IMPORTANT: Sorry for the wait. A long and boring update if I’m not mistaken. But guess what? We’re halfway through the story now! Thank you for the subscribers and readers so far. I’ve actually just started to plot out the whole storyline, without any twists and whatnot yet so I apologize already for the hideous chapter. And my laptop got reformatted so I had to write without err, spelling and grammar checks. Mistakes will be common, again sorry.  What do you think of the poster by the way? I’m awful at posters. SeoKyu is neglected in the recent chapters but they’ll have more exposure and time in the next ones, I assure you. The will be around Chapter 15 to 17, but I’m ending it at Chapter 20. This is the longest chapter so far. I don’t know when will be the next update because I’ve got to study a lot.

 

Chapter 11: “But what is there for tomorrow?”

It was like a gladiator’s arena, a boxing match, somewhere in between that was the very fact that a lot would be watching the two of them, on their horses, walk on to the aisle together for the first part of the ceremonies. She whispered his name again in the dark corner, in the shadows as his hands were intertwined with another woman, hidden also from view because Changmin’s back covered it. With her head down and somewhat still confused as to why there was giggling and hush talking, Yoona turned her back, a little disheartened.

She walked towards Sunmi her horse, her hands caressing its back pensively in still wonder at what Changmin could have been doing with the other girl.

“Sorry.”

His footsteps towards her were upbeat, unsteady and very un-princely. Her face remained calm, but inside slightly dejected as the voice of the royal speaker spoke to the crowd. Yoona hastily adjusted the seat and straps around her horse’s body, mouth closed and quiet, mind running chaotically with scissors, those scissors as sharp questions that she could not even mutter to herself.

“Yoona, were you listening to me?” Changmin almost whined, mounting on to Dongho, as Yoona climbed up hers as well.

She smiled at him shyly. “No. My mind was over something else.”

He rolled his eyes. “You do know you’re not to leave my side, right?”

She bit her lip in anxiety, still forcing herself to say it or she would forever regret it in this marriage. “Pardon me but may I ask you a question? Who---”

In a rhythmic harmony of what Yoona barely know as Sangdokchi’s hymn, the trumpets outside of the circle opening were blown incessantly. Changmin suddenly sat properly; full back straight, eyes on the long aisle they were to cross. Changmin’s eyebrows were crunching together in painful thought when Yoona continued talking. He gripped tightly the ropes, patting Dongho’s side as the stallion obediently walked. The clear day sun was high, his crown glistening below it, as Yoona, very annoyed, compelled Sunmi to follow the prince. And she did. Rather dawdling at it to be in fact as Dongho marched with pride, the prince waving all to the cheers from left to right. She was behind him already, meters away so Changmin deliberately stopped, waiting for his wife to catch and practically getting all the votes from the women on each side as he smirked. He gazed at Yoona, now giving off the stingiest glare she could pull at him, two of them paused in the middle of the road.

“Such a gentleman,” whispered the older ladies.

“Happy birthday, your majesty!”

“You’re even getting handsomer each year!”

“Thank you all! I hope everyone will have a nice time at the party,” he said to them as he moved now along with Yoona at his side, except for the girl almost completely forcing Sunmi to get ahead of him. Changmin smiled at her competitive spirit.

“I like that about you, you know,” Changmin teased abruptly, getting her to look at the other direction, scowling like an icy witch. “You get jealous a lot.”

Yoona scoffed at him, shaking her head. “Oh goodness, do you even hear yourself? Why would I be jealous of those ahjummas? Huh? Give me a reason to be.”

He couldn’t hide his happiness when she snapped back. “See, you’re all red already. When I talk about Seohyun, you also turn red.”

“I do not,” she talked sharply, irritated. “For crying out loud, I thought you were raised better than this.”

“I was. Only your existence caused it to be faulty,” Changmin told her, and she didn’t know if she would react to it

Knowing that the man hardly gave up when it comes to debating, she became silent, ignoring more of his malicious remarks.

