tw: blood

"Please take anything that interests you or the lady free of charge, your highness." The elderly lady told us, smiling kindly. She gestured towards the jewelry precisely laid out on her cart, glinting in the torchlight.

Jungwon smiled, eyes scanning the jewelry. "Thank you for your hospitality, but there is no need to be that kind."

He turned to me when I happened to be stupidly staring at a pair of earrings that caught my attention. They were sapphire earrings, not too large but would still be quite visible if someone wore it. I had been trying to figure out what the words engraved on it said, as it wasn't written in a language that I recognized. Still, it was undeniably beautiful. Jungwon gently touched it, getting a better view of it.

"Estonizia." He read. "It means a hidden fire."

Jungwon looked back up at the vendor, handing the pair to her. "I'd like to purchase this, please."

I gaped at him, not expecting him to purchase it so suddenly. The elderly lady smiled, carefully packaging it up in a creme colored tissue paper and placing it in a small box. "This would look stunning on the beautiful lady." She gushed.

I blushed, quickly thanking her. Jungwon took the bag from the vendor's outstretched hands and we continued on our way down the street.

So far, we had stopped at every vendor's cart. Jungwon had made sure not to miss even one cart. He had purchased something from each of them, too, no matter the price. Everyone had fawned over him, throwing us compliments along the way.

"What an amazing pair you guys are!"

"Beauty lies in both partners!"

"I'm not quite sure who I'd rather be, the lady or his majesty."

Now, we had gone through all of the carts selling items down the street. The guards had their hands full of items we had purchased. We were now starting to enter the food part of the street, evident by the smell of pastries and goods wafting in the air.

Jungwon led us towards a vendor with tables layed out next to the cart, so I assumed it was a type of eating area. Seeing us approaching them, the vendor couple immediately straightened up in attention.

"Your highness!" The man chirped, lighting up at the sight of us. "Did you come for the usual today?"

Jungwon nodded in excitement. He turned around, eyes flying to each of the guards and counting them.

"Actually, I'll need twelve servings of them today, Seungsik. I brought eleven extra people with me." Jungwon laughed, winking at the guards. The vendors laughed too, already starting to prepare the food.

Jungwon turned to the guards. "Everyone, please take a seat. This will be our last stop so I'd like to treat everyone before we head back to the castle."

The guards smiled at him hearing those words, everyone of them of different age groups. They quickly bowed to him and thanked him before sitting down at two of the tables, leaving one for Jungwon and I.

As we took our seats, the woman quickly laid down two drinks in front of us. She left just as quickly as she came in experience, moving on to the next two tables. Jungwon looked around in fondness at the canopy above us.

"So, I take it you come here often?" I asked him, watching him take a sip of his drink.

He nodded. "Yeah, I come here anytime I have some free time. It's like a place where I can escape to. I usually come under disguise and without my guards, though, so that's why the other vendors looked so surprised to see me here."

Jungwon peered down into his drink, swishing it around. "Ah, this is animal blood. I don't think you'd want to drink this."

I grabbed my cup, looking down at its contents. Sure enough, the red liquid was sitting proudly inside the cup. Immediately, the metallic smell of blood hit me and I set it away quickly before I could get nauseous.

Jungwon turned around and called out to the lady who had given us our drinks. "Harin! Do you mind bringing a cup of water for Yumin? She can't consume blood."

He turned back to me. "So, I'll come meet you in your room tonight at eleven. Be ready."

Behind us, the guards quickly turned their heads upon hearing him, their minds probably imagining what we would be doing. I silently laughed, my back facing them.

Jungwon noticed too, and his cheeks quickly flushed red as he realized what it sounded like. After all, it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone for a prince to visit his mistress at the middle of the night.

I nodded in understanding, still struggling to hold in my laugh. "Got it."

"Your food is ready." Seungsik said happily as he carefully placed our food in front of us.

Jungwon's eyes immediately fixed onto the food in excitement, completely abandoning the conversation. In all honesty, I didn't blame him.

The "usual" that Jungwon and Seungsik had talked about happened to be beef stew and bread. However, it was as if it came right out of a cartoon show. It looked perfect, the potatoes and carrots glistening with green parsley sprinkled onto the top.

