TRB | MW [✔]

01.

"I won't do it!"

The slap was delivered with less force than typical. Wonwoo didn't even try to avoid it. He'd learned long ago that any show of fear only fed his brother's cruel streak. Nor did he back away as Jiseok leaned into his face.

"You will do as you are told." Flecks of spit flew from Jiseok's mouth, the smell of beer wafting on his breath. Fury showed in his expression, a testament to how desperate he must be.

Wonwoo tried to maintain his resolve over this order being suddenly thrust upon him, even as he knew he had no control over his own fate. "I can't marry that man." It was hard to believe he had to even say those words.

"You can and you will. It's the only way the treaty can go forward. If our sister hadn't run away to the nunnery, we wouldn't be in this predicament." Jiseok's gaze shifted to a spot somewhere in the distance, and his lip curled in a sneer. "She'd already taken her vows by the time I'd caught up to her." He refocused his attention on Wonwoo. "A child of the chieftain has been promised to the Morcondian prince. With Jiwoo gone, it's down to you, as you are well past being a child."

Wonwoo balled his hands in frustration. "My age is not the issue. He was promised a bride, not another groom."

Jiseok huffed. "You do yourself too much credit. Truth be told, you're more of a girl than Jiwoo ever was. Prettier, too." His brother didn't mean those words to be a compliment, and after years of such taunting, Wonwoo let them roll off his back.

"Tell that to the prince. You can't hide my sex from him. He'll see me for what I am even before he takes that frock off me." He flung his arm in the direction of the maid who stood awkwardly with what should have been his sister's wedding gown.

"Those fucking Morcondians are a decadent lot. Men lie with each other all the time, I hear. The fuckers probably bed their horses, for all I know. And the wiseman has looked at their laws and ours. There is nothing that says a bride has to be female. I imagine the stupid princeling will find plowing your ass just as sweet as Jiwoo's dried-up cunt—more so, likely. And I'm sure it's a dream come true for you," he added with a look of disgust.

Wonwoo ignored the baiting and struggled to contain the tears that threatened to leak out. He was angry and scared in equal measure. The whole idea of marrying the age-old enemy of his people was intolerable. He couldn't blame his sister for seeking sanctuary from her fate. He was merely the unlucky victim of her self-preservation. She couldn't have known what it would mean for him and probably wouldn't have cared if she had. Their father hadn't raised them to be generous with each other.

Wonwoo also had to admit that his brother was probably right about the Morcondian prince. It was a very different society than his own—decadent, as Jiseok had aptly put it. Their prince had ridden in with a colorful retinue and much fanfare. They were nothing like the earthier and frankly poor people of the Marshlands. Wonwoo couldn't imagine how he was supposed to fit into such a world. Being the child of a Marsher chieftain mostly meant he had cleaner clothes and more to eat. His presence among the Morcondians would be like a reed finch flitting around peacocks. If he'd been reviled by his own people, the Morcondians would undoubtedly treat him with even more contempt.

This is so unfair! Railing against his fate out loud was worse than useless. If he put up any more of a fight, he'd be going to his own wedding with a black eye and split lip. Jiseok was being restrained at the moment, likely so that Wonwoo would be as appealing to his groom as possible. Testing his brother's patience would only end one way, however. He knew he was powerless in this, as with all other things. He'd learned to survive his family's brutality, and he could cope with anything these foreigners threw at him. Besides, he'd heard that the opulent Morcondian palace contained a vast library. If he were lucky, his new husband would give him the freedom to explore it.