The Suitors: A BTS fanfic

7

"Hoseok," Noor spoke. "I'd like to go over the princess's schedule with you to organize one for the two of us. I assume she'll only need one guard when she's in the castle." Hobi nodded in response to her.

"Yes, we can do that now." He motioned for her to follow him. "We'll see you later tonight, princess."

"It was nice to meet you princess y/n." Noor smiled. You returned her beam and the two left the room.

Hobi's words had made you remember you had a tutoring lesson this evening. You decided to read until then. You took your seat again in your room and thought about the girl who was to be your hidden protector. You bit your lip. Maybe we could be... friends? It wasn't a secret that you had grown up without many friends, but lately the absence of supportive peers had been more prominent than ever. You felt lonely.

When the time came around to begin your walk to the tutoring room, you realized that Hobi and Noor were not back yet. They may not have realized what time your lesson was. You stood from your chair and put on a cloak to keep you warm in the drafty castle halls and decided to go to your lesson without them. You had walked through the castle by yourself a million times, one more time wouldn't hurt. As you strolled down the hall, you noticed a few passing glances from castle staff. Surely rumors about the night before had spread. And since your parents had decided not to go public with the story, you were sure tall tales would fill in the gaps in information through whispers in the castle kitchen. You ignored the stares, though and kept on your way.

You had reached the wing of the castle that you had met Taehyung in. You silently wished for another handsome man to stop you in your tracks and flirt with you in the dimly lit hallway, but something else interrupted your daydream. As you passed a stairwell that led down, you recognized the voice coming from it. It was your mother. You caught only a few words as you walked by, making you stop. "-the princess."

Your feet slowly came to a halt, and your senses spike as you zeroed in on the conversation. While you listened, you could tell that they were coming up the dark, stone staircase, so you quickly turned the corner a few feet away, and eavesdropped from there. Your change of location to your hiding place had made you miss a few exchanged words between your mother and the mystery person, but you caught on quickly to what you had missed.

She spoke in a very hushed tone, probably as a precaution for exactly what you were: curious ears. "I worry for the king's sanity," she said as your breath became shallow. His sanity? What in the world did that mean? "This move, no matter how provoked, was risky. It may cost us the entire kingdom if not handled well."

Your mind fluttered with thoughts. What is she talking about? What move? The other voice, which you now realized belonged to a man, replied to her. "I agree your majesty. You and the king's next moves must be thought out and well-curated. Might I recommend denial of the fault completely?"

A thousand different scenarios passed through your mind. What will they be denying? What did they do? You mother spoke again and now they exited the stairwell, making their way into the hallway around the corner from you, and stopping there. They must not want to have the conversation go any farther than the staircase. Why were they down there?

"I just wished he had asked me first..." Her voice sounded pleading now. You had never heard her sound like this. She must be desperate. Your heart pounded with cold blood. "I could have stopped him." There was silence for a moment. You imagined you mother pausing thoughtfully, mulling over what she was going to say next. "I think you're right. We tell no one of what the king had ordered. The girl will remain a secret, and hopefully that will prevent a full war from breaking out."

What girl? You wondered for a moment if they were talking about you, but why would they refer to you as "girl"? You had heard the word "princess", though, so it was still a possibility you supposed.

"I'm glad we're on the same page your majesty," the man spoke. "Have a pleasant evening."

Then footsteps. Heavy footsteps walked in your direction. You looked around for a place to hide but it was simply a straight hallway. You pressed yourself as flat as you could against the wall and watched the silhouette of the man approach the corner. You held your breath and kept only one eye open, but almost as if the hand of God reached down to aid you in this time of need, the mystery man turned to the right of your hallway, instead around the corner to the left where you were. You let out a silent breath of relief and your heart began to beat normally again.

You realized your mother was still standing at the exit of the staircase when you heard her sigh. Her footsteps, which were much lighter than the man's, walked off in the opposite direction of you. You were alone again.

You stepped out and turned the corner back to where the descending staircase was. It was a dimly lit, unkept looking stairwell that seemed to blow cool air from inside. You thought hard. Where did this stairwell lead? You knew the castle very well; you also knew if you reached back into the depths of your memory, you could remember where you had been told this stairwell led.

The kitchen? No, it's too far from the dining hall. The armory? No, that was down a hall one wing over. Maybe the cellar that kept the wine? You couldn't put your finger on it, but your curiosity was overwhelming. Whatever they were talking about most likely had something to do with where they had just come from.

You were certain that if you just went down the stairwell, even just a little, you could remember where it led. You looked around, to make sure no peering eyes watched you, and then your eyes met the stairs again. You bit your lip, contemplating. Then, you decided. You'd descend the stairwell, but only enough to ease your curiosity; and maybe get yourself some answers.

You began climbing down the stairs, your shoes making a distinct tap with every new step. Your mind whirled, trying to remember where you would end up if you made it to the bottom of these stairs. The air got cooler and more humid as you continued down. You wrapped your cloak tightly around yourself. Your destination was on the tip of your tongue. After a good while of walking down, you came to a wooden door with a key hung on a hook next to it. You almost remembered. Your fingers touched the key, feeling its cool and rusted surface.

Then you remembered.

Your eyes widened and you knew exactly where you were. You determined that you would have to miss the tutoring lesson you were already late for, because you wanted to investigate what secret your mother was hiding down here from you. You had to know what the two of them were talking about. You unhooked the key and pushed it into the padlock that hung on the wooden door.

Then, while taking a deep breath, you pushed open the door to the dungeon.