one’s Fated.”

“These are so neat.  What else does it do?”

“Love potions, or really infatuation potions,” the witch says, he seems to be in a far-off place in his mind.  “Magic cannot manipulate emotions as of yet, not truly.”

As he watches Kyungsoo speak, he realizes that he might have been wrong about Kyungsoo being in the wrong business.  Clearly, he was dedicated to his choses career.

“And when you cut them,” Kyungsoo says with a small smile as he puts his finger forward and slashes it across the plants flowers, “Potions for revenge and hate.”

Nothing happened for a second as the head of the flowers fell to the ground.  Then the largest scream that Chanyeol has ever witness commenced and he shoved his hands over his ears as he watches the plant wither into death and come to an end a few seconds later, turning to ash.

Maybe Kyungsoo shouldn’t be a Matchmaker.

As they leave the magical garden, Chanyeol tries to memorize the pattern that Kyungsoo uses to get inside and pouts at the fact that it involves magic.

Sometimes Chanyeol gets so bored that he is unable to contain himself.  When that happens, he tends to talk to whomever is unfortunate to be close to him.  He is sure that he is bored all of his friends do his ramblings at one point or another.  With him spending so much time in Kyungsoo’s presence, it wasn’t any surprise that he would be subjected to this as well.  So, he talks.  He talks about music or university or what life was like growing up in the castle or all of his friends or what he needs to do once he arrives in White Falls.

Some days he brings his stringed instrument.  He goes into the garden and strums and sings to the plants.  Some of the greenery perk up and some sway to the beat while others hum along.  When he sings, some of the plants stop being receptive and change to a fierce red.  Kyungsoo chastises him to stop harassing his plants.  One lets out a noise of unbearable levels and the witch finds him being quite rude to one flower that is used as a silence spell.  Chanyeol frowns at this particular plant.  Many have complimented him on his voice so he thinks all of them must be overreacting.

Other times, Chanyeol will just look around Kyungsoo’s cauldron and admire the various vials on the walls.  Some speak to him in such a way that all he wants to do is open them just to see what they are.  He doesn’t only because he is sure the witch will bust a gasket if he does.  So instead, he admires them.  He comes across a vial of harmless snowberries that he recognizes.  Turning the vial upside down he is greeted with the seal of White Falls emblazoned on the bottom, but he is hardly surprised at this.

“This is the seal of White Falls,” the Prince says loudly so that Kyungsoo can hear and can’t pretend to ignore him like he is so fond of doing.

“It’s good that the next ruler of White Falls can recognize that at least,” Kyungsoo says sarcastically.  He quickly glances at what vial Chanyeol is holding, probably to make sure it wasn’t something that could kill him if he opens it either on purpose or on accident.

“When you were making the Fated potion, you told me that the ingredients you used were rare.”

The witch snorts.  “I lied.  I tell my clients that some ingredients are rare or certain combinations are rare to make them feel special.  Humans really like to be special when most of the usually have the same ingredients over and over, like chestnuts.”

Chanyeol frowns at the small jab at his eye color.  “Snowberries are rare.  They only grow on the precipice of the western peak during the early spring.  They’re the second biggest export in terms of money of White Falls after fur and fish.”

The witch raises an eyebrow at him.  “They are expensive, but they are still a natural ingredient.  My magical ingredients are much more expensive and rare.  I didn’t realize you actually knew anything about your intended castle.”

“My father was actually really strict on my siblings and I about education.  We had were taught all about ruling an area and how to deal with the economy and how to manage taxes.  The first thing he did when he gave me White Falls was have seven books about its history put inside of my room at university as extra work.” Chanyeol admits as he runs a finger over the seal of the vial, feeling the raised glass in the familiar shape.  “There is a reason my father is loved as King and that my siblings are praised for following in his footsteps.”

“Most of your siblings are army generals,” the witch says, surprising Chanyeol.  He wasn’t aware the other had any idea about his family at all.  It was true most of his siblings were in the army to fight against the Kingdom to the north, but the war was of little consequence and was not really talked about in day to day conversation.  “You have the safest area in the kingdom.”

The Prince sighs.  “I am the youngest of fifteen.  There wasn’t really any more options.  I turned out to be a lot better with money and taxes than with a sword.”

“Is that why you are the only one to read from the Royal Collection?”

“Unfortunately,” Chanyeol says as he frowns at the book in front of him.

Three days later, Kyungsoo is hunched over his desk of vials as he cuts up herb after herb and crushes them into a small cauldron being heated next to his head.  Then, carefully, he scoops a bit to put on the small love bugs and watches them die.  He does this over and over again, trying to perfect the proportions of the ingredients.  Eyebrows creased in concentration, he delicately uses his magic tomes to mix the ingredients.  Chanyeol was entranced, just as he was every time Kyungsoo used his magic.

Even if this potion frustrates him, the small smile of victory he gives himself when he makes a small breakthrough makes Chanyeol think it is worth being here all these hours for. 

He neglects his book as he watches the witch this afternoon.  His studies have taken an even bigger dip into boredom as he wishes for freedom and excitement.  Not that the castle was any better.  The clustered workroom was veiled in magic and Chanyeol knew he should not even try touching anything in the vials (although the glowing aqua one allured him).  Instead he ventures towards the book shelf which were generally safer (one did bite him though a few days ago).

Most of the books were still beyond Chanyeol’s comprehension, whether it be the language barrier or the academic gap.  Those that he could read were mostly on magical fauna or just regular old fauna.  He travels down the shelf and takes one out with a bunch of pictures of magical forests.  Still, he takes his time as he goes down the shelf searching.

He has to drop to his knees to reach the bottom shelf, but he does, and pulls one out about beginner’s magic when he realizes there is a whole other layer of books hidden behind the first.  Curious, he reaches down and grabs out to pull out.  The cover is of red leather with the stitching of a rose on the front.  He opens to a random page.

