Chapter Text
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Yoo Jonghyuk sighed. He’d been doing a lot of that lately. It wasn’t his fault though, not when his parents had practically made him their errand boy in the duchies. He had read hundreds of tax reports and been offered 12 marriages in less than 10 weeks. Not exactly a great summer.
Even so, he was almost done with his work. The final duchy on the list was the Kim duchy, and then his makeshift summer camp would be over.
The only issue was that the Kim duchy was the one with the most trouble and therefore the one where he would be staying the longest. The duchy in question had been in financial decline for years, until recently, they had crime ridden streets, and most importantly, not been upholding their taxes to the crown. The duchy had either been falling short on their budget to the crown or been scrounging money off the top for themselves. Either way, the duchy was predicted to collapse on its own merit within two winters.
However, as of the spring of the current year, the duchy had for the first time in a decade payed its taxes on time and in full. And if that wasn’t strange enough, it was said that reports of criminal activity had plummeted in the span of a few months.
Even stranger still was the rapid fall of a nation-wide crime sector, headed by the Dokkaebi crime family. The mafia had been centered in the Kim duchy, so its fall along with the sudden financial stability and reduction in crime was ringing alarm throughout the capital.
Yoo Jonghyuk on the other hand was more relieved than anything. He vaguely recalled meeting the oldest son of the Kim duchy as a child. A bratty young child with silky black hair and a charming but sad smile. He seemed so miserable but carefree at the same time.
Jonghyuk remembered that he had wanted to get to know him better then, being a lonely child as he was. Yet the chance was stripped from him as the Duke Kim decided to cut his palace visit short in a drunken stupor and take his child home with him.
As Yoo Jonghyuk approached the, frankly, dilapidated mansion that was the home of Duke Kim, he noted that the eldest son was no where to be seen.
No matter.
He thought. It wasn’t as though he expected an audience, nor did he demand one. He supposed the recent incline in the duchy's finances had put a lot of work in the hands of the whole duchy, not only the Duke. Even so..
“Crown prince Yoo.” The man greeted curtly. While he held his ground Jonghyuk could tell he wasn’t fully present, his eyes started to drift and his cheeks were flush, that along with the pungent set of alcohol was rather telling.
Beside the man a boy stood, posture straight and clothing refined, yet a look of disgust graced his features despite his attempt to mask it. His hair was a light white and his features still bore the roundness of a child, but judging by his height, he must’ve been in his late teens.
“Duke Kim, it’s a pleasure. Is this the full household?” Jonghyuk inquired, not that he was expecting to see the eldest son, but rather that it was rather rude for the heir of the Dukedom to be a no show.
“No sir, but I was hoping me and my heir would suffice.” The man replied, straightening his back slightly.
His heir? Yoo Jonghyuk had never seen this boy in his life, much less heard of him. While rumors about the eldest son were few and far between, he was at least heard about.
“Oh yes, you must be thinking of my eldest. After my late wife’s passing he just hasn’t been the same, I realized quickly that without his mother he would be unfit to lead.” The man said in a tone that resembled grief, yet his face showed no sadness for his lost wife nor his supposedly bereft son.
The boy beside him stiffened at the mention of his brother, and his red eyes steeled at the accusations of his brother being unfit. Even so, he held his composure.
Duke Kim continued to prattle on for a while after that. Talking about the recent incline in state affairs, and about how “god must have smiled upon the dukedom as salvation was granted to them, seemingly by an angel”. It was becoming clearer that the man was inebriated for each statement he made. And what was more interesting was the way that the son next to him seemed used to it.
So Duke Kim isn’t responsible for the recent improvements, then.
Jonghyuk concluded. If an audience with the crown prince wasn’t worth being sober for, Jonghyuk doubted judicial affairs were either.
“Father, wouldn’t you say it’s time to show the crown prince his lodgings? There will be much work to do tomorrow.” The son inquired.
“Yes, Namwoon. That would be wise.” The man said as he sauntered off into the complex behind him. The son, named Namwoon apparently, gave Jonghyuk an apologetic smile as he walked after his father.
As the group walked into the building they were treated by a meager serving staff. The head maid was a beautiful young woman, surely one who could work beyond simple staff, who introduced herself as Yoo Sangah. She had a billowing black skirt which, if you looked close enough, had intricate patterns embossed into its base. Perhaps some noble was gifting her fabrics? She asked that Jonghyuk follow her to his chambers and Kim Namwoon decided to escort them there. Or so Jonghyuk thought.
Once walking down the corridor Sangah and Namwoon were sneaking glances at one another in a conspiratorial manner. Furthermore they were both tapping their fingers against their respective equipment. A dagger for Namwoon and a comb for Sangah.
It was dead obvious it was a code of some sort, and that the two were communicating, yet it was no code that Jonghyuk recognized.
Even stranger was that as they made their way through the twisting halls they bumped into an odd array of people.
A woman with bob cut black hair carrying a large pile of books, tapping her finger along their spine as she passed by.
A large man following two paces behind a well built woman, both equipped with swords, hilts clinking against their scabbards briefly in short, quipped tones as they looked Sangah in the eye.
Lastly two children, a blond girl and a brunette boy, running through across the carpeted floor. They accidentally bumped into the head maid but left a note in her hand in the process.
Really, do they think me daft?
Jonghyuk wondered as he watched such obvious conspiracy play out. What were they planning anyways, was this head maid part of something bigger? They all seemed to be reporting to her. Or was it a cover up for something else?
Either way, Jonghyuk couldn’t help the way his shoulders tensed in suspicion, nor the way his eyes lingered on the route they took down the maze of hallways. This in combination with the missing eldest son was all shaping up to be something odd.
Did the head maid have a hand in the recent changes somehow? She almost seemed to have a higher rank than Kim Namwoon himself, going by the way he trailed after her.
With Yoo Jonghyuk’s stewing they quickly arrived at his room.
“Crown prince Yoo, I apologize if it isn’t up to your standards but it’s the best we have.” The head maid smiled.
Yoo Jonghyuk walked in through the door and found that the room was actually quite grand. The walls were lined from top to bottom in oak bookshelves. The bookshelves themselves filled to the brim with tombs of different colours and sizes and the bed in the middle was surrounded by two large glass windows facing out over a forest.
Jonghyuk grumbled his approval as he walked to run his hand along the cream canopy that shielded the queen size bed from the light.
“I’m glad it’s to your liking then.” The head made smiled before adding,
“It was the former Lady’s room.” She smiled and Kim Namwoon seemed to shrink into her side.
Jonghyuk was about to refuse it, it was inappropriate for him to taint such a space after all. But Yoo Sangah quickly shushed him.
“Hush now, Crown prince Yoo, few people in this household can even bear to enter this room anymore. It’s such a waste.” She smiled light heartedly but Jonghyuk could feel the weight in the statement. So much so that he could forgive the shushing.
He wanted to thank her but his pride, per usual, got in the way. He simply stared at her before nodding.
The head maid told him to get settled in and wait for a summons for dinner. As she walked away, Jonghyuk witnessed her knocking a pattern into the oak door adjacent to his before setting off down the corridor.
What is she up to?