pairing: guard!hyunjin x princess!reader.
genre: historic au, strangers to lovers au.
themes: fluff + a bit of angst i guess??
summary: when the task of picking the newest royal guard comes to you, the princess, it isn’t difficult to choose. one applicant, with charming looks and an interesting hobby, catches your eye and attention. maybe he might find himself shooting arrows into something other than targets?
tw: this contains a female lead, and terms such as princess. also, some things might not be fully accurate to how things worked in historical times, but i really tried to research as much as I could.
a/n: i miss him w blonde hair but whateva it’s fine (〃ノ∇ノ) also prince minho is not minho from skz !!!! oh and if a word is underlined, it’s a song you can listen to to feel more in the fic :]
As you were the princess of one of the most well-know palaces, a lot of weight was put on your shoulders. The thought of being next in line to the throne, along with the absolutely tiring schoolwork and boring schedules always filled your head as you waited for the next day to roll around.
It sometimes felt like you were forced into that life. But your head always perked up when you were asked first about a decision.
“Y/N, darling.” Your mother called your name as she sat at the dinner table.
“Yes Mother?” Making your way to the dining room from the living room, you rested your arms on the chair in front of your mom. You looked at her, eyebrows furrowing as you questioned her sudden ask of your presence.
She started with a sigh and you could tell she was stressed, her hand sparkling with accessories holding close to her head. Her eyes looked up from the papers in her other hand and to you. “Oh, there you are. I need your help with something.”
Your ears perked up as you looked away from her shining decorations and nodded. “Okay, what is it?” You leaned in to look at the paper that was in her hand. It had different names written on it, next to them were their skills.
But when did Mom get the time to do this?
“Well, we’re trying to get a new royal guard since one had to step out due to a finding of their criminal record, remember?” She queried, looking up at you from the paper.
Whipping away from your thoughts, you nodded. “Yeah, I do. But why so sudden? I’m pretty sure we don’t have to get a new guard.. we had enough already.” You said with a soft sigh. Your palace had originally had more than ten guards but due to the hardships the job gave, they had resigned. Now you only had five
“Y/N,” your mother stopped you, “we’ve talked about this. You know that your coronation is coming and when that day comes, you know how the crime rate will be.” There she goes again, talking about your coronation. “I would hate to have you suffer like your grandfather on his crowning.”
Her statement was blunt but it made sense to you. You made a small frown and nodded. “Yes Mother.” You took the papers out of her hand and made your way out of the dining room.
Your mom could tell you were upset about the conversation so in a small cheer she said, “I love you.”
“Love you too.” Your response short as you walked out of the dining room and back to your room.
On your way, your friendly chef Felix smiled at you, walking past saying, “Good morning, Your Highness.” You did a small head bow, but deeply wondered why he was being so formal. He wasn’t that much older than you, and he normally talked to you on friendly terms. Shaking the thought away, you continued back to your room.
But just like with Felix, whenever you would see one of the kind workers throughout the palace on the way to your room, they would always greet you with polite nonsense like: “Good day, Your Highness,” “Hello, Your Highness,” and “Wonderful weather we’re having, Your Highness!” It only broke you when you saw your older brother Seungmin reply, “Hey, Your Highness.” It was still in his joking tone but it was so chilling that you had to get out of there.
You ran out of the palace as a whole and decided to chill by the pool.
Sighing to yourself, you looked at the pool and tried to calm yourself. You were deeply confused why they had all responded like that. You weren’t even close to becoming the queen. You had thought it was all too much for you, like all of a sudden you were an adult. But it didn’t feel like it.
“What’s wrong, your Highness?” Chan said after seeing your distressed manner as you sat on the steps.
“Oh god, not you too Chan!” You buried your face in your hands.
He laughed heartily and soon went to sit down next to you. “Sorry, it was Seungmin. He asked me to say that to you since I was in debt to him for a while.” Looking over to you, Chan saw your sad expression.
He didn’t say anything for a while, his thoughts calculating as he thought of what to say to you. “You know, I probably have no say in this but the whole crowning doesn’t seem too bad.”
Your head whipped around to him. Confusion furrowing your eyebrows caused you to respond, “How can you say that? Everyone’s been treating me like I’m the Queen already..”
Chan laughed a bit, but not as happy as his last. It contained remorse for you. “Well I can tell you as a royal guard that they’re only doing this to get you ready for another year.” His statement softened to a whisper and covered his mouth near the more important end of his sentence.
