Taehyung really wasn't lying when he said that royals had many duties and a full-packed daily schedule.
As soon as the afternoon approached, the crown prince more or less had to shoo Jungkook out of his chambers and delivered him to Jimin, ordering him to take care of Jungkook and rushing back to be on time for his weekly harpsichord lesson.
The brunette hadn't even noticed the fancy harpsichord- an instrument that basically resembled a piano but apparently was an older version of it- in his room. He had not paid enough attention in school to fully know what the difference was, but he recalled harpsichords being used during baroque and renaissance periods and having more of a plucking sound to it than the piano.
Nevertheless, he and Jimin made their way towards the royal kitchens, him being super nervous since he most definetely wasn't ready to wander around in this gigantic palace without Taehyung by his side and grabbing his biceps. The blonde servant admittedly did not look very thrilled about pretty much being Jungkook's tour guide- or babysitter-, but still kept his word and explained royal servants' daily schedule and duties while walking and trying not to be seen by witty guards. Now, even if the royals' schedules sounded exhausting, they were nothing in comparisom to the servants'.
As expected, the royal kitchens were packed with kitchen maids and kitchen boys, the boys wearing the same uniforms as Jungkook and Jimin did and the maids wearing collared and long-sleeved dresses of the same material, the hem of the skirts almost reaching their ankles. Adding to that, their hair was strictly braided. The room was more spacious than Jungkook had expected and the servants actually looked like they were genuinely enjoying their work (plus, they weren't dressed in literal lumps like in medieval times), so he didn't feel terribly about this place.
He also very much enjoyed the smell of whatever it was that they were currently making.
And suddenly, a horrible realization hit him. "But-- I can't cook for shit, Jimin! They'll notice I'm not from here!," he exclaimed in worry, Jimin shushing him and pulling him further along the kitchens. "You are not here to cook. You will join me for the plating and decorating of the meals before they are set up for Their Majesties, the King and Queen. It is not that difficult of a task if you have practise and you work with precision." Jungkook, who could not relate to either of these things, simply nodded with anxiety settling inside his stomach.
Luckily, him and Jimin currenly were the only ones up for the food plating and decorating since everyone seemed to be extremely preoccupied preparing the food. And although he doubted that one family could eat all of that, he found interest in watching the kitchen servants work as if it were the easiest and most natural thing to in the world.
It seemed that Jimin's small hands were highly advantageous when it came to decorating food so it ended up looking too precious to eat.
Jungkook didn't dare actually touch any of the highly valuable meals and just pretended to work on the plating with Jimin, hoping no one would suspect him since he definetely looked extremely awkward.
The sound of the kitchen's door opening abruptly stopped the happy chatting and jabbering of the kitchen servants, a row of gasps immediately sounding through the room. "Your Majesty!," the workers fussed, bowing down at once to what looked like an older version of crown prince Kim Taehyung. Jungkook immediately knew that this must be one of his older brothers.
The good looks surely ran in the family, this royal heir looked just as gorgeous as Taehyung did (well, almost as gorgeous in Jungkook's opinion, just a little taller and more mature, perhaps?) and he was dressed in entirely golden robes that literally made him shine, an also golden little crown resting on his purple hair. A smile grazed his handsome face and the brunette couldn't help but wonder what the hell a prince was doing in here. Taehyung probably wouldn't be caught dead in a place so fully packed with loud and busy people.
"Greetings!," the prince greeted back, kitchen ladies covering their mouths to muffle their giggles and even kitchen boys couldn't contain their excitement. "His Majesty, Prince Kim Seokjin of Elysium," Jimin explained next to him, also bowing furiously and gesturing Jungkook to do the same, which he reluctantly did.
"My nose picked up the marvelous scent of roasted beef as I was just returning from my tutoring lesson," Prince Seokjin spoke. "I could not resist to enter this fine room and observe you prepare it. Surely you do not mind me being here again? I wonder what you are seasoning the meat with, it smells sweet and most definetely not too salty!" The servants bowed again and thanked him for being here, all feeling very honored to be in the prince's presence.
"Prince Seokjin has a liking for food and the process of preparing it," Jimin explained as he sprinkled some rosemary over a beautifully cut piece of meat. "He sneaks into the royal kitchens ever so often and observes us preparing the royal family's meals. He treats us with utmost kindness, it is almost as if he sees us servants as his comrades." Perhaps the resemblance to Taehyung lay in his looks only- due to his higher responsibility and duty, Taehyung took his position and rank far too seriously and treated his subjects as mere subjects, something that Jungkook found quite unfortunate.
