Wooyoung doesn't come back once he's allowed out again. Partially because he's heavily guarded whenever he does actually leave the castle grounds. But also because his father is annoyed at him.

He finally gets the courage to tell him that he failed to complete his task. And of course, upon hearing that, he immediately gets the prince to take classes and study non stop since he's not prepared or even fit to be royalty.

He could have avoided all this by telling his father the truth, that they did in fact find out who's been selling illegal crops. Wooyoung doesn't know why he lied, he's gaining nothing by protecting Yeosang and his friends.

Deep inside, he pities Yeosang and his empty life. Mingi and Jongho are the only people he interacts with, he can't have them taken to the dungeons. He also can't see Yeosang being caught, who knows what would happen if they found an unmarked. He doesn't want to ruin Yeosang's life like that. Even though he feels sad for him, Yeosang seems content with his life so who is he to barge into it.

Yeosang doesn't want anyone else in his life and Wooyoung has to accept it. Although it's quite difficult since his own friends have taken a liking to Yeosang's friends. They don't admit it though, but the pair went out of their way to go to see them once, without any reason. Yunho claims it's for official work but he knows it's all lies.

Even though they've only been once, Yunho and San came back with gossip to tell Wooyoung, since he's not allowed out with them without guards (the king thinks the three can't be trusted alone). He likes listening about things that happen at the marketplace, over here at the castle and the region where the blues live, everyone's just so stiff and secretive.

They also manage to hear small stories about Yeosang, their curiosity not being able to stop them from asking. They answer a few general questions, but Wooyoung wants to know more. He desperately wants to know why Yeosang is living like this, who did this to him. Wooyoung knows he's insufferably nosy, it annoys him too since he doesn't feel at peace until he gets answers.

He still doesn't know if Yeosang was lying to him when he said even he doesn't know why he's unmarked. But he wants to find out for him. Maybe he'll hate him less if he does that. But then he also doesn't want to overstep his boundaries, very tight boundaries that is. Wooyoung sighs heavily, he's confused and conflicted.

The next day, after lots of collective begging from Yunho, San and Wooyoung, the king allows them to go out to the marketplace with two guards. They take this as a victory though, since they usually have to have at least four.

They drop by a few stalls first, not to make it obvious that they're only here for Jongho's stall. When they arrive at their destination, they look around for the pair, Yunho spotting Mingi and walking to him. Every time they go to a stall, Wooyoung orders the guards to give them privacy so luckily, they are a few meters away and unable to hear their conversation.

Jongho appears too, glancing at Wooyoung and the guards and suddenly becoming nervous. Wooyoung has never come with guards before and usually, he hides his marks, today the purple hearts are out for everyone to see. It's only natural for Jongho to become defensive, glaring at them.

Yunho notices and smiles. "Don't worry, they're just here to keep Wooyoung on a leash" he reassures them.

Jongho crosses his arms. "I don't believe you" his reaction is understandable since he's still wary around these people. Even though they've been nice to them in their recent encounters, Jongho doesn't let his guard down. Maybe now is when they get stabbed in the back.

"Calm down Choi," San says, snorting at the way his red diamonds glow in caution. "We'll admit, we did have the task of finding out who's been selling illegally grown crops but we just told we couldn't find out, that it's only a rumour".

Mingi and Jongho falter in confusion. "So... you didn't tell them about us? Even Yeosang?" The taller asks, Yunho nodding in response.

"But why? You don't even know us. Why would you fail your task when you already caught us?" Jongho can't wrap his head around it, he can't think of any sane explanation for why they didn't just expose them.

"I have no idea either, it was him who insisted on forgetting about the task," San says, motioning to Wooyoung.

The prince looks at their questioning faces, even he doesn't have an answer to his actions. He has no idea why he wants to protect Yeosang's secret life and his friends.

"You better not be up to something," Jongho says with a glare, this is all too suspicious to him, thinking that there must be an ulterior motive.

"Watch who you're talking to," San says, stepping forward towards the younger but Wooyoung dismisses him, not minding Jongho's vigilance.

