Chapter 12

Ambassadors

Sehun pinch the bridge of his nose still trying to make sense of how he ended up here. He looks outside the carriage and glare daggers at the person riding on a horse next to him. The person looks back at Sehun and smile brightly which only makes Sehun wants to kill him more. For the hundredth trillion time in his life, Sehun have to remind himself that killing his own sibling is a crime.

Sehun was in his room looking over some reports when Jongin burst through the door and hurried Sehun to pack up. When Sehun asked, Jongin hurriedly explain something about a secret mission assigned as he goes through Sehun’s closet and pack for him. Sehun still stood there looking doubtfully at Jongin until the First Prince shoved a written decree from the King at him. Sehun barely had time to read what was written when his hyung make him change and then drag him out of the room.

Seeing how serious Jongin looked and with the written decree as proof, Sehun started to withdrew his doubt for his troublemaking hyung. That is until he saw the surprised faces of Chanyeol and Baekhuyn. His eye twitch as he looks over to see the once serious Jongin beaming at him. He immediately opens up the decree to check, and could finally see whose handwriting was actually on it. Earlier in a hurry, he could only quickly check that the King’s seal was stamp on the decree and couldn’t actually check who had written it. Sehun could only guess what his troublesome hyung did to make his father took out the seal and stamp a decree he did not personally wrote. Knowing the King, there was no way he would ever have allowed the two Princes of Korea to go on this mission. Sehun had shoved the decree back to Jongin and attempt to walk back to his place. However, Jongin wasn’t someone that gives up easily. He had pick Sehun up and shoved him into the carriage that Baekhuyn was sitting in, closed the door and tied it shut.

That was how Sehun ended up on this trip as ambassadors heading to China.

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Emperor Taizao had announced at court that ambassadors from other countries are coming to visit China. He had ordered his eldest three sons to welcome and take care of the ambassadors during their stay. He had warned everyone to treat the ambassadors well as they were from possible strong allied nations.

The two envoys should be arriving today and Yifan, Luhan and Yixing had already finished preparation. They’ve changed into their royal clothing and made their way to the Imperial Palace’s entrance to welcome the envoys. The officials in charge of external relations was assigned to welcome the envoys at the entrance of the capital city. Luckily both envoys arrived at the same time so no more waiting was needed. Once the officials led the envoys through the city and into the Imperial Palace where the three Princes of China was waiting. The three Princes introduced themselves and instructed the officials to lead the envoys’ troops and personnel to the embassy residence outside of the palace. They then lead the ambassadors to the main court building where the Emperor and the other officials were waiting.

“Greetings Emperor of China, my name is Byun Baekhuyn and this is Park Chanyeol. We are the ambassadors chosen by our King to represent Korea. We have brought many gifts with us on our visit here to your kingdom, please accept our sincerity. The purpose of our visit is in hope of building an alliance between our two kingdom. We hope that during our visit here, we can negotiate the terms for the alliance.” Baekhuyn had stepped forward and spoke.

“Welcome ambassador Byun and ambassador Park from Korea. It is our pleasure to have you here, make yourselves comfortable during your stay.” Emperor Taizao said, paused then asked “May I know who the other two standing behind you are? I was only informed that there would be two ambassadors from Korea.”

Baekhuyn quickly bow to Taizao then replied “Please forgive our rudeness, these two are our personal bodyguards assigned by our King himself. They are also ambassadors in training so our King wanted them to shadow us and learn as much as they can. They are Oh Sehun and Oh Jongin.”

Taizao nodded in understanding then turn to look at the other three strangers in the room. The three of them bow to Taizao in greetings and then one of them step up to introduce themselves. “Greetings Emperor of China, my name is Tanaka Junmyeon this is Akagi Jongdae and Takahashi Kyungsoo. We are representatives from Japan.” He paused and looked over at the four from Korea and smile “We didn’t expect to be here at the same time as the Korean ambassadors, but just like them we hope to negotiate an alliance with favorable terms for both sides during our stay.”

“Welcome ambassador Tanaka, ambassador Akagi and ambassador Takahashi. I look forward to work with you all on the terms for the alliance” Taizao said then address all seven ambassadors “Should you ever need anything during your short stay, you can reach out to my sons Yifan, Luhan and Yixing. For now, join us at the welcome banquet we’ve prepared for you.”

“Thank you Emperor.”

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“Princess, I think we should go back” one of the maids whispered as she yanks on the Princess’ sleeves.

Liufei swat the maid’s hand away and tries to sneak closer to the window of the banquet hall. “Just a bit, I promise. I just want to see inside for a bit.” Liufei reach up and push the window open as quietly as she can. She peeks inside and see her royal father on his throne. She can also see her brothers, but it wasn’t easy to get a clear look of the ambassadors. There were dancers and music and the atmosphere were so lively that Liufei couldn’t take her eyes away. Liufei thinks it’s not fair that only her brothers get to join the banquet. She was losing interest in the usual festivities in the palace and was really looking forward to the welcome banquet for the ambassadors when she heard they were coming. She didn’t expect that she was forbidden to make an appearance in front of the ambassadors, so sneaking a peek was her only option. Liufei can feel the maid pulling lightly on her sleeve to get her attention but Liufei just ignores her.

“Excuse me miss, should you be doing that?” Liufei quickly turned around when she heard the man’s voice.

Liufei’s eyes widen and face bright red when she saw the tall, handsome stranger staring at her. “Um…I uh…sorry…” was all she could utter before grabbing her maid’s hand and ran off.  

The man watches as she disappears then enter the banquet hall.

“Sehun, where’d you go?” Jongin asked when Sehun came back and sat down next to him.

“Was just getting some air…and saw someone interesting” He mumbled the last part and Jongin didn’t care enough to ask what he was mumbling about.

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“You seem to be quite interested in the Chinese Princes” Junmyeon commented as he pours more wine into Kyungsoo’s cup.

Kyungsoo pick up the cup and drank from it then ask “Is it strange?”  

Junmyeon looks over at the three Princes of China, observes them for a bit then turn back to Kyungsoo and said “No, I can see why you would be.”

“Have you contacted Minseok?” Jongdae asked, voice barely audible but his two fellow tablemates can hear.

“Yes, he should have arrived today as well” Junmyeon replied. The other two nodded then focuses their attention back on the dancers.    

Author's Notes:

There you go! all exo members has appeared...I think, lost count...hopefully not missing anyone. Please let me know if I am.

Ok, I know Suho, D.O and Chen's real last name is definitely not Japanese last names. If you haven't noticed by now I switch up most of their last names to go with the story. Originally I was going to named the three nations something else but the cultures I used to based the story on is so heavily Chinese, Korean and Japanese that I feel it doesn't match or feel right if I switch the nations' names. Hopefully I'm not offending anyone for switching the boys' nationality. It's just within the world of this story...and I kept their first names as is because I feel weird calling them by a Japanese name while imagining their faces as I write...so uh just imagine Junmyeon, Kyungsoo, Jongdae and Minseok are Japanese names. *nervous laughs* so sorry I am doing this to you...and to myself...