Prince Nothing - .WOOSAN.

.SIX.

"Wooyoung, what's on your mind?"

A sweet, light voice, matched with a charismatic face framed by shiny brown hair. Choi Haneul, my soon-to-be wife.

I faltered, looking around. I wanted to ask her about her brother again, but I knew that if I were to bring it up she would probably not be too pleased. I just shook my head, shrugging, "Nothing, it's just a beautiful day."

The clouds were showing themselves, covering up the light of the sun enough that it wasn't overbearing. Birds were chirping, flying about the air with their delicate wings. Small bugs were crawling through the grass, and I smiled as they crawled over my hands, tickling my skin with their small legs. I loved nature, and I longed to see more of it.

She looked up to the sky and nodded, "You could say that." She chuckled, and looked back to me in confusion, "Have you ever seen past the castle walls?"

I faltered, "Outside?" I paused, looking to the grass, "My parents don't want me to do that." I murmured. I hated how easily I was controlled by people who only talked to me whenever it was convenient for them. But then again, I hated to disobey them anyway.

She raised an eyebrow, "Then that's going to be first priority once it's our time to rule." She nudged me, her smile bright.

I couldn't help but smile back, "You mean that?" I asked. The more I talked with her, the more comfortable I became. But I couldn't help but feel the ball of regret filling me as images of Hongjoong filled my mind.

Haneul nodded, "Of course! You gotta see the world if you wanna rule it one day, right?" She tilted her head at me, smiling while twisting a piece of grass between her fingers.

"The whole world?"

She looked confused, "Yeah, that's the end goal, right?" She became a little rigid, squinting at me, "What else could you really accomplish from ruling?"

I looked to the ground, taken aback by the sudden change of mood around us, "But what about the citizens of the territory that we already own?" My voice was almost a whisper, "They need help. I need to help them." I couldn't shake the rugged appearance of Yunho, and seeing his sad, hungry eyes had almost torn my heart apart.

Haneul's expression grew solemn, "Their lives mean nothing, Wooyoung." Her hand moved quickly and held mine, "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you want to be surrounded by their filth. The more land we gather, the more room our citizens will have to roam, and to be further away from us."

I felt like I couldn't breathe, "But with more land, the poverty will only spr-"

I was cut off by her hand clasping over my mouth, her eyes dark and distant, "Wooyoung, talking like this will get you killed." She hissed, and shook her head, "You still think like a naive child, you cannot fix every single person's debt. You can't make money appear that isn't already there." She shook her head, letting a bout of tired laughter.

"The closest you can get to helping your citizens is to kill them all."

I lunged away from her, forcing her hand away from my face, and breaking the eye contact we had maintained for the longest time. I shook my head, standing, "How could you say that?" I asked, feeling as if my breath could not properly fill my lungs.

"I live in a kingdom of survival of the fittest. We don't have poverty, we just have bodies in the streets." She shrugged, not in a heartless way, but in a way filled with pain and remorse. She was desensitized at this point, "The world isn't kind. We are just here to maintain order, and give people someone to look up to. We don't owe them anything."

I took a step back, "You have to be kidding." There was no way someone could actually think that.

"San thought that too." She cooed.

"Then where is he?" I asked, angry now. Anytime I asked about San, I was answered with silence. The first person I ever called my friend was completely missing, "If he thinks that, why isn't he leading? Why isn't he taking some princess away to marry? That would be ideal, so why isn't that the way things are happening?" I was ranting, stumbling over my words while trying not to show my tears.

Haneul sighed, "Something happened." She seemed different now, more reserved at the mention of her older brother, "He went his own way. He's rebellious, and dangerous. His ideas stray from our dynasty's in a way that we cannot compensate with. He's in love with chaos, and wishes to bring it upon everything we love." She shook her head, "My brother is stupid, Wooyoung. He believes the same as us, but is too unstable to rule."

There was no way this was true.

I looked to the ground, my anger leaving and being replaced with a sense of deep sadness, "You have to be lying." I mumbled. I began to back up, not turning away from her, "I- I need to go."

I turned away quickly, trying to contain my tears as my pace became quicker. I could hear Haneul's footsteps behind me, but I didn't turn around, didn't register her voice, which was yelling, pleading for me to stay. I just kept walking until my hands found their place on the handle to the door. The handle that lead back inside my home.

My sanctuary.

I opened the door quickly, trying to slam it behind me to force a barrier between me and my future fiance, but I failed, feeling the resistance of the door being pushed open.

"Go away." My voice was shaking.

"You need to accept the truth."

"Not if it isn't the truth." I paused, spinning to face her, "You lie."

Haneul stopped, her face falling, "I was just trying to explain things to you." She sounded hurt.

I continued to walk backwards, and let out a noise of surprise as I ran straight into someone's back. I fell, hitting the ground with a thud.

"Woo, what's going on?" As the person turned around, I felt relief fill me. It was Mingi.

Haneul came up behind me, kneeling at my side, "Are you ok?" She asked lightly. I could tell she was being careful with her words, not wanting to upset me further.

Instead of answering, I looked up to Mingi, "I want to go back to my room now." I said sternly.

He looked between Haneul and me, and I could feel the disappointment radiating off of him as he held out his hand with a sigh, "As you wish." He mumbled.

Haneul stood up, letting out an exasperated sigh before storming past Mingi and I. I watched her go, feeling a weight being lifted off my chest.

She was beautiful, strong, and stubborn. Exactly the type of queen a king should want, but not me. Something felt wrong, something about her presence, but I couldn't put my finger on it. So I guess to put it plainly, I didn't like her. I didn't want to marry her.

I grabbed Mingi's hand, "Thank you." I whispered. I felt embarrassed.

As he pulled me to my feet, I made eye contact with someone in the corner of my vision and I flinched, but by the time I was standing upright, the figure was gone. Curiousity filled me, and if it would have been different circumstances, I probably would have investigated.

"Excuse my language but what the fuck?" Mingi looked confused, his eyes wide as if he couldn't comprehend what had just happened, "What's going on?"

I looked to the ground shamefully, "We had a disagreement." I mumbled.

Mingi rolled his eyes, "So you ran away?"

"N-no." I sighed, shaking my head, "I just need time to think about what she said." I tried to justify myself.

His confusion seemed to grow, "Was it that bad?"

I let out some nervous laughter, "Let's just say that she might have more... vulgar views than mine." I whispered.

Mingi's head nodded, "Yeah, I figured that would come to be a problem." He sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Then I'll let you have time to think on your own." He grabbed my hand, leading me towards my room.

I felt as I finally had a full breath in my lungs, "Thank you." I whispered.

Thank you.