Chapter 3

As if he designed it, Noh's prediction came through. Yuri discovered the truth about them.

It happened the night of the crown prince's birthday party. Noh had tried not to let his father or the king know the state of his marriage but that was already a lost cause as his father had come to inquire as to why he doesn't visit his wife's chamber every night.

According to him, it was already the talk of the palace.

"You need an heir. The men in our family aren't exactly blessed with many children, you being an only child. You should strike while Yuri is still fertile. "

Noh had laughed it off and pretended he had some business to attend to but he knew he wouldn't be able to put this off forever. Not with his father's spies everywhere.

For reassurance, he had sneaked Phun into a secret pathway for some quick make-out session that escalated a little too far. That was when Yuri must have seen them. They had both been too lost in each other to notice her.

Not long after the party, Noh's door was smashed open by his wife. The sound of the wood smashing against the wall was enough to wake up the whole palace and everyone was yet to sleep. Yuri's hair was a mess but her eyes glinted with a purpose.

He gestured for the attendants who came with her to leave just before Yuri blurted, "Do you like Phun, Noh?"

He was still barely dressed and it felt like he had been dunked in icy water. Noh demanded, "What are you doing in my quarters uninvited, Yuri?"

"You love Phun. Are you sleeping with him? Did Phun corrupt you into sleeping with him?" Yuri wasn't to be deterred. She continued to pursue an answer.

"Lower your voice, Yuri." He would have gripped her and forcefully keep her from speaking but Yuri looked half-mad, he didn't know what she would do if he tried to touch her.

"Is he here?" she looked around, manic with a purpose. "Does he come in here to sleep with you too?"

"Yuri!" Everyone could hear her as she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Noh, you can't do things like that with another man. I am here for you and you are running off to a man? Please stop it, look at me. I can be attractive, more attractive than him. Am I lacking in some way that has made you run to a man, Noh?"

He forgot himself and grabbed her, placing a hand over her mouth ignoring her struggle as she tried to get him to let go. She fought with him and they both ended up on his bed. He held her down and glared at her. "What are you saying to me, Yuri? Are you mad?!"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about. I caught you. I saw you with my own two eyes kissing him. Kissing Phun. You let him do anything to you don't you, Noh. You take the woman's position with him. What's wrong with you huh? Have you been possessed? Why would you do that?

"y-you are wrong," he said, his heart pounding with anxiety. He thought Yuri had lost her mind but did she really see him, see them? That would be horrifying. "Yuri, you have lost your mind."

"How can you lie with another man, Noh? When I love you this much. When I want you so much? Why him and not me?" she started to cry which pulled on Noh's heartstrings. He felt sorry for her, more than he could say but he couldn't let her drag him down the mud.

"You don't know what you saw," he said and rose from her.

She remained lying on the bed, sobbing. He stood in shock. Somehow their secret was out. For now only Yuri knew and she didn't have any evidence. It was his word against hers. Maybe he could still turn things around. Things were not lost.

Unfortunately, that didn't prove to be true. Not long after that night, since half the staff in their quarters was awake at the time, the news of his alleged extramarital affair became the talk of the palace, then the talk of the capital.

The rumor and gossip about him ran rampant and to the extreme. If it had been an ordinary couple it wouldn't have lasted more than a day but because he and Phun were famous, the rumor dragged on for a week, changing but not decreasing in extremities. He was regarded as the king's son from another man, and Phun was frequently called the strongest swordsman. To think that the king's favored person had a son who liked men.

Noh wasn't surprised when his father showed up a few days later to talk about it.

"Is it true?" he asked straight out. They were in the open-air room where he would usually entertain a large number of guests.

Of course, Noh wasn't going to say it was true. "All lies father, don't believe any of it." he took a sip of his tea calmly and met his father's eyes. He was always told, mostly by Phun, that he couldn't look at people and lie but Noh didn't show any nervousness as he stared at his father who stared right back.

