love until death | lee heeseung

one.

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"Ari!"

I could hear my mother's shrill voice echoing through the whole castle. sometimes, I wonder, where on earth did she learn her manners. if only grandmother was alive, she would have killed my mother in an instant.

"yes, mother! I'm coming," I said softly, hoping that she could hear my voice from the tall white walls of the castle. the sound was quite echoing.

"don't you remember that the Park's are coming over???" my mother looked at me with disappointment and desperation, "you need to get on a pretty dress and impress their two sons!"

"mother—" I sighed in exasperation.

"now come," she fussed over me without letting me say anything, "maybe one day, you will learn to appreciate what a beautiful lady I made and raised to be the perfect wife for a prince. what would I do if I left you alone, huh? I daresay you would have went down and married scum." she scrunched in disgust at the thought.

I don't know, it was just like that nowadays. I was expected to marry a handsome and rich prince. 

that was it.

I was expected to be a perfect obedient wife and bear heirs to continue the family lineage. and then I was expected to sit there prettily, waving my paper fan around while having tea with the other princesses.

and nothing else.

oh how I dreamed of having freedom and escaping this place.

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"oi Heeseung hyung! how was your day?" the baker's son, Sim Jaeyun, smiled at the older boy who was passing by on his bicycle.

"good," the male hummed, chirping happily, "I just have to deliver these letters to the Kim's and that's it, I think. oh yeah, a parcel for the Yang's."

"it's been a while since we hung out with Sunoo and Jungwon, huh?" Jaeyun remarked with a chuckle, shaking his head back with a laugh as he ran his fingers through his messy hair, "we all are so busy with working for money."

"I mean—" Heeseung shrugged, "at least we are not starving. we have simple and humble lives."

"I really wish one day we could visit the palace," Jaeyun mused, "rumor goes that the princess is very beautiful. I've only caught a glimpse of Prince Moon, and he is stunningly handsome."

"she wouldn't dare associate herself with any of us, the common people," Heeseung struck reality back at the younger boy, "for her own sake."

"you're right," Jaeyun chuckled, "it's a dream." humming, he added, "eomma wants me to marry soon, she says that I'm already twenty-five and I should have a wife being there for me."

"I'm twenty-six and my parents hadn't said a word yet," Heeseung chuckled, "but it would be nice to have a girl. a hard-working and down-to-earth one."

"I mean all of the girls in the village are pretty hard-working," Jaeyun trailed off, "like Han Jiwoo, Kwon Soojin, Choi Daeun...."

"you know everyone in the village, don't you?" Heeseung remarked with a smile on his face, "it shouldn't be hard for you then."

"but no one in their right mind would want an ordinary village boy, a baker's son, as their husband, would they?" Jaeyun asked, raising his eyebrow, "most of the village is not rich, and everyone is aiming for a good fortune."