The Spoiled Prince || WooSanSang

A Difficult Request

Time went by agonizingly slowly. Yeosang had been brought three meals since he was locked in his room. He hadn't eaten any of them; hadn't moved from his place on his bed, but he assumed that meant a full day had passed. It felt like so much longer. His tears had long since dried up but his mind still tortured him with images of what could be happening to San.

Then, the door unlocked. It hadn't been too long since his last meal had been delivered so Yeosang knew somebody was coming for another purpose. Having a feeling it would be his mother, Yeosang turned onto his side, facing away from the door. He didn't want to see her.

He heard the door open, then silence. Maybe she would think he was sleeping and come back later.

"You need to eat, my prince."

Yeosang sat up so quickly that he felt momentarily dizzy. "Wooyoungie! What are you doing here?"

Wooyoung smiled, and it was the most comforting thing in the world. "The Queen decreed for a guard to always be outside your door. Am I not a royal guard?"

"Yes," Yeosang agreed, still disbelieving that Wooyoung had come to see him. The only person in a guard's uniform who would treat him decently. "But I assumed my mother would not want you to be the one guarding me, given our friendship."

"I am but a mere afterthought to the Queen. She did not explicitly say I cannot still be the one to guard you, and it did not take much to convince the guard who was previously here that I was sent to relieve him." Wooyoung looked borderline mischievous, and Yeosang was so amused that he momentarily forgot about his troubles.

Of course, that didn't last long. Yeosang sighed. "I suppose you heard about what happened? Or, an altered version of it." He knew his mother would never reveal the true reason Yeosang had been paraded around the castle in the hands of a guard.

Wooyoung glanced outside the door for a second before seeming to determine that it was empty. He walked further into the room, sitting beside Yeosang at the edge of the bed. Yeosang longed to lean into him--feel his comfortable warmth--but was scared to get close to him lest somebody see. The last thing he wanted was for Wooyoung to be implicated in this mess.

"Rumor has it," Wooyoung told him. "That you suffered a sudden bout of insanity from all the excitement of the wedding and are now quarantined to your wing until it passes. Servants and maids are not to come near here."

Yeosang rolled his eyes. A weak excuse, but he supposed nobody would have a reason to doubt it.

"What actually happened?" Wooyoung asked. If even he didn't know, Yeosang's mother must have truly done a good job at keeping everything secret. The three guards who had been present for yesterday's intrusion into San's room must have been paid handsomely to keep their mouths shut.

"I am sure you have your suspicions, Wooyoungie, and they are true. Courtesy of Jongho, my mother knows the truth. Or, part of it. She found me-" Yeosang hesitated to admit exactly how the Queen had found him and San. "She found San and I together, and it was enough for her to believe my brother's accusations."

Wooyoung's eyes saddened. "I am sorry that happened, my prince."

Yeosang was almost afraid to ask, but he also couldn't stand not knowing. "You may know better than I. Where would they have taken San? What will they do to him?"

Wooyoung stared blankly at the wall for a long while. "Our dungeons are deep below the castle. Daylight does not reach there, and it is constantly cold regardless of the season. That is a form of torture in itself. The Queen would want to keep him there rather than send him to another jail farther away."