Chapter Text
The longer Seungmin was gone the worse Minho’s condition again. After a few days, the mark on his neck had returned to its former state and the prince was barely conscious between Jisung feeding him soups and water.
Felix had started showing up in front of the door, demanding to see his brother as he heard he was doing better and it hurt Jisung to turn him away. He was the only one who knew that Felix was immune to the sickness and he’d rather not explain how and why to anyone.
“You’ll be the first one to know when it’s safe to come in.” He tried placating him through the closed door.
“But you’re not sick either. I’ll just do whatever you do to keep safe.” Felix argued.
That made sense but how would Jisung explain that he was immune too? Not knowing what else he should do, he started coughing.
“I’m… sick too… For some reason it didn’t affect me as badly as Minho…” He said, wondering if he was overdoing it with the coughs in between talking.
Felix was silent for a second, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Just… Can you just tell me how you two are? I haven’t seen you or Min in almost two weeks and I don’t have a lot of other people to talk to…”
Jisung wanted to open the door and spend time with Felix but Chan had chided him lots of times that he shouldn’t let anyone in, in case it would reveal his secret.
“I’m sorry, Felix.” He said, “As soon as Seungmin is back and we’re both healthy, we’ll spend so much time with you, you’ll probably want to get rid of us.”
He thought for a second, “We’re both okay. Could be better of course. Minho is sleeping, I’m probably also going to lie down again soon.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Minho was doing better than before he got the medicine a few days ago, but he was back to a state of barely being awake and fever high enough to make him barely able to hold a conversation.
“I’m glad… Please get better soon. I…” Felix’s voice broke off shortly, “I’ve been having some scary dreams.”
Jisung blanched at the idea that Felix had a bad prophetic dream about them, he was relieved the prince couldn’t see him.
“What were they about?” He asked carefully.
“I don’t fully remember…” Felix started, “But there was a snake and it was crushing Minho, and he didn’t really fight back.”
That sounded definitely bad, Jisung thought.
“I’ve had this dream more than once in the last few days and it just makes me worry, you know? I usually don’t remember my dreams but that one it’s-”
“It’s just a dream, Felix. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.” Jisung tried to calm him down while he himself was also trying not to overthink too much what this could mean.
He still hadn’t even processed the last full prophecy Felix had a few weeks ago, between taking care of Minho and looking up spells he hadn’t really had the time for thinking about impending doom.
Felix was silent for a few seconds again, “Yeah, you’re probably right…”
“Umm… I’m going to take a nap now if you don’t mind…” Jisung tried to end this conversation before the topic became even more uncomfortable, luckily Felix didn’t argue.
“I’m also going to go back to my room… I heard that they caught the culprit but nobody is telling me anything, I wanted to go see for myself who’s responsible for this but Father forbids it…”
Jisung could imagine why. Felix didn’t really seem like the type of guy who would accept a child to be executed, the King probably wanted to spare himself the argument that would ensue. He briefly wondered what Minho would do when he found out. He hoped the prince would be on the same side as him but what if he wasn’t? Jisung didn’t want to think about what he’d do if Minho wanted to see the kid dead too. He could probably never look at the prince in the same way.
He shook his head, trying to banish these thoughts. He didn’t even know what he would do and he certainly wasn’t the condition to pass judgement like that right now.
“Jisung? Are you still there?” Felix asked and Jisung realized that he hadn’t answered him.
“Yes, sorry. Maybe they are still dangerous and the King doesn’t want to risk you being near them?” Jisung suggested. He felt so bad for lying to him but what else was he supposed to do?
“Probably… anyway… sleep tight, Jisungie.”
“Bye, Felix…”
If Seungmin had returned a day later, Jisung didn’t know what he would have done. When the knight finally returned with a whole carriage of yellow wood bark, Minho was barely strong enough to lift his head to drink the medicine.
Luckily, the medicine worked fast. After two days with 4 doses of the tincture, Minho was feeling almost normal again. He was still coughing a bit from time to time, but the fever had completely receded.
