treasure box ➔ jaebum x taemin
saudxdes:
❝ seven seas didn’t set them apart / Im Jaebum x Im Taemin ❞
JAEBUM HEARD about the cons of investing on the task of invading a property. Never in their history his men got that request from him because it would be too risky – they weren’t skilled enough to go unnoticed between the grounders (like they used to call them), they were pirates, men of the sea, they didn’t know etiquette nor pretending.
At least not his men.
Jaebum was different. In a very far moment of his life, one he doesn’t care to recall, he would pass by one of those people easily, he could play their game, get what he wanted because he knew how to speak their language and act just like them.
However this was a long time ago and his present self just wanted to break down every rule he made for himself over the years and finish what he started for just the same amount.
For that he would have to risk the lives of his men, loyal men that trusted him, that understood what happened to him and that wanted his success because he was their captain.
He had been observing the castle’s flaws and there wasn’t many. No place was one hundred percent safe and any man could be deceived by either a good bottle of rum or a beautiful pair of breasts and fortunately for Jaebum, he could have those to be used, as the night fell and his people started to make an incursion.
Jaebum waited until two guards were charmed by two women and he saw when his men put them to sleep. His heart was racing as he made his way through the castle, always hiding in the shadows, always avoiding the people that by that time of the night would have been sleeping peacefully.
If everything went right, he would go in and out and no one would notice, even if it was the house of someone important and danger could be presented in every corner, Jaebum didn’t care, his goal was to get rid of the thing that plagued him, that kept him from having a decent life.
As decent as a pirate’s life could be.
The door in front of him was the only thing that separated him from his goal, information he had made him believe that was the only place the artifact could have been hidden, some sort of chamber, an office.
He didn’t care about the decoration when he got inside, the yellow shades coming from the candles could have spooked him for someone inside but he didn’t see anyone. With fast steps he started to take over the place, looking for the familiar box that held the sorcerer’s dagger, the item he so longed to possess.
After minutes that looked like centuries, Jaebum was near desperation when he couldn’t find it, it wasn’t anywhere and he had been there for so long, it would be too risky to try looking for it somewhere else. “I need it, I can’t leave without it.” He muttered to himself, running a hand through his dark locks, visibly distressed.
It was then when he heard the noise, coming from the other side of the door.
And he froze.
Lord Taemin’s staff would often jest behind closed doors that their earl never slept, though it could only pass as part of a joke. He often stayed up well into the night catching up on the affairs of his father’s estate, answering letters, counting shipments and taxes, monitoring the goings on in the court according to word he received from his father.
He took his responsibilities as head of the estate very seriously, and, unlike many other young heirs his age, spent more of his time working than allowing himself time for frivolities like hunting or schmoozing at fanciful affairs. His sister would be queen someday, her wedding with the crown prince still fresh in his memory. But even as he arranged for three more gowns to be commissioned and sent south for her approaching birthday, he could not let her gleeful letters draw him to court.
His life was here, in Iatha, while his father stayed at the king’s side a three day’s ride away. And it was not rare for the otherwise empty castle to hinder his sleeping pattern; though he was raised here, chased his sister through these halls when he was a boy, watched his mother take her last breath in the master suite, even he could not always bring himself to fall asleep in an empty bed amidst empty rooms and empty halls.
He would never admit out loud that he can be so affected by something as silly as loneliness, not even to his sister, who would be able to know from one look at him. Such a complaint was more suited for women, and would only be met with more reiteration of the fact that most young men his age would be married by now. But war was on the horizon, and if he had no time for sleep, he certainly had no time to properly court a future bride.
(He could hear Youngho laughing at him and tossing too-long hair out of his eyes. You are far too serious for your own good, this imaginary Youngho singsongs in his head)
Taemin sighs and presses the pad of his thumb and finger against the corners of his eyes. He tells a servant to light the fireplace in his room and to draw him a bath on his way out of his father’s office. It’s only when he’s turned the corner does he recall the urgent letter he was to send to his father regarding the word of pirates terrorizing neighboring ports, lying half-written and unsealed on his desk.
He turns the knob, pushes the door open with one hand while hiding a yawn behind the other--
Then stops in his tracks. He squares his shoulders, glances shrewdly around the room for any other intruders and narrows his eyes at the one staring him in the face. He is unarmed, as one usually is when wandering about their own estate. But it does not show in his stance.
“Explain yourself immediately or I shall have to alert my guards. Are you a thief or a spy? For which crime will I have your head?”