Letting out a chuckle of unbelief, you crossed your arms. “How could they- Never mind that.” You stopped yourself before sighing and then looking at Chan. “Thanks for telling me, Chan. I swear, you’re one of the only guards I can trust.” You said jokingly, a soft smile making its way onto your lips.
A smile creeped up on his face too, showing his pure pleasure in seeing you smile again. “No problem, your Highness.” Chan finally said with a fake bow.
“Oh, stop it.” You slapped his shoulder in an attempt to get him to stop embarrassing you any further.
Chan laughed again, his serotonin boosting laugh making you laugh with him. With another smile and a two-finger salute, he said, “Alright, duty calls. See you later, Y/N!” He dashed off and started to make his way back into the palace.
“Ok, bye!” But by the time you responded, he was already gone.
He had always been so good to you. Always doing his best to make you feel better. Still, he had no real idea what you truly felt.
After a while of laying on your bed while reading a book, you looked at your nightstand. Those terrible papers seemed to look right back at you. With a sigh, you decided to take the time to look at the papers your mother had given to you that morning.
The candidates were.. okay. Your mind was still frazzled from the day’s events and soon after 15 minutes of looking, you came to the last page. You had skimmed over his credentials but when you came across his hobbies, you found yourself leaning into the paper.
Hobbies: reading, singing, & archery.
A-Archery? Were you reading it right? No matter how many times you read it, it still read the same thing. You had heard about it before, when your mother and father had left to go to a match with friends from another kingdom. It had always made you wonder what it was like, and seeing a candidate with that as a hobby made you feel inclined to approve his submission.
No photos or further reading needed, you put a check next to his name and went to put it in your parents’ room.
On your way back to yours, you were stopped by Seungmin. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed and his right leg crossed over the other. You shrugged, wordlessly saying, “What do you want?”
“Was that the guard slip?” He soon asked, a chuckle coming with the end of his question.
With a nod you replied, “Yep. Hopefully Mom doesn’t scold me for who I chose.” You continued to walk to bed with the words, “It was the archer, by the way,” leaving your lips. You had known Seungmin had seen the papers before they were given to you, so of course he had asked.
Seungmin’s small giggle turned into a happy laugh, but you couldn’t tell what for. A wave of relief came upon you as he called, “You’re so predictable. I knew you’d pick that one!”
You walked to your room that night to your older brother’s laughs echoing in the main hall.
It had been about two weeks since you had made the final mark on those papers but fortunately, your mother hadn’t said anything about it. Today was the day you were going to greet what seemed in your mind as the kind archer fellow. You were somewhat nervous, for reasons you knew.
As you got ready in your room to finally meet the archer, a soft sigh escaped you. Was it the right choice? Sure, knowing how to do archery was unique but you barely looked at any more of his credentials, so it made it hard to truly know him. You chose to shake the thought off for now and make your way to the front of the palace.
“I can’t wait to see who you chose!” Your mother said with happiness in her tone, hands clasped in excitement. She looked over to you, and was concerned as to why you were so quiet. “Something the matter?” She asked.
Your single head shake was enough for a response and your eyes kept looking out for the carriage the guard would come in. If you had to be honest, you just wanted to see what this guy looked like.
And just as you would have it, the clopping of the carriage came along the cobblestone. You felt your heart race as you heard the gates open for his arrival. And there he was, walking up to your family politely with his hands behind his back.
His appearance though, was much more ethereal. Eyes of a dark brown color and long hair that you didn’t see often, all while wearing a soft smile. His clothes were both sleek and looked comfortable. You could tell you were staring for too long so you decided to get your eyes off him with a small head bow. In response, he did the same.
“It’s nice to meet you. I hope I can serve you well.” He said, his soft voice causing you to look up with a kind smile.
Your father held out a hand for the boy to shake and replied, “Of course. We’re happy to have you..?” His reply became more of a prompt for his name.
“Ah, Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin.” He replied happily as he took your father’s hand and shook it. His soft smile had become an eager one, as if he was really excited for his new job. The boy who was apparently named Hyunjin looked from your father to you and did a small head bow to you. “Nice to meet you, Princess. Hopefully we can be friends.” His expression softened. “And hopefully I can serve you well.” He continued, his eyes crinkling as his smile widened.
“Of course, same to you.” You replied, voice soft after being out of focus. From the start, you knew that he was kind but the fact he even acknowledged you kindly made you smile.
Your mother broke up your kind exchange by cutting in, “Well now that introductions are over, we can get you inside and talk a bit more. It’s a bit humid out here.” A posh laugh came with her statement as Hyunjin mouthed “Of course” and you all went into the palace.
