3RD PERSONS VIEW。

jaeyoung felt her eye twitch upon the sight that laid in front of her. the younger ones, mainly chenle and jisung, were running around, laughing as kun tried to chase them, yes tried. on the other hand, the others were simply mixing the dry ingredients when lucas poured too much flour, screaming sorry as mark laughed at him.

yuta joined in with youngho and ten as they made some coffee, only for the beans to fall on the floor and taeil ended up crushing them. sicheng pouted as he pleaded for donghyuck to give him a more drinkable cup of juice.

renjun sighed and shook his head as he tried to find the recipe for the pastry they were gonna bake. taeyong was beside jaehyun as they looked around for the required ingredients, taeyong ended up leaving jaehyun to attend jisung and chenle instead as the two boys were scolded by kun.

jaemin looked absolutely done as jeno kept pouring milk into the bowl of mixed fruits. jungwoo laughed and watched the chaos unfold right in front of him, nudging doyoung who kept sighing the whole time.

"i apologize for their childish acts, daisy." doyoung muttered as he gaze upon his messy brothers.

jaeyoung chuckled, waving her hand, "no, it's fine..." she trailed off, glancing at the other boys, "seems like not all of you go well with cooking."

"tell me about it, donghyuck nearly burned the kitchen when he tried to cook without supervision." kun sighed and massaged his temples, panting after a wild chase with chenle and jisung.

"did we lose him?" jisung questioned chenle as they hid behind taeyong's back.

taeyong laughed heartily, turning around to mess their hair, "you two are such troublemakers!"

"my lady... does this seem right?" lucas questioned, pointing towards the bowl.

her face went pale upon seeing the bowl. yes, it was thoroughly mixed, but she could obviously see something wrong.

squinting her eyes she came close to the bowl, her eyes scanning it slowly. then it hit her. she eyed the now empty egg cartons, laughing as she looked up to lucas and mark, "where are the egg shells? did you throw them away?"

their eyes widened in shock, "you were supposed to dispose them!?"

kun let out a deep sigh, looking at jaeyoung with a look of embarrassment, "okay, maybe baking with all of us was a bad idea."

• • •

jaemin walked towards the girl who crouched down to take a better look at the flowers. she yawned and tilted her head back, "gosh, cooking with all of you was a mess."

jaemin chuckled and helped her up, "wasn't it? i can't believe they even poured a lot of milk..." he pouted as they went towards the gazebo.

jaeyoung laughed, "what do you want to do jaemin?"

"hmm... honestly, anything is fine, as long as i'm with you i'll be okay with anything." he answered, taking a seat beside her as their eyes casted far onto the castle fields. "how about... we go to visit my mother?" he suggested.

jaeyoung looked at him, a ghost smile on her face, "i'd love that."

jaemin lead her to lady haewon's grave which was guarded by a few standby nights. they walked into the garden like place, the girl gawking at the beautiful flowers. "oh? there are new flowers," jaemin pointed out, seeing a vase of lilies.

"i guess my brothers visited her a day ago." he chuckled and took a seat, the girl also crouching down beside him.

"if mother was still alive, i bet she'd love you." he stated, caressing her face.

jaeyoung giggled, her hands reaching to feel the engraved name. "i'd love to meet her." she smiled and looked back at the boy, "my bet was she was as sweet as you and your brothers."

jaemin's cheeks tinted red and he pursed his lips together, "she would love you indeed."

"oh? you two are here?" they looked behind them and saw jungwoo and doyoung.

doyoung tilts his head, "i see you've met mother." he walked close and kneeled next to her. he patted her head, "daisy,"

"yes, bunny?"

jaemin squints his eyes, "you allow her to call you bunny?" he laughed, "that's cute. who knew doyoung-ie had a soft spot."

doyoung snarled, "shut up, jaemin."

jungwoo pulled her up, "we have a surprise for you, that's why we came here."

the girl went baffled, "wait, what? i thought..."

"the kitchen was a mess, we're sorry for that. but we promise you! to make it up for you." jungwoo uttered. that's when jisung came running into the memorial, a big smile on his face as he excitingly faced her. "it's ready!"

"wait, what is?" she gave them a questioning look while jaemin just winked at her, "a secret."

doyoung placed his hands over her eyes, blocking her vision. "what's this for?" she asked, reaching to touch his hands. doyoung bent down, "we can't let you see until we get there, sorry daisy." he said as he slowly guided her out the memorial.

as they walked somewhere, jaeyoung could hear loud whispers, if they were even considered as whispers. familiarizing with the voice, she easily assumed that it was lucas after hearing a ton of, "be careful with my lady."

"yah! my lady would trip if you didn't move that rock!"

and lots more complaints from the tall boy. doyoung stopped, making her stop as well, slowly the male removed his hands away from her eyes and she looked around, gasping at the cake in front of her.

shaking her head, a laugh coming out of her lips as her hands were placed on the sides of her waist, "okay, be honest, who made this?"

all eyes landed on kun who raised his hand proudly, "it's actually the seventh cake..." he revealed making them all groan. he eyed each of his brothers, "the other six was... a mess."

"it was jungwoo's fault!"

jungwoo's eyes widened, "me?! it was you!" he fired back at yuta who rolled his eyes.

"you were bullying me!"

"i did not." jungwoo frowned, trying to come off as innocent despite all of yuta's complaints were true.

yuta hugged jaeyoung's arm, pulling her away from jungwoo, "don't go near that boy– he may look innocent but he's evil." he whispered loudly making jungwoo laugh.

jaehyun, who was watching from afar, heard yelling coming from the palace. he snapped his head towards the palace, seeing a lot of knights running across the halls.

taeyong shot him a troubled look before looking outside the pavilion, gasping as more knights came to their area.

minseok rushed into the pavilion, panting heavily as he pointed at jaeyoung, "protect the princess!"

without any other word, everyone started taking out their swords. "youngho! bring her somewhere safe! now!" taeyong ordered making youngho act fast. the said prince grabbed onto her wrist tightly, "i'm so sorry, jaeyoung." he whispered before pulling her with him.

the two ran, with knights guiding them to somewhere safe. jaeyoung looked back and saw the others being escorted, she felt somewhat relieved until she saw a splash of blood.

gunshots ran in her ear making her legs go weak. a pounding sensation growing in her head as nothing but sounds of war surrounded her. she heard swords clanging, knights shoutings, bullets being triggered, and arrows being fired.

youngho slowed down, noticing how she slowly faded out. he bit his bottom lip before turning to hold her by her shoulders. "are you okay?"

"y-your brothers... a-are they fine?" her voice was trembling, heart beating uncontrollably fast, as she looked up at youngho with glassy orbs. "youngho! tell me! are they going to be okay!?"

youngho engulfed her into a hug, "i-i... i  don't know! but we need to get you somewhere safe–"

"no! i can't– we can't leave them behind!"

youngho sighed and gripped tightly onto her shoulders, "they will be fine, jaeyoung."

"we will all be fine." he said before picking her up, "i promise you."

jaeyoung felt her sight go blurry, feeling lightheaded slowly, she let the dark engulf her. the last thing she heard was, "prince renjun got shot!"

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