In The King's Court

Chapter 10

I woke up the next morning to my maid Yumi opening the curtains and letting the sun's light stream into the room.  I let out a hiss as I tried to hide my face under my covers where it was dark.

     "Oh no you don't.   You have brunch with the Royal family this morning and some other noble visitors.  You need to get up and ready."  scolded Yumi as she pulled the covers away from my head causing me to let out a groan as I stretched out before sitting up.  

    "Fine, fine.  What time do I have dance practice with Jimin today?"  I asked her sleepily.  

"Shortly after brunch.  After practice you have be requested to be assigned to taking etiquette class with the other members of the Collection and the Queen.  The next round of selecting will be tomorrow followed by a banquet with the Prince of Simjang and his betrothed, Lady Yuri.  He's coming to visit his sister, Princess Ki-hwi."  explained Yumi. 

    "Are any of my family coming too?"  I asked excitedly.   Yumi thought for a moment.

"I do not know.  I can ask around, but I haven't heard anything about them being there.  You're brother is a close friend to the prince right?"  she asked.  I nodded.  I hadn't seen my brother, Min-Sun in what seemed like forever.  I began to really hope that he would be there tomorrow.  I got out of bed and let Yumi help me get ready for brunch.  I put on a pretty light colored dress that had some black lace over it.  It was warm out so I kept to wearing a shorter dress with lighter materials.  (Dress up above)

  "You look as pretty as a princess."  complimented Yumi causing me to laugh.

   "Too bad I'm not one."  I joked as I braided my hair out of my face and pinned it back.

    "You very well could be. I highly doubt Prince Jimin or Prince Taehyung will let out leave tomorrow."   She reminded me.

    "True, Jimin can't afford to lose me as a dance partner at this point, but the festival is this next week.  After the performance he wouldn't need me anymore.  So I'll probably be going home during the following selection."  I sighed as I smoothed out my skirt.  

    "You really think that is the only reason you have lasted this long?"  she asked me.  I looked at her confused.

    "Is it not?"  I asked confused.  She just chuckled as she shook her head in disbelief.

    "Never mind, let's go.  You're going to be late."  she ushered me.  I quickly nodded to her.

   "Oh, yes.  Thank you, Yumi.  I'll see you later!"  I called to her as I exited my room and hurried to the dinning hall.  I took a few deep breaths before entering the room to make it looks as if I was not out of breath as I hurried to get there.  I pushed the door open and let out a small sigh of relief to see that I was not late.  The King and Queen were not even here yet.  I went to an open seat near the middle of the table and sat down.  Only two other princesses were here and Prince Namjoon.  His eyes me mine and I looked away from him as I sat down...far away from him.  I got distracted by looking out one of the windows that I didn't notice someone sit next to me until they said my name.

    "Are you ready from practice, (y/n)?  It's almost time for us to finally preform."  asked Jimin excitedly.  I couldn't help but smile at his excitement.  I knew how much he loved to dance and preforming was the epitome of that.  

     "Of course I'm ready."  I smiled back at him.  I was, I was eager to show off what we had been working on.  We even came up with out own choreography for a mini second performance.  I've also been working on some of my choreography as I was requested by the Queen that if I was still here in the castle at this time as part of the Collection that I would preform my own short piece. 

    Talking about dance helped make me think less about Namjoon who was staring me down from across the table.  Jimin took notice.

    "Why is Namjoon staring at you like that?"  he whispered lowly. 

"I don't know.  I don't like it."  I frowned avoiding Jimin's concerned gaze as I turned to look as the King and Queen filed into the room after the last few girls came in and sat down.  We all rose as the pair walked to their seats and waited for them to sit down before taking our seats again as well.  I noticed that Jimin and Namjoon were now in a glaring match with each other.  I lightly poked Jimin in the ribs, pulling his gaze to me. 

    "Stop it.  Just ignore him.  I don't know what his problem is.  Lets just eat so we can go to practice."  I suggested as food was brought out to the table.  Jimin let out a low sigh.

    "Fine."  he muttered.  "for you."  he said as he turned to eat.  We all ate in relative silence besides as few random conversations that were happening between different people.  

     "Should we expect to see an amazing performance from that pair of you at the festival?" asked the Queen addressing Jimin and me.  I gave a small smile as I looked over at Jimin, waiting for him to respond.

    "Of course.  We've been practicing hard.  (y/n) more than lives up to her reputation as a gifted dancer. "  replied Jimin glancing over at me with smile.  I didn't miss the smile growing on the Queen's face as she watched us.  

     "That's wonderful.  I can't wait to watch it.  I know that the people love it when you preform for them, Jimin, sweetie."  cooed the Queen at her son.  I could see the blush creeping up his neck at his mother's words as he turned back to looking at his plate causing the Queen and King to both chuckle slightly.  

   "(y/n), how has your solo piece been coming along?" asked the Queen.  Jimin's head whipped towards me in shock...I hadn't told him about it.

     "It's coming along smoothly, Your Highness.  I will be ready for the festival."  I assured her.  I could feel Jimin wanting to talk, but I ignored him for the moment.

     "Wonderful, I look forward to seeing it. "  she smiled.  Now I turned to Jimin who was almost about to burst from waiting to talk.

   "You're doing a solo piece?  And you didn't tell me?  When did this happen?" he hissed at me.

"Your mother requested me to if I was still apart of the Collection at the time of the festival...she only asked me this past week.  I didn't tell you because I thought it was supposed to be a surprise..."  I trailed off.  

    "Are you going to show me at practice then now since its not a surprise?"  he almost begged.  I shook me head with a small smile.

     "Nope, its still going to be a surprise."  I cheekily grinned at him.  He pouted. 

"That's not fair.  I wanna see....pleeeeeaaaassseeee?"  he whined.  I could help but giggle at his childish behavior. 

    "Nope."  I said popping the 'p' sound.  "Finish eating, we need to practice."  I reminded him before putting food in my mouth.  He continued to pout as he ate his food.  I rolled my eyes at him before turning away to finish eating...he was never going to drop this now.