After two of your other guards opened the palaces’ doors, you could hear a gasp come from Hyunjin. He soon exclaimed, “Wow.. this place is huge..,” voice drifting at the end of his sentence. He seemed like an excited puppy, eager to look more around the place. To get his attention, you let out in a small whisper, “Excuse me, it’s this way!”
He turned around and covered his mouth, obviously embarrassed. “Sorry!” His voice low in a whisper to match yours.
You and Hyunjin soon caught up with your family in the drawing room, both acting like you had been there instead of staying behind in the great hall. Almost on queue, your father turned to you with a smile. “Ah yes, now that we’re here, we can talk more on the agreement.” Your father’s tone was soft but still had the power of a king.
“Yes, Your Highness.” Hyunjin said, eyes burning with confidence.
Your mother smiled. “Then let’s get to it!” She said, taking out some more papers, probably for him to sign.
Though it took what felt like a few hours, Hyunjin was ready to take the oath. What you noticed during the long talk and signing was that he was very active. Your mom mumbled a few things he had done to get to where he was now, including training for a year and a half at a camp. It seemed like he desperately wanted to get away from his normal life and land a better job at the palace, though it was harder than most. It made you wonder..
Your thoughts were taken to a pause as your father said, “Alright, now that you’re done signing, you can take the oath.”
Hyunjin nodded as his smiling face was replaced with a serious one. When you looked down at his hands, you saw his left closed in a tight fist. It soon loosened as he rose his right hand like your father told him to not long after.
“Repeat after me,” your father said firmly, his right hand raised as well, “I, Hwang Hyunjin, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Royal Family, their heirs and successors, according to law.”
He soon repeated before taking a deep breath, “I, Hwang Hyunjin, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Royal Family, their heirs and successors, according to law.” His hard expression soon softened when he earned an accepting nod from the king.
“And now, you’re officially a part of the royal guard.” Your father cheered, a raised curve you knew was a smile coming to his face. Though he didn’t show it much, you could always tell the difference between his capitalist smile and his genuine one. Hyunjin seemed to know too, as he brought him in for a hug.
“Wow, thank you so much for this opportunity!” He let go and then shook the king’s hand. “I promise I won’t let you down.” He said in a voice filled with gratitude. The king let out a hearty laugh at Hyunjin’s peppy attitude and nodded.
“Happy to know you’re excited.” He soon said. Your mother’s mouth turned into a smile, soon turning to you with a brighter one. The pleasant feeling in the room made you smile back.
Hyunjin looked to you and remarked with an assuring smile, “I’ll protect you for real, now.” His statement made you burst laughing, still more calm than your normal laugh as to not expose yourself. “I know you’ll do well, Hyunjin.” You replied.
You woke up the next morning to the sun coming through the window. Surprisingly, none of the maids or butlers was there to escort you out of your room. Making your way down the stairs and then the long hallway, you started to make your way to the kitchen to start to make breakfast yourself.
You usually weren’t allowed to when your parents weren’t around because they entrusted the chefs to cook every meal. Though you didn’t mind them cooking for you, you always like to cook by yourself. Unfortunately, the kind chef Felix walked in as you took out some flour.
“Ah, your Highness.” He did a small head bow with his bright smile. His formal behavior made you a bit uncomfortable. “Good morning.”
You still mustered a smile. “Good morning, Felix. It’s good to see you.” Your statement was true despite you knowing he would be making breakfast for you.
“Y/N, don’t worry. I’ll let you make breakfast for yourself. You always look so eager when you see me cooking anyway.” Felix let out in a chuckle. His laughter brought a happier smile to your face.
“Thank you, Felix.” You replied while bringing him in for a hug. He happily hugged you back, his warm hug made you smile.
You decide to ask him, “Hey, why do you keep calling me “Your Highness”? Have we drifted?” Your tone was soft, and Felix responded with a shaking of his head.
“No, of course not Y/N! It’s just.. the king and queen have been wanting to prepare you for the life you’re going to have in a couple years. So I’ve been listening to their wishes. But don’t worry,” Felix let go of you and held you by your shoulders, looking at you with caring eyes, “we’re still friends.” His bright smile reached his eyes.
“Well that’s good! I got a little worried.” You replied with a laugh.
After clearing up the situation, you started to make your breakfast, every now and then having Felix help you. Who would’ve known that making french toast and fluffy eggs would be harder than you thought?
The happy feeling you had soon drifted with your parents came back home. You had prepared yourself for this, but you really hadn’t wanted to.
