You woke up in the middle of the night, Hyungwon still holding you tightly in his arms. You lied there for a moment, staring up at the dark ceiling. You wanted, more than anything, to stay in his arms. You had far too little time with the prince and you weren’t ready to say goodbye. You took a deep breath and moved your way, carefully, out of his arms, making sure not to wake him. Now that there was no one here to witness your tears, you let them fall freely. You bent down by Hyungwon’s head and kissed the top of it. It was a whisper of a kiss, hardly there but it held all of the sorrow you could muster.

You wiped your eyes and walked towards the door. You turned back and saw Hyungwon, peacefully sleeping like a child. You smiled sadly, taking one last glimpse at the man. “I love you, my prince.” You said quietly before exiting the room.

The king was already awake when you entered the throne room. He looked up from a brief meeting with a few advisors and smiled hatefully in your direction.

“It’s early, Y/N, I expected you to still be with my idiot son.”He pushed himself from his gilded throne and walked towards you, his chubby legs striding slowly across the marble floor.

He examined your neck and chest and smirked. “It looks as if you did have your fun. You’re a little just like your mother.” He spat into your ear.

You held your head high and ignored everything he said. You wouldn’t let what he said have any affect on you. The king chuckled deeply. His laugh was different than your father’s. You could remember your father’s warm and inviting laugh that made everyone smile. Tano’s laugh left your blood cold and made the hair on your neck stand up.

Tano raised a plump finger and pointed it towards you. “I’m giving you a task this morning.” His voice grew cheery, though fake and blood curdling. “You’re going to make sure that Hyolyn is ready for the wedding, make sure she is pampered and her every wish is granted. I want you to serve the woman who will marry the man you love.” He took his extended hand and pushed you to the ground in humor.

Your bruises from the previous day ached and pain shot through you like fire. The king laughed and walked back to his throne. The same guards from the previous night had taken ahold of yours arms and dragged you away. You knew one thing, you were tired of being thrown around like a useless ragdoll.

---

You were escorted to Hyolyn’s room within minutes. The halls, despite being the crack of dawn, were already busy with servants getting ready for the wedding. You recognized a few of them running around, you saw Hyunwoo, a kind butler who you had always been friendly with. You saw Minhyuk, the king’s page, who ran around doing everything the king asked of him. And a few others, you cast your gaze low to the ground, too embarrassed of your situation to be able to look at them.

Eventually, you were led to Hyolyn’s room. Hyolyn was the eldest daughter of a very rich supporter of the kingdom. You had to admit, that from a political standpoint, the marriage to her was a smart idea. Though, from a personal standpoint, your heart couldn’t ache any greater than the thought of it.

Hyolyn was overly kind and gracious. She attempted to get ready by herself, claiming that it wasn’t any one’s responsibility but her own. She was also unbelievably gorgeous, but she seemed to be modest about her position and beauty. You were forced to take care of her in the hours before the wedding, heart aching along the way.

Hyolyn looked to you as you set pearls into her perfectly curled hair. “What’s the prince like?” She asked quietly. You took and deep breath but smiled anyway. She was about to spend her life with Hyungwon, so why not tell her the truth about him?
“He’s unwaveringly kind and charismatic. He may act smooth and eloquent in front of a crowd, but get him alone and he’s weird and goofy. He cherishes those he loves and will do anything to make sure they’re thriving and living as good of lives as he can give them. He loves sleep, so don’t be alarmed when all he wants to do with you is lay down and fall asleep. Singing is his true passion and if you get him into the mood, he’ll sing for you. He’s a good man, Hyolyn, you’re very fortunate to be able to marry him.”

Her expression changed, she looked back to the mirror and saw your eyes go red. She appeared sad as if she understood the situation. You bit back the tears and placed the last pearl into her chestnut hair. You bent before her and smiled falsely. “Please take care of him.” You whispered to her. She nodded and turned around to hug you.

“I don’t want to marry him. I never did. My father is forcing me into the marriage and I have never met the man before in my life. I can tell that you love him dearly and I can’t take away that love.” She breathed quickly, you had to grab her shoulders to calm her down from her pre-wedding jitters.

She looked into your eyes, hers were glossing over, as if she were about to cry as well. “I love someone back in my own village. He’s a stable boy who tends to my family’s horses.” She pulled away from you. She steadied her labored breathing and took deep breaths. “I can’t marry Hyungwon,” she whispered.

You wanted to reach out to her, tell her that everything was okay. That she could leave now and go to her stable boy and you could go and spend the rest of your life with Hyungwon. But a furious knocking pulled you out of your fantasy and ruined any chance you had to imagine it.

Two ladies in waiting came in. The curtsied to Hyolyn and looped their arms through hers. They looked to you and grinned happily. “The King sent us in to tell you that he’s waiting for you in the chapel.” Said one. The other one nodded and placed and careful had on Hyolyn’s arm. “We were also told to come summon you. The wedding is about to start.” The other one claimed.

You shot a look towards Hyolyn. She was growing frantic, hardly ready to give her life away to someone she had never met. She began walking, hoping that it would be over with soon. She had not said it verbally, but you could tell that the thoughts of her stable boy were running rampant through her head…

---

The king had set a guard up behind you, making sure you would not move a muscle during the ceremony. You stood at the front of the chapel, just behind the king so you could see the affair in its full glory.

The king was a vile man. You had learned this years ago when he killed your family. Though, you truly found out the extent of his wickedness by the recent events. From beating you till you couldn’t move to forcing you to watch Hyungwon’s wedding. He was also going to force Hyungwon to watch your execution. All just for showing people the extent of his power and iron grasp he had over the kingdom. He was sick and you truly hoped a miracle would happen that he earn what he deserved.

