⚜REST WITHIN ME⚜ [Namjin] [Taekook]

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In France.

Day 07

'He's here.'  Taehyung, in the disguise of a commoner, whispers underneath his breaths. His eyes have intently focused on a single person among the public who conveys the gestures of a Royal through the façade he maintains. The prince can recognize effortlessly without being deceived like the rest of the French. Next to him, Jungkook straightens like a deer caught in front of an arrow and searches for the person his prince has pointed. Once he catches the target, his vigilant gaze turns murderous. As someone who has seen the King of France, Jungkook recognizes the golden-blonde hairs peeking through the hood and the lean, muscular frame hidden underneath the slack, tattered rags. Louise stands at a fruit stall, pretending to be weighing a grapefruit with another. 'He has lowered his guards, I'm sure.'

'We cannot confront him in the public, Tae.'

Taehyung nods and averts his gaze over the crowded market, examining the place and overall searching for a vacant, secluded area. He spots a steep passage between two residences. 'There.' He doesn't raise a finger over the direction but points it with eyes. Jungkook reckons the area and nods, then glances at Taehyung when the prince smacks a hand against his stomach when he prompts a step forward. The knight immediately stops. 'You go over there. I'll bring Louise.'

'Tae!' Jungkook decides to argue, but instantly his argument is hushed with a sharp stare of the prince. Taehyung has covered his head with a hood, and under the darkened shadow of the covering, the freckled-hazel eyes glimmer like a ravenous tiger—hungry for information, or perhaps revenge. Jungkook shrinks in front of such ominous color. 'I will. Bring. Louise.' It's a direct command from the Prince of Scotland, and as a knight, Jungkook should oblige. Biting back the urge to growl in frustration, Jungkook grunts his disapproval and sharply nods, striding towards the selected premises with furious, heavy steps.

Taehyung chuckles to himself, muttering— 'Your jealousy turns me on, Jeon,'—not to anyone but himself. He watches Jungkook's trail for a minute or two, then diverts his stare towards Louise. The latter still stands under the hut of the fruit stall, now arguing with the seller. Taehyung cannot hear what the dispute is about—he hardly cares. But he solemnly takes a step forward, then another...until he steadies his steps with a medium pace towards the stall. The chatters of the market rise an agonizing noise. Wily merchants bribing with their customers; hideous smiles suppressing the moral of impartial trading. The difference between elite and inferior palpable in the same setting. The gossips that would exchange. The pretentious smiles in clash of the innocent achievements. The gambling marketers and the victims of them. Beggars chanting their fall, affluent majors boasting about their own rise. The broad chasm between the humanity; poor and rich, good and bad, truth and lie.

This market has everything—and within them, Louise stands—personifying deception, betrayal and evil. Taehyung reaches him from behind.

'Excuse me.' The tapping on his shoulder forces him to break the quarrel with the devious merchant, but the inscribed snarl on his face doesn't get concealed as he turns around by the call. Since he had been literally barking at the merchant, infuriated by the unforgivable deed that the seller has done—selling the goods under a high prize that hasn't been authorized by his administration. And, not knowing who he was arguing with, the seller has tries to argue on his side's justice and as a result, Louise was enraged. However, someone has disturbed his dispute! Sharpening another word to spit at the intruder, Louise spins around and opens his mouth to yell, but instead finds his breaths catching in his throat before the golden eyes that he has once fallen in love with...and still is. 'T-Tae...'