Crown Upon His Head

The start of something new

Maybe running out of the house was a bad idea, but she still had to turn herself in. "As in the girl who went missing? Jeon Sunhee?" The tall male spoke, "Yes." The tall male frowned at Sunhee before speaking. "Why are you crying?" His deep voice rang through her ears, she slowly registered that had said to her, "It's just family issues, it's nothing you should have to worry about." The man grunted, "You are one of my subjects aren't you?" She slowly nodded, "Then your matters are my matters, what happened?"

Sunhee began to speak about how her father treats her and her mother, why he had his most recent outburst, and her fears of her mother's condition at the moment. The man kept quiet until she had finished her story, "Well, as the newly appointed king, I shall make my first royal decision. You and your mother can stay in the palace, charge free. Unless you'd rather have your father in the dungeon." Sunhee looked up at the king in shock, "Are you sure? I'm sure we'd just be trouble, and I don't want you to have to deal with my father, we'll survive it's not like he'll live very long with his drinking problem."

Jisung frowned, "You're not a problem, I'll send guards with you to go get your mother and your things." Sunhee nodded before waving a goodbye to the young man and finding the guards. Sunhee walked at a slow pace, dreading the backlash from her sudden disappearance. As she suspected her father had hit her mother with a glass bottle rendering her unconscious and was ripping through the house to find her. "Father, I'm home." A malicious laugh could be heard throughout the small house, "There you are slut, where did you go? You can't run from your punishment. Get on your knees and scrub the floor. Now." A fear ridden Sunhee did just she was told, until the royal guards picked her up and detained her father.

"Get your things and mother Miss, you're not gonna have to deal with him ever again." One of the guards spoke, "Yes sir." She nodded. "Mom, Mom, can you hear me? Mom," her mother coughed up some blood before panting and weakly sitting up. "Mom, we're going to live in the palace, we won't have to deal with dad again. Let's get you some water and I'll get out things so we can leave for good." Sunhee spoke in a soft, nurturing tone. "Hun, we can't just leave the house—" Sunhee cut her off, "We aren't, dad's gonna live here with alone without being able to legally leave. The laws say so, and King  Jisung himself said that we should live with him." Her mother nodded, unable to fight the laws and the kings orders.

"Well, honey, I'm gonna go use the restroom if you don't mind." Sunhee helped her mother up and off to the restroom. Sunhee began to pack up her own things in a very quick manner, she had everything cleaned and packed but her dress. Her dress was torn up and ruined, she had payed for that dress with her money that she had worked for. Sunhee's wicked father must've done it while she was away, and what makes it worse, the ball was in less than a day. She had no time to be sad about it though, she had to pack her mother's things and get her mom out of the house.

The girl smiled at her mother as she walked out of her bedroom, her smile was painfully fake, yet not obvious. She wasn't upset about the dress itself, it was a item that could be replaced after all, but she was upset about the money she could've used to pay for other more important things wasted on a now unwearable dress. The tall girl made sure her mother made it out safely before saying one last goodbye to the house. She texted her friends about the situation, eventually finding her way to the castle with her items and mother.  As they reached the castle,  Jisung spotted them and began speaking to them and walking them to their rooms,  Jisung took Sunhee's mother to her room first and then came back for the much smaller girl.

"You've made it back! Well, we'll see you two some rooms and you can get settled. The palace is quite open, empty, and boring, I can't wait to have someone more than just Chenle around my age to speak to!" The king giggled as he walked Sunhee to her room. He was actually quite comfortable around her, despite having a shy, quiet demeanor. Sunhee however, was more concerned about his knowledge on her age, "How did you know I was around your age, King?" He smiled before responding, "I'm required to know everything about my subjects and everything they do. Well, not everything, just the things that effect the kingdom. I remember you because of your birthdate, it's near my mother's so I tried to remember you." Sunhee hummed in response.

"So then, King, how old am I and what's my birthday." Sunhee retorted, "October 5th, 2002, you're 17 years old. We have exactly eight months between our birthdays, also, drop the 'King', I don't feel like a king, just call me Jisung." Jisung took a liking to small details and loved to rant about them, especially to people he feels comfortable with. Jisung also took a liking to Sunhee, who unbeknownst to him, felt the same about the boy.  She grinned, "It's quite an attractive trait," she complemented. "What is?" Jisung asked while opening a door. "Taking note of the small details. Do you do that with King Chenle as well, or just your subjects?" Jisung deadpanned for a moment before realizing what she meant, "Oh, just my subjects, mainly the ones that intrigue me. I already know everything there is to know about Chenle."

Jisung nodded to the guards that had her things in their hands, signaling that this would be her room. "So I'm intriguing to you? I find that funny, most of my friends think I'm boring until I suggest something that could get us killed, like tonight for example." Jisung chuckled before nodding and responding,"Yes, you intrigue me. Now I want you to get some rest before you begin unpacking—" Sunhee cut Jisung off, worry soaked words spilling from her mouth at a rapid pace. "Yes but, the ball is tomorrow and my dress was ruined, I can't wear that dress to the ball." Jisung thought for a moment and then proceeded to reassure the girl before him. "No worries, I'll just have the seamstress fix it up for you. Now then, goodnight, Sunhee." Jisung's words became more and more hushed as he walked away, though he wasn't far enough away to hear Sunhee's faint voice say, "Goodnight, Jisung."

With that, the King went to bed with a smile on his face for the first time in years. "Maybe I don't need the ball." Jisung whispered into the air, slowly falling asleep with one person on his mind, Sunhee.