Every morning, Jisung checked Minho’s neck for the slowly fading mark.
“How are you feeling?” Minho asked at the start of the third day.
“Me? I’m good.”
“I just thought I should check your neck too… I can’t believe you managed to keep tending to me while you were also sick…”
“Oh, umm… no worries, I looked into the mirror earlier. I can’t see anything.” Jisung laughed awkwardly. He was glad that Minho had apparently been so out of it that he hadn’t even realized that Jisung wasn’t sick.
“The mark is gone. I think we can finally leave.” He quickly changed the topic.
“How many days has it been? I kind of lost track of time…” Minho admitted.
“I’m not surprised, you were sleeping most of the time. You were ill for almost three weeks.”
“Three weeks… That means it’s already May, right?”
“It’s almost June actually. Chan kept me up to date through the door. Don’t worry you didn’t miss that much.”
“Is there a lead on the culprit?” The prince asked as he checked how well he could move his arm and carefully started dressing himself.
“There is… Chan caught them, that’s how he found out about the cure…” Jisung told him hesitantly.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Minho looked at him, almost offended that Jisung withheld information.
“I mean, you weren’t exactly in the right mind for the last few weeks…”
Minho thought for a second, “I guess you’re right. Sorry… Catch me up then.”
Jisung hesitated again but in the end he had to tell Minho what he knew, he would learn about the kid soon enough anyway.
He watched Minho’s features harden, his eyes sharp and furious but Jisung couldn’t really tell where that anger was directed.
When Jisung was finished, Minho pulled on his jacket and left the room, the door shutting with a loud bang behind him.
Jisung was stunned for a second before he quickly ran after the prince.
He followed Minho down the stairs and almost bumped into Felix. Apologizing to the younger prince, he didn’t stop and instead ran after Minho.
The prince didn’t stop until he reached the throne room. The doors slammed open as he entered, startling the King and Chan out of a quiet discussion.
“Son, I see you are doing much better.” The King greeted him.
“Is it true, Father? You are planning to execute a child?” Minho cut right to the chase.
Jisung was awkwardly standing behind him as Chan sent him a look that could only mean “So, you told him…”
The King shook his head, “I am planning to execute a dangerous sorcerer.”
“The culprit you caught is a child?” Felix, who had followed them, asked from behind Jisung.
Chan stepped between the King and Minho and raised his hands in a placating manner, “Let’s all calm down first, okay?”
“Calm down? When I am supposed to accept that a child is going to burn at the stake?” Minho pushed back.
“You of all people should want the culprit to be brought to justice. You almost died, Minho.”
“This is not justice, it’s cruelty.”
The King stood up from his throne and made his way towards Minho, “I won’t be chastised by my son.” He motioned Chan to back away, his attempt to de-escalate the situation completely failed. Minho was slightly shorter than his father, making the King even more intimidating than Jisung had thought until now.
“Father, Min is right, this is-”
The King cut him off immediately, “Keep out of this, Felix.”
The younger prince’s mouth snapped shut at the King’s harsh tone.
“Don’t talk to him like that.” Minho immediately jumped to defend his brother.
“I will talk to both of you however I like. You are both out of line. That fever must have cooked your brain, you are forgetting your place.”
Minho raised his head in defiance, “Really? Because I feel like my head is much clearer than yours right now.”
“Oh is it? Then what in your great wisdom are you suggesting I do with this dangerous individual who is responsible for countless deaths?” The King challenged him.
Minho looked a bit taken aback before quickly catching himself again, “He’s a small child whose grief was taken advantage of by evil forces. I agree that he deserves punishment but not death.”
“Your Majesty…” Chan interrupted, “Prince Minho has a point. Many of your subjects would scorn the idea of a child dying, even if they are responsible…”
Jisung wasn’t sure if Minho had wanted to make that point but he was glad that Chan was here to twist his words into something useful.
The King rolled his eyes, something Jisung had seen Minho do so many times it was interesting to see where he got it from.
