-please read in dark mode!
-sorry for any mistakes!
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o n e

Beomgyu ran through the castle, Yeonjun right on his tail, the dark magenta carpet dulling their running- well before they were stopped anyways, by Hyunjin. "What'd we say about running in the castle, prince?" Hyunjin, Hwang Hyunjin, the most beloved servant of both the king and prince.

Beomgyu was the prince of Herringdelle, and soon to be king, after his uncle decides to crown him king. His mother and father had caught a sickness, sadly they didn't get better...

"B-But..." The blonde breathed heavily. "We were running from- from- Ah!!" Beomgyu's eyes widened as Heuningkai came running after them, tackling the two males.

"What have you boys possibly been doing?"

"We were bored so we decided to play tag!" Yeonjun pushed the long haired boy off of himself to stand up.

"Alright, well next time do it in the garden, for now, your food is ready, we also made some for your friends."

"Yes! Thank you, Hyunjin hyung!" Beomgyu gave the biggest hug to the black haired male before pulling the two boys to the dining hall before being hit with a savory smell coming from the kitchen.

"Wow, Gyu, your chefs' cooking smells amazing!" Kai made his way to the elegant table, made with dark mahogany wood with a dark magenta table cloth decorated with teal patterns.

"What about my amazingly delicious cooking?" A tall, dark haired male walked up to the table with three plates, skillfully balanced on is arms.

"Thank you Seokjin hyung!" Yeonjun smiled brightly at the older boy. Obviously his favorite.

"You know, I really love it when you call me hyung, unlike this heathen here who refuses to use honorifics." He flicked the blond prince's head after setting down their plates. "Now, eat up before sun sets, I want you two home before sunset."

"What!" Kai whined with a disappointed pout, he was hoping for an epic sleepover that consisted of sneaking out into the forest and telling scary stories.

"Jin, we were going to have a sleepover!"

"Have you seriously forgotten about tonight's dinner?"

"What dinner?"

"Does he have to do his weird prince things tonight? We had our whole night planned..." Kai twirled his silver fork with intricate designs around his finger before sticking it into his creamy bacon carbonara. (only 'heat' fans would understand smh-)

"Yeah! I've already been busy all week, surely I can have one night-"

"Maybe tomorrow, but your uncle wants you at this dinner, something about your marriage-"

"What?!"

"His marriage?! He's barely old enough to take care of himself let alone a kingdom or his wife... or husband, that's why uncle is king!" Yeonjun narrowed his eyes, concerned for his best friend.

"Hey, I can manage myself..." Beomgyu pouted. "And I'm not getting married."

"Marriage isn't as bad as it seems." Jin tried calming the prince- since he wasn't even supposed to tell him.

"How many husbands has Somi had."

"Okay, you have a point, but that's not every marriage!"

"But I don't want to get married! This is stupid, I don't need some guy or girl to make me happy. I have those to idiots to deal with already!" The blond aggressively took a bite out of his food.

"Yeah!- wait, I'm not an idiot, he is."

"Gyu, the point is, we want to unite kingdoms with Everglow."

"Then why can't we just be nice to them instead of marrying their prince off to some girl that I've never met before."

"That's the whole point of this dinner, now eat up, we can talk about this with your uncle. I'll request an escort for you two." Seokjin stood up and made his way back to the kitchen, leaving the trio in silence.

"This whole thing is stupid..." Beomgyu finished his carbonara before standing up. "You guys should go, I'll send an escort to pick you up tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay... see you tomorrow, promise we'll have our epic sleepover soon." The youngest pulled his two hyungs in for a hug. "It's okay hyung, whatever happens we won't be replaced by her, right?" Kai asked, suspiciously, he didn't want to be replaced by some stranger princess.

"Yeah. Of course." The blond had a lot to take in, he's almost king, he has to marry some girl who he sure is sweet but not his type anyways. He's not ready for all this grown up stuff. He doesn't think he ever will be. "I promise, I'll never marry her, even if she's like some crazy hot model that's vegan and owns a bunch of horses and dogs." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Okay, you promised!"

─ ⋆✩⋆ ─

Yiren... Princess Yiren? Beomgyu shifted in his seat, he didn't know why he was nervous to meet the princess, maybe it was because he had only met a princess once in his life... and he was like three.

The black haired girl took a seat at the grand table where he had been eating just a few hours ago with his actual friends and not some strangers who want their kid to marry some other stranger so they could not be strangers... weird isn't it?

"So, prince, I heard you like exploring? Sounds fun, go on any cool journeys recently?" Queen Sana gave me a soft smile... well at least they were nice.

"Oh, not recently, I've been uh, busy with royalty stuff... nothing too interesting." The boy gave a look to his uncle who let out a low chuckle.

"He's not too keen on this whole prince or king stuff, but I know he'll be an amazing ruler... actually his father was much like that." The king didn't often mention his brother since... well he's dead but that can't change.

Beomgyu missed his dad... everyone missed his dad, he had a grand funeral and many kingdoms mourned with us, he really was amazing... oh, and his mother was absolutely gorgeous and smart. She would sing for Beomgyu and the boys to sleep when they would sleep over or when he got nightmares he would run out into his parents room to fetch his mother. He missed her so much.

