•Chapter twenty seven•

New place. New people.

Taehyung didn't move even a bit when the cart owner made an announcement of them reaching the village, early in the morning when the sun hadn't risen completely yet.

Chohee was deep asleep beside him too, and he was too lost to wake her up at that moment.

"We're here!" The man announced again, concluding that they hadn't heard him the first time. 

Well, it's time to face strangers finally.

I wish I'll be given a little time to break their jaws if they reject from letting me live there.

He gave himself a encouraging pat on the back mentally and telling himself that things couldn't get any worse than it already is unless he fell off the cart and broke his back before he got into the village.

Wait... That could be a good reason to get sympathy and live there.

He wasn't going to willingly break his back, of course. What if his puppy gets hurt?

If things went out well, this could be one of the happiest time of his life, and he would get another reason to be proud of himself as he survived without his loved ones for a long time.

"Noona!" He yelled when she wouldn't wake up with his pats and shakes. "We're here!"

He dragged the grumbling beta girl out of the cart, bowed down to the smiling old man who courteously gave them a nice ride till here and patted the heads of the buffaloes.

"Enjoy your stay in the village! The people here are absolute angels so you might not face any problems!"

Those words provided the omega with the comfort he needed. He smiled as wide as he can, thanking the man again.

"Are you scared?" Chohee asks after seeing how quickly the smile on Taehyung's face vanished after the man left.

"I do have the right to feel so, right? All of them might despise me for having lived the best life while they lived in these tiny huts even when we're all of the same class. I even caused the death of my mother..."

"That might be your imagination too," Chohee comforted him. "As far as I know, they were the ones who begged her highness to help you out. They wouldn't do so if they hated you."

Taehyung didn't entirely change his opinions of the people he was going to meet but knew there was no point of this argument.

They could be angels. They could be devils. They could help him out, sort out his problems, give him love, or yell at him, push him away and throw him out of this place.

"Come," the girl muttered, grabbing his palm. "It's early in the morning, and this is the time you'll be able to meet people and tell them what you need to."

They had to walk a few more steps. Taehyung could already see a few people standing in tiny groups and speaking while drinking something from tiny cups, seemingly tea.

"I want to run," Taehyung whispered in a shaky tone when they were noticed by people who started making their way closer to them. Taehyung looked away, not wanting to look at them for any longer.

He did the best he could do at this pressurising moment, that is, push Chohee front and stand behind her, covering half his body behind her.

She panicked, her hands raising to hold onto the boy and pull him back to his initial position, but it was too late already.

"Hello," a soft, polite voice of a middle aged man reached them. He wasn't alone but had two men, both old too, beside him. Taehyung could hear their calmness but still refused to look at them.

"H-hello," Chohee bowed down, a awkward smile on her face as she fumbled for words, tripping on them repeatedly and ending up with nothing to speak.

"With the things you have brought, it looks like you're here for meeting someone or staying with your family for a while. Am I right?"

"A-are we?" God, Chohee was doing such a bad job in conversing with these people, but she was surely doing better than what Taehyung would do that instant. "O-oh, we don't really know anyone here."

A crease formed between the man's eyebrows. He tilted his head to the side.

"Is that so? This village is really poor and has no rest houses too, so I'm sure we wouldn't have visitors. What could possibly bring you two youngsters to such a place when you're supposed to go around enjoying in big cities?"

The servant didn't know the reason they're here too. She had been ordered to come by her king and her heart which loved the boy.

"We're not visitors," Taehyung spoke softly, hoping he'd just go unheard. He didn't want to hide anything more than the fact that he's pregnant with the king's child from them, so didn't care if they knew he was close to royals.

"Chohee noona had been a servant of the royal family for a few years, and I..."

"The royal family?!" A louder, shriller voice of a female came from a little bit farther away. Taehyung flinched nervously, taking a protective step back and pulling Chohee back slightly too.

What could he do? He wasn't going to wait until they beat him up. If they seemed to hate him, he'd probably run away and try to find another house because the only reason he came here was because his parents lived here.

Or... He'd beat them up. Chances of this happening was less.

Taehyung didn't grasp onto the situation easily even in his alert state but found the newly appeared lady yelling at the man and told him about not having gone to the fields yet.

