The Prince's Stableman | Taejin

Chapter 47 - Broken

The streets were busy; mules pulling carriages and carts full of bountiful harvest. Music and dancing filled the atmosphere as the towns people merrily greeted incoming royals to the Kingdom.

Excitement and chatters about the Equestrian Eventing or the Royal Horse Trials that were to commence swept through the common people, they could not be more exhilarated for their Prince to finally choose his life long mate and what the future would hold in the ruling of the Kingdom.

People just passed him by as Seokjin rode RJ opposite the direction of the palace. He was now far beyond the border at this point keeping his head low under his straw hat. He sighs recalling the loud cheers bursting from the towns people as a parade of knights proudly rode before their royal guarded carriages bringing forth Alpha Prince's from different nations. He would hear some omega women squeal to the top of their lungs seeing as one of the foreign Alpha Prince candidates drew aside his lace curtain taking a peak at the peaceful and beautiful town of the Kim's Kingdom. He's heard a few of the maidens whisper how wonderful another alpha's scent was as their huge bronzed carriage passed by and how courageous it was of an Alpha Princess to take her shot and compete for the Prince's hand as well. He had considered stopping by his mom to bid goodbye but he decided against it. He laughed quietly at himself, as if Taehyung would even try and look for him after seeing all the competent and flawless alphas.

He had never felt so disappointed at himself as he is now; hating himself was an odd feeling that it was overwhelmingly taking over his entire being. Being a Beta was just normal to Seokjin because he was just born that way but not up to this point. Now that it was figuratively the only thing standing between him and the love of his life made it hard to breathe. He had never felt so alone in his entire life like how he felt at this moment. Every step RJ took further and further away from the Kingdom just made his heart ache twice as more like he was making the wrong decision albeit feeling like it was the right thing to do. Because who was he to claim Taehyung when he was nothing but a man inlove; it would be selfish to want to stay there and fight for him when he had nothing else to offer but his heart. He could cut open his chest and present it bleeding, giving his life, but what good would that bring the Prince? As if numerous willing lives have not been sacrificed to them all the same.

He slowly took to a stop at the side of a dirt road retreating a thick forest. He was now nearing another town ahead. Letting the wind blow on his face, Seokjin took in a deep breathe thinking about how he was going to live his life moving forward. There were tall trees all over and he could see farm lands in the distance down the hill and huts scattered around. His lips were cracked from his journey and if he was parched, RJ was too. He parked RJ under a shady tree and got down collecting his water jug from one of his huge bilums and took out a bowl for RJ to drink in. He stared at RJ's eyes as his noble steed lapped on the water as he took a swig from his jug as well.

"It's just you and me, buddy." He says, melancholic as he ruffled RJ's mane. He took of his straw hat letting it settle onto his back as he brushed his hair away from his forehead and went to pick an apple from the bilum and feed it to RJ as he sat there on the grass beside the road and just let his mind wander staring blankly at the tiny huts far away. He wondered if they had a barn, maybe he could work for them for a while until he figured what he was going to do with his life and how.. how he was going to try and move on from Taehyung.

After some time, the skies turned orange as the day slowly started to fade. He sighs as he got up dusting his behind and straddled RJ. As soon as he and RJ took a few steps moving forward a small voice came rushing in.

"Wangja-nim! Wangjaaa!" A child's voice yelled a short ways behind Seokjin as he pulled on RJ's reins to see what it was about. He wasn't a prince but the urgency in the child's voice made him stop even though the kid must not have been addressing him, he initially thought he was alone in the forest.