"Ion(Son)?" Hongjoong peeked his head inside Mingi's room as his son had told him that he could come in after he knocked. "Yes, ada(father)? Is everything alright?" Mingi asked while caressing Yunho's head softly, the half-elf sound asleep. Hongjoong smiled softly at the scene as he walked further into the room. "I was just hoping that the both of you could come to the dining hall to have breakfast will of us in 1 hour. I want to discuss about the engagement party for a bit, if you both don't mind?" Mingi hummed, nodding his head with a smile. "His fever had broken a few hours ago so, we will be there in an hour, ada." Hongjoong beamed up, nodding his head and walked out of the room to give them some space before breakfast.

Mingi sighed softly after his father walked out of his room, staring down at his betrothed with a fond smile. His hand was still caressing Yunho's hair. After a few more caressing, Mingi gave Yunho a soft kiss on his forehead and nose, making the half-elf scrunched up his face cutely before opening his eyes slowly. "Mm..What issit?" Yunho mumbled sleepily and leaned into Mingi's hand that still didn't pull away from his head.

"Ada wants us to be present for breakfast. He wants to discuss with us about the engagement party. Are you up for it?" Mingi asked softly and frowned a little when Yunho looked at him with wide eyes, his eyes becoming teary by the seconds. Panicking, Mingi wiped away the tears that had run down on Yunho's cheek before cupping his face gently. "What's wrong, melleth(love)? If you still don't feel well, I can send someone to tell them that we're not going to breakfast." Yunho shook his head softly, "No, I'm fine melleth. I was just happy.. My father never let me into any discussion regarding me so I'm a bit overwhelm that Lord Hongjoong wants me in." Yunho smiled, sniffling a little as Mingi wiped away the remaining tears while smiling softly.

"I'm sorry that you have to experience that, melleth. Just remember that anything that involves you, you will be called to attend and we will want to hear your opinions regarding it. No one will be left out here." Yunho nodded happily, giving Mingi his bright smile.

"Can you braid my hair, melleth? It's longer now so I kind of want to braid it." Yunho said shyly and Mingo nodded his hair fondly. "On which side do you want it braided?" Yunho hummed, going to the mirror while pursing his lips cutely. "My right side, please." Yunho said, looking at Mingi via the mirror as the heir approached him. Wrapping his hands around Yunho's waist, the half-elf leaned back on his chest, nuzzling his head onto Mingi like a cat. "Only if you braid my hair on the left side. That would be wonderful won't it?" Mingi said, kissing Yunho's temple as he looked at Yunho through the mirror. "Let's go shower first and I'll braid your hair afterwards." Mingi said, already pulling Yunho to the bathroom as the latter let the heir guide him to the bathroom.

--

Yunho cringed inwardly as he could feel the trees within the palace telling him that they were hurting, on the verge of dying and it started to take a toll on his body as the pain from the trees flowed into him. Mingi realized that his betrothed was wincing, so he pulled him close, wrapping his arm around Yunho's shoulder. "The trees are dying here.. It hurts.." Yunho mumbled even before Mingi could ask him what was wrong and winced again when the pain surged in his body.

"What? But they look fine?" Mingi said, looking over to the trees around the palace with a slight frown, in his eyes the trees looked fine and not decaying like the trees outside of the palace. Yunho shook his head, biting his lips to prevent the whimper that was threatening to come out from his mouth and breathed in deeply. "T-they're dying. It's only a matter of time for their appearance to decay.. Mingi..? Can I sing for them a bit? I won't be comfortable if I don't heal them.."

"If that's what you want but don't push yourself too much, alright?" Mingi said softly. Yunho nodded and stumbled to the ledge, putting his hands on top of the marble stone. Closing his eyes, Yunho took a deep breath and started singing. Mingi had his hand on Yunho's lower back, giving the half-elf half of his energy to support him quietly. Mingi watched in awe as the trees around the palace rustled before they began to bloom and smiled proudly when he saw the other elves watching in amazement as Yunho sang and the trees blooming.

