"Jaeyoon! Be ready, the princess is coming!"
The King shouted outside, reason for Jaeyoon to roll his eyes. He went in front of the mirror. Jaeyoon fixed his tuxedo and accessories for the last time before pushing his hair to the back.
He looked at himself in the mirror and stared at it for a little longer.
'Damn, how long are you going to live like this, Jaeyoon?' Jaeyoon asked himself with a deep sigh.
"Jaeyoon, honey? Are you alright?" someone asked behind the door of his room and he knows, the owner of the voice is his lovely mother "Would you let me in?" she asked.
"Yes, you may, my Queen" the queen smiled softly before opening the door
"I told you to just call me mother when no one is around" the Queen said while laughing softly. Jaeyoon smiled slightly and looked at her mother.
"You look so gorgeous tonight, mother" Jaeyoon complimented the woman in front of him making the Queen smile bigger.
"No, Jaeyoon. YOU look so stunning tonight" the Queen said in return but Jaeyoon's smile was gone because of it and looked back at the mirror.
"Mother, I don't want to do this" Jaeyoon said as his sight got a little blurry because of tears forming in his eyes. The Queen smiled bitterly and looked at his son in the mirror. A hand made its way to Jaeyoon's back and patted him softly.
"It's hard to say but you need to just accept your fate too, son. We have nothing to do" the Queen said while looking at his gorgeous son beside him.
"I just can't accept the fact that I need to get married to a stranger! To someone I don't even love!" Jaeyoon said half shouting out of anger. He clenched his fist while stopping the urge to cry in front of his mother. The Queen then took a deep sharp breath before speaking.
"Jaeyoon, I'm really sorry about this. I have nothing to do--" the Queen said but Jaeyoon cut him off immediately.
Jaeyoon put his both hands on the Queen's shoulders, side by side, forcing the older one to face him. Jaeyoon pulled a bitter smile before speaking.
"Mother, seeing you apologize to something you are a victim too is hurting me so much. Please don't blame yourself for this. This is neither our fault, understand?" Jaeyoon said to his mother. The Queen just nod to him and extended his arms, requesting a hug from his son.
They hugged each other with smiles on their faces even though it hurts when someone opened the door harshly, making the Queen and the prince flinch and jumped a little because of the sudden voice.
"I told you that the princess will be arriving quickly. Are you ready?" the King asked nonchalantly to the prince. The prince and the Queen then stood up and bowed their heads for the King.
"I'm all ready, father" Jaeyoon said and the King raised one of his eyebrows arrogantly.
"Call me King!" the King blurted out, emphasizing the word 'King'. Jaeyoon just nod and answered.
"Yes, my King" Jake said stoically.
"The long table is ready, you need to go there quickly before the Queen and the princess of Rodiena (row-di-ye-nuh) arrive" the King said without an emotion and leave the room quickly.
Jaeyoon took a deep breath and looked at her mother.
"Mother, I think we should go" Jaeyoon said to his mother. The Queen nodded and looked at herself in the mirror for the last time before starting to go.
"Don't worry, mother. You're still lovely as always" Jaeyoon said before giggling together with his mother.
If you are thinking that being a prince is simple and happy because of royalty, fame, money and high status, you are wrong. All Jaeyoon's life only depends on his father's decision.
"Jaeyoon, do this.."
"Jaeyoon, do that.."
"Jaeyoon, talk to.."
"Jaeyoon, wear this.."
It's not like he is living his own life. He is living the life that his father wants. But what can he do? The decision is not on him.
This is the norm in their world, the norm in their kingdom. The rule of the King.
The rule in Sapphirila.
Sapphirila (sa-fi-ri-luh) is a kingdom where a manipulative King is reigning for almost 20 years. He has been controlling the whole kingdom like a zoo, like prisoners for two decades yet no one ever planned to contradict him since he was known as the 'Dark Killer King'. Everyone is afraid of him. He's an evil, a devil, a monster, a beast. Everyone knows what he is doing but they just need to listen and follow to be able to stay alive.
As Jaeyoon and the Queen reached the long table, the knights from the huge doors suddenly spoke for an announcement.
"Please welcome, the Queen and the princess of Rodiena'' one of the knights said as he opened the gate widely, showing a middle aged woman and a pretty princess around Jaeyoon's age surrounded by well built in knights.
Jaeyoon rolled his eyes and sat properly in his place.
"Jaeyoon, you better not embarrass me this time" the King whispered to Jaeyoon, more like a threat. Jaeyoon just nodded.
"Yes, my King" Jaeyoon said, almost a whisper.
The royalties from the neighboring kingdom arrived elegantly at the long table. The Queen of Rodiena has a huge smile on her face as she greets the King of Sapphirila.
"What a bubbly day for us to meet!" the Queen of Rodiena said to the Sapphirilian. The Queen looked around the kingdom, loving the dark aura that the kingdom is providing and when her eyes turned to Jaeyoon, her eyes widened.
"Ooh you must be the prince of Sapphirila! You and my Ningning would definitely look good together" the said Queen told Jaeyoon before proceeding to sit.
"Speaking of Ningning, would you please introduce yourself to us?" the King said while looking at the elegant princess mermaid of Rodiena.
Ningning nodded with a modest smile and stood up.