As they walked in, they appeared with your “destined prince,” as your mom called him when you were a kid. You made eye contact with him immediately as a rush of a hurt came through you.
Prince Minho of the Cha family, the future husband of your dreams. (but was he?)
It wasn’t like you hated Minho, he was fine. Charming looks, a great personality. He even loved animals and had 2 dogs of his own. You just weren’t ready yet. But though you wanted to, you couldn’t tell him. If you had known sooner that the marriage decision had been made when you were kids, you would’ve declined already.
Minho walked up to you with a soft smile. “My darling Y/N. I haven’t seen you in ages.” You smiled shyly at his pet name. “You still look as cute as ever.” His eyes stared into yours longingly.
“It’s good to see you too, Minho.” You took his hands and nodded. Still, you couldn’t shake the sorry feeling in your chest. It felt like you were playing with him.
Your mother interrupted your soft exchange with a clearing of her throat. “Alright, lovebirds, let’s get moving to the ballroom. You two,” she said pointing at you and Minho, “need to practice dancing together.”
Minho smiled at your parents and then at you. “Don’t worry. I won’t step on your feet.” You chuckled at his joke and made your way to the ballroom.
When you got there, you saw Hyunjin from the other side of the ballroom standing against the wall with his hands behind his back. He smiled to you as a soft greeting and you smiled back as a reply.
“Hyunjin,” your mother called to him, “do you mind turning on the gramophone and putting on the record for me?”
The smiling guard nodded, “Of course, your Highness.” He walked over to the gramophone that was on the coffee table and put in the record. After glancing at you and Minho for a second, he went back to the wall he was at before.
The music from the gramophone was somber, a soft piano piece. You had heard it many times when you were younger. It brought back memories and a soft smile to your face.
You slowly waltzed with Minho, hands interlocked. Minho kept eye contact with you, his eyes sparkling happily. You traveled along the room with him, careful with each step as the music flowed. The song came to an end as Minho took your hand and kissed it.
“You danced wonderfully, Y/N.” He said with a soft tone.
Your smile toward Minho was sincere, you nodded happily. “Thank you, Minho. You didn’t do half bad either.” You joked.
He let out a little chuckle and linked arms with you. Making eye contact with your mother, he asked, “Do you mind if I have lunch with her, my lady?”
“No, of course not,” she shook her head with a smile, “I don’t mind at all. We wanted you to have lunch together, anyways.”
“Thank you.” Minho looked at you once again and started to walk out of the ballroom.
You looked back to Hyunjin who stood there with a smile you couldn’t quite place. You gave him a quick beam, making him nod to cheer you up. Before you could mouth “thank you”, Minho walked out of the door with his princely smile and you.
“I don’t get you sometimes.” Seungmin shook his head at you, arms crossed.
“What do you mean?” You replied innocently. Clearly, judging by the look on your brother’s face, he was talking about your boring lunch with Minho.
Seungmin sighed; it was full of annoyance. “You know exactly what I mean!”
You still pretended to be curious as to what he meant so you shrugged.
“Why did you come from lunch with Minho so.. normal? Usually when people have a meeting with someone they really like, they can’t think of anything else but that person. But you.. you seem fine! Almost too fine.” He put a hand on your shoulder. “Do you really not feel that way for him?” He finally asked.
You looked up into Seungmin’s eyes. You couldn’t find it in yourself to lie to him. “I-I’m just not ready yet.” You replied, your voice soft. “I thought you knew that.”
“I do know. I’m not mad at you, I just don’t get you. This is a big opportunity and Mom’s gonna be upset with you, I’m just telling you now.” Your older brother replied.
“I know she is.. Minho’s a good guy, it’s just I don’t think I could marry him, or anyone for that matter. Not right now, anyway.”
Seungmin let out a sigh again. He was done nudging an answer out if you. “Alright, just don’t be so indecisive for too long. It’s all in your hands.” He began to walk out of the room but stopped himself. “Remember that you have to talk with Mom at 3, okay?” His smile was soft as he continued to walk.
You watched him walk out of the room, leaving you at the table. You grunted softly and put your hands over your eyes. I need to get some fresh air.. your thoughts festered.
Again, you found yourself outside by the pool as a way to calm down. You had understood what Seungmin meant and that he was just looking out for you, but you couldn’t stop thinking about it..
“Do you really not feel that way for him?”
You tried to shake off the feeling by continuing to look into the pool and soon threw water towards your face. When you went for another splash to wake yourself up, you heard someone walk up to where you sat and soon the voice that belonged to it:
“I hate to be interrupting something but are you okay, Your Highness?” It was Hyunjin. You looked up at him with your chlorine drenched face and smiled.