He caressed her perk nipples-

Quickly, Chanyeol closes the book as embarrassment heats up his ears.  He turns to another page in hopes that this one is better.

The young lad helps the darling lass with her basket as they continue their walk into the village.  A faint blush blooms across her cheeks.

At least not all of the book contained egregious sex scenes.  Most of the books seemed to tales of love and romance with a bit of passion sprinkled in.  Is this not what wives read?  What was a witch doing with books about love?  What was someone like Kyungsoo doing with these?

He feels his face turn a deep flush as his mind helpfully provides a picture of Kyungsoo and his hand and Chanyeol wards these images off.  The witch looks at him in that moment and Chanyeol waves as he tries to protect his recent discovery.  It’s times like these that Chanyeol is sure that Kyungsoo has some sort of magic to read his mind although he has been assured from multiple sources otherwise.  He wonders if Kyungsoo knows that he thinks that he looks beautiful.

He pushes all thoughts away as he picks up one of the books, one of blue leather with a sword on the cover, and places it on Kyungsoo’s desk.  He looks down to the witch who looks even tinier when sitting.  “I didn’t know you were a romantic.”

The witch’s mouth hangs over a bit as he looks at Chanyeol with large eyes.  His mind seems to not have caught up to what the current situation is, because when it does Chanyeol gets a bruise on his arm from the book being hurled at him.

“Where did you find these?”  Kyungsoo demands, stomping his feet as he stands up.  The Prince wonders if he bottles up all his rage to keep for moments like this.

“On your shelf.”

“What you are going to do is put them back where you found them and then you are going to forget they exist,” Kyungsoo says slowly.  He’s already shelved the sword book, the book making a sound of anguish as it hits the wood.

“Are you sure?”  Chanyeol asks as he stretches out the last word for a good while.  He bends down to pick up a book in lavender.  “The wedding in this book has a bookmark and I think you have marked it.”

“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo warns, “shut your mouth.”

“I thought witches couldn’t fall in love,” Chanyeol teases.

“They can.  They just shouldn’t,” Kyungsoo explains, using magic to hide the books deep inside of the shelf.

“Then why are you reading books like these?”

The witch goes to sit down on the couch.  “You wouldn’t understand.”

The thing is, Chanyeol is sure that he does understand.  They were Fated for a reason.   Kyungsoo is a romantic, a true believer in love.  Someone Chanyeol always thought he would be with.  “As your Fated, I think I do know what I am talking about when it comes to you.”

The witch rolls his eyes.  “You being Fated to me does not increase your brain’s capacity.”

Ignoring the comment, Chanyeol continues his teasing, putting on a big cheesy smile on his face.  “You’re a romantic.”

“I am no such thing,” Kyungsoo says, accompanied by a small snort.  Despite still being defensive, Chanyeol feels like he can see the small cracks, the small upturn of lips.  Nice, beautiful full lips that he should try to not focus on.  “My clients love these types of stories.  It is what they want.”

“A trashy romance?”  Chanyeol asks, a bit disbelieving.

“Yes.”

“Why do you think of everyone so lowly?”  Chanyeol asks rhetorically.  He rests his face on his hand, laid back on the couch.  “I think they want something more real than someone coming in on a horse and sweeping them off their feet.”

“No,” Kyungsoo contradicts him as he snaps his fingers and a puff of blue smoke comes up.  He looks at the smoke, an almost melancholy look to him.  He sounds a bit bitter.  “They want something fantastical, something that comes out of a fairy tale.  They want their true love, the one that will love them forever.  They want to make sure that they make the right choice.  Why do you think people spend their life savings on Matchmakers?  For a little magic?”

The Prince blinks at him as he takes in the little speech before a small smile is put on his face.  “And here I thought you didn’t care at all about the people or love or any of that.  You told me that you like to make potions.  I think you like to hear the stories about people finding their true loves.  I think you like the moment when they see the person and recognize them.”

Kyungsoo’s expression hardens.  “It comes with the job.”

“It’s why you’re a Matchmaker and not an academic.”

As the days progress with Kyungsoo not coming any closer to figuring out a potion, Chanyeol starts to be able to get him to stop working and talk to him more.  He loves talking about anything and everything.  He talks about his friends and his family and growing up at the castle.  He talks about university and classes that he took specifically for White Falls.   He talks mostly about his excitement for moving to the small area, cleaning up some of the laws that have been neglected by his uncle.

He still walks among the garden and continues his studies when told to be quiet, but he feels he can have conversations with the witch now instead of just the cold shoulder.  He’s reading one of the books when he comes to a familiar story, one he knows well.  He follows the story, a pretty interesting one, when he realizes something different in this version, the true version written by one of the King’s advisors and close friend, that he had known before.

“Did you know that my family are usurpers?”  Chanyeol asks as he sits on the ground next to Kyungsoo.  The latter is cutting bits of leaves off a vine in the garden to collect in small vials.  The process can take up to an hour as the vines move according to a pattern and do not like to be snipped.

“No,” the witch answers, a bit distracted, “but I am not surprised.”

“My Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather was a trusted war general to the King.  He was an advisor but the King was a drunk.  He would slobber and yell and nobody liked him.  The crown was in a big war and were losing.  So, he made it so that he took take the throne instead.”

“I am sure one your silly human festivals celebrate it.”

“Yep,” Chanyeol answers.  “The Day of Thorns!  It is in Autumn so everything is made out of apples and cinnamon.  My brothers used to spend a long time practicing and they would make a stage play out of the events.  The Day of Thorns is when we beat the western kings.  The King died valiantly in battle as a war hero and saved our Kingdom.”

“Is that what your book says?”  Kyungsoo asks as he turns to Chanyeol, eyebrow raised.

“No,” Chanyeol admits, looking down at it.  “The war general burnt his King during the battle using fire and wine and just said he died.  He went on to win the war and the throne.”