-o0o-

Four buffet tables, surrounding the courtyard where the outdoor party was celebrated, enclosed the guests and visitors from the party crashers outside, the meager populace that wanted in. Well, Kyuhyun smugly thought as he sipped on the juice handed to him, they were unfortunate indeed not to have made friends and danced with the younger sister of the future queen.

“But what else does Kyuhyun-oppa do?” Seohyun asked so interestedly, her hands on her lap, still listening intently to Kyuhyun’s here and there brags.

“Talk as though he isn’t a simpleton,” Nichkhun chimed in, Qian giggling right beside him. “He also sleeps in work. He prefers hiding on a ship’s hold whenever he gets the chance.”

Fist flying in the air in embarrassment, Kyuhyun hit his hyung playfully at his shoulder, just like how he used to when they were little children running in the streets, swindling even. But Nichkhun hastily countered, for he had quick hands, quickest among the three of them, and got hold of the boy quickly.

“Very defensive of the truth, aren’t we?” Nichkhun teased, all of them also affected with it that they started laughing as well.

“Ah, Krystal looks so lonesome,” muttered Victoria out of nowhere, eyes set on the little princesses, not so little anymore perhaps because of her best ordinary dress, revealing her shoulders. Always silent and somewhat isolated, she sat on one of the tables closest her oppa the prince and her sister-in-law Yoona the Byungmi princess in their family.

Their was music, something that Changmin liked, played in the background, a soft blend of Mozart’s works and Beethoven’s, a little of Schubert’s as well but who was counting. After soft sophistications played the older style, with the strumming of ukelele’s and tapping of shoes. And there was dancing, fun country dancing; in the middle of the crowd, a royal jeester in the middle performing some of his few tricks as the others frolicked. It was the prince’s 21st and that only comes once ever in his life.

The music slowed down as the trumpets succeedingly blew yet again, the man stating the crowd that it was time for Prince Changmin’s dance with his wife. Lazily standing up, Changmin started his way to the center as Yoona also seemed to have the same reaction in her face. The pianist by his instrument played a soothing melody, with a few of the basses gathering their strings and began playing, the violins also coming in sync. Gently music, but heavy at the beginning, a bit sad, the music made the two stare awkwardly first at each other, like it was the first time they had seen each other.

He first held out his hand because it would seem Yoona was too stubborn to make any move at all. Without hesitation and feeling, she took it and was twirled at once into his arms, her skirt also in the same manner. He was so anxious into finishing this ceremony, wasn’t he?

Yoona smiled at the thought, making Changmin curious. “Oi, what’s with that smile?”

She shook her head, eyes set on him as well as the music hastened its pace. “You’re too excited to get this day over with.”

“Well... it wouldn’t anymore make a difference tomorrow,” Changmin answered. “21 today. 21 tomorrow until for another 365 days.”

“It does, actually,” she spoke softly. “They say if you don’t make things worth anything today, there wouldn’t be much of a tomorrow to depend on. How can you be so sure that tomorrow would be brighter or better when you can’t even put your mind to think that today is also a beauty?”

He smirked. “You’re just saying that because you’re not the one turning old.”

She laughed heartily at this, as more of the people started getting to the middle and dancing together like couples, that even Kyuhyun and Seohyun were already beside Yoona and her prince, only the latter couple did not even notice other people’s exitence as they talked without discretion and with ease.

“Are you worried that you’re growing old?”

He shook his head. “I’m worried about the responsibilities that comes with this. I will be the King in a momentous period where Korea is in civil wars with each nation. Tomorrow is frightening, so let’s hasten to meet it and get it finished already. I don’t want to linger on and wait for Sangdokchi to crumble in Dongsook. I have to be a good King to my people.”

“You will be though,” Yoona encouraged. “And they are lucky to have you.”

He smirked.

