fire from the ashes (MINWON)

chapter two

Jeonghan caught the prince in his arms before his head could hit the ground. Seungcheol and Chan quickly got up from their seats to help their brother.

Only Kim Mingyu and his companion, who until now had not said a single word, remained seated. Kim Mingyu even took a long sip of his tea, completely uninterested in what might happen to his fiancé.

That couldn't be true.

Wonwoo must have been having another of those nightmares that kept him awake on stormy nights, only instead of tearing off his skin and gouging out his eyes, this time the demons had taken the form of Kim Mingyu and were torturing him in a much more cruel way.

He couldn't get married, no. Much less with a man he didn't know.

With his eyes closed he could feel his face being fanned, a hand that he knew was Jeonghan's brushing his hair from his forehead. A gesture that was too soft and intimate, and one that had undoubtedly caught Seungcheol's attention.

"Prince Wonwoo, please open your eyes," Jeonghan asked, and although his words were soft, Wonwoo knew they contained an order.

That couldn't be happening to him.

"You see," Kim Mingyu pointed out, finally standing up. His attention directed only to Prince Seungcheol "he is a weak man, we all know that he is also a coward, and rude. He abandoned his place in the palace and will surely abandon his duty to us as well. A man who has no honor is not worthy of marrying a general."

Wonwoo opened his eyes then and Jeonghan could see the flame burning in them but he reacted too late.

"Who would want to marry a brute, ugly like you!" he yelled at Mingyu, acting like a child.

Mingyu rolled his eyes.

"You see it? Even though he is already twenty-seven years old, he is like an immature child," he complained, "is this the person your father wants to present to his subjects as the husband of his general?"

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, it was incredible how important that Kim Mingyu felt, even though his dad had freed them, that didn't give him the right to be a jerk.

"Peace Mingyu, this took prince Wonwoo by surprise" Seungcheol defended him, to Wonwoo's surprise "As you yourself have said, it is tradition that it was the crown prince who married, Wonwoo has lived his entire life with the possibility of choice and now he has to suddenly face having it taken away from him."

Wonwoo wanted to retort that he hadn't really had a life full of options, but he kept quiet because his brother always had it worse, and because getting married was a matter where Wonwoo had believed he had at least a little power.

It was clear that he couldn't marry just anyone, but being the second son he would have hoped to marry at least some high-ranking man of his choosing.

If things kept changing he would have to take more care of Chan.

Surprisingly, Kim Mingyu left him alone, but not before muttering some insult to him.

"Your majesty, do you think I can talk to Prince Wonwoo alone?" asked Jeonghan, who always seemed to know exactly what Wonwoo needed.

At this request Seungcheol seemed thoughtful, and Jeonghan didn't miss the way Kim Mingyu looked at him, how his eyes stopped at the hand resting on Wonwoo's soft cheek and how the man frowned.

It was clear that he suspected that he was Wonwoo's lover, and Jeonghan would let him believe it for now.

"Go ahead," Seungcheol finally agreed, with a headache. "Anyway, since it's established that we're going to stay here, we should get our room ready, let him rest for a while and we'll see you at dinner. Can someone help us?"