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It was a great day; the sun is brightly shining but the cold breeze from the wind prevents it from being too hot. It was neither summer nor winter and it was a really great way to start the day and maybe a great start of the week, however, that doesn’t seem to be true for everyone especially for Kim Sunwoo.
Kim Sunwoo, for starters, is the youngest son of the Count Kim, one of the best knights in the kingdom (This decision is totally not made by him, his father is nothing of the sorts...). He is 16 years old, who just turned adult and he is currently studying at the Imperial Academy as a freshman. You might question as to why someone who almost have everything is having such a bad day but to be fair, Kim Sunwoo himself thought that this day is going to be nice for him.
It all started on the school day, everything was going fine, he was with Eric his best friend since birth, a son of the Esteemed Marquis from the house of Sohn, a very close family friend of the Kim’s. They were walking through the halls of their great academy just on their way to their classroom when they heard something similar to a pain of shout and of course being the curious and righteous persons that they are (Eric’s words not Sunwoo’s) they decided to check what’s happening.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Sunwoo shouted the moment he sees what’s happening. In the scene there are two (handsome) guys standing, one was holding a sword and the other was holding a spear, both intricately designed and looks expensive.
‘Is that mithril?’ Sunwoo thought before he looks down and see another person on the ground holding another sword, equally as shiny as the other weapons. ‘This might’ve been an unofficial duel,' he thought.
Meanwhile, the two people standing looks at him and Eric, eyebrows raising and lips twitching, and you see, Sunwoo would’ve let this go if not for the next words that follows.
“Who do you think you are to involve yourself in this?” The person with long neck and holding a spear says, his eyebrow raised as it had been the moment they interrupted and mouth smirking in amusement.
“True, who would dare to do such thing?” The other person holding a sword says, his eyes glowing with something Sunwoo can’t identify- and it might’ve something to do with the fact that Sunwoo is raised as a noble but he can’t stand the looks being thrown their way, especially his way, it looks like they are looking down on him and probably everyone else- but Sunwoo sees red the moment he heard those.
“Ah yes,” Sunwoo started, voice alarmingly calm, “I seemed to have interrupted something” he continued before he looked up and down to pretend to survey the area “completely important.” He finished as he looked at the others in a wide smiling sarcastic face (Eric calls it capitalistic face but whatever).
“What do you mean by that?” The person holding a spear says, face unreadable except for the fact that amusement is still obvious in his eyes, the other person that’s standing is wearing a poker face but you can immediately feel how angry he is.
‘Good, he deserves it,' Sunwoo thought triumphantly, ‘Hooray for capitalism!’
“I meant exactly what I mean,” Sunwoo answered, “I hope you’re not too dumb to not get it,” he continued, voice still calm yet seething in rage.
At that, the two guys seemed to snapped at him, their eyes similarly filled with rage and their stance become more prideful finally getting angry at Sunwoo. The person on the floor completely forgotten Eric who was almost forgotten of not for him constantly tugging on Sunwoo’s sleeves to stop whatever is going to go outside his mouth.
It was silent and tense, both parties still seething with rage, when the man holding a sword speaks.
“It looks like you don’t know who we are and really, I was planning to let this go but you seem to don’t know when to stop,”
“Well, I don’t completely think that I am in the wrong here,” Sunwoo replied and he swore he heard someone, probably Eric, whisper an agreement.
“Look,” the guy holding a spear says, “I don’t really care who you are at the moment, and this is completely none of your business. So I suggest you go along before you got yourself more involve that this.” He continues, still pissed but remaining his calm exterior more than anything.
That somehow pissed Sunwoo more but before he could do anything to challenge the other two, the sound of two huge bells clacking together could be heard around the school, signaling the start of the classes and thank Eric because he managed to get Sunwoo out of there while saying sorry and running.
Later that day when Sunwoo learned from Eric that the one holding a spear was Changmin Ji, the oldest child of the house of Duke Ji that’s directly related to the royal family and the one holding the sword was named Chanhee Choi, the only child of the house of Duke Choi, the esteemed duke of the south.
He realizes that he is fucked and this day is definitely not good at all.
_____
It was now after school, when suddenly both Juyeon and Sunwoo where called to their father’s office for something they don’t know yet.
Juyeon, who is Sunwoo’s older brother, is currently walking with him down the intimidatingly large hallways in silence when he speaks.
“What do you think is going to happen Sun?” Juyeon ask, probably out of curiosity.
“I don’t know hyung, probably some scolding,” Sunwoo replied nervously as he is biting the end of his nails.
“Hey! Stop that!” Juyeon whispered, pertaining to Sunwoo biting the end of his nails and Sunwoo, he looked confused at first before realizing what was it about and releasing his nails from his teeth.