Moments of debating silence passed between them, then his father heavily exhaled, visibly relieved. It was as if there was a part of him that suspected but hesitated to believe it. Noh wouldn't want to lie to him if he could help it if he wasn't so sure how his father would react if he knew.

"Then we must do something to quell the rumors, "his father said. "You must visit your wife's quarters every day from now on."

"Every day?!"

His father ignored him as if he was so much air. "It would be the same as admitting it was true if we made Phun change office, the two of you are too close for comfort. "

They have always been that way, Noh wanted to say.

" Phun is still single, isn't he? he should get married, that would take away the public's attention from the two of you."

"No!" Noh was surprised by his loud voice but he didn't change his stance or stop glaring at his father.

"What's the matter with you," his father asked, unusually startled.

"I just—Phun wouldn't like it. He wants to marry for love."

"At his age, he doesn't have someone he loves?"

"Not...exactly..." he couldn't very well point at himself and say he was the one Phun loves so he trailed off foolishly. "I don't know but it's not your place father. Let his family decide. "

"I don't want anything dragging our family's name through the mud. Remember that our family now includes the king. He is your father-in-law."

"I know father." But he couldn't stand the thought of Phun getting married, even if it would be an effective solution to their current problem.

He said as much to Phun when they met the day after at their house in the forest. Phun had listened and then stood in contemplative thought "To be honest, it is a good idea," he said, baffling Noh whose jaw nearly broke the ground.

"Are you serious?"

"no, obviously not." He said and chuckled. It was nice to see the jerk could still make jokes. Noh threatened to smack him." My family has brought it up but I turned it down."

Noh nodded, relieved. Of course, Phun's parents were going to be hounding him anyway but Noh trusted Phun to keep them from forcing him into anything.

"Huh?" He was suddenly crowded into the bed by Phun. "Then what about you."

"What about me?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"Will you be visiting your wife's chamber every day?"

Noh's eyes flickered away and he frowned with a small pout. "You say it like it is my choice."

Phun scowled and let out a low growl.

"I mean... it would quell the rumors." Noh teased, a sly smile twitching on his lips.

Another growl.

"Fine! I won't. I have an idea."

"What idea."

"you don't have to know." he pushed Phun off and ran away so he wouldn't try to force it out of him. Phun chased him around until they forgot why they were running and ended up sleeping together.

The next day Noh put his plan into action by first visiting Yuri's room in the evening when he knew she was about to have dinner. He had heard she hadn't been eating due to her torment and pretended to have come to make peace with her.

They talked about how she acted and how things got out of hand. Yuri even apologized making Noh feel very guilty about what he was about to do.

"eat some food, Yuri. You don't look well. It would pain me if you fall sick because of all this misunderstanding."

Poor Yuri was starting to think she must have been wrong. Someone must have been talking to her because she looked dazed and all the former pink brightness that he used to know her was gone and Noh felt another pull of guilt again.

He tried spoon-feeding her but she pushed the spoon away. "you eat it, Noh. I am not hungry."

Noh was all too happy to do that as he had been waiting for the invitation. He had prepared a mild poison which he brought with him and put it in the food with no one noticing.

"In that case, I will help you eat one half of this but only if you promise to eat the other half," he said with a friendly smile. It felt plastered to his face and it hurt. He hesitated briefly to put the poisoned food in his mouth but then he did.

It alarmed him that he had to almost finish the food for the poison to finally kicked in. Just how much of it did he swallow?! He wouldn't die from overdosing on it would he?

He began to choke. When they saw him acting like this, the attendant and Yuri flew into motion. Everyone was talking all at once wondering what has happened.

"Poison!" one of the female servants shouted.

"Shut up, "he heard Yuri saying. "Don't let someone hear about that. "She sounded panicked. "Move him, what are you standing for he is going to die like this. Take him to the physician!"