Jongho smirks at San, raising an eyebrow at him, daring him to carry on. "Do you blame me for being cautious?"

"We've been civil towards you and now we're letting you off by not ratting you out to the king, I don't see any reason to glare at us like that," San says pointedly.

"Actually, it was the prince's idea to not give us away and Yunho" he politely gestures to the taller "has been kind and understanding towards me and Mingi. On the other hand, you-" he pokes his ringer on San's chest and leaves it there. "You've just been plain rude to us, I don't get why when your friends are nice. You should take them as an example"

San scoffs, his hot breath fanning onto the other due to their close proximity. He doesn't know how to respond, along with the fact that he's a little flustered at the younger's sudden confidence.

Jongho's tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip and San subconsciously traces the movement with his eyes, gulping. When they make eye contact again and he sees the happy glint in his eyes, he knows he's lost this argument.

He tries to ignore it, walking away with a shrug. "Let's go". San doesn't wait for his friends, Yunho and Wooyoung giving each other confused looks before catching up to him. They both complain all the way back because San is making them leave straight away after all that hard work trying to go.

Mingi glances at the younger, frowning at his expression. "I know that look of yours, what are you planning?"

Jongho looks up at him innocently. "Huh? I'm not planning anything". He shrugs, still staring at San's back, eyes trailing down to his slim waist, silently acknowledging his attractiveness.

~

Once Wooyoung's normal life is starting to come back to him, he's able to finally go to Yeosang's house without the risk of getting caught. Although, he's quite nervous about going there after nearly two months. He had gone from going practically every other day to never. In his defence, their last meeting wasn't exactly nice and Yeosang did express his dislike towards him. Which makes him nervous about going today.

Maybe he should just not go. This is an excellent opportunity to leave Yeosang's life like he's been begging him to do. But for some odd reason, Wooyoung can't bring himself to do that. If Yeosang had magic he would have questioned what kind of spell was put on him to have him fixated on Yeosang this much.

He's a quiet person, completely opposite to him. But that's what intrigued him. His friends are exactly like himself, so interacting with somebody on the opposite spectrum fascinates him. Along with the fact that he has no marks or magic.

He doesn't want to put too much weight on the added benefits of Yeosang's beauty, but he can't ignore it. His eyes are a mesmerising brown, sharp jawline and muscles he can't help but stare at when he's not looking.

Wooyoung shakes his head, trying to get the image of how Yeosang would look shirtless out of his head. He can't do this now, not when he's literally on his way to Yeosang's house.

It's eerily quiet when he arrives. He doesn't want to annoy Yeosang so he walked it to his house, looking around quietly for him outside.

There's  no one in the garden so he knocks on the door and when there's no response after a while Wooyoung turns the handle and the door opens.

He frowns, wondering if Yeosang always leaves his door unlocked. "Hello? Yeosang"

When there's no response to his call, he enters slowly. His house is tiny so after checking all the rooms, Wooyoung comes to the conclusion that he's not home. He could have sworn Yeosang said he doesn't leave his home, even to go to the village.

Still confused, Wooyoung leaves the house, deciding to go home. He only manages to go out of the house before he's turning around, peering over more into the surroundings. Yeosang's house is right next to a forest and Wooyoung wonders if he might be there.

He doesn't want to give up on looking for Yeosang so soon after he made all this effort to come so he decides to check over there first before going home. He's never been to a forest so he doesn't go too far in, not wanting to get lost.

Even though it's daytime, the tall trees block the sky, making it dark. Wooyoung casts a spell to illuminate his surroundings but all he can see is tree trunks and the soil on the ground. For no reason whatever, Wooyoung gets a bad feeling, shivering at the cold air.

In the distance, a ruffling noise is heard and Wooyoung snaps his head in its direction quickly. "Yeosang?" He whispers. He knows Yeosang wouldn't be able to hear that but he can't bring himself to speak louder. Something is telling him not to bring too much attention to himself.

With careful steps, he slowly walks towards the noise, it might just be an animal of some sorts. He's breathing as if he'd just run a marathon, the spell isn't doing much to help him see.