They stopped in front of the large double doors and try to ready themselves before knocking on it. When they were allowed to enter the room, they were immediately greeted by a man in his late 40s, and the atmosphere instantly changes.
And really, Sunwoo didn’t think that all the nervousness he had earlier trying to ready himself to meet his father could prepare him for what was about to come.
“Sunwoo, my child, you’re an adult now, and it is now time for you to choose who to marry.” His father said with finality in his voice that Sunwoo couldn’t help but agreed to his father.
“I don’t think I can agree with that father,” Juyeon says, “Sunwoo is still young, he still need to see the world and enjoy his youth. Besides I don’t think his attitude right now would fit marriage,” Juyeon says, totally speaking Sunwoo’s mind while the said Sunwoo stays quite beside his brother, still nervous.
“This is not something you decide Juyeon, besides there are already candidates and you are about to meet two of them tomorrow,” His father said as he signal the guards to escort him and his brother out the room.
“It will be alright Sun,” Juyeon said solemnly the moment they were out of sight of the guards.
“Thank you hyung,” Sunwoo replied quietly.
‘This is bad,' Sunwoo thought before he entered his room and saying goodbye to his brother.
______
It was now almost in the evening, and currently Sunwoo is laying on his (obnoxiously big) bed hugging a pillow when someone knocked on the door and entered.
“I don’t want to get married,” Sunwoo whined the moment the footsteps got closer “Why does it have to be me? Can’t I just mooch of your richness?” he continued as he looks at the person in front of him. Truly he didn’t need to look as he knows who the person would be in front of him.
“As much as that is a good idea. I don’t think father would agree.” Juyeon, the person in front of him says in between chuckling.
“Why does it matter? Do you not love your little brother anymore?”
“You know that’s not true, right?”
“I know I’m just joking”
“You better be,” Juyeon said before sighing.
“I don’t really want to agree with this either,” he continued “But you know that until I become the head of the house, I don’t have the full say about anything.”
Sunwoo groaned upon hearing that. It’s not like Sunwoo doesn’t know because just like as his older brother said, as long as his father was the head of the family, they would barely have any say about anything at all.
“Well, I don’t think it’s that bad of a thing that you’ll marry. Who knows the person you’ll marry might end up letting you express yourself freely?” Juyeon says before he walked outside the room and saying goodbye to Sunwoo.
‘What if the person I’m about to marry is not as good as Juyeon hyung says?’ Sunwoo once again thought before groaning at the pillow he is currently hugging once again.
And Sunwoo, well he truly hopes that this is not going to be worse as he thought it is going to be.
_________
Exactly a day had passed after what happened inside his father’s office and currently Sunwoo is once again being called on by his father, however this time he was asked to go alone and was asked to go inside the receiving area of the manor.
He is still grumpy about what happens last time but maybe this time, Sunwoo thought that he would give the candidates a chance of some sort. He had already written to Eric about what’s been happening to him since last night, he only hopes that Eric doesn’t rant it off to his own fiancé, (Eric would but he would probably force Hyunjun to keep it quite but whatever)
He once again readied himself, before he entered the room and Sunwoo for the life of him wishes that he had been braver and talked back to his father last night. Or maybe not entered the room and just run away somewhere far.
Because Juyeon is certainly wrong, totally wrong based on what he is seeing in front of him.
“Why them?” Is what Sunwoo first said the moment he found his voice.
“You already know them? That’s good.” His father replied.
And once again before he could do or say anything else, someone else talked.
“I believe we meet at the Academy my Lord, but I am Changmin Ji, it is nice to meet you young master Sunwoo,” the voice says, and the face that said it wears a smirk on its face.
“I’m Chanhee Choi, young master Sunwoo, it’s nice to see you again.” The other person says.
Sunwoo gulped before he introduced himself, “I’m Sunwoo Kim, it’s nice to meet the both of you young lords,” and bowing after that.
‘oh I am so fucked,' was what Sunwoo thought.
Chanhee came closer to Sunwoo, “Indeed, nice to see you again,” he said, repeating his statement earlier while heavily emphasizing on the word ‘see’, before taking Sunwoo’s hands and kissing the back of it.
Sunwoo truly want to scream out loud but he had to stopped himself from doing so as that’s embarrassing and what he did to the two of them earlier wouldn’t match the reaction and Sunwoo have pride, so he could only nod and smile awkwardly before excusing himself for a moment.
The moment he got out and felt like no one is watching him, he screamed out loud.
‘This is the absolutely fucking worst,' he thought.
_____
What Sunwoo absolutely failed to notice though is that as he went out of the room, two eyes followed him in deep amusement and curiosity and none of them belonged to the guards and his father.