“Yeah, I’m fine! No need to worry!” You replied with a small laugh. “Just trying to calm my nerves..” Looking up at him again, you saw his hand holding out a handkerchief.
Hyunjin smiled. “Here. I think you need it.” He chuckled.
You were surprised at his kindness and took the handkerchief, a soft smile coming to your face. “Thank you.” Taking his hand to get up, you met eyes with him. Something about seeing him so close made you feel kind of nervous, even though you weren’t the one with the new job. Still, he made you feel comfortable. Hyunjin was doing his job as a guard right.
Hyunjin tried to break the silence. “So, care to explain what you’re doing out here?” He asked curiously.
“Well,” you started, “I usually come here to calm myself down. Seeing the water settles me.”
“Oh, I see..” He didn’t want to pry on what could have been messing with your emotions and decided to try and keep conversation. “Whenever I get stressed, I like to go out and shoot some arrows. It feels good to just shoot without the worry of doing wrong.”
You looked at him, your eyebrows furrowed, as you asked, “So then, what do you do? Do you just.. shoot?”
Hyunjin laughed at your question, his smile reaching his eyes. “Yeah, pretty much! Of course, still with the skills I’ve learned. I just try not to be fancy with it.”
“Okay.. I think I get it.” You replied to him, your voice drifting in volume. “Do you mind showing me some of the “fancy work,” mayhaps?” You looked up at him with a small smirk.
“If the Princess allows it.” Hyunjin replied; your nodding seemed to be a yes. “Alright then, let’s go to the fields. The King let me set up some materials over there.”
After walking to the fields, your eyes widened when you saw the archery setting. Bows and arrows on their own table, targets set at different ranges. It was like you had heard of before from Chan. You were excited to see how it really looked in person; seeing archery was different than hearing about it.
Hyunjin bent down to pick up one of the bows and an arrow from the table. He looked back at you and smiled. “I’ll shoot to the second nearest one so you can see it.” His voice lifted near the end of his sentence and his smile matched his happy tone. As he adjusted his form, he took a deep breath. He lifted the bow and arrow and closed his right eye, trying to get the best shot. You watched his smile turn into a serious straight face as he got a confident glint in his eye. Hyunjin soon released the arrow and watched it hit the target he had been aiming for.
“Wait a second,” you said, looking at the target, “you got it straight in the middle!”
He nodded and held the bow in his hands. “It’s like I told you! I still use the skills I’ve learned.” Hyunjin smiled at you again and handed you the bow.
“What is it? Why are you giving me-“ He stopped your question and put an arrow in your free hand.
“Don’t worry, I’m just gonna help you.” His voice was soft as he adjusted your hand placement and your angle. You ignored the hot feeling in your cheeks, but you were thankful for his help.
“Okay,” Hyunjin continued, “now close your right eye, since that’s the hand you’ll be shooting with.” You listened to his words and closed your eye. “Now just hold back your right arm. Only shoot when you’re ready.” You strengthened your grip and almost forgot that Hyunjin was there. Straightening your gaze like he had done before, you finally let go of the arrow. Your eyes closed immediately as you did.
Your worries wavered away as you heard Hyunjin’s laugh. “You did good for your first try! Come on, open your eyes and look. I promise you actually got a hit on the target.” As you opened your eyes, you saw the target with the arrow on the third ring. You looked at him and smiled.
“It’s okay, Princess,” he chuckled, “The third ring is good enough.”
“Thank you, Hyunjin.” You replied. His laugh made you laugh along with him. “I’m surprised that you even wanted to show me! So thank you very much for the lesson.”
He shook his hands around in a sporadic manner. “Don’t worry, it’s not a problem.”
You could tell that he really was happy to teach you and that his smile was genuine. A rush of shock ran over you as you realized how late it was. “Oh no... I totally forgot that I had to meet with my mom today.” Your eyes were sorry as you said, “Please forgive me for leaving so suddenly, I have a meeting and I can’t stay too long. I’m really sorry, Hyunjin.” You did a head bow as an apology.
“Please don’t bow to me, Princess Y/N! If you need to leave, it’s okay. Feel free to go! I-I wouldn’t want to keep you any longer.” Hyunjin’s words were a jumble, he couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say to you. Especially after your politeness towards him.
You giggled a bit at his flustered behavior. “Alright, see you later! Thanks again for the archery lesson!”
