The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

七

"Right, thank you."

Then, the emperor left the training grounds, leaving the wooden sparring sword in its rack. And with a groan, the crown prince fell on his knees, panting heavily, and blamed it on the stupid nightmare he had. The day would've gone by smoothly if it wasn't for that horrid dream.

"Ge, you okay?" The voice of his younger cousin came from behind him.

Renjun turned his head and spotted Chenle standing under the building's overhang with a clean towel in his hands.

"Yeah, thanks," Renjun replied, catching the towel, as it was thrown to him. He used it to wipe away the sweat on his head. "Why are you here? Did Jisung bore you out of something?"

Chenle laughed, "No, luckily. But it's something else."

"What is it?"

"Jisung's with it right now. I told him to stay there, so I could come to get you."

"What is it?" he repeated his question.

The two started hurriedly walking back to where Jisung was. Chenle explained along the way. Apparently, there was a little baby animal that fell out of a tree in their palace. Because both Chenle and Jisung were still young, they didn't know what they should be doing and ultimately decided to get the crown prince, who was studying medicine.

Fortunately, Chenle's palace, the Palace of Incurable Happiness, wasn't far from where the training grounds were so the travel time was only a little less than ten minutes.

Jisung ran towards them when he saw the two princes enter. He carefully evaded the stone statues and the fountain in the middle of the garden—knocking them over or damaging them even just slightly would take a lot to repair.

"Chenle-yah!" He paused, seeing the crown prince and slowed himself, bowing respectfully. "Injoon-hyung."

Renjun nodded. "Where's the animal?"

"This way," Jisung said, leading them to one of the buildings in the palace. They walked under a small white traditional marble arch. On the sides, towards the base of the arch were small statues of lions on their own pedestals. "I had moved the dog into-"

"It's a dog?" Renjun looked at Chenle with dark eyes. He hadn't specified an animal.

Chenle just nervously chuckled, rubbing his hand on the nape of his neck.

"Um, she should be inside here, somewhere," Jisung explained awkwardly as he looked around inside Chenle's room. "I had moved her inside. I didn't want her to feel cold."

They found her curled up in a small ball towards the corner of the room, clean towels wrapped around her. She was small but much bigger than any puppy Renjun's seen.

He carefully walked towards her, not wanting to wake her up. Her little ears were still slicked back against her head. She was only a newborn, probably a couple of weeks old. Renjun crouched by the small creature's side and quietly observed her injuries. She had blood running down the side of her head and a small cut on her soft nose. She looked malnourished. Renjun could see the skin tightly hugging her bones, holding on to dear life.

"Was her mother nearby at all? Or any traces of a guardian?" Renjun asked the younger two. He didn't know anything about animals, but he knew that every living creature must have some parent or guardian that raises them, especially as a newborn.