Prompt: Ice
Additional Character: Heechul
Word Count: 17,228

 

Once upon a time, there lived two princes in different kingdoms. Both of them were elected and arranged to be sent off to another kingdom to marry the Queen of the far away isle, Arendale. Upon the Queen’s eighteenth birthday, he has declined and refused several hands in marriage from kings and princes all over the world, and these two princes were setting out in hopes of capturing her heart.

The two left out on the same day, one traveling from the land of Dramaeul, and the other from the island of Mouseu Rabiteu. Although the prince from Dramaeul arrived at the isle of Arendale within only a week, while the other, well, he was lagging a bit behind. But unlike the prince of Dramaeul that rode upon a strong, white horse, the prince from Mouseu Rabiteu rode upon a tortoise.

 

 

“Heechul-hyung, they’re here!” The voice rang out through the castle’s hallway. “Heechul-hyung, you’re off to make your choice on who gets to marry you~” the voice then sang out in a teasing manner.

“Kyuhyun, shut up. No one’s getting married, I’ll send these two fools home before they can step foot into my palace,” the Queen stated, slamming the door to his room on his way down to throne room.

Kyuhyun followed after him with a skip in his step, teasing the Queen the whole way, “You never know~ this one could be the one~ he might make you swoon, sweep you off your feet, make you fall head over—” He stopped abruptly when Heechul reached back and slapped the boy.

“Seriously, shut up, or I’ll feed you to Heebum,” Heechul spouted, opening the door to his throne room. Everything inside was made out of solid ice, a secret that only Heechul and Kyuhyun knew about, along with the fact that the ice never melted even in the summertime.

“You wouldn’t do that to your own brother,” Kyuhyun retorted, sticking his tongue out at the Queen, “besides, you should go ahead and pick some guy, you don’t want to be alone forever, do you? I know I don’t, but none of the princes ever come to see me,” Kyuhyun pouted gloomy as he took a seat in the small throne beside Heechul’s.

Heechul glanced back at his brother, sighing when he saw the pout, “Well, if you want, you can choose whichever prince you want to marry today, or when any more candidates come, then you see which one you like. Love’s just not me, Kyuhyun, that’s why I haven’t chosen anyone.”

Kyuhyun perked up once he heard that, “Really? Oh, I wonder if they’re handsome! I wonder if they’re tall as I am or if they like the same stuff I do or if—”

“Or if they’re prince charming, yeah, yeah, they’re probably both hideous,” Heechul waved off.

The two kept bickering until finally the trumpets sounded throughout the halls to let them know that the princes had entered the castles. Kyuhyun straightened, fumbled with clothes, and tried fixing his hair to make himself look as beautiful as his brother while Heechul simply sighed and propped his leg up on his throne.

The doors were opened by two servants as a third one walked through the doors first, announcing, “My Queen, Prince Choi Siwon of the land of Dramaeul has arrived!”

Heechul waited for the servant to announce the second prince but he never did, that confused the Queen, he muttered, “Wasn’t there supposed to be two princes?”

Kyuhyun quietly whispered, “Maybe the other one backed out?”

Heechul shook his head, “There’s no kingdom that would ever allow such a thing. If the prince had, then he would’ve been shamed along with his whole family.”

“Well let’s hope this prince is the handsome one!” Kyuhyun beamed, looking back towards the prince dressed in white robes, adorned with gold and diamonds.

Once Prince Siwon arrived at the steps of the throne, he kneeled down on one knee with his head bowed, “My Queen, I have been sent from the land of Dramaeul to ask for your hand in marriage.”

“Yeah, you and all the other princes that came before you, but my question is where is the other prince?” Heechul called over one of the servants, “The other one, is he not here? Did he refuse his role?”

The servant bowed, “We have not received word that he has declined, perhaps he lost his way?”

Heechul perked up once he heard that, “Well if that’s the case, I will postpone my choice between these two princes until the other prince arrives.” The Queen rose from his throne, watching as the servants all bowed and Prince Siwon bowed his head again, “Set Prince Siwon up a room in the west wing.”

Kyuhyun followed after his brother as the two walked out of the throne room, “Do you think he’ll show up? Besides that, I got a good look at that prince of Dramaeul, and he’s gorgeous! Heechul-hyung, I’m surprised you didn’t just choose him on the spot!”

“He was handsome, but something strikes me wrong about him,” Heechul replied, “And I believe the other prince will show up, if not, then I’ll send out a search party and see if he did get lost.”

 

 

A few days later, there was still no sign of the other prince. Queen Heechul was already getting a search party ready to send out to help find the prince, while Kyuhyun was trying to get his brother set up with the prince that had arrived. Prince Siwon was a handsome man and he seemed like he’d be the perfect match the Queen, and the perfect gentleman. And to be honest, he was a lot better than most of the princes that came to see his brother, but alas, Heechul was not budging.

Kyuhyun believed that the title Ice Queen truly did fit his brother, but he shrugged it off, because after all, Heechul said if Kyuhyun wanted to, he could pick out a husband amongst the princes. But before he started after Prince Siwon, he’d wait to see the other prince, but he wondered how much better the other prince could be if Prince Siwon already seemed perfect.

But leaving all that stuff behind him, Kyuhyun snuck out of the castle and headed to one of his favorite spots to sit and relax at. A secluded area of the river that flowed through the kingdom, the place was hidden away from the nearby road, covered in greenery. Perching himself on the tree limb that hung over the river, Kyuhyun was seated, watching the fishes below him try to swim up the stream.

Several thoughts filled his head as he sat there, thoughts about his brother and the princes that came from afar for a chance to marry the man, thoughts about Kyuhyun’s own future and what could possibly be in store for himself. With everyone always planning Heechul’s marriages and wondering who he would pick for his husband out of the princes, Kyuhyun was left on the sidelines just cheering his brother on. It was true that Kyuhyun didn’t want to deal with someone right now when it came to love, but he wondered how it would be to find that special someone.

He sighed to himself, lying back on the limb as he stared up at the clouds drifting along through the sky, and started to hum a song.

 

 

Moving slowly down the road, Yesung was sitting on top of a large tortoise, Ddangkoma, that was strapped down with a few bags hanging off the turtle’s shell. The two had been traveling down the road for the past few days and it didn’t seem like they were any closer to reaching the other kingdom than when they started. As much as Yesung would’ve loved to have declined the role of being one of the rejected princes of Arendale and instead, use his time to study to be a scholar, his parents wouldn’t hear of such things.

But he figured that if anything, he could travel to the kingdom, meet the Queen, be rejected, and then be free to return home and start his studies. There was nothing his parents could do then if he had been honorably rejected by the Queen of Arendale, except for find some other princess or Queen to set him up with.

And so he carried on down the road, awaiting and dreading the meeting with the Queen, but that was until he heard someone’s voice. Whoever it was, they were singing, softly, gently, smoothly. Yesung stopped Ddangkoma and got off, moving over towards the woods off the side of the road in the direction of where he heard the soft singing.

He wondered if it could’ve been a siren or some wood nymph considering he had heard nothing like the soft singing before in his life. The voice sounded so beautiful to his ears and he could feel his body starting to relax with the closer he was getting to the owner of it. Finally, brushing through all the wild vines, tall grass, and tree limbs, Yesung came to a river, he heard the voice more clearly and he discovered the reason why, not far from where he was, a young boy was lying on one of the tree limbs that were outstretched over the river.

The voice and song was coming from that boy.

Yesung edged a bit closer, wondering what the boy was doing out here in the middle of nowhere, unless he was a wood nymph or something of the sort. But despite all that, Yesung was just eager to hear that voice singing more clearly now. He swayed as he listened to it, closing his eyes, and let it wash over him. That voice definitely eased all his sore muscles from the past few days of travel until that voice stopped.

“Y-Yah! Who are—ahhh!” Yesung’s eyes snapped back open when he heard the shouting and a large splash of water, his eyes widening when he saw that the boy had seen him, and the shock must’ve been too much for the boy because he lost his grip on the limb and had fallen into the river.

Yesung quickly ran to the edge of the river, diving in once he saw the boy struggling to resurface. The river wasn’t too deep but it was still deep enough to drown someone, especially with the strength of the currents. Yesung grabbed hold to the boy, surprised that the boy actually felt like a grown man, heavy and tall, and brought him back to the surface, swimming towards the side of the river.

Helping him up onto the river bank, Yesung pulled himself out after the boy, “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Well you did, I mean, who just stands in the bushes, watching someone like that?” The boy spouted, coughing lightly as he started wringing out his wet clothes. “Are you a peeping Tom? Some kind of ert?”

That struck a nerve with Yesung, “Hey now, I doubt that’s any way to speak to someone that just saved you.”

“I wouldn’t have needed saving if it hadn’t been for you peeking through the bushes, watching me,” the boy replied, starting to shiver.

Yesung noticed this and was about to take off his outer robe when he realized that it was wet, it would be no help to the cold boy, “I’m sorry for giving you the idea that I was peeking through the bushes at you, but I was simply amazed by your singing, that’s all. Now follow me, you’re wet and cold, and I have a blanket over here that’ll keep you warm.”

The boy looked like he was about to protest but when Yesung had already started walking off into another direction, well, the boy was too cold to care, holding onto himself for some kind of warmth as he followed the man, “Who are you anyway?”

Once they’d gotten back out close to the road, Yesung spotted Ddangkoma, “I’m Prince Yesung of Mouseu Rabiteu.”

The boy stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide once he heard that information, “Y-You’re the other prince?”

Yesung looked confused at first, “Um… I guess so? I do have a younger brother that’s in line for the throne too, I kind of wish he had been given my task since he’s wanting to get married and have kids so badly while I could’ve stayed at the library and studied—”

“No,” the boy interrupted, “You’re the other prince, the one that came to be chosen or rejected by the Queen.” He grinned at the man, “Who happens to be my older brother.”

Now it was Yesung’s turn for his eyes to widen, “Your brother? And you are? And wait, how is he labeled a Queen then? Shouldn’t he be the King? I thought I was being sent here to be rejected by a woman, not a man? Why—”

“Aish, so many questions and so much rambling from you,” the boy scoffed, still shivering, “Where’s this blanket you said you had? I’m still freezing, and I’ll fill you in on everything after I’m nice and warm again. After all, it’s your fault that I’m wet and cold now.”

