Prince's Choice - Zhong Chenle

Thirty-One

Chenle frantically pace around the castle. He opens every door, every drawer, calling out her name any chance he gets.

"Daegal! Daegal, where are you girl?"

Chenle sprints forward, not bothering to check his surroundings. This causes him to crash into a taller figure.

"Prince Chenle! Are you alright?" Taeyong panics.

"I can't find Daegal. She wasn't in her bed this morning and no one else has seen her today!" Chenle quickly explains, glancing behind Taeyong to see if she could possibly be there.

"Do you think somebody took her? There was a lot of people in and out of the castle yesterday."

"Hello, what are you guys talking about?" King Peng questions, approaching the pair. He takes a sip from the coffee mug in his left hand.

"Daegal, I can't find her anywhere."

"Oh, that thing? That makes sense of why our receptionist told me he kept getting phone calls from villagers about some unattended dog that resembled Daegal."

"She's alone in the village!" Chenle exclaims in a questioning tone.

"Yeah, I told the receptionist to let all the peasants know not to fret."

"Dad we have to find her!"

Peng just shrugs. "I'll send out a search party and-" Chenle grabs his father by the collar of his shirt. He pulls him so that Peng's face is directly in front of his.

"We have to find her. Right. Now." He fumes, glaring into his dad's eyes.

Chenle lets go of his father's collar, Peng stepping back and dusting himself off.

"I'm glad your lessons on giving out demands have gone well, but I don't want you using that tone with me again." Peng pauses for a second. "Go get dressed. I'll send some servants to look around, but you, me, your brother, and your mother can look as well."

Chenle smiles, about to run off and get ready, but he stops after meeting eyes with Ms. Choi.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but can Youngie and I be of any service?"

"Sure, you can tag along. We need someone to do all the dirty work." King Peng mumbles the second part.

"Know I'm only doing this for Chenle and it has nothing to do with you, Peng." Ms. Choi sasses.

"What the, I'm your boss, you can't speak to me like- hey! Come back here!"

Everyone prepares and they re-group at the portcullis.

A group of servants who were sent to search had compasses, a map of the village, and flashlights, even though there's still daylight.

Chenle's group, which consisted of his parents, brother, and Youngie and her mom would rely on Ms. Choi's knowledge on the places in the village to find Daegal.

They begin their venture, walking down towards the village together. Ms. Choi and Queen Howin talk about random things, while Guang and King Peng drag their feet and droop their heads. They looked as if they'd rather be doing anything else.

"I really hope we find her." Chenle ponders.

"Don't worry, I know we will." Youngie reassures, making Chenle feel a bit better about the whole situation.

When the group enters the village, everyone who is outside begins cheering. At first Peng thought they were cheering for him until, someone walked up to Ms. Choi, giving her a big hug.

"Ms. Choi, we've missed you!" Someone exclaims.

"Come on, you saw me walking home yesterday." Ms. Choi chuckles.

"Thank you for all the food you've made for my family, you are so kind." Another says.

"Wow, your mom is more of royalty than my family here." Chenle jokingly whispers to Youngie.

"Yeah. She helps almost everyone when she gets the chance." She tells Chenle, waving to the few people who say hi to her. "Anywho, we should probably start looking."

 They walk around, looking behind buildings and inside of trenches.

"DAEGAL!" "Daegal!" Both Chenle and Youngie shout.

"Bagel!" Peng tiredly says.

Chenle looks back at him. "It's Daegal. You need to take this more seriously."

"I never liked that stupid dog anyway." He snarls. Chenle was about to snap at his father but his mom interjected.

"There's too much ground to cover. We should split up." Howin asserts.

"But these two won't even take it seriously!" Chenle objects, pointing at Guang and his father.

"I agree with splitting off. I'll let you know if I see him!" Guang waves before running away.

Chenle grows more and more annoyed with their lack of care. He was just really anxious about his furry friend's whereabouts.

"I also think we should split up. Chenle, do you want to check the East Wing of the village together? She couldn't have gotten too far." Youngie suggest.

Chenle silently nods.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Everyone's attention became focused on Peng's shout.

They look to where he's facing to see a young girl dressed in all black. She's stealing fruits from a random unattended stand.

Chenle takes a few steps forward, assessing the girl more before realizing that it is Jiyun.