Promise- Minsung

Chapter Twenty Six

Minho could not sleep that night. He had never really thought about getting married, but he certainly didn't think that he'd feel like this the night before his wedding day. This was supposed to be happy and full of joy and instead, Minho felt like he wanted to throw up.

"Mom... Dad..." Minho stared up at the top of the room at the wooden roof. "What am I doing here? Why is Minhyuk making me do this?" he bitterly clenched his jaw. Minhyuk wasn't even married! Why was he making him marry some foreign prince? It was ridiculous!

Minho eventually fell into a light sleep, only to be woken a few hours later by Yongbok. "Wake up, cousin," he murmured quietly. "You have to get ready."

Minho frowned up at him with blurry eyes. "Hm?"

"Time to get up!" Min-hyung ran into the room and jumped on his brother. "Wake up!"

"I'm awake!" Minho cried, throwing the blankets off. He sat up as his sister made her way into the room, followed by a long line of servants. "Time to get ready!" she smiled softly at him with slight sympathy. "You ready?"

Minho blinked, and then nodded. "Today is the big day..."

Across the way, Princess Jeongyeon was waking her cousin up as well. "Prince Jisung... Jisung... Wake up!" she hunched over her stomach, now swelling with a growing baby. "Jisung, you have to get up."

Jisung was already awake and laying silently within his bed and Jeongyeon looked at him, and backed away. "I'll get water started in the bath. Make sure you get up soon. After you bathe, there will be people waiting here to dress you. New hanboks, you'll look great."

Jisung gripped his cousin's hand. "Did Minho decide whether to open the wedding up to the public?"

"It's public for the most part. There were stands erected for the nobles and the public could crowd into the sides."

"Okay," Jisung murmured. He stood up and adjusted the white night gown he was wearing.

Master Kang was waiting outside his room. They looked at each other for a moment before Jisung blinked and walked at the master's side.

"Are you ready?" Master Kang said quietly, trying not to wake everyone else in the palace, even though almost everyone was almost up. "You don't look like you slept well."

"I didn't sleep well. And it's not a choice of mine, is it?" Jisung turned and stared at Master Kang, who sighed.

"It is not," Master Kang didn't even turn to look at the young prince.

"Is there something that you are not telling me about this deal?" Jisung demanded, stopping his walk with the man that he raised him like a father.

"Yes," Master Kang said bluntly. "But it doesn't matter now that everything is coming together like we planned."

"Who is we?"

"Me, your parents, Minho's older brother. Like we all planned."

"So all of you were totally dooming me to live a life tied with a man I want nothing to do with?"

"Yes."

Jisung glared at him and stalked away. "I'll see you at the wedding," Jisung hissed as he made his way into the bathroom where warm water had been prepared for him.

He stripped himself of the white night gown he had and stepped into the warm water, sinking against the wooden bench. "Ah...." he sighed, leaning his head back. "This is the worst."

Minho was having the same dilemma. He stood stiffly as servants ran around with silks and made him look like a stuffed monkey.

"This is the last layer," Ji-eun laughed as the last red and gold layer of silk went around his shoulders. "Do we have the belt?"