ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗬-𝗦𝗜𝗫
─◌✰್ 𝖼𝗁𝗂𝗅𝖽
❝𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁?❞

"This doesn't look good..." Renee stared out at the dirt-covered oasis in before her and Seungmin. Trees and bushes littered the ground, large hills and divots in the ground that were sure to trip her, or cause her to sprain an ankle. Just because she was a maid and therefore used to getting her hands dirty, didn't mean she would do the same for free.

"It looks fun enough to me!" Seungmin declared, hands on hips like he was some kind of superhero. "I don't mind getting down and dirty."

"Says the messiest duke in the history of forever," Renee replied sourly. But she couldn't help smiling behind her hand, as she wiped away a bead of sweat from her lip. She had to admit, she admired his spirit.

"You two will be mudding today!" Soyeon announced to them as cheerfully as she could. But it was obvious even she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of following them along on this date. "The four-wheeler is right over there. Of course, you'll be sharing one. Have fun!"

Renee groaned, staring at the small vehicle, which had no doors or windows. She was sure to be absolutely covered in mud by the end of this, which certainly wasn't her idea of a good time.

"Is this why Yeonjun asked us to wear all white?" she grumbled, staring down at her plain white tank top and shorts. "I knew he had something up his sleeve."

Seungmin snorted, as he climbed onto the four-wheeler, plopping a helmet on his head. "It's all for the show Ren, don't forget." He pointed invitingly at the spot in front of him. "I guess this is where you get to sit!"

Renee stared at the empty place, hesitating. It wasn't that she didn't want to ride with Seungmin. In fact, she had dreamt of something like this for many years, as much as she tried to deny it. No matter how hard she attempted to pretend she hated Seungmin, she didn't. While he was often a pain in the ass and got on her nerves more than anyone else, she'd always liked him.

Seungmin raised his brows expectantly. "C'mon Ren, you can't always take the safe road. Sometimes, it's fun to just let go."

Renee nodded, steeling herself. "O-okay." She couldn't keep the quake from her voice, but she pushed down her discomfort, and sat in front of him.

His hands immediately settled at her waist, and her whole body heated at his touch. She'd known he would be close, but she had underestimated just how close. Now, his broad chest was pressed against her back, his face so close to hers that she could hear his breaths.

"You're gonna have to steer, are you okay with that?" He grinned against her, and she flushed again.

"I-I have no idea what I'm doing!" she exclaimed, voice an octave higher than normal. "What if we run into something?"

Seungmin shrugged, strapping her helmet on under her chin. His fingers brushed her skin, and heart skittered around in her chest, unwieldy. "I guess I'll have to trust you, huh? Just push on the gas, or the brakes, and turn the steering wheel the way you want to go. It's easy!"

Renee took a deep breath, Seungmin's earlier words replaying through her head. You can't always take the safe road. Sometimes it's fun to just let go. He was right. Even though she wasn't royalty, she always followed the rules, getting upset at anyone who strayed from them. Seungmin was known to break the rules all the time, whether it be something small like leaving trash in other peoples rooms, or something bigger, like being out past curfew or drinking illegally.

But sometimes, following the rules exactly to the book could be exhausting. Sometimes, she just wanted to let go, and have fun. But she'd always thought that because she was nothing but a maid, she wasn't allowed. She couldn't make a mistake, or she would get fired. Or people wouldn't like her anymore. She didn't have the money to buy people's approval.

Maybe she needed to start taking a page out of Seungmin's book, and not care what anyone thought of her. Maybe that could start today.

Unconsciously, she jammed the key into the ignition, and pressed her foot on the gas. All the way down.

"Holy shit, Ren!" Seungmin yelled in her ear, as the four-wheeler roared, jerking forward at a breakneck pace. Then, "That's more like it!"

Renee could hardly speak, as she pressed even harder on the pedal, the vehicle to racing forward, throwing both her and Seungmin back in the seat. Air whipped through her hair, so loud in her ears she could barely hear Seungmin, who was whooping and cheering behind her.

The farther into the woods they got, mud began splashing her face and clothes, staining them dark brown. Branches hit her face, leaving small scratches that would probably scab over tomorrow. She could hardly see as she squinted against the air, eyes dusty and dry.

