Sura bowed before Namjoon, letting her forehead touch the floor for a few seconds before coming back up.

"Your Majesty graces me with his presence," she began, batting her eyelashes. Namjoon looked down at the girl, smiling her way as she spoke.

"After dinner tonight, it would honor me so to invite Your Highness to the gardens. According to the calendar, the moon will be full tonight. It will be a beautiful sight to see."

The other women either set their mouths into thin lines of jealousy or looked away from Sura, growling. Plans of vengeance were already formulating in their minds, and Sura could tell without them ever having to speak a word.

"I would definitely like to go," the king said, giggling a bit. "You never struck me as a nature-lover, Sura."

Because I'm not. "Why of course, Your Majesty. Nature holds a certain calmness to it that draws me."

"I agree," Namjoon said, nodding his head. Sura jumped for joy on the inside, happy that her little white lie got her closer to Namjoon. After all, the other women have said worse.

After a few dishes were served, music began to play, and the harem women performed dances for entertainment. The king smiled at each one, knowing that they were all in tribute to him, and thanked each girl as they finished. The night was going well for all--

--except a certain young man dressed in sea green robes.

Seokjin balled up his fist and sighed in jealousy. He would die for Namjoon's attention, yet these women who deserved none of it had it all. Every smile Namjoon gave to a woman multiplied his envy tenfold, and although he dreaded stuttering and making a fool of himself in front of Namjoon, he dreaded having the young royal taken away from him.

He knew what he had to do.

After the last dance, he brazenly walked over to Namjoon and bowed, greeting him.

"Your Majesty blesses me with his presence," Seokjin began, kneeling before Namjoon. Not expecting anything else other than a greeting back, he took this opportunity to try to steady his rapidly beating heart.

The air was knocked out of him a second later.

He felt a hand graze his shoulder, then softly run to the upper center of his back. Immediately looking up, his dark, hazel eyes fixated on Namjoon's shimmering chocolate ones, stopping time and pausing Earth's orbit. Seokjin almost melted right then and there with that simple, friendly touch, and his cheeks immediately changed from ruddy peach to the darkest shade of crimson.

"Lord Seokjin. What may I do for you?"

Gosh, a lot of things.

"Y-Your Majesty...Lord Taehyung and I s-seek audience with you tonight."

"Lord Taehyung? Is there something wrong?" Namjoon said, tilting his head a few degrees to the left. Seokjin had gathered all the courage and calmness he had just to come up to Namjoon, and he was already dwindling.

"Y-Yes. Well, no. You see...a bit of both. It's a bit urgent, please grant us our request."

"Ah..."

Little did Seokjin know that Sura was fuming. She had made the perfect date with the king in order to get closer to him, and this troll just had to come walking by and ruin everything. She knew she had no power over the nobles and their connections to Namjoon, but this would've been the first night she'd spend with the king alone. Did someone just have to crush her dreams like this?

"It's quite alright, Your Grace. I understand how hard it must be for you to lead such a great country," she said, bowing before him. At least I'll get to look good.

"You don't know how much this means to me, Sura. I will make amends for this as soon as possible," Namjoon said, taking Sura by the hand. A blush crept over her face, and a smile formed on her lips.

"You have my word for it. Please accept this as a sincere apology," Namjoon said, grazing the back of her hand with his.

"How kind of you, Your Majesty. I accept with a thankful heart."

However, in her eyes -- in her glimmering, pale eyes -- you could see the evil pooling, just waiting to spill.

Bowing to both Namjoon and Sura, Seokjin picked himself up, smoothing out his robe. "Thank you for granting my request," he murmured, almost running from the throne to the entrance of the banquet hall. He then broke into a dead sprint, not stopping until he reached his room. Going inside and closing the door, he placed both his hands over his chest, trying to catch his breath. His heart still pounded with excitement, and his skin still tingled with the memory of Namjoon's hand touching his back.

Taking deep breaths, he wrapped a large blanket over himself and held it closed with both hands. Preparing himself mentally for another half hour or so with Namjoon, Seokjin walked back out into the cold night, unable to wait until he could spill all his feelings to Taehyung about what happened that night.

He'd have to thank him for it, too.