A HEART FOR AN EYE.

CHAPTER 6: DINING AT THE DEVIL'S TABLE.

Kim Taehyung paced up and down the corridor in front of Jimin's personal suite in the crown prince palace.

The prince had woken up from a five day coma a few hours ago and had summoned him.

But Taeyung was yet to master the courage to face him. For one reason, he blamed himself for what had happened to Jimin. Had he been more diligent in his work, none of that would have happened to his savior and best friend.

To Taehyung, the crown prince was a literal hero full with angel wings and a blazing halo above his head.

The prince had driven like a mad person and literally snatched him from under the sharp teeth of the executioner's axe when his parents had been convicted of treason and his entire family sentenced to death.

Unlike Jungkook's family, which was innocent, Taehyung's family was not. And heartbreaking as it was that they were dead, Taehyung knew their punishment fit the crime.

They had betrayed the grand king's confidence. The same grand king who had considered them family and opened the doors of his home and heart to them.

Taehyung's mother had been a foreigner from the rival kingdom of Zetu in the South of Neju. She had spied for her home kingdom, and Taehyung's father had been too scared to lose his life when he found out, that he helped her keep the secret.

Even when war broke out between the two kingdoms, Taehyung's mother had continued to smuggle confidential information about the war she gathered through taking full advantage of her husband's friendship to the grand king, and supplied it to their rivals.

People had lost their lives, Neju's development had back tracked tremendously because of the war which they nearly lost.

To crown it, she had planned to assassinate the crown prince even before he was born by attempting to kill the queen.

Because of her selfishness, a whole family had died. The Jeons had been falsely accused and killed. Little Jungkook had been sold off into slavery.

So when the grand king found out about the betrayal, he had been livid that the people he called family had betrayed him to that extent. He had ordered the immediate execution of the entire Kim family.

Taehyung had been only an innocent boy whose only crime was being born into the Kim family. He had known nothing about the treason, and neither would he have condoned it had he known.

But the Neju law did not care about such things. It dictated that one condemned traitor condemned his or her whole family. Taehyung, who was at a ripe age of nineteen at the time, was condemned too by virtue of affiliation.

But the crown prince, who he had only met twice and both times from a far, had championed his life.The prince had pleaded with his father to spare Taehyung's life when he learnt of his predicament immediately he landed into Neju from his overseas business.

When his father had refused to relent and time was running out, the prince had taken matters into his own hands, risking his father's anger, and drove to the town square.

There, he had met a scared Taehyung. He had been crying and begging not be killed but no one had listened. Just as the same axe that had claimed his parents' lives reached down to claim his, the prince's voice had rung so high and authoritative.

"STOP."

One single word and Taehyung's fate had changed. The executioner had frozen in pose, axe in hands suspended into air, the chants of the cried had died down and all that had been left were inaudible murmurs and whispers.

Jimin had then grabbed his hand, ran with him to his car and driven him away from the ugly scene.

From that day, Taehyung had pledged his life to protect Jimin. Even though the prince had asked for nothing in exchange, Taehyung had gladly offered, first his heart full of love, but Jimin had not loved him that way, instead, he had taken him in as a brother, against his father's wise judgment. So Taehyung, still hell bent on paying back the good that had been done for him, he had asked Jimin to let him train as his personal guard. Jimin had refused at first but Taehyung had persisted and Jimin had given in in the end.