After 3 minutes, Mingi saw all the trees had bloomed prettily, he caressed Yunho's lower back in a circular motion, softly saying, "Melleth. You can stop now." Yunho stopped singing, flopping backwards onto Mingi's chest as the heir caressed his waist gently before bringing him to the nearest bench. Yunho trembled, exhausted from all the healing he had done as Mingi sat down next to him and gave him his energy. Yunho sighed when his energy returned, giving Mingi a grateful smile.

"Thank you, melleth." Yunho said.

"No, thank you. Come, we should go to the dining hall." Yunho nodded and let Mingi lead him to the dining hall, their hands intertwined together.

--

"The party will be held in 3 days. I've already ready all the invitations for our neighbors that could come in 3 days. If everyone is fine with the guests that I've picked, I will send the invitations this afternoon." Hongjoong said, gesturing to one of his elves to give the papers with guests' name on it. Yunho blinked at the guest's name. He doesn't know any of them so he shrugged, giving Hongjoong a soft smile, "I don't know any of them. It's fine as long as they're not going to hate a half-elf half-human."

"Even if they do, we will make sure that they know how sick they are. If they hurt you, I will make sure they will be sleeping in the dungeons that night." Yeosang huffed, making Yunho widened his eyes at the elf, blinking at his words. Yunho never heard the soft and quiet elf cursed or saying bad words so, when Yeosang said about throwing the guests into the dungeons just because they hurt him, making Yunho surprised though he felt loved. Jongho smirked at Yunho's surprised face, "Just so you know muindor(brother), my husband is the one who manages the dungeons and anyone that got thrown in it."

Yunho's eyes widened even bigger, making the others, especially Mingi, laughed fondly while Yeosang smirked at the half-elf. "B-but Lord Yeosang looks so soft and nice??! Managing the dungeons and the people who got thrown in it usually is handle by someone that looks scary." Yunho tried to reason, making Yeosang giggled. "I only show my scary side to the people who deserve it." Yunho gulped subtly, laughing nervously as Yeosang was still smirking at him.

"W-well, I'm glad I'm not in the list." Yunho blushed when Yeosang scrunched up his face cutely, laughing merrily while shaking his head and stood up a little from his seat to ruffle Yunho's hair. "You're precious. To everyone. To Mingi. I wouldn't even dare to put you in the list even if you did something which I know you won't. And stop with the lord, just call me Yeosang." Yeosang said and Yunho smiled shyly, nodding his head.

"So, everyone is fine with the guests?" Hongjoong asked after Yeosang had sit back on his chair, 7 heads nodding at Hongjoong's question, making the King grinned and clapped his hands. "Wonderful! I'll tell the messenger to send out the invitation later. Let's eat." Hongjoong said and they all started eating, chatting and laughing while at it.

Yunho smiled as everyone will try to include him in their conversation, making him finally feel like he belongs.

--

Yunho's hands trembled as he tried braiding his hair on the right side in front of the mirror. Huffing slightly as his braid untangled again, Yunho sucked in a long breath before exhaling slowly and started braiding his hair again. Before his hands trembled again and he missed the rhythm, making his braids untangle again. Yunho whined, looking up at the ceiling with his eyes closed before he felt 2 arms circling his waist. Mingi hooked his chin on Yunho's shoulder as the half-elf huffed, pouting and the heir chuckled.

"What's wrong, melleth?"

"I can't braid my hair properly.." Yunho said, still pouting and looked like a kicked puppy that Mingi couldn't help but to squeeze Yunho's waist tightly because of it. Yunho giggled when he felt the pressure around his waist, putting his hands on top of Mingi's. "Nervous?" Mingi asked softly after Yunho had stopped giggling and the half-elf nodded his head, pouting again. "Want me to do it for you?" Yunho nodded again, giving Mingi a kitty smile and the heir untangled his hands from Yunho's waist and started braiding Yunho's hair.

