Water From a Deep Spring 5
Title: Water From a Deep Spring
Pairing: JaeChun, JaeMin, slight Yoochun/OC
Rating: Nc-17
Genre: Historic, Romance, Drama
Length: Chaptered
Summary: Growing up within the brothels and backalleys of the royal city, Kim Jaejoong learned at a young age exactly how to make others submit to his will. However when he enters the palace he realizes that there are things that are even darker than he is--especially when he encounters the King's wildly cunning and wickedly dangerous stepbrother...
The rage in the Changmin's eyes only grew as Jaejoong walked to him, the perfect picture of calmness and grace. The young boy's robe began to pool off his shoulders, exposing slivers of pale silk skin with every step he made.
“You were tasked to take care of the Queen. I told you that Yoochun was not to be included in this arrangement” Changmin bit out. “Haneul is already with child and that is what our minds should be set upon”
“And I told you that this task needs to be executed on my own terms” Jaejoong answered back. He hooded his eyes and tugged a little on his left sleeve, causing his heavy robe to slip down further.
“Everything in this palace exists on my terms, Jaejoon. Even you”
Jaejoong was now standing in front of the Prince, looking up into the taller male's eyes. The wind from outside the chambers was seeping in through the cracks of the lattice windows and blew loose tendrils of hair into Jaejoong's pale, expressionless face.
“You did not accept me into this palace so that I could be like every other pawn that you own, my Prince”
Changmin looked down. His expression was more open than Jaejoong knew he wanted it to be. The Prince hadn't had the same training as Jaejoong. He couldn't control his emotions in the same way. “That is the very reason I chose you, Han Jaejoon. You belong to me now, and you will do as I say”
Jaejoong inhaled and brought a hand up to lightly stoke at the Prince's cheek. Changmin gave no reaction. “If that is what you truly desired, then you would have chosen a far less intelligent man than me”
“Do not elevate your title to that of a man. You are a mere boy”
Jaejoong's fingers ghosted over Changmin's lips. “Shall you turn me into a man then, Prince?”
Changmin lowered his eyes to observe the boy that stood before him. The fair skin, the eyes that remained dull even as they reflected the light of the lamps that the servants had lit hours before. His lips raised.
“Do you believe you can seduce me, little one? I have seen beauty that you can not imagine. I am not moved by these typical things”
It was now Jaejoong's turn to smile. Men...they were all so predictable. He raised himself onto his toes, until their lips were touching and their warm breaths ghosted over each other's mouths, instantly heating the cooling room.
“I am not like anyone you have ever encountered before, my Prince” Jaejoong whispered as he leaned forward and bit the Prince's bottom lip with enough force to tear the flesh. A drop of blood-dark crimson and so warm-pebbled and dripped down. Jaejoong caught it with his tongue.
Changmin groaned aloud and Jaejoong almost wanted to laugh. Whether a man was the lowest of peasants, taking pleasure in brothel women, or a Prince dressed in all their finery, they were always the same. There was such weakness in them, and in that moment Jaejoong fully realized the lessons his mother had whispered into his ears. The lessons that he has observed looking through the loose boards of the brothel attic, watching and learning from the movements of the women that he lived with, their gentle and harsh gestures and words.
“Do you enjoy the pain?” Jaejoong whispered into Changmin's mouth. He pulled aside the neck of Changmin's robes and ran a single fingernail over the exposed collarbone, leaving a red mark on the skin that had no had ever dared to mark before.
Changmin dug his hands harshly into Jaejoong's sides. The boy's robes shielded him from the majority of the force, but Jaejoong could feel the pressure of the Prince's fingers through thick material. They bit into him, bruising his hipbones.
“You are not in control here, Jaejoon”
But they were hollow words. And Jaejoong knew they were hollow as his fingers clenched into fabric covering Changmin's shoulders, pulling it down so that he could trail a line of kisses up the Prince's neck and jaw until his plush lips grazed the older man's ear. He bit onto the lobe gently.
“Then control me, Prince”
It was that phrase that pushed Changmin over the cliff's edge. He ripped at the belt of Jaejoong's robes, causing the thick fabric to slip down like water over the smaller boy's frame, pooling at his waist and leaving his chest bare.
