"We may not have birthed you but you will be our daughter, one way or another. Start with a scholarship and end as the Queen, any path you take is your choice to make."
In a modern-day monarchy, Ari is every bit a struggling student as any other. T...
Choi Seungcheol, First Prince and the hapless protagonist of his story sat with his back straightened under the pointed watch of his assistant. The air in the room was heavy. Seungcheol felt his shoulders ache as if boulders of rocks were about to crush him in the suffocating air. The Prince peeked over to his assistant's desk silently. Was it okay to take a break now? After all, Yoon Jeonghan was a fearsome creature when angry.
As Seungcheol picked up his pen to write out a note on of the pages, a sudden sneeze took him off guard. He glanced at the still warm yard out his study window, the words falling off his lips before he could think them through, "Am I falling sick?"
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Jeonghan looked up. Eyes resting on his person for a few short seconds to check if something really was wrong with the Prince, Jeonghan spoke his mind, "The only sickness you have aside from being so assiduously stupid is lovesickness." His tone was of a matter-of-fact one, correctly drilling into all of Seungcheol's mistakes, "If you someday gamble away everything we've worked on for the last two decades, I'll at least know that it was in the chase of a woman who's going to grind your position to the ground."
"Wow," Seungcheol was in awe of how elegant Jeonghan's insults were getting, "You're that mad, huh?"
Incurring Yoon Jeonghan's wrath was a sin punishable by endless taunts. He would never let it go. "No," Jeonghan huffed, wondering when his role had changed from that of an assistant to a know-nothing's nanny, "I'm not mad at you. I'm just planning out what small island I'll retire to when you happily abdicate your throne, being so blind and foolhardy in love." He smiled, pushing his glasses up.
Seungcheol knew there was no merriment in that smile. Sighing, he held up his hands on the matter, "I'm sorry, okay?" He put down the papers in his hands, employing them to massage his forehead instead, "I couldn't help it. The very thought of Ari leaving made me crazy. I didn't know what I would do with myself if I couldn't see her again."
"So you stormed into the King's chambers, put your name on the line and threatened him to put Ari back in the race?" Jeonghan rolled his eyes. "How romantic."
"I took back control from my father, that's what I did." Seungcheol argued, his strong sense of justice shining in his eyes, "I was tired of him treating me like a pawn in a game. He had to know that things would not go his way forever."
Seungcheol picked up the papers from his desk once more, reading through them angrily. Jeonghan sighed. There it was. His friend was now beginning to sulk, his mouth shaping into a cute little pout as he argued, "I can win the race to the throne too, you know! I don't need my father to rig it for me. I'm doing all of this for fairness—fairness, I tell you!"
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