All of a sudden, a twig is snapped somewhere behind him, Wooyoung gasping and looking back. Something in his gut tells him to run so after letting out a shaky breath, he runs.

It's difficult because of the uneven ground and the big roots of the trees almost making him trip but he manages. He doesn't know where he's going, but he does know he's going deeper into the forest.

Wooyoung stops, looking around, he can't hear anything else. Everywhere looks the same, tall trees occupying every free space. Turning around, he tries to look for where he came from, wanting to leave. Yeosang isn't here. He could teleport but it's difficult to do when you're not calm, otherwise he'll get nauseous.

He's slowly becoming scared, just wanting to leave. Wooyoung just takes a deep breath and starts walking, it's better than just standing still. As he's walking, he tries to listen and look out for any clues that would help him leave.

"Agh!" Suddenly, a forceful grip is pulling him backwards and throwing him onto the floor. Wooyoung widens his eyes in fear, his light making it difficult to see the person.

After his eyes adjust, he's met with Yeosang on top of him, hands on either side of his face. Wooyoung gulps not only at their proximity but also because of his angry expression.

"You idiot, what are you doing in the forest," Yeosang asks and Wooyoung gulps. After not seeing the prince for months Yeosang had check if he was hallucinating first before going after Wooyoung. Out of all the places they  meet again it had to be the forest.

"I was looking for you, you weren't at your house so I went into the forest"

Yeosang looks at Wooyoung's scared face and sighs loudly, dropping his head in frustration. He had been hunting and suddenly heard someone running, Yeosang was not expecting to see Wooyoung there. Somehow, seeing the prince alone and scared made him want to keep him safe. Maybe it's because all he's ever seen on him is confidence, but he can't help the relief he's feeling now with Wooyoung safe.

"Why would you go into the forest- why didn't you just wait!" He lifts his head up to see Wooyoung frowning. "You nearly stepped on one of my animal traps".

Wooyoung turns his head to see a big metal trap that he was walking towards. "Even with a spell you couldn't see that!" Yeosang says and Wooyoung pouts. He'd been so scared he didn't even look where he was going.

"So you saved me?" Wooyoung looks up at Yeosang. Their faces are extremely close so all Wooyoung can see is his pretty eyes.

"Yes. If you had stepped on it your leg would have broken" Yeosang tells him sternly.

Wooyoung gulps, feeling thankful that Yeosang pulled him away in time. "I was scared". He tells him, not knowing why he admits it to Yeosang, he doubts the other cares, mostly likely just annoyed at him.

"You should have just waited if you wanted to see me. You know I don't leave my house". Yeosang says, a bit softer this time.

"Sorry" Wooyoung whispers but with how close they are, Yeosang definitely hears him. Wooyoung knows it was stupid of him to go into the forest like that.

Yeosang gets up, not liking the way his heart is reacting to Wooyoung being this close and vulnerable. He helps him stand, grabbing his hand then letting go as soon as he has found balance. "It's fine, let's just go".

Luckily, the walk is short to Yeosang's house. Wooyoung could have sworn he ran really far into the forest but he must not have since they're back within five minutes.

Their walk is silent, Wooyoung feels sad because he knows Yeosang is annoyed at him, one for coming back and two for what happened in the forest. All he knows how to do is annoy people.

Yeosang can tell Wooyoung is upset with the fact that he caused this trouble. It actually doesn't bother Yeosang but with the way he told Wooyoung off, the prince must be feeling guilty for making things hard. He admits he was harsh on the other, when he should have been comforting the scared boy instead. Yeosang isn't good at handling emotions, he isn't experienced enough but he at least can acknowledge that he should have been a bit nicer.

Once they arrive at his house he lets Wooyoung in and tells him to sit down, immediately heading to the kitchen to bring out a box. When he comes back with a box full of bandages and medicine, the prince frowns, wondering if Yeosang got hurt anywhere.

He frowns even deeper when his face is gently lifted up to look at Yeosang, who cleans his cheek with a damp cloth. He winces, not even knowing that he's hurt.

