An Ode to Maehwa | kth

Chapter 10: The Dark Cloud

"You have gotten me wrong. I was only stating a fact," Taehyung explained.

"Is that so? I must have mistaken then, because this was coming from the winner who didn't even bother using his dominant hand."

Namjoon's voice was entirely wrapped up in contempt, his intention clear on hurting Taehyung.

"...I was only lucky," Taehyung said, his eyes staring at the ground.

Namjoon gave him a look, piercing and frosty, then gave another sneer before he flipped his sleeve and turned.

"Hyungnim," Taehyung called, reaching out his left hand to Namjoon's. He instantly slapped it away, and you didn't miss a flash of pain on Taehyung's face.

"Don't call me that!" he snapped, then stormed off without a glance at Taehyung.

Taehyung dazedly looked at Namjoon's back growing further and further away, as that of the distance they could never lessen, covering his left wrist unconsciously.

"...You should've told him you twisted your left wrist."

You contemplated for a moment whether to walk away as if you saw nothing, or to approach him and you chose the latter. What drove you was the worry for his injury.

He widened his eyes at your existence, then stared at you curiously. He probably was wondering how you knew, so you decided to explain.

"Um, I figured you got hurt when you caught the boy."

After grasping the information, he answered, "I can't."

"Why?"

There was a moment of silence before he replied, "it's none of your business."

You purse your lips at his cold response, but if he wasn't going to say, then you weren't going to force him to.

"Okay. Let's call the doctor. You need to treat it," you suggested.

"No need," he gave a short reply, then started walking in the opposite direction.

"What do you mean no need? It will worsen if you leave it like this!"

Frustrated, you tugged at the hem of his sleeve.

"I can't let people know," he glared at you. "You have no idea, do you? A commoner is not supposed to hurt a royal family."

So that was it. Taehyung did a good thing saving the child, and it was only an accident that he was injured. But under no circumstances should a commoner harm the royals. And if they did, one had to go through a punishment—heaviness depending on their crime—and it applied to all, irrespective of sex or age. He couldn't let others know, if he didn't want the boy to be charged with a crime.

"Fine. Then no one will know," you said.

Ten minutes later, you were done with applying an ointment and wrapping his left wrist with bandages.

You quickly went to the infirmary to grab the stuff you need, and you were glad there was no medic there, probably attending other injured guards of today.

"Try to cool it down using cold water from time to time, and change your bandages once a day."

Taehyung was actually cooperative to your surprise—or maybe because he couldn't process what was going on—and let you do the treatment.

"How do you know all this?"

Well my father teaches martial arts, and I've grown to know how to treat small injuries—those words almost slipped out of your mouth when you remembered that you were supposed to have a memory loss.

"Haha, I guess I do remember small things...maybe I was a nurse?" you laughed it off awkwardly.

Truth be told, treating small injuries was part of your weekly routine, be it your father or his disciples, and having had a martial artist in your family, it probably was natural that he taught you a few self-defence techniques.

Which was how you got away from Taehyung the very first time you met.

Taehyung studied his wrist now neatly wrapped in clean white bandages, then looked up at you. He felt strange.

Being in a royal family, no common people, even workers hardly approached him let alone talked to him. It was out of fear and respect, scared to offend him.

But you? You talked back to him saying you weren't a bandit, you advised him to talk about his injury, and you didn't let him walk away from getting a treatment.

Can anyone be this bold even if they didn't have a memory? Knowing that he was a prince should be enough reason for you to keep a distance.

Unless such things didn't matter to you.

And he couldn't explain why, but he hoped you wouldn't change.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"My pleasure!" not expecting him to be so honest, you felt happy.

He looked at you grinning widely and asked, "aren't you supposed to go somewhere?"

You gasped.

"OH NO! I'm late, and the head maid is going to kill me! BYE!!"

The fact that you were on the way to the banquet hall to deliver the cloth in your head had completely slipped off your mind. You sprang up on your feet, then dashed to the banquet hall. You were very late.

Behind you, Taehyung stood there watching your back grow smaller, and laughed softly.

The banquet ended soundly last night. Good food, good wine, good mood.

Perhaps 'soundly' was an understatement with how several guards were on a spree fueled with alcohol. They were too loud, making a ruckus, and were soon thrown outside of the banquet hall, to save face for the Emperor. The Majesties had to ask for the nobles' forgiveness with twitched smiles.

Apparently, the befuddled guards didn't have a mind to reflect even when they were thrown out. They continued to go bizarre outside and jumped in the pond—its water temperature still yet to warm up—naked.

They were likely to get a good scolding by their seniors today.

You were getting dressed, rummaging through your drawer to look for a ribbon to tie your hair. Your fingers felt something at the very back of the drawer, and you pulled it out. They were your white blouse and blue jeans, the clothes you wore when you just arrived.

The completely new experience and lifestyle had kept you busy, but sometimes you couldn't help but think of your original life. It has almost been a month since you came here, with no clue of why you were here and how you could go back.

Or rather, will you ever be able to go back?

You shivered at the thought when you heard a boy's voice outside.

"Excuse me, miss. The Fourth Prince is asking for you."

A/N:

I'm sorry for keeping you all hungry for the romance lol

This story is heavily plotted and so the starter will be a little slow, but the genre is 'historical romance' (with a sprinkle of royal family problems) and it stays that way!