*Zelo’s POV*

“Where is he?” I mumbled roaming the training ground. “He’s late.” I pouted. I roamed the training grounds a little while longer before I finally found him. He was standing, talking to the same two guards eh always spoke with, Jaebum and Jongin.

I walked up to them and they immediately stopped talking and bowed at my presence. “Hi Jaebum. Hi Jongin.” I greeted. The two returned the greeting with another head bow. “bang.” I turned to the person I was looking for. “Yes, your highness?” He answered. I cringed at the formality. “My parents are waiting for you.” I said.

He looked at me confused. I kept myself from laughing. He forgot. “Your fitting is today.” I reminded. His eyes widened in realization and slight panic. “I came to get you. We have to go, hurry.” I said already leading the way. He said bye to the other two guards before following me.

When we arrived at the large fitting room, Yongguk immediately bowed several times, apologizing for his tardiness. “Don’t apologize. We don’t expect you to remember these kind of things since you’re not used to it.” My father easily forgave him. “Besides, call yourself lucky, Jiyong and Junhong took hours getting fitted.” He remarked, earning an eyeroll from the two of us.

The seamstress introduced herself to Yongguk and instructed him to step onto the small platform. She measured the guard’s body before handing him his suit and directing him to one of the change rooms. “As much as I’d love to stay, I have work to tend to.” My father said, kissing us both before leaving the fitting area.

“You know, I wasn’t fond of the idea of having a guard as your .” My Umma said. “but Bang is handsome, so I agreed to it.”

The seamstress nodded in agreement. I couldn’t help the proud smile that formed on my lips. “His suit is going to look very nice.” He continued. “He has a nice physique. I bet he has a nice body.”

My cheeks burned, not expecting his observation.

“Make sure you make the suit snug in all the right places.” He instructed the seamstress. “Umma~!” I whined in embarrassment. “What?” “you’re being weird.” “I’m only being honest.”

“He can probably hear you. He’s probably embarrassed.” I said.

“So?”

“You should go with Appa. You’ll embarrass him.” I suggested. “I can’t leave. I have to make sure his suit turns out well.” He declined. “I’ll make sure it comes out right. I don’t want you to embarrass him or else he might not want to be my anymore.” I said.

“He doesn’t have a choice.”

“Umma Please~!” I whimpered.

He was reluctant but finally gave in. “Fine. I’ll come back to look at the suit.” He turned to the seamstress. “Yes, your majesty.” She bowed her head.

“I’m off to annoy Seunghyun.”

“Bye Umma.” I waved. I honestly didn’t want him to embarrass Yongguk, because it’d embarrass me. But more importantly, I wanted to be alone with Yongguk, or at least without my parents.

Yongguk came out a couple of minutes later in a silver colored suit with a bright white undershirt. “Sorry I took so long…I wasn’t sure how to put it on.” He confessed in embarrassment. “I chuckled at this. “Did the King and Consort leave?” He questioned, returning to the platform. “Yeh. They…were busy.” I answered. Yongguk nodded, seeming somewhat relieved.

I smiled watching the seamstress measure and gently mark Yongguk’s suit. His suit was slightly big on him but that was an easy fix. I couldn’t help but chuckle every now and then when the seamstress kept telling Yongguk to keep still. He was a squirmish when she adjusted his suit or had any needles or scissors close to his body. However, there were times when she kept touching him and I didn’t bother to hide my disapproval. He noticed this and laughed, but I didn’t find anything funny about it.

It wasn’t until another 20 minutes later when the seamstress finished. “I’m going to tailor your suit. Everything should be good then, but I may need to call you in again for another fitting later in the week.” The seamstress explained after he changed back into his regular clothes. “Yeh.” He nodded. We both thanked her before finally leaving.

“That was weird.” Yongguk muttered. “That was funny.” I laughed. “I hope she doesn’t have to call me back in again.” He remarked. “You get used to it.” I shrugged knowingly. I’ve had several fittings a year for suits throughout my teens since I’ve grown so fast, after a while it started to get annoying.

“I’m glad I don’t have to go through that. I don’t want to do it again.” He said. However, I didn’t say anything. “How are your etiquette classes going?” I decided to ask instead. Since he was to be my , my parents felt he needed to learn the proper etiquette. So, he was assigned to take lessons right after we returned from the Earth Kingdom.

