Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
• ₊°✧︡˗ˏˋ ⭑ ˎˊ˗
"Jeonghyun! Yoo Jeonghyun" Jeonghyun swiftly turned towards the direction he heard his name. Jeonghyun quickly ran towards his friend in the middle of the crowded market, seeing who it was.
"Seungkwan-ssi!" Jeonghyun smiled as he neared the shorter boy. "Hyung, are you ready?" A smile formed on Jeonghyun's face as he grabbed Seungkwan's hand and moved through the crowd of people.
Jeonghyun made his way to the sweets market before placing both of his hands on the counter. "Noona~" he called out to the woman standing behind the sweets with an unamused look on her face.
"I'm not giving you free stuff today, Jeonghyun" she shook her head as Jeonghyun pouted. "But Noona!! I'm so hungry, and your sweets are the best. So please won't you spare some for us?" The lady sighed as she saw Jeonghyun bat his eyelashes.
"You have your way with words, kid" the woman murmured under her breath as she began packing some of the nicest sweets for Jeonghyun. Seungkwan was too busy staring at the boy before him, who every so often looked over his shoulder to give Seungkwan a slight smirk.
"How do you do that!!?" Seungkwan asked as Jeonghyun made his way to his next target. "I'm charming and adorable. No one can say no to me" Jeonghyun stated as he stuffed some of the sweets into his mouth.
"Well tomorrow, we'll begin our training to be Hwarangs! Do you think your charm will work there? In the kingdom!?" Seungkwan said, pointing to the large gates that separated the royals from the commoners. Jeonghyun rolled his eyes at the mention of Hwarangs. That was the last thing he wanted to do. Why should he waste his life protecting the throne when all it has ever done was disregard the people who really needed help.
He looked once at Seungkwan, who had gotten distracted by a cat and was further behind him before slipping into the crowd of people and walking up to the kingdom gates. "I don't want to go there" Jeonghyun sighed under his breath as he stared at the large gates that seemed like a cage to him.
"I hope I don't run into the prince. I feel like he'll be just as arrogant as his father" Jeonghyun shuddered at the thought before finding his way back to Seungkwan.
⭑ ───── ♛ ───── ⭑
"You can't be serious, mother!" Jisoo raised his voice slightly as he heard his mother put the idea of marriage forth. "You may be the next king of Silla, but I'm still your mother and you will respect me!" The Queen said sternly while maintaining her calm demeanour.
"I apologise for my behaviour" Jisoo bowed as he walked back to his throne. He told himself to hold it together for a while longer, and then he'll be able to go to his chambers and rest. At least when he was asleep, he wouldn't be worrying about the burden of an entire kingdom on his shoulders.
As soon as his mother got up to move to her evening leisures, Jisoo escaped to his garden which was the only place other than his chambers where he could actually breathe and be relaxed.
"I don't want this" Jisoo talked to himself as he paced back and forth in his garden. "Why couldn't I have been a farmer? Then, in the least, I'll be free of her" Jisoo didn't understand why his mother was so obsessed with putting him down each time he did something.
If she thought of him as unfit for the throne, then why couldn't she have just let him be. There was always his brother, Jisung. Jisung would be a better king than him, but nobody cared to look at his skills and compassion. It was all about customs and traditions, even if it was absolutely unreasonable.
"Hyung, are you okay?" He heard Jisung ask in the distance. He was standing by the courtyard as he waved. Jisoo smiled at the boy before walking towards him. "Hyung! Do you want to join me in playing Gaegichagi?" Jisung asked hopefully as he clung onto Jisoo's sleeve.
"Let's go!" Jisoo only had to mention the words as Jisung's face lit up. Jisung was the only sense of comfort Jisoo had in the kingdom. He was hidden from the public ever since his father was killed in the war.
It was meant to protect him, but it destroyed his childhood, his freedom. He never got to see outside the gates, never made friends. All he had was his brother and his mother, who worried about him and was ready to protect him at any cost.
She cared and worried about him but not as her son, as the next heir to the throne of Silla. Now she wanted to ally with a neighbouring kingdom through marriage.
Jisoo didn't want to be tied to a person before he got to see what the world had to offer him, he had an extensive library, and from the age of 12, he had managed to read most of the books.
The books described the wonders of the world, the beauty that lay just outside his arm's reach. He had also read about love. Not one forced through an alliance. The kind of love that was supposed to make your heart beat out of your chest and make you forget who you were.
Jisoo wanted that, but he knew that he would never be able to live the life he wanted. Even though he had accepted his fate to an extent, he wasn't ready yet to throw his life away. He wanted to wait a little longer, maybe his person was out there and maybe they could be together, Just maybe...