"Sorry, your cheek got grazed when I threw you on the ground. I shouldn't have been so rough". Yeosang says quietly.

Wooyoung's heart rate increases, Yeosang is being gentle with him for the first time. He looks at his concentrated face and Wooyoung can feel his face heat up, his marks are probably glowing in embarrassment. He lets himself look at his concentrated face while he's distracted, fitting with his icy personality, Yeosang has incredibly statue-like perfect features. Wooyoung thinks Yeosang looks more like a prince than him.

Yeosang is about to put some medicine on his cheek but halts. "Wait. I don't need to do this do I?"

Wooyoung frowns at his words. Doesn't he want to help me, does he hate me that much? He thinks bitterly, there was no point in being nice to him just now then. No point in getting his hopes up.

"I mean. You can just heal it with magic right, it would be quicker and painless no?"

Oh. Wooyoung has to stop himself from sighing in relief, he almost thought he didn't want to treat him. "No! You can heal it!" He stops for a second. Cringing at how desperate he sounds. "I mean, I can heal it with magic but it's better if you heal it without first. That way the spell is easier to cast".

It's a whole lie but Wooyoung really wants to keep this nice and gentle Yeosang for as long as he can. He probably feels bad for making him hurt his cheek.

Yeosang shrugs and carries on getting medicine. "This might sting a bit" he warns before applying it. It does sting, but just the fact that Yeosang is touching his cheek softly is what makes him squirm. His hands are rough from all the manual labour he's been doing his whole life but his touches are so gentle. As a prince, everyone is gentle with him, not daring to even form a fist in front of him, but Yeosang's soft caresses feel different. It doesn't something to him and he's not sure how he feels about it.

He finishes off by applying a bandage on the graze to keep it from getting infected. "You're going to heal it with a spell before going back to the castle right? I don't want any guards tracking me down because of this"

"Duh." Wooyoung smiles at Yeosang's sceptical face. "By the way, how did you know you can heal wounds with spells?"

Yeosang glances at his curious face, always asking questions for everything. "It's how I met Mingi" he thinks back to two years ago when he had brought someone home for the first time, "he injured his leg in the forest so I took him home and healed him. He told me he could have just healed it himself".

Upon hearing the explanation, Wooyoung suddenly doesn't feel special anymore. "So you didn't know Mingi and just brought him to your house?"

Yeosang sighs, knowing what he's thinking. "No, he was literally unconscious and I didn't want people to hunt me down so I healed him. I would have left him there otherwise".

"So how did you become close? He should have been healed and never come again"

"Yeah but for some reason every time I try to kick someone out they keep coming back" Yeosang says, raising his eyebrows at Wooyoung who pouts.

For some unknown reason, Wooyoung gets annoyed. If anyone asks him why, he wouldn't know. Just the fact that Yeosang had become close to Mingi straight away while he's still hostile with him even after a few months, even after getting him a gift.

Wooyoung glances at his neck, he's not surprised to see it empty, Yeosang probably threw it away as soon as he left.

He would have moped for longer but something else catches his attention, making the prince gasp. "You're hurt!"

Yeosang frowns, hand reaching up to touch his collar. When he looks at his hand there's blood on it. It's in no way dripping, there's not much blood and the cut isn't deep but Wooyoung is looking at him like he's just been beheaded.

The prince shoots up from his seat and pushes Yeosang onto it instead, the other rolling his eyes while watching Wooyoung panic and grab the medicine. He examines everything in confusion. "I don't know how to use any of this, I've only ever healed people with magic".

Yeosang wants to mention that he didn't even ask him to heal him but he manages to hold back, trying to be nice to the prince for once. "I'm not comfortable being healed with magic, if you want- I could tell you what to do instead".

Wooyoung looks at him with wide eyes, nodding eagerly. Yeosang smiles at him, a little warmed by his enthusiasm to help him. "First you clean the wound, you can use anything like a wet cloth" He points to one and the prince rushes to grab it.

