Crestfallen

Marriage Talk

Chapter Seven

Various designs of otgoreum were presented to her. Blue, Red, Yellow, Purple and Cream, yes, they all look stunning to her, but it dulls her. Her she placed her hand on her cheek, to make it seem like she's deciding, since her mother is watching her carefully. She pointed her finger at the cream one, and the servant holding it walked to the left while the others went to the right. This has been going on for hours, her eyelids were slowly drooping, and if they were then her mother whom is seated beside her will strike her hand with the fan her mother is using. It's painful, really, she's been hit four times already.  Who knows preparing for a wedding could be so irksome?

Another batch of clothes were presented to her, and they were a batch of chima, made with the finest silk obtained just for her. She simply choose one randomly, not bothering to examine them intricately. "Must you be so careless, Joo Kwang?" her mother spat, fanning herself more. Can she blame her? She is unhappy. She is barely familiar with her groom, whom she last saw ten years ago. And she was only seven while he was fifteen back then.

But what can she do? Her parents are seriously frantic about her marriage with the dauphin of Febuary, and she would not dare to intervene with their plans. She should be joyous, they say,  because having a male successor as a queen consort in Febuary is of no need. All they expect is an heir, either male or female. Well, it does cross out one of her worries, but it still does not ease her. She will live a great distance from her homeland, June, and she will also never see her family again, especially her beloved siblings. She might see her brother, Haneul, commonly known as 'Bam II' since he is the Emperor of June, because from what she heard, the Kingdom of Febuary is only a few days away from the Kingdom of April, the land where the princess he pursues lives. She might ask her future husband to grant her permission to travel if ever she hears him visiting April, or ask Haneul to visit her. Correct! She suddenly felt relief, another of her troubles were alleviated.

"May I ask for his royal higness, the Emperor?" she suddenly spoke out of the blue, and all the servants widened their eyes. "What must the reason that makes you ask of him?" her mother said, in a benignant way, although she knows it's false. "I have private concerns to discuss with him." she must not let her mother know, for she wants her to focus on being the future queen (or consort perhaps, she thought) of Febuary. She wants Joo to control her husband, so she can have utmost power over Febuary. She wants Joo to be an expert puppeteer of men and people.  She wants Joo to be exactly like who she is, a perfect copy. This sickens Joo Kwang. She does not want dominance and power, she wants freedom. And if she cannot have it then she will not deprive her people of it. She felt her shoulders shudder, not of frigidness, not of fear, but of a tiny bit of excitement growing inside her. She realized she just saw the people of Febuary as her own people. Maybe her marriage is not as worse as she thought it is.

"Joo!" she snapped from her thoughts at her mother's words and action. She was hit again by the fan. She is growing weary of that fan. She wants to grab it and throw it away, but that would be highly improper. She is seventeen, no longer a child, yet her heart still yearns to play in the grass and pick sweet smelling flowers. She wishes to- "Hear me Joo Kwang!"  Her hand is growing sore and red, this is the sixth time already, she must focus. "You are staring blankly at nothingness, and these poor maids have been waiting long enough for your choice, have you no pity on them?" she spat, in a trying-to-be-kind-yet-I'm-irritated-now tone. "Forgive me." she replied, and went on to pointing in random.

---

"They made another alliance, with Febuary. It is true that they are growing stronger than ever, and so are the Kingdoms they are friendly with. We must be on their good side." King Stephen spoke, telling Francis the news. "Then we must organize the wedding right away!" the duke replied, followed by the King's frowned upon face. "Dominique is against it. She wants March. She wants Raien." frustration can be traced by his response. "Well are you not the King of April, my lord and brother-in-law?"

"More than I am a Father to my people, I am a Father to my children. I honestly do want our land and sovereign to grow, but I also do wish happiness and true love for my eldest. Like how I married my wife not out to strengthen kingdom relations, but out of  love. And now I am happy, feeling clean for having no mistresses. I want the same for my daughter too."

"My lord, I understand your concern for your daughter, but please do prioritize our kingdom. We must not act on whim, on feeling (A/N: Reign fans where u at?). If we wont act soon enough then the Emperor might quit pursuing the princess, and if you are thinking to make your other daughters marry him, well.." the duke sighed. "I see. He is truly interested with Dominique. She seems like the best option for him, and for any other king hoping bonds with April." the two men looked at each other in agreement.  "Correct, your grace. She is as of the same age as the Emperor, also undeniable that she maintaims her viture, and..." his voice trailed off, making the King curious. "And what?"

"You do know, that it is a possibility for her to be queen regnant someday." the duke replied, leaving the King shook. "The young dauphin Dominic is weak and frail, your highness. We must prepare for the worst case scena-"
"My youngest will live!" the King cut through, loudly. "He is my son, Francis! My one and only son! He will grow to be the King of April, and I bet my life on that chance!" the King shouted, leaving the Duke to do nothing but silence himself. Happiness, truly is a luxury for them royals.

|A/N| And cash is a luxury too since there is no jobs for thirteen year olds and I wanna help me mom and I also want to die figuratively. Lol messenger sucks because it wont work so I spent my time writing this chapter and here we are. Anyways, I'm ditching sleep for this but doesn't matter because it's fun anyway. If any of you have read my other story or book or what ever the heck they call it, "Time and Love" then screw it because if  I am writing this at thirteen then imagine how old I was writing that back then. It has no plot line, no intensive research on monarchies and sovereigns, and the cover I made was crappy. The whole book is crappy. But I don't wanna delete it because it reminds me of my cringiness and I wanna preserve it.

JUST LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS AND PLEASE I BEG YOU FOR THE SAKE OF APRIL, VOTE AND SHARE BECAUSE THE EDGY AUTHOR IS TIRED AND DEPRIVED OF SLEEP THANK YOU :))))))))))))