Chapter Text
The plan was simple enough on paper. Break into the most heavily guarded home in the kingdom and steal from the king.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t simple.
But with the information gathered and the layout of the palace memorised in Byul’s head, what could go wrong?
Consistency was what the king loved the most about his palace and his guards. And that consistency was going to be his downfall. The guards moved in a particular motion around the palace gates and left a huge chunk of scaleable wall left unattended. Mistake number one.
Mistake number two came in the form of an unlit garden path. Guards marched along the gravel turf, but could not see a figure hugging the decorative bushes along the sides of the worn out path leading to the palace. The guards were always in groups of two and always chatty at night meaning Byul’s footsteps couldn’t be heard over their voices.
The king, an omega, gave birth to two daughters and dedicated a large area of the palace to his two, also omega, princesses. Mistake number three was not the kings mistake, but rather, the two young girls’ mistake. Rumour was, they hated being heavily guarded at night. It brought on a deep seated anxiety within them and with it, many sleepless nights. So each princess had roughly two guards each patrolling their wing of the palace.
Byul had next to no difficulty scaling the palace walls in search of, what she assumed was, the eldest princess’ bedroom. Climbing the perfectly crafted walls was the most difficult part of the job, but luckily Byul had climbed mountains and other buildings that were harder than this.
Once she reached the princess’ balcony she crept towards the sliding door and attempted to listen for any heavy breathing or light snoring that would indicate that the princess was sleeping. She couldn’t hear a thing. Maybe the princess was on a nighttime stroll. Maybe she has an alpha play thing and was running the poor thing ragged in a forbidden part of the palace.
Mistake number four was also not the fault of the king. The door was unlocked.
She slid in with next to no noise and with only the moon light to brighten the room up, began quietly searching the room for any valuables. It took a while, a lot longer than she first assumed, but she finally laid a hand on the princess’ jewellery box.
Thanking the gods silently, Byul opened the golden box. She grinned when she saw exactly what she was looking for. A golden necklace with multiple diamonds coating nearly every part of it. This could feed a whole village for months, maybe even a year. She took one last look at the box before closing it softly and heading back to the balcony.
A figure blocked her path, however, and held up a lantern.
“Who are you?!” The voice demanded.
Byul froze on the spot. She cursed herself internally. She must have spent too much time looking, or maybe she was too loud, or maybe-
“I said, ‘Who are you?!’” The figure held up her lantern higher and illuminated her face.
She’s gorgeous, Byul noted. Long jet black hair, eyes almost hazel in colour, perfectly crafted eyebrows and an aura of a powerful woman.
Byul had never been caught before. She’d never been in this situation of explaining who she was or why she was currently holding a piece of extremely expensive jewellery in her hands.
Snapping out of her trance, Byul eventually replied, “I am no one, stand aside.”
The stranger placed the lantern on the vanity unit near the entrance to the balcony and held her arms open, “You’re stealing from the crown! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t yell for the guards.”
Still unsure about how to think on her feet, Byul tried to use her natural charisma to make the woman move.
“Listen, you could call the guards, but what good would that do? You and I both know that the beta’s the king hires are about as useful as a chocolate tea pot,” She flashed a smirk at the woman, “Now, please, just move out of the way and we can both pretend this never happened.”
The woman, arms still outstretched, did not falter, “You’re an unclaimed alpha.” She pointed out, “I thought unclaimed alpha’s were kept in the military barracks until purchased by an omega.”
Byul let out an offended scoff, “Not all alpha’s are sold into slavery.”
“No, they’re not.” The woman slowly took a step forward, “Not if their parents are rich. But if you’re stealing from me, you must be desperate. Stealing from the crown is a crime punishable by public beheading.”
Holding up the necklace, Byul examined the omega’s beautifully crafted face before replying, “If this belongs to you, then you must be the princess.”
“Yes.”
“Which princess are you? The one who no one has seen in four years or the one who got drunk and fell off a bridge?”
“Yonghee fell off a bridge?” The princess’ eyes widened, “Is that how she broke her arm?”
