Chapter 1: His and her story

It was warm day of spring in the South kingdom. Everyone was busy with their duties and enjoying the nice day. The queen walked down the hallway of the big castle, looking for her son. He was nowhere to be seen and she was starting to get mad.

She continued walking, until she bumped into her nephew. He smiled to her and bowed politely.

“Good morning, your majesty” he said and she smiled.

“Drop the formalities Joongki, I’m your aunt” she said and he smiled as well

“But you are the queen” he said still in the same polite way.

“If only my son was more like you, he would be perfect to be the future king” she said with slight sadness in her voice. Her husband, the king, had died a few months ago and his successor was going to be their only son, Sungmin, but he was too irresponsible and careless. It was as if he didn’t care.

“When he realizes his people needs him, he’ll change” he said with a reassuring smile

“By the way, have you seen him? He is late for his classes again” she asked mad and he shook his head

“Maybe he is with Hyorin” Joongki said and the queen’s expression changed. Words couldn’t express how much she hated that girl. She had been dating Sungmin but quite a long time but there was something about her that she didn’t like. Also, the queen had always thought Sungmin was just with her just to bother his mom.

The queen sighed.

“He shouldn’t be dating that girl” she said mad “We’ll soon announce his engagement with the princess of the North kingdom, Lee Sunkyu”

“The princess of the North Kingdom?” he asked surprised. His happy face turned into a sad one when he heard that. He had always had a little crush on her and now she was engaged to his own cousin.

“Yes, we need to set an alliance with them and what a better way than a marriage?” she asked and then smiled “Well, I have to go now”

“Inform me if you find him” she said, he nodded and bowed again.

……………………………………………

On the other side of the land, there was the North Kingdom. Both the North and the South Kingdom were separated by the forest and the town but they had always lived peacefully.

To seal their alliance, they had agreed to set their heirs on an arrange marriage. The king and the queen had only one daughter, who they loved and cherished very much. She was like the sun to them that was why they were used to call her Sunny. She was a really cheerful girl who would always have a smile on her face.

That day, the king called her because he was going to tell her about the news of her wedding.

“Sunny bunny, I needed to see you” her dad said and she ran to hug him. He smiled

“Neh daddy, what did you want to tell me?” she asked cutely

“We are about to seal an alliance with the South kingdom and there is one last thing we have to do” he explained.

“What it is?” she asked

“We need you to marry the prince of the South Kingdom” he said and Sunny’s eyes widened

“What?” she asked shocked “An arrange marriage?”

He nodded and Sunny felt heartbroken. She couldn’t believe her beloved parents were doing that to her.

“Why are you doing this to me?!” she asked with tears in her eyes. Her dad couldn’t handle seeing her sad like that but had to do it.

“I’m sorry” he said sad “I didn’t expect this to happen but you have to do it for your people”

“I thought I’d had freedom to choose to marry someone I love!” she yelled and ran away to her room crying. She slammed the door behind her and threw herself in her bed. She buried her face on her pillow and continued crying.

Some minutes later, she heard a sudden knock on the door.

“I don’t want to see anyone!” she yelled. It would surprise people to hear Sunny yelling at someone, she wasn’t like that but this time she was really upset.

“It’s me Hyoyeon” she said and Sunny wiped her tears before going to open the door. When she entered and closed the door, Sunny hugged her.

“I can’t believe my parents are setting me up in an arrange marriage” she said between sobs. Hyoyeon hugged her and consoled her.

“Don’t do it if you don’t want to” she said. Sunny had been thinking about it and she knew she had to do it, even if she didn’t want to.

“It’s my duty as a princess to do what’s best for my people” she said wiping her tears and then sighing “Even if I don’t want to. I guess I’ll never met my true love”

………………………………………………………..

On the other kingdom, Sungmin had just escaped from the castle through the window of his room. He was tired of all the pressure his mom had been giving him about being king. He ran away disguised and went to the forest.

The royal family wasn’t supposed to go to the forest since it was a dangerous place but as Sungmin was a rebellious kid, he always went there to meet his girlfriend Hyorin.

“What took you so long?” she asked annoyed when he appeared

“Mom was looking for me, it wasn’t that easy to escape” he said coldly. She smiled and walked towards him. She tried to hug him but he walked some steps backs. Her eyes widened in shock.

“What’s wrong with you today?” she asked

“I can’t do this anymore” he said looking at her seriously “I have to admit that I had been seeing you just because I want to piss my mom off. I’m sorry Hyorin but I don’t have feelings for you”

“WHAT?!” she asked shocked “You were just using me?!”

“I’m sorry” he said looking away “I think we should break up”

“YOU CANNOT BREAK UP WITH ME!” she yelled as if she had gone mad. For a moment, Sungmin was startled.

“I’m doing it right now” he said in the same cold tone as if he had no regrets. Sungmin turned around and was about to walk way, when she suddenly grabbed his arm.

“DON’T WALK AWAY FROM ME OR YOU’LL REGRET THIS!” she yelled again

“Watch me” he said now pissed off and started walking away. Hyorin was so mad that she couldn’t control her temper. She started saying some words in an unknown language and Sungmin turned around surprised as he felt a certain kind of energy around his body.

“Wait! What are you doing?” he asked surprised as he felt his body shrinking little by little

“I told you, you’ll regret it” Hyorin said with smirk after she finished her spell. There was only clothes were Sungmin had been. She bent down and put the clothes aside. She smirked when he saw the little creature there.

“I hope you like carrots Sungminnie” she said and laughed evilly

………………………………

It was already late at night and the queen hadn’t find Sungmin anywhere. She was worried about her son and she was really mad at him. She thought he was just doing it as an act of rebellion.  She was so mad at him that she was about to take some drastic measures.

“Joongki” she called her nephew and he immediately went to meet her

“Yes?” he asked

“If Sungmin doesn’t appear until tomorrow, you’ll have to take his place” she said seriously. His eyes widened in surprise.

“What?” he asked shocked

“Yes, you’ll take his place and you’ll get engaged to the princess” she said

“Don’t you think this is too sudden?” he asked and she sighed

“I have to admit you are more suited to be king than him” she admitted. “And you are second in the line of succession, so if he doesn’t appear until tomorrow, you’ll marry princess Sunkyu”