“How quaint,” Kyungsoo comments sarcastically, gathering the last to the vine clippings.  “I too love to lie to the citizens that I rule over.”

“I just learned and I don’t think my father even knows,” Chanyeol says defensively.   He bats his hands as the two stand up.  “It doesn’t matter because White Falls doesn’t celebrate it anyways.  It’s not that big of a deal as long as my people are happy now.  I can’t fix the past.”

“How many festivals does White Falls celebrate?”  The witch asks.

“Very few,” Chanyeol admits.  “They’re not that festive.  Why?”

Kyungsoo shrugs.  “Living so close to the castle you would think every day is a reason to celebrate something.  It doesn’t suit me.”

I don’t see you as festive, Chanyeol stops himself from saying.

The comment feels a bit dry on Chanyeol’s tongue as they enter into the house.  The reason being that he can see Kyungsoo in White Falls.  The thought alone wasn’t all that bad, but the fact that he could see Kyungsoo in White Falls with him was a bit terrifying.  The small, dark castle is almost perfect for a workshop.  There is a small greenhouse connected the castle as well as a basement for both gardens.  He found a book the day before about spells that exist to uproot plants and make them be able to be transported for long distances without disturbing them.

He quickly tries to get rid of those thoughts.  There was no way that Kyungsoo would be allowed to go to White Falls with him.  With that thought, he brings up an interesting fact to the witch.  “His son was King Joowan.”

The Prince watches as Kyungsoo’s eyes widen a bit as he puts down the clippings onto his desk so that they can wait to be tested.  King Joowan is known as the King who was in charge when it was made into law that witches could not fall in love.  All the restrictions were backed by all of circles throughout the newly formed kingdom and the rules were strictly enforced.

“What do you expect of the son of a usurper?”  For the life of him, Chanyeol cannot make out what type of tone Kyungsoo was going for or the many emotions that must be going through him.  “I bet he was proud of him.”

Chanyeol doesn’t know how to respond to this information, so he tries for a different route.  “What about your parents?  Do witches even have parents?”

The change in atmosphere was obvious as Kyungsoo returns to insulting Chanyeol making the Prince much more comfortable.    “Of course, I have parents.  Witches don’t just sprout out from the ground.  Don’t be absurd.”

“Can I meet them?”  Chanyeol asks as he drags a chair over to Kyungsoo’s desk.  The witch is trying to separate the gathered clippings into two vials.   “Where are they?”

“Each of them are somewhere in the kingdom I assume,” Kyungsoo says, as he uses his magic to crush some flower petals.  “Where they are or even if they are near each other would be hard to find out.”

“What do you mean?”  The Prince’s brows furrow deep.  “Are they not together?”

“No,” Kyungsoo answers simply.  “I do not believe they even know each other that well.”

“Is that common for witches?”  Chanyeol asks.  Shouldn’t Kyungsoo know where his parents are?

The witch gives out a little sigh as he turns to Chanyeol, putting down the ingredients, but still turning the temperature up on his smaller cauldron in front of him.  “Witches are heavily regulated and must document how much time they ever spend with another witch and submit it to the council.  One cannot be in a witch’s space for too long.  Every time they contact one another needs to be documented as well.  Each witch must also document what occurred during each time contact and what the necessity of the contact was.”

The Prince thought for a moment.  “Is that why you have never seen Joonmyun?”

“It is.”

“Do you have to tell the council every time you write a letter to him?”  Chanyeol asks.

The witch closes his eyes in exasperation.  “I have permission from the council to write to him a maximum of two times a month.”

“Regulated friendships can be fun,” Chanyeol tries to rationalize more to himself than Kyungsoo.  He could not imagine having to limit his contact with any of his friends like that.  He once wrote twelve letters to Sehun in one day during one of the lower royal weddings complaining of the drama from the court.  Something else comes to mind as he realizes the implication of this.  “Can witches not be with each other?”

“Obviously not,” Kyungsoo says with a frown, turning back to his potion as he dumps a bunch of the ingredients into the heated cauldron.  “They say it is even more likely you will lose control if two witches fall for each other.”

“Then how do you exist?”  The Prince asks frankly.  This all sounds absolutely absurd!  “Do you have to ask permission from the council to have sex?”

Ignoring Chanyeol’s rise in emotions, Kyungsoo calmly stirs the concoction.  “The council finds two witches who do not know each other and let them have some time together so that they can procreate.  The two never see each other again and will likely never be called on again.  The council limits how many witches are born so that they can be controlled by the crown.”

“I assume King Joowan thought of all this?”

“All of it,” Kyungsoo answers as he revs up the heat on the cauldron.  Feeling his face become warm, he leans back to get away from the heat.

“Who raised you,” Chanyeol starts, “if you don’t even know who your parents are?”

Again, Kyungsoo lets out a long breath as he turns the heat off the cauldron. “You stay at the nursery until you can become an apprentice.  Then, you shuffle between different witches until the council thinks you are ready to live alone.  The point is to never spend too much time to any one witch so that you can’t get attached.”

“I thought only romantic love was forbidden,” Chanyeol says. “Not familial love.”

Kyungsoo summons two love bugs and adds a drop to one of them.  It dies immediately.  “All love is forbidden.”

“What about Joonmyun?”  Chanyeol asks.

Kyungsoo fully turns to Chanyeol.  It looks like he doesn’t understand why the Prince would bring up his friend at this time.  “I am fond of Joonmyun?”

“That’s really sad, Kyungsoo,” the Prince says with a frown.  “Sounds lonely.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t respond as he goes back to his potion making.

A few days past as Chanyeol thinks back to this conversation.  It haunts him sometimes.  How cruel the world is for making a group of beings not be able to experience something as bright as love.  Kyungsoo obviously wants it, even though the Prince knows he will never say it.  His secret books say that much about him at least.

