The Velvet Masters

Chapter 6

The Soul Kingdom

It had been a week since Joohyun was, as she liked to say, kidnapped. She wouldn't spend time with her fiancé or with anyone for that matter. All she could think about was escaping that dreadful palace full of arrogant people. Well, except Seulgi, of course. They hadn't spoken since her break down in the bathroom but she spent her days in that Kingdom hoping that they would speak again. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen the younger girl in a long time. 

She spent most of the time locked up in her room and barely came out, only to eat and go on the afternoon walks by herself. Everytime she would have to have a conversation with someone from the royal family or the court her face would draw the fakest smile of them all. She wasn't like this usually. This was her way of passive aggressive rebellion, even though she knew she could do nothing to change her fate. They were going to get married anyways.

It was already dinner time and she was making her way to the dinning table. She saw the King who gave her a smile.

"Seulgi is coming back from her trip today, she was on a field trip from her ballet academy." He stated proudly. 

Joohyun couldn't help but feel happy for Seulgi. From what the King had told her, she was a great dancer. Before she could notice a smile was plastered all over her face but it quickly fell once the prince entered the room. The time Joohyun spent there only made her realize he was an absolute jerk. Well, she already knew that before. His face held a smirk and his eyes told her that on his mind he had anything but good thoughts. They immediately turned their fake smiles on.

"Good evening my sweet bride." He said sarcastically and put his arm around her waist.

"Young love." The King said smiling at them, they offered him a smile but right after he turned around Joohyun rolled her eyes.

"I hate you." She whispered on Minki's ear and kept smiling while she went to sit on her usual chair.

She sat across the King right beside the prince. He sat down amd tried to lay his hand on her thigh but she quickly slapped it away. The food came rushing as always and Joohyun was greeted with a plate full of vegetables. She shrugged, she didn't mind some cauliflower. All of a sudden there was a knock on the door and a guard came in.

"Princess Seulgi is back, your highness." The King's grin was from ear to ear as he heard those words.

"Let her in." He ordered as he stood up from his chair to greet his daughter. Joohyun and Minki got up as well. 

Seulgi came in the room looking as beutiful as ever. She was wearing a white dress that contrasted with Joohyun's black one. She smiled at her brother and waved shyly at Joohyun. She went straight to her father's arms and he welcomed her with a warm hug.

"Welcome back pumpkin." He smiled.

The rest of the dinner was peaceful with Seulgi telling stories about her trip and Joohyun not eating, at all, because she spent the whole time staring at Seulgi.

"Your majesty." Joohyun called the King and he switched his attention from his daughter to the older girl.

"Yes, dear?"

"A few nights ago you told me that you could show me the soul river." She stated hopefully.

"Oh, that's right." He responded. "I'm afraid today's not a good day for me. I have a meeting right after this meal." He looked at Joohyun with a sad smile.

"It's okay dad, I can take her." Seulgi said smiling at her dad and then turning to Joohyun, her smile only grew.

Joohyun blushed. "Only if you don't mind."

"Of course not." She said getting up. "Let's go."

Joohyun followed her and as they were getting out of the room the King called them.

"Don't forget the key, sweetie." He tossed her a bunch of keys that she caught effortlessly and nodded at him.

Joohyun followed Seulgi through hallways and hallways of nothingness, she started to think that it was an enchantment so people wouldn't know where to go to go to the soul river. Every single hallway had ten doors and each door had another ten, if you failed to find the right way, you would end up getting lost.

"It's a long way." Seulgi broke the silence.

"I suppose, but it's understandable. Anything to keep out people with bad intentions from the river that holds all living souls." She chuckled.

Seulgi smiled at her. "You know our History?"

"Just a bit, I studied all Kingdoms' History, can't say I remember much." She answered embarassed.

"It's alright, I don't know much about the Time Kingdom's History either." Seulgi laughed.

Joohyun wasn't the smartest of her age. During her childhoon she would prefer to play sports. She became incredibly good with a bow and arrow. She was great at physical stuff, anything to do with lots of thinking was way too much for her. Still, she knew the basics. The people from the Soul Kingdom were known for their capability of teleporting to anywhere they would like. And, since their true nature is to protect humans, they also have the capability to make shields to protect themselves and other people from harm.

The most important capability the Soul people have is to create souls. The soul river is where every soul is born and also where they end up dying. Joohyun knew there were three ancient half-gods that took care of the souls. They were the ones who made them and killed them when their moment was up. The Soul people were responsible for protecting the soul river and the three half-gods. They would even die for them.

"We're here." Seulgi informed. 

She startled Joohyun who didn't stop walking and ended up triping on a small step and before she could land with her face on the floor, Seulgi caught her. For a few seconds their faces were almost touching, their lips only a few millimeters apart. Before anything could happen, Joohyun stood straight and looked away from Seulgi with a red blush on her face. Seulgi also tried to avoid the older girl's stare.

Then, Joohyun looked up and was greeted by a large white door. Seulgi reached for the key to open it and after a few seconds trying to find it she was able to open the door.

The inside was absolutely enormous. It felt like they were entering a huge balcony and when she looked up, she could see the soul river that looked like a waterfall right in from of the balcony. 

Besides the beautiful architecture, she couldn't help but notice three old men running around. She recognized them as the three ancient half-gods and nodded to her thoughts. Seulgi noticed they seemed more stressed than usual.

"Is everything alright Grand Master?" She asked the one that seemed like the leader to Joohyun.

"Oh, Seulgi." He said, finally noticing their presence. "We were about to go up to your father." He ran his hand through his hair. "Something horrible happened today. The Mind Kingdom was attacked, they killed half of the humanes."

"We've been working twice as hard all day, we weren't expecting so many souls to be parting." The shortest of the three said almost crying.

"What about the ones who survived?" Joohyun asked.

"They'll have to come here, our Kingdom is known to be the home for refugees." Seulgi finally said something after her shocked phase passed. "I'll have to tell my father, immediately." She said while turning around and grabbing Joohyun's pulse which made Seulgi blush once she realized what she had done.

They started running again through the maze and Joohyun was impressed how well Seulgi knew those hallways.

Once out of the endless hallways, they made their way to the King's office, instead, they found him half way in the palace entrance.

"Father." Seulgi started. "There has been an issue." She breathed heavily.

The King interrupted her. "I already know about what happened my dear." He started walking towards the door, the girls looked at each other confused before following him.

"Father, where are you-"

Before she could finish her sentence they were already outside and were greeted by buses and buses full of people.

"Sweetheart, please help me welcome the people from the Mind Kingdom. They will be staying with us while their Kingdom is being rebuild." The King said and looked at the girls with a smile, they just stared at him with their eyes and mouths open.

Before they could say anything more, a guard came rushing towards the King.

"Sir, the Space King is also here." This made the King drop his smile and widen his eyes. He knew that something was very wrong if the Space King had to leave his own Kingdom.

A few minutes later, the Space King was walking up to the Soul King at a fast pace with Seungwan right by his side.

"Minho." The Soul King acknowledged.

"Kibum." The Space King said with the same calm tone. "We must talk. Immediately."

…

AN: Hey guuyyys, hope you had a nice weekend!! Please share The Velvet Masters with your friends!!

Have a nice week my beauties

(^o^)丿