♝
"how about we have dinner in the dining room for servants? i have some friends there and i think you'd be glad to meet them." seokmin proposed to an all too giddy jisoo.
"i would love to meet your friends. and how generous of a prince to be friends with his servants." jisoo admired the role model, finding it oddly attractive to see seokmin being so nice to those with ranges far below him.
"oh and, jisoo. my apologies we didn't get to go to the square's market today. i wasn't expecting that sudden gathering.. is it fine with you to go first thing tomorrow morning? it would be more easy to escape so we won't give them the chance to catch me." the prince apologized, not wanting to disappoint the special man again.
since it was dinner now, seokmin was done with his duties. unlike the king, his older brother, seokmin wasn't forced by law to attend official gatherings or other important moments where decisions were being made. beside grand events, he lived a pretty simple life within the walls of adora as a member of the royal family. yet sometimes it was necessary for him to join in on special meetings as well, needful of specific knowledge as a prince.
"no need to worry, your highness. i'm beyond glad i got to spend most of my day with you, seeing it's particularly boring to be alone in my designated room." purposely jisoo let the formality slip again, seeing it always caused this playfully annoyed reaction on the prince.
"oh please." he sighed, opening the maple wooden door as they were being met with the warm ambience of the servants dining room where jisoo had been before.
an overall cozy and enjoyable atmosphere got displayed right in front of their eyes, as all sorts of servants from jisoo's habituate range were seated throughout the humungous hall. foaming pints of beer spread across tables, being clung together as anthems and folks songs were being sung by multiple workers. flags, that had the family crest embroidered on its cloth hung on the ceiling, welcoming you on stepping inside.
and even if jisoo was unfamiliar with this folk and all the different faces spread throughout the hall, with seokmin guiding him in-between long rows of tables, he felt more at home than how he had ever felt back in his own kingdom, where dinners consisted of nothing more but left overs; if he was even lucky enough at all.
especially as a stableboy he had a hard time scraping together a meal, mainly at the end of the day, when even all the left over food seemed to be eaten already. sometimes even multiple days in a row.
yet here, servants earned a generous meal three times a day, being well fed and kept healthy under the wing of adora's king. a polite maid from around fifty years old, who had given him a set of clothes, had told him about how things were far different than how they were now. ever since seungcheol had been crowned as a king, things in the kingdom had took drastic turns, for the better in her opinion.
peace had returned, and life circumstances became a lot easier for both villagers and servants, who were now treated all alike. as if ranges didn't matter no longer. of course, official events like yules and other types of important gatherings were excluded still, but the changes had made adora a far better place than how it used to be.
"seokmin! i'm so happy to see you again!" the sixteen year old chan happily jumped up from his seat and ran over to the prince, who was about seven years older than he was himself, wrapping his arms around seokmin's shoulder and jumping up to reach his height.
"oh chan, my dear boy! i couldn't wait to have diner with everyone again! when was the last time we ate together?" seokmin questioned, having a bad habit of being a little forgetful.
"i think it's been about four days? but that doesn't matter, take a seat! i have saved you and jisoo a meal!" junhui, the cook, patted the two empty seats on the wooden bench next to him, gesturing for the prince and his company to take a seat.
"thank you junhui, i can't express enough of my gratitude." with a delighted smile, seokmin took his pointed out seat, taking jisoo by the hand and having him to sit beside him as well. "what's on the menu today, my best cook?"
"mashed potatoes with leek and rare hare meat. i only saved some for our group since i heard the servant's cook has prepared something far different for tonight. eat it now it's still warm!" junhui pointed out their still steaming plates, gesturing for them to eat now it was still as tasty as when he prepared it together with minghao.
"now before i start my dinner, i would like to introduce you all to jisoo, who has came into the castle a few days back." seokmin happily introduced jisoo to his friends that were gathered on both sides of the table, one by one.
starting with the two musicians, soonyoung and jihoon, on the opposite side of the table. passing on to seungkwan, who had another boy sitting beside him who was yet to be introduced. mingyu, the king's personal servant and guard on grand events, together with wonwoo the elf, who seokmin hadn't met yet either. chan, a maid's son, who had grown up together with all the others. and then junhui, who already had introduced the elf minghao to seokmin when he came to ask for the favor of saving him and jisoo dinner earlier.
"so, seungkwan. might introduce him now as well now we're all together." chan happily chirped, pointing out the boy with beautiful golden locks that was seated beside the court jester.
"i saved hansol from the dungeon's today. quite a long story, he had been prejudiced for his deeds and got locked up. it's a wonder i have good connection's with seungcheol." seungkwan gave a short explanation, eyeing everyone around the occupied table who had their mouths agape.
"you what? you went to the dungeons all by yourself?" chan almost yelled out, being shushed by soonyoung as it could get them into trouble.
"you're aware that a reckless deed like that could cost you your head, right?" mingyu bumped him against his shoulder, finding it hardly even believable that someone managed to slip downstairs past the guards without being caught.
"well, yes. but i had to do something." seungkwan said, facing down to the table as he was even a little disappointed in himself.
"long story short, seungkwan has really saved me from my unfortunate fate. if it wasn't for him saving me and the king being generous enough to grant me a job in the castle, i would have probably still lived on the streets." hansol spoke up, not wanting to have seungkwan feeling down because of his bravery.
"i wish seungcheol could offer me a job too.. working as a stable boy is starting to get boring.." chan sighed when a silence fell, as he had picked up the task of cleaning the royal horse sheds all by himself a couple of weeks back.
"then how about you come and help me and minghao in the kitchen tomorrow? since the ball is only two days away, there's a lot of preparation we need to do to make a big stockpile of appetizers. we could really use a hand." junhui offered, lighting a flame in the little boy his eyes, making him sit straight out of a sudden, motivated and determined to take the job.
"thank you junhui! thank you! this is going to be awesome!"
it were the youngest his words that filled the table with joy and warmth. and hong jisoo could proudly say; he genuinely felt at home in adora.