Even as a Prince of the kingdom, he barely had any knowledge or learnings of witches.  His eldest brother, the one who will wear the crown sooner or later, probably got the most education about it.  Chanyeol had never needed to know.  The Prince worries if his knowledge lacks then how much do his people know?

He tries to take his mind off of it.  This becomes easy as he gets an invitation into the city for Jongdae’s birthday for the following week.  His birthdays have always been great in terms of parties and Chanyeol wouldn’t miss it.  He rambles to Kyungsoo about it, but he seems to be back into his manic mode of not listening to Chanyeol, which the Prince resents.  He thought he was finally getting through to the witch.

A day later, he plans something special in order to get ready for the party.  He hides the ‘A Witch’s Guide to Beginning Potions’ from Kyungsoo by putting his much less interesting ‘Important Dates of Tax Laws’ and begins to look through the book.  Some of these potions didn’t need a witch and only required magical ingredients which only a witch would own.  Luckily, Chanyeol is in a witch’s house.

He goes to collect the abundant ingredients in the house and in the garden.  Simple ones that won’t kill him.  Wet dark clay, rhubarb, honey infused with star anise, and a magical flower from the garden that looked like a red hibiscus but smaller with white berries and pink veins that sprout from the middle.  He grabs one of Kyungsoo’s many smaller cauldrons and mixes them together before taking the gloppy mixtures and massaging it through his hair before washing it out with water out in the garden.

When Kyungsoo sees him, he stops dead in his tracks and drops his gardening clippers and gloves.  “What did you do?”

The Prince smiles wide as he looks in the water at himself.  His hair was a bright shade of red instead of the dark black he was born with.  He thought it looked really good.  It would give his friends something to talk about next week.  Turning to Kyungsoo, all he sees is a horrified expression plastered on his face.  His smile drops.  “Don’t you like it?”

The witch stares for another few seconds as the emotion deepens into something almost like a wince.  His eyes turning to the small cauldron and book of beginning spells.  “Your father is going to kill me.”

“My father won’t mind,” The Prince laughs.  His father was proud of him for his initiative for preparing his future castle himself.  This was nothing his father couldn’t handle.  Standing, he finds the witch’s face still like if he saw a ghost.  Do witches see ghosts?  “But do you like it?”

“It..” Kyungsoo’s face changes back into a more neutral expression as he looks at the Prince.  “It suits you.”

“I think so too,” Chanyeol says with a proud smile.  Bending down, he scoops up the beginning spell book and hands it to the smaller witch.  “I can’t believe I made a potion!

“I can’t believe you didn’t die,” Kyungsoo comments as he takes a look at the book.  “If you wanted to make a potion, then you could have picked one which didn’t chance you getting this horrendous green color if not mixed properly.”

“I want to look good for next week,” Chanyeol says as he looks back into the water, running his fingers through the hair.  It feels really soft as well.  “Will you come with me?”

“What?”  The witch asks, surprised by the invitation.  “My friends want to meet you,” The Prince says, twirling his hair.  “I write about you all the time.”

“I am not going to a party,” Kyungsoo says adamantly, turning away from the Prince to pick up his forgotten gardening supplies to head out into the garden.

“It’s not even a party,” Chanyeol says, a bit pleading.  “It is s a small gathering of friends.  You need to go into the city to get a couple of plants anyways, come with me.  All my friends make fun of me, too.  You’ll fit right in.”

The witch perks up  at the latter part of Chanyeol’s small plead.  “They make fun of you?”

“All the time,” Chanyeol says.  He grabs Kyungsoo’s hands.  “Baekhyun is fond of making a jab about my ears at least twice every minute.”

The two are close, with Chanyeol holding Kyungsoo’s hands and the former did not even realize it until he is left waiting for Kyungsoo’s answer.  The other seems to be aware as he steps back quickly.  “If you stop pestering me, then I will consider it.”

A week passes and Kyungsoo immediately regrets his decision based off the look he gives Baekhyun and Jongdae as they tackle hug Chanyeol upon meeting him.  Chanyeol is excited as he speaks quickly to both of his best friends.  They welcome him animatedly.  Baekhyun greets Kyungsoo with a hearty handshake, reintroducing himself and introducing Jongdae and welcome them into their home.

There are less than twenty people at the house, but there is enough alcohol for two hundred.  It flows easily as Chanyeol takes his time talking to his friends.   His time is taken up mostly by Baekhyun and Jongdae but he takes some time to talk to Sehun.  He makes sure to turn and check up on Kyungsoo every so often.  The witch talks to some of Chanyeol’s quieter friends like Jongin.  Chanyeol didn’t know he drank wine.

The conversations go on for hours and dinner is a long affair.  Dessert is a rum cake that makes the Prince feel dizzy as he stands up.  Kyungsoo sits next to him and seems to be able to take his alcohol in stride unlike a certain Prince present.  He eats the rum cake and his speech doesn’t slur at all.  He seemed to actually be having fun at dinner, enjoying the food and chatting with Minseok on his other side.

Yixing does a drunken dance with Baekhyun and Sehun on the table and Chanyeol laughs and then the party settles down as it gets later into the night.  Some of the party goers leave for rooms to crash.  He is talking to Yixing when the other man falls asleep on the chair and he goes to put him in one of the bedrooms.  He’s still drunk and feeling good when he stumbles down the hall, feeing a bit more sober than before.

He finds Kyungsoo sitting on one of the nice, black, leather couches as Jongdae sits in an arm chair and Baekhyun next to him.  The couple are leaning into Kyungsoo’s space but the witch must be drunk because he doesn’t seem to be shoving them away.

“He calls you Soo in his letters, you know,” Jongdae reveals as Chanyeol overhears the conversation.  He hides in the hallway upon hearing this.  He was never one to be above eavesdropping, but something prevents him from interrupting the convnersation.  Also, Chanyeol is a bit hurt because Jongdae is his friend and why would he reveal such a thing to his witch. 

