The silence was deafening, it was killing him. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, with several unblinking eyes focused on him."What did you say…?" Dokja would have laughed at the duke's usually stoic demeanor becoming so dumbfounded if it weren't for his discomfort.
He cleared his throat before repeating himself. "Um...I have a fiancé now…?" As the silence continued on, Dokja couldn't help but think he completely broke his family until the teacup that Persephone was previously holding shattered on the ground. That seemed to bring everyone's malfunctioning minds back.
"My apologies..." The duchess murmured, and called a maid over to the long chair she was sitting on to clean up the mess. To the left of the duchess, Hades sat in his chair and did a once over of his wife's hands to make sure she didn't cut herself on her teacup. Next Kim Namwoon spoke up from where he was seated in front of Dokja.
"...You....have a secret lover?" He questioned him incredulously. The room's occupants gasp at the prospect, most notably the butler and the maid who were cleaning up the spilled teacup. The duchess put her hand on her mouth, her eyes wide as saucers. Dokja frowned, his exasperation evident.
"Of course not!"
"Then why do you have a fiancé?!" Han Sooyoung nearly screeched out. She was so loud that Dokja couldn't help but lean back from her. If he had it bad then he could only imagine Kim Namwoon's eardrums right now, seeing as she was seated next to him, along with Jung Heewon. Han Sooyoung's shout opened the floodgates to the other questions his family were holding back.
"My dear, why did you keep it a secret from us?"
"Hyung! How dare you keep a secret from me!"
"Young master, did you really lie to your family?"
Dokja tried to stomp down the irritation building up in him. He supposed outright telling his family he was getting married wasn't the most subtle approach he could've taken.
"Please stop! I'll explain, just let me talk first!" he cried out, sighing in relief as everyone slowly sat back down. "First of all, I didn't have any kind of secret lover." He couldn't exactly say that he wasn't keeping any secrets at all from them, though. "Second of all, I'm just entering a marriage of convenience with Lady Jiwon."
Though they breathed a sigh of relief at his first point, their confusion came back at his follow up statement."But son, why would you marry someone you don't even love? This Ducal already provides you with the resources you need, does it not?" The duke asked, everyone looked back at Dokja.
Dokja explained the circumstances of Lady Jiwon's inheritance, and how she'd only be able to acquire it if she had a husband. The agreement was more to benefit her than him, and the only reason she'd sought him out was from positive previous encounters they'd had with each other. He agreed because he knew Lady Jiwon was a kind person and he could help her. The room was quiet again during his explanation. When he finished, Hades was stroking his chin in contemplation.
"Well, of course I will support you if you decide to marry..." He looked at the duchess. Persephone went over to sit by Dokja's side and held his hands in her own.
"But are you sure...?" She asked him and he frowned in confusion ,"Well...you were in love with Lady Seolhwa before...not only that, but it's a marriage of convenience as well. Your father and I both know all too well how it feels to be forced into marriages like that." She stared at him with a soft but worried expression.
"Don't worry about me, mother, I've thought this through, and I know that this is what I want to do." He said assuredly, and the duchess closed her eyes in acceptance. They looked at the duke, awaiting his opinion. Hades just sighed.
"As long as you are happy..."While Hades didn't smile, Dokja could still see the affection in his eyes. Then the duchess jumped from her seat and clapped both of her hands together jovially, a delighted smile spreading across her face.
"Let's invite Lady Jiwon, tomorrow to discuss the marriage, I can't wait to chat with my son's fiancé..." She excitedly listed out all the preparations she was going to make for the next day as she rushed out of the room, going out to tell the maids and servants everything they'd need to do. The rest of the room chuckled at Persephone's antics,even as the feared duchess of the Underworld, when it came to her family, she could act so silly sometimes.
Han Sooyoung was the next to stand up. "Looks like I need to go too...I need to prepare an engagement gift for Lady Jiwon..." Bowing to the duke, she made her way out of the room. As she passed him, Dokja heard her mutter under her breath, "What an unlucky Lady..."
"You know I can hear that..." he deadpanned to her, but she just turned to him with a smirk.
