The Prisoner of Oryn

41. Home

Jeongguk wrapped an arm around Taehyung and stood facing the lake, waiting for him to say something. When Taehyung remained silent, he took it upon himself to strike a conversation. 

"Are you okay?" he asked. Taehyung sighed heavily and looked down. "No, I'm not okay. I'm not at all o-kay" his voice broke. 

Jeongguk sighed as well and rubbed his shoulder gently. "It is not your fault, Taehyung. All of this is not happening because of you. Get that thought out of your mind. It was my decision to marry you. Not yours, right? So if anything, it's my fault" Jeongguk said, but it seemed as Taehyung didn't even bother listening to him. He was in his own world. 

If only he had not let Jeongguk advance towards him, if only he had restrained himself, none of these would have happened. When he heard about the number of people who died while migrating from the Kingdom, he had felt like banging his head to the wall until it burst open. 

Jeongguk had been leading the Kingdom very well with a very good name as a successful, young King, but he destroyed everything Jeongguk had worked hard to build up because of his own selfishness. He felt like he didn't deserve it. He felt like he was the villain of all those people's lives. 

What did he even expect when he let Jeongguk court him? How did he think the people of sixteenth century would accept gays when he still couldn't convince his own grandparents about it? 

How did he expect them to accept it when the only thing they knew was the mating between a man and a woman? According to them, that was the only combination present. 

People dread the unknown. They tend to avoid the unknown. 

And that was exactly what they were doing over here. Having two Kings was absolutely outrageous and Taehyung couldn't even blame them. He couldn't even call them 'homophobic'.

"I want to go back home" he whispered and let a single tear fall from his eye onto his footwear. 

Jeongguk felt his heart squeeze at that, knowing there was no way Taehyung would be able to go back home. "I know" he whispered through the lump in his throat. It was hard to see his husband blame himself for all that was happening in his Kingdom. 

"But believe me, Taehyung. It isn't your fault at all. It really isn't. Please believe me" he said. "Easy for you to say" Taehyung whispered and let a few more tears fall from his eyes. Jeongguk sighed, knowing that nothing would stop Taehyung from blaming himself anymore. 

"I mean it, Jeongguk. I really want to go back home" Taehyung said. This wasn't the first time he had that thought. Now that he was seeing the amount of damage his selfishness was bringing to the Kingdom and its people, he didn't feel like his love was worth it anymore. 

He had thought it thoroughly in the past two weeks and had almost come to the decision of going back home. Jimin had agreed to it too. Sure, his power did take a toll on his energy, but at the end, it would be worth it. They would go back home. 

"I know, Taehyung. But we both know that's impossible" Jeongguk said sadly. 

Taehyung shook his head and thought back to the conversation that he had had with Jimin a couple of days ago. 

"I agree with you, Taehyung. This is the sixteenth century. Your marriage did bring a lot of problems to the Kingdom and I won't even deny it. It is okay, though. You will get over him soon enough and find someone who is right for you. Some matches just aren't meant to be" Jimin said. 

"What about you? What will you do?" Taehyung asked. "I will find someone else too. Maybe Jeongguk and his Kingdom would be better off if the two of them got married once again" Jimin said. 

"That won't be possible, Jimin. Jeongguk and Jeongyeon are sworn siblings now. They can't get married again. You can bring Jeongyeon with us if you want. I won't oppose it for sure" Taehyung said. 

"Are you sure?" Jimin asked. "Yeah, I am. Talk to her and let me know about it" Taehyung said. "Yupp. Will do" Jimin said. 

Taehyung realized that now was the best time to let Jeongguk know about his plans. It wouldn't be fair for him otherwise. He deserved to know, after all. 

"Actually, it's not impos-.......you know what? Can you leave me alone for a while? I'll tell you about it after some time. I need to clear my thoughts a bit" Taehyung said. 

He realized that in between thinking about how Jeongguk deserved to know about his plans, he totally forgot about the fact that they hadn't revealed Jimin's power to anyone yet. 

"Are you sure?" Jeongguk said. "Yeah. Just......go back to the Palace. I'll come after a while. And if possible, please send Jimin" Taehyung said. "Alright" Jeongguk said and left the lake dejectedly. He wanted his husband to trust him. He wanted him to share his problems with him. 

He hated how Taehyung still depended on Jimin when he had problems, but he knew he had no right to talk about it. He knew how close they were. 

Of course, a small part of him still stayed insecure because he knew that his husband was once in love with Jimin for a really long time, but he couldn't do anything about it. 

He sighed sadly and ordered one of the guards outside his study to ask Jimin to go to the lake. 

Once the guards left, he looked at the portrait of his father and sighed once again. "What would you do if you were in my place, Appa?" he asked and waited for a long time as if the portrait would start talking to him any moment soon. 

But instead of the portrait talking to him, his study door was burst open by an extremely breathless, frantic and bloody Jimin.

"Jimin hyung?? What hap-" 

Jimin didn't let him complete his sentence. Even though he was wheezing for air, he didn't waste a second in rushing into the room and grabbing Jeongguk by his hand. He dragged Jeongguk along with him as he ran all the way to Yoongi's mansion, ignoring every single question that Jeongguk threw at him. 

Jeongguk couldn't comprehend what all that blood on Jimin's chest, face and hands was about. Did something happen to Jeongyeon? But wasn't Jimin asked to go and meet Taehyung at the lake?......and just like that, Jeongguk's blood ran cold. 

You think I don't know about your male doll?

The words that had once frozen his blood returned to haunt him once again. "Hyung, stop" he commanded with an authority that Jimin couldn't go against. "Did something happen to Taehyung?" he asked. 

Jimin didn't waste a second in nodding his head frantically with tears in his eyes. 

Why didn't he notice the tears before? 

"He was shot by an arrow by the time I reached him" Jimin said and just like that, Jeongguk started running faster towards Yoongi's mansion.