𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫

1.4 || Project's Start

a/n: hey guys! im gonna slowly start to delete the chapters...even though i wanted to keep the comments, the view is seriously skewed and doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. i probably should've just started writing in another book but oh well haha. anyways, this was just to say that the views r gonna drop a lot when i delete the chapters so there's nothing fishy going on!

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Following the sound of the moving curtains came the soft morning light. Seungmin stirred from his sleep, staring dazedly at his sunlit ceiling.

"Good morning!" Sophia beamed as she opened more curtains. "Today is your first day back at the Vivian Educational Institute. You will get dressed first and then eat breakfast and then head out to campus. It takes around 10 minutes by carriage, but that doesn't mean we can't get ready earlier just in case!" She rambled on and on about the schedule, but it went in one ear and out the other for the drowsy Prince. He let Sophia drag him around in return.

After washing his face and brushing his teeth, Sophia dressed Seungmin in a white blouse and a black vest with a green tint, perfect to match his mint hair. He was then ushered into the dining hall where he was served his breakfast before being given his briefcase and seated in a carriage. To Seungmin's surprise, his brother was sitting on the other side. Christopher seemed equally as shocked.

"I didn't expect you to ride this carriage, brother," Christopher remarked awkwardly. His golden hair seemed to glisten in the sunlight. Seungmin looked at his own reflection in the window. It was quite a mystery, his mint-colored hair--although there seem to be specks of gold when reflected in the sun, mint was an unusual hair color in the entirety of the Empire.

Well, it mattered not. Those adultery rumors were discredited, so his hair color was simply seen as a unique anomaly.

Turning his attention back to his brother, Seungmin murmured, "I see no problem with it unless you do." The morning was so hectic he had no time to relax, and the rhythmic clops of the horse hooves were hypnotizing. He closed his eyes in hopes of getting some rest before they arrived at the forsaken school.

First, he would have homeroom for 10 minutes before an hour-long lecture for language, then physical education magic class where he collapsed last week, lunch break, philosophy discussion, and finally a math course. That would be his normal schedule; however, due to the midterm project (the project Alexander had brought in with him the other day), the next two weeks would be spent in homeroom for much longer than usual.

He wasn't looking forward to any of it. Although he neither liked nor disliked socializing and work, school projects were where the two collided. Having to work with Alexander, a boy with such a suspicious smile, was not something Seungmin could see any positive outlook for.

He dreaded the moment the carriage stopped in front of the large gates of the institution.

While Seungmin waited for the carriage door to be opened, he caught a glimpse of Christopher hesitantly reaching out a hand. He stopped and looked back, waiting for him to speak.

"...Brother, would...you like to walk to class together?" 

The Crowned Prince had the same schedule as Sion, but they seldom talked to each other because of the different factions and friend groups. Secretly, he wanted to. He knew of their political strife, but he always longed for good sibling relationships.

Christopher felt isolated from everyone, carrying the burden of the crown. Was it so hard to have even a brother to support him?

Seeing the subtle pleading in the Crowned Prince's eyes, Seungmin paused. Then he nodded. He didn't mind walking together, and it was better because he didn't know the way to his classes. Though he saw a map of the institute, he wasn't 100% sure where to go. They were leaving the same carriage anyways. And so, the two got off together and walked inside the gated campus.