#royalsuzy

it's tiring sometimes doing nothing -- when life itself sucks the life out of you leaving you exhausted for no apparent reason. jongdae doesn't like that, he detests having to be kept behind walls because of where he'd been born. he preoccupies his time with reading but there's only so much you can read before your eyes get tired as well and soon enough your mind starts to wander.

jongdae does that a lot, let his mind wander that is. and though he'd like to think of himself as an optimistic man, jongdae enjoys the leisure time and solitude he gets to himself as well. though he doesn't quite enjoy the castle, it's thick walls daunting to him, he does at the very least appreciate the courtyard. it's the closest thing to the world outside that he has and the fresh air is enough to give him some peace of mind.

vaeviel's sky is beautiful, jongdae thinks, as he stands in the green courtyard, surrounded by nature's flora and fauna. he takes a seat at one of the benches and for the first time in a while he has no book at hand. instead he's busy admiring the view and relaxing. being a prince is hard -- there are a lot of things you have to think about. how to rule a kingdom, prospective wives and all that jazz. as excitable as he may seem jongdae doesn't like to think too hard for a very long period of time.

he shuts his eyes, taking in a deep breath before his eyelids flutter open and he sighs, lips slowly parting as well. and it all comes too easily for him, the song, the music, the melody in his head as his throat tightens and loosens in a motion that has his mind resting but his heart at ease.

taemin is rather bored as he walks down one of the castle's many corridors, wondering what he's going to do to kill the remaining fifteen minutes or so before dinner is scheduled to start. normally people can just come down to the dining hall and eat whenever they want, but there's been some highly-ranked lord visiting from the eastern border, so they're throwing a feast for him and his family.

they just want something from him, taemin thinks cynically. troops, resources, land, money, whatever. though jongdae's been really excited about the lord's arrival, so he hasn't expressed much of this pessimism thus far.

as he rounds a corner, he spies an obviously drunk noble -- taemin can't be bothered to remember his name right now -- approaching a girl who's only vaguely familiar to taemin. he thinks for a moment, recalling the two princes talking about the visiting lady suzy of vicia, and though she looks different from a distance taemin is certain that's who it is. she's only been here for a fortnight at most, and right now her nose is buried in a book. 

his eyes narrow as the lord leans against the wall next to the lady, and taemin can hear his voice drifting down the wide stone corridor to his ears. "m'lady, i'm sure you can find much more suitable entertainment than that book," he drawls, and taemin acts before he even gives himself a chance to think this through, walking forward with a newly found purpose in his step as he works the ring off of the third finger of his right hands and replaces it on the same finger of his left. 

he comes up behind the girl, stepping up to her side and resting a hand on her shoulder. he knows she's probably shocked, so he squeezes her shoulder in a way that he hopes is reassuring.

"my lady, you're supposed to wear your ring. we are engaged now," he says, looking over at her and trying to convey with his eyes that she needs to just play along. he moves his left hand across his body to take hers, pretending to check it for a ring. "you'll need to put that on before dinner."

looking up and meeting eyes with the drunken man, he makes his face look as closed off and intimidating as he can, which isn't too difficult since he's been told that he can seem intimidating when frowning. "can we help you?" he asks, not even wanting to think about how many risks he's taking by doing this.

thankfully, the drunk man slurs out some sort of disappointed excuse and slouches past them. taemin turns to watch, his hand falling from the female's shoulder as soon as the man rounds the corner. he turns to face her, a sheepish smile on his face as he raises a hand to run through his hair.