Kai comes back immediately the next day.

The technology back in the Kingdom of Sky was almost futuristic compared to the other kingdoms. When it came to medicine, they were the top of the field, being the largest suppliers of medicines and other plant resources, whose largest supplier was the Kingdom of Earth and the two had been in a centuries long alliance. It was because of this very alliance that children of both these kingdoms grew up as friends, or sometimes even more.

The other four waited for Kai before asking any questions. While waiting, they spent the morning walking around the kingdom in disguises, as a form of sight-seeing but all they got to see was frozen ground and people crowding the streets, the unrest visible and unsettling. They had returned immediately back to the castle.

"I feel like Sunghoon-ssi is hiding something from us," Taehyun had murmured when they had all settled down for lunch and the Ice prince hadn't appeared yet. Across him, Yeonjun nodded briskly, picking up the glass of water in front of him.

"I don't really know a lot about what is going on here or how much he has told you," he began, "but this whole situation is unlike any I have seen. I have heard of civil wars, dictators, coup d'etat– but nothing where magic is attacking the people of the land. There has to be a missing link that we are not being shown."

"I don't understand why Sunghoon would hide something from us, though," Soobin frowned, looking saddened by the suggestion. "He knows we are here to help. With all that's been said and done so far… it doesn't make sense. I don't think he is one to hide something because he does care about the kingdom. He may be the second prince, but he is very capable of being the ruler."

"Who are we talking about?" Sunghoon entered with Kai behind him, the younger having just been received at the airport by the white haired prince. For the first time, Sunghoon looked a little relaxed, and it probably had something to do with the way Kai was smiling.

"Nothing, just here and there," Beomgyu brushed it off with a warm smile. As the two settled down, he added, "How did it go, Kai?"

"Since we received the flowers just before late night, I got some overnight workers to help me and finished it. I gotta say though, I'm very sleep deprived," he admitted. From up close, the rest could see the faint trace of eyebags. "I think I will have lunch, give the medicine to Seongyeon-ssi, and then take a long nap, if you all don't mind."

"No, no, of course not!"

"Thank you for your efforts, Kai-ssi," Sunghoon looked really grateful as he spoke. He waved to the servants in the corner of the room who had followed after them to immediately bring in the food. "Even though we are not friends, you still came through and are doing so much."

"Hey now," Kai laughed pleasantly, "you are the friend of my friend's friend! That makes you my friend too."

Yeonjun started laughing at that, startling all of them. The older boy had mostly kept to himself and only given neutral observations so far, so to see him laugh like this shocked everyone. The tension in the room dissipated and they all relaxed and laughed along.

"By that logic, you would be befriending the whole world, Kai," Beomgyu joked. At that moment, the servants came in with the food. Silence fell amongst them while they are, all princes used to proper dining manners that dictated they not talk while eating. Only when the dishes were being taken away did Soobin finally speak.

"Sunghoon," he bit his lip, not noticing the way it distracted the Fire prince sitting next to him. "Can you tell us all about everything that you know? Everything that has happened so far, in the chronological order? Maybe we're missing some crucial link to why this is happening."

"Yes, of course," the Ice prince straightened up, loosening his collar. "I suppose this all started right after my father died. His death was orchestrated by someone, feeding him poison through his alcohol. The investigation is still going on, though it's been months and frankly, I have lost all hope at this point."

The silence in the room was deadly, the princes exchanging wide-eyed glances. The death of a king was usually announced as soon as possible when the heir in line was crowned. But there had been no news of the Ice King's death and the matter was kept under the covers.

"I know you must be wondering why we haven't told you all," Sunghoon noticed their questioning gazes. "It was suggested by my older brother. At that time, he had to be quickly crowned King because of the sudden incident. Our kingdom was in a precarious balance and we were receiving news of ice growth in the borders of our kingdom. We were in a very weak position, so to protect ourselves, we had to hide the truth."

It made sense, thought Taehyun, making connections between the incidents.

"The ground started freezing up," the white haired boy continued explaining, "and nothing would grow in our fields anymore. Even if our temperatures get really low, we are usually capable of producing enough resources to sustain ourselves for a year, but our crops died and new plantations bore no fruits. Our resources dwindled by more than a half of our annual production."

"And that's why your people started attacking across borders to other kingdoms," Beomgyu supplied, brows furrowed. "If there was no food in the Ice kingdom, they would have to resort to stealing and robbing others because they had no money to pay for it either. But in this situation, shouldn't you have asked us for help? We, as your neighbouring kingdoms, would have donated some resources for free to help."

