Reprieve | myg

003

Your Royal Highness, King of Vhrea,

Greetings of Peace!

After weeks of reflecting and weighing both the advantages and disadvantages of your proposition, it is with pleasure to inform you that I have decided to agree with the proposal.

I believe that we share the same goals when it comes to the betterment of our nation and I am hoping that this will be the start of a new, peaceful era.

Most sincerely,

Kim Areum, Princess of Meri

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Meri finally called off the war against Vhrea, announcing their plans to form an alliance and the people rejoiced at this news as they can now sleep in peace without worrying about their safety and slowly get their lives back to normal. There were countless questions, of course, about the sudden decision. The kingdoms have yet answered them but weeks after the princess sent the letter, rumors of the marriage spread like wildfire across the two countries and to their surprise, nearly everyone was excited about it. The speculations are everywhere, saying that maybe the war stopped because the prince of Vhrea and the princess of Meri fell in love.

It became the talk of the town. People awed at the thought of love that paved the way to pull the rival nations together. It was like a modern day Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending, they say. Love is indeed powerful enough to move mountains, powerful enough to wipe out all hatred, even powerful to thaw the cold hearts of the leaders of the kingdoms. Who would've thought that the long years of fighting would be ended because of love. Romantic isn't it?

But Areum hates it. She hates every single bit of it. Seeing the news makes her sick with disgust. Her feelings for the prince are nowhere near love, not even a speck of affection, unlike what the commoners and the media think. Days after that dreaded dinner, the king started to treat her as if she was an irrelevant member of the royal family. She was ignored, was reminded that she was not an heir and she was basically nothing but as soon as she told the royal council her decision, she was suddenly the precious daughter again. 'I knew you were just blinded with your emotions.' Her father told her and she resented the fact that the king was right about saying that she'd eventually say yes to this. She feels used. The burden of her duties weighs heavy around her neck and as the days pass by, it gets tighter. She fears that one day it will be so tight that she'll end up being choked by it.

The preparations for the union of Meri and Vhrea only made her feel tired than before. She has her own commitments and obligations as the princess of the country and the whole ordeal of having to put two contradicting countries together by marriage is only piling up to her tasks. The press alone is already difficult to handle which got worse when Meri's royal family was seen visiting Vhrea.

They had to go there to talk about specific things regarding their marriage, the motif, the guests, the food, the location and as much as Areum wanted to leave the decision to them–since they forced this upon her in the first place–Yoongi insisted that she takes the call. It's a woman's most special day so he wanted her to be part of the planning. He was also worried that she might feel homesick so the royals decided that she'll be allowed to bring someone with her once she moves in. Her eyes instantly lit up but they were quick to kill her hopes because why the hell did she even think that they would allow Jungkook to step in their kingdom. He threatened the safety of the future king and it is expected that they'd keep him off vicinity. Props to the crown prince for his effort of including her in this matter but it feels nothing like salt being roughly rubbed on her open wounds.