Kingdom

20. Shadows of the past (5)

It was wrong for Yoongi to assume he could get any information from Jungkook over dinner. The boy won't stop eating. The King chose for them to go to the lake pagoda where he usually meets his friends. He ordered tons of delicacies, wanting to make the boy feel at home. Maybe Jungkook feels too much at home now.

"Royal Advisor Kim Seokjin is here to see the King." a voice from afar announces. Yoongi placed a guard to make sure no one disturbs them, but nothing could stop Seokjin from coming along. He must have convinced the guard that the King had called for him. He always does that. He is very persuasive.

"I must say your wife is very cute," Jin says loudly, approaching with bold steps. "She told me that ..." he stops mid-sentence as he notices the boy.

"Who is that?" Jin asks, coming closer and sitting next to Jungkook.

"The Princess's guard" Yoongi responds.

"I see" Jin says looking at Kook's face as the young man is trying to swallow the huge bite of rice he was chewing. "And why is he here?"

"He hasn't eaten all day."

"It looks like he hasn't eaten all his life."

"I apologize, I ..." Jungkook tries to speak, but Jin waves his hands at him, gesturing to him to keep eating.

"You were saying something about my wife?" Yoongi says, filling his glass with rice wine.

"Yes, she was having dinner with my sister," Jin responds, "A more civilised one" he adds looking at Jungkook devouring a chicken wing. "They invited me to join them for a short while."

"Why did they invite you?" Yoongi asks, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Because I am a nice company." Jin declares loudly as if stating the most obvious fact in the universe. "Your Princess seems to like me. I already asked her to marry me in her next life."

Yoongi rolls his eyes, but a half-smile appears on his face.

"I learned about your ridiculous request." Jin says, reaching out to take a chicken wing from Jungkook's plate and receiving a deadly look from the guard in return.

"Was she very upset?" Yoongi asks with a cunning smile.

"She is an innocent girl, why are you doing this to her?" Jin says with reproach, waving his hand around.

"What happened?" Jungkook can't help but ask, even if his mouth is full of food again.

"He asked the Princess to seduce him." Jin says, shaking his head in disapproval.

"But she doesn't like him!?" the guard exclaims with a worried expression.

"Yes, about that," Yoongi says, using the opportunity to ask what he wants to know. "Do you know exactly why the Princess hates me so much?"

Jungkook remains silent, nervously poking the food with his chopsticks.

"Look, dear boy, we are in a difficult situation." Jin says, placing more chicken in front of the guard. By now he has realized why Yoongi invited the guard to dinner. "On one hand we have this stubborn man here, the King. He will use every opportunity he has to send the Princess away, am I wrong?"

"I wanted to send her back this morning." Yoongi confirms.

"That would be quite the disgrace, no?" Jin says with dramatic concern. "So work with me here. We need to help those two overcome their difficulties. You want Nori to be happy, right?"

"Yes", Jungkook confirms, his eyes nervously moving between the King and Seokjin.

"The Princess confessed she likes our King. She enjoyed kissing him last night." Jin says, lowering his voice as if starting a conspiracy.