𝓐𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓽 𝓜𝔂 𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 - 𝓖𝔂𝓾𝓱𝓪𝓸

002

The day seemed to come all too fast. Before long, the king and queen of Rose Quartz were standing on either side of the gateway, the queen's hand on her son's shoulder.

"We'll come to visit as much as possible." promised King Xu.

"Have you packed all your clothes?" asked Queen Xu.

"Make sure you don't get in trouble, Serenity is quite harsh."

"Don't go off with anyone you don't know, we still don't know if we can trust them!"

"Keep your distance at first, make sure the prince doesn't make any sudden moves."

"Don't get too drunk!"

"Mom, Dad, I get it. I'm twenty." sighed Minghao. "I'll be fine. For the kingdom, am I right?"

He smiled, but it was a fake smile. Luckily, his parents seemed to buy it.

"For the kingdom." grinned Queen Xu.

King Xu patted Minghao on the back. "Go get 'em, Eisa."

Minghao genuinely smiled at his childhood nickname. "I will, Dad. Bye."

He took one last look back at the castle as he stepped forward to board the trolley. As much as he hated it, he knew he would miss it. Everything he was leaving behind was a part of him, and always would be. The only memories of this life he would have over the next year were the five servants coming along with him, to protect him to the best of their ability. Serenity was a kingdom that took great pride in their wealth, and they saw the less fortunate as scum. Anything could happen, as his parents had pointed out seemingly trillions of times, so they insisted on a squad of "guards" for their son.

Minghao had to admit, he was satisfied with the selections. There was Jeonghan, who was basically his substitute mother whenever his real one wasn't around. Jisoo, a slight trickster, but he could be really caring when he wanted to be. Junhui, Minghao's best friend and platonic soulmate, a playful devil in disguise. Seungkwan, a bit emotional, but he always lifted the mood, no matter what. Lastly, Hansol, the literal definition of introvert - the one Minghao went to if he wanted to be calm with someone else. Hopefully, they would make the next year more bearable.

It wasn't so much that Minghao didn't want to marry this rich prince- which he didn't- but it was more that he was doing the one thing he had long considered a sin. Marrying someone for money was just using them, not true love. Minghao didn't want to use this completely innocent prince.

Junhui plopped down next to Minghao and patted him on the knee. "So! First day in a rich kingdom, how're we feeling?"

Minghao sighed heavily and looked out the window.

"Not too good, I see." said Junhui quietly. "Well, think of it this way! Without the money, you, me, your family, and every citizen of this kingdom would starve, and you don't want that, do you?"

"There has to be other ways." said Minghao monotonously. "I doubt the Serenity prince has agreed to this either. I don't want to bother him with my stupid poverty."

"From the sounds of it, he deserves to be exposed to someone like you, just to snap him back to reality." said Junhui. "If he can't accept your struggle, well..."

"Well?" prompted Minghao.

"There's not much we can do, actually." said Junhui. "But! Maybe he'll be a little more understanding once he sees your condition."

"I highly doubt that." said Minghao skeptically. "Serenity doesn't know poverty. It's a foreign concept to them. They've never seen anyone like me before, and they hate seeing people like me. What makes you think I'll be an exception?"

"As long as you treat them the same way you treat everyone else, I don't see any reason for them to hate you." said Junhui. "You know what they say? Money doesn't make the man."

"Who says that?" giggled Minghao.

"Me." grinned Junhui.

***

The journey to the kingdom of Serenity lasted into the night. Minghao eventually drifted off, exhausted from a night of fitful sleep spent worrying about the year to come.

It was nearly midnight when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. "Ya, wake up, we're here." said Junhui's voice.

Minghao opened his eyes and gasped. He'd never seen such a luxurious... everything. Everything from the castle itself to the guards' uniforms to even the garden surrounding the citadel... it was the life he'd always been dreaming of.

"Like it?" grinned Junhui.

"I like the castle." said Minghao. "Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, I haven't even met the prince yet."

Outside the trolley, someone held their hand out for him in order to support him as he stepped out, but it was too dark to see their face. Minghao took it gingerly, and shivered when he realized he didn't recognize this hand. It was soft, too soft to be one of his servants'. It was clear this kingdom had a good skin regimen.

"Welcome!" said a highly excited male voice. "Let me lead you to the door!"

"Soonyoung, calm down, it's not that exciting." drawled a lower voice somewhere to the side.

"Shut up Wonwoo, at least I have emotions." replied the man, apparently Soonyoung. "Are you ready to meet your groom?"

Minghao took a deep breath. "Yeah. I guess I am."