It wasn’t the usual thing he did, when slowly and a little agitated, more or less awkward just like their every day greetings, Changmin placed a hand over Yoona’s head. Yoona just gazed in repression of her giggles.

Because Changmin was not the kind of person who did that or at least to her, and that was weird indeed. He laughed at once, pulling away and covering his mouth. They stopped dancing then because he couldn’t anymore hold it in.

“Yah,” Yoona whispered and smiled, embarrassed now seeing that people were surrounding them. She hastily grabbed Changmin’s hand again and they started dancing once more, the prince shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’ll change tradition for Sangdokchi,” Yoona added happily, making Changmin look at her as if she was insane, as if she had turned into a madwoman, and that madwoman was to be an outcast if that was the case.

He scoffed. “Let me see you try that but I suggest you do not. If in Byungmi it is common for you to change practices from time to time, Sangdokchi is not like that I believe. Our government strongly puts tradition as part of the culture the future generation will bloom in. It is a way of giving honor to the ancestors and their clans.”

“Not the whole tradition thing,” Yoona answered. “The two of us are together because of tradition, and that is something unfair and  should not anymore be practiced by our grandchildren.”

“If I ever permit to have grandchildren,” Changmin cut off with Yoona glowering at him for it. “Well, I just turned 21. You can’t expect me to grow old quick.”

“I thought you wanted to be old and be a good King already,” Yoona replied smugly.

A light tap on the shoulder came in response, before Changmin continued talking back. It was none other than Kibum, who smiled delightedly to see Yoona look all smiles again. He waved and asked for the princess’s hand. Changmin slowly let go, scrutinizing Kibum before giving Yoona up.

“She’s going to change tradition and have grandchildren,” Changmin mumbled to the other prince, earning a small punch on the shoulder from Yoona for revealing the conversation. “Better put up that armor.”

“Very funny,” Yoona retorted afterwards, as Kibum took Changmin’s place. They held hands now, Yoona still eyeing the prince charming as he went back to his seat with Krystal, sitting still and looking at the crowd creating a lot of entertainment for her to scowl upon. As for Seohyun, Yoona turned to her left and saw the girl dancing with the man Yoona now heard of so much. It was Kyuhyun, so very nice of the man to always be the reason for the younger princess’s smiles and laughter. He was a blessing, Yoona thought.

“Eh, Yoona?” he called her attention and the princess bowed her head at once when he spoke.

“Yes?”

“You want to stop dancing? Because I feel like you are not too.. er...” Well, that was rather stupid of him starting a sentence he could not now finish. She smiled in such an understanding manner, stopping and pressing his hands more firmly.

Kibum snickered at this and they moved away from the crowd. “Then where do you want to go instead?”

“Do you want to go back to his highness? I think he’s still watching us in case you faint again because of me,” Kibum whispered still holding her hand. Eyes focused on her husband squabbling impatiently with Krystal, Yoona whacked his shoulder and laughed.

“You liar,” she responded, as he pulled her away from the slowly thickening crowd and into another side of the courtyard where the maze-like garden was situated. She didn’t mind though, beacause Kibum was too nice of a friend and because people, well, the ones in Sangdokchi were peaceful and cared less about other people’s business.

She playfully hopped into the ledges of a nearby fountain as Kibum trailed after her, and they started circling it and balancing along even when parts of it were a bit wet because of the fountain. “What do you do for fun, Kibum? What did you do as a hobby before? Aside from shooting and training and fighting? What was being a prince like?”

With her foot eventually making a turn to the left, and nearly slipped as the water, Yoona found her balance up, or rather Kibum held her by her arms before any dangerous accident came about. That frail moment he saw of Yoona, frightened yet adventurous at the very exact same time --- was it a mere dream? She quickly laughed in joy, holding on to him and  pulling him into a strong hug before Kibum could even realize what was happening.

“Saving a damsel in distress,” Yoona said to him. “You