Hyunjin watched as you dashed off into the distance, probably going to the castle. There was a pleasant feeling in his chest. He was glad that he could have a good time with even a Princess. But he couldn’t figure out what it was about you that made him smile so much to himself... was it your attitude? Your kindness? Maybe he was thinking too much about it.
“Oh hey Hyunjin!” A familiar voice greeted him. Hyunjin turned around and saw Chan standing there with his bright smile. “What are you doing out here? Doing some archery?” Chan referred to the setup in front of them.
“Yeah! I even got to give Princess Y/N a small lesson. With her permission, of course.” Hyunjin replied.
Chan was intrigued as his mouth formed a small ‘o’. “Oh, I see. That’s good, I’m glad she’s trying new things.” He smiled again.
Hyunjin nodded happily. He glanced to the table that had the bows and arrows on them and noticed there were only two bows instead of the three that were there before. “Oh, I guess she accidentally took one of the bows with her. She was kind of in a rush.”
“That makes sense. She doesn’t like to make the Queen upset over simple things like being late.” Chan patted Hyunjin’s shoulder. “Don’t worry too much, she’ll probably be able to give it to you later.”
“Yeah..” He started to walk with Chan back into the castle.
“Hey,” Chan said quickly, “Do you think I could learn some archery skills from you, too? I can teach you how to handle and fight with a sword in exchange.”
Hyunjin chuckled. “Sure, I’ve been needing to get better at that, anyway.”
You had met with your mother that day to talk about the harvest festival taking place in a few days. It was the pride of your kingdom; the small amount of time that most ‘regulars’ could come into the castle to join in games, music, and dancing. You looked across the table at your mother with confusion in your brows when she told you that you were going to be greeting people for most of the festival.
“What? What do you mean? That’s what you and Father usually do.” You retorted.
Your mother sighed. “Yes, I know. It’s different but it’s okay! Instead of us, it’ll be you and Minho. That’s why you two are doing the ending dance instead of your father and I. And then you can take the prized crown alongside Minho.”
You found her smile too pleasant. It made you feel betrayed that she would tell you so early, as if she knew you would’ve tried to leave. “But.. why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’m still just a young princess, you know.”
“Don’t play that game with me. Why else would I have you practice with Minho beforehand? Be reasonable and stop arguing with your mother.” She said plainly.
“Fine, I guess I have to do it.” Her tone made you feel overpowered, like whatever you would’ve said wouldn’t have mattered anyway. “Thank you for telling me, Mother. I hope I can greet everyone well.”
She laid a hand on your cheek and smiled at you. “That’s my girl. I’m going to pick out the best dress and accessories for you, I promise. You’ll wear the crown greatly.”
“Thank you,” you told her again before you left. All you wanted to do is get to your room, the one place you could let your emotions out. At this point, you didn’t want to go to the harvest festival at all. You jumped on the bed at stayed there for a few hours.
You hadn’t wanted to do much around the castle the next few days. Your mother and father had decided to let you do what you wanted to do; to be by yourself. Your father came to you yesterday to reassure you that you could do it, just for one night.
Though you didn’t respond at all, you remember him talking about sudden threats that had come around every harvest festival. All he wanted was for you to be safe, and he knew that throwing you into it was not the best decision. Your father just knew in his heart that you would do well, like he and your mother did.
You decided to get up after two sluggish days. You looked outside of the window and then at the clock. “I guess I’ll have to really do it tomorrow.” You mumbled.
Maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
As you sat at the mirror getting ready for the festival, you practiced your smile. You even tried different ones to change it up and give your face a rest. One of your designers laughed.
“What are you doing, Princess Y/N? You look so funny.” She said, still chuckling.
You looked back to her and retorted, “I’m practicing my smile for the festival. Father says not to look too dull.”
“Well trust me,” she laughed, “the king will be surprised and probably pleased.” You shared a smile with her but she quickly faced your head towards the mirror. “Now face forward. I need to finish your makeup in 30 minutes.”
Before you knew it, you were walking down the spiraling staircase to the main floor. You felt stiff due to the makeup and extravagant light red dress, but you had to admit that you looked good. When you got down, you saw Minho standing there in his tuxedo. It was a nice red with white accents. The red matched your own.
You smiled as you came to him, deciding to be as nice as you could to him that day. “You look so nice today. Your courters dressed you well.” You remarked.
“Thank you, Y/N. You look splendid.” Minho replied as he went for a kiss on your hand, as he usually did.
“Let’s get going, okay? The gates open in a few minutes!”
He beamed at your enthusiasm and took a tight hold on your hand. “Of course.”
