Any kind of report/letter to the king was written on paper that would be folded like a leporello with the ends glued to wooden panels for stability. Like this but prettier:

Yoongi focus

"HE KILLED A CHILD!" Namjoon shouted at Yoongi and threw the report he had just read through the room. "I only refrained from sending someone after him because you assured me that he knew what he was doing! He killed a child, Yoongi!"

Yoongi did not know what he should say. He had thought that Jungkook had learned about morals from Taehyung or at least had principles, but hatred could make one lose touch to reality, so maybe he had overthrown it all to take an eye for an eye.

"This is the man I trusted with my brother's life, even my son's life, and now he goes and kills two women and a child?!" Namjoon kept roaring in anger. "And a minister because the royal family was not enough?!"

Now, that was something Yoongi had an opinion on. "I doubt that that minister-"

"It does not matter! This is not how Silla does things! We do not kill scrupulous!" his friend raged.

"Your majesty," Yoongi tried to get a word in the discussion.

"And we do not throw other families' ancestor plates onto the street! The atrocity!" the other kept on with his fit or anger.

"Namjoon," Yoongi said a little sterner.

"Do not dare to defend him!" the young king said and pointed at him accusingly.

"I only want to mention this: Baekje court agreed to king Hwon's war. They were willing to march against Silla for a petty reason and if even a third of them had argued against, we would not have been challenged," he noted. As long as Jungkook did not kill his minister Seo, he would not care which Baekje minister had to pay for their bad deeds.

Namjoon was still furious, but even he had to admit that the court of the Western Kingdom was not innocent in Silla's bloody fate.

"Still, it does not justify what this man did," his friend closed and let himself fall into his chair.

"It is what it is. I suggest to wait and see," Yoongi said.

He had not expected this either, but now they had to accept this end. They had allowed Jungkook to go, had given him a sword he could use in his fight against Baekje, so now all they could do was watch. Still, even if he could imagine Jungkook throwing his morals overboard, he would have never expected that the Baekje officers would agree to child murder. But who knew what Jungkook had told them.

"His self-justice is sickening," Namjoon growled and blankly stared at his table.

"But now he is Baekje's problem and not ours," Yoongi appeased him. "The killing will stop."

"And you think he can reign a kingdom?" the other said and snorted.

"No. But others can," Yoongi replied true to his thoughts. "Hwon was an awful ruler, too, but the court made it so that the kingdom was fine."

"Did you not read this?" Namjoon gestured at the report on the floor. "He threw out the ministers. And the servants as well. There is only him and the army in that palace now."

Yoongi shrugged. "At least he threw the people out and did not kill them. My point remains. We shall see what happens."

His jaw working, the king nodded his head. "How long should we wait?"

Yoongi sighed. "Until something happens."

Namjoon breathed out slowly. "I hope that something is not an army waiting at our border."

Jungkook causing his chosen family more sorrow? Yoongi highly doubted that. It was so laughable that he wondered how the king had gotten this idea.

"Namjoon," he sighed. "I know that seeing the worst possible outcome has become your way of thinking to ease the shock and pain in case it happens, but you need to come back to your senses."

He was sick of being his friend's emotional moderator. He wanted the old Namjoon back. The one who detested shouting and preferred thinking over feeling in court affairs. The one who tricked the Rouran and Baekje army with his wit. The one who looked upon his people with a smile of happiness and not with a frown of concern. One cannot reign a kingdom with fear and sorrow guiding one's brush.

Yoongi knew what it meant to lose your family to a gruesome death, he knew better than anyone. But when he had been floating out there in the wet desert, exposed to the scorching sun and the maddening thirst, vomiting from the saltwater he had drunk in his delirium, he had accepted death into his life. He had invited the idea of rebirth into a life of less sorrow, where he could meet his brother and his comrades again, and it had kept him sane, had given him hope for the ones he lost. Losing a loved one was painful beyond words, but Namjoon needed to learn letting them go into a better life.

"Maybe you should visit Chookseo Temple," he suggested to the younger. Chookseo Temple in the very north of Silla was the place every crown prince had to visit once in his youth to live as a monk and learn the teachings of Buddha. Yoongi had heard from the third prince that it had made Namjoon into who he was today, that his brother had been enlightened there, and thus Yoongi had never touched the place for his own purposes. However, if Namjoon was to go again, he might be able to let go of the heaviness in his heart.

The king just looked at him for a moment, then he said defeated, "I cannot let go of my hate, yet. It is the only thing that keeps me alive."

Yoongi shook his head. "It can only comfort you this far," he said quietly. "It's a draught that eases pain by poisoning the body. It'll kill you."

At those words, his friend slumped forward to cradle his head in his hands. "I know that I changed," he whispered through his fingers. "But there is just so much anger in my heart. Every hour of the day I feel that if I keep it in, it will suffocate me."

Yoongi could no longer watch this. He went over to grab Namjoon's wrists and pull his hands off his careworn face. "It's over, Namjoon. Baekje is reigned by someone who swore loyalty to you and loves your brother. It's over. No more death."

Finally, the realization seemed to enter his friend's mind as well.

"It is over," he echoed weakly. "It is over."

"Whatever happens next can only be to our benefit," Yoongi persuaded his friend further.

Namjoon nodded and took a deep breath. He sat up straight and looked at Yoongi with feeble but steady determination. "I trust that you will know what that something is that will happen. And once this is over, I will take Yusin to rest at Chookseo for a month."

Yoongi sighed relieved and let go of the other's wrists. "I'm pleased to hear that. Now my last question is: should we inform master Heo about the current situation?"

Namjoon shook his head. "He will offer to help by either killing Jungkook, which I doubt he can, or by leading the court as the minster of war he was once before, which we cannot afford because we do not know if he would act in our interest."

Hearing those words of clear analysis, Yoongi, for the first time in weeks, felt at ease. This was the crown prince Namjoon he knew.

"Yes, your highness," he said elated and turned to leave for his work.

>><<