once upon a time, there were 7 princes in Neo Dream Kingdom. they were like any other family. they fight, laugh, cry but most importantly love each other as equally. it was the birthday of the oldest prince whose name was Min Hyung. other princesses and princes from other kingdoms came for the banquet and one particularly caught his eyes. it was princess Hae Won from the kingdom up north. she was roaming around the lawn when she met eyes with a lovely little kitten who had seemed to lose its way. she played with it until its mother came and bid farewell. meanwhile, prince Min Hyung was looking at her from afar, admiring her beautiful appearance as well as the voice she had used to entertain the kitten. when she noticed him, she got up and bowed.
"your highness, it's a pleasure to meet you." he signalled for her to stand up and held out his hand. being someone who had spent almost her life in the palace, she stared at his hand until her assistant lady alerted her. " miss, you're supposed to take his hand."
she quickly took his hand and he laughed before asking, " may i?". she had no idea what he was going to do but gave the permission anyways. he bent down and kissed the back of her hand softly which caught her off guard and a hue of pink appeared across her face. she took her hand away and looked away, fixing her hair in embarrassment before apologising for her stupidity.
" i'm sorry, your highness. i haven't been away from the palace before so i seek your understanding for my behaviour." she bowed halfway but he stopped her. " no worries. excuse me but may i know your name?"
" it's Hae Won, your highness."
" that's a pretty name." he took a pause to think of something to continue their conversation but got interrupted by his assistant. " it seems like the ceremony will commence soon. we should make our way now, your highness."
" shall we make our way then ?" the older asked and she nodded as they both make their way to the hall in silence.
they separated from each other as one returned to her designated seat and the other to the front of the hall and to the throne alongside his brothers.
" looks like you've got your eyes on someone" the one year younger brother, Dong Hyuck had the pleasure of teasing the older one as the others laughed along , the loudest was prince Chen Le who had gained the attention of everyone. they were known for the excellent bond between them since childhood and managed to keep it alive which had everyone impressed with.
" this is a formal banquet. you should behave before getting back to timeout. i recall the last time was years back when you decided to run around barefooted and knocked over the cake for my ninth birthday." the other brother, Jae Min was still rather bitter about it and the others could just silently laugh amongst themselves.
prince Min Hyung looked around and met eyes with princess Hae Won and they both exchanged greetings by slightly bowing to each other before the ceremony officially started.
unlike everyone else, princess Hae Won's manners were unkempt and unladylike as she chomped on the deliciously cake thrice in a row. the prince who was making his way to her could only laugh in fascination. when he was behind her, he cleared his throat and got attention of the princess whose mouth was now messy. " oh no" she whispered as she grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth before standing up to greet him. " your highness"
" no need to be so formal with me, i would like for us to consider ourselves as friends actually" she looked at him and smiled before nodding. " care to have a dance?" she was surprised as first dances were usually with someone important but she didn't consider herself so, since she was merely a princess from another kingdom. " a-are you sure , your highness?"
" please, call me Min Hyung and yes i'm sure." he held out his hand and she gladly took it as they walked to the middle of the hall and kick started the dance. she was feeling rather nervous as everyone had their eyes on them but prince Min Hyung grabbed her attention and they were in a world of their own.
" i can't help but to think as if we had known each other since forever." she blurted out accidentally and gasped while the prince smiled. " i honestly feel so too."
someone cleared their throat from behind and they turned around in sync to see all 6 brothers standing in a line with a smile. " seems like i forgot to introduce you to my brothers. here's Ren Jun, Dong Hyuck, Jeno, Jae Min, Chen Le and lastly, Ji Sung. this is princess Hae Won from up north."
they bowed to each other and she was delighted to meet them. by this time, their presence caught the attention of the whole hall as the 7 princes had never interacted with anyone else as close as they did with this one.
