The Royal Duty

CHAPTER TWO

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The next few days were a bit of a blur since all that Jaehyun has done is his school works, paper works and attend meetings. As the meeting was finished, he checked the time, 5:00 PM. It was time for him to go home and do it all over again. As he entered the car who is now driving away to go back to the palace, he arranged his scarf feeling the cold creep up to his neck.

As soon as he went inside, he heard people talking and wanted to silently go up to him chambers, not wanting to make a fuss but luck was not on his side, he was instantly seen by their butler, Woojae who announced his arrival making him sigh and have no choice but to walk up to greet them.

"You are just in time, Jaehyun-ah." The Queen Dowager smiled as she motioned for him to sit down as he bowed to them, looking also for his older brother, who right now cannot be seen.

"Is there any problem?"

"Nothing really, but the King has ordered more of his men to find the family who owns the ring. The late King, my husband, had lost contact with his best friend even when he was quite young. But they still had a strong bond, until the Kingdom still holds on to the promise up until now." The queen dowager explained to him.

Of course, he knows. He knows that he would be the one fulfilling the late King's promise to his friend and the word ring, pretty much just sums up the reason why. Jaehyun sighs as he tried to cover it up with his smile but Johnny can see through it.

This time, he stayed silent for a while. He was thinking of the right thing to say to his friend, the Crowned Prince, to comfort him. He knew that if they were just normal persons, he would help Jaehyun to fight his family so he could have his own freedom. But he couldn't. His friend is the Crowned Prince, and Johnny is his right-hand guy. They both have no choice but to follow the rules of the royal family.

Jaehyun looked up from his seat and nods his head. He then stood up and bid his goodbye to the elders, saying that he wanted to rest. The elders quickly agreed as he bowed to them, and left together with Johnny following him from the back.

"Crown Prince," He started as they were walking outside to go to his mansion. "I really appreciate your willingness to follow the royal duties. But if you ever need help, or if you need someone... I will—Hyung will he there. Got it?"

Jaehyun came to a halt, and turned his head towards his friend who was watching him from the back as they were driving to his mansion. Jaehyun, the cold man, broke out a small smile as he saw the cheeky side of his friend. "It's okay, Hyung."

As the vehicle stopped and Jaehyun went out, he bid goodbye to his friend and thanked him.

That night, Jaehyun stayed up late until early morning with his warm coffee and piled up documents. In front of him was a newly launched MacBook Pro and his iPad Pro, side by side and a fan at it's best trying to keep cool the machine's engines. Once in a while, Jaehyun would close his eyes to try and rest, but whenever he does, he was just reminded of what the elders told him.

He shook his head, trying to forget about it and he took another sip of his black coffee.

*************

Date: December 5, 2022

Time: 3:00 PM (KST)

Place: Sungkyunkwan University

It was another meeting for their collaborative project with the group from the College of Arts, and he was there with Mark and Doyoung; waiting for the others. Weirdly enough, only Seulgi and Hyojong arrived much to Mark's dismay of wanting to see the University's beauty.