"You'll be fine melleth. I will be there by your side for the entire time so you don't have to be nervous." Mingi said softly while braiding Yunho's hair, eliciting a soft hum from the half-elf. "I'm still nervous either way.. But I know I'll be fine. It's just that this is the first time for me to attend such a grand party.. That is all.." Mingi cocked an eyebrow at Yunho's words, looking at Yunho with a small frown on his face. "First time?" Yunho nodded, smiling softly. "Yes, back at Vanithien, father won't let me attend to any party and I was stuck in my room all night." Mingi growled a bit at that and Yunho was quick to calm Mingi down by grabbing Mingi's arm and caressing it slowly with his thumb.

"It's fine, melleth. I have no ill feelings about that. I don't enjoy parties at Vanithien anyway." Yunho assured Mingi and the heir sighed before kissing Yunho's lips and continued to braid Yunho's hair.

--

The party had started and the guests had already arrived a few hours before and now everyone was chatting and dancing.

Yunho had stuck with Mingi and he very much doesn't want to go anywhere without his betrothed as he literally doesn't know any of the guests. Until a she-elf came up to Mingi with a scowl on her face while glaring at Yunho. "Greetings, Lord Mingi." Morwen, the she-elf said as he approached both Yunho and Mingi while blatantly ignoring the half-elf, making Yunho frowned a little but kept quiet.

Mingi nodded his head, his face void of any emotion as he tightened his arm around Yunho's waist, pulling the half-elf even closer. "Greetings, Morwen. I didn't expect for you to come tonight. As far as I know, my father didn't give you any invitation." Mingi said a bit harshly but the she-elf didn't even blink as she smirked.

"Do you really think I won't attend anything that is regarding you, my lord? I will do anything to come and see you." Morwen said while trying to touch Mingi's chest, which the heir slapped her hand away instantly. "Do not touch me. I've told you that before and this is the final warning." Mingi snarled at Morwen, making the she-elf furious even more though she retracted her hand.

"Why won't you love me, Mingi? I can give you children and an heir while I'm sure this half-human can't. Why did you choose him anyway? He's only a mere half-elf. You should find someone that is on par with you. Like me." Morwen glared at Yunho, making the half-elf pouted and lowered his gaze to the ground.

"What do you know about my beloved? You don't know anything about him so for Valar sake, keep your dirty hands away from me and Yunho. Please leave right now and don't ever come back. You're not welcome here anyway. Not since I told you that I don't want you as my partner." Mingi growled and Morwen's face was red with anger.

"You'll regret this, my lord. I am here to assist you about your dying trees and make you fall in love with me again but I guess you won't let that happen. Well, good luck with your trees dying and this place will reek of dying trees!"

Mingi cocked his eyebrow, "Again? I was never in love with you. We already have the solution about the dying trees so we won't be needing your assistance. Please leave before I call the guards." Morwen scoffed, "You will never have the solution, my lord. The trees will keep dying and I can help you with that only if you marry me instead of the half-elf."

"You're only making me feel like you're the one who is behind all of this! Are you? I will throw you into the dungeon!"

Morwen laughed, her hands on her chest as to mock Mingi, "Oh my valar! Do you think I will help you with the dying trees if I'm the one behind it? No, I am not but I know who does. Marry me and I will tell you."

"I won't marry you even if you're the last elf on this earth! GUARDS!"

Morwen stopped laughing when Mingi called for the guards and glared at him before fleeing away without a word. Mingi was breathing heavily and it scared Yunho but the half-elf worked up his courage and turned Mingi's head so that the heir faced him. "Melleth. Calm down. She's gone now." Yunho said softly and Mingi sighed, taking a deep breath and put his forehead on Yunho's forehead.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that, melleth." Mingi said softly and Yunho hummed, shrugging his shoulders. "It's alright. I know how many elves would want to be yours, melleth. I'm just lucky that you chose me."

"I will always choose you. No matter what."

Mingi leaned in and kissed Yunho passionately, letting the guests see how in love he is with his betrothed.

----