“And then he grows up and he’ll bring even greater devastation. There is only one deal with sorcerers, they should not exist.”
Minho threw his hands up in frustration, “You can’t be serious!”
“I am doing what I have to do to protect my kingdom. I am done with this argument, I will not change the sentence. The sorcerer will burn by the end of next week.” The King said as he walked back towards his throne.
“Father, how can yo-”
“Chan, escort my sons back to their chambers. I don’t want to see them here again until they decide to apologize for their behavior.”
Chan looked a bit apologetic but he couldn’t go against a direct order from the King.
Chan brought them all back to Minho’s chambers. As soon as the door was closed, Felix finally dared to speak again.
“Channie, you won’t let this happen, right?”
“I will try to dissuade the King but in the end my hands are bound…”
“Then we have to do something!” Felix insisted.
Chan sighed, “I fear that it’s not that easy…”
“Why not?”
“Chan is right, Lix…” Minho grumbled, obviously frustrated.
“Why can we not do anything?” Felix repeated.
“If the boy was miraculously freed, the King would know you two were behind it.” Chan explained.
“And?” Felix asked defiantly.
“His Majesty is not thinking clearly when it comes to magic. He could revoke Minho’s and your claim to the throne and turn back to a succession through adoption.”
Jisung cut in, “That’s possible?”
“It is. It's usually used when the reigning monarch doesn’t have any biological heirs.” Minho said grimly.
“So if you try to get the kid out of his death sentence, you can’t become king anymore?” Jisung asked Minho.
“It could happen.” Chan confirmed instead of the prince.
Jisung thought for a second, “What if Minho and Felix are with the king when the child is freed?”
“Then who’s going to do it?” Felix asked.
Chan seemed to catch on immediately, “Jisung, no.”
“Why not? I can do it.”
Minho’s eyes widened, “Are you crazy? If you get caught…”
“Don’t worry. I will deny that you put me up to it and nothing will lead back to you.” Jisung tried to put off his concerns.
“Do you really think I care about that?” The prince looked almost angry, “If you get caught, you’re getting executed right along with the boy.”
“Then I won’t get caught.”
“That’s way too dangerous, Jisungie!” Felix joined his brother’s side.
Chan’s face was dead serious, “You are not going to do this. I promised your mother to keep you safe.”
“I can disguise myself! Chan knows the guards’ schedule. Maybe we can make it look like he escaped with magic.” Jisung argued.
“We are not talking about this anymore. You are not going to do that, and we can’t just set him free anyway. While I don’t think he should be executed, he deserves some form of punishment for causing so many deaths.” Minho shot down his idea again.
Jisung crossed his arms, “Well, it’s either set him free or let him die, because the King doesn’t seem like he wants to change his mind, and since you all can’t do anything, I’m the only logical choice.”
None of them came up with a counterargument, they knew he was right even if they weren’t happy about it.
“Can you leave us alone for a second?” Minho asked, looking at Chan and Felix.
He grabbed Jisung by the arm and pulled him towards the bedroom as the other two slowly left the room.
As soon as they were gone, Minho turned to look at him again.
“Why are you so insistent on throwing your life away on this suicide mission?”
“It’s not a suicide mission. Why are you all underestimating me? If you knew what I can do…”
“And what
can
you do?” The prince asked harshly, making Jisung realize his slip of tongue.
“I… umm…” He stammered as he tried to come up with an explanation that wasn’t magic.
“Exactly, Jisung, you are a servant, a commoner. You don’t have any combat training, or experience in infiltrating places. If you try to free this boy, you will get caught and you will die.” There was a quiet fury about the prince, Jisung thought he looked even angrier than earlier when he’d talked to the King.
He was reminded of what Felix had told him a while ago, “Minho can be a bit prickly but deep down he always means well.”
Minho was indeed angry with him but it stemmed from a place of caring.
“I just… I want to help the boy…” Jisung said, his confidence slightly worn down by Minho’s berating.
