Your Divine Grace {NamJin}

thirteen

"On your knees," the general commanded, tossing his hand at the intruder. The guards on either side forced the person on the ground, and their head hung low as Jungkook circled them. Doyoung shuffled across the sand, tilting his head in confusion at the fugitive caught in Seokjin's clever trap.

"The sand was the giveaway. Since no one was allowed outside, and the men weren't allowed to make a sound, any noise heard would've been the intruder,"Jungkook pondered aloud, nodding his head in approval. "Sand is so small...any ordinary person would've overlooked it. That Seokjin-nim is something else."

Doyoung stared at the person kneeling before him, shaking his head as he came to a startling realization. Taking the criminal's chin into his hand, he forced the person to look up at him. His glossy eyes widened at the individual below him, forcing him to take his hand away from them.

"Baekyeol?" he gasped, shaking his head as if to deny the recognition of his fellow Elder Council member.

"D-Doyoung -- it's not what it looks like"--

"It's exactly what it looks like!" Doyoung muttered sharply. "You of all people! Dressed as a woman and doing God knows what! Look at you, in that damned hanbok and extensions in your hair. You insult the good women of the harem."

With that, he tore the stems of the extensions away from his head, almost taking Baekyeol's entire head with it. He picked and pulled at Baekyeol, removing jewelry, fake hair and rips of clothes from him like weeds from a perfect garden. Neither the guards nor Jungkook dared to step in; Doyoung's calm façade and reserved personality had broken into an offended character that overflowed with rivers of fury. Baekyeol was ultimately left a torn mess of rags and hair, like the heartbroken Cinderella before her fairy godmother's visit.

"What the hell were you doing, man?"

Seokjin and Ryeoju crept around the corner, astonished into silence by what laid before them.

"I-I just -- I"--

"Talk!" Doyoung growled, snarling into Baekyeol's eyes like an enraged dog.

"Y-Yejun-nim s-sent..." he breathed, his voice becoming shaky and tears flowing down his eyes.

"What? He sent you to do what?"

"I-I...he w-wanted...me t-to..." he began, pulling his arms away from the guards and placing a hand shakily into the last layer of clothes he had on. Rummaging around in it, he pulled out a glass bottle as small as the palm of his hand and dropped it on the sandy floor, weeping bitterly.

"N-No...you didn't...were you planning on going through with it?!"

"He h-had me...I had to...I had n-no other c-choice..."

Seokjin walked slowly towards the pair, forcing himself to watch the scene unfold before him.

"What do you mean 'no other choice'?" Doyoung asked, now in a calmer tone.

Baekyeol was silent.

"Look, hyung, I don't know what that horrible, pathetic excuse of a man told you he would do if you didn't go through with this, but we were friends. You were all I had in the Elder Council. You know Seokjin-nim is a good man -- you admitted that to me. You said you'd be loyal to righteousness no matter what and this is what you do? Kill good men because the evil can't do their own damned dirty work?"

"And what was I to do? Have you ever had a sword against your neck, threatening to cut you every second you don't bend to someone else's will? Have you ever woken up with your freedom stripped from you? Look at me, Doyoung!"

Baekyeol sobbed, currents of tears flowing down his dirty face like flooded rivers.

"Look at me! I'm nothing but a puppet! I've lost everything to this man and I can't get it back! I can't speak, I can't act, I've lost it all! You know nothing, so shut the fuck up!"

Now, even Doyoung was in tears, shaking his head and hammering incessantly at the silence that once hung over the place with his sobs.

"We were friends...you made a promise..."

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"Lee Baekyeol."

Everyone, including Jungkook, Doyoung and Baekyeol looked up at the young man, regally dressed and determined to justify the crown he wore on his head. Seokjin silently beckoned Doyoung to move away from Baekyeol and make way for inevitable judgement to pass. He opened his mouth, trying to speak out before Seokjin raised a hand to command total quietude.

He knelt to the ground, looking into Baekyeol's inundated eyes.

"Long before His Divine Grace Kim Namjoon and I existed on this earth, the Kims have been known for their mercy and kindness. I'm not perfect, and I've made many a mistake, just like you. And I've known exactly what it's like to feel alone."

"Y-Your Majesty..."

"Now I can't totally pardon you from what you planned on doing today, but I can save you from this prison that tortures you so."

With a smile on his face, Seokjin stood in front of Baekyeol and took a deep breath.

"I, Kim Seokjin, in place of His Divine Grace Kim Namjoon, hereby relieve you of your duties as member of the Elder Council."

Baekyeol looked up at Seokjin, no longer crying oceans of tears.

"I'll still sentence you to a year in jail. You attempted murder, and that can't go unpunished. However, no one -- and I mean no one -- can take free will from someone."

He turned and walked away from them, holding his head as high as the sun on a golden spring morning.

"Go, Baekyeol, clean up. As far as we know, you're spending the night and a few hundred more below the palace in jail, but at least you aren't going up on the chopping block tomorrow morning," Jungkook sighed, his heart saddened by the circumstances.

"Trust me, General, if Seokjin-nim didn't show me mercy just now, you may have found me hanging from a ceiling tomorrow morning."