The clinking of sharp metal swords were heard from the outside of the large fencing room. Multiple manly grunts were heard here and there, but the collision of man-made swords is what made your ears perk.
A door similar to the big oak ones from the king's throne room (just less detailed) were the only barriers that stopped me from peeking inside. So I pushed it open with force.
Mermen. Many, many mermen. In this terrifyingly gigantic room. They were all covered from head to tail in white pillowy fabric, though their faces were covered with a helmet.
Out of all of these merpeople, only one seemed to notice me by the door.
"Noona!" Jungkook shrieked, stopping his little competition with Taehyung before running up to me.
"I'm glad you're here, but why are you here?" He asked, taking off his helmet to reveal his perfect features, his hand held the helmet by his waist, and the other combed through his floating hair.
I shrugged.
"I thought I'd come by. Did I interrupt anything?" I asked, a soft smile danced on my lips.
His flushed smile reached his eyes when he giggled had shook his head.
"Let's go meet Taehyung." He suggested and gently pulled me with him towards the person he's started to get close with.
"Hey Y/n!" Taehyung greeted with a rectangular smile, sitting down on a small wooden bench by the wall so he doesn't take up space on the fencing court.
"Hello,-"
"Taehyung- you're supposed to call her by honorifics,no? I mean, she is older than you." Jungkook stated as he took a seat next to Taehyung.
"Oh, Jungkook, it's fine! None of you had to call me by noona anyway, as long as you're comfortable with it, then I'm good." I informed quickly, taking a seat on the floor in front of them.
Jungkook turned his head to look back at me but quickly frowned.
"Y/n..noo- uh, Y/n. Why are you sitting on the floor?" He asked, wanting to reach out to me and place me on the bench.
I shook my head with a smile, my hands doing the same.
"No, no, it's fine, I like the floor." I joked, relaxing onto the polished marble.
"Fun!" Taehyung chirped and decided to lay down on the floor right next to me.
"Tae- Taehyung what are you doing?" I asked out of disbelief.
"Sleeping on the ground? C'mon, kook! Join me!" Taehyung chuckled and patted the floor.
Jungkook smiled and happily did so, and laid down on the other side of me that's unoccupied.
I sighed, rolling my eyes playfully and decided to join them on the floor as well. The coldness of the marble I once felt on my palms is now felt on my back.
Giggles were exchanged here and there, and while the two next to me continue to talk about anything that was on their minds, my mind has brought me back to the time where I barely knew Jungkook and Jimin that well. We went to the coral reefs. We laid down on the sea floor the same way I'm laying on the ground right now.
Upon reliving the memory, a soft smile had made itself known on my lips.
An abrupt cough froze us in our tracks and we all tilted our heads the same direction, only to find who I assume is Taehyung's mentor?
"Oh. Right. Well, I'll have to continue my lessons right now, I hope to hang out with you soon, Y/n." Taehyung said politely before getting up with a grunt and pulling Jungkook up with him.
[ later ]
Roaming around the astronomical castle was like trying to get from one world to another. Everything was so far!
I grumpily walked into another empty room, but the only things decorating the part of the castle was an instrument that seemed to had sunken from the surface.
"Yoongi?" I called out as I neared the figure that sat on the stool in front of the instruments.
He looked my way.
"Oh, hey! I'm just..looking at this piano." He greeted, pointing at the instrument and shuffling to the side to let me sit on the stool as well.
"You can play it?" I asked.
"Would you like me to play you something?" He asked instead.
I eagerly nodded, causing a soft chuckle to slip from Yoongi's lips.
"If the piano doesn't work, then don't blame me. We are underwater." He reminded.
His fingers hovered over the piano keys for a bit as he decides which range he was going to play this piece in. When he had decided, the soft "ping" of the key, resonated across the entire empty music room.
Slowly, the singular note became an echo and a mixture of other notes, it blended in together so perfectly, that even my heart felt like it was ballroom dancing.
Unfortunately, the piece had to come to an end, so Yoongi finished it with 3 notes and stopped. He stared at his hands that were softly pressed against the keys, unmoving, before fully removing his hands from the piano and letting out a deep breath.
"How was I?" He asked, looking at me as eagerly as I was.
His excited smile grew larger when he noticed my surprised expression. My jaw was left hanging slightly, and I almost had tears in my eyes.
"It was beautiful. You were beautiful." I gushed, frowning sadly.
"You almost made me cry." I jokingly scolded, smacking him on the bicep, which led him to laugh and hold onto his arm.
But our little moment was interrupted then none other than the prince himself.
The loud creak of the large doors made us simultaneously turn our bodies to look at who had opened the double doors.
Prince Seokjin held the double doors open with both his arms. He looked at me coldly, but it seemed to melt when he looked at Yoongi.
"The king has requested I take you out to visit the town. I advise you get ready immediately." The prince informed, smiling at Yoongi before leaving abruptly.
"The king? Why?" Yoongi asked, eyes landing back onto me when I turned to face him again.
