The Princess smiles warmly. A gesturing hand makes its way towards the pot kept near herself. By instinct, she takes it and hands it over to the them, without registering whom those hands belonged to. Her eyes just shifted a bit, watching the hands pull away, a beautiful ring, that's what she was able to register as a chirpy voice chuckles , her attention diverts towards the owner of the voice; a lady walks in and sits beside the King. She sighs and draws a plate towards herself. The Princess's attention now fully drawn towards the dominance radiating personality, a female...with such a carefree spirit, she thought. The girl rests her one hand on her left thigh and the other is used to hold her chopsticks, legs folded in the way the south- Asian people did, which was definitely not usual for an east- Asian empire, that to, a female? A big no for a lady of high status! But she? She suited herself the way she felt comfortable, which eventually was a bold step over the stereotype of the natives. The hall goes in a silent for a moment before continuing with their meals. The King smiles at her. He smiled at her? The Princess of Gwacheon thought. 'Who's she? The King seems fond of her.'
"You are the last person walking in the hall, my dear," the King lifts an eyebrow.
The girl frowns. " But I made it ! As I had promised." She smiles , a finger pointing up, suspended in the air.
The King chuckles again.
The meal for the evening is placed on the table. The silver plates shining with the dancing flames in the lantern beside them. The dishes gets served. Marvellous, delicious, aromatic...the silver spoons and chopsticks glong on a rhythmic tune as everyone dig in in their plates; someone without sight, would have assumed, they are practising musically by the sound of the utensils heard around the Royal dinning hall.
"Have they introduced themselves already?" The Princess asks the second Prince sitting opposite to herself, inaudible to others. He smiles and looks away continuing with his food. Did he just ignore her? Yes. He did.
"Oh! The Crown Prince of Gwacheon, it's a pleasure to have a meal with you and your siblings, " a lady, mid-aged, smiles wide , covering her mouth with the extended sleeves of her overcoat. Her overcoat designed with golden patches of dragon, it didn't took long for the Princess to recognise her. She's the second Queen of King, mostly rumoured about to be the assassin of the first Queen. Maybe...maybe she did for her son! To claim the throne, and now she's succeeded with ease, the Princess thought to herself.
The lady smiles, the smile: a fake one, the Princess could make it clear to herself. None, none in the Palace is trustworthy, she knew. Yet, she fakes the smile so well, enemies would fall for it too. Nari returns the same exact gesture to her, throwing her off guard . 'Hmm...'
" The pleasure is all ours, your highness!" Says Seok-jin.
And...she's correct!!
"Oh ! So he's the crown prince of Gwacheon?...I see..." the young lady, the one with pitched voice, comments, hiding a smirk but the Prince was quite quick to notice it. Seok-jin pinches the chopsticks harder and smiles endearingly. Na-ri observed it, he's uncomfortable with her. Maybe, she missed on something, she's the last to present in the hall. Well ... atleast before this lady walked in.
The Princess looks around, her head still low, showing her utmost etiquettes. The only things her eyes could take in were the hands of the people around them. A sparkling ring catches her interest, again. The same she registered before. She hasn't seen that stone before! Was it one of the Daegu's special possessions? From the treasures ? Probably?
Her head slightly lifts upward to look at the face, that hand decorated with rings belonged to. A pair of dark hooded yet sharp eyes stared right at her. How long has it been, they're staring at each other? A couple of minutes? A five? The dark eyes weren't pleased by the staring competition, the Princess guessed as they retreat from looking at her and shifts in their place.
"Is everything good, Na-ri?" The King asks throwing her off guard by just a simple question. She shudders lightly and simply nods and continues with her meal.
"The Princess of Gwacheon, Na-ri. How's the Palace? Did the sight please you?" The King asks; cracking of bone audibe at the mention of her name, maybe someone snapped hard to register, towards the King's direction. The King unbothered by their look smirks and the Princess doesn't shift her attention towards anything other than the King.
She smiles fondly, oh so warm, and speaks.
" Your majesty, I was taking rest in my chambers, though the Palace service is pleasurable, I haven't yet got the opportunity to know the place well."
"Would you like to be toured around the Palace? " the King asks suggesting her.
" That would be appreciated, your majesty!" The princess smiles and bows upon courtesy.
"The Princess should be shown everything she wishes to except the restricted part!"
"Yes, your majesty," says the maiden.
The Royal dinner ended with the Princess of Gwacheon reestablishing her image as the Royalty she is.
She excuses herself to visit the lake with only less to two maidens accompanying her, as she requested, less maiden at her service would make her feel comfortable, to which the King of course, didn't spare a chance to giggle at.
"This is what I like the most..." Princess mutters. The wind, the night sky, the stars and the Full Moon.
"Your highness, this is the lake of the Palace. You can visit it wherever you please to."
"Oh, what a wonder-"
A silhouette standing near the tree and bushed catches her attention cutting her short. At first she thought that she saw someone but the other second, when she tried to get a closer look the shadow wasn't there.
"What happened, your highness?" The maid asks confused by the change in her demeanour.
"Nothing. Maybe I'm just parano- Wait! whose there?" The figure moved further, away from her as she shouts at whoever was there.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!! Be careful!"
Nari spurns at the call and dodges something sharp thrown at her way. 'Was it a dagger? A knife? No... it doesn't have a body like that...' An arrow's charged at her, gets stuck on the trunk of the tree.
She looks back and forth between the arrow, the way from which the arrow was changed at her and the silhouette she's about to get to.
"Are you alright? Your highness??" The maidens cry overwhelmed and terrified what would have happened.
'Who's that? I know why, but...not who...', the Princess thinks harder only to pain her nerves more. Now, irritated by the fact that she could get none, she stomps her feet and grits her teeth.
At that moment she remembers what her eldest brother had told her before departing to Daegu.
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𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚎 (𝐌𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢 𝐅𝐅)
Historical Fiction"Is it so easy to trade love for power? " "Yes. " "How?" whimpering cries left her gape, "How could you do that? " a tight knot forms in her throat preventing her to say any further. He grabbed her forearm to hold her in place, gazing with such ador...
