Prologue. Crystal

Since Aiden The Third, the King of Hellebore has left the world, the greatest war the earth has experienced started.

Aiden was known to be the most powerful and rich ruler. He made his Kingdom a better place and was loved by everyone, expect the sovereigns from other countries.

Kings and Queens were jealous of all the achievements he had and all the love and recognition he received.

Later after his death, there was a rumor circulating in the three neighboring countries to Hellebore.

It was said that the key to Aiden's success was hidden somewhere between their lands.

A notebook.

?

This morning, the castle was lit up everywhere thanks to the warm rays of the sun. The maids opened the curtains to let in the light while the servants were doing their morning chores; clean the corridors, replace the faded flowers with more fresh and colorful bouquets, wake the members of the royal family and prepare their breakfast.

Footsteps could be heard in the main hall of the castle. The servants stopped their work to bow before the two princes who walked slowly and elegantly towards the dining room.

The young women could not help glancing at the handsome men who were inaccessible to them.

The young men and boys who worked in the castle admired them as much as the rest of the subjects did. The two princes represented role models for all those who wanted to live with elegance and maturity.

The guards opened the big doors and the younger brothers were welcomed by a sweet smell of vervena, their mother always drank a hot cup of it during the morning.

The dining room was so big that there was even a fireplace surrounded by two small armchairs near the huge mahogany which took up most of the vast space the bright and romantic room offered and was covered with a white tablecloth decorated with golden broderies.

The King was sitting at the end of the table, he was eating sausages peacefully and the Queen was sitting on the chair next to his while reading a book.

Their sons approached the table and bowed, "Good morning father, good morning mother." the eldest said.

"Good morning Jimin." the Queen smiled to the silver-haired. She frowned when she saw the youngest one yawning behind his brother, "I thought I warned you to stop sleeping late."

Taehyung rubbed the back of his neck, "I am sorry mother, but I started a good book and I could not stop reading. I did not realize I stayed up so late."

"You are obsessed with books just like your mother." the King rolled his eyes. "They will do you no good for your future."

Taehyung pressed his lips, "I love reading father. It is not a bad thing."

"Surely not." Jimin patted his back gently. "Father, reading will help my brother more to write nice letters and improve his speech." he smiled. "Do not worry about his future, Taehyung is a smart man."

The younger Prince stared at his brother and smiled to him. He mumbled a small thank you and went to sit next to his mother.

"Jimin, the prime minister is still waiting for you to set up an official dare for your wedding." the King started, making the environment more tense.

The silver-haired pressed his lips and kept staring at his plate.

"You need to get married as soon as possible." he continued. "Our family needs to grow in order to stay strong."

"Father." Jimin sighed. "Please let us talk about this later."

The Queen and Taehyung shared a worried look. They knew Jimin did not like to talk about his wedding, especially because he never loved the prime minister's daughter. The King was the one to set them up because he wanted a woman from a good family to marry the crown Prince of Crystal.

"You cannot avoid this my son." the King stared at him with cold eyes. "Have you decided on a date yet?"

Jimin shook his head, "I will wait until Lyra comes back from her trip." he said.

The King raised an eyebrow, "What does your sister have to do with this?"

"She...she always begged me to let her organize my wedding since we were childs." Jimin answered. "This is why I still cannot decide on the date." he lied.

The King stared at him, he was about to add something when his wife cut him off, "My dear, will you please talk about something else? We are having breakfast, so talking about our son's wedding is a little stressful."

The man frowned at his wife and cleared his throat, "Well then." he dropped his fork on the porcelain plate and clapped his hands, "If you don't want to talk about the wedding, what is there to talk about?" he raised an eyebrow. "The notebook then."

"Baekhyun!" the Queen shouted, surprising the servants in the room.

The two princes rolled their eyes.

"It is no better than my brother's wedding." Taehyung mumbled.

"It is politics son, have you never read about it in your books?" the King asked.

"Well in my books, there are no kingdoms who are dumb enough to spend their entire life fighting over a notebook no one knows if it does exist or not."

Silence.

Jimin stared at his brother nervously. He guessed he did not feel himself talking back to his father and he was worried that he will get hurt after.

The Queen looked at her husband and saw anger in his eyes. She tried calming him down my rubbing his shoulder gently but it did not seem to affect him.

"You are disrespecting your King now." Baekhyun mumbled between his teeth. He clutched his fists and looked at his younger son with fire burning in his eyes.

The blond prince bit his lower lip and averted his gaze to the floor. He has always been scared of his father since he was a child. He would scold him every time he made a mistake and sometimes he would punish him until he stated crying.

Unfortunately, he was not as smart and skillful as his older brother. Jimin would save himself from the King's claws thanks to his discretion and his ability to achieve his work without fails.