Since they both came from the forest and fell down too, they were covered in soil. Especially Yeosang since he'd been there longer. Wooyoung tries cleaning it but it's hard to access because of his dirty shirt which keeps adding soil to his wound. Wooyoung groans, "it's going to get infected!" He tries being gently, pulling at his shirt for better access but he doesn't want to overstep his boundaries, it's not like they're close.

Well technically they are close, in proximity, right now. Wooyoung could barely handle being this close to Yeosang before but now the other is suddenly pulling off his shirt.

Wooyoung stills. The way Yeosang just took his shirt off and tossed it to the side made his mind go blank. This is seriously not helping his new founded attraction to the other. He gulps as he looks down at his muscle physique. The arms, the abs, the chest. He feels dizzy.

"Wooyoung?" Yeosang calls, pretending to be confused. Inside his ego is flying with the prince's reaction to his body.

Wooyoung snaps out of his daze, his purple hearts revealing how flustered he feels. "Right. Sorry." He manages to clean the wound without any problems this time, following with the medicine he applies and the bandage. Throughout the whole thing Wooyoung's eyes don't budge from his collar, not daring to trail down to his slim waist and heavenly abs.

When he's done, Yeosang stands up with a small smile. "Thanks".

They're practically the same height, but that one centimetre Yeosang has on him paired with his shirtless physique makes him feel very small. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing though, Wooyoung almost shivers when Yeosang stares down at him.

Wooyoung has never felt this way before, no one has ever made him react this strongly especially with the fact that Yeosang is doing absolutely nothing and he's seen plenty of shirtless guys in his lifetime.

This development is not good Wooyoung thinks. Sure, he's psychically attracted to Yeosang, the guy is buff and has incredibly ethereal features. But what he can't do is catch feelings. There's no doubt Yeosang is not attracted to him in any way, while he's been clingy Yeosang has just been annoyed at him. But that's not the reason why he can't fall for him, they're too different. There's no way they would ever work, he's a damn prince who's probably going to be betrothed to someone of high status.

He sighs, trying to clear his mind. It's not like he even likes Yeosang, why is he thinking so hard about this? He has nothing to worry about because he'll never fall for Yeosang, he's too cold to be his type, he wants someone gentle and caring.

Unfortunately Wooyoung is very expressive with his emotions and his sad face doesn't go unnoticed by Yeosang. "Do you have a fever? Why do you look sick," he lifts his hand to touch Wooyoung's forehead. If Yeosang keeps acting like this then they're going to have a problem.

His face is probably red from all the blushing he thinks, Yeosang's touch making it worse. He leans into the touch ever so slightly, not wanting to look weird, when something catches his eye.

He grabs the hand on his forehead, surprising Yeosang. Rolling up his sleeve, Wooyoung discovers the necklace on his wrist, wrapped around a few times to fit. He looks up at Yeosang slowly, who is silent.

He tries to stop it, but he can't help the smile that graces his face. "You're wearing it".

Yeosang glances at his wrist, he almost forgot about it. "Yeah... it stayed on the table for weeks and when I was about to throw it out it started glowing and burning everything unless I put it on- did you lace it with magic? To make sure I wear it?"

Wooyoung widens his eyes. That's not supposedly happen. "no! Why would I do something like that!" He didn't put any magic in the crystal, which makes him incredibly scared as to why it's reacting like that.

Yeosang unwraps the necklace off his wrist, placing it on the table. Only a few seconds later, the crystal is glowing intensely, sparks flying and leaving marks on the wood. Wooyoung can only watch in awe as the glowing stops when Yeosang picks it up again, tying it to his wrist.

"I- have no idea why it does that," Wooyoung says, genuinely perplexed.

"Where did you get this from?" Yeosang asks, they might be able to find out what kind of crystal it is if they know where it's from.

"It was mine, my mother gave it to me. I'm not sure where it's from but she gave it to me, she said it would keep me protected if I wore it"

Yeosang frowns. "Why would you give me something sentimental like this?" He's definitely not special enough in Wooyoung's life for him to give such a gift.