"Good morning, I am Ningning, the princess of Rodiena and soon to be wife of Shim Jaeyoon of Sapphirila" Ningning said confidently which made Jaeyoon's father and the Queen of Rodiena smirk.
"I love the attitude, come on. Let's eat" the King said and they all started eating.
The Sapphirila's King and the Rodiena's Queen just keep talking about their plans on the kingdom while Jaeyoon sits still in his place, unable to say what's going on in his mind. Her mother can't stop glaring at him as she feels pity on his son.
"Jaeyoon, you alright?" his mother asked in a whisper. Jaeyoon just smiled bitterly and nodded as a response.
After the dinner, the King decided to tour the Rodienians in the whole kingdom to be able to brag whatever he can show to the royalties of the other kingdom.
"Oh yeah, let's get going" the King said and the participants also stood up from their seats. Jaeyoon was about to start walking when the King stopped him.
"Jaeyoon, why don't you bring princess Ningning in your room and get to know each other?" the King said to Jaeyoon, more than a command so without saying anything, the both proceeded to walk on the hallways to Jaeyoon's room.
When they entered, silence enveloped the room. No one spoke. Just silence and awkwardness.
Jaeyoon glanced at Ningning who was just sitting silently at the other end of the bed. She looks sad this time not like before that she looks so confident.
"Jaeyoon, I can clearly feel that neither of us wants this to happen" Ningning said and took a deep sigh. Jaeyoon looked back at her, a little shocked by what the other said.
"I thought you were one of them" Jaeyoon said while looking at Ningning. She just let out a soft laugh.
"Of course not. I just need to follow what my mother says. Everything that my mother says" Ningning said, emphasizing the word 'everything'.
"It's hard to be a royalty, or a prince rather. We both don't have the freedom to choose a path that we want" Jaeyoon blurted out with anger in his voice.
"By any chances, would you like to sabotage the wedding with me?" Ningning asked Jaeyoon and Jaeyoon's eyes grew wider.
"S-Sabotage? H-how would we be able to do that?" Jaeyoon asked with fear.
Yes, he's afraid of what the King can do to him.
"Then we'll seek others help-- ohh well, I remember that there's a witch here in your kingdom" Ningning said excitedly.
"Witch? That would be too dangerous" Jaeyoon said.
"Ughh Jaeyoon please just agree with me, I don't wanna marry you. I have someone I love" ningning said while pouting.
"Tss, I don't wanna marry you either" Jaeyoon said while rolling his eyes.
"So it's a deal then. Don't worry, we'll both benefit it okay? I'll go be with Karina and you'll have the freedom that you desire"
"Fine fine. But please let's plan this well. I don't wanna be killed by my own father" Jaeyoon said and Ningning hit his shoulders softly.
"Why would I let that happen? Let's meet tomorrow for planning, okay?" Ningning said. Jaeyoon just smiled at her and nodded. Ningning already swam out the room.
Jaeyoon left the room with a smile on his face because of the hope of having the freedom he is waiting for.
Jaeyoon just swam out of the kingdom and went as far as he could reach. It's a good thing that the guards are busy because of the guests from neighboring kingdom.
~♕︎♕︎♕︎~
Jaeyoon spent the day outside the kingdom, endlessly swimming with his sapphire blue tail, matching his sapphire blue eyes, feeling that he owns the ocean while thinking of the possible ways to avoid the wedding.
The sun is down and it's already dark so he decided to go on the surface of the water and meditate on the cave that he used to visit often when he was a child.
"Whoa, it's been long since I went here the last time" Jaeyoon whispered before lifting his head to the water but as soon as he did, he saw someone at the middle of the cave, sitting at the rock while cleaning his wounds.
Jaeyoon immediately put his head back to the water and silently went behind the huge rock.
'Human! I haven't seen one since I was a child, unbelievable' Jaeyoon thought to himself while staring at the guy.
The guy with jet black hair looks so tall and manly in his fit. He was wearing white t-shirt layered with a leather jacket and a black pants that hugged his thigh muscles so perfectly. Jaeyoon also thinks that the guy was the same age as him too.
'What happened to him? He has a lot of wounds' Jaeyoon thought, worrying about the human.
The guy then put down the materials he used in cleaning his wound once he was done and took a sharp breath. He groaned.
"Argh! Motherfucker! Why are they always going on my way? Fuck!" the human groaned in anger.
Jaeyoon felt bad for the human but he had nothing to do. Sapphirilians are not allowed to go at the water's surface nor go near them because whenever people see them, they kill mermen and mermaids. But Jaeyoon, being his stubborn self, still went there even it is forbidden.
They stayed like that for a while before Jaeyoon felt something crawling on his hand.
Spider.
"What the heck!" Jaeyoon said which called the attention of the human but he couldn't see him because of the huge rock.
"Who's there?" the human asked but before he could even see Jaeyoon, the merman immediately went back into the water and swim faster so the human would not see him.
"Argh, Jaeyoon! What did you just do?! What the heck, did he see me?" Jaeyoon asked himself while making his way back to the kingdom.
"Fuck, that was not a good idea"
⛓️⚜️⛓️
𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘, 𝚍𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚜! 𝙽𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞!
𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢?
𝙸𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎?
𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜. 𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑.
(✌︎ ͡ ° ͜ʖ ͡°) ✌︎
𝙳𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚜, 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚝.
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔❣️
'𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚠𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗~
𝙿𝚊𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚖💋