the heartless prince and the duck

Part 2

Choi Han had lived a unique life by any one individual's standards. But despite all of the trials and tribulations that formed him into the — he was today, he had finally achieved something approaching peace in his life.

It wasn't perfect. In fact, it was currently quite far from any approximation of perfect. Peace wasn't about perfection, Choi Han knew that better than most anyone else.

He spent his days protecting his liege while carrying the weight of the secrets that very few minds were privy to.

It was a weight upon his chest that he hadn't the faintest clue what to do with.

If it was a situation that could have been solved with the sword, he would have already struck down the problems with alacrity.

But what could really be done about a shattered heart?

Plenty of things if it was only a metaphorical heart.

Unfortunately his liege had quite literally lost his heart.

Lost wasn't the correct word but it was the only one that Choi Han was currently able to properly digest.

He could protect his liege and sometimes that meant standing outside his office while the crown prince went about his duties within, his aunt assisting with the matters that a heart might have been necessary to solve.

It was because Choi Han had spent so many days standing outside of the office that he was quite confident in his ability to recognize most of the staff working in the palace.

Deja Vu. Or perhaps the feeling in reverse.

Choi Han couldn't label exactly why his eyes followed the unassuming servant who was rather mindlessly completing tasks. He'd walk by on his way to receive something for the head butler or be sent to clean somewhere nearby or in one instance Choi Han had spotted him slacking off like any of the servants did from time to time, looking out the window with a slightly dazed expression.

There wasn't anything distinct about him. He was average in skills, appearance, and tasks.

And yet that warped sensation of deja vu inside out and backwards flipped Choi Han's stomach as he was simultaneously positive that he'd never seen that servant before and even more sure that the servant had been working here for at least as long as he had.

Incongruency intermingled inside of his thoughts and threatened to give him a headache.

Luckily for Choi Han's aching brain, Choi Han was a simple man.

He didn't need to solve the complex problems of why his memories were fighting with one another, he only needed to do one thing and that was keep his liege safe.

"You."

The servant stopped on his way past again, carrying some papers on the way to the head butler. "Yeah?"

It was unexpectedly casual. It wasn't necessarily rude but it just felt as though it was coming from someone who was unused to the etiquette of the palace. Truthfully Choi Han preferred it that way sometimes, the stiff etiquette of the palace was one of those complex things that a simple man like Choi Han normally liked to avoid. For example, Choi Han generally spoke politely but it was considered impolite for him to refer to certain individuals politely because of his status as the crown prince's personal guard and other political machinations and really it just made Choi Han's headache.

The servants on the other hand usually took to the etiquette like a duck to water and he'd never had a servant misstep. He usually tried to use them as an example to learn from as they seemed to have their fingers on the very pulse of politics.

The fact that a servant who had been working here for a long time now wouldn't have made such an error stuck out in Choi Han's mind, even if he didn't care.

Choi Han opened his mouth to question the man and realized with growing unease that perhaps this wasn't a simple problem.

What could he ask? How long have you worked here? Why are you so suspicious? Why aren't you more knowledgeable about the etiquette here?

A simple man chose a simple answer.

"...what's your name?"

"Roksu Kim." He said and Choi Han finally had the presence of mind to take the person in.

His impassive brown eyes didn't appear even the slightest bit nervous or uneasy. He looked more bored than anything else.

Now that Choi Han thought about it, among the servants there weren't all that many who would meet his eyes.

He was just overthinking every little thing now, wasn't he?

"May I go now, sir?"

Choi Han was momentarily taken aback. He had been so focused on his thoughts that he had lapsed into silence and left the poor servant hanging. The servant who seemed to have found his manners as well.

The whole scene coalesced to make Choi Han feel a bit foolish.

"Ah–yes." Now that he had time to reassess all of his thoughts, Choi Han couldn't think of why he'd been so suspicious to begin with. It wasn't like every servant had impeccable manners and it certainly wasn't that Choi Han had memorized everyone in the palace. It was only natural for there to be one or two people who he didn't know all that well or hadn't seen around frequently enough to feel comfortable with.

Embarrassed pink dusted Choi Han's cheeks as he dismissed the servant and wondered at his own strange reaction.

Little did he know that he was one among many individuals who experienced the queer feeling after seeing the stoic servant bustling about the palace on his avarious tasks. The head butler in particular had been nursing a headache as he dealt most directly with the strangely capable and yet unfamiliar and memorable part of his staff.

Roksu simply had a way of doing things that caused him to stick out among his peers even while doing nothing in particular of note.

Most people experienced discomfort Choi Han had felt and were able to brush it off just as quickly, with only lingering feelings of embarrassment as they added to the ever growing list of individuals who harassed the vaguely annoyed servant.

Most people.

One individual did not take such a lax stance in the face of confusion.

"Who the fuck are you?!"

Unfortunately this actually was through no fault of their own.

Roksu, halfway through yet another errand and nearing the end of his day, took an unnerved step back from the wrathful redhead. Roksu had three very good reasons for those feelings.

One, anyone would be distrubed by a stranger randomly screaming at them.

Two, the individual who was making the demands was of a much higher status than the orphan turned servant and his general understanding was that nobles could do just about anything to a commoner with limited or no consequence.

And three, most importantly of all, there was an ominous red glow emitting from the very angry noble that only Roksu seemed to have noticed.

"And what the hell are you doing here?!"

Roksu winced at the volume, taking another cautious step backwards and debating how his life had led him to this moment of being interrogated by this vicious punk.

'Aigoo... my poor life.'