"You could have," Sunghoon admitted, lowering his gaze shamefully. "I did suggest that to my brother. But, he insisted that we couldn't trust any of you. He refused to listen to my suggestions and told me to just focus on my schooling. After that, whenever I tried to catch some time alone with him, he was always busy with some or the other work because riots and rebellions were stirring under the surface.

"Just around that time, my sister suddenly fell unconscious while walking through our palace grounds. We called in the royal doctor and he said she was seemingly in a coma but we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Her body felt cold, and she wouldn't wake up. We managed to keep her alive with the IV and other machines, but she gave no response. I wanted to stay behind and look after her, but…"

He paused, closing his eyes for a moment to swallow away the pain he could remember so well like it was yesterday.

"My brother scolded me and told me to finish my last year at the Academy," he continued after a few minutes. "He insisted that he needed me to be fully prepared to help him in ruling the kingdom. I agreed and had to leave in two weeks for the Academy. During those five months since then, Seongyeon has not awoken, and her health continues to deteriorate. I really don't know what to do at this point…"

None of the princes knew what exactly to say. Beomgyu felt bad for Sunghoon. Having the only reliable adult in his life removed and for the kingdom to go through such tough times, it really wasn't easy. But, no matter how he looked at it, the eldest Ice prince was being foolish about these matters. His decisions had been weak and ineffective, and the problem had only continued to grow for the past six or so months.

"I did wonder why you are just giving away all these secrets to princes of other kingdoms," Yeonjun sighed, eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at Sunghoon. The Ice prince swallowed thickly, blinking away the tears pricking the corner of his eyes.

"I love my kingdom very much, Yeonjun-ssi," he murmured. "I take great pride in this land, and in my family. I admit, I agreed to my brother's decisions because of that pride but as I have realised over these past few months, this pride and desire to solve everything by ourselves will only end up in the ruin of this kingdom. What is a kingdom, but its people? Today it's my sister dying. For all I know, our subjects have also been afflicted with this disease. And yet, if we just stand by and don't ask for help… I know there's no other choice at this point. I thought over it the past few days. Even if it means that some other kingdom will attack us, I am willing to take the risk. Without the people, this land means nothing. This position, this power, it means nothing."

"It takes a lot to admit that, Sunghoon," Soobin reached over to place a hand on top of Sunghoon's in comfort. "Thank you for telling us all this, and for trusting us so. We will not break your trust. Right guys?"

The last sentence was directed at the Fire prince, to whom Soobin glared with narrowed eyes as if daring him to do anything. Yeonjun raised his hands and eyebrows to indicate peace, but Beomgyu didn't miss the way his lips pulled up in an amused smirk at Soobin's actions.

✿

Kai immediately went over to Seongyeon's room when the table was cleared up. Taehyun decided to go with him, so Beomgyu tagged along too. The Sky prince brought out a suitcase with various tools and small bottles full of orange powder. He carefully got out a small spoonful of the powder and did some things to it and then eventually put it into the IV.

"How sure are you that this will work?" Beomgyu whispered quietly, eyes raking over the still figure of the young girl. The way she was sleeping, it was hard not to see the resemblances with a corpse.

"Like, 70% maybe?" Kai sighed, shutting his eyes for a second. He opened them the very next second and hurriedly put everything back in his toolbox suitcase. There was no missing the drowsiness in his eyes. At this point, he had stayed awake for more than 40 hours.

"I'll get Sunghoon-ssi to prepare a room for you," Beomgyu patted him on the shoulder. "Get some rest, okay? If there's anything treatment related that needs to be done, Taehyun will take you to their doctor. Just tell them what to do."

"Thanks, hyung," Kai shot a grateful smile then turned to Taehyun. The two left, leaving Beomgyu by himself. The Air prince sighed, eyes flickering over to the fireplace where the flame seemed to be licking the top. A log fell down, and a few fire sparks escaped from the flame, only to die out in the air the next second.

Half an hour later, Beomgyu returned back to his room after ensuring that Kai's room was prepared. He had met Taehyun there, who had asked him to go back to their room.

"I will bring Soobin-ssi and Yeonjun-ssi," he muttered quietly after Kai had fallen asleep. "I think it's better to plan things out. I'm… I'm getting really uneasy."

