Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Twenty-Five

The morning of the ball came, starting the same way most mornings did, Jinyoung coming to wake the prince, but instead of Chan just wearing whatever he felt like he had to go and be made up. He hated having his hair done, his eyes being brushed with pigments, and the many layers that went into his outfit. By the end he was already so hot he didn't know how he would make it through the day, much less dance and converse. 

Chan had headed for breakfast-or lunch, it was already late enough in the day, after that, they would tour the villages before the ball so that the civilians could come and wave to them, the royalty would wave back and have roses to throw into the crowds of people that came outside to see them, the lords and ladies meeting up with them right before they would leave on their wagons. 

All of the princesses and other girls hand been done up in their finest, Violetta frowning at her heavy skirts and kicking them around when the winds blew them around, she lightened up when she saw him, beginning to run over, before she saw everyone else's eyes on her and she slowed to a walk, dropping a messy curtsy, to which Chan internally cooed and bowed back to her, the girls giggling at the cute exchange. Prince Namjoon was without his bodyguards for the first time Chan had seen him, the older man looking much less intimidating without the six other men surrounding him, both princes nodded at each other, Namjoon had seemed to slightly move past his feelings toward Chan possibly marrying his sister, especially after his own parents had pulled him aside, and Chan had heard them scolding the older as he had walked past. 

As planned, the lords and ladies arrived on time, they had just enough time to greet each other before climbing into their respective wagons, Chan with his mother and Violetta and her father. His mother had seemed to notice how the prince had taken a liking to the little girl, and for that Chan was grateful. Violetta had started up a clapping game with Chan as they made the short travel to the first village that lined the outskirts of the palace gates, there were three different ones that surrounded the palace, those were the main villages of the kingdom. The queen sat, watching them distastefully, while she accepted that he liked the little girl she didn't seem to like her much herself, which was fine by Violetta who had stated: "I don't like the queen, she's mean." after his mother had gotten angry with her father over Chan and her playing hide-n-go-seek together. 

The civilians had come out in crowds to see the decorated royals, waving excitedly and fawning to their friends if one of them waved back, the few lucky ones who caught roses giggling and tucking them away for the fear of someone-especially a teenage girl-stealing it.  They continued their tour, all of them suffering in their layers and the heat, after what seemed like an eternity they made it back to the palace, Chan and the other men hopping out first to assist the women in their heels and skirts. 

More guests had slowly trickled into the palace, captains, generals, other lords and ladies who hadn't made it for the carriage tour. A couple of mayors of the much richer cities and villages were invited as well, mostly to prove the queen wasn't biased on her invitation list and not because she really wanted them there. The ball was, to put it gently, boring. Chan hated formal events with a burning passion, the conversations always so dry, the food so weirdly small and the people so dry it hurt. 

Chan ended up speaking to  Briar, the girl seemed to be just as bored as he was, the two of them giggling at Ada and Charlotte teaching Violetta to dance, the little girl stumbling over her skirts that were much too big for her small frame, Chan couldn't even see her father and he assumed the governor had just left her with the girls, which none of them seemed to be upset about from the way they attempted to be as formal and regal as they could as they shifted as far out of the way as they possibly could. 

His mother eventually stood, calling out for attention and everyone's eyes turned to her, she beckoned Chan to come closer, he did so, cautiously, he wasn't sure what this would be about but he knew it wasn't going to be good for him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, nails digging into his shoulder through the layers of his shirts, the room quieted down slowly as the band stopped playing, the slow music coming to a stop. 

The queen started her speech, the royal Kim family standing next to her, she opened with a long thank you to everyone who had come, speaking about the war generals who had only had success with their new troops, the wealth that had been brought to their kingdom, Chan thought he would get away unscathed from this, but he wasn't so lucky. 

"As many of you know," The queen scanned the room for the governor's and duke's daughters, frowning distastefully at Violetta, "We have been considering marriage for my son, prince Chan," she motioned to her son with her free hand, and Chan could feel his heart sink, "And we have finally decided on his future wife." every one of the possible girls paled, he could see Charlotte stumble backward, clutching Renata's hand and seemingly praying it wasn't either of them, much to their father's disgust. Chan's eyes widened and started fiddling nervously with his sleeve, The king stepped up, "His wife will be my oldest daughter, princess Sunhi." The princess seemed to flinch, Namjoon's expression hardened, there was a round of applause while Chan turned toward his mother "You couldn't even tell me?" He snapped, the applause dying out at the noise, "You think you can just decide you can control this part of my life?" He couldn't believe what he was saying, he was never a fan of drawing attention to himself, his mother was visibly boiling with anger but she attempted to squash the feelings readdressing the crowd "worry not, the marriage will proceed, four months hence. plenty of time for the two to grow accustomed to each other." Chan could see Sunhi bite back tears, she wanted this just about as much as he did. 

His mother turned to him "We will speak later." She snarled at him before putting her polite smile back on and going to join her guests in dancing, she twirled gracefully with one of the dukes, seemingly brushing Chan from her mind.