Changmin's eyes were drawn to the boy's chest-snowy, silken, smooth-heaving up and down with each deep breath Jaejoong took. He drowned in the prominent collarbone, the jutting hip bones, the individual ribs and chorded muscles of shoulders and upper arms all wrapped in perfectly pale, unmarked skin.
And Changmin felt a need roll through his body like a wave. A need to leave his mark upon the blank palette presented in front of him. To use his fingers and teeth to paint streaks of red upon the snow white. To make the boy bleed and then kiss the blood away.
Jaejoong saw that need in the Prince's eyes and felt the need, even through the fabric of the Prince's robes. He could feel Changmin, hard and wanting, straining in front of him.
Changmin bit down on the juncture between Jaejoong's shoulder and neck, latching himself to the skin, his tongue leaving feather soft licks. Jaejoong lowered his hands to right above the Prince's navel, stroking. He looked over Changmin's shoulder, to the windows that were covered only by sheer silk sheets.
“We are in a dangerous position”
Changmin's eyes followed Jaejoong's, narrowing as he also looked upon the windows. Guards and servants were never far away from him and all it just took one wicked tongue to create troublesome situations.
Jaejoong stepped back, observing Changmin's wrinkled robes and mused hair and flushed face. The Prince's eyes were darkened beyond anything that he had seen from the other man.
He walked backwards, never taking his eyes off Changmin's face. The cool air of the room hit his chest and pebbled his skin. His back hit the closed door of his room and a slow, lazy smile spread across Jaejoong's face. He knew what he must look like at this moment, with his robes opened to his waist and the skin already purpling from where Changmin had bit it.
“They will not be able to see us here, my Prince” Jaejoong whispered. The room was hushed and his voice carried easily.
“Come and take me”
He did not need to request it twice. In three blinks of the eye, Changmin was standing in front of Jaejoong, twitching fingers once again laying claim to the skin of the boy's slight waist. Jaejoong sighed, submissive, and Changmin captured his lips in a biting kiss. He grabbed onto Jaejoong's hands and led them towards the belt of his own robes.
Jaejoong's heartbeat rose, knowing this is the time where his past experiences would come to use. He could hear his mother's voice in his head as he tugged at the knot of Changmin's belt, loosening the cloth and letting it slide through his fingers. He could feel the heat of Prince's skin like a brand on his hand.
Make men need you, Jaejoong. Make them kneel at your feet. Pleasure them and give and give until they crave for what only you can provide. Only then will you be in control.
Changmin's eyes were burning into him.
“You said that you were not like anyone I have encountered” Changmin breathed. “Show me”
Jaejoong smiled as he brought his hands to Changmin's stomach. He dragged his fingers down the Prince's skin, lightly digging his nails into the soft flesh until his hands reached the juncture between Changmin's legs.
“I'll not merely show you that I am different” Jaejoong said. “I will mark it on your skin” He grasped onto Changmin's arousal, softly rolling his fingers around it, stroking it as though it was a gayageum-the traditional instrument that he had been trained to play for not nearly as long as he had been trained to play men.
Changmin gasped in the heated air that surrounded them. His stomach stung from the drag of Jaejoong's nails, but the burn of the pain was eclipsed by the overpowering burn of the feel of the experienced hands around him. The boy kept a slow and sensual pace--his fingers moving across the heated flesh, thumb teasing the already weeping head.
Jaejoong felt the Prince falling apart in his hands and smiled. He had the older man exactly where he needed him, and he could act out now. He stroked Changmin with one hand as his other reached around him until it connected with the door opening.
With a quick and practiced grace of a boy who repeatedly had to fight off men in the brothels, Jaejoong opened the door to the room. Before Changmin could understand the situation, Jaejoong grabbed the loose fabric of the robes hanging off of Changmin's hips and pushed the Prince out of the room. He closed the door and leaned his body on it so the Prince could not open it again.
There were a few silent seconds before a low growl sounded from the other side.
“Han Jaejoon. Open this door”
“The Mid Autumn Festival is to take place in 10 settings of the sun” Jaejoong said through the door. “Assign me to be an escort to Queen Haneul during the ceremonies”
“Open this door, Jaejoon”
“Assign me to be the Queen's escort”
“You do not tell me what to do. I am a Prince and you are nothing in this palace. Open this door immediately”
Jaejoong shook his head with a smile. “If I was nothing in this palace, why would you feel such a need for me to open this door?”