"We do need to talk," Beomgyu had agreed.

Now as he waited quietly in their room on their bed with his knees pulled up, Beomgyu wondered for the first time if they might be making a mistake. Even though nothing so far had indicated their attempt being a mistake, he still couldn't deny the uneasy feeling that he was getting too. What if all this resulted badly?

Beomgyu's thoughts were interrupted by the heavy door swinging inwards. Taehyun entered the room with Soobin right behind him, and Yeonjun lingered around outside for a second before he stepped in too. The Earth prince shut the door immediately behind him but Yeonjun was too busy staring interestedly at their bed.

"Something wrong, Yeonjun-ssi?" Beomgyu asked. At that, the Fire prince just chuckled and shook his head, hiding a smirk again. "Feel free to sit down."

Even Soobin couldn't stop staring at the single bed as he settled down but this time, his best friend didn't notice. Taehyun sat down next to Beomgyu then patted on his thigh to indicate something. The older of the two just smiled fondly and laid down his left leg so Taehyun could lie down on his lap.

"You two are such a cute couple," Yeonjun commented. The compliment instantly made the two of them blush heavily. Beomgyu felt very pleased hearing that but it also made his heart squeeze a little in pain. At this point, he wasn't sure what was real and what was a part of their fake facade.

But, the way Taehyun had given him a shy smile meant something, right? It gave Beomgyu hope, that perhaps, he might not be the only one feeling something for the other. Maybe he wasn't the only one who had fallen in love.

"I agree," Soobin smiled meaningfully at Beomgyu, who ignored it in favour of stealing glances at the love of his life. Seeing the way Taehyun's cute little shark teeth peeked out, the only thing he truly wanted at that moment was for Taehyun to be safe. No matter what happened here, as long as he was safe… Beomgyu could deal with it.

"Let's talk about the problem," Taehyun changed the subject, turning his head away so Beomgyu couldn't see the red cheeks. Of course, he didn't realise that Beomgyu could still see his red left ear. "After hearing Sunghoon's story… I'm pretty sure that the poisoning of the previous king was the catalyst to the magic going haywire. But, it still feels incomplete to me."

"Right," Beomgyu said seriously. "It feels too less for something this bad. It's almost like something else also affected this string of events."

"We still don't know who poisoned the King," Soobin pointed out. "It could very well be one of the nobles here. Or someone else entirely, who has no interest in the political status but had a personal grudge against the Ice King."

"Could be," Yeonjun placed a curled index finger on his chin as he thought out loud. "But if it was a personal grudge, it wouldn't really be something that could trigger the magic. For the magic to go haywire, something large-scale must have happened. Which means that it is highly likely that the poisoning resulted in something else which was also the catalyst to the triggered magic."

"That makes sense," Taehyun nodded. He sat up and leaned down on his arms. "The way I see it, we have no choice but to go around and find out the information ourselves. Cooped up here in the palace, we are not going to find anything except what is told to us."

"I am sure Sunghoon isn't hiding anything…" Soobin's attempt fell short and weak even to himself and he trailed off.

"Even if Sunghoon-ssi isn't hiding anything," Beomgyu immediately went to reassure him, "it is very possible that he himself isn't aware of some things. After all, didn't he say that he had to leave for the Academy not even a month later? He was also wrapped up in taking care of his sister. It's not impossible."

Soobin nodded, agreeing to that. It's not like Sunghoon was God. Even though he was the prince, he was still the second prince, who was still doing his schooling. There would obviously be things he does not know.

"You're right, Taehyun-ssi," Yeonjun nodded. "We will only get a lead if we ask around for information. Even if it's just rumours or lies, there is always some element of truth to be found in those rumours. They might give us the lead to what really happened here. Then let's distribute the work. I can check out the nobles here. Not to be boastful, but I am pretty good at charming others, especially court officials."

"Then I'll come with you," Taehyun offered immediately, wanting to help. Beomgyu froze at that, the green monster rearing its ugly head at the words uttered.

"Then Soobin-hyung and I can go in disguise around town and get information from the servants," Beomgyu announced loudly, not looking at the way Taehyun startled at that. Soobin, on the other hand, did notice it and stifled his laughter.

"No thank you," he smiled. Beomgyu's face dropped at the betrayal so he continued, "Sorry Beomgyu, but I think I should stick around with Sunghoon. Keep a watch over him. He's been dealing with a lot for the past few months, and I'm sure he needs a friend."

