All That Glitters is Not Gold (BTS X Reader)

Chapter 14

At Taehyung's devastated look, the immense wave of guilt swept over me again. I felt terrible that he had taken the risk for me, not even knowing who I was. Taehyung must have caught the look on my face because he squeezed my hand tightly.

"Please beautiful maiden," Taehyung pleaded. "Do not feel any guilt over the matter. If I had the chance to make the same decision, I would in an instant. I will never regret saving a lovely person such as yourself. You risked your safety to help me. You risked you life to save me. How could I not do the same for you?"

I felt a little reassured at his words, knowing I would make the same decision to save him again even if I almost lost my life to a siren. "Tae? Why do they forbid interactions with humans?" I asked, my voice filled with curiosity, not understanding the hatred between the two species.

Taehyung sighed. "It wasn't always so. Several centuries ago, humans and sirens lived peacefully. Humans would hunt the predatory sea creatures that posed a threat to sirens and we in turn would share the best fishing grounds with them. We lived in perfect harmony for many years," he explained, a pining look in his eyes.

"What happened?" I questioned. It was almost impossible to believe that humans and sirens used to coexist peacefully considering humans feared them so greatly now.

We walked in silence for a moment, as Taehyung seemed to gather his thoughts. I noticed that even Jimin, Jin, and Hoseok were interested in the conversation. Hoseok hadn't said one nasty thing since we first crossed the stone bridge.

After a moment, Taehyung spoke up again. "Many years ago, there was an incident that shook the entire kingdom. The queen at the time was a horrible woman. She was harsh and instilled the most severe punishments on sirens for the most trivial reasons," Taehyung replied. "The king, on the other hand, was kind and gentle. He often went against his wife's wishes, wanting to keep the peace in the kingdom. The king and queen had one son: Sehun. Shortly after the birth of Sehun, the king was killed in an unfortunate catastrophe."

Taehyung hesitated and I gently squeezed his fingers. "It's okay if you can't continue," I said, understanding the topic might be difficult for him.

"Hey!" Hoseok protested behind me, but quickly shut up when I shot him a glare. His only sign of his irritation was the smoke seeping from his nostrils.

Taehyung ran a hand through his bright blue hair. "No it's quite alright beautiful maiden," he reassured me gently. "It's better for you to know the reason we are supposed to despise each other."

"I... I don't despise you," I commented. "How could I? You saved my life."

Taehyung smiled at my words. "Yes beautiful maiden. The same could be said for me," he replied. "You put your life in danger to save mine. How could I feel anything other than gratitude for someone who would be willing to do that?"

I returned Taehyung's smile, lost in his eyes once again, when I heard a cough from the fairy beside me. I turned to Jimin and he just kind of shrugged then tugged on my hand, pulling me closer to his side.

Taehyung raised an eyebrow at the fairy's action but decided to resume the tale instead of questioning Jimin's unexpected and strange actions. "Sehun was arranged to marry a princess from another kingdom. The marriage would help unite the two kingdoms. The princess was just as terrible as the queen and the match was horrible. Sehun was devastated at the idea of spending the rest of eternity with someone like her," Taehyung continued.

"One day he had gotten caught up in a fishing net thrown out by a ship. The crew of the ship did not notice the struggling prince, but the human princess on board did. She dove into the sea to cut Sehun free from the net. She saved his life," Taehyung explained. "Sehun helped her reboard her ship once she had freed him and instantly fell in love with her."

My heart clenched at his words, a bad feeling taking over me. Since peace no longer existed between humans and sirens, I knew the ending of the tale would not be blissful.

Jimin sensed my mood and squeezed my hand tightly. I turned and gave him a smile, grateful for his sensitivity and closeness.

"When Sehun returned to the kingdom, he informed the queen that he would no longer be marrying the wretched siren princess, but had fallen in love with a human princess. The queen was furious. She informed Sehun that he would not be marrying the human princess, but that things would proceed as planned. Sehun refused and essentially ran away to be with his love, betraying his kingdom," Taehyung recounted, his eyes filled with sorrow.

Taehyung took a deep breath and continued. "When the queen learned of Sehun's betrayal, she... she ordered the human princess to be executed. One of the queens' guards went on land, entered the palace, and killed the princess in her sleep. When Sehun learned of the his mother's actions, he took his own life, not wanting to continue living without his love."

My eyes unwillingly filled with tears at the sadness from the tale. "How horrid!" I exclaimed. "I... I can't imagine losing my love in such a manner." My mind went to Kai for the first time in the last couple days. Would I survive if he were to suddenly be taken away from me?

Jimin and Taehyung dropped my hands simultaneously. "My apologies," Jimin said, his normally sweet voice reserved and polite. "I did not realize you were betrothed."

Taehyung took a step away from me, mumbling his apologies as well. Their strange behavior confused me until I realized the way my words had sounded. I shook my head. "No. There is no betrothed," I hurriedly explained.

I almost missed the relieved looks on the faces of my traveling companions, but my mind was consumed with thoughts of Sehun and his princess. "What happened next?" I questioned, wanting to know why sirens and humans despised each other so much.

Taehyung let out a sigh. "When the human king learned of the siren queen's actions, he declared war on the sirens. Many lives were lost, both humans and sirens. A guard from the human king's army ultimately killed the queen for her actions. It set off a chain of events that led to the hatred so visible between humans and sirens today. Now when the humans see sirens, they kill them off immediately. Sirens began using their Siren Song to lure humans to their deaths, either by forcing them to dive into the depths of the sea or by crashing their ships upon the rocks."

"So much bloodshed over true love," I said distractedly, my heart shattering for the poor, unfortunate couple in the tale. "Poor Sehun and his princess."

Taehyung stood in front of me, wiping my cheeks free of tears I hadn't noticed that had fallen. "It's quite alright, beautiful maiden. Legends say that Sehun and his love were reunited in the afterlife."

Hoseok snorted behind me, but I ignored him. "I do hope that to be true. To find love and then lose it so quickly must be absolutely devastating," I replied.

"That it must be beautiful maiden," Taehyung said softly. "That it must be."