"Hello! Are you new to the kitchens? I believe I have never seen you here, it was always just Jimin doing the plating and decorating," the purple-haired prince spoke, suddenly standing in front of them and making Jungkook widen his eyes in surprise. What the hell was he supposed to say?
"Yes, Your Majesty. I found the task to be quite difficult to do on my own and recruited him just yesterday, he is skilled and another one of Prince Taehyung's personal servants," Jimin spoke with a bow, him immediately nodding and also trying to bow. The prince seemed to believe it and nodded understandingly. "Wonderful. How very good of you to assist him. Both of you are extremely hardworking," he commented while beaming which made both of them bow again.
"Brother! What are you doing, wandering around in places like the kitchen again? Have you not heard what father has told us? The kitchen is one of the places a royal shall never be caught in!," another voice suddenly sounded through the room, this time a female one.
"Her Majesty, Princess Kim Sojung of Elysium," Jimin mumbled in his direction. A beautiful young woman stood inside the frame of the arched doors, looking like a literal embodiment of Snow White with lips red as blood, hair as black as ebony and porcellain-like skin. Just like Jungkook had thought before, good looks clearly ran in the family. Hushed whispers went through the air, several kitchen ladies side-eyeing her and almost scowling at her as if envying her. Others, however, bowed out of courtesy and greeted her warmly, her not paying attention to it, though.
"Her Majesty does not think too highly of us servants," Jimin explained. "That is why many kitchen ladies are not very fond of her. And of course, she is envied for her beauty. However, her views and attitude have much to do with the beliefs she was raised with. The oldest two royal heirs were raised with more freedom and have the priviledge of doing many things they want to do, since the King and Queen do not pay as much attention to them as for the younger ones."
"Prince Taehyung is the crown prince and Princess Sojung is a princess who could benefit this kingdom with a powerful alliance and even more fortune through marriage, therefore, the youngest heirs were raised more strictly." Jungkook nodded understandingly, glancing at the Princess dressed in a violet, pouffy ballgown made of several layers of silk and lace and decorated with lace, shiny beads and golden embroidery. She looked grumpy as she conversed with her brother and he couldn't help but feel a tad sorry for her, given the way she was raised.
Another man joined them, tall, handsome and lilac-haired with garments looking just as expensive and glamorous as the royal heirs standing outside the door. As soon as he stepped into sight, the kitchen ladies started whispering and giggling excitedly, again, bowing deeply out of courtesy with rosy cheeks.
This had to be Taehyung's other older brother Namjoon.
"Prince Namjoon is not seen at court as much as his siblings. He enjoys riding into the woods and hunting for animals, primarily deer. He is sophisticated and fair, not to mention highly intelligent. Originally, he was supposed to be the crown prince but he rejected profusely which made His Grace, the King, change his mind. His Grace clearly favours Prince Namjoon over his other children, probably because he enjoys hunting just as much," Jimin explained to him.
The three royal heirs seemed to be immersed into a deep discussion, presumably a grave one, though Jungkook had no idea what it could be about. Absent-mindedly, he blankly stared at the three of them with Jimin's words repeating inside his head, until something suddenly struck him.
"Wait. Jimin? Did you... Did you just say woods? There are woods here?" The blonde nodded casually. "Of course there are. Deep, dark and easy to get lost in. Nearly everyone avoids them like the plague, there are several terrifying myths about that particular place."
But Jungkook didn't care. One sentence kept repeating itself inside his head, over and over.
Is there a chance of... There must be!
In that exact moment, the two princes and the princess disappeared from sight, Seokjin waving the kitchen servants goodbye and the other two not sparing them a glance, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The servants who were still busy preparing the delicious meal bowed again deeply, a choir of "Goodbye, Your Majesties" sounding throughout the full-packed kitchen.
"Prince Taehyung must be finished with his harpsichord lesson by now. I am certain he wishes to see you, let us go," Jimin told him and pulled him through the crowd of busy servants by his arm.
And mindlessly, Jungkook followed with the image of the deep and mysterious woods never leaving his mind.
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(A/N: another filler but this one was kinda important and just like i said i'm trying to familiarize the atmosphere of the castle and stuff, this book is also more of a side project kinda thing like vampirism is the main project and this book is something easy-going and chill that i did to try something new and stuff but it's just as fun uwu🥰
i'm sorry for the rant and tomorrow i have a maths test which is gonna be the second last test for this school year so i gotta wash my hair now, drink some coffee and revise so i can do my best tomorrow ajsjsj it's pretty much abt my least favourite math topic so wish me luck?👉🏻👈🏻
i hope you could still remotely enjoy and thank you so much for reading i love you💜💜)