There was a silence on the other side.
“Are you wanting my hands upon you again?” Jaejoong continued. “Do you wish to feel my lips against yours? To have my teeth bite once more into your skin? To have your teeth marking me? Claiming me?”
“You do not now what you are doing, Jaejoon”
“And you know that is not true”
Jaejoong leaned against the door further, letting himself slide down to the floor. He looked at his hand which had been stroking Changmin just moments before. Frowning, he wiped it on the bottom of his robe.
“The servants are observing you now, Prince. Do not give them reason to gossip” Jaejoong said softly “Assign me to be the escort to the Queen during the festival and the next time you are invited into my room, I shall let you further what we began”
Changmin said nothing.
“I shall let you control me” Jaejoong added in. “And will follow your commands, be your submissive and innocent boy”
“You can never be innocent, Han Jaejoon” Changmin said after a few more silent seconds.
But Jaejoong knew that he had already won this battle. He felt, as sure as he felt the cool autumn air blowing gently into the room, that he had taken control of this situation for now. This victory was his.
He knew that Changmin would not let him stay in power for long, but he also knew that the struggle between the two was what would keep Changmin drawn to him.
“Goodnight, my Prince”
~~~***~~~
The next morning, Jaejoong rose and allowed a servant to bring a fresh set of formal robes to him.
“Master Jaejoon, you are injured!” the servant said in horror as his eyes fell upon the bruised skin on Jaejoong's neck. The young boy touched the purpled wound. The neck of his robes stung ever time they brushed against the sensitive skin and Jaejoong smirked, imagining what the marks his nails left on Changmin's stomach would feel like. Did they sting this much? Would the Prince be reminded of him with every step he took, with every brush of fabric against his stomach?
“JiJi bit me last night” Jaejoong said to the servant, motioning towards the small kitten that was currently sleeping in a pile of the boy's discarded robes. “I have to train him still”
The servant knew that Changmin had been in Jaejoong's room last night, and Jaejoong knew that the servant did. But neither of them mentioned it. Nothing that the Prince did was to be questioned.
“I will ask the healers to send you some balm. Animal bites can become dangerous”
Jaejoong nodded at the servant, a thankful look in his eyes.
He made his way over to the reading room, where all of the scholars were gathering for their morning rituals. Servants were filtering around with glasses of tea and jook.
Kang MinHyeong, the second ranked scholar, was once again standing by Jaejoong's desk, looking at the empty seat with a perplexed expression. There was also another look playing underneath the surface of the old man's face and Jaejoong noticed, with a sense of delight, that it was envy.
The young scholar checked his robes and a ran a hand over his tied hair to ensure there were no loose strands before making his way to his desk.
“Han Jaejoon. I have been awaiting your arrival”
“Master Kang. It's an honor to be in your presence for the second time”
The older man just looked at Jaejoong as though he was trying to read a story off of the younger man's face. As though he was trying to see how this slight waif of a boy had made such a presence for himself in such a short time.
“It seems as though you have a luck spirit shining down upon you” MinHyeong said.
“I beg your pardon, Master Kang?”
The older man continued to stare. “The staff was informed at dawn that you would be escorting the Queen to the Mid Autumn Festival. This is not an honor that has ever been graced upon a junior scholar.”
Jaejoong controlled the smile that was threatening to spread across his lips.
“It must be because I am the Queen's personal tutor”
Kang MiHyeong wanted to say that position also was not one that was normally given to junior scholars, however he hadn't become the second ranked scholar for speaking out of turn. The older man's age and experience in the palace has made him wiser than most, and he was well aware that the young boy standing in front of him was a person unlike any the palace had seen before.
“It seems that someone in this palace greatly favors you, Han Jaejoon”
Jaejoong felt the neck of his robes brush against the raw wound on his shoulder and nodded his head slightly.
“It would seem that way”
~~~***~~~
The weeks leading up to the Mid Autumn Festival were busy in the palace. The servants prepared rooms for influential guests, running around with heated water and lamps in order to dispel the cold air that was seeping through the palace walls. The chefs spent all day and night preparing the traditional foods; they spent hours on end stretching rice cakes and filling them with chestnuts and honey in order to make songpeyon. And the scholars were diligently writing all the ceremonial hangings and speeches. They used their best calligraphy in order to create the base of what the festival was to be about: the hangings that would be placed in the ancestral shrines, the words to be said about fine and bountiful harvests, the poems and pamphlets that would be distributed to all the wealthiest homes in Korea-speaking about the importance of ancestral rights and filial duties. It was enough to keep every member of the palace busy.
However, even as the sixth ranked scholar, Jaejoong found himself with less duties than his peers. While they spend hours in the reading room, writing out pages upon pages of script, Jaejoong found himself wandering around the grounds of the palace or sitting in incense heavy rooms with the Queen. Since it was announced that Jaejoong would be the Queen's personal escort during the festival, it was expected of him to perform his tutoring duties with great regard.
“This character is Jae” Jaejoong said, carefully gliding his brush over a piece of parchment to create the letter.
“Like the first character of your name” the Queen said with a smile.
“Like the first character of my name” Jaejoong nodded. “Would you like to practice writing, Queen?”
Hanuel shook her head, bringing the thick blanket that the servants had provided closer to her body. The room they were currently in was stuffy, filled with smoke from incense, however the women still felt chilled in her bones.
“I do not feel in good health today” Haneul sighed. “I apologize for not being able to do much for our lessons.”
“The Queen should never feel the need to apologize” Jaejoong said quickly. He put on his most innocent expression, widening his eyes ever so slightly, before looking over to the lady. “Has an illness come over you, my highness? Shall I call in the palace healer?”
Haneul shook her head. “It is a common feeling for a woman in my position”
“In your position, Queen?”
Haneul looked at the young boy in front of her. He had been by her side constantly for the past few days and she already felt a sort of motherly compassion for the boy who had been thrust into the mysterious labyrinth of the palace much too soon. The Han Jaejoon she saw was a shy boy: much too formal, much too controlled and careful for a child as young as he was. There was a quiet venerability in those large eyes that looked at her and for some reason, it made her feel at ease.
“It has not been announced to the palace yet....”
Jaejoong scooted closer to the woman and tilted his head to the side, pulling a look that always worked on the women in the brothels. “You can trust me, your highness”
And for whatever reason there was, Haneul felt as though she could.
“I am with child” she whispered, careful that the servants that were lingering outside of the room could not overhear her.
Jaejoong widened his eyes, pretending this was the first time he had heard this news.
“Many blessings on you and the King” he said, raising a hand to rest upon the woman's midsection. It was a move that could be considered extremely inappropriate, but the Queen felt nothing but warmness from the young boy. “I hope for a great heir to the palace”
“As do I” Haneul said. “A son will bring peace to Yoochun and I”
“There must be much that you cannot do now that you are with child” Jaejoong said casually.
“So many restrictions” the Queen nodded. “I am not allowed to stand or walk for long periods of time and there are many herbs that I must avoid”
Jaejoong's hands skimmed the bottom of his robes as he took in Hanuel's words. He had been creating a plan that would take place during the Mid Autumn Festival and he needed to gather as much information on the woman's health as he could.
“That must be difficult” he said after a few silent seconds, as to not cause any suspicion in the Queen. “The palace is already so restricted. To restrict you even further...”
“It is not as though a son-less Queen is allowed many frivolities in even the most normal of times” Haneul said with a wry smile. “I pray for a son to come and let me live a peaceful life”
Something flashed in Jaejoong's eyes. But he recovered in a second and turned to the Queen with his own smile.
“Let us pray for your health, my Queen. And that you shall meet your child very soon”
A/N: Yes, this story is back! I promised myself that I would finish all my chaptered stories before Jaejoong comes back from the army, so that is what I will do! I apologize for the utter lack of JaeChun in this chapter, but rest assured there will be a lot of them in the next few chapters to come. For this chapter, I needed to show Jaejoong's transformation. He has gotten more comoftable in the palace and can finally let out his true self--or at least the self that his mother trained him to be. Let's see what exactly he has in store for the Mid Autumn Festival~
Pairing: JaeChun, JaeMin, slight Yoochun/OC
Rating: Nc-17
Genre: Historic, Romance, Drama
Length: Chaptered
Summary: Growing up within the brothels and backalleys of the royal city, Kim Jaejoong learned at a young age exactly how to make others submit to his will. However when he enters the palace he realizes that there are things that are even darker than he is--especially when he encounters the King's wildly cunning and wickedly dangerous stepbrother...
The rage in the Changmin's eyes only grew as Jaejoong walked to him, the perfect picture of calmness and grace. The young boy's robe began to pool off his shoulders, exposing slivers of pale silk skin with every step he made.
“You were tasked to take care of the Queen. I told you that Yoochun was not to be included in this arrangement” Changmin bit out. “Haneul is already with child and that is what our minds should be set upon”
“And I told you that this task needs to be executed on my own terms” Jaejoong answered back. He hooded his eyes and tugged a little on his left sleeve, causing his heavy robe to slip down further.
“Everything in this palace exists on my terms, Jaejoon. Even you”
Jaejoong was now standing in front of the Prince, looking up into the taller male's eyes. The wind from outside the chambers was seeping in through the cracks of the lattice windows and blew loose tendrils of hair into Jaejoong's pale, expressionless face.
“You did not accept me into this palace so that I could be like every other pawn that you own, my Prince”
Changmin looked down. His expression was more open than Jaejoong knew he wanted it to be. The Prince hadn't had the same training as Jaejoong. He couldn't control his emotions in the same way. “That is the very reason I chose you, Han Jaejoon. You belong to me now, and you will do as I say”
Jaejoong inhaled and brought a hand up to lightly stoke at the Prince's cheek. Changmin gave no reaction. “If that is what you truly desired, then you would have chosen a far less intelligent man than me”
“Do not elevate your title to that of a man. You are a mere boy”
Jaejoong's fingers ghosted over Changmin's lips. “Shall you turn me into a man then, Prince?”
Changmin lowered his eyes to observe the boy that stood before him. The fair skin, the eyes that remained dull even as they reflected the light of the lamps that the servants had lit hours before. His lips raised.
“Do you believe you can seduce me, little one? I have seen beauty that you can not imagine. I am not moved by these typical things”
It was now Jaejoong's turn to smile. Men...they were all so predictable. He raised himself onto his toes, until their lips were touching and their warm breaths ghosted over each other's mouths, instantly heating the cooling room.
“I am not like anyone you have ever encountered before, my Prince” Jaejoong whispered as he leaned forward and bit the Prince's bottom lip with enough force to tear the flesh. A drop of blood-dark crimson and so warm-pebbled and dripped down. Jaejoong caught it with his tongue.
Changmin groaned aloud and Jaejoong almost wanted to laugh. Whether a man was the lowest of peasants, taking pleasure in brothel women, or a Prince dressed in all their finery, they were always the same. There was such weakness in them, and in that moment Jaejoong fully realized the lessons his mother had whispered into his ears. The lessons that he has observed looking through the loose boards of the brothel attic, watching and learning from the movements of the women that he lived with, their gentle and harsh gestures and words.
“Do you enjoy the pain?” Jaejoong whispered into Changmin's mouth. He pulled aside the neck of Changmin's robes and ran a single fingernail over the exposed collarbone, leaving a red mark on the skin that had no had ever dared to mark before.
Changmin dug his hands harshly into Jaejoong's sides. The boy's robes shielded him from the majority of the force, but Jaejoong could feel the pressure of the Prince's fingers through thick material. They bit into him, bruising his hipbones.
“You are not in control here, Jaejoon”
But they were hollow words. And Jaejoong knew they were hollow as his fingers clenched into fabric covering Changmin's shoulders, pulling it down so that he could trail a line of kisses up the Prince's neck and jaw until his plush lips grazed the older man's ear. He bit onto the lobe gently.
“Then control me, Prince”
It was that phrase that pushed Changmin over the cliff's edge. He ripped at the belt of Jaejoong's robes, causing the thick fabric to slip down like water over the smaller boy's frame, pooling at his waist and leaving his chest bare.