Yesung was about to protest until he saw the boy shivering, he sighed to himself; he supposed it was his fault for startling the boy. He led the way back to Ddangkoma and started fishing out the blanket he had slept under for the past few days when nightfall came. When he finally found it and turned to the boy to offer the blanket, he caught the younger male staring at the tortoise in confusion.

“You rode a turtle all this way?” the boy asked, taking the blanket and started to wrap it around himself until he caught a whiff of it. “This thing stinks! How can you offer the prince of Arendale something so repulsive as this?”

“It’s the only blanket I have that’ll keep you warm, Your Highness, and I’m offering it as a gift from Prince Yesung of Mouseu Rabiteu since we have to get all political.” When it looked like the boy was about to protest, Yesung sighed, “Just use it, it’ll keep you from freezing.”

Begrudgedly, the boy wrapped it around him, turning away from Yesung to sigh to himself at the instant warmth he felt. For it to be a smelly blanket, it was definitely something that would keep a person warm.

“By the way, other than knowing you’re the Queen’s brother, which I still don’t understand why he’s called the Queen, what’s your name?” Yesung asked, reaching into his bag and pulling out some alfalfa leaves to feed to Ddangkoma.

The boy turned back around, watching the man for a moment, “Kyuhyun. My name’s Kyuhyun.” When Yesung looked back up at the boy, Kyuhyun had to admit that the man had beautiful eyes, he caught himself from blushing, shaking his head, and then scanning his eyes over Yesung’s dripping clothes, “Aren’t you cold? You’re soaking wet too.”

Yesung shrugged, petting Ddangkoma’s head once the tortoise finished up the leaves, “A little bit, but I’ll live.”

Kyuhyun smiled at the little scene of affection between the owner and his pet. He glanced up at the setting sun, realizing that Heechul was still waiting for the other prince’s arrival, and Kyuhyun was holding the prince up at the moment. “How about I share this blanket with you while we go ahead onto my kingdom? The Queen has been waiting for your arrival for days now, and he’s not a patient man.”

“I’m sorry to be so late, but I ran into quite a few troubles on the way here. Not to mention, Ddangkoma is getting old and not moving as fast as he used to,” Yesung replied, seating himself on the tortoise’s shell, he held out his hand to Kyuhyun then for him to climb on and sit behind him.

Kyuhyun hesitated at first, but slipped his hand into the prince’s, amazed at just how tiny that hand was, “How fast a tortoise really be though? And you have tiny hands.”

“Something I was born with, and believe me, Ddangkoma used to be the fastest tortoise in my kingdom, but he’s already nearing a hundred years old, so it’s understandable that he’d be getting slower,” Yesung grabbed hold to the reins on Ddangkoma and patted the tortoise’s shell softly as his way of telling the reptile to go.

Kyuhyun quickly grabbed hold to Yesung once the tortoise started moving, riding a turtle felt so much different than a horse. He was afraid they were going to end up falling off. Yesung felt how tense the prince’s body had gotten, and with his freehand, he held Kyuhyun’s hands that were around him.

“Don’t worry, you won’t fall off. My mother and father rode Ddangkoma on their wedding day, and several times after that until I was born and inherited him, and they’ve never fallen off once,” Yesung assured him, but the prince still hadn’t relaxed.

“I’m sorry, I’m just really not used to riding a turtle.” As Kyuhyun was pressed up against Yesung, he realized the man was still soaking wet and he had said that he’d share the blanket with him. As much as he didn’t want to let go of Yesung since that tiny hand was still covering his hands and it felt oddly nice, he reluctantly pulled his hands away to take the edges of the blanket and wrap around the man so it would cover some of the prince and himself. “Now you’ll be warm too, and to pass the time on the way to the kingdom, tell me about why it took you so long to get here.”

And so, on the way to the kingdom, Kyuhyun listened to the prince’s tales of his adventures on the way to fulfill his task of being a choice for the Queen, and he had to admit that he was starting to like the man. If that husky sounding voice that was slowly lulling him to sleep as he rested his chin on the man’s shoulder and leaned up against his back said anything. But he wondered what the outcome would end up being for Heechul once he met the man.

 

 

Trumpets blew throughout the kingdom, awaking Heechul from his small nap that he’d been taking while one of the priests was informing of some lesson that he could care less about. The Queen quickly rose from his seat and ran to the closest window that overlooked the gate of the kingdom. Riding upon a large tortoise was two people, one that Heechul had never seen before, and the other, he’d be able to tell who the boy was from miles away.

The trumpets blowing meant that the person that was with his brother had to be the other prince, but what confused Heechul was the reason why Kyuhyun was with the man. But then, maybe his brother knew where the prince was all along and decided to have a little bit of fun with the man first? Well, Heechul wouldn’t have minded if that were the case, he was only furious at being kept waiting for so long, along with the fact that he had just sent soldiers out to search the area for the prince.

After he dismissed the priest, he started getting himself ready to present himself to the two princes. Upon entering the throne room, he saw Prince Siwon already kneeling at the foot of his throne, he smirked, that man seemed to be keen on trying to win Heechul’s frozen heart. With all the prince’s actions the past few days, Heechul believed that either the man was overtaken by the Queen’s beauty or he really wanted to be the one that Heechul picked.

Which Heechul would admit that the man was handsome, clean, and was a perfect gentleman, but there still seemed to be something off about the man. Something that he couldn’t pinpoint yet, but he would find out the reason why.

He made his way up to his throne and sat down upon the ice-made chair and waited.

Before long, he heard movement coming from the curtains behind his throne, looking back, he waited until he saw a brown haired person finally make their appearance. Catching a whiff of him though, Heechul frowned.

“You stink, Kyuhyun,” the Queen stated, holding his nose. “What have you been into? Seriously, I’ve never smelled something so bad before.”

Kyuhyun scowled, “I went for a dip in the river and just did get back, I tried to freshening up but the other prince has already arrived and I couldn’t get time to!”

Heechul rolled his eyes, “I saw you riding in on that giant turtle with the other prince. He probably smells as bad as you do, and besides, a dip in the river? You know you can’t swim. Is there something you’d like to tell me?”

At first Kyuhyun was about to shake his head but seeing the pointed look from Heechul, he sighed, “I accidently fell into the river and he was nearby and heard me and came to save me.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was basically what happened, Kyuhyun just didn’t mention about the whole ‘possible erted prince watching him’ thing.

“Well, I haven’t even met him yet, and I’m already indebt with him for saving my little brother,” Heechul replied, “Go get cleaned up and then come back here. If he stinks as worse as you, I’d rather not have my entire throne room smelling horrible.”

Kyuhyun groaned and trudged back through the curtains with his head hanging low.

It wasn’t long before the servants all filed into the room, two trumpets playing proudly as the other prince entered into the room.

“I present Prince Yesung of the island of Mouseu Rabiteu,” one of the servants said in a great voice.

And Heechul had to say, he was not impressed at all by the appearance of the man. He was still dripping wet, his wet clothes clung to his body, his hair was sticking out in different directions, his shoes made a wet, squeaky noise as he walked towards the throne to kneel, and that smell, the same that Heechul smelled coming from Kyuhyun filled the room. Even Siwon turned his nose up at it.

Yesung bowed, “Forgive me for being so late—”

“Yeah, you were supposed to be here a few days ago, and you reek of goodness’s knows what, why didn’t you change before seeing me? And why did you keep us waiting for so long? I’m not a patient man.” Heechul spouted off.

Sighing to himself, Yesung looked up at the Queen, “I am sorry for making you wait, and for my first appearance. When I was almost to the kingdom, I heard a giant splash and then someone calling for help, the boy couldn’t swim so I jumped in after him to save him, that’s why I’m dripping wet and smell of, possibly, fish. As for the rest of my journey here,” Yesung bashfully scratched the back of his head under Heechul’s gaze, “I, uh, I stopped in the first city and there was an elderly lady looking for her grandson, so I spent most of the first day looking for him, and after he was safely returned to his grandmother, I continued on.

“Then two days later into my journey, I came across an injured deer and so I stopped and bandaged its leg up before continuing on. Also, Ddangkoma, my tortoise, ride, and friend isn’t as young as he used to be, so he’s slowed down quite a lot so that’s another reason why it was taking so long.”

Heechul sat in silence for a moment, just staring at the man, until a growling filled the room. The Queen was about to reply, but the blush tinting Yesung’s cheeks stopped him then he saw that tiny hand rub at his stomach. A soft chuckle coming from behind Heechul told him that Kyuhyun had rejoined them.

“And, uh, I kind of haven’t had anything to eat in the past two days. I had passed by a starving family of kids and gave them what little bit of food I had and enough gold to go get themselves some more that should last them a little while.”

“I don’t know whether to think you’re just trying to sound modest enough in hopes of winning my heart or if you’re attempting to be a saint and join the church—” Heechul started, which Yesung quickly intervened.

“Actually, I wanted to stay in my kingdom and be a scholar.”

Heechul was impressed by that, and so was Kyuhyun, even though he’d heard most of what the man had to say on their way there. He’d learnt quite a lot about Yesung, and from what he’d learnt and heard of the man, he thought Siwon’s good looks and perfect etiquette couldn’t compare with Yesung’s good heart.

“So you weren’t honored to receive an invitation into my kingdom? For an opportunity to become my King?” Heechul asked, brushing off the kind acts of the man, he felt insulted by the fact that this prince didn’t want to compete for his heart like all the other princes had.

“Well, not really,” Yesung answered, honestly, “When I had received word about it, I had just gotten my parents to agree to start letting me study in the library so I could become a scholar. I want to become a scholar so I can make the right decisions for my people.”

Heechul was insulted by everything the man had said, but then something brewed inside him, he smirked, “What if I chose you now, just to stump your dreams of being a scholar? What if I want you to make the right decisions for my people?”