I panicked.
"I'm not sure. Maybe he just wants me to be able to do something for the castle like the rest of you are? Or maybe it's because I'm the only girl here and he wants me to meet up with secret mermaid princesses!" I suggested jokingly.
Yoongi smiled with his teeth and gums, making my heart flutter more than it should be. His adorable giggle made me smile as well.
"Alright. Have fun princess!" Yoongi smiled, getting up from the piano stool and leaving a small peck on my cheeks before dashing out of the empty room.
I could feel the heat radiating from my face, the second that his lips landed on my skin.
My hands found my cheeks as it tried to regulate its temperature.
"Not the time to be blushing Y/n!" I quietly scolded myself as I too, got up and left.
[ the gates of the castle ]
"Why did the king want us to go to town?" I asked, looking out as the shell-carriage finally took us away. We were sat across from each other, on different sides of the carriage, while abnormal sized sea-horses carried us to town.
"He wanted to start making the wedding dress. So he sent me to guide you to a specific shop that does the job." Prince Seokjin answered.
Upon hearing the words that relate to my unwanted marriage, I turn my head to look back at the prince before me.
"I hope you know that if you die, I take the throne." I informed bitterly.
I may or may not have done some reading on royals. I mean- it's kind of hard not to, when the book I borrowed answers my questions.
Prince Seokjin seemed to notice the hidden message behind my tone and raised a brow at me.
"You dare threaten the prince?" He asked, his voice going into his deeper register.
I glared at him.
"No, of course not," A sarcastic smile slowly appeared into my lips.
"I'll just kill you if we get married, so you better sleep with one eye open." I smirked.
I leaned back with pride as I watched the Prince's face morph into slight surprise. But before he could yell at any of his guards to have me put behind bars, I said,
"That, my prince, was a threat. Maybe you should learn the difference between what's what." The smirk stayed on my face as I felt bold enough to send him a small wink before I looked away again.
I could hear the steam coming out of the prince's ears, but I remained unbothered, just to irk him even more.
A heavy breath left his plump lips when I admired the kingdom's city. The further we were from the castle, the less of a town and more of a city this kingdom looked.
And to think we were going to a village. Who even calls a city, a town?
Anyway, the buildings were made so beautifully, I wished to never actually leave. Some buildings were long teal towers with a point at the top, other buildings where shops that were either made out of stone or shipwreck wood. The ones that were made out of stone, were basically really large pieces of rock, that had holes in them, to make entrances and rooms.
All types of creatures roamed around the city. From octopuses to whales. The ecosystem was so peaceful.
"We're here." Prince Jin stated coldly.
I looked back at him and he was already getting off of the sherriage (shell-carriage ;), so I did the same.
With a small grunt, my eyes finally casted themselves off the ground and up to the shop before me.
It was similar to the proper shops you'd see in town at the surface, except, this shop was built by dark wood. It looks like someone had just ripped off a part of a shipwreck and made it a shop, there were broken circular windows that allowed us to peek inside, and instead of a door leading us into the shop, there was only a curtain of seaweed barricading us from the dresses within.
We made our way into the shop, gently moving the curtain aside, so we could enter much easier, and immediately, we were surrounded by wedding dresses in different shapes, sizes and colours.
"Prince Seokjin!" A female voice called out.
In the distance, a figure approached us rather quickly. She had a weird tape thing wrapped around her neck, and something that looked awfully similar to a prickly sea urchin on her wrist.
"Hello there, you must be the assistant my father has hired." Seokjin guessed, hands behind his back as he looks forward with a neutral expression on his face.
"Yes! Now, let's get to the future queen so she can do some dress shopping!" The assistant suggested, moving over to me instead and asking me to follow her.
"Do you have any preferences, your highness?" The assistant asked as she racks through a bunch of dresses.
"No..and please, just call my by my name, I don't mind." I insisted, but she took some sort of offence to that and furiously shook her head.
"Absolutely not! Someone of lower class shouldn't be able to speak the actual names of the monarchs unless it's been said along with their ranks." The assistant scolded.
I sighed and looked around the shop.
"Well then, what's your name?" I asked, looking at the assistant as she picks out a dress from this corner and turned around to meet me.
"Celine." She smiled before leading me to another corner.
Celine looked young, but by the few wrinkles I could barely see on her skin, I could tell she was a lot older, but ages aside. Now I've got to pick a dress.
I looked around, uninterested, one more time, and a dress had caught my eyes.
"Celine." I called out softly, tapping the lady's shoulder.
"Yes?" She turned around and saw that I was looking at the distance.
"Can we try that dress?"
For a second, her face morphed into an expression of pure terror and she began stuttering.
"U-uh that d-dress i-isn't exactly d-done yet." She laughed nervously.
"That's alright, do you think we could test it out eventually?" I asked instead.
She still had the nervousness swimming in her eyes and the tension was radiating off of her.
"S-sure."
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A long chapter, as promised!!
Why is Celine so freaked out over a dress?? Will we ever know??