Changmin's eyes were drawn to the boy's chest-snowy, silken, smooth-heaving up and down with each deep breath Jaejoong took. He drowned in the prominent collarbone, the jutting hip bones, the individual ribs and chorded muscles of shoulders and upper arms all wrapped in perfectly pale, unmarked skin.
And Changmin felt a need roll through his body like a wave. A need to leave his mark upon the blank palette presented in front of him. To use his fingers and teeth to paint streaks of red upon the snow white. To make the boy bleed and then kiss the blood away.
Jaejoong saw that need in the Prince's eyes and felt the need, even through the fabric of the Prince's robes. He could feel Changmin, hard and wanting, straining in front of him.
Changmin bit down on the juncture between Jaejoong's shoulder and neck, latching himself to the skin, his tongue leaving feather soft licks. Jaejoong lowered his hands to right above the Prince's navel, stroking. He looked over Changmin's shoulder, to the windows that were covered only by sheer silk sheets.
“We are in a dangerous position”
Changmin's eyes followed Jaejoong's, narrowing as he also looked upon the windows. Guards and servants were never far away from him and all it just took one wicked tongue to create troublesome situations.
Jaejoong stepped back, observing Changmin's wrinkled robes and mused hair and flushed face. The Prince's eyes were darkened beyond anything that he had seen from the other man.
He walked backwards, never taking his eyes off Changmin's face. The cool air of the room hit his chest and pebbled his skin. His back hit the closed door of his room and a slow, lazy smile spread across Jaejoong's face. He knew what he must look like at this moment, with his robes opened to his waist and the skin already purpling from where Changmin had bit it.
“They will not be able to see us here, my Prince” Jaejoong whispered. The room was hushed and his voice carried easily.
“Come and take me”
He did not need to request it twice. In three blinks of the eye, Changmin was standing in front of Jaejoong, twitching fingers once again laying claim to the skin of the boy's slight waist. Jaejoong sighed, submissive, and Changmin captured his lips in a biting kiss. He grabbed onto Jaejoong's hands and led them towards the belt of his own robes.
Jaejoong's heartbeat rose, knowing this is the time where his past experiences would come to use. He could hear his mother's voice in his head as he tugged at the knot of Changmin's belt, loosening the cloth and letting it slide through his fingers. He could feel the heat of Prince's skin like a brand on his hand.
Make men need you, Jaejoong. Make them kneel at your feet. Pleasure them and give and give until they crave for what only you can provide. Only then will you be in control.
Changmin's eyes were burning into him.
“You said that you were not like anyone I have encountered” Changmin breathed. “Show me”
Jaejoong smiled as he brought his hands to Changmin's stomach. He dragged his fingers down the Prince's skin, lightly digging his nails into the soft flesh until his hands reached the juncture between Changmin's legs.
“I'll not merely show you that I am different” Jaejoong said. “I will mark it on your skin” He grasped onto Changmin's arousal, softly rolling his fingers around it, stroking it as though it was a gayageum-the traditional instrument that he had been trained to play for not nearly as long as he had been trained to play men.
Changmin gasped in the heated air that surrounded them. His stomach stung from the drag of Jaejoong's nails, but the burn of the pain was eclipsed by the overpowering burn of the feel of the experienced hands around him. The boy kept a slow and sensual pace--his fingers moving across the heated flesh, thumb teasing the already weeping head.
Jaejoong felt the Prince falling apart in his hands and smiled. He had the older man exactly where he needed him, and he could act out now. He stroked Changmin with one hand as his other reached around him until it connected with the door opening.
With a quick and practiced grace of a boy who repeatedly had to fight off men in the brothels, Jaejoong opened the door to the room. Before Changmin could understand the situation, Jaejoong grabbed the loose fabric of the robes hanging off of Changmin's hips and pushed the Prince out of the room. He closed the door and leaned his body on it so the Prince could not open it again.
There were a few silent seconds before a low growl sounded from the other side.
“Han Jaejoon. Open this door”
“The Mid Autumn Festival is to take place in 10 settings of the sun” Jaejoong said through the door. “Assign me to be an escort to Queen Haneul during the ceremonies”
“Open this door, Jaejoon”
“Assign me to be the Queen's escort”
“You do not tell me what to do. I am a Prince and you are nothing in this palace. Open this door immediately”
Jaejoong shook his head with a smile. “If I was nothing in this palace, why would you feel such a need for me to open this door?”
