Royal Duty [Minjoon]

16th part

Early the next morning the servant had accompanied the prince to go shopping in the town market. It felt odd for the servant to finally be back outside of the great castle halls, but this time it was not as a low villager that could only ever dream about the goods the market could offer. Rather he was now walking behind the son of the ruler of the country himself, looking like he was part of something important as two of the castle guards were also following tight suit with grim faces and swords at hand.

Namjoon looked around in the big, well known market. Among the stalls of food and goods littering the Main Street, he also saw some familiar faces that were eying him with wide eyes and open mouths. There were many aspects of the situation that made the servant feel nervous and awkward. One was of course all the villagers eyeing him with disgusted looks while whispering in between themselves as they were glaring at his passing frame. They, just like he, knew that he didn't belong in the position he was placed in. He was a low villager, he didn't even belong in the market of the higher class village that they were in now, instantly being seen as a cheap thief when he set his foot there. He was sure that these people saw a future danger looking at him like that, walking among the royals. They probably thought he was planning on scamming their king of what he had, leaving the country in debt and poverty. The lingering dark eyes that were glued to his frame, made his nerves build up further and he had to force his own eyes to focus on something other than the whispering villagers. The other thing that made Namjoon's stomach twist in a strange and uncomfortable way, was the fact that the prince hadn't uttered even one word to him since they left the castle walls.

Ever since they had kissed, the prince had barley looked him in the eye, and had been avoiding him at every possible circumstance. To say that the servant had been shocked when the prince had asked him first thing in the morning to come with him to the market, was definitely an understatement. The boy hadn't been sure if he had been dreaming or not, but after rubbing his eyes three times without the image of the prince fading, he curtly nodded his head. "O-of course, my lord." He had stuttered out lowly, looking at the prince who still refused to look him in the eyes.

The unknown situation between him and the royal, made him feel uncertain and queasy. What if the kiss had been a test to prove his loyalty? A test that he had miserably failed. He was expecting that it at any moment, would be declared that he would be thrown straight back into the dungeons, and maybe even be sentenced to death.

Namjoon was snapped back into reality as Jimin put a freshly baked pair of buns into the basket he was holding. They had been walking through the market for quite a while already, and Namjoon had visited stalls in the market he had never sever set foot in before despite walking past them every once in awhile when he lived here.

At first, the prince had stopped by the town's blacksmith where he had left some of his arrows to get them sharpened and had also bought a new sword and a silver necklace while he was there.

A moment ago, he had been carefully studying the different newly baked treats in the baking stall close to the edge of town, and in the end settled on a pair of baked buns.

As they were about to continue walking, Namjoon suddenly felt a smaller hand take his own before he was pulled by it, away from the guards and the Main Street and into an alley. Once there, the grip on his hand was released and the hand that had enveloped his, moved up to its owners face to shush the taller servant. "Sorry about this." Jimin said in a hushed voice, warily looking around to make sure nobody was watching. He would've found the situation to be a lot more  dangerous if it wasn't for the fact that Namjoon was more than fully aware of the prince's keepability while wielding the sword that he had hanging in a sheath in his belt.

"Ever since the.... the kiss." Jimin stopped to take a breath. It did not at all help to calm the servant's growing uneasiness that the royal himself almost sounded pained when he brought the topic up. "Ever since then I have wanted to talk to you, but the castle has ears. If I had brought it up there, my father would be sure to find out about it." "I am sorry, my lord, a-about t-the kiss I mean." The servant said quickly, feeling the seriousness of the the situation. He was not entirely certain that answering the other had been the right action to preform, but the knots in his stomach and the many raging questions racing through his head, refused him to stay silent. "I-I should have known better than to do that." He added, eying the stone titled ground beneath them.

"Kim Namjoon." The prince said loudly, and Namjoon was sure that if they weren't trying to stay silent and hidden, he would've yelled the words. "How many times have I told you to call me Jimin. I cannot bear to hear you call me 'my lord.'" Namjoon looked up at that, eying the shorter prince with a cocked head. "I thought..." you were mad at me, he was about to say, but he stopped himself. If there was one thing the whole incident had taught him, it was how terrible it was to feel like he was a threat to the royal family. Every day ever since the infamous kiss, had gone by with a constant fear that the next step he took through the newly dusted castle halls, would be his final one. The prince sighed loudly, grabbing a hold of one of the servants unoccupied hand again and staring into his deep brown eyes for the first time in a while. At that, the servant felt his heartbeat pick up and a blush come to his cheeks. A warmth spread through his body. He had almost forgotten how it felt to have the handsome, young prince look at him and as he did, Namjoon couldn't stop the small dimpled smile that made it's way to his cheeks. With that, it felt as though everything had returned to how it was before it had happened. This made him think that the outcome of this conversation might be better than what he had firstly assumed.

"Look, I take full responsibility for the kiss, don't worry you will not be punished for it." The grip on Namjoon's hands tightened slightly. "At the arrival of the princess, my father has some new duties to add to your old ones, he will tell you in person when we get back." The shorter was about to start dragging them back out of the alley before he added. "Oh, and..." He seemed to hesitate a bit, hand clenching further around the bigger one in its hold.  "And you'll be sleeping in the servants' quarters from today onwards. Princess Eunae will be moved to the room next to mine." At once as the prince had uttered his sentence, the servant felt himself he get dragged back out from the dark alley, the prince was not sparing a second to let the poor servant answer. Namjoon came to the conclusion that it either way was not in his place to answer what the prince had said. He had no rights in the situation and nothing he could say would have any impact on the king's orders.

Nonetheless he was grateful for everything the prince had done for him up till this point, he was now living a life out of a messed up dream, and the other was the only one Namjoon could thank for it. The taller felt a shallow breath leave his lungs as they stopped at the very stall that Jimin had led them away from earlier. Not long after, the guards had spotted them and dashed over the prince's side again, resuming their duties.

Namjoon tightened his grip around the basket, as they started heading back towards the castle. His heart was both lighter and heavier than what it had been previously. Lighter, because there was no longer a need for him to worry about his life being taken, but heavier, so much heavier, because he knew this was the last sincere conversation he would have with the royal. From that day and onwards, he knew that he would mean nothing more to him than the other castle's servants, that he passed by without even sparing a glance. The prince now had a fiancé he needed to devote his time and love to. For Namjoon to even one second think that he would have been worthy of that, was his own fault. The prince was not to blame for his false hopes.

The heaviest burden for Namjoon, was the fact that all the kindness offered by the prince had been the acts of friendship, and now the he was removing his privileges, Namjoon took as a sign that he had lost a friend. This fact crushed Namjoon's heart.