Ice Prince

Chapter 5

It was the light of the sun that shone the next morning through the curtains, across the room onto the bed, right into the young prince's face and thus woke him from his peaceful sleep.  The light tickled his eyelids, which he opened carefully with fluttering movements.  He saw the white sheets next to him, empty, without the man he had fallen asleep next to the night before.  He grimaced in confusion and sat up carefully, rubbing his eyes with his hands and humming.  The consequences of last night were on his mind.  It didn't hurt, but it wasn't pleasant either.  As he sat up on the mattress, dressed only in his shirt that had slipped completely out of place in his sleep, exposing his shoulder, he looked around the room.  The fireplace to his left had gone out.  The fire that had kept him so warm last night was now out and wasn't even steaming anymore.  A cold feeling came over the prince and he shivered slightly.  As he was about to get out of bed, he suddenly heard a knock on the door and jumped in shock.  He looked at the door to the room, grabbed the blanket and held it in front of his body.

“Come in?”  He said, then the door opened and a strange face that he was only too happy about appeared.  Yunho!

"H-hey."  Hongjoong relaxed at the sight of his body knight entering the room a little hesitantly, his gaze slightly lowered when he saw that Hongjoong was not fully clothed.

"My prince, I should accompany you to say goodbye to your father and your brother."  He announced and Hongjoong opened his eyes in shock.

"Wait what?! They're leaving already?!"  he asked in horror.  He crawled, still wrapped up in the blanket, to the spot where he had been with Seonghwa the previous night, bent down to the floor and grabbed his pants.  Seonghwa's clothes were all gone.  He quickly put on his pants under the covers and stood up.  Yunho now looked at him as Hongjoong grabbed his coat from the chair next to the fireplace and put it on, slipped his feet into his shoes and then padded towards him with slightly weak steps.

"Why? I thought they weren't leaving until tomorrow?"  Yunho shook his head.

"News from the south demands the king's presence in his homeland."  He answered.  The look of confusion grew on Hongjoong’s face.  He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.

"What news? Did something happen?"  Yunho shook his head again and placed his hand on the prince's lower back.

"I don't know anything more, Joong. Just that they have to go. Now"  Unsatisfied with this answer, Hongjoong lowered his gaze.  As they were about to step out of the room, Yunho suddenly held the older man back by the arm.  Taken aback, Hongjoong turned around and looked at his knight.

"What's up?" Asked he.  Yunho kept his eyes down and hesitated with his question.

"Are you okay?"  He finally asked, looking Hongjoong in the eyes.

"Did he...hurt you? Are you in pain?"  Hongjoong smiled slightly, a little touched by Yunho's concern for him, and shook his head.

"I'm fine, Yunho. It was... less bad than I expected."  He answered.  His cheeks flushed slightly at the memory of last night.  The way Seonghwa tried to make him feel comfortable, the way he made sure not to hurt him and how it felt good still made Hongjoong's heart warm to this day.

"He was actually quite sweet."  Hongjoong muttered, so quietly that Yunho barely heard.  Shaking his head, Hongjoong pushed Seonghwa out of his thoughts and refocused on what was important.  His brother and his father!  Together, Yunho and the prince walked through the cool halls of the castle.  On her way, Hongjoong was greeted by Wooyoung and Yeosang, who were both busy taking off the festive jewelry for the wedding. Hongjoong hadn't had time to talk to them since he was in a hurry, but he stood with them for a brief moment and he didn't miss the fact that Wooyoung had an obvious purple-red hickey on his neck.  He had left it uncommented and just grinned at the younger man and nudged him on the side.  It looked like it wasn't just the wedding couple who had spent a lovely night together.  After taking the guests back to the throne hall, San must have retreated to a chamber or something with Wooyoung.  Hongjoong indulged them.  After ten minutes of wandering through the halls of the castle, the two reached the entrance hall of the castle, where the two kings, Seonghwa, his mother and Beomjoong were standing.  Hongjoong and Seonghwa's father were chatting while the queen stood nearby.  Beomjoong gave Hongjoong's husband a cold, judgmental look.  The very idea that he might have touched his little brother during the night disgusted him to the core.  When he saw Hongjoong walking towards the group of nobles with his arms folded so as not to freeze, he stepped forward.