Yoongi focus

It had been two days since their return to the capital, and while the crown prince was enjoying his new-found fertility with his wife, Yoongi was already buried neck-deep in letters and reports. It was like the paper that had gathered on his table was trying to punish him for taking off a few days under the cover of a general title. Anyone could have done what he had done on the battlefield, but the crown prince had chosen him in particular, and now Yoongi had the notion that it had only been to give him some air to breathe before he would suffocate to death in the confines of this tower. The prince was too clever for his own good.

With a sigh Yoongi stood up to stretch his numb legs and get some blood into his feet. He should take a stroll to the kitchens to ask for some snacks. A working brain needed food.

But his walk came to a sudden end when he saw a swish of bright clothes between the bookcases of the library's maps and military section. Apart from Yoongi no one but the king and the crown prince were allowed to touch these scriptures and maps, and that figure did not meet the requirements of either. Silently, Yoongi followed the intruder.

When he peeked around the corner of one of the bookcases, he was met with the sight of an unfamiliar girl. A round face, plump lips, big eyes, and the hair of an unmarried woman. Was she another spy hidden as a maid? But her clothes were not that of a palace servant.

However, she was on a forbidden floor, so her life would end right now. Yoongi pulled the short dagger from his belt and held it against her neck. Big shocked eyes looked at him, but then his hand was pushed away with more speed and strength than Yoongi would have expected from such a small being, and a fist was thrown at his face.

With a quick dodge, that was rather inelegant due to his surprise, he evaded the blow and tried to go for a stab at the heart. This one could fight and was in the forbidden section, no doubt he had been catching a spy at work. His hand was blocked half the way, and the girl tried to twist his wrist, but Yoongi was too strong for her. Apparently, she had understood that as well and was now running from him.

"Assassin! Assassin!" she shouted while she tried to reach the stairs.

What kind of stupid spy would play dirty with him? Everyone knew his face in the palace. Did she really think someone would come to help her? That arrogance! Was she a maid of the consort?

"What are you talking about?" he snapped back while jumping over the rail of the stairs to block her off one level lower and chase her back upstairs. But to his surprise, he only received a kick to the chest and rolled over the floor, while the little maid was running further downstairs.

Ridiculous. How could a girl be this well-versed in martial arts? And then it clicked in Yoongi's head. "Mistress Park?" he shouted and ran to catch up with the girl. "Mistress Park, is that you?"

The woman was standing close to the exit of the tower, breathing heavily and looking at him confused. "Advisor Min," she stated after some thought.

"Yeah, that's me," he confirmed. "I'm sorry for attacking you, but you were in a section that has certain restrictions," he explained and put his dagger back into its sheath.

"Oh," she said, looking apologetically. "I was not aware that there is something like that. No one told me." She came closer now and curtsied to him. "I apologize for kicking advisor Min." Now she looked like she expected him to cut off her head as punishment.

"It's nothing," Yoongi brushed it off even though his back hurt like he had received a beating with the royal ruler. And he knew what he was talking about. "What was mistress Park searching for?" he asked while trying to calm his heart down.

It was unlikely that the girl was interested in maps of the kingdom. Unmarried women of her age typically had a weak spot for romance novels and other heroic nonsense that Yoongi would not even look at twice, not to speak of keep in the royal library.

"Picture books," she replied to him and he choked on air. After some coughing, he looked at her properly.

"Picture books?" he asked just to make sure that he had not misheard that. She nodded with innocent eyes. "What would a noble lady want with picture books?" Yoongi wanted to know.

Now the girl was frowning at the floor. "I enjoy the illustrations very much. What is wrong with that?" she asked gruffly and a little shy judged by how her eyes did not meet Yoongi's.

He raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "Nothing, nothing. I mean you've grown up with brothers so maybe..." he mused. Officer Jimin sure was not the most prude guy in the world.

"What are you babbling?" she asked annoyed, hands pushed into her hips like one would normally just see women of lower status do.

"Nothing," Yoongi was quick to repeat. "If you'd follow me. I'll show you what we have." And he led the way back up the stairs. The few samples they had were squished into one of the sections that barely got touched by the royal family. He even had to remove some dust from the top of the stack.

"Those are the third prince's treasures," he told her while handing over the bound books. "It's the highest quality you'll find in the kingdom, and even though he has not come for them in many years, I ask of you to be of utmost care with those or I might be beheaded." That was an exaggeration, but he still would be frowned upon by the prince, should he ruin this carefully gathered collection.

"Fine, fine. I will take care," the girl sighed. "Where can I sit?"

A little astounded that she wanted to read these books here, Yoongi gestured at a table in front of a paper-screen window that grazed the southern wall. "Please don't open the windows. The drawings are sensitive to light. But that's still the brightest place in the tower." She nodded. "I'll be out for a moment," he informed her and turned to leave for the kitchens.

