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[ NOW ]

"This is how it ends?" San's voice resounded loud behind Wooyoung's back.

Spring had blossomed fully, the days were getting longer and warmer and the young king loved to spend all of his free moments in the gardens. San and two other guards always followed Wooyoung making sure he wouldn't go too far or get hurt during his strolls, but it was a very easy task. Every time they went out Wooyoung used to walk to a bench nearby an artificial little lake surrounded by short young trees, he would sit there for hours, reading in silence his many books and walking away only when the sun got too bright. San loved to watch him reading, to see how his brows furrowed or the way he used to chew on his lower lip when the story was getting more intense. But he also missed hearing him read out loud: it was almost impossible to leave the castle during the day time and during the few nights the couple could spend together they didn't really think about written love stories. But San missed hearing Wooyoung's voice reading out loud so much that one day he had asked to do it even if they weren't in the silence of their forest.

"My king–" he had called bending the knee.

Both the two other guards and Wooyoung had turned to look at him with surprise until he had spoken again, "Forgive my shameless request, but I was wondering if you wanted to delight us by reading aloud"

Wooyoung had smiled and without even reply he had started reading the first chapter from the beginning, his voice mingling with the wind rustling between the leaves. As expected it was a love story, San knew them to be Wooyoung's favorites and even if he preferred adventurous books he couldn't help but love those kind of stories too. They always made Wooyoung so emotional that in the end San as well felt completly engaged with the telling. And that book in particular reached out to the soldier's heart.

The story Wooyoung was reading didn't sound so different from the one they were actually living: it was about a queen, spouse of the most powerful king of their age, who fell in love with the bravest of his knights. The passionate but illegal affaire sounded like the most beautiful love story to San's ears: the two had tried to stay away from each other, to be loyal to their king and put aside what they knew to be an impossible love but they just couldn't. What they felt for each other was too strong to be ignored. The story went on and at some point San had hoped they would run away together but his expactations were deluded when he realized the story wasn't having a happy ending.

At some point the king found out about the treason: the queen was sentenced to death while the knight was able to escape, he had tried to fight back and he also managed to tear down the most powerfull kingdom his time had even seen, but it was too late. The love of his life had already perished, burned at the stake, and the man could do nothing but live the rest of his days exiled, away from everything but the memory of his queen.

"This is how it ends?" he didn't mean to exclaim it, voice loud and disappointed, but he was so angry with whoever had written that book that for a second he forgot they weren't alone, "I'm sorry, my king! Forgive my impudence" he was quick to add, head dropping between his shoulders.

"Choi Jongho-ssi, would you mind taking this back to the library? I'd love to read a new book but I forgot to bring any, can you read?"

"A littl bit, your highness"

"That will suffice: on the first shelf you will find a book entitled 'Troilus and Cressida' bring me that one if you might" he handed him the finished book and the soldier left quickly.

"Kang Yeosang-ssi, would you mind fetch me my cloak? I left it in my quarters and it's getting cold"

And in a second they were alone. Wooyoung made sure the two guards were far away before he spoke again.

"It's very sad, isn't it?" his eyes moving from his surroundings to San waiting for an answer.

"It's unfair, they loved each other, why couldn't they live happily ever after?"

"But life isn't fair, I thought you knew–"

"It doesn't matter!" San interrupted him and in a second he was kneeling next to Wooyoung. He knew they were exposed, anyone could have walked in on them but he didn't care, he didn't even think about it when his hand found that of Wooyoung bringing it to his lips and kissing it before he spoke again, "If I was sir Lancelot I wouldn't accept such fate, I'd prefer to die than to live even just one day without the love of my life"

"Don't say such things" it came out as a gasp, his free hand found San's cheek, fingers brushing against the stubble before they rested where his sharp jaw line met his ear. San head bent, abandoning itself into that soft touch. His eyes closed, sighting in relief, enjoying that rare intimate moment.

"But it's what I really feel, without you I–"

"You're not Lancelot and I'm not Guinevere though, are we?" it was Wooyoung who interrupted him this time, "We won't be so fool to let the king catch us, so there's no point–"

"My king!" the voice arrived so unexpected from behind the trees that Wooyoung shuddered on his spot, hands quickly retreating from San.

San had just the time to stand up once again that Yeosang reappeared in front of them, "My king... His majesty requests... to bring you into his presence..." he was out of breath, he had clearly run to inform Wooyoung.

"You can tell him that he will see me at lunch, the weather is too nice to–"

"I'm sorry, my king, but it is important that you return to the palace, I promised I would escort you right away"

"Fine!" Wooyoung stood up sighting, not worried about concealing his vexation and disappointment, "Better be something important!" and he stormed to the castle direction leaving San and Yeosang following suit.

"What happened?" San could whisper to his friend's ear.

His heart was hammering inside his chest: could it be possible that the king had found out? But they had been careful, nobody had noticed he was sure. But still he couldn't find peace, his eyes were piercing Yeosang's skull waiting for the soldier to turn and put an end to his worry. He was sure his face was betraying him, showing all the anxiety he could feel at that moment, what he didn't expect was to see an even deeper distress on his fellow's eyes.

The four words that left Yeosang's mouth were enough to make San's heart sink inside of his chest.

"We go to war"

A/N

I thought I could write 3 chapters divided in past, present and future, but I changed my mind.

Why?

Because I realized that Wattpad has a very different target of readers compared to Ao3: on Ao3 what works best are stories with not many but very long chapters. In here I noticed people prefer more chapters and shorter. So this is how chapter [ 2 ] ends 😂

Let me know what you think about this change: is this length okay with you or do you want me to keep writing longer ones?

Let me also know about your expectations please ❤️ what will happen next, can you guess?

P.S. Happy Wooyoung day 🎉