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The ceremony would take place in an hour.
He sighed.
It didn’t feel right.
All his life, he knew this moment would come. He knew that he was going to get married off to some random rich girl for convenience. It wasn’t surprising at all.
But still, it felt wrong.
He wasn’t ready. But more than that, the only thing he felt upon seeing her was… indifference. He didn’t care how pretty or how wealthy or even how nice she was --which she seemed to be; it just felt wrong. It didn’t feel right to wake up every morning and see some woman there, sharing his bed. Sharing his living space.
That stood out oddly to him.
He didn’t have any problems with her. Not at all. She was a nice person and seemed to be considerate enough, or at least it felt that way. No, he wasn’t against marrying her in particular. He was against marrying… a woman.
He tried to shake off the feeling as he looked at himself in the mirror.
The suit felt too tight against his skin, even though it was slightly bigger than him. His parents didn’t want to spend more money on him than necessary, even though he was going to get that money back either way by marrying that woman, so they told him to wear his damned brother’s suit. The suit he wore when he got married. Because, surely, if he wore the same thing as his ‘oh so perfect’ brother, then he would maybe not be such a disappointment himself.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he felt seen. Observed. And not by himself, but by many people. Many people pressing down on him, using him as a puppet. Controlling his every action, even if the puppet was getting worn itself.
He was 18, dammit! Barely old enough to be considered an adult. But deep inside, he knew he wasn’t one yet.
How could he be, if he was never able to explore his childhood. His teenage years.
It was bad enough that his parents forced him to start studying medicine as a career when he was only 15 and was a failure at it. It was bad enough that even before then, they had him study at home, not letting him make friends his own age, or friends at all. That all his time was restricted and the only way he could feel free was by leaving through his window without making a noise when no one was there and going to the pastures just for a little while. For enough time that they wouldn’t notice that his presence was gone.
And now they were trying to marry him off. To tie him in a way that even after he’d left the house, he‘d still be a part of it
The walls pressed down on him and he felt his body at the bottom of the ocean, trying to swim up, to get some air before he drowned, but his feet were stuck under some rocks. He was going to die right there if he didn’t act fast enough.
So he cut them off.
Or, well, tore the suit off his body and put on a coat instead. A coat and pants with an apron of sorts in front of it.
He didn’t waste time before looking for something to cover his face with. A mask. Some way to completely sever his connection with those people.
He put it on, and he could breathe again.
The relief lasted for an instant, as Sea Kings approached his previous location. They knew he had been there, and if they found him now, they’d be enraged. They’d eat him on the spot.
Heels clicked against the wooden stairs.
So he pulled himself onto a raft and rowed out before they could notice he was gone.
---
He was out at sea.
He was… actually out at sea.
No more daydreaming of one day making it out of that hell.
He had actually made it.
He knew they were now looking all over the country for him, but there was no way they’d find him there.
He was alone.
But he was finally free.