“She’s cruel.” He said, referring to his instructor, who was also my instructor. I couldn’t help but laugh. I wasn’t able to watch his lessons since I was busy with my own, but I could imagine how funny it was. “I can help you.” I offered. “You can help me?” He questioned sarcastically. I rolled my eyes. “I have proper etiquette. But I only use it when I have to.” I argued. “Come on. Let’s practice.” I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to my room, where we couldn’t be interrupted.

“Let’s see. Where shall we start first?” I tapped my chin, looking around the room. “Oh!” I perked and grabbed a few textbooks and walked to Yongguk. “I’ve seen this in plays. Just stand up straight and balance the books.” I instructed, carefully placing the books on top his head. However, when he stood up straight, the books immediately toppled to the ground.

I yelped, jumping backwards. “Oops.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Are you okay?” I asked him. “I’m fine.” He laughed. “Okay, let’s start off with two.” I said, placing two books on this head. This time he was able to balance them with ease.

“You need to stand up straighter.” I would correct him over and over again as he worked on his walking. “Lift your chin up.”

“Hold your head higher.”

“Don’t be so stiff.”

“Ugh. I don’t need this.” He groaned in frustration when the books finally fell. “But you have to learn the proper posture and walking etiquettes.” I said. “I don’t need to learn that. I’ve already been trained enough in posture and stance as a knight. So, learning something like this is useless to me.” He shrugged.

I tilted my head, “You have your own posture and etiquette that you were trained on as a guard?” I questioned. He nodded, “Of course, why do you think we’re able to stand in the same spot for such a long time? Or march so well in perfect formation?” he said. “Oh~…” I said in thought. “Teach me! I perked back up.

“What?” he said a bit thrown off guard.

“Teach me how guards do it.” I repeated. He was confused by my request but soon laughed it off. “It’s hard.” He said. “It can’t be that hard. I’ve learned how to stand all my life.” I huffed. “Okay.” He shrugged, giving in.

He showed me several different things. It ended up being more difficult than I expected. Standing alone was hard! Certain parts of my body had to be less tense than others while standing perfectly shoulder-width apart and completely still. He even showed me how to march heal-toe and in certain patterns.

“You have to stand firm while still being able to swiftly move and attack any intruder.” Yongguk demonstrated this while showing me the correct fighting stance. He stood up straight and then lunched forward, and swiftly unsheathed his sword, swinging it outward. I couldn’t help but smile at how cool he looked. I clapped excitedly at his demonstration. “Teach me!”

“What?” He laughed. “I can’t show you that. You can cut yourself.”

I frowned. “It’s just unsheathing a sword, and I’ve fought with a sword before.” I said. “If it’s just unsheathing a sword then why do I need to show you?” he challenged. “Because you make it look cool.” I answered honestly. He laughed once more. “It’s not about looking cool. It’s about defending yourself and defeating your opponent.” He said. I rolled my eyes, “You still look cool.” I muttered. At that moment my stomach growled.

Yongguk raised an eyebrow hearing it as well. “Did you eat?” I asked him before he could say anything. He shook his head. “Good! Meet me in the meadow in five minutes, I’ll grab some food.” I said. He chuckled before nodding and giving in.

I ran out the room first and ran to the kitchen. I grabbed a large bowl of cherry tomatoes for myself and a plate of ready-made sandwiches for Yongguk. Then I quickly made my way toward the back of the castle.

On my way to the meadow, I bumped into my second oldest sister, Jinri, she came to the palace early with her fiancé to help prepare for the party. “Someone is hungry.” She teased, seeing the amount of food I had. “Not all of this is for me. It’s for Yongguk.” I said. “Who?” She questioned. “Bang.” I answered. “Ah~, the guard.” She nodded, recognizing the name. “Yeah. Now I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.” I said, running off before she could say anything else or start a conversation.

Thankfully the meadow was empty like usual, and only Yongguk was there standing on the porch. I walked up next to him, “Here.” I handed him the plate of sandwiches. “This is a lot.” He said, accepting the plate. “I’m sure you haven’t been eating lately.” I said. He shrugged, not denying the accusation. “Thank you.” He thanked. I smiled, “You’re welcome!” It made me happy whenever he thanked me. For a while it was always me thanking him and I felt helpless and useless every time. But I’m glad that I can do something for him, even if it was small. But I wanted to do more.