Like War - Prologue
presenting...
"Like War" by heartshaker
Kyuhyun/Yehsung - Romance/Drama - PG-13
"Love is like war; easy to begin, but difficult to end."
With Cameos By
Narsha (Brown Eyed Girls)
Author's Note
I actually meant to finish all the chapters before posting the series, but I figured that since I spent a good two months (or something close to that) writing the amount I've done up until now, I should start posting some of it up. This series is written for my beloved yeonah and mi_iseul , whose KyuSung/MinWook series surpasses this by far (and is also the object of my stalkerism, haha).
To yeonah ; the prompt you gave me was "Voice" and I am still working on that fic as well. Look forward to it (?) ♥♥
I.
"Love is easy to begin."
As a young child, Kyuhyun had already known he was betrothed to the princess of another kingdom, as a means to secure him a wife who would bear him heirs when he ascended to the throne. He had only seen her a handful of times when he was younger, but she had not been the most radiant of girls to him. Her mannerisms were perfect, her speech was pleasing to the ears, and her personality bright, but she still did not strike him in the heart.
He did not feel any sort of amorous feelings towards her; perhaps he had sent a glance or two in her direction, when he met her again at 17 years old, his father praising her for how much she had grown over the years, and how mature and beautiful she looked, and how skilled she must be, and how-
He couldn’t stand it. Yes, she was a beautiful young woman, but other than looks, there was nothing that attracted him to her. And he was sulking to find that he would have to marry her, and live the rest of his life with her, and bed her and make heirs. And all with a woman he knew he could never love.
How ironic that the most privileged prince in the kingdom could not get such a simple thing as a lover he could, well… love. (Who knew he was such a romantic either?)
Kyuhyun collapsed on his bed as soon as his feet brought him to the edge of its canopied haven. What was he to do about this though? Tonight would be the public announcement of his engagement to his princess bride-to-be. He wanted nothing but to disappear. He would take Heechul’s ill temper a hundred times than do this.
“Oh, come off it, you depressed little child.” Speak of the devil.
Kyuhyun looked up to see Heechul’s irritated visage directed at him from just outside the damask curtains of his bed. He groaned.
“But Hyung… I don’t want to marry her.”
He heard his cousin scoff. “You’re so spoiled…”
His right-hand man dragged his feet as he walked leisurely back and forth on the outskirts of Kyuhyun’s bed. When Kyuhyun didn’t respond, the redhead stopped, sighing.
“Come on now. It’s an engagement announcement not your damned execution!” He crossed his arms. “At least she’s easy on the eyes.”
His words offered Kyuhyun little comfort, but the Crown Prince got up anyway (with some effort). His hair was mussed and his robes rumpled, and Heechul pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
This would be a really long night.
☁ ☁ ☁
Kyuhyun managed to get himself fixed up well enough (with the help Heechul’s expertise and ill temper). In the banquet hall, he sat in the seat of honour with his bride-to-be at his right. The ornate circlet of braided gold and emeralds signifying his status as Crown Prince glinted in dancing colours on his head.
The princess at the honourable seat to his right was not ugly, as he had mentioned before and as Heechul had confirmed. She was a beautiful woman, as he’d expected, with bright lovely eyes like a doe and a complexion of flawless ivory. She had hair that was pulled up into an ornate bun, cascading into a rich waterfall of soft chocolate waves, adorned with tiny rubies and fresh flowers woven into her tresses. Her features had not a flaw, but Kyuhyun found himself unable to look at her with affection or attraction.
It may have been the constant reminder that this marriage was an arranged contract, or that he hardly knew his fiancé, aside from a few chance meetings (and even during those, they exchanged little conversation), but he couldn’t force himself to be attracted even just a little to this young woman whose hand rested gently on his arm.
Once he had the first dance with her to start the festivities, he wanted to disappear but still could not. His fiancé insisted on him meeting with her twin brother, and now he was following her to where he was in the large and crowded banquet hall.
“Ah, yeobo, there he is, over there!” Kyuhyun resisted the urge to wince at the pet name she called him, continuing to let her lead him along by the hand, until she finally released his fingers to run up to another person, hugging him.
He walked up behind her, eyebrow raised when she turned her attention back to him, looking quite gleeful.
“This is my twin brother, Yehsung.” She lifted her skirts and moved back enough so that Kyuhyun could see who this Yehsung was. A husky voice like honey on sandpaper introduced itself, and the Crown Prince could not stop his eyes from blinking once too many times.
“It’s a pleasure to meet the fiancée of my dear sister Narsha, Wangja-nim.”
As cliché as it sounded, Kyuhyun would have it and have said that he fell in love at first sight.