snowflake ☆ k.dy ☆ ayakashi series | ✔

doyoung [twenty-three]

Some time later, you withdrew your hand, Doyoung allowing you to do so.

"Thank you, Doyoung," you turned until you could comfortably press your forehead to his.

"You're welcome, Y/N," he whispered, sealing his lips over yours.

The four of you emerged from the yellow hall back into the main room to find a girl in a lilac robe was standing there, maybe around your age. She perked up upon spotting your small group. You were once more bundled back up, and self-consciously pressed a hand to one of your eyes. Doyoung had reassured you that the Lady's Spring had erased any evidence of you crying from your features, but the girl's gaze still made you shift uncomfortably.

Your boyfriend brushed right by her, making a beeline for your suitcase, acquiring the parka you had mentioned earlier. You stuck your arms out, letting him pull the sleeves over you and flip the hood up on top of the one you already had on. Content that you weren't going to get cyanosis again, Doyoung collected all your luggage before he finally turned to face the girl that had been watching the whole scene in front of her with interest.

Upon seeing that he was actually acknowledging her existence, she blurted out, "I'm Minhee, one of the attendants. Um, dinner is prepared in the dining hall."

"It's the same food that the poorest citizen of Erethulia has on their table, correct?" Doyoung queried, helping you put on your backpack once more.

"Every citizen is the poorest citizen," Minhee informed him, some bitterness in her tone.

"You aren't serving me anything better than what they eat, correct?" He asked sternly.

"Correct."

"Good," he nodded, pleased with her answer. "Y/N and I have eaten, dinner already happened on the other side of the tunnel before we departed. Dine without us, we'll settle into our room."

"We've prepared the Evergreen Quarters for you."

Doyoung tensed beside you, "That's not where the Prince stays."

"Well you're not—"

"I am. We're not staying in the Evergreen Quarters. I'll show us to the Yearling Quarters. Go dine with Chaewon and Chanshik, Minhee."

Minhee opened her mouth as if she were about to argue, but relented, "Very well."

Doyoung didn't move a muscle until the three of them had started down the orange hall. Once you could no longer see them, he guided you a couple archways over, to the green hall.

"The Evergreen Quarters..." You tried to keep your tone light.

"Is the area intended for the King and Queen," he informed you.

"Your parents' rooms."

"Yes. Sleeping in their bed would've felt... wrong."

"I understand, Doyoung," you reassured him, squeezing his forearm. "I'm going wherever you are."

"I know," a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and he dropped a peck on the crown of your head through your two hoods. "Thank you for that."

"So the Yearling Quarters are your rooms then? For the little Prince?"

"Yes..." he confirmed, tone turning musing as he continued, "I wonder if it's changed as much as the rest of Erethulia since I left."

The two of you had hit a lull in your conversation, so you backtracked to his exchange with Minhee.

"That thing about the food..."

"The Royal Family lives no differently than the rest of its people. We eat as well as they do, work as much as they do, and live as comfortably as they do. The castle is only this large because it serves as the government and economic center of Erethulia. The actual part that the Royal Family lives in is quite a small portion of it."

"That's wonderful. Nothing like all the human royalty that's existed."

"Like I said before, we exist to serve Erethulia and its people, not the other way around."

It was then that you had apparently reached your destination, as he slowed to a stop in front of a door. It was closer in size to the ones you were accustomed to in your day-to-day human life. Still made of stone and ice and embedded with green iridia crystals, though. He grabbed the stone handle, and instead of pushing or pulling it open like you anticipated, he slid it open, the door retreating into the wall to grant you entry.

You walked into a singular room, a bedroom. One side had a couch, armchair, rug, and table to form a small sitting area, a desk and chair against the wall, and the other side contained the actual bed as well as a dresser and two nightstands. Another door was there, leading to presumably the bathroom. The furniture was all white, but with a wash of green from the iridia crystals illuminating the room. Doyoung was right, it was rather small, probably a similar square footage to your apartment.

"Well, has it changed?" You prompted him.

"Yes, my pictures are gone," he informed you bitterly, and it didn't take a huge leap of logic to know the subject of the pictures. His family.

Doyoung made his way further into the room, setting both your duffel bags on the bed and depositing your suitcase at the foot of the bed. You shimmied your backpack off and set it next to your suitcase on the ground.

"You can unpack, I'm sure the dresser is empty," Doyoung said, unzipping his own bag.

Taking in the state of the bed—the only bedding was pillows, a fitted sheet, and thin sheet on top—you decided to unpack your blankets and quilts first.

"So what's all this 'I'm no King' stuff?" You asked, struggling to pull the first blanket out from the tightly stuffed duffel bag. "You seemed all gung-ho 'my people need their King' back at Kun's place."

Your boyfriend sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed, gaze fixated on the wall in front of him, "It's one thing declaring it in a friend's penthouse a lifetime away from Erethulia and another actually taking on that role here, where I can see the faces of all the people who are relying on me. Feel all their hopes resting on my shoulders."

Setting your bag-blanket situation aside, you climbed onto the bed too, kneeling behind him. You placed your hands on his shoulders, "I can't take that burden from you, but I'm here for you. You know that, right?"

"Of course," Doyoung straightened up and turned his head to be able to see your face. "And for that, I'm eternally grateful. I'm eternally grateful for you."

A smitten smile creeped across your face as you continued looking down at him. You slid your hands further down until you could wrap your arms loosely around his neck, nose-to-nose with him now.

"I'm grateful for you too, snowflake," you murmured, lips ghosting over his with each syllable.