For the past two hours at the harvest festival, you had been stuck greeting every single person who had stepped through the door. You were glad to see all of your citizens but while all of them moved on from the line and had fun, you were still stuck at the door. And to make matters worse, Minho held onto your hand like it was life or death.
All of a sudden, the music playing from the ballroom stopped. You remembered it from before.
“Now, we’ll stop the dancing for a few minutes to have a special couple dance together.” Your father’s voice was clear from the ballroom.
Minho looked at you. “I guess that’s us.” He walked with you, hand in hand, to the ballroom.
“And it’s not just any couple. It’s our very own junior fiancés!” Your mother added as you and Minho walked in. All of the citizens clapped and cheered for you, yet only you were surprised by the term ‘fiancé’.
Soon, you and Minho were the center of attention. All of everyone’s eyes were on you two. Minho tried to assure you that everything would be okay with his eyes, as if he could tell that you were worried.
You must’ve spaced out; the music started playing again. A smile came back to you as you remembered the song. You waltzed with him like you had practiced before, moving your way across the floor. Minho’s glimmering eyes showed a deep effect of love towards you. You tried your best to ignore how close he was until the end of the song.
The citizens clapped for your shared dance. You smiled, you must’ve done it well. “Guess we didn’t do too bad, huh?” You said quietly.
Minho placed a hand on your cheek and surprised you and everyone else in the ballroom; he kissed the other one. You didn’t know why he would’ve done it so passionately, it wasn’t like how you had practiced. Your feelings were unsure.
What’s going on? Is this okay? Why do I feel like this?
You pulled away after a few seconds of thinking. Backing away, you ran out with a small mumble, “I’m sorry.”
Your hands were clammy. You felt like you hadn’t drank water in days. The butterflies in your stomach seemed to only get worse. You needed to get out of there. No, you needed to get anywhere but there. Your thoughts were a giant mess as you thought of where to go. Thinking of leaving the castle was already a no, but where else could you-
“Ah!” You let out after bumping into a familiar figure in the main hall.
Hyunjin caught you. “Careful there, princess. You remember what the King and Queen said, hm?” He said, keeping your eye contact. “You should be in the ballroom.” Leaning over your shoulder to whisper those few words.
“I know. It’s just..” Steps could be heard down the hall along with your mother’s calls for you. You glanced back to him. Your thoughts ran dry, and you did the only thing you thought to do. “Kiss me.”
“I said kiss me.” You didn’t know where the straightforwardness was coming from but what would happen was unexpected.
Hyunjin leaned in for a kiss on your lips and closed his eyes. You had enjoyed it as you both moved swiftly into the room next to you. He had held onto your head tightly as he continued to kiss you.
When you both let go, you smiled. You couldn’t help but giggle a bit. “You’re a good kisser, Guard Hwang.”
“There’s no need to call me that, Princess Y/N.” He shook his head with a smile, still a little shocked that he kissed the princess in the first place. “But I have a question.”
You looked at him with curious eyes. “What is it?” You asked.
“Why did you come sprinting down there? And I understand that it might be hard to talk about.” Hyunjin replied softly.
“Well, you remember the prince I was dancing with that day, correct?” Hyunjin nodded at your question. “Basically we did the same dance at the festival today. But Minho changed things up and kissed me on the cheek. I didn’t know what to do, I was just confused..” Your voice fell to a quieter level.
Hyunjin patted your back and sat you down on the bed in the room. “Don’t worry about him, it’s okay. He should’ve known that you wouldn’t have liked it as much as he would’ve.”
You shared a pleasant smile with Hyunjin as he continued to pat your back. You were glad that someone was there to uplift you.
The lovely feeling in the room soon disappeared when yells of “intruder” and “thief” came upon Hyunjin’s and your ears from outside the room. You looked at him worried but he shook his head.
“Stay here, okay? I’m still supposed to be on post.” Hyunjin stated.
As Hyunjin walked out of the room and down the hall, he kept a serious face. His eyes glanced around as if he could feel someone else’s presence was there. He slowly got the bow — one of the secondary ones from your small lesson — off of him and slowed his pace.
“You guys are very bad at hiding.” He mumbled. He easily could see one of the culprits hiding behind a pillar in a mirror right across. Without any hesitation, he lifted the bow and strengthened his grip on the arrow and shot for the mirror instead.
The man screamed and jumped out of the way. He started to shake on the floor. Hyunjin sighed as he walked up to the man and held him by his collar. “I’m sorry sir. I don’t care what sob story you give me, duty calls. I have to take you to the King for intruding.” He flipped the man over and stood up with him, soon grabbing his wrists from behind and placing them over each other.
