#nbmwillhelm

[cecilianbm]

Empress Adalheidis and Prince WIllhelm Family Aesthetic

@nbmwillhelm and @nbmadalheidis

[matteonbm]

where there’s a will, there’s a way//matteo and willhelm

@nbmwillhelm​

Location: An Unknown Underground Cave

Matteo thought of all the gods he knew. At least one of them must have hated him. Or, maybe his upbringing was wrong and there was just one God and He really hated him. That was the only explanation for why he was suddenly stuck in a cave with his archnemesis. Was he dead? Because this was clearly hell.

“I always knew you learned your torture from demons. This seems to be a bit much though. Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill me?” he said. “This can’t be much fun for you either.”

Maybe Matteo should not have come looking for mythical treasure in the Alder Woods. But, the sense of adventure had made him go forward. Besides, the desire to get there before Willhelm? Definitely worth following a tattered map given to him by a shady fortuneteller.

That had ended in Matteo falling through the forest floor and a blood coming out of his head. Of all his powers, healing wasn’t one of them. Maybe it was what Willhelm meant to happen all along. “Did you plan this?”

[matteonbm]

nbmwillhelm​:

foul whisperings

As he was wont to do, Willhelm spirited himself into the capital of Elestren, into the grand castle. His magic made it trivial. The petty mortals couldnt so much as sense him. Willhelm slunk is way through the corridors, looking for nothing in particular. Eventually he settled on a pair of large, gilded doors. He knew exactly what it was. The chambers of the crown prince.

The locked doors were trivial to open. Willhelm let himself inside and began to snoop about, idlily. He pulled at drawers, opened chests. Everything that Matteo had should’ve been Willhelm’s to begin with, so what was the trouble? Every inch of land, each jewel, every ounce of gold. It was stolen, from his mother. It was Willhelm’s birthright. It was only by his grace and that of his mother that Matteo got to enjoy any of it. Hardly any of it was to the dark prince’s taste but that was no matter. It should have been his.

“My, my,” Willhelm murmured to himself, pulling an item out, “what have we here?”

Matteo had hated Willhelm almost longer than he had hated his brothers. There was a time when he hoped his siblings would love him. Unfortunately, that time was gone now. However, the second he had met the so-called “prince”, Matteo had despised him. The kingdom was not aware of just how often the two of them ran into each other. 

It was strange, then, that the person Matteo hated most in the world was the only one who knew his secret. Without hesitation, Matteo snapped his fingers. The necklace floated out of Willhelm’s hands, losing its sense of gravity. Most people missed that part of lunar magic in the lore. It had certainly freaked him out as a child.

“That, is not yours. Though, nothing here is. Are you lost, your highness?”  He said it snidely. However, he hoped Willhelm wouldn’t look to closely at the necklace. It was shabbier than anything else he owned, but anyone could tell it held powerful healing magic. A gift from a previous life. 

[cecilianbm]

flashback: flirting with death

@nbmwillhelm​

After her near death experience, Minsoo did not want to go back to the Darien Vale. Unfortunately, she did not have any other choice. She wanted to go home to indoor plumbing. If that meant consorting with demons for it, so be it. She could, hopefully, go to confession for it later. 

Being in the Darien Vale presented another problem: she knew next to nothing about it. She didn’t the book focused much on the place and she hardly remembered much about what was there. She reached out for a magical tome, but someone grabbed it instead.

“Excuse me, that’s mine. Don’t you know to respect your elders?”

[cecilianbm]

@nbmwillhelm​

Minsoo sipped on the refreshing beverage. It was apparently made with Bloodmoon flowers and spiked with liquor. It was delicious, though it seemed more like it belonged in a tropical beach than here in the cold winter. As she sipped, Minsoo took a look at the set up. Private room at the Fire Lily Inn (she had assumed it was because Willhelm was incognito). Candlelight (though, really, there was not many other options for light here). And flowers. Flowers everywhere. Minsoo turned to Willhelm. “Wait... Is this a date?”

[cecilianbm]

all i want for christmas//cecilia and willhelm

@nbmwillhelm

Minsoo was unsure why she was doing this. It seemed strange to get the urge to get the dark knight a gift for winter feast. However, it seemed wrong not to get him anything. Even if he was from the Darien Vale, Minsoo could not get the thought out of her head. Maybe it was because of how lonely she felt during Christmastime. This was the first time she had people around her that she actually cared about. 

