The seven princes of the sea

XXXVI

"Why didn't you just pick the one I wanted?" I grumbled at the picky man in front of me.

We were back on the sherriage and we were heading back to the castle. My arms were crossed and I glared at Prince Seokjin.

He calmly looked at me with a stoic expression and sarcastically smiled.

"It was fun to make you mad. Honestly, a bit of angst doesn't hurt you. Hence why I don't see why I can't give back the emotions you awaken in me. Besides, all your choices were a shame to my name. We'll try again tomorrow." And with that, he looked away with a smirk plastered on his devilish face.

[ later ]

"All your choices were a shame to my name." I mimic.

Scoffing, I take a turn and see a familiar merman standing right by a door.

"Hoseok?"

The merman turned around as if he was a fish caught in nets. But he relaxed upon seeing me, I guess, since his shoulders calmly went back to their original position.

"Hey Y/n! We haven't been seeing each other as much, I was starting to think you were avoiding me." He joked, swimming closer to me.

"Ouch, I'm not that kind of mermaid." I played along, swimming closer to him as well.

"Anyway, what were you doing?" I asked, peeking over his shoulder to take a good look at the door behind us.

Hoseok turned to look at it as well, before he held me by my shoulders and quickly dragged me away.

"Nothing, just some random servant room I found. Anyway, I have something better to show you!" Hoseok rambled excitedly.

"What- where are we going?" I asked breathlessly as I'm being dragged by one fast of a merman.

Eventually, Hoseok stopped dragging me across large halls and stopped at two large doors. Seriously, what's with this castle and really large doors? Do giant fish live in here or something?

"Have..have you ever..c-considered...joining the..the- swimming ol-AGGHHHH olympics?" I huffed, completely winded.

"Gosh, calm down Y/n, I wasn't that fast. Why are you so breathless?" He laughed, opening the double doors with his arms successfully.

This time, this room that was hidden behind the double doors were larger than any other room I've seen in this castle. A huge chandelier hung on the high ceiling as if it was trying to get the furthest away from the marbled floor as possible. There was a huge balcony overlooking the spacious room, and a detailed chair was placed in the middle, I'd assume it was a mini throne.

The balcony made me question what this room is, as I see more carved details in the walls and the columns, a few smaller balconies were placed randomly yet neatly around the walls of the room.

"A ballroom?" I realised.

Hoseok's grin widened the moment I figured out what this part of the castle is. He nodded to confirm my suspicions.

"Awesome right? It's absolutely large! According to some of the guard's unnecessary gossip, this place takes up at least a quarter of the castle! Actually, maybe a little less, if we were logical, but that's huge!" Hoseok gushed, pulling me towards the centre.