By The Crest

❃9❃

The soft humming of the sewing machine becomes Wooyoung's white noise as he jots down a few notes of what Eden told him about different techniques in dressmaking.

The male being a week in his apprenticeship and Eden was impressed that he was a fast learner. There were times where some more of Eden's helpers came in the place to do their own work, but Wooyoung didn't pay much attention to them. Only busy with helping the tailor make a prototype outfit and listening to his words about the different kinds of satin.

"And that's why you must never wring out satin" Eden finishes his speech as well as finishing sewing together the ribbons to a maid's apron that was placed underneath the sewing machine. He looks up to see the young male nod and writes a few more things down. He then looks to the grandfather clock that was just behind from where Wooyoung's study table was.

"Look at the time. I still need to make a trip to town, so I'm cutting today's session early. Is it okay?"

"Oh of course, I'll see you tomorrow then" Wooyoung grabs all of his belongings from his desk before making his way out of the room, he smiles and waves at Eden one last time before closing the door and heads for his own room.

Having to already memorize all the twist and turns that he needs to take, the male finally reaches his quarters. He places his book filled with notes on the coffee table of the lounge area. He plops onto the sofa with a huff, feeling tired from all the writing he did. While he sits in silence, he thinks of things that he could do with his free time.

Wooyoung still hasn't had the chance to explore the rest of the palace. Only going to the places Maddox originally showed him when he first arrived, except for the throne room that is. Standing up, his eyes land on the view outside of his balcony. Another thing Wooyoung has yet to do was to get some fresh air, and since the weather outside seems nice, he might as well visit the palace garden instead.

Checking his appearance on a mirror, he deems that he's ready to go once he sees that he didn't look so haggard and that he didn't look like a teen who hasn't slept for several day because of an exam.

Wooyoung does his best to walk through the many halls of the castle to reach some door that could lead him outside. He passes a few maids and servants that were scurrying off to where they needed to be, their work almost never ending. He was relieved to know that he at least managed to get to the ground floor and that he didn't pass any members of the royal family. Walking around the grand halls some more, he notices two, tall glass doors that led to the outside.

Picking his pace, Wooyoung twist the slim golden handles and was surprised to find them unlocked. He pulls them further open until he was able to step out. Now out of the palace, he feels like he could suddenly breathe better. The mid-afternoon sun playing hide and seek with the clouds, the steady warm breeze was enough so that the male wouldn't sweat so easily, and the well kept plants filled Wooyoung's view.

He chooses to follow the path that he was on and lets himself breath in the fresh air he has breath in a while. The different arrangements, sizes, and colours of flowers made Wooyoung want to paint all of it and hang it in his room in the mansion. Some of the plant's soil and petals were wet, meaning that they were recently watered and the smell of damp earth seeped from the ground, but the male didn't mind. If anything, it gave him the feeling of walking through an enchanted garden like the ones he would see online back in his original world.

Occasionally pausing to kneel down to smell the different flowers he didn't recognize, Wooyoung found himself that he was now somewhere deep in the garden. He keeps walking to explore more and that he was in hope to find a way out the garden. Taking a left turn, he comes across an archway that was covered by hanging red and white roses. Wooyoung goes closer to inspect it. His fingers brushes a red roses' petals as if it was so delicate like the rest of the bunch. Admiring the wall, a strong wind blew pass him and that's when he noticed the flowers moving. Letting him get a glimpse that there was something more behind the overgrown archway.

Curiosity took over him as he pushes the vines to let him pass, being mindful of the thorns. Inside he sees a secret garden full of roses. 'So that's why I didn't see any roses' Wooyoung thought to himself. He did found it odd that he hadn't come across at least one rose in the garden during his wandering.

Walking deeper into the circular garden, he marvels at the spacious and enchanting view of roses. The place only had the three typical colour of roses; red, white, and pink, but it still looks magnificent. Tall hedges were overrun with prickly vines of the flower to give the place privacy, lush green bushes outline the inside of the circle, and a single wooden swing in the center of the place.

The male makes his way over to the swing in the middle. Two poles stuck to the ground with another one secured at the top, there two ropes were tied to lift up a single piece of wood as the seat. Wooyoung becomes brave and sits on the swing. With his hands on the ropes, he pushes himself from the ground. The rhythmic swaying puts him at ease as he feels the wind slowly ruffle his hair.

While swinging, he eyes the whole place. Feeling nothing but serenity in the atmosphere. Wooyoung's eyes then land on a specific coloured rose amongst the others that was in front of him. He digs his feet in the grass, causing the swing to come to a halt and goes back to its starting position. Standing up, he steps towards the single lavender rose that was right across from where the swing is. The male kneels before it to look at the rare coloured rose.

His mind then shows him a childhood memory of his.

~

His younger self running up to his grandmother who was busy planting a new bunch of roses for her own garden. Little Wooyoung who was always a troublemaker kept telling his grandmother that he was 'helping' when instead he was playing with the small pile of dirt next to him. She laughs and smiles at him with fondness until she pulls him to her side and hands him the watering can. His grandmother finishes filling the hole with dirt and lets his child self water the newly planted lavender rose stock. He sets the can down and kneels next to the elder.

"Granny, why do you plant lavender roses so much?" Little Wooyoung asks with his squeaky curious voice. The woman chuckles and lifts her grandchild, making him sit on her lap.

"Because lavender roses hold a special meaning to both me and your grandfather" The two watch as a white butterfly flutter over to the new bush they planted.

"What's the meaning?"

"It means love at first sight. And just like me and your grandfather, we were each other's first love" The butterfly soon flies off somewhere while Wooyoung tilts his head at his grandmother with wonder.

"Do you think I'll find my first love too?"

"Hmmm, it may take a while but you'll find that special person who you'll be happy with and spend the rest of life with"

~

With his grandmother's words ring in his head, Wooyoung's memory ends. His gaze goes back to the flower in front of him, nostalgia hitting him with full force because of the specific flower.

"Love at first sight"

He mumbles to himself. Wooyoung then lifts his hand to try and touch the rose. He slowly reaches for it, yet before his fingertips could even ghost above a petal, he immediately freezes. Something cold and shiny touches the side of his neck. He holds his breath once it registers in his head that a sword was ready to slice his head off.

"Touch that rose and your dead"