Cursed - Enhypen FF

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PART ONE

Heeseung stared at his father in disbelief. His brain couldn't seem to process whatever the King had just said.

"What do you mean... loosing?" he asked.

Next to him, Jake and Sunoo nodded. They also needed more details.

In fact, the seven princes needed more details. Their parents, the Kings and Queens of Hyube, had gathered them early in the morning to discuss an important matter. The boys had been woken and dressed up in a hurry before rushing to the thrones chamber. It was an enormous room. On each side of it, marble columns supported the high ceiling. At the end, seven luxurious thrones awaited their rulers. Each throne was different, in either design, color or materials. They were placed in a circle segment so that the audience could equally be seen by all.

They thought they had already seen their parents with every expression on the book throughout the years, however that turned out to be wrong. Never had anyone seen them with such gloomy and consternated expressions.
Jungwon had instantly tilted his head, trying to make eye contact with his grandmother. Queen Yang was the oldest queen of the Council. After the passing of her daughter a decade ago, she had taken her crown back, waiting for her grandson to be old enough to take this burden from her.
However she did not look at him. Her whole upper body was turned towards King Lee.

Heeseung father sighed.

"We are loosing" he repeated.

So the boys had heard right after all. Things weren't going well at all. No one had really wanted this war, or so the boys had been told. The story was simple: they had been attacked by a country south from them three years ago, had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate at first and had finally given in and riposted after several villages had been destroyed.

"We need more power" added King Lee.

Heeseung gasped, looking at his father. He had trained him well, and he knew what he needed to do. To be honest, he had waited his whole life for an opportunity to show the world what he was capable of. Heeseung wanted to prove himself, show everyone in this room that he was worthy of one day sitting on his father's throne. A second later, he kneeled in front of everyone, his right hand on his heart.

"I will go fight myself" he said loud and clear. "I can leave today."

The six boys looked at him, frozen for a second. Then, something seemed to click inside their brains and they kneeled as well.

"We'll all go" added Niki.
"Our presence will cheer our soldiers up" added Sunoo, nodding.
"Plus, we owe it to Hyube" said Jake.

"We thank your devotion, but you aren't needed in the battlefield" said Queen Kim.

Sunoo frowned, soon followed by his friends. Their country was at war, they were loosing and they had all been called in front of the Council. If it wasn't to ask them to fight, then why were they here?
It didn't make sense, since they all had received intense fighting and strategy trainings since they were five years old. When the war had broken out, they were still young, but now that everyone was at least seventeen, they were all considered as adults.

"Stand up" added King Sim, his eyes stopping on each prince for an instant.

The seven future rulers obeyed, questions popping in their heads as they tried to figure the situation out.

"I can see that you are all confused" said Queen Kim. "We all know how eager you are to defend our country, but trust us, there are other ways that won't risk your lives like that."
"True, we can't risk all of you going to war at the same time" confirmed Queen Park. "Don't forget you are the Council's next generation."

The boys nodded. They had heard that sentence at least a billion times. Every time they wanted to do anything by themselves, their parents used that excuse. At this point the princes didn't even know if they would be allowed to make decisions on their own one day.

"We have concluded an alliance that will guarantee our victory" finally announced Queen Yang. "It will provide us with food, weapons and soldiers, which we desperately need."
"An alliance?" asked Sunghoon. "With whom?"
"Osta" she replied calmly.

Silence filled the room. The boys didn't know much about Osta. They had been extremely well educated on every subject that would make them the best rulers, including their neighbor countries. However Osta had always been a very discreet and closed up nation. The few they knew about it wasn't really enough to judge the situation. That didn't help them understanding why their parents had chosen Osta as an ally.

"Wait..." slowly said Jungwon. "When you say alliance, what do you mean exactly?"

The three Kings and the four Queens looked at each other for a second, as if they were trying to avoid being the next one to speak. Eventually, the youngest Queen sighed.

"You are getting married" said queen Nishimura. "All of you."