the king and his bride | k.th

two

who to blame?

The real fear started to surface right after we entered the city gate.

My hands, which were tightly holding onto Jungkook's shirt were becoming clammy and sweaty. My stomach was twisting in a really painful way where at one point I had a bad urge to vomit. My head was fogged with all kind of scenarios of what might happen today, not being able to think rationally.

I shut my eyes tight, pushing my forehead hard against Jungkook's back as our horse kept on galloping slowly through the city.

I didn't even have the chance to admire the loud city crowds as usual, my mind and emotions being in a too much mess to notice my surroundings properly.

By the time we stopped in front of the castle grounds I was trying really hard to calm down my breathing. I slowly looked up from behind Jungkook's shoulder and looked around.

We were in a quiet area, the castle gates with few people roaming around right in front of us. I registered that some of those people were actually girls in my age or a little older, all clothed in various white dresses with either pearls, lace, or just simple and small ornaments around the bottom of their dress.

I slowly pushed myself back from Jungkook and with a deep breath jumped down from our horse onto the solid ground. Jungkook soon followed after me, still holding the rope tight in his fist.

"Wow, there's really a lot of us." I muttered, still looking around with my arms crossed around my chest warily.

"Rose." I turned around to look at Jungkook who had his hand placed on my shoulder lightly. He was not looking at me, rather down at the paved road leading towards the castle gates. His dark pupils were visibly shaking as I could clearly hear his breathing accelerate each breath he took.

This state of his was making me weak and I didn't know what to do to calm my friend down nor what to do to not cry myself. That's why the first thing I did was hug him tight, letting his head rest in the crook of my neck.

"It's going to be okay." I said shakily, patting down his light and messy locks. "Don't even try to cry on me Kook or I swear to God-" he interrupted me with a soft chuckle, slowly pushing himself away from me, but still keeping me tight in his embrace.

"Geez so much for worrying about you." he shook his head with a small smile, looking down at me.

"Well you know I don't like it when you worry about me." I said with a small grin, happy that the previous tension in the air is slowly fading away.

But I spoke too soon.

"Miss, excuse me, you're one of the girls from Hangar district, am I right?" I tore away from Jungkook and looked at the old lady in long, emerald-green dress who was smiling at me politely with her hands intertwined in front .

I nodded with a tight-lipped smile, bowing down a little. She looked like someone from the castle, seeing her dress and expensive accessories adoring her body. Her dark-brown hair, slightly lightened and even gray at some parts, was in a tight bun on top of her head, few free strands framing her pale face in a lazy but elegant manner. For an old lady, she was really beautiful.

"Yes, I am."

"Lovely! Come with me then darling, we need to get you ready. The other girls are heading to the castle as well." she glanced at Jungkook who was awkwardly standing by my side and smiled at him sweetly. "As for you young man, if you wish to watch the ceremony, you should head to the castle's backyard as well. The ceremony will start in 10 minutes."

My insides made a little flip as I tightened my sweaty palms into fists.

It's really happening, isn't it?

I glanced at Jungkook and gave him a reassuring smile, trying to not give away myself with my shaking.

He gave me a longing look with furrowed eyebrows, ready to grab my hand. I took his palm in both of my hands and smiled as confidently as I could.

"I will see you later Kookie." I gave his palm last one squeeze before letting go.

"Alright. I'll be waiting." he muttered and gave me a small, sad smile before I turned around and followed the old lady to the castle.

The back room, or may I call it a dressing room, was buzzing with life as many people were walking back and forth, all of them in a hurry to be ready for the ceremony that was about to happen. The room was filled with not only the girls from my district, but also with already official brides, who were helping out other young girls to get ready.

It was a mess everywhere, racks with clothing were placed in each corner of the room, vanity tables were full with all kinds of make-up, hair-brushes or accessories and not to mention random clothing peaces lying around the ground everywhere.

If I didn't know better, I would say that these girls were really trying to impress the king. But I know that was a lie. It's simply a duty to look at your best while attending the ceremony.

As much as I want to blame everything on the king and hate him with all my being, I can't. Jungkook always told me I was being too softhearted on him for some reason, but I could never bring myself to hate our king. Yes, it's true that he invented the whole Bride fest and consequently forced a lot of citizens to give away their daughters. But in my point of view he gave them a choice. He let them vote and decide themselves about the destiny of their daughters. And they chose money over their children in the end.

As much as offering such a thing is really twisted, I think the people who had the right to say in this were not that much greater themselves.

Thus, I decided to not dwell on it too much, knowing that blaming other people will not help anything. I chose to ignore the topic, coming to terms with the fact that things that happened simply happened and there was no going back.

But being in the situation I'm in right now, made me really rethink my life-long beliefs. Who's fault is this? Who's the reason I am here? Is it the king? Or should I blame the people? Myself?

"Here darling, take this." I snapped out of my internal monologue, taking the white cloth from the old lady. I looked at it confused, caressing the soft fabric between my fingers. "It's your veil. Here, let me help you put it on." I handed it back to her quietly with a nod, still shaken up about everything that's happening around me.

Too fast. Everything's happening too fast.

She turned me around and placed the fabric on top of my head before lacing a tiny string at the back to secure the veil. She pulled the veil up at the front of my face so I could see where I was going as she took my hand and dragged me towards the group of other girls who were already standing at the front of the room.

I glanced at their faces to notice that in fact, none of them was happy.

"Alright girls listen up!" the old lady clapped her hands and made her way to the front of the group. "The ceremony is about to begin so I will need you all to form a queue and hold each other's hands as you go up on the stage. We don't want any of you to trip and fall since you'll have to have your veils down." she said with a small chuckle and we gave her a small nod. She looked through us briefly in silence before a sweet smile formed on her pale lips. "No need to be scared girls. I'm sure you'll be fine, each and every one of you." she said and softly stroked one of the girls' head who was standing right in front of her. "Whoever gets picked today, I can reassure you it's not the end of the world. You will be all fine."

And so like that, few minutes later, I found myself holding onto the old lady's words as tightly as I could, while standing on the stage in the backyard of the castle, waiting for the king to make his entrance.