The Spoiled Prince || WooSanSang

A Funeral Without Tears

True to her word, the Queen informed the guards to let Wooyoung enter the castle. Yeosang rushed back to where he knew Wooyoung was waiting only to bring him back to the castle, up the stairs, and to his wing.

"I do admit that I missed this Wooyoungie," Yeosang said as he took in the expanse of his bedroom. "My bed, my clothes, my large bathtub."

He looked to Wooyoung. "You shall stay here with me until I am crowned. Even after, I am not sure whether I will want to move to the King's chamber." He wrinkled his nose. "I do not think I would like sleeping in my parent's old bed."

Wooyoung looked hesitant. "And what of your mother?"

"She has promised to...tolerate us. We do not have to hide, Wooyoungie." He paused, thinking. "Though, perhaps I should wait until after I am crowned to announce my love for you."

Wooyoung's eyes widened. "Are you sure that is smart? The people..."

"The people already dislike me, and do not try to deny it." Wooyoung kept his mouth shut, and Yeosang knew he was right. "I will try my best to win them over, I truly will. But I only want their favour if it is for the true me."

He then called for a bath, something he'd been longing for after all those nights at the grungy inn.

"I have never seen a servant look so shocked to be asked to prepare a bath," Yeosang noted after she rushed off. 

"It could be that she was surprised to see you, or the fact that you said 'please' when you asked her."

"I...I did?" Yeosang hadn't even realized.

Wooyoung smiled and gave him a lingering kiss. "It seems that our time away has taught you some manners."

Yeosang crossed his arms. That was something San would have said. San would have laughed, anyway. As he spent more time he spent with Wooyoung, he realized that the two were more similar in personality than he thought. It was strange. They should have gotten along. 

~

Yeosang and Wooyoung mostly kept to themselves for the rest of the day and the next, taking their meals in Yeosang's room and somehow finding endless things to talk about.

It was only nearing the end of that next day when Yeosang went off on his own to find his mother, finally brave enough to ask his most burning question.

She was sitting in her tea room, watching snow fall from the window. Yeosang sat beside her and watched it for a few moments with disdain. Yeosang hated being cold, so the snow only meant he could no longer enjoy his treasured trips to the garden.

He finally started to speak. "Did...um..."

"Yeosang," his mother chided. "Kings must speak with confidence."

"Right," Yeosang nodded. "Then my question is this: Did our guards end up catching San in the forest?"

The Queen looked puzzled. "No, son. Did he not leave with you?"

"He left with us, but we parted ways soon after. He was hurt, though. Nobody found even a trace of him?"

"The guards reported finding a trail of blood but it stopped suddenly. After that, nothing."

"And you searched the whole forest?"

"Of course, dear. I gave them quite a wide perimeter to search for you."

Some part of him felt relieved because that meant that San had at least made it out alright. Yet, he was also disheartened. San could have gone anywhere; he could have made a new life and found love with someone else by now. Or, he could have succumbed to his injuries and Yeosang would never know.