There was a silence on the other side.
“Are you wanting my hands upon you again?” Jaejoong continued. “Do you wish to feel my lips against yours? To have my teeth bite once more into your skin? To have your teeth marking me? Claiming me?”
“You do not now what you are doing, Jaejoon”
“And you know that is not true”
Jaejoong leaned against the door further, letting himself slide down to the floor. He looked at his hand which had been stroking Changmin just moments before. Frowning, he wiped it on the bottom of his robe.
“The servants are observing you now, Prince. Do not give them reason to gossip” Jaejoong said softly “Assign me to be the escort to the Queen during the festival and the next time you are invited into my room, I shall let you further what we began”
Changmin said nothing.
“I shall let you control me” Jaejoong added in. “And will follow your commands, be your submissive and innocent boy”
“You can never be innocent, Han Jaejoon” Changmin said after a few more silent seconds.
But Jaejoong knew that he had already won this battle. He felt, as sure as he felt the cool autumn air blowing gently into the room, that he had taken control of this situation for now. This victory was his.
He knew that Changmin would not let him stay in power for long, but he also knew that the struggle between the two was what would keep Changmin drawn to him.
“Goodnight, my Prince”
~~~***~~~
The next morning, Jaejoong rose and allowed a servant to bring a fresh set of formal robes to him.
“Master Jaejoon, you are injured!” the servant said in horror as his eyes fell upon the bruised skin on Jaejoong's neck. The young boy touched the purpled wound. The neck of his robes stung ever time they brushed against the sensitive skin and Jaejoong smirked, imagining what the marks his nails left on Changmin's stomach would feel like. Did they sting this much? Would the Prince be reminded of him with every step he took, with every brush of fabric against his stomach?
“JiJi bit me last night” Jaejoong said to the servant, motioning towards the small kitten that was currently sleeping in a pile of the boy's discarded robes. “I have to train him still”
The servant knew that Changmin had been in Jaejoong's room last night, and Jaejoong knew that the servant did. But neither of them mentioned it. Nothing that the Prince did was to be questioned.
“I will ask the healers to send you some balm. Animal bites can become dangerous”
Jaejoong nodded at the servant, a thankful look in his eyes.
He made his way over to the reading room, where all of the scholars were gathering for their morning rituals. Servants were filtering around with glasses of tea and jook.
Kang MinHyeong, the second ranked scholar, was once again standing by Jaejoong's desk, looking at the empty seat with a perplexed expression. There was also another look playing underneath the surface of the old man's face and Jaejoong noticed, with a sense of delight, that it was envy.
The young scholar checked his robes and a ran a hand over his tied hair to ensure there were no loose strands before making his way to his desk.
“Han Jaejoon. I have been awaiting your arrival”
“Master Kang. It's an honor to be in your presence for the second time”
The older man just looked at Jaejoong as though he was trying to read a story off of the younger man's face. As though he was trying to see how this slight waif of a boy had made such a presence for himself in such a short time.
“It seems as though you have a luck spirit shining down upon you” MinHyeong said.
“I beg your pardon, Master Kang?”
The older man continued to stare. “The staff was informed at dawn that you would be escorting the Queen to the Mid Autumn Festival. This is not an honor that has ever been graced upon a junior scholar.”
Jaejoong controlled the smile that was threatening to spread across his lips.
“It must be because I am the Queen's personal tutor”
Kang MiHyeong wanted to say that position also was not one that was normally given to junior scholars, however he hadn't become the second ranked scholar for speaking out of turn. The older man's age and experience in the palace has made him wiser than most, and he was well aware that the young boy standing in front of him was a person unlike any the palace had seen before.
“It seems that someone in this palace greatly favors you, Han Jaejoon”
Jaejoong felt the neck of his robes brush against the raw wound on his shoulder and nodded his head slightly.