"Just a friend?" Yeonjun raised an eyebrow, leaning his right cheek against his fist, which was resting on his knee. "Or something more?"

"A friend," Soobin shot back, rolling his eyes. He got off the bed, and dusted away his pants even though there was nothing on it. "I will entrust this job to the three of you. I trust you guys. In the meantime, I will try to obtain whatever information I can from the people in the castle. The servants and guards here know me better, so some of them might be willing to talk to me when alone."

"Alright," Beomgyu said dejectedly. Taehyun was too cruel to his poor heart, he sulked.

"And I wouldn't want to separate you two lovebirds," Yeonjun commented. "I don't mind working by myself. In fact, I work better alone. So thank you for the offer Taehyun-ssi, but I think your fiancé will like it better if you stick around with him. It probably makes him feel better when you're within his reach, where he can look out for you."

Yeonjun was scarily accurate in reading Beomgyu's intentions. At any other time, it would have alarmed the Air prince but the way Yeonjun was smiling fondly at them didn't seem like he had any ulterior motives. So he settled for an embarrassed pout that Taehyun saw.

"I didn't know you felt that way," Taehyun said quietly, immediately picking up Beomgyu's hand to comfort him. For the younger, it already meant a lot that Beomgyu cares so much– he would take whatever he could get, even if it was all platonic and not romantic. "Of course I'll go with you hyung."

"Good," Beomgyu murmured, leaning in to press a gentle kiss on his cheek without thinking. Taehyun blushed furiously at the action, which made Yeonjun bark out in laughter. He got off the bed and followed Soobin out, shooting a smirk at the Water prince.

"Honeymoon phase, huh?"

❀

They immediately got to work the next day. Kai had finally returned to full energy after sleeping for a full 14 hours. Taehyun had immediately filled him in on what the four of them had discussed. While Kai got down to working on Seongyeon's treatment, the rest of them worked out disguises and planned out how and when to go about getting information.

Beomgyu started out pretty casually, helping the servants whenever he had the time and talking to them about totally normal things and eventually slipping in a question or two that gave them some information.

"...she kept lamenting about how she would never find a husband," the maid was laughing as she talked about her friend, a story that Beomgyu had shown curiosity in.

"Then, did she or did she not?" Beomgyu asked back, smiling languidly as he helped pass her the freshly washed dishes.

"Well, this didn't happen that long ago," she replied absentmindedly as she carefully kept the dishes in their places. "But in the past few months, forget marriages, even dating has decreased so much! Everyone is too busy trying to just get food."

"What about your family?" Beomgyu frowned. Here at the capital, the resources were still found as the city was more advanced. In smaller towns and villages, the condition was much much worse.

"What else?" She sighed, anguished. "All I can do is send every coin I earn back home, but even those have lost their meaning. No one has the food to sell! And I can't even send them food back because it usually gets robbed on the way and never reaches them."

"That's…"

Beomgyu didn't know how to comfort her. Mentally, he made a note to send a message to his brother immediately when he got time. They needed to start sending disaster packages even if the Ice refused to officially send a request for help. They couldn't just stand by and watch their neighbouring kingdom fall into complete ruin.

"All because of that wretched man," she lamented before freezing upon realising what she had said. Beomgyu caught on immediately.

"What man?" He asked cautiously, afraid to scare her away. But even with his attempt, she was still visibly scared and just shook her head quickly.

"No, no, nothing," she whispered, focusing on the task at hand. "Ask me no more, sire, I cannot, I cannot say anything. Forget my words, I didn't say anything!"

"Alright, alright," Beomgyu appeased her. Frustrated at her inability to talk, he left not much later, only to bump into Taehyun when he returned to their room. The younger seemed to have just come back from a bath and was clad only in a towel that swung from his hips. Beomgyu had to peel his eyes away from staring at the way the wet drops clung to his abs and muscles.

"Oh, hyung!" Taehyun was surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Sorry," Beomgyu mumbled, eyes trained on the ground as he quickly made his way to their bed. Taehyun didn't notice.

"Good timing," the brown haired prince said immediately, rushing to put on his clothes. "I wanted to tell you what I found out from the people living in the capital. They didn't really want to talk much, realising I was a foreigner but I managed to get something out of them. The way they talked about King Seonghyun, it really felt off to me."