Normally, she would absolutely hate something like this.

And yet, adrenaline raced through her, followed by such a strong sense of elation, she felt lightheaded. She was very much not used to doing anything like this. Even when they'd pulled up to the edge of the woods this morning, she hadn't thought she would do this. But now...

"Oh my gosh!" she screamed, words lost on the wind as she gripped the steering wheel in a death grip, guiding the four-wheeler through yet another patch of mud, coating her and Seungmin in the liquid.

"You're doing it, Ren!" Seungmin called next to her ear, hands tightening around her waist.

She grinned back at him, heart light, finally able to breath properly. In this moment, she wasn't weighted down by anything. She felt free, like she could accomplish whatever she set her mind to.

And she had Seungmin to thank for that. Good luck to him trying to pry those words out of her.

———————————

"You first!"

"No coward, you!!"

Robin and Jisung stood down the hall from Yeonjun's office, quietly bickering with one another. Somehow, Riley and Christopher had managed to get the man out of his study and into the lounge, and the couple knew they had to capitalize on the precious minutes he was distracted.

"Please Yeonjun, won't you just tell me what the next challenge is??" Robin stifled a laugh at the sound of Alaska's plaintive voice. Apparently, she had joined in on the distracting of Yeonjun.

"You know I can't tell you anything, Ms. Hwang," Yeonjun replied evenly. "That would be cheating."

"Oh c'mon, just a hint??"

Before Robin could hear anything else from the lounge, a strong hand was at her back, shoving her down the hall and into the study.

"Ow, watch where you push!" Robin hissed at him, stumbling inside and taking a look around.

The room was smaller than Robin had expected, and completely spotless. Every painted black wall was empty, no posters or pictures. One chair sat across from his desk, a basic black-stained wood with a leather back. His chair was a large black leather construction, and the desk was also black. The space was entirely dark, save for the lone window on the far wall, which was half-open.

"How has he been working in here every day?" Jisung muttered, staring at the space in awe. "It's like a black hole."

Robin frowned, studying the room. Finally, she spied what they'd been hoping to see: a single file cabinet, right behind the desk. She hurried over to it, pulling it open as quietly as possible.

"You stand guard!" she whispered to him, pointing at the door. The others were supposed to alert them if Yeonjun was on the move, but there was the potential that cell signal would be slow, or they wouldn't have the chance to shoot them a text. They'd have to be careful.

"Don't worry about it Ji, go help her!" Robin glanced up to see Hyunjin standing outside the door, breathless. "I'll be around the corner, making sure Laska and Riley keep him busy."

Jisung nodded, and hustled towards the desk, quietly opening each drawer one at a time, rifling through papers as he went.

The file drawer was organized, painfully so. Everything was labeled with dates, and subjects. "March 2022, Finances" "June 2020, Social". Finally, Robin found the folder she needed, June and July 2023. The time they'd been at the mansion.

"Oh my gosh," she breathed, as her fingers fell on one of the markers inside the folder. As she flipped through the next ones, her heart began racing faster and faster. What the fuck?

"What is it?" Jisung asked quietly, glancing up from his perusal. He was tossing a pack of erasers onto the desk, carefully pushing past sticky notes and other stationary. "I'm not finding much here."

Robin held up the folder. "His file for this month. He's got it divided into sixteen sections. And each section has one of our names on it."

Jisung moved to look, taking his folder from Robin's hand. Robin grabbed hers, and began flipping through it. Alongside tons of photos of her, from the show and before, was an exhaustive profile on her, her entire family, and her relationship with everyone on the show. There was also a detailed report on her personality, and her strengths and weaknesses.

"A good way to exploit Ms. Choi's weaknesses would be to cultivate trust with her, and then break it. She is a naturally distrusting person in romantic relationships, so if you break her trust, she will pull away much faster."

"A good way to exploit Mr. Han's weaknesses would be to use his kindness for your own personal benefit, but pretend to be earnest. He is too kind and forgiving, but when it becomes clear that you are trying to use him, he will turn cold."

"What is this?" Robin whispered, stomach clenching as she delved deeper and deeper into her file. "How does he know this stuff?"