King Baekhyun had a bad temper because of his late father. The previous King was sick of jealousy because of the ruler of Hellebore. He envied him for being the strongest and the richest among all the sovereigns, for that he kept on obliging his son to work harder than his body can take in order for him to grow up as a powerful King.

But even after his father's death, he was still not skillful enough to make his country the best one, that's why he was treating his son the same way his father did before.

Taehyung slowly lifted his head and looked right into his father's eyes. He felt bad for him, he was sick of power and success and he wanted to make him change his mind.

"Father, I am not wrong." he said. "Even if you find the notebook, it will do you no good. A real King will never take advantage of other's achievements to be more powerful, he will work harder until he succeeds to build his own empire."

Jimin smiled and stared at his brother with admiration. "I told you father, books taught him how to speak well." he ruffled his brother's hair.

Baekhyun frowned and looked at Jimin, "Do you agree with what he said?" he asked with a cold tone.

The silver-haired rubbed his chin, his eyes not leaving his brother who looked extremely nervous. He nodded and said, "He is not wrong. Arwin the Second did everything by himself; Hellebore was a poor and abandoned country and he changed it into the most beautiful one. He taught his son Aiden how to be a good King and this is what he became years after. Why can't we do it too?" he asked, looking at his father and younger brother. "We can change Crystal too, but in our way."

The King had enough of their words. He stood up and slammed his fists on the wooden table, "Enough!" he shouted, making his wife gasp.

"I do not want to hear a single word from the both of you." he mumbled.

The two brothers pressed their lips and avoided their father's stare.

"You do not understand." Baekhyun shook his head. "Whoever puts his hands on the notebook will have an incredible power over the world and no matter what we do or learn will be useless."

The Princes shared a look and sighed.

"You need to forget the ideas you have in mind. The world is not beautiful as you may think." the King added. "Wake up."

Taehyung stood up. His father never agreed with him before and it annoyed him every time.

"Where are you going?" the King asked.

"To my chambers." the young Prince mumbled before leaving the dining room.

Jimin laughed nervously and stood up too. "I should maybe follow him." he bowed to his parents and left.

He saw his brother running in the corridor, heading to his room.

"Taehyung!" he called and followed him, "Wait for me!"

The servants bowed to the two princes when they stopped in the middle of the main hall.

Jimin grabbed his brother's arm, "Are you alright?" he asked.

The blond shook his head and turned to face his brother. The older frowned when he saw tears running on his cheeks. He hated seeing his younger brother hurt this way.

He sighed and took him in his arms, "Do not cry please." he rubbed his back gently and whispered comforting words to him.

"He always does this!" Taehyung cried. "He never agrees with me, he thinks he is alright right."

"He is our father, you know how he is." Jimin sighed. "He will never change what he has in mind. This is sad."

"They better find that stupid notebook and end this war once and for all." the young Prince mumbled, wiping his tears with the sleeve of his white shirt.

Jimin chuckled and ruffled his hair, "You really think so?"

"What do you mean?" Taehyung asked.

"Do you really think the war will stop after one of the kingdoms finds the notebook?" he crossed his arms. "Not at all." he added, shaking his head. "If someone finds it, he or she will have the power to destroy us all if they wanted and that's when the real war is going to start."

The blond stared at his brother nervously. "So, do you mean that we will always live this way? Fearing to be attacked? Afraid of failure and death?"

"Unfortunately yes." Jimin nodded.

They stayed like this for a long moment, not sharing a single word, just staring through the windows where they could see the colorful flowers growing in their garden until the eldest broke the silence. "Unless..." he rubbed his chin.

Taehyung raised an eyebrow, "Unless what?"

"Unless we find the notebook."

The blond rolled his eyes, "Crystal has been searching for it during years brother."

"I never said Crystal. I meant you and I." Jimin said, looking at his brother's eyes with confidence.

"What?" Taehyung furrowed. "What are you talking about? Didn't you say that a bigger war will start if anyone finds it?"

"Indeed, but we will find it and hide it." the silver-haired said. "When everyone will finally realize that there is no hope of finding it, they will stop searching and everything will go back to normal; no notebook, no war." he finished with a large smile on his face.

The younger Prince didn't say a word. He kept staring at the floor, thinking about what his brother told him.

He rubbed his chin and stared at him, "How are we supposed to find it?" he asked with a calm tone.

"I have got my idea." Jimin smirked.

?

The next day, the silver-haired Prince headed to the garden to meet his fiance. They would have a walk together every three days to get to know each other more before they get married.

He walked in the middle of the bushes, his light hair shining under the sunlight.

His chest tightened when he spotted Irina waiting for him with the servants. For some reason, he alway felt uncomfortable and pressured when he was with her, for that he never appreciated the time they spent together.