“It would seem that way”
~~~***~~~
The weeks leading up to the Mid Autumn Festival were busy in the palace. The servants prepared rooms for influential guests, running around with heated water and lamps in order to dispel the cold air that was seeping through the palace walls. The chefs spent all day and night preparing the traditional foods; they spent hours on end stretching rice cakes and filling them with chestnuts and honey in order to make songpeyon. And the scholars were diligently writing all the ceremonial hangings and speeches. They used their best calligraphy in order to create the base of what the festival was to be about: the hangings that would be placed in the ancestral shrines, the words to be said about fine and bountiful harvests, the poems and pamphlets that would be distributed to all the wealthiest homes in Korea-speaking about the importance of ancestral rights and filial duties. It was enough to keep every member of the palace busy.
However, even as the sixth ranked scholar, Jaejoong found himself with less duties than his peers. While they spend hours in the reading room, writing out pages upon pages of script, Jaejoong found himself wandering around the grounds of the palace or sitting in incense heavy rooms with the Queen. Since it was announced that Jaejoong would be the Queen's personal escort during the festival, it was expected of him to perform his tutoring duties with great regard.
“This character is Jae” Jaejoong said, carefully gliding his brush over a piece of parchment to create the letter.
“Like the first character of your name” the Queen said with a smile.
“Like the first character of my name” Jaejoong nodded. “Would you like to practice writing, Queen?”
Hanuel shook her head, bringing the thick blanket that the servants had provided closer to her body. The room they were currently in was stuffy, filled with smoke from incense, however the women still felt chilled in her bones.
“I do not feel in good health today” Haneul sighed. “I apologize for not being able to do much for our lessons.”
“The Queen should never feel the need to apologize” Jaejoong said quickly. He put on his most innocent expression, widening his eyes ever so slightly, before looking over to the lady. “Has an illness come over you, my highness? Shall I call in the palace healer?”
Haneul shook her head. “It is a common feeling for a woman in my position”
“In your position, Queen?”
Haneul looked at the young boy in front of her. He had been by her side constantly for the past few days and she already felt a sort of motherly compassion for the boy who had been thrust into the mysterious labyrinth of the palace much too soon. The Han Jaejoon she saw was a shy boy: much too formal, much too controlled and careful for a child as young as he was. There was a quiet venerability in those large eyes that looked at her and for some reason, it made her feel at ease.
“It has not been announced to the palace yet....”
Jaejoong scooted closer to the woman and tilted his head to the side, pulling a look that always worked on the women in the brothels. “You can trust me, your highness”
And for whatever reason there was, Haneul felt as though she could.
“I am with child” she whispered, careful that the servants that were lingering outside of the room could not overhear her.
Jaejoong widened his eyes, pretending this was the first time he had heard this news.
“Many blessings on you and the King” he said, raising a hand to rest upon the woman's midsection. It was a move that could be considered extremely inappropriate, but the Queen felt nothing but warmness from the young boy. “I hope for a great heir to the palace”
“As do I” Haneul said. “A son will bring peace to Yoochun and I”
“There must be much that you cannot do now that you are with child” Jaejoong said casually.
“So many restrictions” the Queen nodded. “I am not allowed to stand or walk for long periods of time and there are many herbs that I must avoid”
Jaejoong's hands skimmed the bottom of his robes as he took in Hanuel's words. He had been creating a plan that would take place during the Mid Autumn Festival and he needed to gather as much information on the woman's health as he could.
“That must be difficult” he said after a few silent seconds, as to not cause any suspicion in the Queen. “The palace is already so restricted. To restrict you even further...”
“It is not as though a son-less Queen is allowed many frivolities in even the most normal of times” Haneul said with a wry smile. “I pray for a son to come and let me live a peaceful life”
Something flashed in Jaejoong's eyes. But he recovered in a second and turned to the Queen with his own smile.
“Let us pray for your health, my Queen. And that you shall meet your child very soon”
A/N: Yes, this story is back! I promised myself that I would finish all my chaptered stories before Jaejoong comes back from the army, so that is what I will do! I apologize for the utter lack of JaeChun in this chapter, but rest assured there will be a lot of them in the next few chapters to come. For this chapter, I needed to show Jaejoong's transformation. He has gotten more comoftable in the palace and can finally let out his true self--or at least the self that his mother trained him to be. Let's see what exactly he has in store for the Mid Autumn Festival~