Golden Apple
Cupid at Heart
The Prince of Spade took his seat at the mighty throne, widening his eyes as open as possible to release his utter surprise. After the princess and her companions had left that afternoon, he did not expect any of them to return before dinner time—moreover with a statement he had least expected, yet highly hoped for.
“I shall accept your proposal, Prince Sunggyu,” Hyunmi had spoken, doing a graceful curtsy as she said it. Her face was filled with so much purity, he could barely detect any hidden intention. He wondered what had changed her mind, considering the possibility she had finally come to term with his charms.
“It pleases my heart to hear that. We can proceed with the wedding ceremony with ease,” he spoke, smirking at her earlier resolve to refuse him. He was irresistible, and no women could deny that.
“Certainly.” Hyunmi’s smile was as pure as the first snowfall in December, blameless and beautiful.
Sunggyu looked at her companions, wondering if they were planning something ill. The human cat and the one with the ridiculous hat were smiling deliriously in favor of the princess’ decision. It was the tall human hare and the servant girl who looked slightly nervous. Perhaps they were scheming against him.
“However, I do require one condition,” she spoke, showing a faint flicker of a delirious twist to her lips. “If we are betrothed, I will need you to prioritize me above everything and anyone else.”
Sunggyu frowned, raising his eyebrows curiously. His fingers tapped against the armrest of his throne, feeling somewhat uneasy at the seemingly innocent request. “I understand you are very greedy for my affections, princess, but rest assured that all my attention is on you.”
She smiled at the words she would usually shiver at. “Should you fail to meet this agreement, then the wedding shall be called off.”
Sunggyu squinted his eyes, trying to see through her sweet, yet diplomatic facade. She had a dark ominous aura about her he could only sense.
“Are you threatening me, dear?” He questioned, using a term of endearment to remind her of her position.
“Certainly not. The condition I ask of you does not compare to my sacrifice offering up my freedom,” Hyunmi said.
Finally, the gentle smile on her face faded into a thin line of malice. So it had come down to this, she showed him a condition in which he would crumble.
“You are quite manipulative,” Sunggyu uttered in disbelief, unsure what to make of her newly discovered character.
Hyunmi curtsied to show the best of her polite manners. “Should you have gotten to know me a bit better, you would know it is a trait embedded within me.”
She excused herself from his presence, informing him that they’d take a look around the castle and kingdom. He had zero suspicion for their upcoming actions.
If she couldn’t cancel the wedding on her own accord, the only solution was for him to end it himself.
Sunggyu was more than eager to show her around the Spade kingdom. He acted in his usual charming yet arrogant way, swaying the ladies as he passed, frustrating Hyunmi as he spoke.
Keeping him occupied and distracted was quite easy. With only two days left before the wedding, they had to opt for a drastic measure. He had no idea what was coming for him.
“Do we really have to do this?” Sungyeol asked that night as they met up in the princess’ room. Without his coffee beans, he became the calm and rational one, missing the murderous look on both Myungsoo and Seulyi’s face.
“We have no choice,” Myungsoo said, unclasping his hand to show some extraordinary looking beans in his hand. It was pink in color and emitted the pleasant aroma of dark chocolate. He had searched the land and used his social connections to retrieve these magical beans as per the princess' request..
Everyone swallowed it, waiting for an effect to take place. But minutes passed, and nothing seemed to have changed. They were still gathered in Hyunmi’s guest chamber, circling on the cold marble floor like a gang of assassins scheming a plot.
They waited until the moon was fully bloomed in the night sky, glowing brighter than the stars, before they took their cue to set their plan into motion. While Hyunmi, Sungjong, and Sungyeol remained in her room, Myungsoo and Seulyi rode the chimera to exit through the window.
Hidden by the surrounding darkness, the two figures hopped off at the gardens below. During the time when Hyunmi distracted Sunggyu, they were busy collecting raw materials needed to create a torch. They found some wooden staves and wrapped its end in a cloth dipped into a flammable substance made of sulfur and lime. This strengthened the longevity of the fire.
