How are you guys?! I'M BACK!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry it took so long but life is hard, and college is hard too. I know that I haven't updated my other stories so I'll work hard into updating the chapters for those stories~

So please read the chapter. Also EXO was robbed in these past award shows, there were too many inconsistencies. I don't care what y'all say but it was robbed to me. Also I miss OT9, this all happened because Lay wasn't with them at the award shows.

Go and read the chapter!~ I hope you like it!

“So what did you think of the prince, hyung?” Jongin asked Minseok as they were walking together towards the dining hall where they would eat dinner with their guests and then later they would proceed to the ballroom where there would be a party in honor of their guests and for the possible prospect of an alliance between the two nations. “He’s handsome, right?”

“He seems more pretty than handsome.” Minseok replied with a small smile on his face as he recalled the certain factions that Prince Luhan possessed that made him seem a little bit more feminine than a normal man but nonetheless he was still attractive. “But he seemed nice and I hope that the cover will resemble the book. Maybe tonight we’ll be able to talk to each other, that way I’ll be able to judge his character.”

“If he’s nice to you then that’s what matters, you deserve to be happy hyung.” Jongin said softly as he looked down slightly to his eldest brother making Minseok feel quite irked. Their height difference was something that ticked Minseok off by a lot, he honestly thought that it was because of Queen Boa but then he recalled that Junmyeon and Yerim –Queen Boa herself was also quite small- were equally as small as he was –Yerim obviously being smaller-, Lady Bada –who was one of the most important elder’s wife- told him that his late Uncle Changmin was quite tall and that that was most likely from how Jongin received his height gene.

“Enough about me, how is your relationship with Lady Soojung?” Minseok questioned Jongin laughing at how he blushed at the mention of the cold beautiful lady from the province of Kaewŏn. She was the 2nd daughter of Lord Jung Jinwoon and his wife who ruled that province and were good friends of his family, it would be beneficial for Jongin to marry her so he would be the ruler of a province instead of being simply a prince with no chance to the throne but he wouldn’t meddle in his brother’s romantic life since he didn’t have one himself maybe he’ll meddle once he gets married.

“Well, we’re still sending each other letters. She says that she wants to come visit us for the winter with her sister, Lady Sooyeon.” Jongin mentioned as he scratched the back of his head. “She says that her parents hope that her sister and Junmyeon hyung can meet so they could offer the idea of an engagement.”

“I doubt that Junmyeon hyung would appreciate that.” Nor that the court would either; they want Junmyeon to be in my position right now. Minseok thought as he looked forward.

“I wrote her the exact same thing and she said that her sister thought that too, she said that her sister isn’t that interested in marrying a prince.” Jongin chuckled at the last statement.

“Well, she seems nice. I’d like to meet her, it would be refreshing to meet a woman who isn’t obsessed with marrying one of us.” Minseok commented as they entered the dining hall, seeing that the Emperor and his family were already there sitting in the respective places for the guesting royal family in which their guests were already eating and even his family was already eating.

One of his father’s advisors and Queen Boa’s cousin –Kwon Jiyong- came up to him, grabbing him by his shoulder and pulled him towards him and whispered to him in close proximity to his ear for no one else to hear him but Minseok. “You are to sit down next to the Prince so you can start to court him, is it clear?”

“Of course Advisor Kwon, thank you very much.” Minseok bowed his head to Jiyong who nodded with his sharp eyes and made his way towards his husband General Choi, Minseok simply sighed at Jiyong’s behavior. “He makes me sound as if I were Jongdae or Yerim, I’m not as difficult as they are. I have grown from my time as a child but it seems as if I haven’t to him. I’ll make his life hell when I’m king and then when he quits, I’ll make either Junmyeon or Dae to be my advisor. Scratch that, I’ll make Junmyeon my royal advisor, Dae is too irresponsible.”

“Well Nini, it seems as if you were blessed today. You get to sit closer to the head of the house instead of me.” Minseok laughed to Jongin who simply smiled at him, Minseok grabbed Jongin’s shoulders and turned him towards the direction in which their family was. “Now go, your mother is looking for you. She can’t eat in peace if you are not there with her.”

Junmyeon looked at Minseok before winking at him as if to say good luck as he sat down next to his mother and engaged her and his father in a conversation as they were all eating their meals. Minseok turned his head to see that Luhan was looking at him with a curious expression on his face yet he was smiling fondly at the prince. He walked towards the spot on the grand dining table to where the guests where and he bowed to Emperor Hangeng.

“May I have your permission to seat here you, Your Grace?” Hangeng looked at him with a bit of confusion as he raised his eyes from the meat that he was scarfing down his throat before he laughed.

“Prince Minseok, all of this will be yours eventually so I don’t think you need my permission to sit here.” Hangeng answered. “But by all means, sit down Your Highness.”

“Thank you Your Grace.” Minseok gracefully replied as he sat next to Prince Luhan who was drinking some of the wine that had been poured out initially to accompany the meats that the cooks had prepared with vigor. “What do you think about the wine?”

“I shall be honest to you, Your Highness.” Luhan whispered to him after drinking a gulp of the wine. “It’s quite bland, my cousins on my mother’s side can make a better wine.”

“I made that wine.” Minseok deadpanned with a whisper, watching as how Luhan’s pretty/handsome face contorted into shame and embarrassment as he looked for the words to remember the word for apology in Asterrien.

“I-I-I’m sorry Your Highness, I-I d-didn’t mean to offend you.” Luhan stuttered in a soft voice as his ears went red which made Minseok start panicking in his mind before he spoke, placing a hand on Luhan’s.

“Prince Luhan, I shall be equally as honest to you as you were with me. First, I accept your apology. Second, I wasn’t the one who made the wine, Prince Jongdae made it and I shall take your criticism to him gladly.”

He watched as how Prince Luhan’s face went from embarrassed to shock before he smiled and started laughing. “How could you do that?”

“I wanted to see your reaction, not that I was intending to anger. If not just a little prank.” Minseok justified with a blush on his face. “I was trying to break the ice between the two of us.”

“Well, that was a very good prank Your Highness.” Luhan laughed before smiling at him. “Thank you for breaking the ice, I felt that it was quite awkward between us.”

“I’m glad as well.” Minseok hummed as he digged into some of the foods that were presented to them, Luhan following suit and then being amazed at the taste of the foods that were being presented to them.

Unbeknownst to them, Queen Sohee looked at the future budding couple with interest and sadness, Queen Boa looked at her curiously before trailing her view and seeing the sight of the young couple smiling and laughing happily. Queen Boa was very much untrusting of the Yiwen prince who had arrived at their doorstep and by the looks of it seemed as though he was going to stay; she had heard rumors from her men positioned all around the continent and by consequence Yiwen, she had heard that he was former Empress Regent Mei’s favorite grandchild, that she coddled him to no point and she was the one to persuade the Emperor into legitimizing Prince Luhan along with the fact that she had heard a lot about the Empress Regent when she was just a girl. The stories she had heard depicted a woman who could not tolerate her husband’s infidelities thus had them –the women who involved themselves with her husband and the possible bastards- disposed of and who played a hand into persuading her husband into killing all of his siblings to make sure that her son would have no competitors for the throne.

She had mixed feeling towards Prince Luhan for from first glance he looked perfectly harmless yet he was Yiwen royalty and you always had to be careful for Yiwen royals. She feared that if Prince Luhan managed to ensnare his claws into Minseok and make him into his puppet then he would be easy to manipulate into killing her children, something that she could/would never allow but a man –no matter how strong he was- was easy to manipulate if a strong woman had a good hold on him. And she knew that Sohee had the exact same fears as she did, just that Sohee was more demure than she was; she didn’t speak out much and was the perfect Lord’s wife but never a King’s wife’s however Sohee was the closest thing she could have to a friend so she wouldn’t mind but besides she made Yunho happy and that’s what mattered the most to her.

“Boa, I need you to come with me.” She heard Yunho whisper in her ear behind him, Yerim looking at them curiously but decided not to pay it any mind as they were finally done dining and the dances had begun. She noticed that Emperor Yunho and Empress Bingbing were waiting for them by the door, she could tell that something important was to be discussed as for Queen Sohee wasn’t called by the King. She rose from her seat bowing down to the people sitting at the table, she walked away and wrapped her arm around her husband’s as they walked to guide the Yiwen rulers towards the King’s study. Once they all entered, Queen Boa closed the doors making sure that no one was snooping and called over one of the guards to watch over the door but to not eavesdrop on them.

She turned to see her husband sitting down in front of the Yiwen royals so she moved to take her place next to him.

“So what is the important thing that you want us to discuss, Hangeng?” Yunho questioned the emperor who looked at them with mirth in his eyes.

“As you may know that there will be a high possibility for our sons to be married to one another, I’m considering proposing one more thing to you my old friend.” Yunho replied as he looked at Yunho in the eye, Boa simply glared at his attempt of intimidating her husband.

“What is your next proposal then, Your Grace?” Boa questioned boldly.

“As you may have heard, I am ill. I shall pass away in a few months that is something that I am quite sure of.” Hangeng commented as his gaze turned to look at Bingbing who looked distant, he grabbed her hand and placed it in his. “My heir has no bride, for many of the princesses and princes from other realms are either much too older than him or far younger than him. The children of the members of my court are not of the standard of my son, he is too great for them.”

“If you are thinking of a marriage with Princess Yerim then we must deny this to you for she is already engaged to Prince Woojin from the Western Isles of Valois and we cannot break a treaty with Valois as they are one of our strongest allies.” Yunho spoke up after hearing Hangeng’s explanation.

“I have heard some rumors and forgive me for speaking up on those.” Hangeng begun peaking the rulers’ interest. “Prince Minseok is not that well favored amongst your court and yet the 2nd prince is the most favored one for he is Queen Boa’s son. How long do you think that Prince Junmyeon will be strong enough to keep the thoughts of grandeur away from his mind? For how long do you think that he will not consider taking his own brother’s throne by force believing that it is his instead? Remember House Yi, my dear friend, the 4th prince was told that he deserved the throne more than any of his elder brother. What did he do? He murdered his entire family; his brothers, their wives, their children and even ordered that his sisters were to be assassinated so they wouldn’t produce an heir who could threaten his claim.

Every man is strong but under the influence of power they could go mad and will do whatever they can to make sure that power will be his and forever his.”

Boa exhaled as she thought about what he was insinuating: for Yunho and her sendoff Junmyeon –the 2nd prince, the second in line to the throne in case Minseok died without any heirs- to marry his own son. She knew that it was appropriate since it would be best for Junmyeon to stay away from the whispers of the Asterranian court for they were good at manipulating just any one.

“The 2nd prince would be a Prince Consort or Empress and would not waste all off his potential waiting for his brother and his brother’s children to pass for he would rule a vast and strong land, his children would be direct heirs for the throne.” Empress Bingbing spoke up shifting Boa’s gaze towards the silent Empress.

Boa turned her head to look at her husband and she could see him considering it, she considered it as well. She had heard about the Crown Prince of Yiwen; that he was strong, intelligent and handsome, a great strategist when it came to battles and a man who loved his country which were all things that Junmyeon was as well. She could accept it but that would mean that she could not see her first-born anymore.

“We accept your offer of marriage.” Yunho proclaimed strongly. “We shall have to sign an agreement for this.”

“Of course my friend, Prince Yifan has agreed to this marriage and we would like you to inform Prince Junmyeon immediately about this arrangement.” Hangeng spoke. Yunho and Boa nodded at this and they all rose from their chairs deciding to go to the ball in which everyone was dancing and being obliviously joyful.

“So Junmyeon, are you going to meet up with Sehunnie tonight?” Junmyeon turned his head to look at the coy face of his friend Byun Baekhyun. Baekhyun’s father was quite the influential man in court who pulled all the strings possible for his son to be closely related to any of the princes of the kingdom and that friend became both Prince Junmyeon and Prince Jongdae with who he got along with quite well.

“No, my mother and father are here as well as the fact that there are guests here.” Junmyeon replied as he grabbed a piece of finger food offered to them by the servants of the castle, and he looked towards Baekhyun who had trailed his view.

“What are you looking at?” Baekhyun looked at Junmyeon after the question before nodding his head towards the direction in which he was looking.

“The finally decided to show up.” Baekhyun sneered and Junmyeon did not understand until he saw the person that Baekhyun was cursing at. Do Kyungsoo, the eldest and only son of Lord Do Jisung, was standing there talking to Jongin with eagerness. “His outfit isn’t that great anyways.”

“What’s so wrong about him coming to the ball?” Junmyeon deadpanned.

“He dissed me for being so concerned over what I would wear for a ball once. He said and I quote ‘Why would you care over enchanting a man when you have that face, Byun.’ And then he left.” Baekhyun said.

“You can’t fool me, Baek. I’ve talked to Kyungsoo, he isn’t as cocky as you would think he is.” Junmyeon drank his wine after that, groaning when he heard Baekhyun start whining about that. The prince would only learn of the news tomorrow for it would be a better time.

These two are about to rule the world!!!!

I hope you guys liked the chapter, on the next chapter we'll get more info on Kyungsoo, info about Jun getting married and more XIUHAN!!!!!!!

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