Chapter 4 Humiliation at the Inn

Taeyang was back in the workshop.

The forge glowed orange in the darkness. His hand rose without permission. The flame erupted. The oil caught. Everything burned. He tried to scream—

But a loud cry outside jolted him awake.

He sat up gasping, sweat soaking his robes. His right hand was extended before him, fingers splayed.

He heard movement in the room and realized for the first he wasn't alone.

Three maids were already inside his chambers. They hadn't knocked. The first he saw was folding his court robes with brisk, impersonal hands. The second was laying cloth wraps on his table. The third was arranging two empty trunks in the center of the floor.

"What are you doing here?" He asked roughly.

"Her Majesty, has sent us here." One of the maids said without looking up "We are to have your belongings packed and removed before midday."

"What?."

Taeyang opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. What was the point? He had no title. No authority. The Queen could have him thrown out at dawn, and no one would stop her.

He threw off the sheets and stood up. The maids worked around him as if he were already gone.

His friends arrived an hour later to find him sitting at the low table, watching his life get packed into boxes.

Baekho stopped so abruptly in the doorway that Soohyun walked into his back. "What is this?"

"I have been sent out of the palace, the queen is helping me pack out.”

“But she can't do that."

"She already has." Taeyang said flatly, in a resigned voice.

Baekho's face went through shock, confusion, then fury. "This is Soyeon. She's been waiting for this moment since—"

"Baekho." Soohyun's voice cut through. "It doesn't matter who planned it. It's done."

"So we're supposed to accept it?"

"We're supposed to help him figure out where he's sleeping tonight." Soohyun turned to Taeyang. "Have you thought about that?"

Taeyang looked at the trunks swallowing his life. "I've been a little distracted."

Yohan spoke from near the door. "There's an inn three streets from the east market. The one with the courtyard entrance."

"An inn." Baekho said it like a foreign word. "You're going to live in an inn."

"You have a better idea?"

Baekho didn't. None of them did.

They left the palace as morning gave way to midday.

Without carts or any form of fanfare, just the four young men walking through the main gate carrying two trunks, looking like travelers rather than refugees.

Taeyang tried not to look back, as he left the palace. He had grown so accustomed to it's luxury that he never thought what it'd really mean to live outside it.

They arrived at the inn several minutes later, the place was a low building with a faded sign in front. The innkeeper a heavyset man with thinning hair and a harassed expression was behind the counter when they stepped in.

"We need a room," Taeyang said to him, leaning over the counter.

"How many nights?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Payment up front."

Before Taeyang could reach for his coin purse, a man at the nearest table leaned toward the innkeeper and spoke in a loud whisper.

"You heard about the fire at the workshop last night?"

The innkeeper's face darkened. "Who hasn't heard? We lost good number weapons. The Craftsmen are all out of work. All because of that prince."

"Which prince?"

"The useless one. The First Prince.” The innkeeper spat the words. "Broke in after dark and tried to play blacksmith, burned the whole place down. You know the worst part?"

"What?"

"He's still walking around free. The palace expelled him, but he should be in chains. If I were the Emperor, I'd have him executed.”

Taeyang's hand froze on the counter. Behind him, he heard Baekho inhale sharply.

"That'll be three silver pieces," the innkeeper continued, turning back to him. "For the week."

Taeyang counted the coins and slid them across the counter. His face was blank. "Which room?"

"Third door on the left."

"Thank you."

He picked up his trunk. His friends followed in silence. Behind them, the manager was already back to complaining, not knowing the prince he wanted executed had just paid him three silver pieces.

The lunch crowd had filtered in, when they came back down for lunch— merchants, travelers, locals. Taeyang and his friends found a table near the back wall and ordered and for a while the simple work of eating occupied the space where conversation might have gone.

Taeyang ate without tasting anything.

A table of merchants who had been talking excitedly and animatedly when they arrived had gone quiet the moment the trio took their seats and from the corners of their eyes, Taeyang and his friends discovered with uneasing discomfort that the men had been definitely talking about them and were now watching them now, alongside the other several pairs of eyes in the inn.

Taeyang lowered his head and determinedly focused solely on the food in front of him

A man's voice boomed from a table to the left. "That is him, The prince that burned down the blacksmith workshop. He was E

expelled from the palace just this morning. I heard it from a palace servant firsthand."

A woman's voice followed. "He does not look like much."

"He never did." Someone else chirped in. "That is the point."

Someone cackled an annoying laugh.“I hear he has no resonance and is also very foolish.”

“Such a waste!”

“The fool spent his whole life in the palace contributing nothing and the one time he actually does something it is this."

More laughter broke through the room.

“Shut up, everyone!” Yohan bellowed, slamming his palm on the table.

The room quietened down for a second as if the people had been frightened into surrendering and then they broke into another joint laughter again.

Baekho pushed off his seat and waved an angry fist at the crowd.

“You fools, don't you know to respect the prince— I'll have your heads I tell you.”

“If he's the prince, then I'm the Queen.” Another woman chirped in. “And I'll have your head for saying such rubbish!”

The crowd roared with laughter again.

Taeyang finally lowered his chopsticks down and looked round the table at everyone.

Who all seemed unconcerned about him or what he felt. Baekho sank back into his seat after standing for a frustrated moment and only ended up making everything worse.

He shook his head. “Just ignore them, Taeyang. They're not worth it.”

Soohyun nodded. “They're not, let's just focus on this meal.”

But Taeyang wasn't listening.

The inn door had opened at this exact moment and six people were walking in through the door. They moved through the entrance with unhurried ease, each person carrying one weapon or the other, their sudden presence quietened the entire room, killing out the jest and mockery totally.

And Taeyang wondered why it was so. His eyes moved through the group taking note of all of them. Five men and a lady.

He watched her.

She crossed the room and pulled out a chair at a table on the opposite side and sat down. She said something brief to the man beside her that made the latter laugh loudly and she smiled…the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

His world stopped in that one moment and he couldn't stop looking at her.

For the first time since leaving the palace, Taeyang forgot everyone in the room was laughing at him.