BODYGUARD || YOONMIN

[18] Escape

Taemin's steel gaze rested solely on the letter clutched in Jimin's small hands, the Lord's blue seal glaringly obvious in the middle of various shades of red.

"I simply came to retrieve a letter that I realized had a........ mistake," Jimin weakly made up, aware that Taemin knew that this was likely not the case.

"Ah, we wouldn't want that for your weekly correspondence with the young prince Taehyung and his beau Jungkook, now would we?" Taemin casually slipped, gauging Jimin's reaction to the fact that he was aware of the Lord's frequent letters, including who they were to and their frequency.

Jimin kept his cold manner, his face nearly breaking when the King revealed he knew much more than he had originally believed.

No use in pretending.

"Of course, your highness. Jungkook can be a stickler for grammar," he chuckled, lying through his teeth.

Taemin smiled back, his astounding presence never failing, as he spoke, "Well, I suppose now that I have you here, I must inquire how your stay has been. I hope you have made friends here over the last three months. You and Lord Na appear to be very close, wouldn't you say?"

Goddammit. He knew about Jaemin too.

Of course, he did, dumbass, you just didn't assume that he knows everything, Jimin scolded himself for momentarily being surprised by the King's vast knowledge of all the happenings in his palace.

Jimin could have sworn that there were spies lurking inside of the walls at every moment, just waiting for some enemy to forget where they were and blurt some piece of information detrimental to their own operation.

"Lord Na has been very welcoming to me. He is surprisingly talented in many facets. It is quite remarkable," Jimin politely retorted, resisting the urge to flee once again.

"Yes, the boy has been surprising. I assumed he would need someone's help to achieve the immunity he has gained thus far, but so far I have been proven wrong, hmmm?" the King's eyebrow quirked, his smirk speaking volumes to the actual meaning behind this conversation.

Taemin knew Jimin was helping Jaemin.

Jimin knew that Taemin knew.

At this point it was simply a matter of ending the conversation so Jimin could leave the presence of the man that threatened the livelihood and happiness of so many for his own.

"Of course. I suppose Jeno has been pleased with the results, yes?" Jimin prodded back, desperate to get some reaction from the stone-cold snake, whose calm demeanor in the face of, well, everything, made him appear invulnerable.

"PRINCE Jeno shall be pleased with whomever may win the selection process," Taemin corrected, "and would be furious with any who dare interfere with such tradition, for he may end up starting a little skirmish that he never intended," his words burned into Jimin's brain, a clear warning to the Lord that war could happen at any moment.