______
Times passed. It was once again a school day, the day is fairly good and similar to the day when things started going wrong for Sunwoo, but he is optimistic. Nothing could destroy it at all. Absolutely nothing definitely.
However, we all know that as soon as someone says that. Things would start to go array and Sunwoo wouldn’t be an exception, apparently.
It was recess when it happened. He was left alone inside their classroom as teacher had called on Eric and Hyunjun wanted to accompany him. Two person he doesn’t want to see at the moment, namely Changmin Ji and Chanhee Choi, entered the classroom and sat in front of him and fully facing him before Changmin spoke.
“Hello,”
“Hi?” Sunwoo answered confused.
“I’m going to go straight to the point,” Changmin says “I know you didn’t have a good start with me and Chanhee, can you give us a chance?” he continues.
“Why would I do that?” Sunwoo questions, though not as fiercely as he use to when they first interact.
“We need this to work out too you know,” this time it was Chanhee who answered.
“That’s right, if you either chose one of us to get married we might as well try to actually get to know each other.” Changmin reasons and as much as Sunwoo wanted to disagree, the two are making sense. A lot of it actually but he is not going to admit it, never.
Before Sunwoo could reply, someone else spoke causing the three inside the room to startled.
“Sun? You’re here? Eric and Hyunjun are already in the cafeteria,”
“We greet the first snow of the kingdom, his highness the prince Haknyeon,” the three of them said while bowing at the same time the moment they realized who is in front of them. The said person waved his hands profusely before as they asked them to stand properly.
“Please, we’re at school, there’s no need for formalities,” Haknyeon says, “Anyway, are you going to lunch sun?” he continues in which Sunwoo nods to as an answer before standing. Two eyes followed him in anticipation before he sighed and realized that he hasn’t given them any answers yet.
He looked at the two of them once again before he replied, “Okay, maybe we can meet up or something,” and continued walking with the young prince Haknyeon
“Alright, I’ll be sure to send the invitation as soon as possible,” Changmin replied almost excitedly. They says their goodbyes and see you later before fully waking out of the room.
When he went out the room he thought that eyes are following him but when he looked back he saw Changmin and Chanhee talking with each other so he decided to shrugged it of.
“This is a fucking nightmare,” Sunwoo whispered.
“You know it is a crime to curse in front of a royalty right?” Haknyeon reminded him lightly before chuckling.
Sunwoo groan, because yes, this is a fucking nightmare of embarrassing moments.
___________
Weeks passed and while Sunwoo is patient, he is not a saint. He still hasn’t gotten the invitation that they were talking about. There are other candidates for his marriage and his father is getting much more impatient and angry that he kept on rejecting people. That means he doesn’t have much time before his father explodes and marry him to someone who only likes his father’s money and fame and he can’t have that.
Well he is not really sure what Changmin and Chanhee wanted, and to be very honest, Sunwoo doesn’t understand why he is waiting for their specific invitation of them but he is hoping that the other two would be different at least.
By the time that the invitation has been sent, 3 weeks had already passed and the time and day he is invited to visit the Ji manor would be a week after it was sent.
“Are you sure about this?” Juyeon asked. They along with Juyeon’s fiancé Jaehyun, preferably Hyunjae, had been helping Sunwoo prepare for his trip to the East where the Duke Ji’s territory is situated. (Not really, the maids are packing his things, they were there for moral support.)
“Not really,” Sunwoo says as a reply, “I don’t want to get married but it’s better than marrying those assholes who only wanted father’s wealth,”
“You’ll be fine Sun,” Hyunjae says, smiling slightly before drinking his cup of tea.
“I know I’m Sunwoo,” he says jokingly before he felt an obnoxiously large hand slapped the back of his head lightly.
“Stop joking around,” Juyeon scolded him, “you’re about to meet your possible husband in a week, and you still need to travel before that,”
Sunwoo groaned at the reminder of the fact.
*****
The travel to the Ji’s territory takes 3 days so Sunwoo have to leave 4 days early to meet both Changmin and Chanhee.
Truthfully, he didn’t know what to expect, but when he arrived at the manor, the only thing he could say is it is unnecessarily big but not like Sunwoo can talk because his house is big as well, but this mansion totally exceeded his expectations.
He was immediately greeted by an array of butlers and maid welcoming him to the property and at the end of the line wait three men, where one of them looks older that the other two.
Sunwoo bowed, “I greet the hero of the eastern woods, his grace Duke Chanwoo Ji and Young Master Changmin Ji and Young Master Chanhee Choi,”
“Greetings to the young master of the Count Kim’s House,” The older man said also bowing at Sunwoo.
