Time travel || Wonhyuk

10: Worry

The uptight atmosphere was instantly lifted, replaced by a cheerful chatter among the servants while the officials remain unfazed. The ambassador heaved out a gust of air that he had clearly kept in for a long time as he moved towards the podium again.

"Congratulations to Knight Shin Hoseok! Thank you for putting up such an exhilarating fight. The four knights qualified in the semi-finals are to remain here. The rest of you are dismissed."

Spectators left along with the other knights, leaving the four chosen ones to be informed about their duty. Throughout the briefing, Wonho could feel a pair of eyes piercing through him. A warm stare. A strong gaze. As soon as it ended, a cluster of uncoordinated shoutings emitted from the seats, as Snow White descended down the short flight of stairs two at a time, dashing towards a certain unique individual seated among the knights. With an excited huff, the prince embraced Wonho tightly, just as the King cleared his throat at the sight, causing Minhyuk's cheeks to be coloured in a light shade of pink as he withdrew his hands and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Son Hyunwoo, you'll be assigned to the second prince, Kihyun. Lim Jeungmin, you'll be assigned to the third prince, Hyungwon. Min Hyunshik, you'll be assigned to the fourth prince, Changkyun. I expect the four of you to protect the princes at the cost of your life, and pledge absolute loyalty to them as you did to this country."

With that the ambassador ended his speech and the King left on his horse promptly with the concubines and his personal guards. Before Wonho could even bid farewell to Hyunwoo, the prince had dragged him all the way back to the main space, leading him to the royal physician. They stopped however, for a short while by the pond in garden. The prince retrieved a dainty silk handkerchief from his right sleeve and dipped it in the water, before dabbing it over the cut above Wonho's brows, then carefully cleaning away the blood smeared all over the left side of his face. The look of adoration never left his eyes while he worked with nimble fingers, cool against the knight's skin. The latter's heart was beating a little too rapidly for a person who wasn't exercising and he was exceedingly affected by the smooth fingers running over his face with a piece of cloth that was just as soft. Unsure of what to do, he turned away from the prince once he felt sure that the blood stains were completely gone from his face. The prince seemed to have caught onto his discomfort as he breathed out a small puff of air, sounding much like a stifled chortle. Tucking away the handkerchief, the prince led the way to the clinic again, just that this time, he kept his hand to himself.

"Ah...is this the result of today's match? It looks horrible."

The prince nodded fervently in agreement as he too, examined the cut. Wonho could only manage a shrug. To him, it didn't really hurt much, even after the coming down from the adrenaline rush. The most prominent pain on his body however was just...his entire body. Damn aches man, he was sure that he'll be haunted by muscle cramps later on in the night when he goes to sleep. Without warning, the physician dabbed a cool liquid onto the cut which caused a sharp sting of pain to pulsate through his head, something like a hangover, causing Wonho to hiss in discomfort and grab onto the physician's hand like a child. That of course didn't stop the physician whatsoever. It simply caused the two other people in the room to chuckle.

"Alright, my work is done here. Please take this ointment with you and apply it every day after cleaning yourself."

By ointment, Wonho was pretty sure the physician simply meant rubbing alcohol, which smelt surprisingly similar to the disinfectant in modern times. There was no dressings this time, so Wonho had to take extra care in making sure his wound wouldn't be infected. Sigh, why must Hyunwoo be so rough? After thanking the physician, Wonho followed the prince out of the clinic who appeared too quiet to be true. Once out of eyeshot, Minhyuk turned around and gave a huge slap to the back of Wonho's head. Wonho shouted in protest and glared at the prince in disbelief. Never did he expect the prince to start tearing up when their eyes met. What the heck? The knight was alarmed, frantically trying to make the young prince calm down.

"H-hold on Prince...! Please stop crying!"

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? That other knight was so ruthless!"

The prince wiped away the stray tear on his face and sniffled before turning his head away and hurriedly made his way back to his quarters, leaving the knight chasing after him in pure confusion.

That was the first night in forever, he felt a dull ache in his heart, more obvious than the muscle cramps wrecking through his body, keeping him up all night.