Weeks passed like petals drifting in a stream soft, slow, unnoticed at first, yet impossible to ignore once they gathered.
The boy who once trembled at every footstep now walked freely within the palace gardens never far from the prince who had pulled him out of the shadows.
Prince Hwan Jae and Seo Yul were rarely seen apart.
They spent mornings in the quiet corner of the library, Hwan Jae reading aloud with exaggerated voices while Seo Yul sat beside him, occasionally hiding a smile behind his hand.
"How can this general fall in love in the middle of war?" Hwan Jae groaned one morning. "Ridiculous. I'd at least wait until my enemy stops trying to kill me."
Seo Yul chuckled softly, barely audible. That sound had become Hwan Jae's favorite melody.
Some afternoons were spent in the calligraphy hall, where ink stained their fingers and Hwan Jae tried (and failed) to teach Seo Yul how to write in Goryeon script.
"That looks like a startled chicken," he teased, pointing at Seo Yul's crooked brushstroke.
Seo Yul smacked his arm with a scroll and tried again.
Other days, they sat by the practice grounds. Hwan Jae, stripped down to his training robes, sparred with wooden swords under the sun while Seo Yul watched from the stone ledge, hugging a folded coat to his chest.
Hwan Jae would shout from across the yard "Are you sure you don't want to learn? You could totally knock me down!"
Seo Yul only shook his head, amused.
One quiet afternoon, something changed.
King Hwan Seong stood alone on the palace balcony overlooking the courtyard his usual place for reviewing military reports, where no one dared disturb him.
Below, laughter rang out.
The king's eyes drifted downward.
There, beneath the blooming plum tree, sat Hwan Jae and Seo Yul. The young prince had leaned too far while reaching for a branch and fallen right into Seo Yul, who caught him by the shoulder.
Both boys burst into laughter. Seo Yul's face, always pale and quiet, lit up like a lantern. His eyes crinkled. His smile real and free reached all the way to his ears.
The king's hand, holding a scroll, lowered slightly.
For a moment, just a fleeting one, the cold mask of war-hardened royalty cracked.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth quiet, small, but there.
He quickly turned away.
But the moment had been real.
Back in the courtyard, Hwan Jae brushed petals from Seo Yul's hair.
"You're different now," he said.
Seo Yul looked at him, curious.
"When you smile like that… it makes me feel like we've both survived something."
Seo Yul's gaze dropped, shy but calm.
He didn't speak.
But he didn't need to.