SPOILT ROYALS | JAEYONG NCT

13: A Royal Ball

Taeyong couldn't help but be on edge since he had received the note. That day, he had tried to wander off and slip out of Jaehyun's watchful eyes to find the carrier but was, not really to anyone's surprise, unsuccessful. Jaehyun had caught him almost immediately. He had made sure Taeyong was in his side eye view the whole time so when Taeyong tried to slip away, he caught him by the arm and embarrassingly, Taeyong had actually heard some of the town girls swoon. He blushed furiously and stayed put after that.

He couldn't tell the Prince about the note either because the Prince would pry and Taeyong with his weak, weak heart would succumb if Jaehyun looked at him a second too long. He didn't trust his mouth enough not to spill his own secrets. Donghyuck was out of question too for obvious reasons (ie; a loud mouth) and so was Prince Sangyeong - because duh. All that was left in his pitifully small circle of friends(?) was Haein.

When Haein had done his usual magic trick of appearing out of the blue that very evening, Taeyong gathered up the courage to hand him the note. Haein took one look at it - sharp, hard, calculating - before crumpling it in his fingers and discarding it in a nearby candle never to be seen again. That was the end of that, but Taeyong still couldn't help but think about it.

Did they know who Taeyong was? Was the note actually meant for him or was it for the Prince? In that case, it was without a doubt treason. Then again, if it was for him, why? Did whoever sent it know why he was in the castle? Because if so, he was screwed. Or was he just the wrong receiver? He extremely doubted that one.

All the questions were giving him a headache. He needed to complete this mission and be gone fast, out of sight and off the radar of whoever had sent him the note. Taeyong rubbed his temples, he knew the Jung Kingdom was cursed the day he step foot in it and he was partly annoyed at himself for not listening to his instincts.

At the minimum, he had a distraction now. It was finally the evening of perhaps the most anticipated ball so far in the year. There were people from each kingdom, the Choi's, the Kim's, the Seo's, even Taeyong's home kingdom of the Lee's. Crown Prince Mark Lee attending in stead of his family. There were some other smaller areas represented but not quite big enough to be considered kingdoms. Despite this, the ball wasn't too full. Just the main families, special dukes and duchesses, and a few other Princes and Princesses. Of course that included Princess Naeun too.

Taeyong had made eye contact with Princess Seo as she walked through the large doors into the highly decorated, downright beautiful (probably the most beautiful and expensive thing he'd seen and would ever see in his life) ballroom. She was linked arm in arm with Prince Johnny as she came in and had smiled at Taeyong with something close to polite smug. Taeyong didn't let his own smugness show because ha, the Prince had almost kissed me. He also didn't say it out loud either because it sounded kind of pathetic when he put it like that.

Taeyong and Donghyuck were delegated in different corners so if any of the Royal's needed something a server couldn't provide, they could beckon them instead. Donghyuck stood directly opposite to him and Taeyong swore he saw Donghyuck's shimmery eyes light up when Prince Johnny walked in. The gears in his head were still turning but they hadn't clicked in place quite yet.

A few minutes after everyone had arrived, finally came the man of the hour itself - Prince Jaehyun. There was silence, a trumpet blew and everyone in the room seemed to hold their breaths as the guards opened the large doors. Taeyong's heart dropped into his stomach as Jaehyun stepped through. The Prince was dressed in a cream suit-like attire with a long, glittering gold cape attached to the back of it. He also wore a beautiful, golden crown, not quite as large as his brother's or the King's but large enough to visibly reflect the warm glint of light that hit the encrusted rubies.