Vivid | Lee Minho

•Scene 6•

Felix could sense a change in the air between Minho and you after your return from the mountains. That awkwardness that seemed to linger in your interactions was almost gone. Instead, you seemed to have grown closer—a tad bit, but it was still alarming enough to him.

He knew that his brother should not have gone on that trip.

You could not be trusted, and the fact that Chan and Minho were willing to entertain such a possibility was infuriating to him. If they could not see that you were still a threat, then Felix was going to prove it to them.

He slipped into your study while everyone else was busy with breakfast, shutting the door behind him carefully. The room was neat and spacious. Books lined the wall on his left, while paintings hung on the opposite side. A couple of green couches faced each other, a wide desk of dark oak heading them.

A small stack of envelopes and ledgers was placed on its surface, awaiting you. He reached for them first, rummaging through sender addresses and subjects. To his disappointment, they were all useless reports about the schooling project you were working on.

He maneuvered around the desk and pulled open the topmost drawer. Financial statements, progress reports, tea party invitations, household ledgers—letter after letter, document after document, drawer after drawer, he fished them out but found nothing incriminating.

But if you were able to fool Minho, then you had to be exceptionally crafty. The kind of evidence Felix was trying to find would surely be hidden more illusively. He only had to try harder.

He bent down to look through the last drawer, which was curiously empty save for the single letter within.

It carried no name, no address. A folded piece of paper fell out of the already-opened envelope, and Felix's eyes widened as he took in its contents.

My darling... love of my life... the moon cowers before your grace—

"Lord Felix?"

Felix's head snapped up to see you standing at the entrance of the study, shadowed by an entourage of guards and your butler, Sycross.

"Lady Y/n." he raised his nose in the air, scornful, not ashamed for having been caught. He had found what he was looking for after all.

Then, Minho appeared beside you, dismissing the guards, and Felix faltered. "Brother? What are you doing here?"

"I have business with Lady Y/n," Minho answered simply, not at all amused by the scene before him. "The real question is—what are you doing here?"

Felix huffed, "If I had not been here, you would never have known about this traitor's vile actions!"

He slammed the letter on the desk, "Lady Y/n? Would you care to explain this love letter hidden in your drawer?"

He expected you to express shock and fury at his discovery, but you remained undisturbed, not a ripple of emotion in your mask of calm as you told him, "Lord Felix, I urge you to read the rest of the letter and its back."

He obliged after your firm gaze refused to fracture at his glare. The letter's contents were sappy beyond belief, almost bile-worthy, but a particular phrase caught his attention.

My dear Cynthia...

Cynthia? He frowned, flipping the page to see the Crown Prince's name scribbled in the same handwriting.

"This is indeed a love letter, but it does not belong to me, as I am sure you could tell," you explained, and Felix felt as though he had been slapped in the face. "I had intended to hand this over to be used as blackmail."

"Blackmail?" he repeated dumbly.

"Yes," letting out an exasperated breath, Minho stalked up to him and snatched the letter from his weakening grip. "I asked her to procure such a letter for me."

Felix could only stand there, shame suddenly crashing into him with the force of a boulder. His suspicions had blinded him, made him jump to conclusions that were so far from the truth, and yet, he could not accept you.

He could not trust you.

This might have turned out to be a false lead, but that did not mean that you were in the clear.

"Your distrust is understandable."

Your voice pulled him out of his thoughts as you began picking up the papers he had thoughtlessly strewn over the desk. He had not even heard you approach.

"I will not try to dissuade you, but I will tell you the same thing I told your brother." your hands stopped moving and you stared at him evenly. "We are of the same mind."

You did not comment on the mess he had made of your study, nor his disrespect of you by invading your privacy. That lack of reaction bothered him. Were his actions so trivial to you or did you truly have nothing to hide?

"Are you not going to demand an apology from me?" he spoke through gritted teeth, to which you shrugged.

"Not really. I would only ask that you don't undo Sycross' hard work like this the next time you decide to investigate me."

So you were annoyed by the untidiness, but not for yourself.

"Fine," he let out a sardonic chuckle before marching his way out of the study. It was that selfless, detached nature of yours that threw him off. It was unlike the noble ladies he knew, and for that reason, your character appeared dubious to him.

You had to be hiding something, of that he was confident. One day, he was going to reveal your secret and make his brother realize his grave error.

But before Felix could leave, Minho grabbed his arm, stopping him with a steely grip as he muttered, "I have my own investigations going on. Don't stand in my way."

He let him go, and Felix drifted out of the study listlessly. He could barely process what had been said to him. He knew that his actions would earn the disapproval of his brother, but he had not expected it to sting this much.

That was a warning, plain and promising.