𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲•𝐣𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

seventeen

"I LOST again!"

"no, chan, we lost again!" seokmin sighs, throwing his bills(two five hundred bills) on the board. jisoo protects his property cards. "why are you so good at this? i give up!"

"maybe we should trade places." chan jumps up from his seat, running to jisoo. like he was proposing, chan gets on one knee and holds one of jisoo's hands. the latter was obviously surprised, looking at chan with wide eyes and beet red face. "please, take my role in the family tree."

"get on your feet, dummy!" jihoon throws a small pillow to chan's face, successfully knocking him down—but the thing was that the pillow landed on the monopoly board. jisoo went into panic mode.

"my properties!"

the three princes laughed, letting go of their perfect image in front of jisoo. chan was rolling on the floor, seokmin turns the board upside down, while jihoon throws more pillows at chan. jisoo laughed along with them as he gave up on saving his properties.

for a second, it felt like jisoo was hanging out with hansol, junhui and soonyoung. jisoo wonders what'll happen if he hangs out with the six of them. the roof flies away? maybe.

"your highnesses, you remind me of my friends outside the palace. thank you for... at least, providing some fun," jisoo says, unbuttoning his vest as he calmed down from his laughing fit. "you were fun to play with."

"huh, the king caused you that much stress?" seokmin asked. "don't worry. we stress over him too. he's too stubborn." seokmin reassuringly added, carding his locks back into the way it were before the laughing outburst.

"if i may ask...." jihoon took his handkerchief out, dabbing it on his forehead before he sat down on the red loveseat. "why were you arguing?"

jisoo leans back on the beige couch, hanging his head. he thinks hard about the root of all the yelling yesterday, as he stared at the chandelier. "he said i was selfish for wanting money. i just wanted money to make my and my parents' life more comfortable, and to buy more equipment for my business. we're a little short-handed."

"oh dear! i feel bad for ever giving you such a troublesome task before you could recieve what you need!" chan whips out his phone, typing away immediately. "how much do you need? i'll wire it now and you d—"

"chan," seokmin looks at the youngest. "i think jisoo-ssi doesn't like the idea." he tilts his head to jisoo's direction, where one could see the photographer grimacing and sulking.

"at first, i only wanted money. but now, i kind of want to save the kingdoms too. if i accept your offer, i'm afraid that i would just march out of the palace and let the king do whatever he wants." jisoo reasoned. the princes did not reply.

while true that jisoo needed money, he can't abandon the lee princes to suffer. if they can persuade jeonghan themselves, they wouldn't have hired jisoo to do the job, right? if he accepts chan's offer and the contract gets called off because jisoo got what he needs and he leaves the palace—he'd exactly be the person jeonghan described him as

jisoo doesn't want to be selfish. what is he going to do with so much money when everyone else is in agony, because of a war jisoo refused to stop? in that situation, money will not be of any use. so, in short: jisoo wants to stop the king not because of money, but because he cares about other innocent people who'll be involved.

imagine how nice the kingdom will be when the king doesn't constantly think of vengeance. no, imagine king himself when the toxicity in his mind is gone. he'd be smiling as usual, he'd ask adorable questions about commoner life, he'd laugh at romcoms that he's watching on jisoo's netflix account, he'd be....

he'd be so easy to fall in love with...

"uh...." jisoo looks at the three pretty faces of the princes, back and forth. "did i do something wrong?"

"not that.... your nose is bleeding." seokmin pointed to jisoo's nose, making the latter worry violently. jisoo takes out his handkerchief and runs out of the room, asking for mingyu.

"very well." jeonghan steps out of the limousine, looking at his right to see that the prime minister is stepping out of his own limousine as well. jeonghan paid no more attention to wonwoo, as he stepped onto the red carpet and the cameras started flashing.

smile and wave, jeonghan thought, as he looked at the thousand cameras that waited for an hour just to snap several photos of him. and wonwoo, the naggy prime minister.

jeonghan huffs, setting aside the thought of wonwoo's contradictory statements against his proposals in meetings every single time. jeonghan is starting to wonder wether wonwoo likes him(and is thirsty for attention) or wonwoo wants the throne.

"greetings!" the lively voice of the king, han jisung, welcomed jeonghan to the modernised palace. jeonghan smiled at him, shaking his hand before setting foot inside the main hall. "are you here to do quick business, or are you going to create a new... invention?"

wonwoo appeared, and jeonghan lost his chance to speak. "the king is here to make use of hainya's laboratory. i, jeon wonwoo, have already spoken with hainya's prime minister about this matter."

"of course." the figure of lee minho, hainya's prime minister, appeared suddenly, just behind the king. he looked more like a king than han jisung himself, as he had mature features unlike hainya's king. "we have agreed."

"i will let you use my laboratory again, but if you ever create something new, tell me about it. just like the last time, with..." jisung leans close to whisper, making jeonghan smirk. "ciraneum."

"ah, yes, that. of course i will, my friend! i just have some new formulas that i think would work better for stun guns. but, if my brain goes blank," jeonghan shrugs, making jisung laugh.

"no worries, if you get short on ideas. you may come back here once you've modified your failed plans, if it ever fails."

"thank you. i wish for a prosperous war."

"and i, too."

manwhile, minho gives wonwoo a concerned glance. wonwoo raised an eyebrow. he knew that both minho and him are against the war unlike these two kings, but there's nothing that they could do.

they're useless.