Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Sixteen

Chan's mother had definitely realized there was something going on with her son, she hoped to god he wasn't going into the village, what if he had a girl? a peasant girl? or, even worse, a boy. her son, the crown prince, could never date another man, she had to stop him from ever leaving, from seeing whoever he was seeing, for she knew he must be seeing someone. So once Chan returned to the palace that night, she hadn't seen who he was with but she had heard them, she swept him away into a flurry of chores and such for him to do in the morning, making certain he had no time to escape the palace, Jinyoung following the prince just to make sure he couldn't write a letter to whoever it was, Chan seemed to realize his mother's plot after she had him do task after task, helping choose her dress for the ball and match her accessories, to which most of his ideas, which he thought were helpful, were scoffed at. he had only suggested a couple of things, silver jewellery, he thought it would look nicer with the royal purple colour that was chosen as the theme, but his mother told him she must wear gold to symbolize their wealth, and his second idea had been to wear a different silhouette from her usual ballgown, but that was shut down quickly. 

He had gotten a break around lunch, sitting on one of the many staircases and gazing wistfully out the window as he poked at his sandwich, he wished he could tell the Mers he wouldn't be able to see them today, he could imagine the disappointment on Felix and Jeongin's faces when they realized he wasn't on the beach tonight, he sighed and pushed the barely touched food away from himself, he could slip it to the hunting dogs on his way downstairs to see what his mother needed him to do next. she sent him into the throne room to meet with villagers and attempt to solve problems they had, he struggled in solving some of them, farmers fighting over land, crops being stolen, an entire herd of missing sheep (they had been eaten by wolves was the later update), and 'somehow' a house collapsing the day after the owners had fought with their neighbours. He was there for so long, the throne room got hot very early on, he could feel his curls that had been previously combed and gelled down starting to pop back up, a few young women who must be around his age blushing at the sight of him instead of his mother, but he brushed that off fairly quickly. 

The heat became unbearable throughout the day, Chan having to go into the basement with Jinyoung eventually for the fear of getting heatstroke, the rest of the civilians going home for the day and hoping to return the next day with their worries. Jinyoung watched Chans face closely, the prince wiping his forehead, knocking his crown off and onto the floor as he leaned against the wall "What?" He turned his head toward his advisor, who shook his head "Nothing, your highness," He said, "We should start heading up to see your mother, she has more for you to do." Jinyoung stood and offered a hand, Chan took it and pulled himself up to his feet, dusting himself off, they headed back up the stairs, heat washing back over them as they climbed "Wow, It's hot today, isn't it?" Chan commented as they walked towards the ballroom, Jinyoung made a sound of agreement, opening the doors for Chan, who thanked him and entered the room, striding across it to see his mother. 

"Hello, Chan," She smiled at him as he bowed slightly, "Mother," He greeted, watching her "Do I have any more tasks' today?" he asked politely, "You have lessons again, I decided I cannot have you fall behind in your studies, not if the daughters of the governors are coming, I should like you to make a good impression upon them, one of them may become your wife when you are older," Chan choked on his own spit, "I'm sorry? wife?" he asked weakly, his mother stroking his hair gently "You know how royalty goes, you may not get to choose your wife, Channie." He nodded, he hadn't thought of having an arranged marriage since he passed the age of eighteen, which was when most marriages happened for royalty or high ranking people. he also hadn't thought of having a wife in a while, not since he realized he liked men, but he supposed that out of everyone in the kingdom he was the least likely to be allowed to be with another man. much less the seven Mers he liked. 

"Chan?" His mother snapped her fingers in front of his face "Are you alright? Maybe you should go lay down, the heat seems to be getting to you." and she was at least half right, he was dizzy from the heat, the glass ceiling of the ballroom made the sun so much worse to be under, he wasn't sure how his mother still looked so perfect in her makeup and massive gown, "when do I have my lessons?" he asked hoping she would say they were later in the day, but to his disappointment, she said, "Soon, It slipped my mind, I apologize. I will walk with you to your first lesson, you do not have fencing today as we decided it was too hot and it would be dangerous," He nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as they walked, he dreaded fencing on hot days, the gear and physical movement made it so sticky he often fell asleep in the basement after his classes since it was cooler the lower down he was. His mother left him at the door to the library and patted him on the shoulder "I shall see you at dinner." He nodded and she left, her skirts swishing around her as she hurried back the way they had come, pausing to speak to a few of the staff who were carrying banners to hang by the gates. 

He sat through his lesson, trying to remain focused but he kept finding his eyes drifting towards the one window in the round room, the sea was barely visible out of it and he wished he could be down there now, playing in the water with the Mers. he sighed and tried to turn his attention back to his teacher, who seemed to be giving up on actually teaching Chan anything and instead just took a book down and began reading it, Chan went back to gazing at the waves lapping gently against the docks, fishing boats returning to the pier with the day's spoils,  He knew the Mers would be on their way to the dock by the royal beach to go sailing, he hoped no one else was down there, but none of their staff ever really went down there and his mother hadn't been since his father died. he sat there for the remaining time of the 'lesson' before he was dismissed, Jinyoung coming to collect him for dinner. 

Dinner was uneventful, only him, his mother and Jinyoung at the table, the two latter deep in a conversation about the decorations and where the governors and royals would dock for the ball, he listened, but was uninterested in the topic, he struggled to keep up with the words they were throwing around, and eventually just tuned them out completely. 

After dinner, he climbed the stairs back to his room, he could see the glint of scales in the water swimming away from the palace, he felt the guilt washing over him, what if they thought he hated them? what if they hated him? he got sucked into his thoughts, spiraling around and around, he was about to run down to the beach from his balcony, but his mother had someone block the door from opening on the other side, he fell to his knees slowly, burying his face in his hands, god, what if they never came to see him again? he couldn't go see them, there was no way he could physically dive deep enough to make it to one of the enchanted caverns they had told him about. He felt his eyes fill with tears, his mother was going to keep him from ever seeing them again wasn't she? she was going to make him marry someone he didn't even know and they were going to forget about the lonely prince and move on with their lives, he didn't matter to them, he never mattered to them...