As the evening finally started dwelling down, guests started dismissing themselves back to their temporary rooms in the castle or back into town where their room in a local Inn was waiting for them. i was standing outside the ballroom, fiddling with my necklace. Exhausted from the evening of non-stop mingling and dancing.
Taehyung had pulled you away from a handful of men who seemed a bit 'too interested in his fiance', he claimed. I danced with him each time he did so.
"Dahyun," Taehyung called behind you. I startled, not expecting to be found in your little nook away from the dwindling down madness. He came to stand beside you, his golden eyes and scales seemed to grow faintly in the dimly lit halls of his castle. "Are you well?"
I felt a lot of things tonight. The burning eyes of mainland damsels on My back when I danced with the prince they knew they couldn't even begin to woo because he simply didn't give them the time. The watching eyes of older couples of tradition who thought it unjust for a simple priestess to marry into royalty. The sly eyes of men who wanted to dance to you and maybe catch a grip of something more- not that you'd allow that. And the squeezing of My heart whenever Taehyung held you and danced.
I sighed, making Taehyung take a step closer as he raised his arm to rest on my arm, stroking it in comfort.
"I just," I cut myself off with closed eyes and a breath. "I'm just overwhelming myself and thinking about something."
Taehyung moved to stand closer, grabbing your arm and hooking it around and under his own as his hip was next to you. He smiled down at me as he started walking forward, pulling me with him lightly.
"We'll take a walk outside. Fresh air will help," he told you in promise. Maybe the moonlight would shed away your worries- you could only hope. i was hardly aware of where Taehyung was leading you as you were so lost in your head. The fact that the man beside you was going to marry you in just a matter of days spiraled in your head like a hurricane. As did the doubt of if he even wanted to.
When I finally noticed I had been walking with him in silence for a while, i clocked back into reality and realized he had taken you back to the garden maze. This same maze is where you first truly realized you were in love with Taehyung and would be for the rest of your life- even if you were so young back then.
When i was in danger, and I sang- it was him who came running. It was him who found you in the maze and it was him who held you as I cried myself into unconsciousness.
It was also this maze where you both sat just hours before that same day, talking in the sunlight that felt so comfortable. The spot where I realized i was going to marry my childhood playmate. Your one and only love interest and also your kingdom's precious prince who was filled with serpent blood. It was this Taehyung who would be your husband and my feet stopped.
I halted in his step as my arm slipped from around his where it rested and he jerked when he felt it fall and slip away from him. He stood in front of you, half turned back to see my arm fall back to your side and your chin dipped.
The way the moon cast a shadow over her body should have been a romanticized look of an ethereal priestess, but the way she stood and avoided eye contact only made it grim. The prince felt his stomach twist as he straightened his back as she lifted her head to look directly at him for the first true time tonight.
His golden eyes widened a fraction at hers, seeing something in them waver and shake. It pinned his feet in place. Stood frozen in a half turned state, facing her as she fists balls behind the skirt of her dress, wrinkling the palm of the gloves.
"Be honest with me, Taehyung," i called, foregoing his title and addressing him by name. It made his hair stand. "Are you going to be happy marrying me?" The prince parted his lips as he looked at you incredulously. Did you not want to marry him? Was that it? Was that what was weighing so heavily on your mind?
Ever since he could remember, ever since he got engaged to Dahyun so long ago in youth, he had known this day would come. He knew a celebration would come and a wedding would soon follow. He knew she was going to become his wife and a princess along with her priestess role. He had always known, and he had always been impatient waiting for all those moments to come. Now, they had and he was so caught up in himself and his own feelings- had he been wrong to think maybe if she'd want to marry him too?
"Do you regret agreeing to marry me, perhaps?" He asked in answer to my question, still not giving you a proper answer. my fisted hands uncurled just enough to ensnare my skirt's cloth as i squeezed them shut once again.
"That isn't it," i harshly breathed. Denying so strongly that, that isn't how you felt. "I'm- gods, I'm overjoyed that I get this chance. I am- just," i took a calming breath. "I want to know if you're doing this because you want to, or because your parents told you to." i felt guilty, playing the card of his parents. He hadn't often gone against their wishes because they were mostly reasonable people. I feared this engagement was just another order to him.
"You mean," he stuttered, finally turning fully around to face you. Still not daring to step closer yet in fear I'd turn and run from the tense air. "You don't know?" I flinched under his words, thinking for a split moment he was reaffirming that this was because his parents thought it was for the best. "I never knew you thought I didn't want this marriage to happen. I've always been under the impression we agreed to this because we both wanted it."
I looked at him with a twisted brow. What? What does that mean? Before i could ask him, a tear slid down his cheek. Falling over his golden scales from his equally as gold eyes. I gasped, stepping closer to him and the moment my hand caressed his cheek and my thumb touched under his eyes, he felt like he could breathe again.
"Why are you crying, my Prince? Don't cry, please," I pleaded. "I apologize, I should have kept it to myself," i tried to fix the situation, but the hiccup that leapt from his throat at my words only seemed to worsen it all.
"Tell me," he choked as he sniffed and i watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. "How do you feel about me as a husband?"
"I-," i hesitated. I could lie, tell him a fib to appease him. Though, if you did- you'd just be biting into your very own poison apple. I wouldn't lie anymore. "I love you, and I do want to marry you. I have ever since we were little because I've always loved you, Taehyung." The word vomit spilled out in quick sentences, thinking that the speed of the words would hurt less coming out.
The prince crumbled, his knees weakening as he grabbed my hands and pushed them further against his face. His palm covering the back of my hand as his crying grew louder. I panicked.
