after the royal family exchanged a few more words with the queen's concern and the sibling's light bickering, san finally dragged wooyoung out of it.
to be completely honest, wooyoung didn't expect san to show up at all. he thought the prince might be joking, or he would turn up to the spot an hour later and laugh, saying, "did you actually think i'd want to learn more about the red string?" wooyoung knew it was absurd to think like that since all the interactions he had had with san had only prove san to be nice and considerate — a perfect prince for the country.
and at that reminder, wooyoung felt his heart break a little. that's right; san was the crown prince. when the king dies, san is going to take over and he'll become king. that's all the more reason why wooyoung shouldn't be his soulmate, why the moon goddess must've made a mistake when sewing san's red string.
"what's on your mind, cinnamon?" san asked, the two approaching a wall of grass. it was then that wooyoung realised the two were holding hands, his face heating up as he tried tugging his hand away. that was of no use, since san just held onto it impossibly tighter. wooyoung gulped, shaking his head, "nothing, don't worry about it. um, san, i don't know if you can see, but this is a wall of grass in front of us."
san glanced at wooyoung before looking back at the front, chuckling at wooyoung's words, "i think i can see perfectly well, wooyoung." he rummaged through the wall with his other hand — wooyoung didn't understand why san didn't just let go of his hand so he could look for whatever he's looking for easier — and when he stumbled across something, his entire face lit up.
san took away the sheet of grass and revealed a hidden section of the garden all by itself. it was pretty like a miniature version of the garden they were just in — there was a waterfall, a few benches scattered around the mini garden and a few animals strolling around. within those animals, there was a black cat who meowed at san the instant he went in.
finally, he let go of wooyoung's hand and went to coo over the little animal. "hey there, byeol," wooyoung heard san say, his tone a little higher than normal, "did you miss me when i was gone, hm?"
while san was busy bothering the cat, wooyoung took it upon himself to wander around the garden. it truly was breath-taking, along with everything else in this palace, but nothing could compare against this. it was free and peaceful, almost like the two had carved their own world out of a compact one. here, they were alone and had each other. it was less suffocating than the rest of the palace, and wooyoung enjoyed that a lot.
"do you like it here?" san asked, his voice indicating that he was quite close to wooyoung. wooyoung didn't bother turning around and instead focused on the flowers before him, "what kind of flowers are these?"
"the ones on the left are larkspurs, those are my birth flower. the blue ones mean dignity and grace and the purple ones mean first love. something about me being the nation's first love or something — i don't really know. there's a greek myth about larkspurs as well, but i wouldn't bore you with that. the ones on the right are morning glories — my sister's birth flower. they represent human life and are to remind us of how little our significance is when compared to the powers above." san explained, slowly approaching wooyoung and when he was side by side with the smaller boy, he stole a glance at wooyoung, smiling at how awe-stricken he looked. "don't tell me this is the first time you've seen flowers."
wooyoung scoffed, "no it isn't. just because i'm from the village doesn't mean that flowers just suddenly don't exist. it's just— i've never seen this much of flowers in one place all together. in the village, it's always one flower for a confession of love or even just a small bouquet because that's all people could afford. this—san, do you have any idea how many meals this could've cost someone in the village?"
