This is an alternate climax for those who know that life is made of unhappy endings. In this timeline, the book would end here; though the other ships may end in ambiguity, Jikook, Sope and Taebi (Taehyung x Seonbi) are still canon in this ending. Please note that both endings can be regarded and interpreted as canon as the reader sees fit -- just because an ending is "bad" doesn't make it unofficial. Because the events of the sequels of Your Majesty are contingent on the original timeline, their events would also be changed depending on this timeline.

Seokjin pined and staggered over to the bank of the lake, where he had been sitting before the nightmare began. Leaning over the lake, he reached down and felt for a slim, thin object. Dimly glimmering in the moonlight, he held up a wooden arrow, its iron head glowing. He began to pant -- in excitement or fear, he did not know.

No one will look for my body. No one will care to save me.

He closed his eyes and fumbled with the weapon until the tip pointed towards his body.

Rinji...I'm coming...

Taking in his final breath, Seokjin thrusted the weapon towards him with one hand, caressing the muddy area next to him with the other.

Blood splattered on the noble's lap.

Time stopped around him.

Seokjin opened his eyes and looked down as a hand other than his own gripped mercilessly on the blade, blood seeping from the cut. Unharmed, Seokjin looked behind him to see a worried Namjoon kneeling behind him, holding him close with his free hand.

"Seokjin," Namjoon whispered, letting the night air hold his words for him.

"N-Namjoon," the noble breathed, mingling his name with the royal's.

"I've been a complete and utter fool. You are nothing but an angel, and I deserve every ounce of hatred you have. I don't even deserve to be sitting here with you...yet here I am, holding you, like I did when I first summoned you to my rooms."

"...Namjoon..."

"I know I've done you a horrible wrong. And I don't deserve even the tiniest drop of mercy...but..." Namjoon said, pulling the blade away from Seokjin and placing it on the ground next to him.

"...if I could ask you...to just try...to begin forgiving me."

Namjoon pulled Seokjin into an embrace, holding his body close like he had never held someone before.

Seokjin's eyes fluttered shut as a hollow, bitter chuckle left his lips.

"...tell me what to say to you, Your Majesty."

Namjoon felt his shoulders tense, removing his arms from the other's body.

"What?"

Seokjin tossed the broken arrowhead into the river, standing up and turning towards Namjoon.

"Tell me what to say to you, because I really don't know what to say."

Namjoon stood up with him, the color leaking from his face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. Should I say, 'Yes, you have been a complete fool'? Should I say, 'No, you don't deserve my forgiveness'? What can I say to you, Kim Namjoon?"

The guilt-filled royal hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Seokjin."

"You're sorry? Well so am I!" Seokjin exclaimed, shaking his head as tears began to stream down his face. "I loved you enough to die for you, but you couldn't give me the time of day to even explain my innocence. And I'm supposed to forgive you for all of this-- this shit"--

Namjoon swallowed the lump in his throat, clenching his teeth to prevent the tears. He wouldn't let himself cry; he knew in his heart that Seokjin was right and to cry in his presence while he vented the emotion he had the right to feel would be the disrespect to end it all.

"Even now, I don't understand what I could've possibly done wrong. You're responsible for a country and the lives of a million people yet you don't know how to trust the person that has loved you for an era"--

The tears of salt and guilt were falling from both men's eyes. The sounds of the river flowing beneath them were the sounds of the world they knew cracking like glass, and the sounds of the crickets chirping were the sounds of their hearts crashing to the bottoms of their chests.

"I don't know how to forgive you after that. I don't know how to respect you after that."

Namjoon opened his mouth to speak, unaware that Seokjin hadn't finished.

"I don't know how to love you after that."

The silence was pierced by the river, the nocturnals awakening and a shriek of white noise echoing through their heads. Namjoon, now sobbing storms in front of Seokjin, stood there for a while acknowledging the appearance of the rift between him and his former love. It seemed more and more like a gaping, dark abyss that separated them the more Namjoon thought about it.

He took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"I-I understand your choice, though it p-pains me so to see you leave."

Seokjin wiped his tears with his sleeve, crossing over to the start of the forest and pausing against a tree. Namjoon looked on as he walked away from him, leaving him there to soak in the heartbreak he caused.

"Seokjin?"

The noble turned around once more, looking him in his red, teary eyes.

"I will better myself."

Seokjin opened his mouth to say something, his jaw refusing to close even after he found no words.

"I know you cannot possibly believe that after all I've done to you, but I will swear this here on Rinji's grave. I will learn from my mistakes and become a man deserving of your respect. Then one day...I will deserve your friendship."

Seokjin placed a hand over his stomach, where he was ready to plunge the arrow only minutes ago.

"I know now that...I could never deserve your love again."