Mingi awoke to the sound of the windows being opened to let in the fresh morning air. He sat up from the bed rubbing the sleep from his eyes. For a moment he forgot where he was as his eyes adjusted to the unfamiliar room. As his mind cleared from the drowsiness of sleep his memories came back as well. "Oh right…im married now" he mumbled to himself, the cut on his hand now a scar reminding him of yesterday's events. "Good morning your highness, my name is Yeji and I'll be your court maid from now on, your breakfast has been brought " the ice dragon spoke as she motioned toward the table that was covered in various dishes. Mingi had never seen so much food in his life, even when Yunho had his meals his spread was never this grand.
"Oh! Did Seonghwa come back last night?" Mingi asked as Yeji brought the table closer to him. "No, he ended up falling asleep in the library, but he did come back here to change clothes for the day, he didn't want to disturb your sleep so he left quietly", she answered, kneeling in front of the table. Mingi watched as Yeji removed each over from the dishes, the smell hitting his nose and making his stomach grumble. "Are we not eating breakfast together?" Mingi asked. He was hoping he would get to spend some alone time with Seonghwa and get to know the dragon more. "His majesty has already eaten breakfast" Yeji spoke as she picked up a pair of chopsticks and began taking a bite of each food.
Mingi slumped a bit at that, he knew Seonghwa would probably be busy with his princely duties but he was hoping Seonghwa would make some time to see him. "It's safe to eat" Yeji placed the chopsticks back down. "Thank you, and just call me Mingi, I'm not deserving of the formal title I'm hardly royalty" he muttered shyly. Yeji looked at him her ice blue eyes piercing, "his highness Prince Seonghwa insisted we call you your highness, but to compromise I will only refer to you as such in the presence of others". Mingi smiled at that, "I can work with that". Yeji stood from her kneeling position by the tables, "enjoy your breakfast, San will be here shortly to escort you to see his highness" she bowed at him before leaving.
Mingi picked up his chopsticks, his eyes scanning over the vast spread of food. He picked up a mini korean pancake, taking a bite. He hummed happily at the flavors as he continued to eat. At least he'll be able to see Seonghwa today. Mingi continued to enjoy his breakfast when San came in with a garment in his hands. "Good morning your highness" San's voice was rather cheery so early in the morning. "Please, just call me Mingi" he had a feeling he would be repeating that a lot today. San gently placed the outfit next to Mingi on the bed, "Good morning Mingi, how did you sleep?" The water dragon asked, turning his blue eyes towards him. Mingi would really have to get used to all the abnormal eye colors around him.
"I slept well" Mingi answered watching as San moved the table away from him. "I'm sure you're rather disappointed at that, you were probably expecting not to sleep at all last night". San's comment made Mingi's face heat up from embarrassment, he forgot that he and Seonghwa were supposed to consummate the marriage in order to complete the mating bond. San noticed Mingi's expression chuckling to himself, "I brought your clothes for the day, after you get dressed I'll bring you to his highness, he wishes to see you then I'll give you a tour of the palace" he explained. Mingi stood up, "that sounds good" he began undressing.
San grabbed the discarded clothes, placing them somewhere in a neat pile, he would ask Yeji to take them to be washed. He watched as Mingi grabbed the first layer of the garment, "let me help you" San offered. "I can do it, you don't need to help me" Mingi gave San a quick smile. San remained silent as he stepped back so Mingi could dress himself. Once Mingi was done getting dressed, he quickly tied his hair into a high bun. "There's one more thing " San held up a small golden crown. Mingi looked at it, he honestly was expecting to get anything like a crown. He thought his first and last time wearing one would be at the ceremony. "This is for you to wear" San said, placing on the crown over Mingi's bun and secured it in place with a few pins.
The crown was much lighter than the one Mingi wore for the wedding, he barely even noticed it was there. "We mustn't keep his highness waiting" San left the room first, Mingi following behind him. On the way to the throne room, Mingi looked around at his surroundings. The dragon realm was just like how the books described. On one side of the palace there were mountains that seemed to disappear into the sky. On the other were green forests that seemed to vibrate with life. The sun wasn't harsh but comforting and warm, and Mingi could see a few dragons flying around high in the sky. It was mesmerizing, he has never seen a dragon in their full form before only in drawings and even from a distance the creatures looked powerful. He wondered what Seonghwa looked like in his full dragon form.
Mingi and San walked up the steps of the main palace. "Please let his highness know that we have arrived" San told the two guards that were standing in front of the door. The nodded, opening the main palace doors. "You highness, your mate has arrived" they announced. Seonghwa watched as Mingi and San entered the throne room. Hongjoong was standing next to his throne watching as well. Seonghwa thought Mingi looked so out of place in the dragon realm, the humans vanilla and jasmine scent wafting through the air almost the earthy scent of the dragon realm. "Morning your highness, I hope you slept well" Mingi greeted as he bowed.
"I hope you had a good night sleep as well, I apologize for not being able to share a bed with you last night" Seonghwa kept his voice and expression neutral. "That's okay, I guess even on your wedding night you still have diplomatic duties to tend to" Mingi tried to remain still although Seonghwa's intense gaze made him want to squirm. "I had San bring you here because there are some rules I need to discuss with you" "rules?" Mingi asked, he supposed it wasn't too crazy after all he was a human in a world of dragons, there were probably some rules he needed to follow to keep him safe. "The first rule is you are not allowed to leave this realm without my permission. If you receive my permission you must take a guard with you, if you refuse you will not be allowed to leave. The second rule is that if you wish to see me, you must be invited by me. If I do not seek you out, don't try to find me. I am rather busy and I can't spend all my time with you" Seonghwa's tone turned a bit harsh as he said the second rule.
