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Once upon a time, there was a prince. A prince with black hair which was shining under the sun. Women from all over the country were swimming under his brown eyes. That prince, like any other, was to be married to one of them, a princess or at the very least a noble woman from the country. Except the prince had something to hide — something that could be a massive problem for the country. That thing was: the prince didn’t like women. It was not that he hated them, really, but was instead solely attracted to his own gender. And he was having a crush on one man.
That man was a knight with no link with the gentry at all. Prince Jin Kazama saw that knight for the first time in the tavern he was often seen at. Jin was instantly attracted by the knight’s red hair and wide smile. He always wore a genuine smile with his guild and everyone else. He was also a good person at heart, always coming to women’s help when they were bothered by drunk men in the tavern. Unlike the others, Hwoarang wasn’t fighting with a sword but with a weapon looking like a long staff and his feet. He overheard the man’s name at some point: Hwoarang. Jin indeed gathered much info on the man over the time he observed him but he never gathered enough of his courage to actually talk to him even once. Rumors said Hwoarang wasn’t his real name but Jin couldn’t care less. Hwoarang was a magnificent name to his ear and this was the name his love used in his everyday life.
Daydreaming about his secret love, Prince Jin didn’t catch much of what was told to him by his uncle and assigned personal advisor, Lee Chaolan.
“May I help you with something, your Majesty?” Lee asked. Jin knew Lee caught up on his daydreaming, as usual. Still, Jin didn’t ask his uncle to repeat himself, out of shame. Lee gave a polite smile and went back to his report.
“As I was reporting to Your Majesty, the union between the Duchess and our family has been broken off. Your Father and Grand-Father are trying to find a new suitable wife for you.”
“I see.” Jin wasn’t able to pretend to be distressed by the ordeal. He couldn’t care less about the Duchess like any other woman.
“However, I may advise you to be more… joyful when you will meet her. She will be content even if you are not honest. ” Lee continued, not fazed by his prince’s obvious boredom.
Because Lee actually knew Jin’s ‘secret’. He had noticed his nephew’s longing at men and obvious neutrality towards women. Despite all the younger man’s attempts to be discreet, anyone could guess it when given a thought. Lee was even aware of Jin’s attraction to men when himself was the kind to “like all humans” with no gender distinction. But Lee couldn’t say anything of it to Jin, even less in the castle, in fear of having someone eavesdropping and denouncing Jin to his family.
Homosexual people were not subjected to death anymore — and weren’t for decades — but the shame about it was still very much there among the crowd.
“Maybe we should have a party to find you a wife.” Jin’s mother, Jun, said during dinner with his son.
“A party?” Jin asked.
“Yes. I know we always imposed on you the woman we chose but maybe if you could pick the one you want from a crowd… Will you be more content?”
“I.. Yes it could help me work it out. I thank you for your guidance, Mother.”
“Perfect! I will discuss it with your Father right away.”
His father and grand-father agreed to his mother’s idea, much to Jin’s dismay. The party was now to be held two months away and his family was starting to send out the invitations. Jin was surrounded by all the best craftsmen in the country, from dressmakers to hairdressers, to make the perfect outfit for the big day. During the little free time Jin had, he was going to the tavern in the hopes to see the knight of his dreams, but sadly failed many times. He once asked the innkeeper about Hwoarang and was told Jin missed him by a hair. The innkeeper noticed Jin’s frustration and said:
“I can always forward a message to him, if you need to.”
Jin felt incredibly stupid for not thinking about it until an innkeeper of all people offered it. Of course, he could always write to him!
“Hey-ho!” Hwoarang shouted when entering the inn. His comrades saluted the crowd too as they went to their usual table.
“Someone gave me this for you.” The innkeeper told him with a piece of paper in his hand.
“Who?” Hwoarang questioned.
“I don’t know, a man with a black hood. Couldn’t see his face” The innkeeper said and shrugged before leaving the group.
Steve, one of Hwoarang’s closest friends, whispered to the other:
“Did you snatch some guy’s woman again?”
“No! And I never did. Shut up with those stupid rumors.” He said, opening the folded paper in the meantime.
Hwoarang was indeed seen as a ‘women-thirsty’ man by many. Rumors about him were wild: someone said he had ‘contact’ with the countess from another country, almost leading the country to a war. This was someone else’s doing — no one ever knew the name of that man who was ‘quietely put away’. Another time Hwoarang was said to have stolen a wealthy man’s wife away when it was really just a one-sided crush on the woman's part. That wealthy man was apparently an asshole, anyway.