“Let’s go.” Hyunjin’s tone made the guilty culprit start walking with his head down.
“You do know that it’s not just me, right?” said the man.
“Well of course. There’s never just one.” Hyunjin replied quickly.
The man sighed as if he was immediately sorry. “I’m very sorry for what might happen to the kingdom after all of this.”
“There’s no need to apologize to me,” Hyunjin said to the man, “that’s something you need to take up with the King and Queen. Just know that it’s likely that you’ll go to jail for this.”
The man was surprised at how nonchalant Hyunjin was. “Thank you for not being too rough with me.”
“Just doing my job, sir.” Hyunjin said with a small chuckle.
After a few minutes, the intruder and Hyunjin made it to the King in the ballroom. “Here, Your Highness. I’ve caught one of the intruders.”
“Thank you, Guard Hwang. I appreciate it.” The King smiled as he took the culprit to some policemen that were called to the scene. “Here’s one of them!” He called to them.
Hyunjin looked around the ballroom, recognizing the faces he had seen at his post. The citizens murmured worriedly all around. But he could tell that someone was missing.
“Your Highness,” Hyunjin called, “do you mind if I check outside? That culprit over there told me that there’s more than just him.” The king nodded. “Of course, just take another guard with you.” He motioned towards Chan. “Guard Bang, go with Guard Hwang to check outside. If there’s more intruders, just call for more.”
“Yes, Sir.” Chan grabbed his sword and shield in hand. “Alright let’s get going, Hyunjin.”
Hyunjin nodded and the two went out of the castle, soon being met with the slowly setting sky. They looked all around the perimeter of the castle after deciding to split up but after they found nothing, they threw away the plan and searched together.
“Do you think anyone’s actually out here?” Hyunjin whispered to Chan softly.
Chan shrugged at his question. He wasn’t quite sure what could come from searching or not. “Usually there’s more than one when it comes to castle takeovers, so probably. But it’s hard to see with only the moon enlightening us. So try not to worry. The King won’t kill you if no one’s out here.” He tried to lighten up the mood with a chuckle.
“Okay..” Hyunjin mumbled. For a while, only the crunching of the grass under their boots could be heard. They paid close attention to their surroundings.
“S-stop right there!” A voice shouted from behind them, their voice breaking near the end of their scream. Hyunjin and Chan turned around to see the person who owned the voice: Prince Minho with a sword held in front of him. “What are you guards doing out here?”
Chan held his sword in a tight hand. “We should be asking you the same question.”
“I just wanted to get some fresh air. It was a bit congested in there.” Minho’s light laugh had a nod to something else. He had kept one hand behind his back.
“Are you sure about that?” Hyunjin spoke up. “There’s something more to what you’re saying.” His eyes stayed close to the prince’s hidden hand.
“Your Highness,” Chan started, “may I ask you to lower your sword?”
Minho’s face tightened. He didn’t expect this. “O-of course. Of course I can.” His voice shook slightly; he was terrified. He knew they knew. But still, he didn’t lay down his sword. He couldn’t. “Actually.. no. Shouldn’t you be a bit more respectful to your future king? I can do as I please.”
When Minho turned around to leave, Chan pushed his weight onto him and tried to hold him down. “Hyunjin, here!” He held out what the prince had been hiding: the crown. “Go and return it! I’ll take care of this guy.”
“Okay!” Hyunjin ran off and dashed through the castle. He held to a pause when he saw you standing there in the hall. “Princess Y/N.. I think this is yours.”
You held the crown tightly and smiled. “Thank you so much, Hyunjin. I really appreciate it.” You wanted to thank him but the confidence from before came back to you. “Hey, do you have time to dance with a princess such as myself?”
“Well, I think so. I do have to do my job as a guard and stay at my post.” He chuckled. “But of course, Princess.”
You smiled softly and took his hand to lead him into the room you were both in before. “I know the perfect song.” You soon put in the song that gave you pleasure into the gramophone.
Hyunjin took your hand gently and began to waltz with you. His smile was soft on his face as it reached his eyes. The strings in the music led you across the room. You hadn’t wanted your final dance any other way. The song calmed along with your dancing near the end.
“I feel like I’m going to cause you trouble, Princess Y/N.” Hyunjin said, his hand was tenderly clasped with yours.
“I would count it as good trouble, my archer.” You softly replied as you kissed his cheek. As Hyunjin put the crown atop your head, you both laughed. The two of you waltzed in the room for the rest of the night, the sun’s final colors setting behind you through the window.