Siwon looked like he was about to protest when he heard that, but Yesung quickly interrupted him, “You wouldn’t want someone like me. I hardly even look like a prince, this man,” he motioned towards Siwon, “he looks like a prince, he looks like someone that you would want to pick. Strong, tall, perfect posture,” and Yesung added a little bitterly, “and handsome. He’d be perfect for you.”

The Queen shrugged, he wasn’t going to argue with that, but there was still something that bugged him about Siwon’s perfectness. He wasn’t going to voice that yet though, and the resounding of growling from Yesung’s stomach stopped him from saying much more.

“As it still stands, you’ll have to court me for two days, both of you, then I’ll make my decision. For now, servants, prepare our meal to be ready in one hour,” Heechul stated, standing up from his throne, “And while waiting for the meal to be prepared, fetch some bread and fruit for the prince of Mouseu Rabiteu, along with some dry clothes. You are all dismissed.” And with that, Heechul walked out of the throne room.

Siwon stood up, glancing at Yesung with a small smile on his face, “I hope the best man wins the Queen’s heart.”

Yesung chuckled, “I hope that best man is you, to be honest, so I can return home.”

The other prince laughed, “Well, I’ll try my hardest to win his heart then.”

“Best of luck,” Yesung replied, holding out his hand to shake the other man’s.

Siwon was surprised by the gesture but grinned and shook the man’s hand. With a small bow towards Yesung and the Queen’s younger brother, he walked out of the throne room. Just as a few servants came in, carrying a basket of fruits, a plate of bread with cheese, and a bottle of wine, Kyuhyun stepped down from his chair and walked towards Yesung. Another servant came in with a large robe to slip onto Yesung.

“I can’t believe how honest you were with my brother.”

Yesung shrugged, finally feeling warmth from the dry robe, “Honesty is the best policy. I really just want to go back home and study.”

Something in Kyuhyun slowly sunk hearing that, but he shook it off, that’s what Yesung had said before, and he already knew what the prince wanted. “You know… we have a grand library here as well. Heechul only allowed the best of scholars to fill his library with books, scribes, and teachings.”

The prince’s eyes widened, “Really? Can I… can I see it?”

“Of course, I can show it to you while we wait for dinner to be served.” Kyuhyun grabbed the man’s hand, if only for just another chance to hold that tiny hand, then turned to the servants, “Bring the food for the prince of Mouseu Rabiteu to the library and set him up a plate there.”

When they reached and entered into the library, Yesung was amazed by the sight. He thought the library there in Mouseu Rabiteu was grand, but this place was ten times as bigger. Bookshelves went on for as far as the eye could see, and they were at least ten feet tall each. A few ladders were propped up beside some, a desk and couch was in the center of the room for anyone studying, along with a large lamp that hung overhead, in case if anyone wanted to, they could study after dark.

“Impressive, huh?” Kyuhyun asked, seeing Yesung’s look of awe and smiling at the man. He tugged on that tiny hand that was still in his and started leading them through the bookshelves. “You know, my parents allowed me to study here when I was younger. After they died and once Heechul was made the Queen, I didn’t see much point in studying anymore.”

Yesung stopped the boy dragging him along through one of the bookshelves, “Why not?” He asked, before scanning over the book titles and when he found one he looked interested in, he glanced towards Kyuhyun to get a confirmation before he took the book down. “I had to beg my parents to let me study; they wanted me to leave all the decision making to the council’s influence.”

Kyuhyun shrugged, “Heechul had to do that at first, but then he started taking charge when he saw that the council was making the people suffer instead of helping them. And I just didn’t want to study anymore, I mean, I’m just the Queen’s younger brother, no one looks at me and thinks that I have any say-so in what happens in the kingdom.”

The other prince nodded, getting a few more books, and pointing towards the direction where the couch was, “I imagine that’s how my younger brother feels too, he actually wanted to come here for a chance to win the Queen’s heart, along with taking up all my responsibilities as the next crowned King, but my parents didn’t acknowledge it. It about the roles we’re born into sometimes.”

Kyuhyun followed after the man, sitting down beside him once they reached the couch and grabbing one of the books to skim over. “Why don’t you want to be the next King? Other than being a scholar, of course.”

“Well, I’ve seen all the things my father has to go through, and I just can’t get used to the idea of sitting on a throne all day, making decisions and not actually being out in my kingdom, with my own two hands, working to make sure things are taken care of. I want to be a scholar so I can use all my time studying and teaching younger people about the right things to do.”

The brown haired boy stared at the man for a moment, watching as Yesung opened up two of the books, starting to read some of the first book then some of the other, and going back and forth. He was confused by the man’s method of studying, but didn’t say anything. It just amazed him that Yesung seemed a lot like Heechul in a way, they both wanted to do what was right for their people, maybe going about it different ways, but they still had the same goals at heart.

“You’re an interesting person, Yesung,” Kyuhyun admitted without thinking, he quickly looked away when the prince raised his eyebrow in confusion, “Uh, wh-what are you going to do though, if my brother does pick you for his husband?”

“I’d have to accept it. I wouldn’t want to bring shame to my family by rejecting one of the world’s strongest leader’s marriage offers,” Yesung replied, then chuckled, “But I doubt that would happen, Siwon looks more like the Queen’s type than I do.”

Kyuhyun laughed, nodding, “Yeah, he is.” But then a thought popped up in his head, Heechul had said that Kyuhyun would be the one that gets to choose this time whether or not if he was interested in one of the princes that had came, and while Siwon was the more handsome one out of the two, he felt drawn to this turtle-loving, odd prince beside him. “What would you do if I chose you though? Heechul did say that I was already old enough to start considering courting and marriage.”

Yesung was surprised to hear that, but then he shook his head, “You look like you’d choose someone like Siwon too. I doubt you’d want some smelly, short, and weird prince like myself either, so I’d still be able to return home and continue my studies as a scholar.”

He felt like slumping down and melting into a puddle of sadness after he heard those words, Kyuhyun was seriously not liking anything the prince had to say about leaving and continuing his studying back at his castle, but then he felt bold. “But what if I decided that I wanted some smelly, short, and weird prince like you?”

Pausing from the book again, but then finally closing it, Yesung looked up at Kyuhyun, “I guess I’d have to accept it, wouldn’t I?”

Kyuhyun wanted to whine after he heard that, but instead, he calmed himself and simply asked, “But you wouldn’t like it at all, would you?”

While Kyuhyun was starting to dread his question due to the look on Yesung’s face, he still wanted an answer. Maybe it would play a part in him not choosing the prince. Although just as Yesung started to reply, a servant came into the library, announcing that the dinner was ready causing Kyuhyun to drop the subject.

He really wanted to hear the man’s reply, but he’d have to wait for it, or maybe this was the fate’s way of saying that he wouldn’t have liked what Yesung’s answer was? Something told him that he wouldn’t, but he still wanted to hear it from the man, but he didn’t get a chance to ask the question when Yesung had already set down the books and was pulling Kyuhyun up and out of the library behind the servant. And while it felt like a torture, he still loved having that tiny hand in his.

Upon entering the dinning hall, Heechul was already seated at the head of the table, Siwon was standing behind his chair, and it looked like the prince and Queen were conversing before the other two entered in the room. Kyuhyun wondered if Heechul would end up picking Siwon, because he already knew which prince he wanted, even if that prince didn’t want to be picked or was agreeing to a marriage.

Once they were all seated, Kyuhyun sitting beside Heechul in the same chair he’d always sat in, Siwon and Yesung were across from him, they all were served the dinner. While Kyuhyun mostly picked at his food, Siwon and Heechul ate normal, and Yesung, he was too busy scarfing everything down to hold a conversation. From the look on Siwon’s face every now and then when he glanced at Yesung, it was obvious that he wasn’t enjoying sitting beside the prince, but he’d choose to ignore the man and continue eating and talking to Heechul about small things.

But from what Kyuhyun noticed, that’s all Siwon seemed to do, the prince wouldn’t talk much about himself or his kingdom, he was always curious about the things of Arendale, like the growth of the kingdom, the taxes, the work of the people, the army, and how much gold the kingdom was generating. Kyuhyun supposed it was all business talk and maybe that’s how more sophisticated people talked.

He wondered about Yesung’s opinions on those things since the prince wanted to be a scholar but it didn’t seem like Yesung was interested in anything except that pork roast on his plate.

“So, I guess it’s time to actually start talking about the reason why you two were invited here,” Heechul stated, raising his wine glass to take a small sip, glancing back and forth at the two princes, starting to glare at Yesung when the man didn’t seem to have heard him causing Kyuhyun to laugh to himself.

Siwon nudged the prince and Yesung finally looked up at the Queen, with his attention all on the man and his mouth full of food, “Y-Yes?”

Heechul rolled his eyes, “The reason why you two are here. The marriage offer. And as you’ve both probably heard about all the other princes that I had invited for a chance like this that were rejected.”

“I heard there were about fifty princes,” Yesung noted, swallowing his mouthful of food.

“Fifty six, to be exact,” Heechul stated, surprised that the man was close to the right answer, “And I still have yet to find a suitable candidate.”

Siwon spoke up with a small smile and a wink, which Heechul would refuse to admit that he did blush, “Hopefully one of us will change that.”

Heechul brushed it off, “If you meet the requirements then perhaps so. The next two days, you will both have a chance to show me what you can bring to Arendale that will help make it more prosperous, and if I like it, then I may accept your offer, and there’ll be a wedding, if not, then you will be given an honorable rejection and sent back to your kingdoms.”

Kyuhyun glanced over at Yesung when Heechul said that and tried not to look saddened by the fact that Yesung’s ears had perked up at hearing that. The prince really wanted nothing more than to go back home and follow about his life plans, and that depressed Kyuhyun even more.

“Now, my first question will be this, what do you two have to bring to our marriage and to benefit the kingdom of Arendale?"

Siwon was the first to speak, “My kingdom is known for their supply of diamonds and gold, I live in the castle built upon a mountain and from all the mining of the other mountains throughout our kingdom, we have benefitted tremendously with the amount of diamonds and gold that we’ve found. My offer, if you were to choose me for your husband is a share of all the diamonds and gold that we mine for.”