With their self made torches, Myungsoo led the way as he grabbed unto Seulyi’s hand, ensuring they’d lie low against the wall. Though it was night time, several guards were patrolling the castle. The two stood next to a lit up torch that was used to brighten up the night, scouting the surrounding.
“Are you ready?” He whispered softly to her, smirking as if their rebellion was quite entertaining.
“I’ll follow you,” she said, gripping the unlit torch in her own hand. They exchanged a small nod before starting.
Her next set of movements replicated Myungsoo’s. When he lit the torch in burning fire, she followed. When he threw it around in the garden to ignite a flicker of flame against the bushes and trees, she followed. When the guard took notice of their presence, Seulyi was the first to throw the torch against his head with perfect aim. The guard was knocked unconscious, unable to alert others when the wildfire began to spread over the kingdom.
“Come on, we have to burn the front side of the castle too,” Myungsoo said, pulling her along as they ran to the front. All the while, they scattered more torches into randomly selected areas, making sure it could create a humongous enigma of fire. It didn’t take long before the entire castle was engulfed in flames.
Inside, Sungjong and Sungyeol were in charge of creating equal chaos, and fired up the entire hallways and rooms. They ran through the corridors, breaking things, and dropping all candles and torches to spark a firestorm.
All the guards were on alert, signaling others to bring the royal family to safety. However, Sungjong and Sungyeol had deliberately obstructed their path with more fallen objects, making it quite impossible for them to reach the king and queen’s chamber easily.
In the middle of all the yelling and panic, Sunggyu found himself awake to the voice of someone calling out to him. He fluttered his eyes open, surprised to see the blurry image shape itself into the princess’ silhouette. What was she doing in his room?
“Prince Sunggyu, we have to move now!” Hyunmi yelled, her voice at a high pitch of fear. She constantly pulled on his arm, trying to wake him from his bed.
“What is happening?” Sunggyu questioned, sitting himself up.
“The castle is on fire. Everyone’s evacuating.”
“What?” He turned to look at her, horror devouring his facial expressions. “How can that be? This has never happened before. We have the topmost security in the entire land of Mirificus.”
Hyunmi genuinely applauded him for remaining so cocky even in such a dire situation. “Perhaps your guards at Spade aren’t as powerful as you give them credit for.”
He darted her a look of disagreement, but she got off his bed, pulling him by the arms.
“We have to escape now. I have a pegasus that can help us escape,” she said.
He got off from the bed, trying to regain his consciousness and balance. The sudden jolt of movements increased his dizziness.
“Hold on. What about my parents?” He suddenly remembered.
“They’re trapped within the flames. The guards will get to them. We have to escape,” Hyunmi said, continuing to pull on his arms towards the window.
At that time, the fire continued to spread, entering into his room, eating away the wallpaper around them. The surrounding welcomed them in a heated death. Even the ceiling nearly fell down when its foundation got swallowed away by the fire.
“Are you telling me to let them die?” Sunggyu asked. Seeing the urgency of their situation, he flung his arm free from her grip and headed to the door that wasn’t obstructed by the fire yet.
“You can’t save everyone, Sunggyu. If you ask me to wait until you have ensured their safety, I’d be long gone by then,” Hyunmi shouted. The burning fire reflected in her eye, as she waited for his reply. She was determined to succeed.
“My family is important to me. I will do whatever I can to protect them,” he told her with no sense of regret or hesitation in his firm declaration.
“You promised to prioritize me above everything and everyone, or else the marriage—”
“Will be cancelled,” Sunggyu finished the sentence for her. “My apologies, Princess. The duty of a son is not one which I can neglect. I have to save my parents even if it means losing you.”
With one final look at the princess, he embarked through the door, jumping through flames to stride down the corridors. He only had one main purpose, which was to find and rescue his parents.
“Congratulations, the wedding’s cancelled,” Sungjong’s voice called out from behind her as everyone had gathered in Sunggyu’s room. The news should’ve been more festive and better received, but with the flames burning in the background, it was harder to do so.
“He wasted all our energy. We had to go through so much troubles just to have the wedding cancelled,” Seulyi mumbled.
“Not quite exactly, Miss Nightgown. You do remember the effect of those magic beans, don’t you?” Myungsoo asked, retrieving the same pink colored bean from his pocket. “It allows us to infiltrate one’s dream, altering it the way we like.”
