A Tiger Called Rapunzel ✓ || TaeGyu || HYBEPride 2021

One Foot In Front Of The Other

"Look at all of these flowers," Cholongkkoch said as she skipped behind Taehyun. She was collecting wildflowers as she went, some of them brightly colored and others just green leaves. "Did you know that you can take these ginkgo leaves and put them in your food?"

"Ehh..." Taehyun was still brain dead. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that Cholongkkoch wasn't a girl. First of all, it did finally make sense why he liked her — but that didn't answer the other question in the back of his mind. Why had Cholongkkoch's mother raised her as a girl, instead of a boy? Had she wanted a daughter so badly that she had deceived her own son for so long?

And then Taehyun paused. Because Kang Taehyun is not an idiot.

He looked back at Cholongkkoch and tried to recall the portrait of Prince Beomgyu he had seen while raiding the castle last. The long-dead prince had blonde hair, just like Cholongkkoch's. On top of that, it would confirm why Cholongkkoch had a daemon. If she — he? — had magic, then it would make sense to have her as part of the royal family. Could it be? Was this just some big misunderstanding? It made enough sense to Taehyun.

But he realized he could not tell Cholongkkoch about his hunches. Not until he confirmed a few things, anyway. He might get a better idea if Cholongkkoch and Prince Beomgyu were the same person if he could get her to stand close enough to the portrait. That would happen tomorrow night, for sure. And as for Cholongkkoch's mother...he wasn't sure what Cholongkkoch's mother's motive was in hiding a probable Prince from the rest of the world for eighteen years. He didn't even know who Cholongkkoch's mother was, come to think of it. He had obviously never met her.

There were too many missing pieces and he needed to sit down and think about it and he couldn't do that if Cholongkkoch was still running around behind him prancing about as a girl! And Taehyun wondered if Cholongkkoch maybe had some of the answers he was looking for. He had just never considered asking.

"Hey, Cho-yah? I want to know about your mother."

At the mention of her mama, Cholongkkoch panicked. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, you seem to like her a lot. And she does a lot for you, by keeping you safe in that tower. I just...wanted to know more, is all."

Oh. That was innocent enough. Taehyun just hadn't asked before was all! So Cholongkkoch told Taehyun about her mama, and within ten seconds, Taehyun had his answer. "My mama's name is Heulin, and she was persecuted several years ago for having magic."

Gosh damn, Taehyun thought to himself as Cholongkkoch continued to ramble about her mom. The King's sister? She was reported dead a long time ago, same as her fated lover. But she survived? I don't know why she'd be hiding the Prince like this, but I bet she has some sort of vendetta against her brother. Perhaps she wanted the throne? The lineage isn't picky about gender but is picky about age, and Namjoon was the older one...

"...and she makes the most wonderful casseroles." Cholongkkoch sighed, happy in her own head remembering her mama's cooking. "Oh, this is making me hungry! Would you like a cookie?"

"No thank you," Taehyun said with a smile. He'd love to have a sandwich right about now, but he wasn't sure he would ever be in the mood for a mint chocolate cookie.

"What about your family? What's your wife's name? Do you have any children? Oh, I've been wondering this for some time."

Taehyun tried to keep ahead of the conversation the best he could. "No, no — I don't have a wife, I don't have a family. I have some friends, but I...I just stick to my work. I've had many paramours, don't get me wrong, but nobody wants to stick around me for long."

"Aww, why not?"

"Because I'm too busy with my work. I spend most of my days doing that. And on my days off, I usually end up coming here and visiting with you." The moment he had said the words, Taehyun realized how they had came out. "I mean -- it's not like I have friends that I can just go to a cafe with. I don't have any hobbies." None that I can tell you about, anyway.

"You don't know how to paint?"

"No?"

"And you've never read books?"

"I mean -- I used to, a long time ago. I grew up in an orphanage with my best friend. We started working for the palace when we became adults. But when we lived at the orphanage, they had a library, and we would take turns reading from the books that were there. Most of them were textbooks and scrolls, but there were some collections of fairy tales that we would read. Mostly princess stories, though. I bet you know all of those."

"I actually haven't. Have you ever read Treasure Island?"

"Isn't that kind of a big book?"

"It is. And it's the most wonderful." And Cholongkkoch -- or whatever she should go by if she wasn't really a girl -- launched into a spiel about pirates and sailing and Long John Silver and mutiny on the high seas. Taehyun was shocked how easily Cholongkkoch talked about swordfights and storms. This wasn't what he had expected a girl to be into at all!

"All I've ever wanted was to go on my own adventure," she said, still trailing behind Taehyun. "On the sea, or on the land. It doesn't matter to me."

"Well, you're getting your first taste of one now," Taehyun agreed. "All we're doing is going to the palace, but that's further than you've ever been able to go before." He checked the sky. "It's starting to get dark. We should make haste so we can reach our stopping point soon. Come along, Cho-yah. Onward to our adventure. What other books have you read?"