By The Crest

❃17❃

The following week, Wooyoung was back to being an apprentice.

His time in San's room turned out to be a joy and was now a precious memory to him. Despite the prince trying to be nonchalant and hide his hint of worry of the male's condition, and that his repetitive questions of 'are you sure you're fine?' were a bit bothersome to answer. Wooyoung felt touched by the sudden caring side of the royal and made sure that he convinced the other that was in fact fine and healthy.

His hand moved swiftly on the paper as Eden's sewing filled his ears of its familiar buzzing. The tailor was taken aback by his early appearance in the workshop a few days ago, but he welcomed the male with a hug and by making him do the most easiest job that he could think of since he knew of the younger's injuries during the festival.

Eden took a break from using the sewing machine to take a sip from his warm Jasmine tea that was far from the fabrics incase it could spill, but close enough for his arms to reach. He looks over to his apprentice over the rim of his cup. Wooyoung's brows drew together as his focus was on the papers in front of him. The task that the older have him was to re write some upcoming suits and dresses that Eden needed to do for the rest of the month. And it was quite a lot.

"Can't I do something else now? The most hardest task you gave me since I came back was to rearrange all of the threads. In rainbow order"

Wooyoung drops his quill, his fingers pulsating from how long he's been writing. Showcasing his puppy eyes and a pout, the older places his cup back to its saucer and crosses his arms.

"You know I'm only doing this because I was scared to death when word got out of you getting attacked by a Tenebros" He raises an eyebrow at the younger to see him deflate into his seat. Wooyoung gives him a defeated nod while eyeing the paper with multiple numbers and letters on it. He was about to go back to writing some more but a question popped in his mind.

"How did word got out about me?"

The male watches as his mentor finishes sewing the inner fabric of a dark blue vest. He grabs a black spool of thread with a needle already stuck in between the fibres, waiting to be used. The older also takes the small container from the side that already had matching black buttons on them. Eden aligns the first button on the vest before hand sewing it in.

"Maddox was the one who informed me. He saw the prince entering the palace with you passed out in his arms. He began telling orders to call the doctors and magic users, and extra clothes to be brought in his room. Though, that wasn't the strangest part of it. He told to those who saw what happened that if they were to ever speak of it then a punishment would be carried out" The tailor finished the knot to secure the second button on the vest before cutting it and repeating the process another three times.

Wooyoung sat there surprised. He knew San's original nature was being merciless and unforgiving, but there would probably be some times where he wouldn't be used to it. He felt sorry for the people around the royal who had to deal with his destructive behaviour. He's seen how many castle attendants would hold their breaths if ever they crossed the prince's path in the halls. It pained Wooyoung to see others treat San like a ticking time bomb. It also made him more determined to make sure that he needed to change their perspective about the prince.

"What was the punishment?"

"Normally, an immediate execution. But for some reason, he made it into getting fired from the castle or getting banished from the kingdom." Wooyoung notices how the tailor shivered slightly at the punishment as he finishes sewing on the last button on the vest.

"Isn't getting banished or fired a light punishment?" Re-dipping his quill in the ink bottle, the male finishes writing everything in a more orderly manner. Eden hums in acknowledgement at his statement. The vest that he finished found its place on the desk as he finishes his tea.

"Naturally yes, but if you stay in the palace for some time or have heard of the rumours, you know how easy it is to lose your life because of how the prince can be. So, when the prince changed his punishment, it was just foreign to not have to deal with deaths again since so many of the workers are already used to it"

Wooyoung didn't like what he was hearing. Many people would choose death over losing a job? It was baffling to him. The difference to what he knew from the story versus to this problem in the story was huge. He opened a whole new can of worms that he didn't knew existed. Although he knew that this was all suppose to be a fictional world and the author who wrote this solely focuses on a specific storyline, he just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that there was more to this world.

It also occurred to the male that he didn't just need to escape his death scene and make San's crest appear to be his soulmate. He also needed to face the rest of the challenges that this world would throw at him, both that are part of the plot and those that weren't. Like at the festival for example, he knew that an ambush would happen, yet he didn't know that he would be injured and that the prince would scare the poor workers just to help him. He needed to play different cards at different times.

An hour left before Wooyoung and Eden were done for the day. They spent their time doing various tasks around the workshop whilst talking about any topic that was worth bickering about. The older looks at the clock in the room that it was almost time for a special appointment. His eyes then drifted to his apprentice who was busy going through his own sketches.

"Wooyoung" He calls while his slender fingers guide a skirt through the sewing machine, attaching it to a bodice. The male raises his head from his sketchbook.

"Yes?"

"I have an appointment right now, how about you take it" Eden glances at the younger to see his eyes widen a little with his mouth open just as wide. A playful smirk shows itself on the tailor as he puts his focus back to the skirt.

"Me? Are- are you sure?"

When Wooyoung said that he wanted to do something else, he didn't expect to take someone's measurements. Sure Eden thought him all there is to know about measuring sizes, but he didn't know that it would be this soon. This would be his first time taking a person's measurement, and he felt a lot of weight on his shoulders as pressure piled up on him.

"Yes, I'm sure." Wooyoung bit his lips to keep himself calm before he could go bouncing off the walls of the workshop from happiness and excitement. Being able to let Eden trust him and handle a client by himself felt so satisfying for him, this was a nice achievement for being an apprentice.

The male starts to get his desk ready for the appointment. Cleaning up the scattered sketch designs, putting away threads and needles to the side, and getting the measuring tape at the ready. As he did that, the tailor chuckles at his apprentice's excitement while he continued with the dress in his hands.

"So when will the person get here?" Just as the question left his mouth, a knock made the two look at the door.

"Now"

Eden lifts the dress from his lap and moves it to the table as he walks to the door to greet the person. Wooyoung takes a deep breath as he rubs his palm over his pant leg. He assures himself in his head that he will be fine and he would just be taking some noble's measurements. But when he hears how the tailor greets the person, he probably should have asked the older who would be his client first before accepting his offer.

"Your Highness, Choi San" The two doors got opened wide by the older as he bows and motioning for the prince to enter the workshop. San gives Eden a small nod as his eyes land on the other person in the room. Wooyoung gulps as he found the strength in him to bow to the royal. He stands up straight again while feeling the nerves flow through him, the slight bubbling in his stomach as he faces the prince.

He wasn't going to be fine.