If Time Can Dare [BL]

4

After showing the king where the lord stores the food, Gin takes the king around the lord's mansion upon the king's request.

"And that's the last room," Gin hides his hands behind his back and stares at his feet. "I'll be going now."

"Wait. Aren't we missing the treasure room?"

Gin narrows his eyes as he looks up at the suspicious king, "That room and everything left in it belongs to my family as per the agreement."

"I would still like to know where it is. There might be things useful to me that is worthless to you and your family," the kings puts on a smirk.

"If there is anything like that, we'll sell it to you. I'm leaving now," Gin turns and walk away.

The kings laughs as he repeats Gin's words in his ears. He finds Gin very interesting and his dormant romance fights its path into existence once more.

Later that evening, Gin visits the king again, but this time with his sister. They're greeted by a bodyguard, "His Majesty is having supper please wait here for a moment. I'll return to invite you inside."

As soon as the bodyguard is out of sight, Gwen grabs her brother, "He's royalty?"

"Shh. You're so loud." He waits for Gwen to calm down and nods, "He's the of king of Mgen, the big bully north of us across the Northern Blue Sea."

"Woah!" Gwen covers her mouth and whispers loudly, "Do you still like him?"

Gin raises an eyebrow, "First off, I never liked him. Second, I'm no longer interested. I don't want to be associated with him anymore than I have to."

"Why?"

"If I associate with him, both you and me and mom and dad will suffer."

"Oh. So either people will want to get close to us or kill us since you're associated with him." Gwen sighs, "It would be great if you could be be with the person you love though. I pity you, Gin."

"You're annoying."

"Tsk! You're the annoying one! You just give up like that as soon as you learn that he's—"

Gin turns her around to greet the same bodyguard again. The bodyguard has a disgusting look on his face and says, "His Majesty would like you to have supper."

"No thanks! We'll come back another time. Let's go, Gin," Gwen pulls at her brother's arm. She couldn't believe that bodyguard! She was only having a casual conversation with her brother regarding a hypothetical situation. He, a bodyguard, needn't make that face even if he has that opinion of them.

Gin follows his sister, both didn't bother to acknowledge their departure with the bodyguard. When they're quiet far from the mansion, Gin hugs his sister, "See what I mean? Don't pity me because I didn't even have a chance. There's no point in brooding over it."

"But I'm still sad for you." She hugs her brother and wet his shirt with her tears, "He's your first love. I know it just got to hurt."

"Let's get going shall we? Dinner should be ready by now... Tomorrow, I'll send these maps to him. You don't have to come along."

Meanwhile the king makes a confused face at his bodyguard, "They really said that? Is it rude to invite someone for supper?"

"Of course it's not rude, Your Majesty. They're just not clever enough to accept your offer."

The king shakes his head, "No. They're clever... The only way I can reason their refusal is if asking them for supper is rude in their culture. Go survey a few natives for me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The following day, it rains early in the day. Gin considers not delivering the maps, however, the longer he waits the longer he has to think about the king. As a result, he reluctantly decides to go.

'Take your sister with you,' their father signs. 'She's bored all day anyway.'

Gin looks at his sister, 'Do you want to go with me?'

'Yeah.' She nods and slaps her brother's back.

When they open the shop door to go, the rain almost splashes Gwen's dress. She pats her brother's back, 'Carry me on your back.'

'But you're heavy.'

'I'm not heavy! I'm half your weight!' She jumps on her brother's back, "Onward, my stallion!"

"I'm not your horse." Gin sighs and opens an umbrella, "You get to hold the umbrella. I need to adjust the maps so that it won't get wet."

"Onward!"

The two siblings walk through the rain. Sometimes passerby would ask or comment about them. For instance, the old man who always sit outside of the bakery shop asks them, "Where are you two going?"

"To the lord's mansion."

"Oh. Be good and don't disturb them too often. We don't want them to stay too long."

Then the steward of the lord snickers as soon as he got out of the bakery, "Showing off your sister to see the enemy, I see. Is your family so desperate to marry off your sister? Idiot traitors."

Gin ignore that comment and says to the old man, "We should get going. Have a nice day, sir."

"You too, lad."

The townspeople call Gin a lad, however, he is twenty this year. A man who has yet to marry is called a lad unless he is from a prestigious or wealthy family, then he is a young master or gentleman.

The siblings continue their way to the lord's mansion, and never cease to hear the comment that their family is showing off Gwen. Gwen is fourteen but her family has spoiled her so she doesn't quite understand the true meaning of those comments. However, those comments weigh heavy on Jin's consciousness.

When they get to the mansion, a different guard comes to greet them then leaves. Because of the mud, Gin unloads Gwen onto the dried spot of stairway up to the main hall. He stays under the umbrella and fixes his sister's dampened hair.

The light storm brings a cold wind to them. Gwen shivers a little so Gin takes off his jacket for her.

"You're back," the king tries to act surprised. "Why didn't you accept a supper with me yesterday? Did I offend you?"

"You haven't. Nevertheless, I came to deliver this last time as well but was unable to. I'm here again to deliver it."

"What is it?" The king takes the thin and tall cylindrical box from Gin.

"Then I shall get going." Gin turns around and gestures for Gwen to get on his back again.

The king opens the box and pulls out the maps. He sighs, "How am I supposed to read these?"

"Like how you would any other maps."

"They're all different. How do I know which is which?"

"The name of the maps are inscribed on the top."

The king sighs, "Why don't you just come in and explain everything to me slowly? And in the meanwhile, you sister can warm up by the fire place?"

Gwen nods her head and smiles for her brother to accept the offer.