✔️ Predicted 𓆩♡𓆪 | y.jw

12

Jungwon was right. I was freezing. 

I was shivering underneath the layers of blankets he had wrapped around me, and the exposed part of my face felt like it was going to fall off at any second. To make matters even worse, the wind was so strong it was making my eyes burn and water. 

To my dismay, my prince charming (eyeroll) seemed to not be affected by the weather at all. He looked calm, as if my limbs weren't about to fall off at any moment. His eyes were ahead, but turned to me once noticing my stares. 

"Is something the matter, my lady?" 

I looked down, my pride not letting me admit that I was a human icicle. "No." 

My troubles dissapeared as we finally made it off of the path and into the indoor garden. I felt like jumping out of my wheelchair in happiness the second the heat of the garden met my skin, defrosting me. I let out a relieved sigh. 

Jungwon snorted. 

I looked up to glare at him. "Is something the matter, my prince?" I asked, imitating him. 

Jungwon smirked. "No, other than the fact that your hair and the color of your face looks like you just went through a snowstorm." 

I rolled my eyes. "Close enough. How were you not freezing?" 

"Who's to say I wasn't? I just have godly visuals." Once again, I rolled my eyes. 

Jungwon continued pushing me along the trail, the garden lit up by mushroom lights lining the path. Fairy lights were strung along the bushes and trees around us, along with the light of the moon shining through the glass on the top. Although the building itself was dark, the different types of lights adorning the garden was able to light it up. A sign caught my eyes. 

"Sheep Garden?" I read out loud, wondering if I had read it wrong. 

Behind me, Jungwon nodded. "I had this garden built when I was younger. The literal meaning of 'Yang Garden' is Sheep Garden, so my eight-year-old self thought it would be hilarious to name an official palace garden Sheep Garden." 

"I see."

We strolled down the trail in a comfortable silence. I was glad that I was able to get out of the infirmary, even if it was just for a little while. I was turning to every flower and plant that caught my attention, occasionally peeking at Jungwon to see what he was doing. For the most part, he was also watching the shrubbery and listening to the low hum of insects. 

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked, breaking the silence. 

Jungwon nodded. "Ask away." 

"What would happen to you if you were caught?" 

Jungwon paused. The pause lasted for so long that I had feared I had asked something that should have been left unasked, or that this was not a place that I could ask something like this without getting caught. Finally, Jungwon spoke again. 

"I'm not quite sure, to be completely honest. No prince has ever done this or even tried to do this before, so there isn't really a specific punishment designated for this." He said. 

I nodded. That made sense. I recall how I had gone to the library the next morning after Yunseo's death to research any way to help. None of the books I scanned even mentioned anything about royals or nobels helping humans escape from farms. 

Jungwon continued. "My father is a man of pride, so I don't believe that killing me would be an option. Not only would it leave the Yang Kingdom heirless, but it would also immensely penetrate his pride to have to kill his own son. My father would most likely call it bluff, then proceed to have me monitored for the rest of my life. So basically, I wouldn't have any freedom to do what I please anymore and would be a puppet prince, and eventually a puppet king. The same would go for the other princes." 

"Ah." I said, taking in the information. "And... what would happen to people who helped you who aren't royalty?" I asked timidly. Jungwon stopped. 

"Death penalty." he said quietly. 

I fell silent. Of course, this outcome had occured to me before. I was only a mistress, not to mention a human. It'd make sense that the King and the noblemen would see me as something that was useless, so they wouldn't hesitate to kill me if they were to find out about our plans. Death didn't scare me, but the other outcomes of being caught do. 

Jungwon and the other princes wouldn't be able to help the children in the farms anymore, which would be a huge set back considering the fact that they were the main hope for the children. Adding to that, there would be more security around the children, thus making it harder to even infiltrate the farms. There was even a chance that they would start terrorizing the children to take away any thought of escaping or finding help from the outside world. 

"But, I promise that I won't let you get the death penalty. You won't be taken away." Jungwon said sternly, even determinedly. 

"Not again." He whispered. 

I turned around, not quite catching the last part of his words. "What did you say at the end?" I asked. 

He looked down, a look that I couldn't quite identify on his face. "Nothing." 

I turned back around and settled back into my chair, deciding not to push it any further. The atmosphere had completely turned around, now tense as both of us thought about the consequences of being caught. However, neither of us were willing to abandon the plan or the children. 

It quickly fell silent again. 

The thing about silence with Jungwon, though, was that it was never really an "awkward" silence. It was more of a comfortable silence, like he was giving both of us time to think about things. This time, he was the one to break the silence. 

"Oh, and I got permission from the nurse to let you stay in my bedchamber for the rest of the week until she says it's ok for you to be by yourself without being monitored, so you'll be staying with me." He said casually. 

I quickly turned to him, taken back by the news. "Huh?" 

Jungwon groaned, already knowing what I was thinking by the slight tinge of color on my cheeks. "Geez, why do you people always take my words the wrong way? I'm the crown prince, for crying out loud. Do you know how big my bedchamber is? It's a room of rooms. There's like three guest bedrooms inside of my bedchamber, and you'll be staying in one of those guest bedrooms." 

"Plus," he added. "I wouldn't want to sleep in the same bed with you anyways. You'd taint my beauty rest." 

I glared at him for the nth time that day. "Do you always have to be so full of yourself?"

He smiled. "Well, one of us has to be the good looking and  honest one, right?" 

"Tell me, what's the punishment for flipping off a prince?" I asked innocently. 

"My lady, I'm not insulting you. I'm describing  you." Jungwon threw back. 

"I forgot the world revolves around you. My apologies, how silly of me." 

Jungwon stopped pushing me, bending down to peer at me. His face was close to mine, eyes burning into me. My cheeks flushed at the close proximity. "What is it?" 

Jungwon sighed, a small, devilish smile on his face. "Hold still. I'm trying to imagine you with personality." 

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A/N: Hey my lovelies <3 please remember to vote for this chapter! ilyg