The witch.

“I’m not sure what possess him sometimes to make such stupid decisions,” he hears the witch respond.  Chanyeol did not expect anything less.

“Only sometimes?”  Jongdae jokes.  The Prince would be offended, but he knows Jongdae did not think of him as dumb.  He did tutor the guy in one of his economic theory classes after all.  Surprisingly, it makes the witch chuckle.  It isn’t loud but it is enough to shock Chanyeol.  Maybe he should get the witch drunk more.   “I’m kidding, he’s a great guy.”

“Yeah, he is.”  Something in Chanyeol feels warm as he stands in the empty hallway.  There’s a smile on his face that is borderline painful from the full stretch.  He’s drunk, and he would push this feeling away, but he is drunk and he feels good.  He wants to continue feeling good, great even.

He apparently misses Baekhyun saying he is going to find him, but doesn’t miss Baekhyun’s surprised expression to find him in the hallway giddy as can be.  The shorter man takes the Prince by the arm and leads them a bit down the hallway out of earshot of the rest of the party.  There’s an almost sad look on his face.  “You like him.”

Chanyeol does not like his serious tone that Baekhyun is giving him right now.  He feels his earlier elation dropping fast.  “I do.”

“I mean I already knew that.  Your letters make it so clear that you like him,” Baekhyun says, a hand massaging his temples.  He sounds sober.  “You wrote me a whole list of things that he would like in White Falls, Chanyeol.  You don’t do that for someone you don’t want to be with.”

Chanyeol remembers that.  He has the actual list in his bag, adding on to it continuously as he thinks of more things that would be perfect for the witch.  The emotions from before threaten to reappear.  He doesn’t remember what is all on it now, but it is longer than what he had written his best friend, he knows that.  “Is that wrong?”

“Yeollie,” Baekhyun says softly, painfully.  “You can’t be with a witch.”

“I-”

“He can’t love you,” his best friend cuts off his protest.  “Witches can’t love, Chanyeol.  You can want to be with him all you want but you can’t live happily ever after with him.  I wish you could, he sounds great for you, but he can’t love.  Not you, not anyone.”

“But I-”

“I know,” Baekhyun says again.  “You like him, he’s your true love, but if you stay with him you’re going to fall in love with him and then it’s going to be worse.  Step back, Chanyeol.  I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

There’s a hint of deep pain in Chanyeol’s chest as he stops his earlier protests.  He knows all of this.  Understands it.  Has always understood this.  There’s a small prick of tears welling up in his eyes.  “It’s not fair, Baek.”

“I know.”

Baekhyun hugs him for a while before Chanyeol feels dizzy enough to need to throw up and heads to a bathroom.  His best friend returns to the party with another hug and a ‘we’ll be here for you’.  Chanyeol goes to his room to lie down after the emotional turmoil that has just occurred he pulls out the list from his bag and stares at what he has written: Rabbits, Snowberries, blackberries (like his soul), drake root, holly, pine (he smells like pine), walnuts, salmon, those blue star flowers, maple, honey, Chanyeol.

Why does he keep making these lists if Kyungsoo is not going to come with him?

He’s hungover the next day as the carriage takes him and Kyungsoo back to the castle.  Chanyeol sleeps and then pretends to be asleep so that he doesn’t have to talk to witch.  Baekhyun was right, he needs to take a step back.  When they are almost at Kyungsoo’s home to drop him off, Chanyeol speaks again.

“My father wants me to focus on my studies a little more,” Chanyeol makes up, voice rough.  “I’ll be at the royal library for a while.”

“Oh, okay,” the witch says, a bit surprised.

Chanyeol nods and drifts off.  The next thing he knows, he is in front of the castle and Kyungsoo is nowhere to be found.  He coops himself up in the Royal Collection for the next week as he tries to distract himself with books.  He fails at not thinking about Kyungsoo.  He is so bored that thoughts of the witch are something he revels in.  He misses being with the witch something terrible.  He writes his sorrows away to Baekhyun.

Chanyeol has always prided himself on being a quick reader.  Able to grasp knowledge in large chunks and give himself time to do other things that were more fun that dusty history books.  He liked to read but the books in the Royal Collection were boring.  With his thoughts drifting to Kyungsoo, it was taking him even longer to get through some of these books.

His great grandfather’s scribe was more interested in money than anything else.  One sentence dedicated to how the queen’s sister may have been dishonest with her previous partners and the next seven pages on the recent tax reform.  It made Chanyeol’s eyes roll.  He was almost complete with the books in the collection that were not just pure laws. 

There were a lot which have not been touched in ages.  Yellowed and worn with faded words.  Chanyeol liked these the best.  He has found a few personal journals of previous kings and he ate them up.  His great, great, great grandfather did not skimp on the scandalous details. 

It is late into the night and the library is empty but he has been given the key by Seohyun because of how much time he spends in the collection.  He can’t sleep, a recent phenomenon.  He’s about to pick up the last book on the bench when he accidently knocks it over with his clumsiness.  Kyungsoo would laugh if he was here.  Small smile on his lips, he bends down behind the bench to pick it up.  His hand brushes up against the book and the wall, but when he applies pressure, a part of the wall seems to move.

Curious, Chanyeol takes all of his strength to move the intricately carved, heavy, marble bench to the side so that he can investigate further.  Nothing seems to be different with the wall to the naked eye, but he tries to push against the small slot and the wall disappears in a very small section, leaving only a cloth hanging in disguise.  It is a deception spell, a simple one, but very effective.  Chanyeol moves the cloth but only finds a ring and a small, worn book.

The previous book is quickly disregarded at the obvious age of this book.  No spells seem to be on this one and it was a miracle it was still intact.  Gingerly, he holds the book and opens it to find dark sharp handwriting.