Heechul was impressed to finally hear something about Siwon’s kingdom, and he didn’t know just how valuable of resources the kingdom had. But while gold and diamonds were valuable, he wanted to know if the people were just as prosperous as the royal family was, especially the people that did not work the mines. He was pleased with the answer and made a mental note later to ask about the state of Siwon’s people.

Then he turned to Yesung, and the prince hesitated to answer, “Well… my parents told me to tell you that, uh… hang on, I had it written down,” Yesung fumbled with the pockets of his robe and finally pulled out a small piece of parchment, and Heechul had to resist rolling his eyes again, while Kyuhyun was just amazed at the prince as Yesung started to read off the paper, “Oh yeah, they said my kingdom offers you a share of all our jewels, like rubies, opals, and emeralds that we have found in the lands of our kingdom, along with endless supplies of fish due to our kingdom residing on an island, and our supply of grains. Our land is very fruitful with food for the people and the royal family and its servants. And we also offer the use of our army and the combination of our soldiers if you should accept our son in marriage.”

Once he finished reading it off, he looked up to find Siwon and Kyuhyun staring at him in amusement while Heechul, he did look annoyed, but also more impressed than he did with Siwon’s offer.

“Your people, are they well taken care of with all the food supplies you have?” Heechul asked, surprising both Kyuhyun and Siwon with just how interested he sounded. “And don’t tell me something that your parents told you to say, tell me what you’ve observed with your own eyes about your kingdom. I have a feeling you’re a lot more concerned about your people with your dreams of being a scholar and the tales of your journey here.”

“O-Of course my people are well taken care of. My parents’ main concern is always the people, we have the least amount of taxes due to the fact that my parents are always getting more than we need from the jewels we’ve mined for, and the people are living, if I may say, very happy with the way things are taken care of there.”

“I see.” Heechul then turned back to Siwon, “Are your people well taken care of?”

Siwon was taken back by the question but then nodded, a bit too quickly for Heechul’s taste, “Yes, they’re well taken care of. The royal family does everything they can to help our people. My family isn’t the only one that benefits from all the gold and diamonds we have, we’re also one of the largest people in the trading business.”

Heechul nodded, sitting back in his chair and taking a sip of his wine, “As you can tell, I’m more concerned with the way my people will be ruled, like if to say, I get sick and bed-ridden, and if I can’t make decisions then, I will need someone that would still be thinking of the good of the people.”

“I would do that, along with holding your hand and trying to help nurse you back to health, my Queen,” Siwon spoke up, causing Heechul to smile slightly.

Yesung was quiet, he would be able to handle the people if he was chosen and the Queen had fallen ill, and he would be able to take care of the Queen with his illness as well, but other than it being the kind of mercy between just two human beings, there would be no love there. Unless, of course, he had fallen in love with the Queen before something like that would happen. But the way Siwon was looking at Heechul, it looked like the man was already starting to develop feelings for the Queen, while Yesung, he would admit the Queen was beautiful, stunning, he didn’t have that attraction to the man.

Then he glanced over at Kyuhyun to find that the boy was staring at Heechul and Siwon, it looked almost as if he were sitting in envy at the two. But Kyuhyun, despite Yesung wanting nothing more than to go back home and study, and despite him never feeling an attraction to anyone around his kingdom, this boy, well, there was something about him that Yesung felt for him. Yesung didn’t love the boy, but he felt like love could blossom if he allowed it.

“So, may I ask, since there’s a lot of mystery and talk about it throughout several kingdoms, how does Arendale produce so much ice throughout the seasons?” Siwon asked, the question itself caused Heechul to smirk while Kyuhyun’s eyes widened and he looked slightly panicked, “Everyone said there’s no mountains high enough around to retrieve ice from, nor any neighboring mountains that have snow and ice upon the tips of them. So everyone wonders where the ice comes from?”

Yesung wondered about the question too, he had heard talk about the biggest trading item from Arendale was its ice, and it was even known for lasting longer than regular ice. He remembered the throne room and the throne that Heechul sat upon earlier was made of ice as well, even though it was starting to become autumn, the season wasn’t nearly cold enough to keep the ice from melting. So he was curious about the ice as well.

“That’s actually a secret of my kingdom, and I’m not able to say where it comes from until after I find the person I want to marry. After that, he would be the only other person that would know,” Heechul replied with a small smile.

Siwon looked even more interested while Yesung just nodded and accepted the condition. It wasn’t like he would be chosen by Heechul anyway. He was still curious but it wasn’t like he had to know the secret.

The rest of the evening, mostly Siwon and Heechul talked about little things while Kyuhyun and Yesung had finally retired to their rooms. After all the traveling for Yesung, the prince was more than ready to fall on a bed and go to sleep, while Kyuhyun, he was still wondering about his question in the library earlier that day. He really wanted to know what Yesung was going to answer with when he asked if the man would be happy if Kyuhyun did choose him. His mind kept telling him that the man would’ve said something that would’ve upset Kyuhyun, but a little part of him had hope that maybe the man might be happy about it.

But Yesung still seemed extremely determined to return home and study to become a scholar, so that thought alone left Kyuhyun tossing and turning in his bed. He’d just met the man that day, and while he had thought Yesung was weird at first, he did feel an attraction to him, when Yesung saved him from drowning earlier that day, while Kyuhyun was shaken, cold, and angry at the man for startling him, he had to admit that Yesung was not bad looking. And he felt like if out of all the princes that had came to try and win Heechul’s heart so far, Yesung was the only one that really stood out to Kyuhyun.

He groaned to himself since this was going to keep him up all night and slipped out of his bed. It was past midnight so he knew that Heechul would already be in bed by now. Quietly exiting his room and heading towards the end of the hall where his brother’s room was, he slipped into the room. Inside, it was dark, but from the moonlight coming through the windows, he could make out that Heechul was asleep in his bed.

Kyuhyun knew how much Heechul hated when he used to crawl into his brother’s bed when he was younger but he still tolerated it. Well, if pushing the boy out of his bed and continuing to fight against Kyuhyun until his exhaustion set in and Kyuhyun won and got to cuddle up with the older boy meant tolerating, then yes, Heechul tolerated it. But right now, Kyuhyun just wanted someone to give him advice and Heechul was the only family and friend he had to turn to for direction.

Slipping into the older male’s bed, Kyuhyun cuddled up to Heechul and it wasn’t minutes later until Heechul was grumbling, sleepily, “Kyuhyun… get out of my bed, get out of my room, go away!”

Smiling slightly to himself, Kyuhyun cuddled up to Heechul, “I don’t want to, hyung; I’m confused about something and need your guidance.”

Heechul groaned, trying to yank himself out of Kyuhyun’s grasp, “Kyuhyun, I don’t care! Go back to your room! Don’t you remember what happened last time you snuck into my bed? Do you want a frozen arm again?”

Kyuhyun gulped, finally releasing the Queen, “T-That was an accident, I know you didn’t mean to freeze my—”

“I didn’t mean to, but it still happened, didn’t it? That’s why I told you not to sneak into my bed again,” Heechul replied, gloomily. Sighing to himself, and when he felt that Kyuhyun wasn’t leaving his bed, only creating distance between him, he rolled over onto his back. “What are you confused about, Kyuhyun?”

The prince glanced over at his brother to see his eyes were still closed, but he looked like he was trying to stay awake to listen to Kyuhyun, “Well… Yesung confuses me. I was talking to him earlier in the library about the possibility of you choosing him to marry—” Heechul’s snort of laughter cut him off, and after Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, he continued, “and he brushed it off too, saying that he wasn’t the kind of prince you’d want to marry, and so I told him that you said I was also of the age to pick someone to marry and I asked him what would he think if I chose him, and of course, he said that I’d be more suited for someone like Siwon too, but I asked him just before the servant came in to tell us dinner was ready if I did choose him, if he would like it? Do you think he’d be happy if I did choose him? He never got to say and I’ve been too scared to ask him again, Heechul-hyung, do you think he’d be happy with me?”

Heechul was now staring at the boy in amusement, “I figured you had a crush on him.”

Kyuhyun glared at the Queen, “I… well…” he sighed, “he is cute… but he’s more interested in becoming a scholar than he is with marrying someone.”

“We have a library here, Kyuhyun, and many teachers that could teach him if you want to choose him to court and marry.”

“But what if he’s not happy here? What if he’s more happy being back in his kingdom?”

“The marriage doesn’t mean that they can never return to their kingdom, they’d be able to visit their kingdoms while they’re still fulfilling the husband duties here. But if you want him to feel more happy about being here, try to show him some of the benefits of being married to you,” Heechul suggested.

Kyuhyun thought about what the Queen said for a moment and then turned to him in confusion, “How?”

Heechul rolled his eyes, “You’re too innocent for your own good sometimes. Touches, Kyuhyun, hugs, little kisses, are you sure you want to get married if you don’t even know how to seduce the man?”

Glaring the Queen, Kyuhyun crossed his arms, “I do know how to seduce a person… I’ve just never… tried it? Do you think he’d like that though?”

“What man can resist being touched and kissed?” Heechul asked, rhetorically, “Now go back to your bed, and think up some ways to seduce the man into wanting to stay.”

Kyuhyun started getting out of the bed, wondering about Heechul’s words and wondering how he would go about doing those things to Yesung. He mumbled out a ‘good night’ to his brother before walking back to his room, his mind going through so many scenarios and ways to try out those things. The last thought before his mind gave way to sleep once he’d returned to bed was just how soft those lips of Yesung’s would be against his.

 

 

The next day, the Queen had called for both princes to accompanying him for a walk through the gardens behind the castle. There, the two talked more about their kingdoms and the things that they could help Heechul with his kingdom. Of course, that was until Heechul had spotted Kyuhyun watching them from the balcony, and noticed the way the prince’s eyes trailed after Yesung. Heechul, while he was impressed with the amount of honesty coming from the prince of Mouseu Rabiteu, he was becoming annoyed as well until finally he sent Yesung back to the castle. Mostly for Kyuhyun to find him and do whatever he had to do with the prince, and for him to have some alone time with Siwon.

 

 

Kyuhyun was grateful for that. He’d get to have Yesung all to himself now. He walked throughout the halls, even visiting the prince’s room to see where Yesung had gone off to until finally, one of the servants said they saw him entering the library. Kyuhyun could’ve slapped himself for not realizing that would’ve been the place that Yesung would’ve wanted to go to.