He waited for the attention to come on him.

"Who's this again? Did he mention something about being related to the royal family?" The lady asked,  her eyes glaring holes into them as she judged them, making out their presence.

"Yeah," Taehyung muttered, unsure of what to say next. "We're coming here from the palace and wish to live here."

"Here?" The woman sounded taken aback. "Don't you know that this small village doesn't have empty huts to occupy more people? I don't think you'll be building your house now to live here when it's so cold that a person cannot step out."

"If you understand that then why do you make me go to the fields so early--"

"Shut up!" The woman dismissed her husband and almost yanked him back when he pouted. "I'll stuff stones in your mouth if you speak now! I'm already upset you didn't leave yet!"

By the time, they had completed their tiny argument, a few more people were now standing around them, the numbers just increasing slowly because everyone was enchanted to know that the village had visitors and wanted to see it for themselves.   

No one came here. There was nothing worth visits here, so it was surprising.

But more than exciting, it was just so weird to the male omega. The attention, the judging eyes, the curiousness... 

"Come on, boy!" Taehyung flinched, coming face to face to the same lady from earlier who looked restless now. "Say something! Why are you both just standing there and not speaking? It makes you look so suspicious!" 

That clearly did not help Taehyung or lure him into speaking. It made him so much more hesitant. 

"W-we..." 

"Don't scare the child!" Someone warned the harsher lady. "How will he speak if you keep interrogating him? Let him speak before opening your mouth!" 

And so, he had all their attentive eyes on him with all their mouths being completely shut, waiting patiently for him to speak. 

He had no words to speak now. 

"Look at his eyes," someone pointed out in a whisper, and only then Taehyung realize that he was fucking easily recognizable with his shining ember eyes. "I remember many older people talking about a woman with those kind of eyes, but he's a boy..." 

"Jihye?!" 

Taehyung didn't know what was going on anymore. They were all gasping, looking at each other with bewildered eyes, then coming closer to examine Taehyung. They didn't look harmful, looking like little curious kids if you'd keep their wrinkled skin and grey hair aside.

Yet, it scared Taehyung.

"Do you know Jihye?! Are you related to her?!" 

"N-no," Taehyung mumbled, shaking his head, shutting up all the accusations. He thought that the person they're talking about was probably a thief or a assassin who they think he's related to. "I don't k-know who that is. I haven't heard of h-her too." 

They didn't seem to trust him. Rather, they seemed like they knew something he didn't. They were all so jumpy all of a sudden that Taehyung wondered what's wrong with them. 

Too eager to prove their thoughts, they only came closer and closer to Taehyung, pressing him more with their questions.

"It cannot be! She's the only one who had those kind of eyes!" Now, almost all the villagers were here. 

"Calm down. He might not know her... Let's ask him another question." Taehyung waited for it, hoping they'd just let him go if he said he didn't know the woman after this question of theirs. 

"Do you know Namjoon? Kim Namjoon?" 

The sudden shock in his face gave away the answer to them. His wide eyes spoke what he couldn't do verbally, and his tiny gasp was so loud in the silent atmosphere.

They were all as shocked as he was now. 

Who was Jihye? How was Namjoon related to her now?

These people weren't giving him a chance to ask anything though. He had to just keep quite and answer them their questions. 

"How are you related to Namjoon?" 

"He's my brother. My eldest brother." 

This situation was more nerve wrecking than performing before hundreds of people because he knew just how people reacted to his dances while he knew nothing of what he should expect from these strangers. 

Chohee seemed to dislike the anxiousness too and tried to make herself as small as possible to avoid their attention. 

But she didn't have any need to do so. Their attention was only on Taehyung for a while, but they wouldn't dare look away now. 

A loud cry, sounding like a cheer, was followed by people jumping ahead and bringing Taehyung to a huge group hug. So many of them just jumping slightly as they hugged Taehyung from all sides, Chohee pushed aside. 

"It's him!" they cheered. "It's that child!" 

"Please-!" Taehyung almost cried as they just continued to hug the hell out of him altogether, completely squished. 

They say, pregnant omegas who don't have their alphas by their side, fill in the space of their alpha for the child and act as the father too, taking it upon themselves to protect the baby that usually alphas do. 

The same thing was happening. 

