Out Of The Castle (Soobin X Reader)

18

  "The Choi family to the East has shown blatant disrespect towards our kingdom and sent a spy to our kingdom! For this, we cannot forgive them! May their past kingdom of neutrality burn for their offences!"

  And so the message spread throughout the land. The declaration of war was announced to the people of the West and word spread to the other kingdoms. The people of the East were filled with anxiety as they heard that the royal knights of the West marched on towards the East and they looked to their new King who seemed hardened already by the weight placed on his shoulders.

  Soobin spent all of his time on the training grounds. Every man and boy who was able to hold a weapon was drafted and trained. The armouries were working without rest to make swords and plated armour. The wives and daughters of the village could not sleep easily, fearing the hellfire that would descend upon their previously safe rooftops. Everyday the village people looked to the king for any word of reassurance, but there were none.

  The Queen was left in charge of all diplomatic orders as well as ensuring that the women of the village continued doing their husbands job in their stead.

"Mrs Park, allow me to help you," the Queen offered, putting on an old pair of oven mitts she had found on the counter. She pulled out a tray of rolls, placing them where the bakers wife indicated.

"My lady, you are too noble to be doing such mundane tasks," she rasped, near tears as she hobbled towards the Queen to remove the gloves from her hands. The baker and his son, Jimin, had both been sent to join the Kings Royal Army. Because of this, the bakers wife, old, frail, and unable to work had been expected to keep the bakery running.

The Queen had taken it upon herself to check on the villagers and aid them in any tasks they should need help with. The bakers wife had made plenty of dough for bread and rolls, but each batch that she put into the oven turned out five minutes away from being burnt. She was unable to lift the trays without immense effort and so it took her a long while to retrieve them from the hot oven. Her arms had turned red after being stood by the hot oven for so long, and even the Queen could feel her aching back and feet.

"It is quite alright Mrs Park. I shall place another tray in the oven and then I shall check other places in the village to see if there are any young ladies able to help you," the Queen offered. This made the bakers wife feel relieved, so much so that tears nearly welled up in her eyes.

The Queen was lucky to find a Merchants daughter who hadn't much else to do. Her mother was perfectly capable of handling the merchants stand. The Queen led the young lady to the bakers wife and watched as the older women taught her what to do, showing her how to help.

As the Queen watched, she couldn't help but ponder what would have happened to this young lady had the situation been different. Merchants always found themselves within some form of financial issue and the princess knew that the way to solve that was for merchants to sell their daughters. The Queen was lucky that her father was in such a good standing and did not see it fit to marry her off when she was the ripe age of 13, although many offers were made for her. She hated the idea of such an innocent child being auctioned off to a grown man.

After a little more observation, seeing that the bakers wife got along well with the merchants daughter, the Queen headed towards the farmers fields where his wife and daughters stood, picking different vegetables.

One of the younger daughters had been tasked with pulling the carrots out of the ground and as she pulled with all the might in her fragile little body, her hands slipped and she fell backwards into the dirt. The Queen watched the child's lip quiver as she looked at her hands, sniffling at the small cuts caused by the leaves of the carrot.