Love the Moon

Kim Jongin & Do Kyungsoo

Once he feels himself waking, he doesn't make any movement. In moments like this he felt like if he continued to pretend then maybe things would be better and that his dreams would come to claim him. In his dreams he could do as he pleased and it wasn't any extravagant like travelling the Kingdoms and enjoying all that they had to offer. No. He simply wanted to leave the palace once in a while, explore the palace grounds without everyone watching his every movement. He was seen as a threat to the throne though he had absolutely no desire for such a thing. It'd been a suggestion, to have him leave the palace with nothing more than a pouch of coins and a promise for land. However that had been shut down due to the paranoia of the King, knowing that a secret was out in the world with no one to watch and contain it for fear that it would grow and sow seeds for his downfall. There's a draft in the room and it chills him to the core, though this wasn't uncommon in the merciless mountains of Zelithiel.

"How much longer will you sleep? You have work to do today Kyungsoo," a harsh voice and the splash of water is what cruelly pulls him out of his daydreams. Kyungsoo rises from his bed before his eyes open and when they do he sees what he always sees when he wakes. It was a small room with thin cloth walls that did not insulate very well at all. There was still hay on the wooden floorboards though Kyungsoo meticulously tried to sweep everything away each night, it always came back in the morning. His bed was made of hay, wrapped tightly in some leftover fabric and that was everything he had in the room. It was one of the empty rooms in the servants quarters. They'd had to make a separate room for him since he was the only male servant in the palace, every other male worked at the stables or in the military. Kyungsoo however, didn't have that luxury.

"Is there a guest today?" Kyungsoo asks Hyoyeon, the head maiden of the palace, who'd so kindly woken him up this morning. He gets out of bed and brushes himself off before he begins to prepare himself for the day. Kyungsoo uses the leftover water to wash his face and he dries it with a cloth hung by the window. Hyoyeon seems impatient with him, like she always was but Kyungsoo knows that though she wants to yell at him to hurry, she can't. Kyungsoo may be a prisoner in the palace and at a lower class than she was but by blood he was much higher than she could ever dream to be. Kyungsoo tightens his robes more than usual since he knows that if a guest was at the palace, work would be much much harder than usual.

"A Lord from Feraveth visits today, the King's brother," Hyoyeon replies and Kyungsoo swallows the ball forming in his throat. Everyone had heard of the rumours surrounding the infamous Lord of Feraveth. None were good. Kyungsoo pitied the servants who'd be chosen to warm his bed tonight. He didn't worry too much since he was usually kept out of sight around guests anyways, it was strange to have a male working within the palace rather than outside of it but Kyungsoo was one of those exceptions. As Kyungsoo steps outside, Hyoyeon immediately begins leading the way and he follows. He keeps his head down and his eyes on the path his feet take, knowing that looking around would only have him scolded. Kyungsoo follows her dutifully and as they weave along the cold stone pathways they take a route parallel to the King who seems to be making his way to the front gates.

Kyungsoo resents the man and he doesn't spare a glance though he does bow his head when Hyoyeon does because the last thing he wants is to draw attention to himself. As they continue on towards the servants pavilions Kyungsoo holds his breath and clenches his fists. The King, his father, was a despicable man. Kyungsoo loathed him, everything that he was and everything he had done. His mother had been but a loyal servant, a servant that he'd laid with when his Queen was unaware of it. His mother left the palace as soon as she'd known she was pregnant and she fled to her hometown where everyone had shunned her for having given birth before marriage. But his mother had done everything she could to ensure that he was healthy and that he had enough to eat growing up. Though it had always been little. When Kyungsoo was 16 the King had somehow come to learn of his existence and dragged him back to the palace, leaving his mother alone.