“Thank you for going out of your way to visit our manor, I will not keep you here longer as I know how hassle the travel to here could become. Leave your things with the maids and these two young men would assist you to your room,” The duke instructed while pointing at Chanhee and Changmin respectively.
“Thank you your grace,” Sunwoo replied before he follow the other two on the way to the upstairs.
The walk to the guest room was silent, no one was speaking and it was pretty awkward and it was probably due to that that they all speak together at the same time.
“You first,” Sunwoo said pointing at Changmin in which Changmin nodded before he said his question.
“What are your preference in weapons? Mine’s a spear,” he ask almost excitedly.
“It’s obvious, you know you’re holding one when we first met him right?” Chanhee answered sarcastically.
“Ah yeah, no offense but I agree, I like bows though just so you know,” Sunwoo said.
“None taken,” Changmin said chuckling as he pushed a double door.
“We’re here,”
The room is big, bigger than his own and when Sunwoo thought that his big is already large, the bed inside the room is bigger. It is lighted in the middle with big chandelier and everything seems to sparkle around.
“Let’s sit down for a bit,” Chanhee interrupted his thoughts as he guides him into the sofa inside the room. It is color maroon, with golden accents Sunwoo noted.
“Would you like a tea?” Changmin ask in which Sunwoo nodded to.
“Ahm,” Chanhee started awkwardly, “I feel like we needed to clear things up a bit,” he continued.
“About what?” Sunwoo asked, curiosity getting into him.
“About what happened when we first met, I’m sorry you have to see us that way first time, that’s not a good impression at all,”
“Oh, that? Truthfully, I am also sorry, I may have judge the situation so fast without knowing what happened first,”
After that the conversation continued flowing, Sunwoo learned a lot of things from them. He learned that the student on the ground actually started the fight first and foremost. He also learned that the East manor is located nearer to the South that’s why the two of them are closer to each other than the rest of 4 great dukes who happened to be Duke Kim of the north and Duke Bae of the West. Sunwoo also learned that Changmin is closer to the older prince, Sangyeon that to the younger prince Haknyeon.
Sunwoo learned about them, and they learned about Sunwoo.
“About the marriage,” Changmin said.
“What about it?” Sunwoo asked.
“We learned from Juyeon that you’re actually not ready to be wed yet-“
“You know my brother?” Sunwoo interrupted
“Yeah, we’re classmates, anyway, I was thinking of telling the upper society that we are courting,”
“That’s true, that way you don’t have to marry now and either me and Changmin doesn’t have to do the same as well.” Chanhee said and Sunwoo, as much as it feels hassle, he agrees to the plan.
“Like fake dating?” Sunwoo asked.
“No, not really, we will really be courting you and get to know each other. It’s going to be real we will just be announcing it to the society,” Changmin further explained.
“So like gatekeeping?”
“Sort of,”
“Wow, I didn’t think I’ll be gatekeeped by you two,”
“Well, you are now,” Changmin and Chanhee said at the same time.
Sunwoo nodded, not sure if he totally agreed but nodded his head anyway.
‘This is okay right?’ Sunwoo thought.
______________
Since then, Changmin and Chanhee are true to their words with their courting and the gossip around the higher society that the heirs of the duke of the south (Chanhee) and the duke of the east (Changmin) is courting the youngest son of the house of Count Kim.
“You brat! You’re really planning to marry one of them?” Eric told him the moment he learned what happened.
“What’s wrong with that?” Hyunjun asked (who is Eric’s fiancé and a son of another Marquis).
“Wrong? Everything is wrong!” Eric whined.
“No there isn’t, anyway I am older than you Eric don’tcall me brat and what about it if I am planning to marry one of them?” Sunwoo said, giving Eric the same energy he was given by whining as well.
“I agree that there no wrong with that, what I’m worried though is if you’ll be able to choose between the two of them if they ever finally ask you to finally marry one of them,” Haknyeon says, interrupting the bicker between Eric and Sunwoo.
“Oh,”
“Yes, Sunwoo, Oh,”
“I am fucked aren’t I?”
“Once again I am reminding you that cursing in front of a royalty is a crime, but yes you are,”
‘I can do this right?’ Sunwoo thought. Well, probably.
_____________
Time passed, three of them are now closer than before, relationship still unsure but ultimately happy, and now as Sunwoo looks around him; he sees Chanhee who is laughing uncharacteristically loud and Changmin going along with him as they run around the long green pastures like children before they run towards him only to drag him with them.
As Sunwoo thinks that maybe, maybe this is not as bad as he thought it’s going to be.
Maybe this is something even great. Choosing be damned, he will cross the bridge when he get there.