Taking a bite out of it, it tasted just as good as it looked.

Across from me, Jungwon was happily eating his food, dimples on full display. Once again, I was met with the other side of Jungwon. Getting to slowly know him the past two days surprised me. He was not anything like the man I had met the other night, and instead replaced with a boy eating his food in content.

Smiling, I looked back down at my food and continued eating. I was glad that I had met Jungwon, even though we still barely knew each other. It relieved me to think that someone was willing to help humans, especially someone who went through with their word.

If we were able to work together for the next few years, no one would be able to get into our way.

Something whirred past me, blowing a few strands of my hair up from the speed. I looked up in confusion, trying to find what the cause of it was. It had moved so fast that I wasn't able to even make out what it was. Jungwon seemed unbothered, apparently not noticing what had happened.

He noticed my gaze and lifted an eyebrow up while chewing, silently asking why I was wordlessly staring at him. Still, even with his relaxed expression, I couldn't shake off an unsettled feeling that was creeping into me. I knew that I couldn't have mistaken such a big force as a bug.

As if an answer to my question, it happened again. Except this time, it brought incredible pain with it too.

A sharp pain went up through my side. I gasped in surprise, startling Jungwon. However, his eyes quickly widened too as his eyes settled on my side, dropping the piece of bread he was holding.

My eyes followed his, finally seeing what had caused the pain. There was a wound there, most likely caused by a knife. Although the wound wasn't big, it was deep. So deep, that blood was oozing out of it at an alarming speed.

Then, everything around me started getting louder, so loud that I couldn't make out anything. Everything was a blur, melting in with each other as I desperately tried to cover the wound up. Before I could continue, I lost control of my body, falling into a deep spiral of darkness.

Narrator's POV

Immediately after seeing the blood, Jungwon let go of everything he was holding. He jumped up, arms out to catch Yumin just as she fell. His hands covered the wound, trying to make it stop bleeding. His eyes were ablaze as he looked around, trying to find out who had inflicted this on her.

Yumin's face was in visible pain, sweat building up on her face. Around them, the vampires stopped in their tracks. Jungwon quickly realized why.

"Dammnit." Jungwon muttered, clutching onto Yumin tightly and trying to find a way out. There was no way he'd be able to make it back to the car with Yumin alone.

The bastard who had stabbed her obviously had no intention to kill her with the wound, evident by the non life threatening stab. They had meant to cause something deep enough to draw a great amount of human blood, enough to awaken the animal instincts rooted deep inside the vampires around them.

The wound wouldn't kill her, but the vampires would if he didn't get her out of there in time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jungwon saw him. He was wearing a black hood, covering all of his facial features. He wouldn't have stood out to Jungwon if not for the lack of interest in Yumin's blood and the bloody dagger he was hiding in his jacket.

Jungwon snarled, stuck in a decision of whether to take Yumin to safety or rip out the guy's heart.

Someone stepped up to them, causing Jungwon to hold Yumin even tighter and glare at whoever had dared to get closer. Seeing who it was, he tensed up.

Geonu stood there, eyes fixed on Yumin worriedly. "Your highness," he said, his voice familiar to the prince. "I'll get her out of here. You go after that son of a bitch."

At that moment, Jungwon wanted anybody but Geonu to be immune to the scent of Yumin's blood. Of all people, why him?

However, Jungwon knew that Geonu's physical abilities lied far better than his own. Geonu would be able to fend off the swarm of vampires starting to approach them and get Yumin to safety. With reluctance, Jungwon handed Yumin's limp body to Geonu's sure hands. Jungwon stood up, glaring Geonu straight in the eyes.

"If I come back and find out anything has happened to her," he brought up his index finger to Geonu's chest, pushing him in an intimidating manner. "I'll skin you alive and leave you to burn in the sun."

Geonu smirked, not affected at all by the prince's threat. "Understood, your highness."

With those last words, the two boys ran off in opposite directions; Jungwon off in his fury towards the hooded man and Geonu to the car that would save Yumin's life.