Ignoring the question, Byul began to subtly move around the princess, “Listen, I’d love to stay and chat, but I must be going-“
“You’re not leaving with my necklace!” The princess raised her voice.
Shushing her desperately, Byul held up her hands, “Princess do you really want me to fight you? I’m an alpha, I can easily knock you straight into next Tuesday!”
The princess laughed, “Just you try it.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Byul sighed as she tucked the necklace safely inside her satchel and charged at the princess only to be knocked straight to the floor in one hit.
“Come on,” The princess mocked, “I thought you were the big bad alpha come to beat up the helpless omega princess.”
Groaning slightly at the pain in her shoulder, Byul scrambled to her feet, “First one is always free.”
She charged again and swung a miscalculated fist towards the omega who caught it and twisted it around the alpha’s back and forced her face down onto the soft carpeted ground. She held the arm in place and used her foot to keep the pressure on Byul’s back and hold her down.
“So, alpha,” The princess smirked, “Are you ready to be punished for your crimes against the crown? First stealing from us and then attacking the princess,” she tutted, “Wouldn’t want to be you right now.”
“Princess, please,” Byul was never too proud to beg, growing up with her sort of background she did it a lot as a child, “If you give me to the guards then you’re not just condemning me to death, you’re condemning three others too.”
The princess sighed softly, “You should have thought about that before you decided to steal from me.”
Byul was never an expert at talking to omegas, the only experience she really had was her younger sisters and even then the conversations were dull as dishwater. But she knew the best way to sweet talk an omega was to pull at their heartstrings. So she did.
“I have two sisters,” Her voice was laced with desperation but she did not care, “Seulgi is ten and Yesol is six. My beta father was murdered by bandits on his way back from the market and my omega mother died in childbirth with Yesol,” The foot on her back eased up enough that Byul could barely feel it, “If you kill me, who will they have left to take care of them?”
The princess’s grip on the alpha’s arm lessened, “You said I’d be condemning three others. Who is the other person? Why can’t they take care of them?”
“That’s my friend, Wheein,” Byul’s face stung with carpet burns, but she continued, “I rescued her from a brothel two years ago. Omegas forced her to perform so many disgusting acts on them by drugging her with rut inducing toxins. She’s a broken alpha, she cannot take care of herself let alone two children.”
The princess’ hold was suddenly gone and the alpha wasted no time in jumping to her feet. They stared at one another before the princess spoke up.
“You can go, but you can’t take the necklace,” she held out a hand, “It belonged to my grandmother.”
Byul nodded and placed the necklace delicately into the princess’ hand, “I understand.” She nodded.
The omega studied the face of the alpha for a second before walking towards her jewellery box, “You cannot have the necklace, but you can take these.”
She held out diamond earrings and golden bracelets worth probably more than four of the necklaces. The alpha stood in shock as the pieces of jewellery were shoved unceremoniously into her satchel.
“Princess,” she gasped just before she was shoved in the direction of the balcony.
“Go,” the princess ordered, “And do not let me see you again.”
Byul nodded as she made her way to the balcony with the princess just behind her, “Wait,” the alpha turned, “I know of your sisters name, but I don’t know yours.”
“I could say the same about you.” The omega countered.
“Byulyi.” The alpha smiled, “Or just Byul.”
The princess returned the alpha’s smile before replying, “Why do you want to know my name?”
“Because I want my sisters to know who you are. I want them to know of the kind hearted princess that not only stopped their alpha sister from being publicly beheaded but also gave them a chance to live.”
“Yongsun.” The princess shyly mumbled.
Byul had a dreamy look etched upon her face, “Yongsun.” She repeated, “Beautiful.”
Without giving the princess a moment to come up with any sort or reply or retort, Byul began to climb back down from the omega’s balcony and once again became just a shadow in the palace garden.
Yongsun watched her fool every guard on her way back over the wall. She could sense that this will not be the last time she sees that alpha, and if she thinks about it, she doesn’t want it to be.