Royal Duty [Minjoon]

15th part

The heavy mahogany doors opened with a loud creak, averting the attention of the ones already assembled in the great hall towards Jimin. The faces that were now staring him up and down looking for any kind of flaw in his demeanor, were mostly familiar. In between those familiar ones that had been around as long as Jimin could recall, there were also some he could not remember having seen before. These seemed even more desperate in their demeanor, looking for, and wanting there to be at least one flaw that they could call him out on, but there were none and they had to bitterly sit back in their chairs and wait for the prince to do the same. "Ah, Jimin, good to see you." The king smiled, motioning with a small nod towards the empty seat next to his own on the short side of the table.

"As you can see, there are some new faces here. I am assuming you know why?" He asked with a smile, but despite it, looking at the prince hardly. "Of course I do father." The prince told back, smiling at the newly arrived guests that had joined them. "Well, now that we are all gathered," The kind announced, standing up in front of his chair, looking out to the others and placing his palms on the table in front of them. "Let the meeting begin!" Jimin felt his spirit fade as once as he heard the words that left his father's mouth. He knew they were going to come, he had awaited them for a long time, but the waiting had been a dread and the announcement had been even more of one. 'The negotiations of their marriage'. He felt his heart drop at merely the thought and he released a quiet sigh hoping it would go unheard by the the rest of the people in the assembly. By instinct, his eyes slowly drifted over to where the princess was sitting. She was beautiful, he knew that, and he was not denying it. This girl was probably one of the most gorgeous people he had ever seen, yet the thought of marrying her was making an uncomfortable prickle spread though his bones.

"We already know why this marriage is arranged, but need to discuss which further privileges that this marriage can bring, to find out if we should go through with it or not. "His father announced again and a mumble broke through the room. "An advantage would of course be that our kingdoms will be united, we will have more common recourses and we will be a more powerful and bigger country together." A short man spoke up. He seemed to be very confident in what he said, his chest puffed out and his eyes staring right into those of the king. "Another perk is that we assure many healthy children to be born with such a young couple." Murmurs and agreement could be heard by the others. How much the crown prince wanted to object to this whole thing, to tell his father that there was no way this was happening, but he kept his mouth shut, he knew where the line of his authority went, and objecting, would be crossing it with a mile.

After a while Jimin lost track of time. He was merely sitting in his assigned chair, looking at the old men debating with more and more passion, he had toned out what they were talking about a while ago. Not wanting to hear his own fate and life be decided for him without his input. One sentence from his father though, made him regain his attention on the conversation, as if on instinct. His eyes were wide and shot up to look up at his father as he announced the most dreadful sentence imaginable: "Then it's decided, the date of the wedding is set to exactly three months from today." The prince instantly stood up, once again bringing attention and stares towards himself. "Three months!?" He exclaimed and he knew he had said it to loudly by the deadly glare his father sent him, at this moment, he couldn't mind his father's nasty glare less. At that moment he stopped caring about his duties as a prince, stopped caring about the line he had just ran over as if he was escaping an arrow that had been shot at him. At this moment he only cared about the rights everyone except royalty seemed to have, and about the screaming from his heart. "What happened to me not marrying till I have turned 18?" He said loudly, concern and most of all, desperation laced in his voice.

Three months wasn't enough for him to mentally prepare himself. Three months wasn't enough time for him to be able to devote himself to being married or having children. Three months was not enough time for him to fall in love with his fiancé, the one he would spend his life with in someone eles's command.
Three months, was still three months less than what it took for him to fall for another man. "We don't need this treaty to happen in two years Jimin, we need it to happen now. NOW is when the country is in a crisis that can result in war." The king spoke to the crowd, refusing to look at his son with the dark eyes that were clearly filled with disgrace. "What happened to falling in love." Jimin heard himself mumble. The words were not actually intended to be said, but when they were, a roar of laughter broke out from every corner of the room. "Love. LOVE! You silly boy!" His father roared, shutting the crowd up. "Love is only a scenario in those pointless books you vow you time to reading. Love is only fictional, but wars aren't Jimin. Death, starvation and desperate measures are the cold hard truth of the real world we live in Jimin!" The kings breath was shallow as he finished speaking, his eyes blood shot and red, clearly displaying all the anger he felt towards his lovely son at that moment.

When he regained his breath back, the king coughed once before he said: "The wedding to unite our countries, will be held three months from today. No objections." He released a sigh, before he continued. "Dismissed."

Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get out after witnessing the king's outburst. At the words, everyone instantly started gathering their papers and documents at the speed of light and rushing out through the doors that were now being held open by two of the castle guards. Jimin looked over at his father. The king had his head slumped down, and his hands that were still rested on the surface of the table, were now in fists. "Father I...." Before he could finish, the royal waved a hand to dismiss him. Jimin felt himself release a loud breath and he slowly walked out through the door. "I am sorry." He mumbled as he slowly made his way out of the room, following track of the ones that had just left.