“Even in a dream, his values remain the same,” Hyunmi said, leaning against the doorframe to watch Sunggyu run through the flame. Her lips curved into a genuine smile. If there was one thing she truly admired about the prince, it was his love for his family. He was willing to sacrifice himself in order to save them. What a terrific display of unconditional love.
With his statement to nullify the wedding, she was certain they had won the victory. Even as they awoke the next day with the castle in its perfect condition, Sunggyu would not have realized. The magic bean’s ability was to alter truth from reality to the person whose dream was invaded. Sunggyu had no means of telling the fire was only an altered fantasy.
However, when he called her that morning, it was as if last night’s event was a distant part of forgotten memories.
“The wedding shall proceed,” Sunggyu declared.
Hyunmi and all her friends stared on in terror, in disbelief at his shameless audacity.
“The one condition I presented for our engagement was for you to prioritize me above all else. You have failed to do so last night when you chose to let me die to rescue your parents,” Hyunmi said, balding her hand into a fist. Her patience started thinning.
“I was under the impression you wouldn’t survive. But seeing you here, alive and well, I shall make adjustments to our agreement,” Sunggyu said, chuckling at his own kindness. He thought he was bestowing her mercy, believing she wanted nothing more than to be his wife. Little did he know how wrong he was.
Enough was enough. Hyunmi had no time to play Sunggyu’s chasing games and had to end it once and for all. Perhaps she may have tainted her own image forever, but for Woohyun’s sake, she was willing to go this far.
“Perhaps I should let you in on a little secret,” she began, ignoring the gasps coming from her friends, knowing she was going to confess. “Do you remember the chimera who disrupted the masquerade ball several months ago? I was the one who unleashed it.”
The confident grin on Sunggyu’s face faded into one of absolute shock.
“The cause of last night’s fire was also me. I asked my friends to help me burn down the castle,” Hyunmi said, a sinister grin falling on her face.
The others slowly nodded along as if to prove they were indeed her accomplice. It was worth the darkening expression hovering over the prince who still couldn’t differentiate between his dream and reality.
“Are you speaking the truth? Why would you do such a thing?”
“I am not very certain you love me aside from my looks. I will need to test it again from time to time.”
“Who would love you for you? You nearly killed my parents and myself! Your beauty is the only good thing about you.”
Hyunmi smiled at his realization, not taking any offense. “Are you willing to marry a beautiful monster in exchange for your life?”
“The gods are fair indeed. They have balanced your tremendous beauty with a hideous heart. What was I thinking? Now I see why no men has ever wanted to take your hand into marriage!” Sunggyu shook his head violently, relieved he had avoided the biggest mistake in his life.
“If you wish for me to disappear from your life, I ask the Golden Apple of Discord as a peace offering,” the princess continued speaking.
Sunggyu looked at her like she was a plague pestering him. Considering the damage she was capable of, he wanted her begone from his land as soon as possible.
“Guards!” He called out, watching a knight enter the room, kneeling down in front of him. “Retrieve Zeus’ Golden Apple of Discord from its vault and hand it over to the princess.”
The knight obeyed and rely a few minutes later with a golden item in a glass display. It was handled with utmost care, showing its great importance.
“I have given you what you want. We are no longer acquainted by our engagement. Begone now, for I do not wish to ever see you again,” Sunggyu said, swinging his hand sideways as he averted his eyes from them.
“Thank you for your grace, Prince Sunggyu.”
It was the last time Hyunmi would ever curtsy in front of him, for she no longer had a reason to elongate their bond. She wrapped the glass case of the golden apple in one arm, watching her friends trail from behind. Her other free hand over the owl brooch, knowing Woohyun was waiting for her.
One task completed, two more to go.
I actually had to rewrite this chapter for several times cause I honestly had no idea how to complete this task. But it's a fantasy story after all, so anything can happen. I hope you guys like it. Thank you for reading and commenting! <3 Really, really, thank you :)
Yay! Won the bid today! I hope you will enjoy the story~ Would love to know your thoughts, so please do leave comments too~ Thank youuu <3
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