The Makings Of a Prince | Changlix

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"I told you already, I know nothing!"

"Yah! Shut up!" Changbin bites back, dragging the tied up man across the dirt, following Yongbok. "Because of you and your friends, we lost our horses!"

"Changbin's horse didn't even belong to him." Yongbok scoffs. "And mine was a fine steed. I think you'd have to compensate for that, wouldn't you?"

"I'll pay you two if you let me go!" The man thrashes against his bounds, kicking the dirt, trying to find leverage against the dust and the pebbles.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Changbin asks, heaving the stranger up a few boulders with the help of the freckled prince. "I thought we were going to interrogate him?"

"We are." The younger hums.

"Then where the hell are we going??"

"Normal interrogation will take too long, if it'll work at all." Yongbok dusts himself off at the peak of the slope, crouching to pinch the man's cheek with a smug smile, pulling his hand away when the stranger tried to bite his finger off. "So, I have a shortcut."

"Which is?" Changbin heaves himself onto the peak with Yongbok, gasping at the view below them. Though Yongbok didn't come there for the view, no matter how thoughtful that might be. "Holy shit—"

"Just sit back. I'll do all the work, don't worry. Now." The man yelps as Yongbok yanks him to his feet, grabbing the extra rope from Changbin's shoulder and tying them around the man's torso, binding his arms together tightly. "I'll give you a choice here. You can either tell us where your friends went," Yongbok tears a thick piece of cloth from the hem of his hanbok, yanking the man toward the edge of the cliff, glancing down. Yup, that was a big drop. Covered by trees, yes, but it wasn't enough to slow his fall, if he were to fall—Yongbok was sure he would by the time they were over. "Or die. Simple as that."

"I told you! I don't know—" The man shrieks when Yongbok kicks him off the cliff, using the cloth to grab the rope before the man could fall to his death. That'd be a shame.

"I'll ask you again!" Yongbok barks, the man glancing up and trying to find leverage on the slippery cliff side. "Where are your friends? What did they do to Changbin's parents?"

"I- I don't know!" The man cries out, Yongbok huffing as he let some rope slip.

"That's a nasty fall! I'm not afraid to drop you, now!" the freckled prince barks. "I have about half a meter of rope left! We don't have all day!"

"I- I—"

"Spit it out!" the freckled prince yells, the man on the verge of tears when Yongbok let more of the rope slip.

"Alright! Alright! Pull me up! I'll tell you!"

"No! Say it!"

"His parents are back in the town north of the village, in an isolated hut! We were just supposed to get information and cross the border quickly! If anything, they might've gone there! Now pull me up!"

Yongbok hesitated. He should kill the spy here. After all, that's what his father brought him out here to do. To kill the people trespassing and conspiring against the throne. There was no mercy to those who went against the monarchy. To establish order, there needed to be discipline and fear. Without an example, Goguryeo would only continue sending more spies.

If he had been the Lee Yongbok weeks ago, he'd have dropped the man without a second thought.

Though he could feel Changbin staring at him, sense his own hesitation. What would Yongbok do now? He doubted that the older would fully judge him, really, Yongbok could care less. But where would his moralities lay? Should morality even lay between decisions regarding the throne and the political stability of a kingdom?