A Royal Mess || Taejin

Chapter 27

The royal palace of Gyeongsong had never been so alive with colours. Even though Gyeongsong was a green kingdom itself, the palace had always been somewhat dull as the former queen tried her best to shroud the prince from the eyes of the world. However, that very day, all the dusty curtains were drawn open, all the white candles were replaced by colourful lanterns, the monotonous navy blue rugs were dyed scarlet red and every mosaic tile was polished. The corridors and hallways were glistening, thanks to the hard work of the servants, and the stairs shimmered under the daylight. Those were just small changes, or so Seokjin liked to think, because the greatest difference made in the palace was the throne room.

Seokjin nodded his head in unspoken approval as he watched the maids decorate the throne room like instructed. He was glad that Taehyung came up with the idea of hanging purple tapestries around the room with various sorts of white flowers in the vases and white flower petals splayed all over the platform for the thrones.

Purple denotes royalty and white denotes a new beginning, my Prince.

Oh, how much more can Seokjin fall in love with Taehyung's mind?

"Dear Prince, do you fancy these carnations?" A young maid approached Seokjin with a basket of white carnations, the handle of the basket was covered in a layer of ice.

"Ah, yes, carnations! Why haven't I thought of it? Thank you, Areum. I must say you have a good eye for flower assortments," Seokjin complimented the lady because she along with the others deserved it for their devotion in preparaing the palace for the upcoming coronation.

Areum's cheeks turned into a shade of poppies as she bowed. Before proceeding to do her work, Areum eyed Seokjin shyly. She asked, "Dear Prince, is it true that you can control fire?"

"Yes, Areum, I can," Seokjin said, starting to feel a little bashful. Everyone seemed to be fascinated in him and as much as Seokjin did understand where their curiosity came from, he really wished to receive a little less attention. His ears did not spare him either; they always gave away his embarrassment, mortifying him even furtehr.

Areum made an "oh~" sound before bowing an entire ninety degrees and hopping to the team of florists who debated on the validity of garlands being placed over the tapestries. Even though it was quite tiresome and mundane to monitor their progress for hours, Seokjin remained determined to have the main attraction of the ceremony prepared before the ceremony. As he scanned the decorations, he wondered if the crowns were secured inside the glass box at the royal treasury; hopefully, the guards were alert very second of the day.

"Dear Prince, should we start decorating the desserts now or should we start it at the dawn of tomorrow?" Cook Bogum inquired once he arrived at the throne room.

"I don't doubt your skills Bogum-sshi, but I doubt the trickery of time. Are you sure you can manage the cooks at dawn? It'll be quite a rush," Seokjin remarked.

"You can have faith in me, dear Prince," the cook assured.

"Very well then. Do what you deduce is best," Seokjin said with an encouraging smile before dismissing Bogum.

As Seokjin looked at the empty platforms of the thrones being adorned with white rose petals, the memory of seven seats flashed across his eyes. Those memories were ofcourse of nothing but dull days but he could not help but ponder on the two members of his family whom he had not seen in four years now. It was strange how Seokjin still wished to see his banished sister even after all those years. Perhaps, that was the nature of twins; it made him wonder furthermore if Jisoo wished to see Seokjin and their elder sisters. Gosh, he did not even know if his sister was alive to begin with.

"How is my Prince doing?"

Seokjin suppressed a smile and pretended to not hear his husband's words. He gasped in false surprise as he proceeded to check a tapestry next to a pedestal which had a ceramic vase on top of it. He feigned to busy himself with some fault in the tapestry when a puff of warm air fanned against his ear.