"I know." Then turned her head back again and started to walk away. He just rolled his eyes at her, then bowed to the duke, and exited the room himself. Thinking that it had been a long time since he'd last visited Biyoo and her friends, he started making his way out to the villa, but was stopped when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking behind him, he saw that Kim Namwoon had followed him out the room, his face full of curiosity.
"Where are you going, hyung?" Namwoon asked him.
"Oh, you know, somewhere." Namwoon's mouth flattened to a straight line as he looked at his brother, unimpressed.
Even now his brother refused to tell him his plans. He sighed.
"Whatever, just be careful not to get caught up in anything, okay? Every time you go to the forest, you either come back with dirt all over you or get into some major attack or something. Just remember that you have a fiancé to worry about now, okay?" Namwoon dryly huffed out.
Dokja gave him a blasé smile and ruffled his hair, "Awww, I didn't know my baby brother cared so much about me, don't worry, your hyung will be back before you know it, okay~?" Namwoon yelled at him and waved his hands away, his face turning pink. As Dokja chuckled and walked away, he could hear his brother cursing him on the way out.
He was able to walk out of the villa and run into the forest without seeing or encountering anybody else, but what next…? As of now he had yet to memorize the forest's layout because of its many twists and turns. He could only walk aimlessly until he encountered the creatures or vice versa. Making his way down one of the forest's many paths, he spotted purple flowers that seemed familiar. Dokja thought he saw them the last time he met Biyoo at the clearing. He followed the flowers until he heard some familiar calls.
"BAAHT!!!"
"POPO!!!"
"PURUNG!!"
As soon as the group saw Dokja they made a beeline towards the human, tackling him down into a hug. Looking in,one would think they hadn't seen each other in years with how tightly they hugged him and how happy they looked.
After getting their excited greetings out of the way, Dokja went to sit on a tree stump and ate the fruits that the creatures prepared for him.
"Ba-at?" Biyoo asked curiously.
"Nothing, I just wanted to see the three of you."
With the three creatures sitting around him as he ate, he took a strawberry from the leaf and bit into it.
"What should we do?" he asked them. The three looked at each other for a moment, and then looked back at him as they came to a blank. He smiled and closed his eyes to think. When an idea popped in his mind, he opened his eyes again and snapped his fingers.
"What if....what if I sing a song? Would you guys like that?" while he wasn't the best at singing, this would just be for fun, and he trusted these three not to judge him too badly.
Hearing his proposal, the three immediately nodded their heads and smiled eagerly at him. He put his hand on Popo and Griffin's head, while Biyoo was perched on his head.
"Alright...." He said and stood up, Biyoo floated away to lay on Popo's head instead. Making space for himself,
Dokja faced them and took a breath before starting. "Ehem..."
There will come a soldier
Who carries a mighty sword
He will tear your city down
Oh lei, oh lai, oh, Lord
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, Lord
He will tear your city down
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, Lord
Kim Dokja pretended to wield a sword as he danced toward the group. The creatures were bobbing their heads and swaying their bodies together to the tune of the song, delighted as they saw Dokja acting out the song's words.
Dokja danced away from them.
There will come a poet
Whose weapon is His word
He will slay you with His tongue
Oh lei, oh lai, oh, Lord
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, Lord
He will slay you with His tongue
Oh lei, oh lai, oh, Lord
He spread his hand as if holding a book and started writing imaginary words in midair with his finger. While doing
so, he skipped in a circle.
There will come a ruler
Whose brow is laid in thorn
Smeared with oil like David's boy
Oh lei, oh lai, oh, Lord
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, Lord
Smeared with oil like David's boy
Oh lei, oh lai, oh, Lord
Dokja gestured to an imaginary crown on his head, and then started spinning in place, a hand on his chest. The group didn't notice the other animals that started gathering at the edge of the clearing, lured by the song and simply sat and listened in.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, Lord
He will tear your city down, oh lei, oh lai
Ohh
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh
He continued to dance and sing without a care in the world, knowing that there was no one here that would laugh at him, even if he did look like a fool right now.
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai
Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh