--


04


--


Joon kept true to his promise and took you out to the market when you were feeling better. All of the merchants were shouting, talking, and laughing with their customers as they bargained for merchandise. There were so many things for sale, you had no idea where you wanted to start.


“Pretty cool, huh?” Joon said, standing next to you with his arms cross over his chest. He told you that the humans and some other living creatures hung around he markets often, so you covered up a little more with a cloak and some gloves. He wouldn’t let you wear a mask though, claiming that your face was too pretty to be covered up.


“I’m... a little bit overwhelmed,” you said, looking around. Everyone was squeezing past each other in opposite directions. “I’ve never seen so many people in one place before.”


“Well, you’ll get used to it. Come on. Lots of things to show you.” You followed Joon as best as you could through the crowd.


The two of you made stops at places that sold jewelry. Some of the merchants claimed that they had special trinkets that boosted health, happiness, or even love. You even caught Joon looking at a few of the love ones and giggled.


“Oh? Is there someone that you like, Joon?” He stuttered and shook his head furiously.


“What? Me? No. Of course not. Not at all.” You made a mental note to look out for anyone that he was especially friendly with. You found a nice hair pin that you liked, and Joon haggled with the merchant until it was a price he deemed worthy and paid for it for you.


“Here. A gift.” He pinned it into your hair and pinched your cheek before heading off into the crowd again. You followed him, but all the sights had you distracted as you tried to take everything in at once. When you looked forward, he was gone.


“Joon? Joon?” you shouted, looking around. You started to panic in the crowd until someone grabbed your arm and pulled you off to the side, out of the crowd.


“Aren’t you the Arch Mage? What are you doing here by yourself?” You bowed and thanked the tall boy that rescued you from the crowd. He started to panic a little bit and bowed at you even lower.


“I’m Sungyeol, one of the knights in training.” Your eyes lit up.


“Oh! Why aren’t you in training then?”


“We get one day of rest a week, and so we like to come out here and relax. What are you doing out here by yourself?” he asked again. He knew you were new to the kingdom, so there was no way you would be wandering out there on your own.


“I was with Joon, my attendant, and he sort of disappeared. I’m feeling a little bit lost and overwhelmed and...” Sungyeol laughed and patted you on the head, making you flinch away from him.


“Don’t worry, I’m dead. See?” He patted you on the face a few times before grabbing your cheek and pinching it.


“Oh, what are you?” you asked, your voice distorting until Sungyeol let go of your cheek.


“Vampire. Lots and lots of vampires in Rivedon. Demons are the most common, and then vampires, witches and warlocks, then mages.”


“Here, Yeol. I- Oh.” Myungsoo stopped next to Sungyeol and almost dropped the food he was carrying.


“Hey, hey. You lost that bet to me fair and square. Don’t go dropping my food,” Sungyeol said, grabbing what looked like a bloody piece of cake from Myungsoo.


“What’re you doing here? And all by yourself?” Myungsoo asked, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. You gave him the same explanation you gave to Sungyeol, and he nodded.


“Care to join us for snacks? I don’t think my cake will be your cup of tea, but Myungsoo’s should be fine,” Sungyeol said, giving Myungsoo an evil smirk. Myungsoo glared at Sungyeol for a second before you laughed nervously.


“I don’t really want to impose. I mean, it’s your day off and all, so you should really enjoy-”


“It’s fine. It’d be nice to have you around and get to know you. We don’t really know much about you besides the whole Arch Mage stuff.” You tried to protest some more, but Sungyeol grabbed your arm and dragged you over to a bench and sat you down. Myungsoo sat down on the other side of you, trying not to sit too close.


“So, do you like it so far in Rivedon?” Sungyeol asked with his mouth full. Myungsoo’s eye twitched as he glared at his best friend.


“Don’t talk with your mouth full. That is disgusting,” Myungsoo said, almost hissing his words at Sungyeol. Sungyeol chuckled and shrugged, leaning back on the bench to eat his cake.


“Uh, I like it so far. Everyone’s been really nice and really helpful. Joon told me I start lessons and training next week, so I guess I’ll be seeing you guys more often.” Myungsoo pursed his lips. Which meant he had to work a little bit harder. He didn’t want to look stupid in front of you.


“Oh, I see. I hope you get good really fast so we can spar! I’m tired of beating up Myungsoo all the time.”


“You only beat me because I let you,” Myungsoo said, taking a bite of his cake. When he offered you a bite, you tried to decline, but he cut you off saying that it was delicious and forced you to eat a piece anyway.


“Oh, wow. That really is good,” you said, covering your mouth with your hand. Myungsoo laughed and pointed at your face.


“You have some icing on your face.” You panicked and felt around for it as Myungsoo tried to help you find it without touching you.


“It’s right here,” Sungyeol said, reaching over and wiping it off for you. He it off of his finger and made a face. “I don’t know how you guys can eat this stuff. It tastes disgusting.”


“You eat cake dripped in blood. I don’t think you can really say anything.”


--


Sungyeol and Myungsoo took you around the marketplace. You insisted that you stay in one place to wait for Joon, but they said they could show you around just as well, maybe even better than he could since they spent more time in the marketplace than he did.