"Sunghoon's brother?" Beomgyu asked, intrigued. Taehyun nodded from where he was pulling on his shirt. The older took the chance to peek at his body one more time before looking away once again. "What were they saying?"

"Well," Taehyun paused, "it wasn't really about what they were saying than how they were saying it."

"What does that mean?" Beomgyu asked, confused. Taehyun walked over, and sat down next to him. He pushed back the wet tips of his hair and looked at Beomgyu with furrowed eyebrows. Now, Beomgyu knew that they were talking about a serious topic, but it was hard to focus on that when Taehyun was literally parading around in front of him like a particularly good-looking piece of candy.

"It was," Taehyun tried to find the right word for it, "it was scornful? Like they were looking down on him. Or rather, like they considered him useless."

Beomgyu snorted. He wasn't one to judge or bad mouth other behind their backs, but this was an exceptional case. "I would too, if I was suffering like this under a king like him. Frankly, I'm appalled by the way he is handling everything. What am I even saying? It's almost like he hasn't handled anything at all! From what I found out, the situation has been this terrible for months now. He has done practically nothing useful. The things he should be doing aren't being done at all!"

"I mean, you're not wrong," Taehyun admitted, falling on his back to lie spread eagle on the bed. "No offense to the guy, but he's absolutely shit at ruling a country. It's practically like he never attended the Academy or something. Didn't he learn anything from his parents? Like, you and I aren't even trained to be rulers of the kingdom since we learned the duties of being the second in line. But even we could have handled this situation far better than he has."

"You know," Beomgyu said thoughtfully, as he lied down next to Taehyun, "Any other time, I would have given him the benefit of the doubt. I would have thought, 'Ah, we probably say this because we aren't in the actual situation' but I can't this time. The more I hear of the problems faced by everyone here, the more I wonder if Seonghyun-ssi even knows what he is doing."

"It doesn't make sense," Taehyun sighed. "If Seonghyun-ssi wasn't capable of taking care of the kingdom, wouldn't the previous Ice King have put it in his will to make Sunghoon or Seongyeon the next heir?"

"Right?"

Beomgyu couldn't help but feel even more confused at all the questions. It was almost like with every new information they found, they only got more questions than answers.

✿

Two days after the four of them had had that meeting, Yeonjun called for another one. After dinner, Beomgyu accompanied Taehyun and Kai to Seongyeon's room so they could leave together after Kai was done checking up on her and giving her the next dose.

The bottle of orange powder was now nearly finished and Kai had to shake it to reach the powder at the bottom carefully. Beomgyu watched him quietly, mind elsewhere.

"How is the treatment going?" Taehyun's voice was barely above a whisper. Somehow, when they were in this room, they automatically shifted to talking in quiet voices.

"Her vitals are improving," Kai replied, not letting his eyes off his patient. "She hasn't woken up or moved yet but her condition does seem to be improving. I'm thinking of adding another medicine which will help boost the recovery process."

"What does this medicine do anyway?" Taehyun gestured to the orange powder which Kai was inserting in the IV.

"Fireflower is a very unique plant," the younger explained. "It is grown in purely volcanic ash, in very hot and humid regions. Since the only volcanoes around here are all in the Fire Kingdom, Fireflowers can only be grown there. They are magical flowers, and they absorb magic from the Earth along with nutrients. The haywire magic is spreading ice inside Seongyeon-ssi. The medicine made from Fireflower is essentially melting away that ice."

"I see," Taehyun opened his mouth in an 'ah' shape. His eyes flickered to Beomgyu, who was just staring at Seongyeon's face without blinking. The Earth prince couldn't stop thinking about the uneasy feeling he got whenever he saw the older boy. Beomgyu suddenly blinked, his face morphing into a shocked one. "Hyung?"

"S- She moved!" Beomgyu pointed a shaky finger at Seongyeon's hands, which were resting limply just between her chest and stomach. Both Kai and Taehyun's head snapped to her immediately and they stared until they saw it too. Her fingers twitched.

"It really is working!" Kai put his hand together in a silent clap, glee overtaking his face.

"We should let Sunghoon-ssi know!" Taehyun immediately got up. Kai beamed and nodded.

They quickly got Sunghoon and then left him and Seongyeon's guard, Dokyeom, alone with her. They were both overjoyed and none of them wanted to intrude on their happiness. The three quietly slipped into Yeonjun and Soobin's room, where the first thing Beomgyu noticed was the two single beds in contrast to the double bed in his and Taehyun's room. Well. Soobin noticed his saucer like eyes and laughed.