Upon entering, he found the prince sitting on the couch with his legs spread across it and his back up against the arm of the couch. Three opened books resided in his lap, all of which it looked like Yesung was trying to read or skim over the information in all three at the same time. Kyuhyun was really amazed and confused by the prince’s method of studying but he figured that Yesung must’ve been very good in multitasking.

Trying not to disturb him, Kyuhyun snuck up behind the prince to see what he was reading. He saw one book was about farming and the times of the year best for growing things, another was about politics, and the third book was simply a fairy tale. He never would’ve guessed that Yesung would still read fairy tales.

“I was looking for you,” Kyuhyun finally spoke up, walking around Yesung to sit at the end of the couch, below Yesung’s feet.

Yesung started closing the books, “I’m sorry, I know I should’ve asked for permission before I came in here, but Queen Heechul sent me back in from our courting. I assume I annoyed him too much and he wanted more time to spend with Prince Siwon.”

Kyuhyun bit back a smile, he believed he knew the reason why Heechul sent Yesung back in, and while it could’ve been everything that Yesung said, but he also saw that Heechul had spotted him watching the three in the garden and it wasn’t long before that that Heechul sent Yesung back inside.

“That’s a pity,” Kyuhyun retorted, but then smiled at the prince, “At least you can spend more time with me then.”

Yesung glanced at Kyuhyun, his fingers fumbling with the flaps of the books, “Won’t your brother think something’s going on if we’re always found together?”

“I did say that Heechul said that I was of age to start courting,” Kyuhyun replied with a small smile, then he remembered what Heechul said about seducing. Maybe a little bit would get his point across to Yesung. “And maybe…” he moved slowly across the couch towards Yesung, watching the prince tense as he smirked, “maybe I’d like to court you, Yesung.” He kept inching closer, Yesung had subconsciously parted his legs, the books in his lap was now pressed against his chest, and before long their faces were inches from each other. Kyuhyun couldn’t believe how much he liked the reaction from the prince, especially when he started speaking again and those eyes fluttered closed. “Maybe… I want you.”

And once he said that, he wasted no time in pressing his lips to Yesung’s in a soft kiss. One that Kyuhyun tried to turn into something else, but due to his inexperience, along with Yesung’s, he could tell, it didn’t deepen into anything further when he pulled back. He watched Yesung’s face for any signs of displeasure and felt a small thrill when there was none.

Instead those eyes opened, and Yesung’s words confirmed Kyuhyun’s assumption as he stared up at Kyuhyun, “That… that was my first kiss.”

Kyuhyun didn’t mean to blush, he wanted to follow through with Heechul’s suggestion of being able to seduce the prince, but that wide and amazed gaze of Yesung’s left his face turning the brightest shade of red. “M-Mine too. I’m sorry, I should’ve asked… I didn’t mean to steal your first kiss,” he apologized, but to be honest, he was rather proud of himself, he was the first person to kiss the prince, and hopefully, if things worked out for him, he’d be the last person to kiss him. He couldn’t imagine kissing anyone else—

His thoughts quickly dispersed when a soft pair of lips pressed against his again, he pulled back out of instinct, and that left Yesung babbling, “I-I, uh, I don’t regret it. I liked it, Prince Kyuhyun, I mean, it was nice. You don’t have to apologize, its okay—”

Kyuhyun chuckled, suddenly feeling confident again, “Please, call me Kyuhyun, no prince or anything, just Kyuhyun.”

Yesung smiled softly, and Kyuhyun swore his heart felt like it stopped, especially when he heard that husky voice whisper his name, “Kyuhyun.”

The prince couldn’t stop himself from cupping Yesung’s face and pressing his lips back to the older male’s. This time though, Yesung was more prepared, and despite them knowing much about kissing, and despite the teeth clashing, they tried deepening the kiss as much as possible. Kyuhyun was surprised when he felt two arms circle around his waist and that encouraged him to run one hand through Yesung’s hair while his other stayed resting on that soft cheek.

In all his years, Kyuhyun never thought for a second that he would ever meet someone like this, and let alone makeout in the library of his castle. He always imagined somewhere more romantic or beautiful but to be honest, right now, right here in this moment; he believed nothing was more beautiful, romantic, or magical than what he was experiencing with Yesung.

He wanted this man.

Even though Kyuhyun felt like being a bit bolder with his moves, he didn’t press for anything more than what Yesung was giving him. After all, he didn’t want to scare off the prince if this was the man that he wanted to court, and possibly marry. Not only that, he didn’t exactly get the chance either since the knocking on the knocking of the door and a servant entering caused them to break apart.

The two quickly separated, moving towards the ends of the couch, and with the scared expressions on their faces, they probably looked like the guiltiest people in the world at that moment. The curious look on the servant’s face confirmed that, but she simply stated that the evening dinner was being served. After she left, Kyuhyun glanced over at Yesung to see his blushing face and he knew his had to look identical.

“I, uh, um… we should go eat dinner now,” Kyuhyun said, not knowing exactly what to say. What did people say to each other after they just kissed? Especially after they were interrupted and now too embarrassed to face each other.

“Y-Yeah, we should.” Yesung stood up first and surprised Kyuhyun when the prince looked back at him with a small smile, his eyes looking everywhere but Kyuhyun while his hand was outstretched to help the younger male up from the couch.

The prince placed his hand in Yesung’s as he allowed the man to help him up, and as much as he didn’t want to release that hand, he did and quickly started out of the room. Yesung followed slowly behind, unsure of what to do now because everything felt awkward. He enjoyed the kiss, yes, he even wanted more, but the thoughts confused him. He wanted to go back home, to study, to be a scholar, to carry out life the way he wanted to before he was forced to travel to this kingdom, but Kyuhyun caused his plans to become uncertain.

He didn’t know if that was a good thing or bad thing.

The rest of the evening, there was tension and awkwardness radiating off of Yesung and Kyuhyun during the dinner. Heechul, while he still felt like he was on Cloud Nine after the time in the garden with Siwon, noticed the tension between the two, and he believed that everyone in the room could feel and notice it. He made a note to ask Kyuhyun about it later, but he figured that he’d hear all about it later that night when Kyuhyun tried to sneak into his bed again.

Just like he figured, he heard all about it then. Surprised that his little brother had made such a bold move as to kiss the other prince, but after answering some rather awkward questions from Kyuhyun, he told the boy to try again the following day. After all, the next day was the day that the two princes would the Queen throughout his land on their loyal rides. Of course, Heechul was not going to sit on some smelly old turtle, so he would give that task to Kyuhyun and hope that something good came out of the decision.

 

 

And Heechul fell through with exactly what he told Kyuhyun the night before in bed when he and Siwon had just returned from their little outing. Heechul watched as Yesung helped Kyuhyun up on the turtle before taking his seat and starting to lead them through the kingdom. He wondered how the two would end up fairing.

“If I may say, I believe your little brother has a fascination for that turtle prince,” Siwon spoke up from behind Heechul as they watched the two from the Queen’s balcony.

“Well, he is of age to court and marry as well,” Heechul waved off, stepping up to the edge of the balcony, leaning against the railing.

Siwon smiled to himself, “They do look perfect for each other, wouldn’t you say?” He stepped up beside the Queen, and making a bold move, laid his hand on the small of his back. “Does that mean I would be the only one trying to capture your heart now?”

Heechul refrained from shivering against the touch, trying to calm himself; he didn’t need to be freezing any princes right now. Especially not where there were servants standing behind them. To which, he noticed that they looked like they wanted to stop the prince from touching the Queen, and he knew that the touch was very inappropriate.

Granted that he did enjoy himself with the ride through the kingdom with Siwon, and he enjoyed the man’s company in general. He was still curious about Siwon’s motives, he had a vibe that there was something that Siwon wasn’t saying, but for now, he decided to indulge a little. After all, it had been five years since the accident that scared him into not wanting physical contact or any contact with anyone else, and maybe his ability had calmed down a bit. He didn’t freeze Kyuhyun the other night like he had before, so maybe it was safe now.

Because there was nothing more that he wanted than to press his lips to that bow-shaped mouth of Siwon’s. Maybe indulge in a little bit of touching, kissing, and just feel the things that had been burning in him since he saw the man.

“I’d like to be alone with Prince Siwon,” Heechul stated, turning towards his servants, “You’re relieved of your duties for now.”

The servants, although they looked unsure if they should leave or not, bowed and started back into the castle, closing the glass doors of the balcony behind them.

Siwon smiled to himself, glancing down at the Queen, “Now we can be alone together.”

Heechul glanced up at him, “Yes, I don’t care for prying eyes. And I suppose you are the only one that’s trying to capture my heart now. What are you going to do to steal it away?”

The hand resting on Heechul’s back slid around to grip the Queen’s hip, Siwon pulled Heechul towards him, catching the man off guard at first, bringing their bodies flush against each other’s. “Well, I’ve thought of a million ways since I got here and saw just how beautiful of a Queen rules Arendale, of how to speak to you, to court you, to make you feel as beautiful as you look.” He bent down, and Heechul closed his eyes when he thought the man was going to kiss him, but then he felt those lips at his ear, “And I’ve thought of how I could pleasure you.”

Heechul’s heart stopped when he felt a nib and kiss on his earlobe that soon trailed down to his neck. His hands came up to slide over Siwon’s shoulders, he was melting against the man, feeling just how hard of a body Siwon had, feeling those lips kiss over his neck, and he couldn’t stop the moan from escaping when he felt teeth working over one spot of his neck.

But then everything stopped for Heechul when through his half-lidded eyes, he saw the breath from his moan. His eyes widened, it wasn’t cold enough outside for him to see his breath, he glanced at his fingers and the tips of them were starting to form ice. He panicked, quickly removing himself from Siwon’s hold, careful not to touch him, moving away from the man.