The unfamiliar scent, the unfamiliar people, the sudden strong contact, all of it made Taehyung sense danger to his baby. He wanted to hit them--like an alpha would do--and whimper in frustration--like an omega--at the same time. 

At the end, all he could do was plead them to let him go with his voice dying down below the loud cheers and laughs. 

"He can't breathe like this!" Chohee exclaimed, pushing away a few people. "Let him go!" 

They did let him go, but the contact didn't end there. They cheered as they pulled Taehyung further closer to the village, guiding him through the dusty, muddy lanes. 

Taehyung glanced at Chohee with teary eyes, hating that he couldn't push them away. She just told him to take deep breaths and calm down because these people didn't seem to mean any harm now. 

Taehyung was heavily relieved when they all took him to a rather dirty, run down hut. 

His house. 

"Look." they handed him a tiny, dirty portrait to him. "That's your, Namjoon baby and Yoongi baby's mom. It's a surprise that you don't know her name, but she's Jihye. We were the ones who asked Youngmi to take you with her and were happy yet heavenly sad when you were gone. It's so nice... so nice to see Jihye's lovely omega here that we cannot contain our happiness." 

"Mom?" Numb with feelings, Taehyung stared at the old stained piece of paper where a widely smiling woman's picture was drawn. 

She looked so free, so happy. The ends of the paper were torn, but he could make out two smaller bodies beside her. 

Yoongi and Namjoon gave her happiness she deserves, put this beautiful smile on her pretty face, while he killed her the moment he was born. He wasn't supposed to think like that because he didn't ask to be born, but it hurt that he was still alive because of Jihye's sacrifice. 

"She was the heart of this village, the only one who could bring a smile on all our faces. When she left, we wanted to make sure to keep your family happy but none of us could do anything at all because we had nothing. We gave half our little meals to give your brothers a handful of rice which couldn't help them much." 

"T-thank you," Taehyung whispered, his voice so soft and pained that the villagers just looked closed to crying suddenly. 

He was expecting them to throw him out of this village... 

"So many things to be grateful for that I c-cannot understand how to return the favor." 

"Favor?!" the harsh lady who had been yelling at him shrieked. "It never was a favor! We did it because we love you and your family. You don't know... you don't know how much we loved Namjoon and Yoongi, you too when you were born. Before all this, Jihye was our everything!" 

"Thank you." That's all Taehyung could say now. He had nothing more to tell. "Thank you for holding more genuine feelings than my guardian did to any of us." 

"What's guardian?" 

Yeah, how were they supposed to know? They were still illiterates. 

But it just made Taehyung feel so happy that they loved his family for what they were. 

He was a sacrifice of his mother, father, and his guardian. He didn't bring them happiness but leeched of them. 

But these people didn't think of him as just a sacrifice or someone who took advantage of his rank and beauty to be with a higher person. He was a child, a delicate child. 

He could see how they all were holding their breath in, waiting for something more to come from him. 

Taehyung couldn't take any more of this. He quickly just walked to the door of the house and walked in, closing the door behind him. 

He was scared of what he might find in here, but he needed to be alone to collect his thoughts. 

He clutched the paper close to his chest and looked around the tiny rooms of the house which needed just a little cleaning to be perfectly fine to live in. It showed that these people did care of his parents and brothers so much that they even cleaned this place regularly. 

He sat down against the door, curled into a ball and thought of all the things happening to him. 

On the other side, the people were taken aback by the way he stormed away but understood that he was shocked or scared of suddenly having to hear of his mother. 

They had a lot to say and a lot to hear from him. 

How is he doing? Where are his brothers? How are they? Why is he here? Who was this guardian who didn't treat him well? Where was the ex-queen? Why was there a need for him to come back to this dirty, old village? 

They couldn't wait until they got their answers. They had patience to wait. 

Now, they caught onto Chohee and took her with them to show the village, giving Taehyung the alone time he needed desperately. 

*-*-*-*

Taehyung single handedly cleaned the house, refusing to take any help from anyone, even Chohee. 

It took a long time and he was completely drained of energy by the time he was done. By all these efforts he was putting in, the villagers could tell that he wasn't ready to trust them and was much more closed off than his brothers. 

They didn't know him. 

They hadn't seen the cheery, sweet Taehyung yet. 