“I don’t want him to die either, but you cannot throw your life away for a boy you have never met, who killed so many people.”
“I’m just a servant…” Jisung started, “I’m not important.”
“You absolute moron.” Minho grabbed his shirt and crashed their lips together. Jisung’s world stopped for a second, his brain completely incapable of processing what was happening.
When Minho let go of him, he couldn’t do anything but stare at him with his mouth slightly agape.
“You’re important to
me
.” The prince said.
“Wha-...” Jisung could still feel where Minho’s lips had touched his, so much softer than he’d had ever imagined. He couldn’t deny that he’d grown to like Minho. He’d found himself watching the prince during council meetings or while he was working at his desk and Jisung was cleaning the room more than once. When Minho had gotten sick he didn’t even think twice before trying to care for him, even when he didn’t know yet that he was immune. He wanted to stay close to Minho as much as possible. But in the end, Jisung was a commoner, not just that, he was a sorcerer, and Minho was the crown prince of the most anti-magic kingdom of this world. Never in his life had he imagined Minho would actually kiss him.
“I’m… I’m sorry, I should have asked.” Minho took another step back when he realized Jisung stopped reacting to anything.
He had completely lost his ability to form coherent sentences, “No… I… umm… you…”
“Are you okay?” Minho asked.
Jisung nodded shortly. Just the tiniest spark of mischief sparked in the prince’s eyes.
“Do you want me to do it again?”
His brain didn’t need to work properly for him to know the answer, as he quickly nodded.
Minho smiled as leaned in again, kissing him a second time. This time slower, less heated but equally as sweet.
Jisung’s head finally caught up again as he carefully reciprocated. He’d never kissed anyone like that before, he didn’t really know what to do so he just relied on Minho to guide him. Somehow they ended up on the armchair in Minho’s bedroom with Jisung sitting on the prince’s lap.
When they separated again, he couldn’t help but lay his head on Minho’s shoulder as the prince put his arms around him. He felt slightly dazed, even if the kiss wasn’t long.
“Please don’t risk your life so easily…” Minho repeated a lot softer than earlier, sounding a lot more vulnerable, “I need you…”
Before the others returned to the room, Minho quickly fixed Jisung’s hair that had become a little tussled.
“Did Minho talk some sense into you?” Chan asked.
“I… guess you could say that…” Jisung tried not to blush furiously.
He had promised Minho not to do anything stupid. But when both princes were required to attend a reception of a diplomat from the Kingdom of Miroh on Jisung’s free day, he saw his chance.
He practiced magic with Chan and overplayed his exhaustion before going to bed. He had moved on to slightly more advanced magic that came in useful now.
He bundled up a few pillows and books under his blanket and used a spell to layer a very thinly veiled illusion of himself sleeping over them. In the dark and if Chan didn’t try to walk up and touch him, it was a great distraction.
He climbed out of his window and quickly made his way to the dungeons. Before he entered, he entered a dark alley and took out a mirror from his pocket.
The spell he wanted to use wasn’t one he’d ever tried before on a human, he just hoped it would work. Transformations were more difficult than simple illusions since he had to actually change his body instead of just putting a picture over it. He had practiced transformations on some plants, changing the color of their petals. He didn’t always succeed but he was getting better at it. He focused on his features in the mirror.
It took him two attempts but he saw the color of his hair change into a honey gold color, he’d tried to go for a bright blonde but this would work too. His slightly puffy cheeks started to slim down and his jawline became sharper. His skin became lighter and a bit rougher.
When he was finished he almost did not recognize himself in the small mirror.
He still pulled on the hood of his cloak just to be sure, and made his way down to the dungeons.
It was dark and cold, the only light came from a small lantern on a table in the corner where the guard was seated.
He took a small bottle from his pocket, Minho didn’t need the sleeping draught anymore now that he felt better. He levitated it carefully, letting it float up and over towards the guard. He threw a small pebble into the corridor with the cells, catching the guard’s attention long enough for him to look away from his cup.
