Sacrifice

Chapter 10 : You Complete Me

You mindlessly fiddle with the necklace sitting around your neck, the once-cool metal is now warm against your fingertips, familiar with your touch. As you sit on the edge of the windowsill peering out at the clear view of the distant village, the continuous drone of shuffling papers and small items clanking together plays monotonously from behind. The white noise pushes you further, deeper, guiding you as you float down the river of never-ending thoughts.

The eldest prince sitting behind you is busy packing away his belongings, sorting through files of old documents, and organizing them neatly for the upcoming move. Yet, as his hands move mindlessly, eyes briefly scanning through each paper's contents, his attention remains focused on you. The early afternoon light filters in through the large windows of his office, shining down on you just right to highlight the beautiful features of your face, leaving your skin sunkissed in the warm light. The back of your body that faces away from the window is hidden within the shadows that frame your figure beautifully. Heeseung wishes he could draw as well as their youngest prince to capture this moment.

"What are you thinking about, love?" Heeseung finally asks, breaking the silence. His voice is so soft and you would have missed his question if it weren't for its beautiful timbre.

"Moving," you shrug rather ambiguously.

"Are you having second thoughts?" The prince frowns and his hands instantly halt in their motions. It's been a couple of days since the princes brought you into the village to visit your family. Since then, you have confirmed that you would like to move to start anew - for their sake but also your sake. Something tells you this is the best option to begin your eternal life with your destined princes.

The princes were elated to learn of your final decision. Sunghoon instantly ran up to you and embraced you in a tight hug before picking you up in a delighted spin. You were startled by his sudden burst of energy but elated nonetheless. It was evident the princes were eager to start anew with you as well. Some of the princes began animatedly naming locations of where they could move to, while others began devising of list of what to pack and how to organize the entire move.

"No, nothing like that," you shake your head reassuringly, finally plucking yourself up off the edge of the windowsill. Heeseung's eyes sparkle when you make your way towards him, opting to settle by standing next to where he's seated on his chair. A muffled giggle slips past your lips when the prince easily guides you to sit in his lap, completely abandoning the previous papers he had been looking at. "I'm just curious about the move and what the new country will be like," you add, reaching a hand behind his neck to twirl the soft strands of hair that meet the nape of his neck.

After confirming you were ready to move, you had assumed the process would take months to even find a new home to reside in. Yet, the princes seem to have many more connections than you accounted for because Heeseung had proposed moving to an old castle that had been left in their names years ago, which garnered unanimous votes of agreement from the other princes. When they took notice of your intrigued expression, Heeseung explained that they had made many friends through the years they've lived thus far. These friends come from a variety of backgrounds, some being vampires while others are simply humans.

One friend group in particular had been the royal descendants of a small country. When the princes first met the royal family, the country had been dealing with bouts of criminal activity in one of the smaller villages that left the residents scared and home-bound. The seven vampire princes graciously offered to step in to lend a helping hand and surely enough, it hadn't taken long before the villagers were returning to their daily lives without leaving their homes in fear. While this event is only the tip of the iceberg of the princes' long-standing relationship with this family, it was clear they had a strong connection.