chaotic royal || ateez series

~°~ jongho ~°~ [4]

part 4: marriage

in the evening at the day jongho came back home, they were eating together with sora. a lot of stories where told and the four who were present got closer to each other.

jongho who was actually to shy to talk about it also needed to tell them what happened the past five days. and so.. he was not able to not mention areum.

his brothers know him well enough to figure out by his face that he likes her and that's how they also got curious.

wooyoung was kinda jealous. both of his brothers were in love. who should he go hunting with now, huh? he was annoyed.

a week passed faster than expected and the planned day for yeosang's and sora's marriage arrived.

they wanted to marry in the village together with their people. the message that the queen is finally gone, went through the whole kingdom and happiness was about to come back.

the people in the village lived a lot more friendlier now. since the stress from work to pay the taxes fell off, they helped each other again.

there was no competition anymore about who would survive and who not.

------

jongho who stood at the window in his room was looking at the court. his brother and his fiancé were getting dressed now and getting ready to leave.

jongho who was already done with everything he needed to, was thinking about areum.

lost in his thoughts he didn't realise that wooyoung entered his room. the older brother stood next to him, not saying anything. waiting for the youngest to wake up from his daydreaming.

startled as jongho finally realised the presence of his brother, he punched him soft at the shoulder and asked him why he was here.

"isn't it weird? for three years we were waiting for this day. it was our goal to get rid of the queen. and now? what is the next goal?"

"i guess it's marriage, finding love and living a happy life. at least it is what mom always wanted for us. and to never lose our good relationship, that we can always rely on each other as brothers.", jongho said. not really sure, if that is what wooyoung wanted to hear.

"marriage? don't you think it's enough if yeosang marries now? we are way younger than him. i mean, i am two years younger than him already and you are one year younger than me- i think we have a enough time left to marry."

laughing at the older one, jongho agreed and told him that they should get to the stables.

yeosang and sora will be in the carriage and wooyoung and jongho will take their horses.

together with their servants they were on their way to the village. suddenly jongho got a thought that kept him busy... will areum's family be there?

what if i see areum? how am i going to explain that to her? they don't know i'm a prince and they weren't supposed to know...

what should i do? how will my brothers and the other people react?

will areum still like me? are they going to be disappointed at me because i was lying to them? i don't wanna mess this up...

"hey, what are you worried about? everything's gonna be alright.", wooyoung suddenly spoke next to him with a soft smile on his faceto cheer jongho up.

they were on their way to the village. there was not a lot time left...

"it's nothing.", he shyly said, not wanting to talk about it.

"oh c'mon, everyone is able to see that you are thinking about something that may makes you uncomfortable. you are obviously worried."

"fine. i told you about areum. what if she is there with her family? she doesn't know that i am a prince and she was not supposed to know it.", he said being upset about god knows what, he didn't knew himself.

"ah, so it's the girl. who would not want a prince? i'm sure, that's not gonna be a problem."

"no, it's the fact that i lied to them. i told them i'm from another kingdom working at the castle. they were able to figure out that i at least work at the castle because of my clothes. mom said, we should never lie and if we do we need to deal with the consequences. but... i'm scared of them.", he hesitated at the end.

why did he lie? why he wasn't honest? it would have been so much easier.... or not?

"i'm sure, they will understand your situation. i mean everyone was against the queen. they maybe wouldn't have helped you otherwise.", wooyoung tried to cheer him up but failed miserably.

he believed areum would have helped everyone in this situation, so why would he lie? sure, he didn't know them when he lied but he could have told them afterwards...

------

not wanting to look sad at his brother's important day, he tried to forget about his concern and smiled.

and it worked. areum disappeared in his thoughts. his brothers took place there.

as soon as they arrived the people where celebrating with them together. bowing and congratulating then respectfully.

------
areum who was also there with her family was watching that whole scenario from afar.

she couldn't believe her eyes. asked her mom and also her dad if she was wrong when she recognised him... but they saw it too. the young man who was just at their house a few days ago...

here in the village with the king and the prince... known as the youngest of them.
why did he lie?