It takes him one page to find the owner’s name.  Joowan, the King who found out about the dangers of witches falling in love.  Quickly, he finds good lighting by his ever burning candle, a spell on it to never go out and to never burn paper.  As careful as he can in his excited state he reads.  It takes him over an hour to find what he truly wants:

The witch’s council has taken up my halls for far too long.  They come and go as they please and their foliage and spells make the halls reek.  The head witch is disagreeable in all matters of negotiations.  He speaks of nothing but of me fulfilling my promises.  I have never promised any of those lowlifes anything.  I only promised  to marry Mina and giving her a child, both of which I have done.  Anything else I might of said were obvious lies and if with all their magic they cannot figure that out, then they should be sorry.

My Mina is the only one of those dreaded creatures that deserves to live.  Her beauty can be compared to nothing else except some intangible thoughts only held by those who play love songs in the dead of night.  Chanyeol drops the book.  Queen Mina was a witch.

He was descendent of a witch. 

Mina tells me everyday of her love for me.  Tells me  that not even the differences in our age are a problem.  It fills me with joy that my hard work has got me this prize.

Chanyeol’s breath starts to hurry up at the implications of this discovery but keeps going to a date three weeks later.

I have lost.  Even someone in my position, the highest of all those in this land, has lost.  And who shall win but a sweet face mortal man.  My trusted guard, young and kind.  Sweeping my Mina off her feet and into his bed behind my back for years!

The cursed wench has betrayed me in a way that I do not believe I can handle at this moment.  I should have listened to all those around me.  Blinded by her beauty, enraptured in her smile I failed to remember that she was a witch.  A disgusting horrible witch.

I found them in her bed but they were too busy to see me.  My vision flashed red and I saw nothing of her until dinner when she sat next to me drinking her wine.  Angry was I.  So angry that I put a couple drops of Cadaverine in her drink, stolen from of those potions that line the halls.

Minutes went by before she was screaming and tossing and yelling and her magic flew through the air.  She did not deserve to feel me give her any pity nor feeling of love.  I calmed everyone down, but a plan came to mind. 

What if I could stop her from loving again?

What if I could stop witches from loving again?

Cadaverine was everywhere and easy to digest.

Chanyeol’s jaw finds itself lowering with each page of Joowan’s journal.  How this mastermind of a man had convinced a whole generation of witches to fear their own powers and humans to be scared of witches.  How he had killed to secure more and more Cadaverine.  How he had gone from witch demonstration to witch demonstration, charming himself to each and every one, and putting them in drinks of all who had fallen in love.  How he had concocted a story of how witches of this generation were cursed to never fall in love.  How all witches from now on would go mad from it.  His breath catches as he reads lie after lie.  It frightens him that some of these laws are still implemented to this day. 

How these lies have shaped this kingdom.

It is more early in the morning than late at night, but the Prince does not care as he rushes through the halls of the castle.  His knuckles are white as he clutches the book and adrenaline has him running much longer than he thought possible.  His heart pumps almost painfully but a smile threatens his face at the same time.  He can barely catch his breath and he knocks eagerly at his father’s study who he knew loved to be awake at this time because no one bothered him.

The King is tall and intimidating with dark hair and eyes that have looked at the face of death in battle.  His face is relaxed when he looks at his son and he is dressed in comfortable clothes when the Prince shoves Joowan’s journal at him.  The King is surprised, but he takes it and quickly flips through it, giving his son some time to recover before explaining himself.   He hasn’t seen the boy this energetic is a while.

“Did King Joowan write this?”  The King asks, a bit in awe after a quick skim of a page.

“He did,” Chanyeol says, still breathless from the running and the excitement.  He holds up the ring that he found with the book.  It is the carved signet of King Joowan.  “He admits that he lied about witches losing control when they fall in love.”

The King’s expression turns stern.  “My boy, this nonsense-”

“Queen Mina was a witch,” Chanyeol cuts him off.  “She fell in love with one of his guards and he got angry.  He used Cadaverine.  It is known to make witches lose control.”

“Chanyeol-”

“Read the book,” Chanyeol pleads.  “Please, read the book.”

Chanyeol supposes that he looked desperate enough for his father to take a bit of pity on him and humor him by reading the passages that Chanyeol has found.  He explains how the book was hidden, forgotten behind a bench, and how Kyungsoo had explained Cadaverine to him.  The Prince watches in anticipation as the King’s face remain unchanged as he reads all of the lies that King Joowan reveals.  All of the crimes he had committed and how he had abused the position of the crown.  How he had almost killed his own son when he almost presented as a witch.

The King closes the book when he is finished and holds up a hand so Chanyeol will not talk immediately.  Eyes shut, he takes time to digest what he has just read.  When he is ready, he opens his eyes and turns to his youngest son.  “If this is true, then the stability of the witch community could turn to turmoil.  To have been lied to by a human could put a strain on our relationship with them.”

“But not telling them would be even worse.  If we tell them in the right way, then this could be great for both parties.  A bit of freedom, an amendment to our laws, would atone for what he have done,” Chanyeol says.

The King nods.  “We must tell them, I agree.  Tell the keepers to send pigeons to summon the witch council.  We will need to have a test to make sure that what is written is true and that love is safe for both parties.”

“Will do,” Chanyeol says eagerly, as he jumps from his seat in the office and heads to the door, a bit of a bounce in his step.

“And Chanyeol.”

“Yes,” the Prince says as he turns around to look at the King before opening the door.

“You must love this witch of yours,” he comments.

Chanyeol smiles, “I do.”

The gathering of the council is the next morning.  Chanyeol is not invited to the large round room of cloaked individuals as his father stands in the middle delivering his speech.  Instead, the Prince tries to eavesdrop poorly from behind a statue on the balcony that no one supposedly has access to.  He hopes to thank his elder brother’s curious mind when he has the chance.