"Your highness." Irina and the servants bowed to the Prince. "The new uniform looks good on you." she blushed.

"Thank you Lady Irina." Jimin smiled and grabbed her hand to put it under his arm. They started walking in the middle of the garden with the servants and his butler following them.

"I heard from my father that we will talk about the wedding date until the Princess comes back from her trip." the young woman started.

Jimin hummed. "I want her to help me. She is very skillful when it comes to organizing fiests and balls."

"Oh, you are right." she giggled. "She will help us organize the biggest wedding." she nodded. "Now, I just hope she will come back earlier." she said, looking at the handsome Prince. "I want us to get married as soon as possible." she pressed her lips shyly and kept looking at him.

Jimin could not look back. Her words made the situation more uncomfortable.

He wished he could like her as much as she does, she is a kind young woman, well educated and elegant, but his heart could not beat for her unfortunately.

He decided to just smile and keep walking with her.

"The weather is nice today." Irina said.

"It is." the Prince nodded.

It was sad how the engaged couple could not feel the same way for each other and not share the same thoughts.

Irina's mind was full of ideas and scenes of their future wedding like how the dress will look like and the reactions of the guest when they will see them together.

At the same time, Jimin was thinking about his plan to find the notebook. He wanted to end this war so badly and prove his father wrong with the help of his younger brother.

He stopped and faced his fiancee, "I shall excuse myself." he said.

"Oh, are you leaving?" Irina asked, playing with her short brown locks.

Jimin nodded, "I have some business to do in the village."

"Well then, I will see you later?"

"Of course Lady Irina." he leaned to place a gentle kiss on the woman's hand.

She and the servants bowed to him and watched him leave the garden.

"Your highness." the butler followed him, "Should I ask them to prepare the carriage?"

"Yes, please."

?

The Prince changed his clothes and put something more modest not be distinguished between the villagers. His white and clear blue royal uniform was easy to recognize.

"We arrived sir." one of the guards said.

Jimin loved going to the village. There, no one knew him as the Prince, he was only known as a normal men like the others. There were no servants to bow to him, no parents to nag him to respect the protocols.

He was looking for some stools and things he will need for his trip with his brother. They needed fur coats for the cold, swords and a tent to spend the night outside.

His guards were following him, also disguised as villagers.

They watched him enter different shops and waited for him until he finished his shopping.

"I have one more place to go to." he told them.

"Alright sir." they nodded and walked behind him.

"CATCH HIM!" they heard a man shouting and suddenly someone dressed in a black hood ran passed them. They turned and saw a dozen of men following him and screaming with anger.

"Again." one of the guards rolled his eyes.

Jimin looked at him confusingly. "Do you know him? Who is he?" he asked.

"They call him The Eagle." the man answered. "He is fearless and loves to fight."

"He participates in the biggest fight shows in order to win silver coins.

Jimin furrowed and watched the mysterious man run between people.

"He always creates problems in the village. People complain a lot about him."

"Your highness." one of the two men approached the Prince, "Should we arrest him?"

The silver-haired shook his head, "I need no problems today."

The guards nodded.

Jimin was about to walk away when he stopped and faced them again, "Or you know what?" he rubbed his chin. "Go catch him."

The guards didn't need another second to think about the Prince's order. They immediately turned around and ran toward the direction he went to.

Jimin waited for them on a bench, his legs crossed. He was confident that his guards will catch him easily.

Indeed a few moments later, they appeared in front of him, grabbing the stranger's arms.

"Let go of me!" he groaned and tried to defend himself.

Jimin stood up and furrowed when he saw him. He was wearing a black hood and a mask was covering his face, showing only his eyes.

His stare was cold, piercing and threatening.

"Who are you?" he asked with a low voice.

"I am the Prince." Jimin answered, running his fingers through his silver hair.

The Eagle chuckled and rolled his eyes. "If you are the Prince then I am the King of Hellebore."

The guards were ready to hurt him but Jimin stopped them, "It is alright." he nodded. "I would like you to leave us alone."

The men bowed and walked away.

Jimin examined the mysterious man who was covering every single part of his body, even his hands were gloved. He carried two swords behind his back, a bag where he must hide his silver coins and a water bottle.

"So they call you The Eagle." he chuckled. "Are you really fearless?"

"Why?" the young man crossed his arms, "Do you want to fight? Are you desperate to get hurt?" he scoffed. "I do not think it's a good idea to ruin your beautiful face."

"Oh trust me, the last thing I want to do is fight." Jimin laughed. "But..." he looked at him and placed a hand on his shoulder, surprising him. "I do need someone who can fight, like you," he smirked.

The Eagle stared at him with confusion on his face.

"Oh, and thank you for calling me beautiful." the Prince smiled.