Had someone perhaps seen that flustered appearance from just now?
Huiseo seemed to be worried about that. His startled eyes hurriedly surveyed the surroundings.
Since it was just before departing for school, a black car they would soon board stood beside them. There were a few security personnel around it, but by the time Huiseo looked around, they were all standing with their backs turned. Also, seeing there was no particular sign—
‘…They didn’t hear, right?’
Trying to think so, Huiseo let out a small sigh of relief and tried to pull his hand free first.
“First, this…”
“Hm? Why? Is something wrong?”
However, Hwan, who had already caught on, also stubbornly held firm with a shameless face, and contrary to Huiseo’s intention, the two literally continued a “push and pull” fight.
So Huiseo’s face, thinking only about escaping this troublesome situation quickly, couldn’t help but show a flustered expression. So much so that he forgot the polite speech he’d been consistently using outside, then used strange speech after being startled belatedly.
“What are you doing in front of everyone… sir?”
“Is it okay when no one’s watching?”
“That’s not what I mean!”
Though clinging like this wasn’t anything newly surprising between the two, it was still troublesome with this many eyes watching. Because of that, if they received unnecessary misunderstandings and useless talk spread, it wouldn’t be good for the imperial family or for Hwan. At least that was Huiseo’s thinking.
That’s why he was fidgeting anxiously lest someone see, but the problem was that Hwan didn’t understand Huiseo’s feelings at all. That annoying face grinning widely didn’t seem like it would stop playing around easily. Far from it, he was only looking for opportunities to cling more, which was truly exasperating.
In the end, it was no wonder Huiseo came out like this again.
“Your Highness.”
Calling him with a stiff voice, at the end of that call, Huiseo let out a big sigh—puk.
Naturally, it was on purpose.
Though creating the same situation as yesterday was regrettable, if they fought with strength like just now, Huiseo had no way to win, so he had no choice. Though cowardly, he thought this was the only way to make Hwan lower his tail on his own.
However, unlike yesterday when it worked immediately, regrettably, there were a few facts Huiseo had overlooked today.
First, as mentioned earlier, was the point that Hwan was a completely different person from yesterday.
He was excessively energetic.
In other words, it meant he wasn’t in a state to be easily discouraged by just one sigh. Moreover, to suppress such a guy, Huiseo’s ears turning red again without a sound were also a problem. Though he himself didn’t know it, they were excessively honest and unbearably cute.
Because of that, unintentionally, only the playful smile on Hwan’s lips deepened.
‘…This isn’t right?’
So such difficulty couldn’t help but flash across Huiseo’s face for a moment.
Hwan watched that appearance with affectionately curved eyes.
A flustered Jeong Huiseo before him. It was a scene rarely seen, so he couldn’t help but be delighted. With such pleasant feelings filling his chest, Hwan held Huiseo’s hand that he was grasping even more firmly. As if he wouldn’t let go. He pulled it all the way to his chest and gripped it tightly without gaps.
Then Huiseo’s fingertips captured by Hwan, his eyes looking at him, trembled faintly. This was truly troublesome. Huiseo’s red lower lip being bitten for a moment was saying so.
However, in the end, what won’t work won’t work.
The conclusion Huiseo reached afterward seemed to be the same as usual. Huiseo, who finished the brief wavering with a small sigh, pressed Hwan’s chest area with his captured hand.
Then pushed away. With cold words.
“Of course. I remember clearly. Including that Your Highness said you would do better from now on.”
“I did.”
“But I don’t understand the behavior you’re doing now.”
While doing so, Huiseo even brought up the words “I’ll do better” that Hwan had uttered in a sorrowful state the day before. Yes, in fact it was a petty thing to do. He couldn’t deny it. However, just like before, to rein in Hwan whose reins were completely loose, it was unavoidable—Huiseo said it while trying to soothe his own uncomfortable insides.
But he truly didn’t know that words spoken with that much resolve wouldn’t even come close.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
Hwan’s face asking so was smooth without a single wrinkle, beyond clean to quite shameless.
‘Is he really asking because he doesn’t know? Or is he teasing?’
The reason Huiseo couldn’t continue his next words was probably because he was gauging that. In the meantime, Hwan continued speaking confidently, unconcerned.
“I will do well. To you.”
It’s not teasing but sincere. Looking at Hwan’s eyes watching him, Huiseo was certain of that.
Somehow, even yesterday when he said he’d do well, it was suspicious from when he suddenly started talking about holding hands or not. Now that it came to this, it meant that wasn’t really about doing well as a prince after all. At the feeling of his head getting hot, Huiseo placed his hand on his forehead for a moment.
