LOVE ME LESS ۞ taegyu

39

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

i literally have no motivation to write this au.

but don't worry, i won't give up on it. it's just hard since this is a fantasy au, so i'll skip to the aftermath of the war cause battle scenes and planning and all that are all kinda boring.

so...without further ado, i'll be writing this chapter and the last and 40th chapter of this book.

thank you for appreciating my first taegyu fic here on wp, it's so hard but at the same time it was nice to see you all like it so far!! i hope i won't disappoint u even in a time like this <3

ily all and stay safe!!

*.✧

lively music played in the halls as four women danced on the stage and sang, something about pianos and men. beomgyu was chatting with his friend, wang yiren, who was sitting beside her lover as they shared drinks and stories as the crowd of people enjoyed the night.

“what happened to the other knights in the war, your majesty?” the fox-eyed woman asked as she took a sip of her wine.

the newly-crowned king smiled bitterly as he recounts, “two of my best friends have passed. they were lovers as well— new ones who had just realized their feelings,” he took a quick shot of the beer he had in his hand before continuing, “saw the captain get stabbed and fell to the ground, bleeding. my aide, ser huening, saw him and went to run to him before getting shot multiple times by some archers.”

“so..they both..died before they reached each other?” yoorim asked, her eyes welling up with tears, moved by this simple story. beomgyu nodded sadly and smiled.

“yes. and the same happened to me and to the leader of the moon angels—” he holds back his tears before taking a long sip of his beer and places it on the table, “i'm not trying to make you feel bad whatsoever, it's just...i really do miss him. a lot. i didn't get to do what i wanted with him, and..his sister..i feel bad for her.”

yiren frowns as she pats beomgyu's back, “don't worry, your majesty..you'll meet him again.”

“how, miss yiren? how can i can possibly meet the dead? chaewon is missing and the necromancers can't bring them back to life. it was something about a prophecy...she didn't tell me the details.”

there was a queer twinkle in the eyes of the two duchesses, and they chuckles softly before yoorim spoke, “they won't come back with the help of necromancers, sir— you'll see soon.”

she winks before taking a bite of her crème brûlée and giggles as yoorim engaged in an animated talk with her lover, and beomgyu excused himself as he saw a familiar head of yellow in the crowd, and walks up to him as the music changed into a more sentimental one, with one of the women's vocals singing about a night filled with stars.

beomgyu smiles at the now-blond prince as he greets him with a bow, “hello, your royal highness. it's been a while since i saw you last,” he comments before the prince looks at him and smiles.

“oh, beomgyu. it's been a while indeed. how is your days as the king of efaeryn so far?”

yeonjun smiles at him and chuckles, ruffling the boy's messy hair and as he spoke at him fondly. beomgyu could do nothing but be shy and flustered— after all, he's still learning to open up to him after their rivalry ended when they joined forces for the war.

“it's..a little pressuring. i'm still young, but mother's doing her best to guide me. oh, and namjoon hyung, too, he's helping me.”

“they're both your advisors? after her majesty stepped down from the throne?”

beomgyu laughs and nodded, smiling softly at the mention of his sweet mother, “yes, yes, i've decided to let her be my advisor. but not the one travelling with me, although she does want to do that from time to time. namjoon hyung is the one travelling with me from city to city, country to country, etc. so maybe expect him and i would be visiting chevaria soon.”

yeonjun laughs and nods, “yeah, that's nice. you haven't been to chevaria before, haven't you?”

“no, never. only seen the border before seungil forcibly destroyed it when you guys hid there.”

“ah,” yeonjun clicks his tongue disapprovingly and got a glass and poured himself some beer when they sat down at a table near the stage, while the song was still sang by the group of four women, “that border? and you didn't tell your father— sorry, seungil that you wanted to come with him back then before you-you know, rebelled against him?”

“be nice to me, i still regret all that,” beomgyu comments, sporting a disgusted look as he and yeonjun clinks their glasses together before drinking, and beomgyu sighs, “my big brother used to go there. you'd probably have seen him at least once cause back then, seungil would have tried to fix efaeryn and chevaria's relationship without tilunaida or deyamour interfering.”

“oh, by the way,” yeonjun lifts his finger up as he talked, “any leads of some sort?”

“sadly, no. even chaewon can't be found. i'm slowly losing hope on those two, and i don't even know if i'll find them soon,” beomgyu said, feeling dejected as he remembers having a talk with chaewon right after the funeral of her brother, and then after the war, she just..disappeared. no parting messages, no nothing. yeonjun looked for her in her hut, but she wasn't found. seungwan didn't want to tell them what happened.

“she's stubborn, that aide of yours,” beomgyu said after a period of silence and he drank. yeonjun chuckles softly, “not as stubborn as yours. that guy's hard to convince unless soobin is in the equation.”

beomgyu's heart stings. he gave a bitter smile and nodded.

as the two were talking and slowly rebuilding their relationship, the lights went off and the glow of the moon went through the windows of the ballroom.

the two royals stood up immediately, and they heard rustling. the crowd gasps and a man screams as he saw a chained seungil run at him.

“you know what to do,” yeonjun mutters, before sprinting towards the man. beomgyu directs the crowd to go somewhere else, and he distantly sees a pair of wings casting a shadow, but he didn't know what it is. it was large wings, but he felt like it was familiar.

and then, he stops as the crowd went into hiding.