The King gives the findings of the books in his speech, after verifying its validity with more than one trusted royal historian.  When the speech concludes, the council bursts into chatter at the news.  Some are outraged at King Joowan, some are aghast at the findings, and some stay silent as they watch the council is lunged into chaos.  It takes all of the King’s power, and his booming voice, to get their attention.  It is agreed a test should be done for verity and safety.  The results to be delivered by the end of the week.

The Prince is summoned after the meeting to talk to his father.  He is told to get things ready for a royal announcement, should the tests come back positive.  The council agreed that this should not be kept a secret for long.

The week passes by quickly for Chanyeol.  He does not visit Kyungsoo and instead is swept away in preparing for the upcoming royal announcement.  No matter what he does, whether it be to write the preliminary draft of the King’s speech or organize how many pigeons will be needed to send the message out, he still thinks of the witch.  Kyungsoo’s reaction is the only one in the Kingdom he wants to see the most.

The week closes and the results of the test are positive.

A witch in love is no more dangerous than a human in love.

The morning of the announcement has Chanyeol waking up early and convincing a driver to man a carriage up to the now familiar hill.  The nervousness from his first visit echoes as he lets himself out of the carriage as the sun starts to rise.  He knocks on the door and waits for the witch.

“Chanyeol?”  Kyungsoo asks, disbelieving.  He looks like he was asleep, but the bags under his eyes says he stayed up too late.  Eyes a bit annoyed, he asks, “what are you doing here?”

“The King is going to make an announcement today,” the Prince says.  A wince runs through him.  He sounds so rehearsed, even though the line was rehearsed.  Trying not to let that bother him, he tries to carry on.  “I think you should be there.”

The witch is looking up at him, night clothes on and messy hair, lips in a hard line.  “That is why you woke me up?”

“Uh, yes?”

Kyungsoo stares at him for almost a minute before nodding and flicking his wrist.  A cloud of blue smoke appears, thick and opaque.  When it disperses, Kyungsoo is dressed and looking as put together as he usually does.  “I was already invited, but if you have already brought a carriage, I guess I will go with you.”

The ride back has Chanyeol chatting endlessly out of nerves.  He talks about his studies and all the books he has read, but nothing about Joowan.  Blabbers on about how bored he is at the castle.  The witch stares at him the whole time, quiet, as he talks.  He asks about how the potion is going and is only met with a frown so he changes the topic to his mother.

When they arrive to the castle, it is almost time for the speech to be given in the courtyard.  He is bombarded by servants when he arrives, so he tells one of them to bring Kyungsoo to one of the upper balconies so that he will not be crushed by the multitude of people.  He almost loses track of time as he gives out explanations and figures out last minute details. 

The King has already started when he arrives to the upper balcony.  It is one of the balconies overlooking the courtyard, yet low enough to still see the King above them.  Chanyeol would stand next to his father, but he approved of his son’s eagerness to be near the witch instead.  The balcony is empty except for him and Kyungsoo, seeing it is his own balcony that extends from his room.

“This must be important if you rode out to get me,” Kyungsoo comments as the King goes through the opening formalities.  Explaining that this announcement has been thoroughly researched by the most educated on the topic.

“I think it is,” Chanyeol says.

“A discovery has been made from within our own library here at the castle,” the King says.  Confidence shows through his words and steady tone.  A true leader and one whose presence demands attention.  “Hidden from us by King Joowan for all of these years though the deception of magic.  His words have revealed a web of lies and tricks in order to hurt our Kingdom.”

“King Joowan is to be stripped of all titles posthumously from this point forth.  After obtaining Cadaverine, he has deceived all of us into believing that witches in love lose control of their powers.  This is not true and has never been true.   This is a lie manufactured by King Joowan after learning that Queen Mina, a witch, was being unfaithful.  His emotions have brought devastation and control among all witches for generations.”

“It is time to fix our mistakes and reshape our community of witches.  The council and I have been in deep discussion about what will now come forth.  I tell you that much more discussion will need to be had.  As for right now, I have lifted the ban on witches falling in love and may they choose whomever they wish to be with.”

Chanyeol’s eyes are on Kyungsoo instead of his father throughout the entire speech.  The amount of gasps of the audience is enough for him to know their reaction, but one he wants to see the most stands before him.  Face full of confliction emotions, Kyungsoo stares up at the King in awe, shock, and what Chanyeol believes may be happiness. 

The Prince gives the witch time to process what is being said before he tries to talk to him.  Tension runs through Chanyeol’s shoulders in pain, but he waits for Kyungsoo to look at him to signal that he may talk.  The silence is overwhelming but he powers through it, listening to the large crowd.  He glances at the balcony his father stands, but it is empty, signaling that this announcement has concluded and he has retired into his bedroom.  Chanyeol knows he will be with the council as soon as he can.

Kyungsoo finally turns to him and the Prince is forced into a calming breath before he return’s the witch’s eye contact.  This was a mistake.  Kyungsoo is looking up at him with wonder, but seems to be searching for something else within Chanyeol.  Cowardly, Chanyeol is forced to turn away at what that gaze means to the Prince but does not necessarily mean for the witch.  He opts to look anywhere but the small witch to put himself at ease.

Terrified by the silence, unlike the other who is almost rejuvenated by it, Chanyeol is the first to speak, but he does not get very far due.  His large hands have started to become a bit clammy.  “I, uh-”

“How long have you known about this?”  Kyungsoo asks.  There is no anger in his voice, but it is a bit distant.  He must not have yet recovered from receiving the news.

“I was the one who found it,” Chanyeol admits, a bit sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.  “So I have known the longest out of everyone here.”

“How did you find out?” the witch asks, brows furrowed.

“King Joowan’s journal was hidden in the Royal Collection behind the wall.  It was protected by a disillusionment spell.  I just so happened to stumble across it,” the Prince explains.  “It has been about a week since then.”

“A week!” Kyungsoo exclaims.  His eyes narrow.  “Why did you hide this?”