Hwoarang actually never flirted with anyone and always was focused on fighting, helping the weak.
“So? What is about?” His other comrades, Leo, asked. Steve leaned in to see along with Miguel, who was on the other side of Hwoarang.
“Hehe, so it’s about a girl.”
“Hmph, I knew it!” Leo said, crossing his arms.
“Tsk. Whatever. You won’t believe me anyway.”
“Hwoarang gave me something for ya.” The innkeeper told Jin. This was unexpected for the prince, confident he wouldn’t get a reply from the other. Jin read the reply, smiled and wrote back.
“What are you looking around for?” Miguel asked Hwoarang.
“He is looking for his secret admirer.” Steve reply first.
“What? She is here?” Julia looked around, intently observing the crowd.
“Yeah I think she is like… Observing me. Just look at the letters.” Hwoarang explained.
“Hm. Makes sense.” Leo said.
“And what are you going to do if you see her?” Xiaoyu asked, flustered about the potential romance.
“I don’t know… Just talking to her and see where it goes. I think. She is…” Hwoarang blushed.
Xiaoyu squealed in response while Steve and Miguel kept on taunting him about his unusual shyness.
The red-head has become attached to this unknown person over the letters they have sent to each other, always through the inn. They talked about everything and anything and Hwoarang guessed a few things about her. First thing he learned about her was about her family: she apparently was of the bourgeoisie or so he guessed as she talked a lot about boring tea parties and marriage talk. The second was about her interests: was fond of literature and liked walking in nature whenever she could, which wasn’t much lately. The third was that she had longed for Hwoarang for a long time and that she was apparently single — Hwoarang asked about it to avoid useless drama. The guild kept looking around the establishment for the ‘woman’ but failed to find her. She seemingly wasn’t here today.
The group didn’t notice Jin staring at them from the back of the inn.
One day later, Hwoarang’s guild received an expected invitation to the royal family’s party, organized to find the woman to be married to the Prince, Jin. They were apparently asked to help out the royal guards with the protection of the family and all their guests. The pay for the work was unbelievably generous so the guild couldn’t refuse the work. The invitation was signed by the Prince himself and Julia felt something was off about this signature.
Could it be?
“Wah…”
The group of fighters was staring at the royal palace in awe. They only have ever seen it from afar and never thought they would be able to enter it during their life. But here they were, appointed as guards for Prince Jin’s party.
“Having all those beautiful women on a silver plate just for him… The guy is lucky.” Steve pondered.
“Yeah!” Miguel growled.
Jin was sitting on a throne, looking at all the guests, when he noticed a known face among the crowd: Hwoarang. He pointed at him and whispered to Lee:
“May I ask who those people are? I am afraid I do not recall them.”
“His Majesty your Father thought it would be for the best to gather supplementary knights to protect you and your guests. He is one of them, along with his guild.”
“I see…” Jin’s wish to hide away in his quarters grew even bigger.
“The Prince shall choose his partner for the final waltz!”
Jin stood up and walked through the ballroom to pick what would be his partner for life. He stared at Hwoarang for a moment before unexpectedly walking to him.
“Huh? Yes?” Hwoarang was taken aback when Jin extended a hand to him. The knight looked around for an explanation but only encountered shocked faces.
“Jin!” Kazuya, Jin’s father, screamed.
“My apologies, Father, but this man here is the one I want as my ‘wife’”
“Do not be absurd, he is obviously a man.”
“I am very much aware of this.” Jin replied.
Jin’s grandfather, Heihachi, fainted and was taken away to his chambers by two guards. Kazuya was about to burst out when his wife Jun stopped him. He instantly relaxed, as if the queen told him everything through her eyes.
“Wait… You are really the one who sent me all those letters?!” Hwoarang exclaimed, suddenly understanding everything.
“I am.”
“Here I thought Julia was going mad or something.” Hwoarang scratched his head. But the man, remembering fondly of their correspondence, didn’t think much longer about the prince’s proposal. He extended his hand back, interweaving it with the Prince’s.
Despite the initial confusion of the population, the two men’s wedding was said to be applauded from all over the country, even accepted by the Prince’s family after some time.
And they lived happily ever after.