But he was not even out of the ground level door when an enraged shout made him stop in his tracks.

"What is this!?" the woman's voice bellowed through the levels of the tower and Yoongi turned around on his heel, fearing for the prince's priced books.

"Mistress Park?" he asked concerned and took the last stair in a run.

The girl stood there with eyes filled with fury, clenching one of the books in her strong little hand.

"Mistress Park, what's wrong?" Yoongi asked cautiously, talking to her like she was a wild animal with claws and sharp teeth. "Put that down please." He reached out for the book in her hand to stack it back with the others, but it was pulled out of his reach.

"What is this?" the woman asked him angrily, holding out the book so that one of the pictures was beaming at Yoongi. It showed a half-exposed couple during a heated moment in a bedchamber. It was excellent drawing even though the scene was not very daring. There were spicier ones.

"What's wrong with this?" Yoongi wanted to know. He could not find a flaw. But then it dawned on him. "Didn't you ask for picture books?" he asked, a bad inkling tugging at his mind.

The girl's face turned red in an instant. "Yes, but- I- what a shameful work! How can you hand something like this to a woman?!" she shouted hysterically.

Yoongi caught the book that came flying at him. "Careful! Those are really good quality. Stop tearing them!" he scolded. So apparently their definition of picture books was different.

"Unbelievable," the girl growled and stormed past him.

Now this had gone down in a way that was truly unlucky. "Mistress, young mistress!" Yoongi shouted after her. "You cannot tell anyone about those. I'm hiding them for the third prince, and I fear he would be punished if someone found out."

Billowing bright robes swished out of the front door and Yoongi found himself blinded by the brightness of the dusty paths outside when he ran after her for the second time today.

Her small figure seemed to have puffed up in size when she marched down the path towards the palace. "As if I could tell someone that I touched such filth! The thought alone!" she raged, not granting Yoongi even a glance. "I want to wash my hands. Oh Buddha, forgive this poor woman."

Helpless as to what to do, Yoongi stayed behind, a porn book cradled in his arms.

"Women," he mumbled when he turned to go back to work. His appetite had vanished.

><

Jiyeon focus

"He gave me- he- well, he gave me picture books," Jiyeon told master Jung while she was sewing a stab wound on the pig skin they had gotten for practice. Since the crown prince had brushed the celebrational banquet off as superfluous, the kitchens were less stingy with their goods.

The physician looked up from the book he was reading and visibly held back his laughter. "He did what?" he asked as if he did not trust his ears.

"I asked him for picture books, meaning illustrated novel books, but he gave me... he gave..." Jiyeon could not say it. She could not even think about it without feeling her cheeks heating up. She was like a little girl, shy of thinking about what was happening in the bedchamber of grown-ups. So stupid. She was almost thirty; it was time to be mature.

"Don't be mad at advisor Min. He's a lonely guy who barely has the chance of interacting with women," master Jung told her. "In a way he's a prisoner in a golden cage." The physician looked sorry.

"Is he not allowed to go outside?" Jiyoen asked shocked. That concubine Oh was not allowed outside the palace walls was a given, but apart from her Jiyeon had thought that everyone was allowed to go out from time to time.

The medic stood up and came over to look at her half-finished work. "No one has even seen advisor Min leaving the palace," he said quietly while brushing a finger over the seam. "But if you listen to the servants, you can hear that sometimes the food delivered to the tower is left untouched for several days in a row." He looked up to meet Jiyeon's eyes with a serious look. "It's best not to ask about it. And this is too tight. You'll rip the edges of a wound if you sew it like this. Do it again."

With a sigh, Jiyeon stabbed the skin in another place and fiddled a new string into her needle. Being a disciple was really boring sometimes. But what master Jung had just told her was anything but. Maybe she could find out some more about that mysterious advisor Min, who could fight like a soldier but seemed to wield a brush only.

"I can see your thoughts on your face, mistress Park, and I tell you: let it be," master Jung reprimanded her, and Jiyeon's smile was quick to fall from her lips.

"Yes, master Jung," she murmured defeated.

"You can call me Hoseok," the man offered her with a soft smile. "We're the same age anyway."

"Uhm, sure," Jiyeon replied hesitantly. Apart from her brothers she had never called a man by his given name. She was curious how that would feel. "But then master Jung must call me Jiyoen," she tried her luck.

"As you please, Jiyeon," he replied with a playful grin and lowered his eyes back onto his book.

Jiyeon found herself smiling for some reason. This was not so bad.

>><<

If I'm not misinformed, porn books for people with higher education contained next to the typical illustrations a story that would explain the picture further. People who could not read would literally buy picture books with only illustrations.

This is an illustration of an MxMxF threesome with a man in the middle (If you remember, they also had gay porn):