“I couldn’t tell you!  I couldn’t tell anyone,” the Prince quickly tried to explain to the irate witch.  His hands are in front of him, his only line of defense from a being with mystical powers that could kill him in an instant.  “My father thought it would be best if we obtained verification about what was written in the journal.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t speak as his face has returned to a more neutral stance, the one Chanyeol has been familiar with since their first meeting.  Taking the silence as waiting, the Prince keeps on talking, voice turning a bit more serious.  “Joowan is a jealous mad bastard.  The things he has done and the lengths he went to are despicable.  This whole kingdom has been manipulated by his evilness for so long.  If you had read the journal, Kyungsoo, then you would have known that it would be hard to take such a thing as truthful upon first glance.

At this, the witch finally looks away, gripping the balcony and scanning the crowd.  They go unnoticed under the large rumble of voices that are still shocked by the revelation made earlier.  Chanyeol is sure Kyungsoo is feeling it as well.  “Is that why you have been avoiding me?”

The voice is soft and it surprises the Prince to hear it.  Kyungsoo’s not someone who is loud, but when he speaks his voice is clear and demands to be heard.  This voice was almost the complete opposite, as if he was worried about hearing the answer.  Why would Kyungsoo care about something like Chanyeol avoiding him?  Hasn’t that been what the witch has been asking for all this time.

“Yes, but also no,” Chanyeol tries to answer.  He rubs his hands on the balcony to get some of the sweat off.  As he takes another steady breath, he is glad the other has decided to look at the crowd instead of him.  It makes him feel less judged for what he is about to say.  “At Baekhyun’s party, I was drunk and I kept thinking about you.  I realized that I liked you, a lot.”

Chanyeol aggressively runs his hand through his hair before continuing.  He can feel his mouth drying up.  “Baekhyun was worried about me because of it and told me that I should try and step back and put some space between us.  I should have done it a long time ago, but I hadn’t.  I was being foolish.”

“That would have been better,” Kyungsoo says as he turns to look back at Chanyeol.  He clarifies, “if you had left earlier, I mean.”

There was a hint of rejection in that voice and it terrified Chanyeol.  Uncomfortable, he finds himself letting out a back of laughter and spoke what he hopes wasn’t the truth, “because you couldn’t wait to get rid of me?”

“No,” the witch starts out, and Chanyeol lets out the breath that he had unconsciously been holding in.  “I grew attached to you against my better judgement.  My whole life has taught be not to form any type of bond with anyone and yet I broke the most important rule of all witches and I put you and myself in danger.”  He lets out an almost hysterical short laugh.  “Not that it was any real danger at all, now.  Still, it was my responsibility to end or limit my contact with you.”

Chanyeol has turned to fully face Kyungsoo now, who has stopped looking out towards the crowd and now steadies himself on the banister.  There is a beating in his chest that is trying to overpower him.  “But you didn’t.”

“I didn’t,” the witch confirms and that is all the Prince needs to hear before a smile is overtaking his face and stretching his face unbearably wide.  He turns to look at the shorter boy.

“Kyungsoo?”

The witch steadily turns from his spot on the railing to look at the other.  He looks up and his eyes widen when the vibrant smile on the Prince’s face.  “Yes?”

“Would you like to move to White Falls with me?”  Chanyeol asks, eyes full of hope but fingers trembling as he tries to steady his grip on the railing.  The other doesn’t respond as he remains in his shocked state of wide eyes, but mouth falling a bit open as the Prince’s question finally hits him.

He steps back and lightly hits Chanyeol with a small wind spell which ruffles up his hair.  “Are you kidding me?”  Emotions of anger and irritation fill his eyes.  “You leave in a week!  How can you ask something so big of me right now?”

After recovering from the gust of wind and pushing his hair back, he puts his hands on the witch’s shoulders to calm him, which backfires by the witch flinching a bit at the contact.  Despite the reaction, Chanyeol still does not lose his smile and actually feels a surge of confidence run through him.  He speaks quickly, unable to contain himself l like a child.  “I was really stupid and I a couple of weeks ago I actually made a plan to move all your things and your business to White Falls so that we could be close, but I was lying to myself by saying it was if you couldn’t find the potion in time.”

“You did what?”  Kyungsoo asks incredulously.

“The castle has all this space, so I went and counted all your plants in your two gardens and I realized they can be transported using that spell I found in the book that changed my hair.  There’s a greenhouse and this huge basement which I wasn’t really planning on using.  You like really dark things and it would be perfect for you to set up things or I found a really nice house just a two minute walk which has the same dreary feel your house has if you needed that,” Chanyeol rambles on, hands still on Kyungsoo’s shoulders.  The witch is looking up at him in amazement, at his ability to think ahead or his stupidity, the Prince is unsure.  “You even said that you have no attachment to your current house or to this land in particular.”

“I have a lot of clients,” the witch protests weekly.

“You said it yourself, people spend their life savings for a good Matchmaker, they will follow you,” the Prince says, fondly.  “Anyways, if more people come to White Falls then I am sure the economy will boom even more.”

The witch snorts.  “You have really outdone yourself.”

“Is that a yes?”  Chanyeol asks.  A small upturn of the lips appears on Kyungsoo’s face and the Prince is almost floored by it.  The first time he has seen the other smile and it was beautiful.  Kyungsoo nods his head and that is all Chanyeol needs before pulling the smaller man close so that their lips can meet.  Short and sweet, yet Chanyeol still feels the upturning of the corners of his lips.

He pulls back and drops his hands from the witch’s shoulders to his hands and takes it.  Hand in his, he starts towards the balcony door.  “Let’s go!  We need to get you packed and my whole plan is basically you doing magic to make it happen.”

In response, Kyungsoo lets out a laugh and it is the best thing that Chanyeol has ever heard.  The Prince thinks that the first things to go are all of the work that the witch has done to research a potion to break up a Fated.  He was Kyungsoo’s Fated and there was no reason that that bond should be severed.