They showed you the best places to buy jewelry and snacks, a place that sold cute hair accessories. One of the merchants even complimented the locket that your sister gave you. You looked down and smiled at it fondly, hoping that your sister was doing well.


Myungsoo and Sungyeol excused themselves for a moment to go into a weapons shop while you stayed outside near a jewelry merchant. Something they were selling caught your eye, and you hurried over to take a look.


You picked up a charm bracelet and looked through all of the charms dangling from it with bright eyes. It was absolutely beautiful.


“A beautiful charm bracelet for a beautiful girl,” the merchant said, smiling at you.


“Oh, I- I really-”


“Here, I’ll help you put it on.” He reached for your hand and pushed up your sleeve before you pulled your arm away with a nervous laugh. He gave you a weird look before wiggling his fingers around.


“I’m dead. You won’t hurt me.” You apologized and held your arm out again, letting him put the bracelet on for you. It fit perfectly, and you marveled at how pretty it looked on your hand.


“I’ll charge the castle a reasonable price for that. And here, I’ll even throw these in for free.” He reached over and pulled a chain off of a display with two rings hanging on it. You took it from him and held up the rings.


“They fit together to complete an eternity knot. Quite popular among girls your age, especially with their boyfriends,” he said with a wink. “Yours, free.”


You heard a familiar voice calling your name with a familiar tone of relief. “Where in the world have you been?” Joon asked, whacking you on the shoulder.


“Where have I been? Where have you been?! I called your name for at least ten minutes. People were looking at me like I was crazy! You just up and disappeared on me.” The merchant watched as the two of you argued and laughed.


“Joon, you know her?” You stopped and looked over to the merchant again.


“You two know each other?” Joon looked from you to the merchant and back to you again before stuttering some more.


“I, well, yeah. I’m her personal attendant. And this is Mir, one of my friends.” Your mind put two and two together at the way Mir was ginning at Joon, and how sheepish Joon looked.


“Oh, Joon. Fancy seeing you out here.” You turned around and saw Sungyeol and Myungsoo standing behind you, and Myungsoo had an amused expression on his face as soon as he spotted what was in your hands.


“Eternity rings. How cute.” Myungsoo reached out and grabbed them from your hands to fit them together with a smile. “Any idea who you’re giving the other one to?” he asked you.


You shook your head. “I don’t really know anyone, so I can’t really-”


“Good. I’m taking this one then.” Myungsoo opened the chain and took the bigger ring and placed it on his ring finger. “Perfect fit.” He took the other one and placed it on his pinky before taking it off again and pulling your glove off.


“Myungsoo-” He avoided touching your skin and managed to push the ring onto your finger. Another perfect fit.


“You’re not allowed to take this off,” Myungsoo said, pointing at the ring. You stuttered at him until Joon growled and grabbed your hand.


“We should get back to the castle now,” he said before dragging you away. You shouted a thank you before you disappeared into the crowd.


“Myungsoo. Is that your way of courting a girl? Where your sense of romanticism? Probably dead with your other feelings,” Sungyeol teased, punching Myungsoo in the arm. Myungsoo shrugged. He’d never really felt anything like this for anyone before, so he was just doing what he would normally do.


“I don’t know. She’s different. I don’t get it either.”


--


“You really like her, don’t you?” Sungyeol asked as they laid in their beds. He and Myungsoo shared a room. His end was completely cluttered with things while Myungsoo kept his stuff neat and tidy.


Myungsoo was admiring the ring in the dark, and had been since they got back from the marketplace. “I don’t know. She’s pretty. She seems nice. And lost.”


Sungyeol chuckled as he rolled over onto his stomach on his bed and propped himself up onto his elbows. If there was one thing he knew about Myungsoo, it was that Myungsoo liked being the protector. He liked to take care of things and had a soft spot for cute things. Not that he’d ever admit it.


“The only problem is, she’s alive, and you know what that means.” Myungsoo blinked a few times and let his hands fall down onto his bed. He knew exactly what that meant.


In the past, Arch Mages were usually alive, as mages were, and when they chose a suitor or got married, it was usually recommended that they choose a vampire, so their life could be extended just in case something would happen, and Myungsoo was no vampire.


“ you were born a warlock, right? I mean, I wouldn’t mind getting married to a cute little thing like her.” Myungsoo turned around and scowled at Sungyeol.


“You . And just because she’s Arch Mage doesn’t mean she needs to choose a vampire suitor. She could pick someone else...”


Sungyeol laughed. “Myungsoo, I know you have a pretty face, but you know there are vampires out there that people would die to get married to.”


“Your pun. It’s not funny.”


--


Over the next few days, you began to get acquainted with people in the castle. You found out that Mir came to visit the castle almost on a daily basis, and that Joon always happened to be somewhere around whenever he visited.


“Hey, when did the castle get a beautiful princess?” Mir asked with a cheeky grin as he ruffled your hair.


“Mir! What are you doing here in the castle?” You were on your way out to town to grab something to eat because you were absolutely famished. If Sungyeol and Myungsoo were done with their training, then they’d join you for dinner.


“Just collecting some money and delivering some things. I was hoping I’d run into you. This cute little clip just came into my possession, and it screamed your name.” He held up a little honey bee hair clip and let you look it over for a moment before taking it from your hands and clipping it into your hair.


“You can have it. If I get any more cute things in, I’ll definitely bring them up here for you to look at.” You two bid each other goodbye before going on about your business.


You were almost out of the castle gates when you heard someone calling your name. You glanced over your shoulder and saw Myungsoo jogging towards you.


“Where’s Sungyeol?” you asked as he fell into step with you.


“We’re not joined together at the hip,” Myungsoo said, pouting slightly. “He got held back. Thought it would be funny to set Byunghee’s pants on fire.”


You laughed, and Myungsoo wished that he could hear you laugh forever. “Did I ever ask you what you were?” You wove in between people, nodding and greeting the ones that greeted you.


“No, I don’t think you have.” Myungsoo held the door open for you. You thanked him and sat down in your usual spot.


The cooks saw you walk in and greeted you. They didn’t even bother to ask what you wanted to eat, because you ate anything and everything they made for you, so they experimented a lot with the menu with you.


“Sometimes, I wonder how you can eat half of the things they make for you,” Myungsoo said, eyeing the plate of food in front of you. You weren’t exactly sure what it was, but as long as it tasted fine, you didn’t really care. You took one or two bites before staring off into the distance.


“Back in Armalis, I could never eat like this. I ate whatever scraps I could find in the kitchen, and sometimes my sister would leave me some more food. I’d have to cook for myself with whatever I could find, and some days, I went without eating at all.” Myungsoo looked at you with something you recognized as pity and shrugged.


“That’s why I eat so much now. If food is being given to me, I will eat it no matter what it is. It also helps that the cooking is delicious!” You shouted the last part of the sentence, and hoots and cheers went out among the cooks. Myungsoo couldn’t help but laugh.


“Looks like you’re fitting in pretty well.”


You smiled and started to eat again. “I guess. It helps that everyone is nice.”


Myungsoo started eating on his own food until something caught his eye. You were still wearing the ring on your finger. He grinned before taking a huge bite of his food. Maybe he did have a chance with you after all.


--


You were nervous about lessons starting. Seungho said that he was going to become your favorite person for a while, and that you were probably going to get tired of him quickly.


“I will if you keep trying to kill me,” you said, eyeing Seungho as he pulled a few books from the shelves. He was personally going to be taking care of your lessons on Rivedon, and when he couldn’t, he said that someone named Jinki would be helping you.


“That was a one time thing. And it’s not like I would’ve kept going and killed you. I don’t think that would go over too well with the powers that be.” He set a stack of books down onto the table and opened one up and pushed it towards you.


“Let’s begin.”


--


By the time lunch rolled around and Seungho gave you a break, you felt like your head was going to explode with all the information he was trying to feed you all at once.


“Don’t worry,” Seungho said, “if you don’t remember it all, I’ll just beat you up a little bit.”


You trudged down the hallway to go out for lunch. You weren’t even really sure if you were that hungry, but your feet led you over to your usual eatery anyway, and you slid into the chair looking like you’d just come back from battle.


“Well, you certainly look tired,” one of the cooks said, leaning over onto the counter.


“I just came from my first lesson. I only have a two hour break until I have to go back and go into training.”


The cook pursed her lips and tapped her cheek with her finger. “Starting training and lessons... You’ll need some brain food and some food to help boost your stamina. You should start coming down here for breakfast. We’ll make you something to help with your lessons.”


“Make sure whatever it is puts me to sleep.”


--


You eyed the clothes that Joon held out for you to change into for training.


“Are those pants?”


“Yes.”


“Women don’t wear pants.”


“You do now. Put it on unless you want to let all of these guys see your underwear.” You stared blankly at Joon for a moment until he furrowed his eyebrows.


“On second thought, put these on, or I will put them on for you.”


--


“I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a woman in pants,” Sungyeol said in a daze as you walked into the training area self consciously. Myungsoo looked over and blinked a few times before grinning.


“She still looks good.” Myungsoo watched you fidget in your clothes and pat your legs slightly.


“She looks tiny,” Sungyeol mused out loud.


“Eyes over here, Sungyeol, before I burn them out of your eye sockets.”


“So violent,” Sungyeol said, turning back to Myungsoo as Seungho stood next to you.


“Now, we’re not actually going to start off with you actually using your magic yet. I don’t think you have enough energy and stamina, so this will just be physical training for the most part.”


“Physical training?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.


“Yeah. Teaching you how to dodge stuff, shielding tactics, hand to hand combat, increasing your speed and stamina. Using magic will be cake after you master these.”


“And how exactly am I supposed to learn these? You don’t seem like the type to teach step by step instruction on how to do things,” you said, giving Seungho a suspicious look. Seungho scoffed and chuckled.


“Well, you’re right. The best way to learn is to do! We’re going to have a little round of dodge the fireball. My favorite game.”


You wanted to cry.