“Um… I-I—” Heechul stopped as soon as he saw Siwon start bowing.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I don’t know what came over me. Forgive me for my inappropriate touches. I just thought you liked them…”

Heechul shook his head, a small pained smile crossed his lips, “I, uh, I did like them, but I forgot my place. I can’t accept any gestures like those until after I’ve made my decision… f-forgive me, Prince Siwon, for tempting you. I’ll… I’ll see you again at dinner. I must go now.” The Queen didn’t even wait for a response, quickly jerking open the door and running inside.

 

 

At first the ride between Kyuhyun and Yesung was awkward. The two didn’t seem to know what to say to each other, and then the ice broke between the two when Kyuhyun suggested going to the river that they’d met to begin with. Since they had to remain in the kingdom, he showed Yesung another path to another secluded part of the river.

Once they arrived, Yesung joked with the boy about if he’d sing again or go for another dip in the water.

“It just makes no sense to me. Why would you want to sit up on a tree limb over a ten foot river, knowing that if you fall in, that you’ll surely drown? What if I hadn’t shown up the other day to save you?” Yesung questioned, leading Ddangkoma over to a patch of greenery for him to nibble at while he got off.

Kyuhyun slipped his hand into Yesung’s offered one as he got off the turtle, while he did enjoy being so close to the man on the turtle, he was rather glad to be off the moving reptile. His bottom hurt from the hard shell, and he wondered how Yesung was even able to walk right after riding that tortoise for the entire journey to their kingdom.

“But you forget, I wouldn’t have fallen in if you hadn’t startled me that day. I’ve sat on that tree limb for years now and never fallen into the river,” he replied, leading Yesung over to an area for them to sit down in the shade, still enjoying the fact that he was still holding onto the prince’s hand. “Plus, I’ve always liked doing daring things.”

“Daring or not, you still could’ve drowned,” Yesung retorted, sitting down against one of the trees, he was surprised when Kyuhyun didn’t take a seat beside him, instead choosing to sit in his lap. His cheeks started flushing again, and he could see that Kyuhyun’s were slightly colored as well.

“You know, if you stay here in the kingdom with me, you could teach me how to swim though,” Kyuhyun smiled, leaning back against the prince. “Would you want to stay here in the kingdom with me?”

Yesung hesitated, “I… I want to be a scholar though.”

Kyuhyun frowned at that reply, slowly turning around in Yesung’s lap to face the man, “You could be a scholar here. You could study and learn everything here. We have the best teachers here, the best library, and the best resources for all you’d need.”

The prince looked down to avoid Kyuhyun’s gaze at first, but then looked back up, “You wouldn’t just want me to be your husband?”

“Did you think that just because if I chose you to marry that you wouldn’t be able to still study to be what you wanted?” Kyuhyun chuckled, remembering what Heechul said about having Yesung study to be a scholar while also fulfilling his husband duties, and from hearing that, he thought more and more about how it would be to have Yesung in the library reading one of his books while Kyuhyun’s head rested in his lap, or maybe even steal a few kisses between the turning of the pages.

“My mother wanted to be a scholar, but due to the arranged marriage with my father, she was forbidden to. My father encouraged her to still study to be one, but the council discouraged her, saying that she should focus on her duties as a wife and prepare to be a mother,” Yesung replied, his gaze drifting down to his fumbling fingers.

Well Kyuhyun understood now why Yesung wanted to be a scholar more than anything, and why he would be scared of accepting a proposal.

“That wouldn’t happen here though, Heechul never does what the council tells him if it doesn’t benefit for the good of himself and the kingdom. You would still be able to study and be a scholar here,” Kyuhyun answered, he reached forward and cupped Yesung’s face to bring him to look at Kyuhyun, the Arendale prince smiled, “You could do all that, and I’ll be right there beside you…” he leaned closer to Yesung, “giving you all the encouragement you need… like this,” he saw Yesung’s eyes flutter close when he moved closer until finally his lips connected with the prince’s.

The kiss was soft at first, and Kyuhyun intended for it to just be a soft kiss, but Yesung’s lips were addicting, and he couldn’t stop himself from wanting more of the prince’s taste. Their lips moved against each other’s, their tongues intertwining as Kyuhyun drank all that Yesung was giving him. Their kissing was still clumsy from them both being inexperienced but Kyuhyun believed if he could have these kinds of kisses for the rest of his days, he would not mind one bit.

Yesung’s hands came up to Kyuhyun’s face and as much as he didn’t want to, he had to break for air. Kyuhyun wanted to whine in displeasure but hearing Yesung’s panting, he understood why the man pulled away. He looked over the man’s face, those eyes were still closed, those lips, glistening with both his and Kyuhyun’s drool, were parted as he breathed heavily, and to Kyuhyun, he couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful.

“You know…” Yesung finally spoke, opening his eyes to see Kyuhyun watching him, “You know, I’m supposed to be here to court your brother.” He reached up to brush a stray hair out of Kyuhyun’s face, “But here I am, hiding in the bushes with you, kissing you…”

Kyuhyun chuckled slightly, “Well, would you rather it be my brother that’s sitting in your lap right now?”

Yesung quickly shook his head, “No, of course not, I doubt he’d even want to be seen with me.” Hesitantly, he pulled Kyuhyun to him in an embrace, “I’d rather it be you.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

It was quiet between the two for a moment, Kyuhyun basking in the warmth of Yesung as he lied up against his chest, enjoying every minute of those arms around him, while Yesung was so surprised by everything that was going on between them. He never would’ve guessed that he would end up wanting the younger brother of the Queen’s. He figured that once he arrived at Arendale, that the Queen would take one look at him, and send him packing. This had definitely been a big turn of events for the Mouseu Rabiteu prince.

The two stayed there by the river until the sun had started to set and decided to return to the castle before they sent out a search party to find the two. It would take them till nightfall to reach the castle anyway with the rate that Ddangkoma was moving.

When they arrived home, they were met with a frantic Queen. Well, he was sort of frantic, to Yesung, he looked like he was trying to keep himself composed but wasn’t doing too well of a job at hiding it. But before Yesung could hear what the Queen had to say, he was already being dismissed to his room so Heechul and Kyuhyun could talk to each other.

Yesung wondered if something happened between the Queen and Prince Siwon, if that was the reason why Heechul was acting the way he was, but knew that it was none of his business so he headed towards his room. Although, as he was walking past Siwon’s room, he heard someone mumbling inside. Against his better judgment and all the teachings of his parents that he should not eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, he stepped up to the door and pressed his ear against the cool wood.

“I think I blew it with him today. I messed up all chance of getting accepted to marry him. Aish! Why did I have to be so stupid?” Siwon sounded like he was talking to himself, and maybe he was, Yesung had been known to talk to himself a few times when he was frustrated as well.

But what the prince had said made Yesung even more curious. What exactly happened between Queen Heechul and Prince Siwon? Especially to cause this kind of reaction of the two, when they looked like they were getting along just fine earlier that day.

 

 

“I messed up today, Kyuhyun. I almost froze him!” Heechul spouted as soon as they had gotten inside his room and closed the door. “Why can’t my powers leave me be for just a little while? Just to get a little pleasure out of life or to be happy for just a tiny fraction of my life?”

“Whoa, whoa, hyung, what happened?” Kyuhyun asked, stepping closer to try and calm his brother, only Heechul quickly moved away from him. “Hyung, you’re not going to freeze me again, stop running from me and just let me comfort you!”

Heechul shook his head, “I could end up freezing you too, Kyuhyun. Did you forget all the times that I’ve come so close to freezing you? And even the few times that I did freeze your arms or legs?! If the bloody sorcerer hadn’t been able to reverse it, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Just stay away from me, Kyuhyun.”

Although Kyuhyun wanted to fight his brother against what he just said, Kyuhyun did remember those times, and while he didn’t hold a grudge or feel scared of the Queen, he sighed to himself. There was no point in trying to reason with Heechul. He sat down on the Queen’s bed, “Fine, hyung, just tell me what happened earlier? How did you almost freeze Siwon?”

“I… we… I had hopes that I could just be able to enjoy him touching me… and just kissing me. He was just kissing my neck, and I moaned, and I could see my cold breath, my fingers started icing over again. I just… if I hadn’t pulled away, I would’ve froze him,” Heechul explained, finally sitting down beside Kyuhyun on the bed and burying his face in his hands. “This, Kyuhyun, this is the reason why I’ve never chosen any of the princes that have come for a chance to win my heart. This is why, despite it being our parents’ wish that I should marry before my twenty-fifth birthday, this is why I can’t.”

Kyuhyun started to wrap his arm around Heechul, but paused, made sure that the older male wouldn’t move away from him, he wrapped his arm around Heechul. “I’m sorry, hyung… I know how hard it must be for you, and no matter how the sorcerers have tried, they still can’t seem to get rid of the curse. I wish I could do something for you.”

Heechul leaned into Kyuhyun’s touch; surprised that his powers weren’t acting up but then again, maybe it’s just Kyuhyun that’s slowly became immune to them. He still didn’t want to risk it with touching the boy, but right now, he needed some kind of warmth. “Just…” he sighed to himself, brushing off his disappointment, “Just, how was today with Yesung? Did you enjoy it?”

Kyuhyun hesitated, he didn’t want to talk about that right now, well, he was beaming to tell Heechul all about it on the way back to the castle, but right now, he was more concerned with his brother. But he knew that Heechul would want to brush aside his problems for the sake of Kyuhyun. “It was good.”

“Just good? I know he seems a bit boring but it had to be better than just ‘good’,” Heechul replied.

Kyuhyun started to describe his day with Yesung to Heechul. He admitted to having kissed the prince in the library before and about the little making out session there by the river. He felt guilty with talking about all the different things he did with Yesung, knowing that it was something that Heechul couldn’t experience, but Heechul seemed happy for Kyuhyun. The two kept talking until finally, Heechul had drifted off to sleep on Kyuhyun’s shoulder.

The younger brother helped Heechul get settled into bed after that, and slipped quietly out of the room. Kyuhyun wasn’t ready to head off to bed yet, the things that Heechul said kept going over in his mind, along with the things that happened between him and Yesung, and everything had left him feeling a bit restless. So he decided to see if the prince from Mouseu Rabiteu was still awake, and to his luck, the man was.

“How is your brother? Is everything alright?” Yesung asked, sitting up in the bed, and lighting the candle on the bedside table.

