blood of royalty • svt

ii

it was in an alleyway that seungcheol and wonwoo had finally took a break from running away from the palace. they each leaned on either sides of the walls and took a moment to catch their breaths, the cat by the trash can perking out of it to look at the both of them.

seungcheol ran his fingers through his locks and looked out of the alleyway where they saw people in a ramble, panic evident in their faces.

"what happened out there...?" his eyebrows meet in confusion as he turned to look at wonwoo for an explanation.

wonwoo was now sitting down on the dirty ground, his arms wrapped around his legs while his face hid behind his knees. he was breathing heavily, his heart still pounding in his chest from adrenaline and his feet had gone numb from the intense running they had earlier.

seungcheol was worried if the younger had gotten hurt throughout their escape and kneeled down in front of his friend, placing his hands gently on the other's shaking shoulders. but wonwoo still jolted in fear, looking up to see seungcheol in front of him. his round glasses were in the verge of falling if it wasn't for the older fixing it for him.

"would you mind telling me what happened out there?" seungcheol asked carefully, grabbing wonwoo's shivering hands and enveloping them with his own to soothe the other's fear.

wonwoo had calmed down a little but was still alert of his surroundings after he heard a loud clang beside them. when they turned, they only found a black cat on its feet beside a trash can, its tail high up into the air while it walked its way away from the two.

"hey," wonwoo turned his head back to seungcheol who had now placed a palm on his cheek, caressing and tracing the shape of his cheekbones. wonwoo sighed, leaning into the palm.

"what happened back there?" seungcheol tried again, scooting over to sit beside the younger, pulling him in for the younger to rest his head on seungcheol's shoulder.

it took a minute for wonwoo to reply, holding seungcheol's lone hand tightly around his own.

"it was an assassination."

"what?" seungcheol tried to look at wonwoo but only met up with wonwoo's dark mop of hair. wonwoo looked down to their linked hands.

"they've assassinated prince seongsu." he clarified, fumbling around seungcheol's fingers.

"but... why?"

wonwoo shrugged. "i don't know their motives. all i know is that they just want prince seongsu dead."

"on his coronation?" wonwoo nodded yes. seungcheol frowned in utter bafflement and leaned his head onto wonwoo's in deep thought.

"what else did you see?" seungcheol asked once again and wonwoo obviously tensed up from the question, his hold on seungcheol's hand getting tighter. it bothered seungcheol how wonwoo seemed to be frightened by everything today. well, they did just see someone getting murdered right in front of them... and wonwoo had to see it twice! it's not a wonder anymore why wonwoo was getting paranoid.

seungcheol held wonwoo's hand back just as tightly, reaching his other hand over to place over their linked hands.

"tell me, woo. i'm your best friend." wonwoo looked up to him, meeting seungcheol's gaze. "you don't have to hold it in to yourself."

wonwoo looked away, thinking for a moment as he leaned away from seungcheol's shoulder, his eyes casting down to the dark ground of the alleyway. his hand on seungcheol's hands loosening but then holding back again, his brows furrowing.

"you died." seungcheol stared at wonwoo, not functioning as he was unable to register the fact of what wonwoo had just said.

"what?"