"I don't know, I don't really wear it so I thought it would be a nice gift to give you". In all honesty, Wooyoung just thought it was pretty and wanted Yeosang to wear it, he really didn't know that there was magic in it. He just thought his mother made up the fact that it would protect him, since it didn't even keep him safe.

"Well, I can't seem to take it off so it must have some sort of magic in it," Yeosang says.

"I'm so sorry, here let me try and fix it" Wooyoung grabs Yeosang's wrist and pries the necklace off. The crystal feels warm to touch and it only increases in temperature, becoming incredibly hot. Wooyoung yelps and holds the piece of jewellery by the string, letting it dangle in the air. He attempts to cool it off with a spell but nothing happens, the cold air only making the crystal sizzle.

Yeosang watches in fascination as magic flows out of the prince, trying all kinds of spells to dull down the mysterious magic coming from the necklace. At first, he didn't believe that Wooyoung accidentally gave him a gift laced with magic but now, watching him desperately try to fix this strange situation, he can tell that he had no idea about this. Also, he's starting to trust Wooyoung a little more, and he doesn't think that he would give him something like this without telling him first.

Wooyoung struggles to stop the magic coming out from the crystal, the stone only reacting more to his spells and generating sparks. Yeosang panics, not wanting anything to catch fire. "Stop, it's okay."

When Yeosang grabs the scorching hot crystal from him, Wooyoung exclaims in surprise. But what shocks him, even more, is that Yeosang isn't screaming in pain, in fact, the sparks stop shooting out and the crystal becomes cool again. "For whatever reason, it doesn't burn when I wear it, so I'll just keep it on".

The prince stares at Yeosang in bewilderment. "Who are you?" he whispers, but Yeosang hears and lets out a small laugh.

Yeosang points at his bare face. "I'm not anything," he says, intrigued at Wooyoung's fascination towards him, as if he is the unmarked one and Yeosang is the prince with magical powers.

"No, you must be something. You must have magic in you- are you sure you don't have magic?"

Yeosang looks at Wooyoung in confusion. "No, I've tried to do magic before, I don't have it" he shrugs, magic has always been something Yeosang desired so he would definitely know f he had it or not.

The prince sighs. "I'm sorry for giving you this absurd gift, I swear it didn't do any of this when I had it. You must think I'm giving you a cursed necklace"

Yeosang wishes his dejected voice didn't affect him in any way. But it does, which means he's starting to care about Wooyoung, he doesn't like it when the people he cares about are sad. "It's okay, I believe you, I know you had good intentions giving me this. I don't mind since it doesn't hurt me". He proves his point by unwrapping the necklace from his wrist and pulling it over his head, like a proper necklace.

Wooyoung stares at the necklace, well, more stares at his chest but he'll pretend it is because that's where the crystal sits. Yeosang had gone out of his way to make him feel better about his terrible choice of a gift, and it makes him feel giddy. Maybe he's warming up to him. He looks at the purple crystal again. "But there's no way you can take it off without it burning everything" He pouts, feeling guilty about burdening Yeosang.

"I'll just keep it on for the rest of my life then" Wooyoung looks up at Yeosang in surprise at his response. The other is smiling, it's a small smile but he'll take it.

Yeosang is partially joking that he'll keep it on forever, in all honesty, he'd prefer not to carry the weight of keeping a potentially cursed necklace on.

"Don't worry- I won't let you be stuck with this thing forever, I'll find out why it's reacting like this" Luckily, Wooyoung is on the same page as Yeosang, which makes him relieved. It would be difficult for Yeosang all by himself to find out what exactly this necklace is.

"How are you going to do that?"

"First, I'll ask my mother where she got it from, and why she thought it would protect me. Then we'll go from there"

Yeosang nods, it sounds like a good start. He wonders if he should tell Mingi and Jongho about it, they could definitely be of help.

Suddenly, the prince is walking towards him until there is no gap between them. They are almost the same height so Yeosang doesn't need to look down much but their close proximity requires him to bend his head down a little to make eye contact.

Wooyoung's eyes sparkle in excitement, which makes Yeosang gulp, wondering exactly what he's thinking.

"I think we are going to find out exactly why you are unmarked".