Crowned in love and snow ӏ Yoonmin

Prologue

It was the end of November, the trees had started to shed their autumn leaves as they prepared to welcome their winter coat in the following days. The once orange scenery had faded into a morose, brown panorama where the tall trees stood with their now naked branches extending around, waiting for the first snow. The wooden cabins from the village offered no contrast yet in this dull landscape, with only the waters of the lake providing the town with a little color, although its people were eagerly waiting for the frost.

The village of Eldoria lied between two mountains and was ruled by Queen Hwayoung and King Haneul, two fair rulers, loved by all their subjects who had come to think of the pair as a mother and father to them all. But be that as it may, it was only truly the case for one, a boy named Yoongi. Prince Yoongi was known for his stoic behavior and jet-black hair, always so gracefully falling over his forehead. His beautiful features were legend in the town and there lived no maiden who didn't dream of setting her eyes on the prince. And as you could see, there was no shortage of admirers for Yoongi, but sadly enough, the boy had no sister nor brother to share the immense surroundings of the castle he had lived in all his life.

In lack of having siblings, Yoongi found in his best friend Namjoon, a true brother. Having known each other since they were boys, there was no trouble one hadn't found himself in without the other. But gone were the days of running amok in the castle and staging sword fights in the barn, playing rescue the damsel in distress with the stable boy, for in recent months the king and queen had started the rough task of finding the perfect match for their son.

"I don't understand why your parents are so pressed on finding you a match"

"Of course you don't, Joon. You're third in line, who knows if you'll ever have to wed" Dressed in his most unformal white laced shirt, singed black pants and high boots, Yoongi's strong steps echoed in the stone passageway. "But I'm all my parents have. The fate of Eldoria rests on my shoulders"

"Please, all you need to do is flip that pretty, silky black hair of yours and all the maidens and bachelors will be at your feet"

"I don't need all of them" Yoongi rolled his eyes at his friend's stupid comment. "I only need one, the perfect one"

"No one is perfect. And even if someone were to be, I am pretty sure the closest thing to perfect would be you"

A brief pause settled as the two boys walked down the stairs, the noise drowning out their words.

"I'm nowhere near perfect, Namjoon, you know that" the ravenette dismissed the compliment with a scoff, finding it hard to believe it.

"Right, because a pretty, kind and duty full prince isn't perfect?"

Yoongi stopped dead in his track and gave the other a jaded look, internally begging for him to drop this conversation. They started walking again, a faint sense of peace settling inside of the prince's mind as his friend remained quiet, unfortunately the brunette picked up right where he left off.

Yoongi hated to talk about himself and he hated even more when others did. Which was why he found himself actively ignoring his friend but a certain memory couldn't escape him.

"Come on, you must remember that one!" Namjoon exclaimed.

He did. When the two were teenage boys, they had gone into town, desperate to be away from the castle with its cold walls and behavior etiquettes they refused to acknowledge. While in town they had stumbled into a small pub filled with working men looking for a beverage to quench their thirst and older ones in need of something stronger but the amount of people in the pub was too much for the poor taverner who couldn't keep up.