Bittersweet | l.fx au

Chapter 4

At least you have a companion to travel with when walking home. Well, until it's Yeji's turn to stay the whole week at the castle. It's later but Lia insists for Yeji to walk you home on your first day and let the two of you go early so you can tell your family.

Yeji is quite the conversationalist and friendly. She's asking about your favorite things and dislikes and also sharing things about herself. All in all, you like her a lot. You think if every day at the castle was like this, you might enjoy it a lot.

But you don't know how it's going to be so you hope that you didn't jinx it.

Yeji is kind enough to let you enter your home before she takes her leave. Once inside, you're met with panic and worry. "Where were you, Y/N?!" Taeyeon checks you for any injury.

"Don't worry, Taeyeon," You say. "I have some news!"

She's wary of what you're going to say.

"It seems that I'm going to be working for a royal family member now."

It's so quiet. The silence is deafening and you're worried you somehow broke Taeyeon's thought process. "T-Taeyeon?"

"You're what?!"

Apparently, your father is also listening in. (Well he can't help it when you're in the middle of the room.) His eyes are wide. "Why are you even working for them?"

"I'm not sure," You admit. "The Queen personally picked me so it's not like I can reject it."

At that, both of them are silent. So, you take the opportunity to explain everything, you'll be working a little more and having to stay overnight for a week every so often. They look uneasy about this new arrangement. You understand why they would worry but you're going to need this more than ever especially with the situation now.

It seems like they have a lot more to complain about but with this new opportunity, it opens a whole new door for getting money. In the end, they have to accept it.

The Fourth Prince yawns, rubbing at his eyes. "Give me at least five more minutes?"

Lia sighs. "Fourth Prince, you asked for that two times."

He grumbles but still gets up. He's in slow motion, gathering his clothes and retreating behind the partition to change. Your first task is here and it's to set the bed. It's nothing special and you help Yeji with folding the blanket and arranging the pillows.

The Prince is now changed and he sets his eyes on you. "Oh yeah! You're Y/N right? How is your day going so far?"

You smile and bow politely. "It is a good day so far, Fourth Prince. I hope yours will go well too."

He turns to Lia. "You're already making Y/N become part of the beehive!"

Lia smiles to deflect him. "Y/N is a quick learner and we must be respectful to you, Fourth Prince."

He scoffs at it. "You can all call Felix when it's us, you know."

"It would be disrespectful, Fourth Prince." Lia replies.

The Fourth Prince admits defeat, knowing how Lia is quick to remind him of the positions. He still looks a bit uncomfortable but goes to the dining hall still. You're not sure if you like having lunch with all the royal family or just the brothers.

The Second Prince is the first to greet the Fourth. "Ah, look who finally showed up. Sleeping in is such a lazy trait for a prince."

Okay maybe with the entire royal family was better cause you're not sensing a good brotherly love in this room right now.

He sighs. "You're very kind to greet me first thing in the morning, Minho." Ah, so that's the Second Prince's name.

Minho scoffs. Wait, you need to call him by his title. Hopefully you don't say his name outloud. "And when will you step up for your duties?"

There's silence until the Crown Prince breaks it. "Minho, that's enough." He scolds. "Felix wouldn't need to learn everything, it would be mainly us two while Changbin and Felix learn a little. We discussed this before."

Your eyes glance a little at the Third Prince, finally putting a name to the face. Changbin nods. "Felix and I handle most of the other unimportant things so it doesn't really matter."

Minho looks defeated. He doesn't say anything and stands up, the chair scraping against the floor. Behind him, his maids look a bit scared of him. "Fine then." Then he walks out of the room. Everyone else is quiet, processing what just happened.

The Crown Prince sighs. "He's quite stubborn, isn't he?" The two brothers don't really say anything. He doesn't seem affected and continues on anyways. "Right so, it seems we have some distinguished guests coming for a visit this week."

Oh. What do you exactly do when that happens? You assume that Lia will tell you the details later.

The Crown Prince leans back in his chair and swishes the cup of whatever drink he has in there. "Please be on your best behavior and I'll talk to Minho personally, so don't worry about it."

"Are the guests the marriage proposals?" Changbin breaks the moment.

You could see Felix stiffen up at the news. "Yes," The Crown Prince replies. "Father wants us to at least meet them and see if we like them."

Felix huffs. "Let me guess, Chan, they're all from noble families?"

Chan (it's nice having a name to a face) nods. "Father thought it would be best to also include others from nearby kingdoms."

"Really?" Changbin speaks up. "I thought he didn't want that."

Chan shrugs, taking a sip of his drink. "I thought so too but our military seems to be on the lower side of things. If we were to go to war with another kingdom, it could end badly for us."

Everyone remains quiet, not even letting the sound of a pin drop. Finally, the Fourth Prince gets up. "I'll be outside." Then he takes off, letting the three of you after him.

Felix goes to the training spot from yesterday and seems to be in a conversation with Cassian. Lia takes the opportunity to discuss what happened. "I thought the guests were coming in three weeks?"

Yeji shrugs. "I guess the king is desperate?"

"May I ask what's happening?" You voice out, quite confused.

Lia begins to explain it to you. "Well, you do have some general idea of how political marriages work right?" You nod. "It seems that the water war on our side of the kingdom is practically nonexistent. All kingdoms residing closer to the water grew exponentially."

You're a bit confused. "Well, surely they wouldn't attack us right? All we have is the large lake."

"Yes but that opens a new path for kingdoms if they were to attack. Some take the land in front of the kingdom or come in through the lake on smaller ships."

You begin to understand it a little more. You think... "I see."

"It could end badly for us if they do manage to succeed in getting across the lake." Yeji pops into the conversation. "I think that may be why the king is pushing the guest list to this week so he may confirm some of the princes' hands away."

You're silent and you don't know what to say. Basically a forced marriage is what you're hearing. You glance at Felix who is starting to train with Cassian. Lia brings your attention back. "You're going to have a crash course this week and you will stay with me the entire time. Some of the nobles... they're like snakes in the grass."