Still, it was unusual to get such a personal gift for someone whose name she didn’t even know. Even if he kept insisting that they were engaged. She was half-expecting for him to one day just show up at her home with a procession and this mother of his he kept mentioning.

Minsoo twiddled her fingers. Maybe she should have met him somewhere less... romantic. However, she didn’t want to ask him to Elestren considering there were still guards out for him. She also didn’t know enough about the Darien Vale to pick anywhere else. In some ways, the Bloodmoon Grove was their spot.

She blushed and pushed the present into the dark knight’s chest. It was wrapped in green and red paper. The bow was gold. It somehow reminded her of him. She cleared her throat. “Merry Christmas. I mean, Happy Winter Feast. I mean... Enjoy your present.”

[cecilianbm]

Prince Willhelm and Lee Minsoo/Cecilia 

You claim it's not in the cards And fate is pulling you miles away And out of reach from me But you're here in my heart So who can stop me if I decide that you're my destiny?

[cecilianbm]

take me to the bloodmoon grove

@nbmwillhelm

Minsoo smiled as she stared around the makeshift dance floor. She nodded politely at the person chatting at her. Minsoo didn’t know much about European customs, but she wondered if him asking her to dance that may times was considered proper. He had been very polite though. He plied Minsoo with watermelon shaped like Bloodmoon flowers. 

“I’ve actually never seen them before,” she said.  “The real ones, I mean.”

For some reason, the man perked up. He began to ask her if she wanted to see them. Minsoo paused for a moment. A part of her did want to see the Bloodmoon Grove at night. All the scenes she remembered from the book were dangerous, but those happened in the daytime. In the nighttime, the place was perfectly safe. She began to answer, when she saw someone familiar from the corner of her eye. 

“What are you doing here?”

[cecilianbm]

a meal to remember

@serenitynbm @nbmwillhelm

The Fire Lily Inn was one of Minsoo’s favorite restaurants. Today, there were fresh flowers everywhere, a reminder of the upcoming celebration. While Minsoo didn’t know much about the Harvest Moon (she wasn’t even sure if the book even mentioned it), she had gathered it was the most important holiday of the year. 

The seasonal dishes were supposed to be delicious, including a stew that would “make her believe she had met god”. So, Minsoo had dragged herself from her comfortable cottage to eat there during the lunch rush. Unfortunately, there weren’t many tables and she had been forced into someone’s company. This could have been tolerable, if it had been anyone else. Well, anyone else who didn’t hate her.

“I would think a princess would be able to find her own table.”

[cecilianbm]

Lee Minsoo/Lady Cecilia and Prince Willhelm Ship Moodboard

"I can say with the utmost certainty that we are not meant to be.”

[cecilianbm]

nbmwillhelm​:

fire burn

“And if I may be so bold, my fair maiden, as to ask for your hand.”

Willhelm’s blood boiled. He had been watching, from his shadows, curious as to what his pretty little thing was doing on a balcony in the midst of this lavish party —a birthday part of some sort, though he knew not for whom — when he found Cecilia cornered by some fool of a man. Initially, he let it play out. He wanted to know where it went, how bold, how stupid a mortal could be. But this had gone too far. Something had snapped, a line crossed. The game was over and Willhelm could stand it no more.

Sweeping in on shadows, Willhelm revealed himself. His magic covered the short, thin man who so dared to hold Cecilia’s delicate hand so close to his lips, poised for a kiss in the darkness and seemed to freeze him in time. He wrested Cecilia from the low-ranking noble’s grasp. His eyes narrowed into a dark and dangerous look. He leaned in low and whispered.

“Someone’s been quite naughty,” he said, lips just hovering over Cecilia’s ear.

Ever since the Bloodmoon Grove, Minsoo hadn’t been able to get rid of the dongsaeng. She wasn’t sure what to call him. Every time she tried to get a name out of him, he simply gave her a cheeky grin and continued as if she hadn’t spoken. Minsoo had given up. It wasn’t important. However, between avoiding all the death flags, and trying to avoid her killer (who could be lurking at any corner), she had been preoccupied. 

Still, she couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t relieved to see him at this moment. Minsoo had wanted fresh air and to possibly finish her glass of wine in peace. Instead, the count had made her drop her wine and she was left to wonder how medieval Europe would react to him shoving him. Her black knight had saved her from such a decision.

“I didn’t exactly ask him to come here. And stop, or you’ll make a scene,” she said. “Unless you want to end up having to marry me?" Cecilia was practically a spinster at this point. “I’m a little old for you.”