Kyuhyun shrugged, he couldn’t tell Yesung the truth, yet, so he simply said, “I hope everything will be alright. It’s just that, I guess Siwon scared him with his advances today.” Which wasn’t really true, since Heechul wanted them, but the way his body reacted to the situation said something else, especially since his body wanted to freeze the man.

Yesung’s eyes widened when he heard that though, “He made advances towards the Queen? Wow, I can confront him about that if you want me to. I understand that he finds the Queen beautiful and wishes to be chosen for this marriage but that’s no way to act—”

Kyuhyun quickly shook his head, surprised by just how Yesung was reacting over this, but when he thought about it, Yesung did seem like the respectable type of person, “N-No! No, it’s okay, the advances were welcomed by Heechul but they just… kind of scared him a bit. Well, it startled him, but it’s nothing to worry about now. I’ve calmed him down.”

“Oh. Okay,” Yesung nodded, still not completely convinced though, “So what are you still doing up?”

“I could ask you the same question, although it looked like you were trying to go to sleep before I came here.”

Yesung shrugged, patting the place beside him on the bed if Kyuhyun wanted to sit down, “I was just thinking. It helped me to think once I lied down and blew out the lights.”

Kyuhyun sat down in the spot that Yesung suggested for him, before he moved further up into the bed, and came to rest beside the prince, lying his head down on the pillow beside him, “What were you thinking about?” Slightly hoping that Yesung’s response would be him.

“You. And Queen Heechul. And Siwon. And my family. And home,” Yesung replied, “I was worried about Queen Heechul when I saw how frantic he was, and then wondering about Siwon when I overheard him talking to himself about messing up his chance at pleasing the Queen, and the rest, well, I’m just not sure about.”

It touched Kyuhyun to know just how much of a caring person Yesung was, but he frowned when he heard the rest of it, fearing that the prince would really rather go back home than to stay in Arendale with him. “Why wouldn’t you be sure about the other things?”

“I’ve never felt like this before with anyone, you have to understand that, Kyuhyun, and I’ve read fairytales where the prince and princess meet and fall in love within a matter of days, and live happily ever after, and then I’ve read some fairytales where the happy endings weren’t so happy, and I’m just confused. I do miss my family, and I want to be a scholar, but I also want to stay here, and I do enjoy being with you, but I just don’t know what to decide on.”

What the prince had just said scared Kyuhyun. He didn’t want Yesung having second thoughts about staying there with him, nor did he want Yesung to leave him. He wanted this man, and he wanted him to stay there with him.

Sitting back up, Kyuhyun reached out to touch Yesung’s face, turning it slightly to face him, “But you could still be a scholar here, and it’s not like you wouldn’t be able to see your family anymore. The only difference is with you staying here, and going back home,” Kyuhyun paused, his voice softening, “is that I’d be here.”

Yesung reached up, his hand covering Kyuhyun’s that was resting on his cheek, “That’s what I was thinking about… with everything I was thinking about, you were the one thing that kept coming up in all of it.”

Chuckling softly, Kyuhyun gave him a small smile, “Wouldn’t that mean you should stay here then? With me?”

Yesung laughed, shaking his head, “It’s weird that I came here for a chance to marry the Queen, knowing full well that I’d be sent back home with an honorable rejection, and yet, I’ve somehow stolen the Queen’s brother’s heart instead?”

“I guess that would mean that I fell for the smelly, short, and weird prince like yourself,” Kyuhyun replied, quoting what he remembered that Yesung had said about himself before. “And I didn’t fall for someone like Prince Siwon either.”

Shrugging, Yesung laughed again, “Admit it though, if you had to pick between me and Siwon, based upon looks, you’d pick him, wouldn’t you?”

Kyuhyun didn’t answer at first, and when he saw the smile cross Yesung’s face as if he were saying that he knew Kyuhyun would’ve picked Siwon, he pulled the man’s face towards him and placed a soft kiss to his lips, he murmured against those lips, “I’d still choose you, Yesung.”

“Mhmm—mph…” Yesung started to respond but Kyuhyun’s lips weren’t allowing to do so as they pressed against his again, and he did not feel like breaking away from the prince’s mouth anytime soon.

Instead, Yesung pulled the younger male closer to him, their kiss turning into something deeper, harder, hungrier. Kyuhyun moved, their lips never parting as he settled on top of Yesung’s lap, his hands coming up to run through the prince’s hair while Yesung’s hands gripped Kyuhyun’s hips. Their tongues met and clashed against each other’s, almost fighting against the other’s, and just as their hands started to wander to lower regions, a pounding came to the door before it was flung open.

Kyuhyun and Yesung had just enough time to break apart when they saw a frantic servant rushing in, “Prince Kyuhyun! The Queen is in danger!”

Both princes sprung up when they heard that, Kyuhyun was the first to speak, “What do you mean? Why is he in danger? What’s happening?!”

She bowed at first, “I apologize for eavesdropping on him a few minutes ago, but I overheard Prince Siwon talking to himself about needing to find a way to get rid of the Queen so he can take the throne. And just as I was about to come to your room and alert you, I saw him exiting his room, and he looked like he was carrying a weapon!”

Kyuhyun looked back at Yesung, only to find that the prince had already fetched his own sword and was waiting for Kyuhyun to go with him to save Heechul. “Let’s go.”

On their way out, Kyuhyun turned to the servant girl and told her to get the guards and come to the Queen’s room. If Siwon happened to be too much for Yesung to handle, or if Yesung couldn’t fight off Siwon, then they would need help. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Yesung was smaller and probably weaker than the tall, muscled man that Siwon was.

 

 

Siwon crept up to the bed, the dagger held firmly in his hand as he watched the Queen sleeping almost peacefully. His original plan was to get the Queen to fall in love with him, choose him to marry, and then not long after, he’d find a way for the Queen to die, mysteriously, and he’d be able to claim Heechul’s throne. After all, he would never be able to rule his own kingdom; there were already his other seven brothers that were in line before him.

But now, maybe he could go ahead and kill the Queen and take the kingdom by force. Or perhaps, he could hold the Queen hostage to get all the guards, knights, and servants to obey him until he rallied up his own army to take control over Arendale.

As he gazed down at the sleeping Queen though, he wondered if there could’ve been a way to keep the Queen around and still be able to control the kingdom. After all, Siwon did find the Queen beautiful and how much he’d loved to have ravished that body and pleasured him as much as Siwon could. But he figured that maybe he could use the Queen’s little brother for that, or send the little brother packing with Yesung back to the turtle prince’s kingdom.

A soft moan coming from Heechul as he stirred in bed interrupted Siwon’s thoughts. The Queen wasn’t about to wake up, just turning over to find a more comfortable position to sleep in, and Siwon figured, that since he wasn’t able to get his kiss earlier when they were out on the balcony, maybe now he’d get to steal a quick kiss from the Queen before he plunged the dagger into Heechul’s heart.

He leaned down, softly touching Heechul’s face to get the right angle to press his lips against the Queen’s. Just as his lips touched the Queen’s though, a sharp shiver ran through him, his lips started going numb, and his eyes snapped open at the coldness that was running through him.

“Heechul!” A shouting came from somewhere in the room but Siwon couldn’t turn to see because he felt like he was frozen in place. The last thing he saw before everything turned black was the Queen’s eyes snapping open and filling with fear.

 

 

Heechul awoke with a start when he heard Kyuhyun shout his name, his eyes widening when leaning over him was Siwon. A very blue Siwon that was slowly being iced over. Heechul quickly sat up in the bed, fearing the worst as he watched Siwon’s whole body start to become solid ice.

“N-No! Siwon! No, no, no! Not you!” Heechul started shouting, shaking as tears started filling his eyes, he didn’t mean to freeze the man, he didn’t even know the man was there, let alone touching him, or kissing him. Heechul clung to the man, whispering apologies before the sound of something metal hit the floor behind Siwon’s frozen state.

“Heechul, he was—” Kyuhyun started, as he edged closer to the bed, Yesung was just frozen in his spot at witnessing the scene.

“I-Is that a dagger?” Heechul asked, pulling away from Siwon and staring at the weapon. He turned to Kyuhyun with widened eyes, “He was… he was going to kill me?”

Kyuhyun’s eyes saddened, “I’m afraid so, Heechul,” he was about to embrace Heechul but the Queen jerked himself away from him, getting out of the bed on the other side, “One of the servants overheard him and told me…”

Heechul wanted to sigh in relief then but the fact that he was starting to feel a tiny bit of attraction for this prince kept him from doing so. He wanted to be thankful for his powers for saving him, but at the same time, he wanted to cry to no ends that the prince was now frozen solid.

The tears in his eyes made the decision for him though, starting to run down his cheeks, “Why am I cursed like this, Kyuhyun? Why did I have to be born like this? This is the reason why I can never choose a husband, this is the reason why I can never fall in love with anyone, this is why I’m doomed to be alone forever!”

Kyuhyun was about to speak up, but Yesung’s voice stopped him, “So this is the secret behind Arendale?” The prince was still standing there, his sword still in hand where he was prepared to protect the Queen, his eyes still wide as they stared at Heechul, and he was still trying to process what he’d just saw.

But when Heechul looked at Yesung and saw the sword, he thought the prince was there for something else, like to kill the Queen, “Oh, you’re here finish his job, am I right? You may as well kill me, it’d put me out of my misery. I’ve got nothing to live for, I’m already cursed—”

“No!” Both Kyuhyun and Yesung shouted, surprising Heechul.

“He came to save you—”

“I came to protect you—” Kyuhyun and Yesung started at the same time, but Yesung continued, “I wouldn’t kill you, not because of this,” he motioned towards Siwon’s iced over state, “I’m not going to kill you, I was going to protect you from Prince Siwon’s attack. I’m just confused about your whole curse. I’ve heard of a child being born with the powers of winter, but I never thought I’d ever see the person.”

Heechul stared at the prince for a moment, “Well, now you’ve seen the cursed one, now you can take my brother and go back to your kingdom to be married and live happily ever after while I remain here, free from harming anyone else.”

“Heechul, I’m not leaving you!” Kyuhyun shouted, running to the Queen, “You’re not going to harm me! You wouldn’t harm me!” And despite Heechul trying to back away from his younger brother, it didn’t stop Kyuhyun from wrapping his arms around Heechul. “I’m here for you!”

Heechul’s body was tensed, but he was surprised when Kyuhyun wasn’t slowly turning into ice. He started crying more when he finally wrapped his arms around Kyuhyun’s body, leaning into that warmth.

“I’m not leaving you, Heechul, I won’t leave you, not like mother and father did, not like grandfather did, not like Hangeng did, I’m not leaving you!” Kyuhyun spouted, clutching tighter to Heechul.

“Our parents had no choice, Kyuhyun, they were killed, and grandfather was old…” Heechul gave a wet chuckle that slowly turned into a sob, “and as for Hangeng… he never did leave me.”

Kyuhyun pulled back, curiosity filling his eyes, “What do you mean? You said he fell in love with someone else and ran away with her.”

“I-I also told you not to sneak into my room, and I told you not to go into my closet. Did you ever wonder why?” Heechul asked, weakly, pulling away from Kyuhyun to move over to his closet, opening the door, he pulled back his robes and revealed a frozen Hangeng. “He’s been here all along, I’ve been trying to find a way to unfreeze him, but nothing’s ever worked. The real reason why I’ve declined all candidates for marriage, aside from my curse, is because I still have the only man that I’ve ever loved.”

Kyuhyun stood there in shock, he didn’t know that that’s what happened to Hangeng, neither did he know that was really the reason why after all those years, Heechul never did allow himself to fall in love with anyone else. With the small exception that Heechul had started growing fond of Siwon, or simply was going to allow himself some kind of warmth and pleasure he’d been longing for from the man.

Yesung stepped up, still amazed, confused, curious, and a bit frightful of the Queen, especially when he saw the other frozen man, “Queen Heechul, there must be something you haven’t tried to unfreeze this man.” Heechul was about to reply, but Yesung continued, “You don’t freeze Kyuhyun when you’re holding him, you think you will, but he’s perfectly fine, maybe it’s love that you need to unfreeze this man?”

“What? But I do love him. I love Hangeng.”

“Did you fully love him when this happened to him?”

Heechul thought back, at the time, when he was fifteen, he was very fond of Hangeng, he knew that the way he felt for the man could develop into love, but when Heechul kissed him that night, he was only fond of him. He didn’t love him. But over the years of missing the man, it had developed into love, but never once had he tried pouring that love into a way to bring the man back, to unfreeze him. The sorcerers and magic that he’d used so far had proved to be useless, maybe Yesung was right about love.

It also would explain why after the first few times of Kyuhyun sneaking into his bed and ending up with frozen body parts, that when Heechul started expecting it, even in his sleep, that he no longer froze the boy. Because he loved and cared for Kyuhyun. After all, his little brother was all he had.

“Love can thaw a frozen heart, Queen Heechul,” Yesung spoke up.

Heechul glanced at the prince, then at Kyuhyun, before turning back to the frozen form of Hangeng, and with his heart filled with some hope that maybe Yesung was right, he stepped up to the frozen figure. Murmuring a quiet ‘I love you’ to the frozen man, Heechul pressed his lips against that cold pair.

At first, when Heechul pulled away, there was nothing different about Hangeng, only leading to further disappointment in the Queen. Kyuhyun stepped up to Heechul and placed his arm around his brother to comfort him, while Yesung still stared at the frozen man. Then he saw a little movement in the man’s chest. It looked like the ice was starting to melt away from around his heart, and before long, it was starting to spread, all the ice melting away, slowly.

“Queen Heechul! The ice is melting!” Yesung shouted, causing Heechul’s head to snap back up, staring at the man with wide eyes.

“Hangeng?”

As soon as all the ice melted off, Hangeng was standing there, dripping with water and shivering, he looked around, “H-Heechul?”

The Queen quickly ran and embraced him, forgetting all about the possibility that he might end up freezing the man again, but nothing of the sort happened as he wept in the crook of the man’s neck, “Hangeng… I’m so sorry, I’ve missed you so much, I love you! I’m so sorry for freezing you and not knowing how to save you!”

Those shivering arms came around to wrap around Heechul’s waist, unsure of what was going on, and unsure of Heechul’s words but he was just glad for whatever just happened. He could only remember the last moment that he and Heechul shared, and had to admit that was a mind-blowing kiss, and now he was being held again by the Queen.

Yesung grabbed the blanket off the bed, and he and Kyuhyun wrapped it around the two.

As they stood back from the couple, Kyuhyun glanced at Yesung, teasing, “You know… now that you know the family secret; you can’t leave here without marrying me.”

Yesung chuckled, resting his head against Kyuhyun’s shoulder, “It’s a very big family secret too, I suppose that makes the decision for me then?”

Kyuhyun pulled away from Yesung for a moment, “Well… I mean, if you don’t want to… I can live with that but I mean, I really want—”

“You really want me,” Yesung finished for the boy with a teasing smile, chuckling at the pout that Kyuhyun was sporting now. He couldn’t resist pressing a quick kiss to Kyuhyun’s lips, “If we do this though, I want to be proper about it. May I have your hand in marriage, Prince Kyuhyun of Arendale?”

Kyuhyun smiled softly, “Yes, you may, Prince Yesung of Mouseu Rabiteu.”

“You two still need my approval for that,” Heechul chimed in before he went back to showering Hangeng with kisses.

 

 

The next day, after they’d taken care of the iced over Siwon, Yesung had received the scroll indicating his honorable rejection from Queen Heechul, the prince was getting all his things packed up and loaded onto Ddangkoma. Kyuhyun was helping him, not too excited that Yesung was leaving him, but it would only be for a short while as he took the scroll back to his parents, along with the request from the Queen for Yesung’s hand in marriage with the younger brother of the Queen’s.

“You don’t have to look so sad, Kyuhyun, I’m coming back,” Yesung spoke up, watching as Kyuhyun gloomily fed Ddangkoma some of the alfalfa leaves.

“I know… but I don’t want you to leave. I’m going to miss you so much while you’re gone.”

Yesung put down the bag he was holding and walked over to the boy, tugging him up for a hug, “I’ll miss you too, but when I come back, I won’t have to leave again.”

Kyuhyun hummed, enjoying the hug until a thought ran through his mind, “But what if when you get back to your kingdom, you won’t want to come back and want to be a scholar there?”

Yesung pulled back from the boy, “Kyuhyun… that won’t happen. Like you told me before, I could still study to be a scholar here.”

“And you could be rewarded with a kiss for each answer you get right, or a small makeout session in between your breaks of studying,” Kyuhyun chimed in, “You wouldn’t be able to get those back at your kingdom.”

“Very true, although I seem to have forgotten what your kisses taste like. Care to remind me?” Yesung asked, shyly.

Kyuhyun laughed, “I’d be happy to,” he pulled Yesung back to him, and pressed his lips against Yesung’s. The kiss was soft and slow at first, but then it started getting a bit deeper.

Although that was when they broke apart at the other voice filling the room, Heechul had joined them, “Alright, alright, you two, enough kissing and hugging. Yesung, if you’re going to go and hurry back, you’d should get going, if it’s anything like waiting for you to get here, I’m sure it’ll be a month before you return.”

That was not something that Kyuhyun wanted to hear, remembering that it did seem like forever before the prince had even gotten there, “Wah! You’d better come back as fast as Ddangkoma can bring you, Yesung! I can’t wait a month!”

Yesung chuckled, pressing one more kiss to Kyuhyun’s lips before he pulled himself up on Ddangkoma’s shell and settled into his seat, “It won’t take a month for me to return. Give Ddangkoma a little bit more credit than that.”

Kyuhyun stared at the prince for a moment as Yesung started leading Ddangkoma out of the stable, trying to will himself from crying, as Hangeng came into the building. Heechul glanced back at the man and smiled, their hands finding the other’s. He turned back to Kyuhyun and his eyes softened when he saw the tears starting to fill the boy’s smile.

“Or better yet, Kyuhyun, go with him,” Heechul finally spoke up, “You can get to know your soon-to-be in-laws.”

The younger brother looked back at him in surprise and uncertainty, “B-But I don’t want to leave you, Heechul…”

“But you don’t want to be without him either. Go on, you won’t be gone forever, and I’ll be fine. Hangeng’s here with me now,” he glanced over at the man and grinned before looking back at Kyuhyun, “Go on.”

“Okay… thank you, Heechul!” Kyuhyun replied, giving his brother a quick hug before he ran out the doors of the stable, only finding that Yesung and the tortoise had gotten just five feet from the stable. “Yesung!” He called, catching the man’s attention, “Heechul gave me permission to go with you!”

A grin broke out on the prince’s face when he heard that, reaching out his hand to Kyuhyun, “Well come on! At least we won’t have to be separated now. Even if it was for a short amount of time.”

As Kyuhyun climbed onto Ddangkoma, settling in behind Yesung and wrapping his arms around the prince, the two started off again. Heechul and Hangeng stood at the doors of the stable and watched the two as they slowly made their way towards the entrance of the kingdom. Heechul knew it would take them awhile to return but that would leave them more time to spend with each other.

When the prince from Mouseu Rabiteu had first arrived, Heechul didn’t expect much out of the man, especially to be insulted with the amount of honesty that Yesung displayed with his dream of studying to be a scholar. He was glad that he didn’t just decide to reject the man then and there and send him back home before he started unpacking. But if it weren’t for the turtle prince, then Heechul probably would’ve been killed by Prince Siwon and never had been able to awake Hangeng from his frozen state and probably would’ve still been in misery.

But due to the fascination that Kyuhyun had with the prince, Heechul refrained from just rejecting Yesung, and he couldn’t have been happier that he did.

Because maybe, just maybe, the two brothers would have their happy endings now, just like the ones that their parents always wanted for them. And the curse was no longer going to stop Heechul from loving anyone anymore. After all, love was the only thing that could melt a heart of ice.

 

A/N: I'm so sorry that it's extremely long! But I really wanted to write a fairy tale like Frozen for this one... I just didn't intend for it to be this long. XD I hope you enjoyed!