The Merciful Prince

Chapter 22

Sitting in their cell is the worst. The cells are in an open style, so even though Jinyoung has his own cell separate of them, there is no privacy between the bars. Very different from cells in Cilalia, and their solid brick walls separating everything.

The moment they were thrown in, Youngjae sat on the floor, facing the corner and hasn't moved, hiding his face despite having put on the spare mask. They aren't talking, no one is really in the mood.

Jinyoung went from expelled to arrested, either of which would make his father furious at him were he to find out and so he's contemplating what he should do with his life once he gets stripped of his title. Jaebeom is also wondering what he'll do, but most likely he'll be executed for the prince's crimes.

"Where is the scar from?" Jaebeom asks without prompting. He's sitting on one of the hard beds, leaning back against the bars. He looks casual, relaxed—like he was meant for this. It takes Youngjae a long time to answer, and even when he does, his voice is barely above a whisper.

"I stole money from my father as a kid, so he cut my face like this, it got worse as I grew"

Jaebeom nods, he has his own stories of events like that, although he is able to hide those scars with a shirt. "It's not that bad, you know"

"I'm deformed"

"I'm telling you, it's not that bad."

Youngjae shrugs. He knows he's just saying that to make him feel better, he knows how hideous he is. Honestly, he's amazed Mark didn't try to run away from him, instead he approached him, touched his face, his scar even. Jinyoung's reaction was the most common, although it was also typical of people to run away.

"I think you're cute" Jaebeom says.

"Stop making fun of me"

"I'm not, why would I be?"

"Jaebeom, I'm hideous, the whole world thinks so"

"You couldn't have traveled the whole world–not at your age"

"You know what I meant!" Youngjae turns around, upset, but yelps in surprise as he finds Jaebeom just inches away from him—he hadn't noticed him get so close. Jaebeom gently touches the mask, sliding his fingers under Youngjae's hood and undoing the string, he pulls the mask away. Smiling at Youngjae's expression.

"See? Cute" Jaebeom gives his nose a butterfly kiss so that Youngjae won't try to argue with him again. It works.

Jinyoung wishes to god he could give them some privacy, because this is unbearable. He feels terrible for how he reacted, but he was so shocked he couldn't speak. Not only by how bad the scar is, but by how much pain it must have caused. He's not surprised by Jaebeom's feelings, though, he had guessed that was why he was so defensive of Youngjae. Youngjae looks shocked and he hasn't said anything.

Finally, Youngjae looks at the floor, putting his hand on Jaebeom's chest, but he doesn't push him away, he's caught his bottom lip under his teeth. Jaebeom takes him hand in his, bringing it up to kiss his knuckles gently. He isn't ugly, the scar is bad no doubt, but once you get used to it, it isn't impossible to look at.

When he looks back up at Jaebeom his eyes are wide; he looks somewhat angry, wary of whether or not Jaebeom is being genuine.

"You're not making fun of me?"

"Of course not" Jaebeom answers honestly. He was surprised by the scar, but he didn't know what Youngjae's face looked like to begin with. He only knew what he sounded like, how kind he was, how smart he was. He fell in love with all that, so whatever his face looked like, Jaebeom knew he would still like him. As long as he can look into Youngjae's eyes and see his emotions there, look at his lips as they open to speak, he's happy. Youngjae opens and closes his mouth, puffing his lips out in a pout. He looks away from Jaebeom and back at him with a frown.