"Child," Haeun, the same harsh lady who had yelled at Taehyung in the morning, called, trying to bring him out of the hut. 

She was a childless woman who wasn't blessed with children even when she prayed oh, so much. 

She had been just a teenager when Taehyung was born and was quite close to Jihye too. 

She regretted yelling at the poor boy. Looking into his eyes reminded her so much of her friend that it shattered her heart.

"Come along with me." 

She walked into the hut when Taehyung just hummed hesitantly. She found him trying to make himself comfortable on the hard ground. 

It confused her for a while before she understood why he was so stiff and uncomfortable. "Used to sitting in cushions and feather beds, I see? I don't understand why you would leave a castle to come live here, but you need to get used to this because this how we all live." 

"I will get used to it," Taehyung said, determination not as strong as his words were though. "It isn't impossible." 

"Wanna hear something about your family?" she forgets about the reason she was here and sits down on the floor beside Taehyung, scoffing at Chohee who was fast asleep there too. 

"My family?" Taehyung's eyes shone. He missed his family more as he was now closest to them, sitting on the same floor his parents might have before. 

It hurt. 

Haeun smiled. "Jihye unnie was more of a child than any child here was. She played a lot of pranks, so many that we were so surprised when she involved her husband and Namjoon in this. Your mom and dad loved each other since they were young." 

"Yeah?" Did dad also see my mom like Jungkook looks at me? 

Was my dad as sweet and soft as Jungkook? Am I any near to being as lovable as my mom was? My parents deserved each other; do I deserve Jungkook? 

"Yes. When Yoongi came along, your mom got a bit more mature, probably because she didn't want her sons to learn wrong things from her. But since the beginning, she was a perfect omega who saw a huge dream of having an omega." 

"An omega who kills her?"

"That's what you think of yourself?" Haeun was slightly surprised. "Are you not seeing how all of us practically worship you? Did your brothers ever see you as their mother's murderer?"

"They didn't." 

"Then what makes you think so? Jihye saw the most happy moment of her life when you were born even though that was her last few moments. You don't know... she used to pray to every star and ask every old person to bless her enough so she gets an omega." 

"What was the point of it when this omega couldn't do any good to her?" 

Haeun laughed at his innocence and pinched his cheeks. "You will understand everything when you have a child of your own." 

Taehyung's eyes blanked at that. I'm already pregnant. What am I supposed to know at this state? Wait... I can't let her go. I need to know what she means by that. 

Is it something related to being a good mother? 

"What is it?" Taehyung almost whines. "What do I not know?" 

Haeun loved how he was not keeping the same stoic face anymore and was more softer than before. "If you were a mother, would you choose to see your child die or hold them for a second and die yourself?"

 "Of course, the latter!" Taehyung was filled with dread at the thought of the first coming true. That would be the worst thing that could happen to a mother. Lord, he would never be able to live after that happening. 

"Your mom did what she wished too then," Haeun stated. "Though you didn't have her, you had another mother." 

Does she mean Youngmi? It fills me with rage even to think of her. 

"I have only one mother, the one who died killing me." 

That proved Haeun's suspicion. "That guard you were talking about was her highness?" 

"She's my guardian-- no, I'm her sacrifice. You all were wrong when you say that she saw me as her child. she did love me, and I know she would be so mad at herself now. She still didn't value me."

"What will she regret?" Haeun was so interested in what he was saying. He seemed to be missing out on telling her the main points as he rambled. 

"Nothing," Taehyung dropped the idea of telling her anything more. "I'm really tired. I just ate a little of the food Chohee noona made. It tasted bad, but I'm full. I wouldn't attend the campfire today. I'm sorry." 

"No, no, It's alright. Take good rest, okay?" 

The lady got up, tucked Chohee into the rough blanket and left, concluding that she needed to tell the others of the things Taehyung told her. She had to make sure that he doesn't face any inconvenience. 

If the queen hadn't treated him properly, they will lose all respect they had for her because the only reason they loved her was because took their kids and helped them out. 

Taehyung didn't seem to want to let them know everything, so all they could do was be their best and make sure he isn't facing problems. 

Taehyung was their favorite person's child, and they will make sure to give all they can to show him the love they showed to Jihye. 

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