"And where did the photos come from?" Jisung pointed to one. "This was inside the castle, at the beginning of June. The castle has security, and no one would let a stranger inside."

Robin shook her head, sick to her stomach. "We need to take pictures of these and show the others," she decided. "Why don't you keep looking through his desk, and I'll do it?"

Jisung nodded slowly, before tearing open another drawer.

As Robin was in the middle of photographing Jeongin's file, which contained every medical record from his time in the hospital, Jisung let out a gasp, causing her to whip her head up.

"Robin, what is this...?" he asked, turning and holding something in his hands.

It was a photo, of a young woman. But the picture didn't look real, distorted as if it had been created by AI, or something fake. She looked human, but generated. Next to her was... Yeonjun. Or, what Robin assumed was supposed to be Yeonjun. He also looked generated, almost human but not quite.

On the back of the photo was the date, 2000 B.C.  Robin wasn't great at math, but she knew that was nowhere near current day.

"Do you think...?" she began, trepidation rising inside her, not wanting to believe her theory.

"I think so," Jisung said grimly, pointing at the drawer, looking ill. "I don't want to touch whatever's in there."

Robin took a peek inside, and reeled back, disgusted. There was a bag, filled with one lock of hair. It was partially disintegrated, but seemed to be held together by some kind of spell that she couldn't decipher. Next to that was a small tiara, which was touched by the same spell.

"Those are hers," Robin said in a hushed voice. The woman that Yeonjun had been in love with, all those (probably) thousands of years ago. If that date was real, photography hadn't been invented until years later. Somehow, Yeonjun must have used his powers to create a photo from his memories of this woman. Robin couldn't contemplate how that was possible, but it was clear Yeonjun was a very powerful man. He could do whatever he wanted.

A loud bang came from the other side of the wall, and Robin knew it was Hyunjin, warning them that Yeonjun was coming. Even though she hadn't finished taking pictures of everything, she hurried to shove it into the file cabinet.

Jisung was taking pictures of the evidence he'd found, and before they knew it, they were racing back down the hall and into Jisung's room, breath caught in their throats as they processed what they'd just found, what it meant.

"So..." Jisung paused. "How long have you been poisoning people with those love potions of yours?"

That caught Robin off guard. Of all things to ask, why that? Hadn't much more important things just occurred?

"Erm." Robin cleared her throat. "Since I turned eighteen. It's kind of illegal to start earlier than adulthood. Why?"

Jisung shrugged, looking a little mutinous. "I saw in your file that you've poisoned upwards of thirty men. You must have needed a lot of stuff, since you did that to a bunch of random dudes."

Robin whipped around at his words, eyes narrowed. "I didn't need anything from these so-called 'random dudes'. Like I told you, my parents forced me to poison these men so they could get what they want. What the hell has gotten into you?"

Jisung frowned. "But you were the one who did it, at the end of the day," he countered mildly. "You could have said no. How many lives did you ruin by forcing them to fall in love with you?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Robin was seething now. How dare he question her and her past? "You were supposed to kidnap me and take me to your parents, who would probably question and kill me. They've probably done this to lots of people. You could have stopped them, and you didn't. I looked at your file. They have some dark secrets even you might not know about. So I don't think you're in any place to judge."

"I-I thought you were over that!" Jisung blustered, glowering at her. "I did stand up to them, by not kidnapping you! I don't like the way you're blaming me right now."

"You started it," Robin returned, all sense of the camaraderie she'd felt between them inside Yeonjun's office gone. "I just ended it."

And she strutted out the door, back towards her own room, leaving Jisung gaping behind her.

In that moment, she knew: it wasn't just their conversation that had ended.

laska's note —
oh... we had such a high note with seungmin and renee's date, and then a low one with robin and jisung... they found some pretty crazy stuff, crazy enough to make the happy couple fight. i wonder what could happen to the rest of the group, when they read the files? does yeonjun want any of them to be happy? it seems like a pretty mixed bag right now. we have another competition coming in the next chapter, i wonder who will get the next date? this fic is starting to end, what's in store for all the couples?

also, if you enjoyed the chapter, please make sure to comment and vote (if you'd like of course)! it means a ton and really motivates me to keep writing this fic for you all. as always thank you for your support love you all!! 🩵

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
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