Mingi was taken aback by the two rules especially the second one. He would've thought Seonghwa would want to spend as much time with him as he did. He wondered when he would have the chance to get to know Seonghwa more if the dragon never asked for his company. "The third rule is you are free to go anywhere within the palace walls, but you must not leave. There are creatures in the forest and mountains outside the walls that will happily eat humans. For your safety you are banned from going outside the palace walls. Those are the main rules other than that this palace is your home now so don't be afraid to ask for what you need, San and Yeji are here to make your stay comfortable, you are dismissed" with that Seonghwa turned his attention back to the scroll he was reading.
Mingi just stood there for a moment dumbfounded at Seonghwa's words. "Thank you your highness, I shall show Mingi around the castle" San spoke bowing. He gently tugged Mingi's sleeve willing the human to follow him out the throne room. "You didn't have to be so harsh" Hongjoong spoke once it was just him and Seonghwa in the room. "I was just making sure he understood the rules" Soenghwa's tone of indifference made Hongjoong eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "You made those rules to avoid him, the last one was the only one that made sense. The first two are just you trying to avoid the fact you're mated to him" Hongjoong crossed his arms over his chest.
He already yelled at the prince last night for standing Mingi up. "You need to complete the mating bond, I thought you'd be so eager to get it over with last night" he reminded Seonghwa for what felt like the hundredth time. Seonghwa just continued to read the words on the scroll, "There's no rush, it's not like there's a law saying I have to complete the entire mating bond in one night. The marriage ceremony was half of it and I now have a little bit more control over my powers".
Soenghwa rolled up the scroll placing it off to the side as he grabbed another one. "You can't hold off on this forever, the court officials are going to grow restless and question why you haven't completed the bond and matured yet" Hongjoong was trying his best to remain calm. "It takes so little to make them restless, besides its not like they are jumping at the chance to have a human rule over the realm. Mingi doesn't know the first thing about being a ruler, he should be taught first before we complete the bond, I don't need him embarrassing me once I become king" Seonghwa opened the scroll. Hongjoong sighed, he knew arguing with Soenghwa was a lost cause. Getting him to agree to marry the human was already a feat, so he knew getting him to complete the bond was going to be another headache in itself.
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San was showing Mingi around the palace. So far the places Mingi thinks he'll frequent a lot is the koi pond that had koi fish of various colors that he's never seen, there were fishes that were blue, purple, and even a few pink ones. San told him that these fish could grant wishes if they deemed the person worthy. San also showed Mingi the eternal garden which was a garden where the flowers always remained in bloom. He showed Mingi all the various buildings and what they were but Mingi doubt he would be visiting most of them, majority of the buildings seemed like they were mainly for court officials and prince Soenghwa. "And this is the training ground, I'm sure for you this is rather familiar " San spoke as he came up to the training grounds.
Mingi looked around it was similar to the training ground back in Yunho's palace, except for humans training it was dragons. "Jongho! Come here!" San shouted at the fire dragon. Jongho stopped shouting instructions at the dragon's turning his attention over to San. When he saw Mingi, he quickly made his way over to him. Mingi watched as Jongho came over, his eyes going to his bright red horns. Walking around the palace he noticed that all the dragon's horns matched their eye color, San explained the eye and horn color of a dragon showed what type of dragon they were. He also noticed that Seonghwa was the only one he's seen so far with black and gold horns and gold eyes.
"Mingi this is Jongho, like you were he is the captain of your royal guard" San explained. Mingi looked at Jongho, "it's nice to formally meet you" Jongho smiled his sharp incisors on display. Mingi looked at the training ground, "your training ground is very similar to the one in King Yunho's palace, I assume you're training regimen is strict" Mingi looked back at Jongho. Jongho looked at the training ground, "Yes, our royal guards trained to fight other supernatural beings as well. This is actually only one of the training grounds. There is another one outside the palace walls that are specifically for when we need to train in dragon form" he explained. "Oh! There's a second one?" Mingi asked. He would love to see it but since it was outside the palace he couldn't go. Jongho nodded, "since when we train in dragon form it can be a bit messy, I'm sure prince Seonghwa wouldn't appreciate us tearing apart his palace" he chuckled.
Jongho noticed how Mingi kept his attention on the training ground. "If you want, you can always use it to train on your own, or even with me. Just let me know and we can train together, " he offered. Jongho wanted Mingi to feel welcomed in the palace. Mingi looked at him, "really? I'd like that a lot" he smiled softly. San was happy to see Mingi and Jongho were getting along. After Seonghwa's ridiculous rules, he was worried that Mingi would feel a bit lonely. "We'll we didn't want to take your attention away for too long, I wanted to introduce Mingi to you, we still have a bit of the palace left to see" "I promise I'll be back it was nice seeing you Jongho" Mingi waved Jongho bye as he and San left the training grounds.
After San gave Mingi a tour of the rest of the palace grounds, he brought Mingi to part of the palace where he would be residing. For the rest of the day Mingi spent time getting his bedroom together, placing things where he wanted them to go. He ate lunch and dinner alone much to his dismay. He was hoping that Seonghwa would have invited him over to his bedroom to share dinner with Mingi but that never happened. After dinner, Mingi got ready for bed. As he slipped under the covers, he hoped that tomorrow he would be able to spend some time with Seonghwa.