You stood at the front of the room, dressed in rags and littered with bruises and dirt. You could feel all of the guest’s eyes peering at you, disgusted that someone like you was on the podium. You ignored it though. You focused every last amount of your energy on the door, waiting for Hyungwon to step through .

The music started and Hyungwon made his way down the aisle. His face appeared cold, unsmiling or joyous. He stared ahead, not looking at the guests who came or showing his thanks for their travels to his wedding. He didn’t walk slowly, he strided down the aisle quickly and urgently. His eyes were focused on his father and his father only, glaring at him with pure hatred.

He walked up the steps and took his position at the front of the chapel. He only took his eyes away from his father when he saw you standing behind him, held down by an armored guard. His eyes widened as he looked at you. He wanted to reach out to you and pull you into his arms, but he knew horrible things would happen if he did. The king watched the two of you stare at each other with amusement. Your little love story would be over before either of you knew it.

Moments after Hyungwon stepped up to the podium, the music started and revealed a veiled Hyolyn. She took shaky steps down the aisle, her head bent and covered by her white veil. She as the opposite of Hyungwon in the way she walked down the aisle. The only thing keeping her from running away were the two ladies in waiting who held on to her arm like a vice.

She stepped up, greeted lovingly by the king and and her bridesmaids. Hyungwon reached for her hand, never tearing his eyes away from yours. Your heart beat loudly, not only were you about to lose the man you loved, but your death date was approaching and by the grip the guard had on your body, you knew it would only be a few moments.

Hyungwon removed the veil from Hyolyn’s face and smiled, though very fakely. He felt bad for her, he didn’t want to marry the woman in front of him, but he was going to have to to be able to live and prosper.

Live and prosper.

He didn’t want to live and prosper if his father was in charge. If he was going to live a life without you in it. He refused to live a prosper if that meant living in misery for the rest of his life. That was no life, that was hell.

Hyungwon cleared his throat and stepped away from Hyolyn. He looked to his father then to you. He shoved past his father and took you face in his hands. “I can’t marry Hyolyn, not when My Queen is here.” He turned to the crowd of people and walked down the steps to address them.

He didn’t want to live and prosper if the kingdom didn’t know the truth about his father.

“This woman is Princess Y/N, King Williem’s last living child. Before my father took control of this kingdom, he made sure your beloved King Williem was dead and gone. So he had them killed in cold blood, just so he could ascend the throne. Y/N is my only true love and I can’t bare to mary Lady Hyolyn, not if it means living in a lie for the rest of my life.” The crowd began talking furiously, the pointed to you and spoke amongst themselves.

“Please, do what you can t-”

Live and prosper.

Hyungwon fell to his knees, the blade sticking out of his stomach. The blood began to pool at the floor as he fell forward, unable to keep his eyes open for much longer. His body fell in front of his people, the sword the was impaled in to him belonged to none other than King Tano.

You screamed. You thrashed and kicked until the guard that had a death grip on you let you go. You ran towards Hyungwon’s body, nothing else around you mattered. You turned him over so that his head was resting in your lap. Blood pooled from his pink lips. His eyes were half open, hardly able to stay open for more than a few seconds at a time. Tears fell out of your eyes. Your ears went deaf to the world and your mouth spoke false phrases of recovery.

Hyungwon coughed out, blood splattered onto his clothes and onto your face. With a weak arm, he brought his hand to your face and cupped your cheek. “This…” he coughed again. “This is not the end, My Queen.” He coughed out, his breath slow and forced.

You pressed on his would and cried out as he took his last breath.

Tano laughed and picked his sword up from the ground. “Another son can always be made.” He glared at you and came towards you with the bloodied blade. “This is the end of your story, Y/N. The story of how a small peasant tried to woo a prince and take over the king. Say hello to your father for me.” He spat before he dug the blade into your chest.

---

The warm breeze kissed your face pleasantly. You opened your eyes and saw gold. The golden grasses waved at you gently. You looked around, disoriented, not knowing where you were. From behind, you felt a tap on your shoulder. You turned around and was greeted by a pair of soft, green eyes. “Papa?” You cried as you brought your hands to you mouth. Your father nodded his head and attacked you with a hug.

“You are here much too early, my love.” Your father whispered into your ear. You cast a saddened gaze to the ground, a faint pain in your chest pulled at you. “I know, Papa. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to die by Tano’s hands, but I couldn’t make that happen.” You admitted to your father. He hugged you tightly “I’m just happy to see you once again my sweet sweet Y/N.” He let go of you and gestured to the golden fields, a castle could be seen in the distance, as well as small figures that walked in it’s grounds.

“Everyone has been waiting for you to come to us once again.” Your father smiled when he saw a tall figure in the distance. “He’s been waiting as well.” Your eyes widened, knowing exactly who it was. You sprung forward and ran to him, you didn’t stop, you just ran.

He held his arms out for you. You tackled him to the ground, overjoyed to see his gleaming face once more.

“I told you it wasn’t the end, My Queen.” Hyungwon laughed breathlessly as he pulled you into a kiss. It was soft and caring. It was finally a kiss that the two of you had waited for. It wasn’t behind closed doors and the two of you weren’t running away from the king. You and Hyungwon were finally able to love each other without being hurt.

You pulled away from him and smiled. He got up from the ground and pulled you with him. He wrapped his arms around your waist and peered down at you with nothing but love in his eyes. “I love you,” He said, louder than he had ever before.

“And I love you, My King.” As you said it, a gold ringlet formed upon his head. A smaller ringlet of gold fell upon your own head. The metal touched your head coldly, but you welcomed the feel.

You took his hand and pointed to the castle. “That’s the place where we can have our happily ever after.” You whispered to him. He smiled uncontrollably and began running towards it, pulling you along with him. 

Towards your forever.