“Be quiet over there, brat!” He yelled.
Jisung managed to put the elixir into the cup before he noticed. It didn’t take long until he heard the clang of a helmet that fell to the ground as the guard fell asleep on his chair, slumped over the small table.
“Sorry…” He whispered as he picked up the cell keys and quickly snuck towards the cells.
The dungeons were fairly empty right now, not much crime going on while the whole city kept away from each other as much as possible in fear of catching a life-threatening disease.
He followed the sound of quiet sniffling towards the back where he saw a young boy, curled up at the back of a cell, silently crying.
He looked spooked when he spotted Jisung.
“Don’t be scared, I’m a friend.” Jisung whispered as he started unlocking the cell door.
“Who… who are you?” The boy asked, looking at him with fear in his eyes.
“I told you, I’m a friend. I’m going to get you out of here.” Jisung opened the door with a friendly smile.
“B-but… I hurt so many people…” Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes.
“As far as I heard you didn’t mean to, right?”
The boy quickly shook his head, “The spell… she said it would only hurt the King.”
“She? Who is ‘she’?” Jisung asked but then he heard a sound from outside the cell, concluding they didn’t have the time to talk here.
He held out his hand to the boy who hesitantly took it.
“Are you really helping me to get out of here?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t lie about that. Now come on.”
The guard was luckily still asleep when they snuck past him, Jisung made sure to close the cell door again, locked it and returned the key. If everything went according to plan, they would not leave a trace and from the guard’s perspective, the boy would have just disappeared from a locked cell.
The courtyard was too obvious to escape so he took a risk by leading him into the castle and towards the secret passage Minho had shown him weeks ago.
They had a few close calls, hiding under stairs and in broom closets when a guard passed them but they actually made it to the entrance of the secret passage.
Jisung dared letting out a relieved sigh when he held the hidden door open for the boy but immediately regretted it when he heard a voice behind him, “Hey! Who are you?”
He heard Seungmin’s familiar voice behind him. If the knight was here, the feast to greet the diplomat had to be over already.
Jisung cursed and quickly hurried inside.
“Stop!” Seungmin yelled as he followed him.
Jisung grabbed a torch and ignited it with fire, the boy’s eyes growing wide.
“You are like me…” He gasped.
“Yes, no time to talk to. We have to run. Down the stairs, two right, two left.” He said as he grabbed the boy’s hand again and started running.
The door behind them opened again as Seungmin reached it.
“Jeongin! Get reinforcements, someone is freeing the sorcerer!”
Jisung couldn’t blame him for chasing them. Every knight was under direct orders of the King. Even Chan wouldn’t have gotten around reporting them.
They couldn’t evade him for long, Jisung could feel him catching up to them.
“I’m so sorry…” Jisung muttered under his breath as he turned around, threw the torch towards the knight and used a spell to make the flames big enough to create a barrier between them.
Seungmin stopped and Jisung was just glad his plan worked until he saw the fire growing as it fed from old tapestries and wooden beams that looked like they should have collapsed decades ago.
He didn’t have time to wait and see what would happen as he quickly followed the boy again.
He heard a loud crash as the first stones came down and the whole passage started collapsing.
He heard Seungmin alert the reinforcements that there was a fire but he couldn’t focus on that as they finally made it outside and close to a small gap in the walls, just big enough for a child to fit through.
“Do you know where east is?” Jisung asked him quickly.
The boy nodded.
“Great. Head east, follow the big river. In a few days you will reach a small village with a church built out of red stones. Ask for Eunji and tell her…” He thought for a second, “Tell her Ji sent you and that you are like me and you need to run and hide. Do you understand?”
The boy nodded again, “Thank you. Thank you so much!” He wailed.
“No need to thank me. Now run before the guards catch up.”
The boy quickly crawled through the hole.
Jisung was about to leave when he heard the child’s voice again, “Wait. The pretty lady gave me the spell. The pretty lady with the golden hair.” He said before running away.