He Walks Alone in the Moonlight [COMPLETED]

A TWO-WAY MIRROR

Eunbin sighed, resting her head on Jihyun's shoulder. The servant stiffened beneath her, but did not move away. "You are far more perceptive than those men give you credit for, perhaps rather than helping you leave, you should just come stay with me..." the princess suddenly seemed relaxed as she dragged another paper over, this one already containing three characters. Jihyun could recognize one. Hwang. "However, I do not think my brother would like that idea." Two steady taps of her index finger against the page, then across the room, Songmin scoffed, the timing almost making it seem as if in response to her words. Jihyun watched from the corner of his eye as the princess' gaze turned cold, scanning the two men on the other side of the dias. The shift in her energy was palpable, and Jihyun could tell by the seductive shift of her shoulders, the slow rise of her body as she reached across the desk, that Princess Eunbin had returned. She turned her head to face him as she reached for the inkstone and began grinding it in steady, deliberate circles. The princess was so close their noses were nearly touching, but her nearness was not what concerned Jihyun. Instead it was the cold and lifeless fog over the princess' eyes. It was like staring into two black wells with no bottom, frigid and endless. And if he was honest with himself, they reminded Jihyun of his own reflection. He was familiar with that cold and dead expression, because it greeted him every night, when he would stare at the mirror for hours and hours, until Munyeong inevitably came into his room, wondering why the candles were still lit.

    "Your Highness." Jihyun whispered, and the princess jerked away, returning to her seat as if nothing had happened. But the ink stick remained in her hand, lines of black liquid running down the pale skin of her wrist and dripping onto her dress. Before Jihyun could say anything about it, the familiar sound of pottery breaking sounded throughout the library. Jihyun looked up to see that the crown prince's desk had been overturned, and he was grabbing Songmin by the collar.

    "What the hell do you know about how he feels, you damned scholar!" The prince was breathing heavily, his whole body shaking in barely contained fury. "You all keep saying I'm the problem, but what efforts have you made, what steps have you taken, to help me in all of this!" On Songmin's part, he had the gall to look disinterested, his body so relaxed he was entirely held up by the prince's grip.

    "I'm here to help you with matters of the court, not with some misguided escapade you started because you can't keep it in your-" Songmin's reply was cut short by the prince's fist landing a solid blow to the scholar's face.

    "Hwang Doyoon! Let go of him this instant!" The princess rose quickly, gathering her skirts as she bellowed the command. Jihyun, paralyzed with fear, could do nothing but watch as Eunbin marched over to the men and shoved the crown prince so hard he fell on his ass. Further infuriated, the prince looked up at his sister.

    "What in the stars do you think you're-" The sharp sound of flesh on flesh echoed throughout the room. Princess Eunbin had slapped the crown prince. The silence that followed made it feel as though all the air had left the room. Eunbin's hand had barely come back to rest at her side before Songmin backhanded her and she was sent stumbling off the dias. Jihyun felt the blood drain from his face as he watched the princess steady herself, head bowed as she cradled her cheek. For the first time since knowing her, Jihyun thought the princess looked incredibly small.

    "Insolent! How dare you strike the Crown Prince." Songmin spat the words, the corner of his mouth stained with blood from the prince's blow, making him a terrifying sight.

    "How dare you strike me," Eunbin hissed, whirling on the advisor.

"I am to be your husband. Are you telling me I do not have the authority to discipline my future wife?"

"Discipline?" the princess scoffed. "Tell me, Advisor. Did you learn this discipline from your father?" Jihyun couldn't say why he got up, and he didn't know why he stepped in front of the princess, he just knew that when he saw Songmin raise his hand to strike Eunbin again, something within him couldn't sit idly by. Maybe it was because the princess had been the first one to treat him as a person, to really see him, even more so than Minjoo. Or maybe it's because he'd seen her as a kindred spirit, a partner in quiet suffering. Or perhaps, most likely, it is because Jihyun wanted her to be his friend, and Jihyun would always, always sacrifice himself to protect a friend. Jihyun squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the oncoming blow. Except it never came. Songmin's hand still finished the blow, the flesh and bone still stained a cheek red,. However, Jihyun felt no pain. Still taut as a bowstring, Jihyun peeled one eye open, then the other, just to make sure he'd seen it right the first time. Songmin's shocked face was clearly visible, the scholar's mouth hanging open in disbelief. And right before him, in front of Jihyun, the broad back of the crown prince acted as a human shield. The slap had sent the prince's face sideways, and Jihyun took in the murderous expression on the prince's side profile.

"Your Highness, I- Why did you?" Songmin tripped over his words, taking a step back. Princess Eunbin moved to stand beside Jihyun, watching her brother closely.

"If this is the kind of husband you are going to be to my sister, Kim Songmin, then I will see to it that your entire bloodline is wiped out before your wedding day. I have no illusions about there being affection in a betrothal such as this one-" Jihyun noted how Eunbin's breathing stopped at the words, "But you will respect her. She is the Princess of Byulran and will be treated with the deference that position holds, no matter who she weds." Unlike Eunbin's frozen frame, Doyoon's chest was heaving, his fists curled as he reprimanded Songmin. It was clear to Jihyun that despite Minjoo's warning that the relationship between the siblings was strained, Doyoon cared deeply for his sister.

"That is enough, little brother. I do not need you to defend me," Eunbin said lowly, grabbing her brother's sleeve with her ink-stained hand. Songmin's eyes tracked the movement, his lips a thin line of disapproval, yet there was a flash of something strange in his eyes, just for a moment.

"It is of no difference to me if I die by your hands before the wedding," Songmin kept his head down as he spoke to the prince, then raised his eyes to glare at Eunbin as he added, "or by hers the night of." Then the scholar stalked off, leaving the door of the library open as he fled.  The look the siblings exchanged after that was indecipherable, but then Doyoon suddenly nodded, pulling away from his sister as she followed Songmin outside, and turned his attention to Jihyun.

"You have a habit of stepping in front of things that will hurt you," the prince muttered, his eyes raking over Jihyun so thoroughly the servant felt naked.

"I was protecting someone that time too," Jihyun whispered back. He couldn't explain it, but the way the prince was looking at him, the way he'd come to Eunbin's defense, a flicker of something warm burned in Jihyun's chest.

"I know," the prince responded, and he sounded miserable. Jihyun found himself looking at the crown prince, really looking at him, for the first time.

"Your sister, I mean the Princess... For Lord Songmin, I think she-"

"She does. Just act like you don't know." The princess' words rang in his ears. I too do not wish to be seen through, Jihyun.

"Does he not realize?"

"That my sister is in love with him? It is easy for the one being loved to not realize it, Jihyun." Oh. The servant's throat constricts, and he suddenly can't look Doyoon in the eyes any longer. Is that what everyone meant when they said he was special to the crown prince? Even so, it didn't make sense. The change in the prince's mood was too sudden. From whipping Jihyun one day and kissing him the next. Whatever the case, nothing good could come from getting closer to the crown prince, he had to remember that.