The Royal King Who Saw Heart In A Royally Equal Thief //Jaehyungparkian\\

6- Royal Garden

Jae walked around the castle greeting every servant that passes by. He was given permission to explore while Younghyun was busy tending to his people. It was a fairly big castle, each guest room being given to a worker of the castle—which was probably one of the other reasons he couldn't sleep in one of them.

Along the way, he found a large window that was covered with a velvet red curtain. He gently moved one side of the curtain with his hand and looked at the view it showed. It was slightly blurry due to his glasses still being gone, but it was still a beautiful sight to see.

The sun rise was shown and the garden filled with flowers and pretty green bushes glowed. A fountain could be seen in the middle of it. His breath froze for only a second, having never seen such a pretty place before.

"That's where the king used to spend most of his time."

A sudden voice that arose from behind startled Jae as he gasped and quickly turned around. It the commander who had the soldiers beat him. Jae didn't speak, only stared with wide eyes still being in shock.

The commander chuckled, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I also apologize for having my men hit you, we started on the wrong foot." He put his hand out giving Jae a friendly smile.

Jae gave a small nod and took Dowoon's hand. "You said this garden...the king used to go there?"

"Yes, he did, but he stopped after his father had passed six years ago." Dowoon said while moving both curtains showing the full beauty that showed outside.

"Why did he stop after the former king's passing?" Jae asked while looking at the garden outside. He listened intently to what the commander would say.

Dowoon sighed, he wasn't sure if this was something he should say considering that Jae has only been here for little over a week now. "Former king always took the prince out to the garden to play. They enjoyed naming all the different flowers and making wishes in the fountain. Sir King's mother passed away from an illness when he was only five, but she used to tend to the garden. It was her last memory, so they took care of it.

"I remember always watching them name the clouds and watch the sunset before bed, sir king loved the garden. The former king one day was called into a meaning with another kingdom, specifically the kingdom of Busan. It was there that the carriage was ambushed, no one survived—that included the king."

Jae looked down at his feet, he remembered the news that spread all over Busan when he was little. The king had died leaving his son in the throne at an early age, it was the tragedy of the decade.

"Sir king was never the same again, he became gloomy and depressed, yet he still held a smile and was as generous as his father. After the funeral, he never stepped foot or even looked at the garden. He never told anyone to tend to it, but us servants knew how much he still cared for it. So we water the plants and take weeds out everyday. This garden has many memories of sir king, so much so just looking at it would bring tears to his eyes..."

Dowoon looked at Jae. He gasped slightly when he saw that the thief had been crying. He wasn't sure of what to do, he had never been in such a situation, so he just continued. "There is a small change in sir king's behavior though. Every since he has heard of your arrival, there's this small glint of happiness in his eyes, his smile isn't fake anymore, and he doesn't over work himself anymore. He seems to be happier, so I thank you, sir Jae. You have brought our king back, the real king. I give you my respect."

Jae took the words in, he processed everything in his head. He was silent, the only noise that can be heard were the small chatter of the workers and their steps. Neither spoke, speaking would ruin the moment. Jae smile a bit and looked up, wiping the tears that had fallen. He patted the armored shoulder of the commander, "I need no respect, I have done nothing to deserve such an honor." Then proceeded to leave.