"So, Yiren, I heard you're interested in singing? That sounds lovely." The blond cut off his own, nostalgic thoughts and asked about the princess which surprised himself and his uncle.

"Oh- um yeah I can sing, not well though... but I love it, mother always used to sing to me but not much anymore, you should ask her to sing, she has a lovely voice." Yiren seemed like a sweetheart, maybe he wouldn't hate her but they could definitely be friends.

"Oh, no, I stopped singing awhile ago, maybe some other time you can have Yiren sing for you." The queen suggested.

"Oh, okay, I'll take that into consideration." I cracked a smile but to get in everyone's good side, nice move Gyu.

Dinner went by like that, they were actually enjoying their time and the servants were already picking up plates. The prince had learned that Yiren loved baking, singing, gardening, and her laugh was so cute. She absolutely adored her little sibling and the young children of the village- perfect wife material but that's not what Beomgyu was looking for.

"Oh, Seokjinnie, I can help you with that!" Beomgyu ran over to the struggling male who had a bunch of plates on his hands.

"Yah, it's hyung, you heathen- hey! Go sit down you have guests! I'll be fine!"

"Oh my gosh just let me help you- uh please excuse me!" The prince took a brief bow before turning to Jin and grabbing a couple plates to lighten his load.

"You know, this is my job and I'm supposed to be doing this? Your job is to be out there and be a prince." Jin set down the plates in the sink.

"I don't want to. I hate it, I hate being this person who has to be responsible and a leader. I'm none of those things! I'm still a child and I want to stay one..." The boy set down his plates. "I don't want to be a prince, I just want to live a simple life. I want to work hard for my things and be a commoner."

"I'm not saying that you have to be all of those things but... Gyu," Oh god, here we go. "We all grow up eventually... and so many people would kill to be in your position as future king. Please, don't take your lifestyle for granted." The elder's voice was quiet at the last part of his sentence.

"No- wait, Seokjin, I'm not trying to say I take it for granted, it's just that-"

"You should get back out there. I'll be fine in here." The servant started with cleaning the dirty dishes.

"Okay..." Beomgyu whispered before leaving the kitchen with a lump in his throat and tears threatening to trickle down his fair cheeks. He felt so bad, so, so bad. He quickly blinked away his tears before taking a seat at the table. He absolutely hated making people feel bad.

"Prince, why don't you take Princess Yiren to our garden? We need to have a chat about some things which you guys probably would have no interest in."

"Oh, very well then, princess?" The prince looked to Yiren who stood from her seat, giving a bow and thanking for dinner.

The two royals walked in silence through the castle, making their way to the grand doors. It was cool outside but not too cold. "So, I heard that you like gardening so I thought maybe you'd like to see the garden..?"

"Oh, yes, I love gardening, thank you." Yiren was absolutely gorgeous, anything a boy could ever want in a girl he was so close to falling for her in one night, that's how amazing she is. But a little voice in his head told him otherwise and it was foolish of him. Beomgyu showed the girl outside to the illuminated garden. There was a grand willow tree in the center, surrounded by an elegant fountain that had little koi fish swimming about.

It was a fairly large garden, the walls surrounding it were draped in vines with delicate flowers which was lit up by softly glowing fairy lights placed here and there. The paths underneath their feet were cobblestone with moss sprinkled here and there and different assortments of flowers and plants were in there respected patches.

"Oh," The princess gasped in amazement. "Beomgyu, it's absolutely gorgeous here..." Over the garden wall, you could see the dark forest, looming above them, the garden felt safe. "Your willow tree... it's really pretty... koi fish? I used to have a pond at home full of them but sadly my cat had a couple visits to our own garden without me."

"We have many more willow trees planted in our village. The one in the middle is absolutely gorgeous. Can I take you there?" It wasn't too late out see he didn't see it as much a problem.

"Sure, I haven't gotten a proper look of your village yet, I'm sure it's beautiful."

After a bit of walking and chatting, the two young royals reached the huge willow tree even bigger than the one in the garden. Children would often come and climb the tree only to be scolded by their mothers shortly after. There was a small pond surrounding the tree with lily pads scattered about on the clear, teal water. The streets of the village were always lit my softly glowing lamps and the tree.

The two sat at the edge, admiring the illuminated tree. The girl let out small giggles as she watched fireflies dance about over her head. They looked a lot like happy stars that floated too close to the ground.

"I know my mom and your uncle want us to be married, but I think you're really cool, Beomgyu and I know you probably don't want to marry me but... maybe you could at least give this whole thing a chance..?"

"What do you mean by that?"

The girl leaned in and attached their innocent lips, he let his eyes close and told himself to enjoy the moment.

And he did, forgetting what he promised the boys. Forgetting that he didn't want to be in a relationship let alone get married. For now, the two shared a sweet kiss under the moonlight.

Forgetting what he told him by the water fountain.

✎
hello, thanks for reading, i had so much fun writing this, sorry if it sucks, i might come back to edit if i'm not satisfied. i'm putting s hold on 'purrs' for awhile since i'm still planning out the plot. i'm also putting 'price of perfection' on hold since no one reads that.

also, please give these songs a listen!

- i i i
-suggi
- 20cm
-tomorrow x together
- bbibbi
-iu
-pool
-woods , sunim