Well, conceding a hundred times, it could be seen as fortunate if he’d do well anyway. However.
‘This early in the morning, in the middle of the parking lot for everyone to see.’
Is doing this really doing well for him?
Though he didn’t bring it out loud, seeing Huiseo’s face changing red and blue moment by moment, he was definitely having such thoughts. However, looking at Hwan excited by himself, he seemed completely unable to grasp the situation.
“Just say it. I can do anything you want. Right, if needed, should I hold your hand again like yesterday?”
‘That damn hand.’
He’d definitely sulked at the ceremony he didn’t attend and gotten scolded by the elders, then became dejected, so when he indulged him a bit last night, as a side effect his spirits came back—way too much.
Today, even until just now, Huiseo had been planning to let things slide moderately for a while, but if it came to this, the story changed.
“Do you really think I’d want something as trivial as just holding hands?”
When such a sharp question flew at him, even Hwan, who had been fooling around endlessly, finally wore a somewhat flustered face.
“Huh?”
“You said to tell you anything I want.”
“That, that’s true, but.”
“Good. Then let’s start with getting a perfect score on today’s English vocabulary quiz.”
“…English, vocabulary quiz?”
What’s that?
Hwan asked back in a daze. Before he could even realize he felt a bit hurt that holding hands with him was described as “trivial,” flustered emotions rushed over him like waves first.
‘No, why? How did the conversation go there?’
He didn’t even know there was something like an English vocabulary quiz today. Being that much in the dark, there was no way he’d studied in advance. Yet to get a perfect score—it was no wonder a drop of sweat trickled down Hwan’s spine.
“Huiseo-ya, that’s, well… um…”
While Hwan, who had been so confident and cheeky until now, was hemming and hawing—
Huiseo, who had finally regained control, now didn’t try to pull his captured hand free but conversely reached toward Hwan. Then wasn’t he slowly stroking down Hwan’s neatly tied necktie? However, what truly flustered Hwan more than that was the words he left primly afterward.
“They say a man’s word is worth a thousand gold pieces. Since you’ve promised, I can take it as such, right?”
“You…”
Hwan was speechless and couldn’t continue.
‘This kid, this kid. Where did he see what?’
Are historical dramas this provocative these days?
Because Huiseo’s lips curling up—ssshik—suddenly gave off a dangerous atmosphere, Hwan’s heart couldn’t endure it and pounded—kungkung, kungkung—like a drum. Watching such a Huiseo, Hwan somehow felt like clenching and unclenching his hands several times for no reason.
‘What a scary guy.’
He wondered if this was what they meant by “beauty that topples nations”—the kind where you wouldn’t know even if the country fell.
Fortunately he had nothing to his name. Otherwise, he might have handed over his house, land, even the clothes on his back in the blink of an eye. Thinking so, it was a dizzying feeling anew.
So even though he hadn’t even known there was a test today, he also thought that readily answering yes wouldn’t be a problem.
“Then, I can do it.”
When Huiseo was smiling so happily like that. He thought he should at least try.
Of course, belatedly fussing with a book in the car trying to look over vocabulary and suffering quite a bit with his vision spinning was a bit… perhaps very uncool, though.
***
A pretty apricot with no substance.
It was a thought he had every time he went to school, but there seemed to be no better phrase to explain the current situation.
Regardless of what situation the imperial family was in, what was immediately visible on the outside was absolutely splendid. The sight of several black cars including security vehicles smoothly passing through the school gate was like a scene from a movie.
At the center of it were Hwan and Huiseo.
The official name of the place they were heading to was “Imperial Higher Education Institute.”
It was one of the educational institutions the imperial family had ambitiously established for nurturing future talent in various fields, regardless of region or class. Though it sounds grandiose, in fact, thinking of it as a high school that kids who are pretty good at studying attend would be perfectly fine.
Of course, there were a few students who belonged to slight exceptions, like Hwan.
To add a bit more explanation about the school, this place was formally co-educational but in reality, the classes where boys and girls studied and even the buildings were separated. Therefore, in terms of actual life, it would be safe to say Hwan and Huiseo were attending an ordinary boys’ high school.
That was a welcome thing for the two, especially Hwan.
Though it wasn’t a world where the title of prince was greatly revered in the first place, still, to put it down, the boys were somewhat more indifferent toward him.
Of course, even if they had particular interest, since Hwan didn’t pay much attention to anyone other than Huiseo anyway, they might not have dared to get close. In any case, for such reasons, Hwan was enjoying a fairly ordinary school life.
Except that the path entering the school building was always a bit noisy.