Thankfully the physician wasn't an idiot and quickly identified the poison. When the antidote was administered, Noh was so grateful he was almost in tears. That could have ended really badly, he thought. But with this, he would no longer need to visit Yuri every night. He could keep his distance without raising suspicion. Like this, he has succeeded in painting Yuri as a jealous wife who tried to kill her husband after concluding on her own that he had an affair with a man. No one would find it strange if they both never speak to each other again.

After he came, Noh told his father what happened. "She believes the rumor, Father. She hates me that's why she was trying to kill me. How can you ask me to sleep with her now?"

"Noh, Yuri has denied poisoning your food. It was someone else who did it. Don't take it personally."

"Father, I am certain she did it."

"Don't say that to the king or anywhere he can hear Noh. He believes her one hundred percent and you will be considered his enemy if you persist. "His father relented with a sigh. "Fine, you shall take a concubine then. I have a few in line already. While I would prefer that your child come from the king's bloodline, to quell the rumor about your sexuality, you must bed a concubine. We can deal with the other issues later."

Noh's face paled. "I don't want to." The words came out on reflex. The thought of sleeping with yet another woman picked by his father disgusted him too much.

His father fell silent, leveling Noh with a severe look. "What do you mean you don't want to?"

"I mean I don't want to do this anymore, father." He got to his feet making to walk away from the conversation but his father got up after him.

"What are you talking about, Noh? You have to do this so that you can restore your image and the reputation of our family along with it." he followed Noh with his words, trying Noh's patience. "are you not ashamed of what they are saying about you everywhere? I would think you would hate to have that rumor hang over your head for even a second longer."

"No, what I hate," he said and paused to pull in a leveled breath. "Is living here. I married Yuri because you told me to but why did I have to live in the palace too? I want to go home, and I don't want to sleep with any woman, my wife, or any concubine."

His father's head snapped to the door and he said, "All of you leave us at once."

The attendants that were at the door complied with a unanimous agreement and slowly went away. When his father was sure they were gone, he got really close to him and gripped his face. "What is this nonsense you are saying, son? Why won't you sleep with a woman? Don't tell me the rumors—"

Noh swallowed, meeting his father's eyes hesitantly. He didn't plan to come out to his father but what other choice did he have? Even if he found a way to avoid sleeping with a concubine, his father would look for other ways to quell the rumors. Other ways that Noh certainly didn't want to do.

"Yuri is right, father. Phun and I—"

His father cut off his words by slapping his face hard and pushing him away. Noh fell to the ground and stared in surprise at his father.

"Don't talk rubbish! Are you mad?" he said. "You are my son. You cannot be that way."

"Except I am—"Noh felt the rejection deeply and became defiant, his glare hot.

"What went wrong? Who put this thought in your head? Was it Phun? Did he corrupt you?"

"Father! Leave Phun out of this!"

"How can I when you already dragged him into this? I won't accept it, Noh. You are wrong or sick. Whatever it is I will fix it."

"Father wait!"

Not listening, his father rushed out of the room. Noh sighed and stood to his feet. He has really done it now. Phun would likely bite his head off for this. He figured his father was running to find Phun. He would probably throw his authority around and try to blackmail Phun into leaving Noh.

That can't happen. Noh was going to have to get to Phun first. It was a good thing he knew exactly where to find him. Noh left the palace in a hurry on his horse hoping Phun was taking his time to get back from the errand he had sent him.

In the busy street, he found the shop Phun would be. Luckily his father hadn't sent spies after Phun. The man was just walking out of the shop when he saw a panting Noh running towards him. Startled, he closed the distance between them.

"What's wrong?"

Without saying a word, Noh grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward their horses.

"Noh, what happened?"

"We can't talk here."

Just as they reached their horses, Noh spotted his father's soldiers coming. He flipped onto his horse and yelled for Phun. "Hurry! They are coming."

Phun didn't need to be told twice. He rushed onto his horse and yelled to his men. "Take the products to the palace," then he and Noh galloped off.