"I think Sunghoon ships it," he teased, making room on his bed for Beomgyu to sit down but instead, Taehyun sat there. The Water prince was surprised. Frankly, he had the impression that Taehyun didn't like him much– he suspected that the younger was a bit jealous. He didn't think Taehyun would want to sit with him. But the Earth prince just gave him a shy and slightly forced smile. Ah, atleast he was trying to get closer. Soobin smiled warmly and patted his shoulder, before noticing the beaming Kai. "Oh? Kai-ssi, you seem really happy. Did something good happen?"

"Seongyeon-ssi's fingers twitched," he replied immediately, swaying happily on the spot before settling down between Yeonjun and Beomgyu on the older's bed.

"She's… she's awake?" Soobin was shocked.

"Not quite, but it's very likely that she will wake up soon," Kai corrected him. The relief on Soobin's face was visible to all. He was the one who was closest to the Ice kingdom's royal family, so he obviously felt more worried than any of them. "You can rest easy now, Soobin-ssi."

"Ah," Soobin just gave him a weak smile. "Yes."

"What did you call us here for, Yeonjun-ssi?" Beomgyu asked the pink haired man curiously. "Did you find something already?"

"Let's just say, it's something really shocking," Yeonjun sighed, fingers reaching up to massage his temple. "You won't believe me, but I can say this with all my confidence. Honestly, the only thing I lack is evidence, but everything makes sense after you hear this."

"Well, what is it?" Soobin asked impatiently, already on the edge of his bed, hand gripping the sheets tightly.

"Everybody's saying that the one who killed the previous Ice King," Yeonjun paused, his gaze becoming steelier with every word, "is Seonghyun-ssi."

There was pin-drop silence in the room.

"Seonghyun-ssi?" Beomgyu said incredulously, looking at Yeonjun like he had grown another head. The Fire prince nodded.

"Nobody has any evidence so to speak," he continued, "but it's practically the truth with how everyone has accepted it. I wasn't sure at first. I thought it might be just a rumour because who hasn't heard of children killing their parents for property? But what didn't fit in was that Seonghyun-ssi was the heir in line for the throne. He didn't even have to kill his father, he would have got it anyway!"

"Exactly," Taehyun's brows were furrowed, mind working at full speed.

"Unless, there was a possibility that his father didn't want to make him the heir," Yeonjun said in a hushed voice. "I don't know exactly how or why, but if the previous Ice King was going to make, say, Sunghoon the heir, then there's a possible motive for why Seonghyun-ssi would have killed his father before he could do such a thing and taken control of the throne."

"That's," Soobin looked like he had swallowed a block of ice.

"I know you don't trust me, Soobin-ssi," Yeonjun said quietly, fingers tightening around his sheets. The only one who noticed the action was Kai, who was sitting next to him, and felt the sheets tug. "I know… that my reputation precedes me–"

"It's not that," Soobin abruptly cut him off. For the first time, Yeonjun looked vulnerable in front of them all. Everybody knew about the bastard heir of the Fire Kingdom. The Queen had been unable to produce a child and instead, one of the concubines ended up conceiving a child. That child was Choi Yeonjun, looked down upon by everyone for being unwanted in his own kingdom. "I don't care about your lineage, who your parents are or what blood runs in your veins. It's not even that I don't trust you– I'm… just shocked, because your words… make sense."

"They do?" Yeonjun seemed shocked, but Beomgyu guessed it was more because of the fact that Soobin brushed away his family history than the words he was speaking.

"Sunghoon is studying both heir apparent and second princely duties in the Academy," Soobin said quietly. That shocked Taehyun and Beomgyu; no wonder they hadn't seen or known Sunghoon much. Half of his classes were of heirs, and the other half were the only ones they shared with him. Suddenly, it made sense as to why they didn't see the white haired prince around as much. "As you know, this type of studies are generally done when either the heir apparent is sick, or drafted to war, or is likely to not survive long enough to be the heir."

"But Seonghyun-ssi is none of those," Beomgyu realised.

"Exactly," Soobin's lips pursed tightly. "I never asked Sunghoon why he was studying that way. I thought he would tell me when he feels comfortable. But the topic never came up. But now, upon hearing what Yeonjun-ssi said–"

Sunghoon's voice interrupted from the doorway, startling them all.

"It's not him."

°•❀•°