A Warrior's Heart

Chapter 36; New priority

Taehyun sighed and removed his hands from the keyboard, placing them under his chin instead. His eyes lingered on the character displayed in front of him. Saying he missed the boy was just an understatement. It had been so long, and he didn't know how long he could go on like this without seeing him. Going through his normal daily life without him has been hell, and it only had been a couple weeks so far. He had been playing his own game every day after school, it being the only way he could see the blonde in some kind of manner.

He softly smiled at himself, closing his eyes and shaking his head, memories of the boy fighting in the middle of the chaos flashing through his mind. He had looked so gracefully when spinning around, and the way his soft hands had wrapped around the heft of the sword didn't look any less beautiful. When he first laid eyes on the boy he hadn't thought he could fight like that, but he had been wrong big time. He was glad he had been wrong, because the blonde fighting was a sight he never knew could have such an impact on him.

He heard front door opening and then the sounds of keys and bags being placed on the counter filled his ears. The voice of his brother yelling from downstairs sounded then, and he pushed his chair back, heading downstairs to help him put the groceries he had just bought away.

—x—

Beomgyu sighed and stood up from his chair, rolling his shoulders out as he stepped towards the balcony attached to his room on the far left side of the palace. He was in a need of some fresh air and he was almost sure his brain would explode if he read through the paperwork his ambassadors had given him for one more minute.

The evening had fallen over the kingdom already and the sky was colored in soft shades of orange and purple, the sun descending down from its place high up in the sky. He breathed out and placed his hands on the railing, looking over the village area of the palace grounds.

A smile found it's way onto his features as he looked at two young kids playing, running after each other and playing catch together, laughing and stumbling over each other before they hugged and ran further along the way. Beomgyu's mind drifted back to the brunette who made him smile like that, who got him acting like a complete fool and who made him happy. With him, he didn't feel like a prince. He felt... alive.

Then his smile fell, his expression saddening. He hadn't felt like that in a long time. Weeks probably and maybe even months. He wanted to see the younger again so much, there was nothing he'd rather do than that. He wanted to touch his pretty face again, kiss him again, feel his hands on his waist and most importantly, see his smile again.

Beomgyu clenched his hands to fists as they rested atop of the railing and set his jaw. He decided right then and there, he was going to see the brunette again, he had to.

Beomgyu wasted no time and stepped back into his room, reaching for his cloak hanging over a chair and pulling it over his shoulders. He then walked towards the door and went out into the hallway. He passed several guards on his way toward the main entry and they all bowed and muttered a "your majesty," to him. It wasn't new to him, as his father was the previous emperor, but it still felt weird now that they addressed him instead of the other male. It wasn't a bad weird, just an unfamiliar kind of weird.

When he reached the exit of the palace he was met with a guard who bowed to him, muttering the same as the rest but he held him back, his hand on the heft of his sword hanging at his hips and the other arm outstretched in front of the boy. Beomgyu frowned and looked at the guy, wondering why he didn't let him pass like the others had.

"My emperor," The man said. "It's getting dark, you should stay inside."

The platinum blonde furrowed his eyebrows. "I'll be fine, I really need to do something." He told the man. All he did was shake his head, however. "I can't let you do that. It's safer inside, your majesty."

"I'm not a child anymore. I'll be fine." The younger said again, clenching his fists because the man was starting to get on his nerves. He knew he as only doing his job and wanted to protect him as a guard but he just needed to talk to the blonde dimpled male on the other side of the palace grounds, it was his first priority at the moment.

The guard shook his head again.  "Your father wouldn't want you to pass."  He said, making Beomgyu's eyes widen. A guard on the other side of the exit had been watching them silently, knowing not to interfere when the emperor was talking to someone but he cleared his throat at that comment, looking away and shifting his weight nervously on his feet.

"What did you say?"  Beomgyu asked him, clenching his jaw. No one had brought his father up in a conversation ever since he died, and it was very confronting now that someone did. He knew the man was gone, just as much as everyone else, but that didn't mean people could just openly talk about it, especially to him. It hurt.

"I- uh.."  The guard chuckled nervously, now noticing he had crossed a line there.  "I didn't mean-"

"Don't mention him ever again if you don't wanna get your head chopped off." Beomgyu coldly said, feeling tears creep up in his eyes and his nails digging into his palms from how hard he was clenching his fists.  "I'll be going now." He said then and turned to walk away, leaving the guards at their posts and hearing how the quiet guard stepped forwards and hit the back of the other's head. He heard a low  'idiot'  being hissed and he sniffed, fastening his pace and refusing to let the tears fall as he pulled the cloak further over his shoulders.

He wanted to have a certain brunette's comforting arms around him now more than ever, and he couldn't get to the big tree soon enough.