Feathers | Seokjin

Chapter 8 - Noblewoman

"So Sera.. I was going to-" Seokjin suddenly stopped what he was saying, eyes widening upon realisation, "oh my.. It's not your real name."

Isabella giggled at his delayed discovery. "It's Isabella. But I really enjoy hearing you call me that name."

They were sitting under his peach tree as usual. The only difference was that his beloved dove was sitting next to him as a woman, rather than sitting on his shoulder, half awake.

"No I should call you by your real name. I don't want to dishonor you." Seokjin said, quickly standing up.

"Dishonor me?"

He gulped while taking a step back to maintain a good distance between them. "Erm.. You seem like a noblewoman. So a commoner like me should not be sitting with you like this Lady Isabella."

"No! Wait." Isabella quickly stood up to stop him, taking his hand in the process. "Please don't call me like that. You don't have to use honorifics with me. Call me just Isabella. Or Sera. Or anything you want. Please don't treat me differently than you did before."

Seokjin looked down at her soft hand holding his. "If it's what you want.."

Isabella smiled and let go of his hand. "Good. Now let's sit down."

Seokjin again sat next to her with a heavy heart. But the curiosity got the best of him. "So.. You are really a noblewoman?"

'I may or may not be one, but I certainly don't expect you to treat me as one."

Seokjin chuckled at her authoritative tone. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good."

"So what I was asking was.." He trailed off making her look at him expectantly. "Why did you show your true form now, after all this time?"

"Well, that was not much of a choice. We turn back into our true form when we sleep."

"Oh. That's why you never stayed at night."

"Yeah.. it's one of the reasons."

"What is the other reason?"

"I don't want my brother to find out that I'm coming here. He will probably ground me for the rest of my life." Isabella involuntarily shuddered at the thought.

"Your brother is strict?"

"You can never imagine it." She said shaking her head. "He never thought of me as his own blood. But he is the only family left for me now." Her tears threatened to fall with the mension of her cruel brother.

"I'm sorry" Seokjin said, sensing her sadness.

"It's okay. Actually it's prohibited to show our true form to the humans." She quickly said, wanting to change where the conversation was heading.

"Really? Then what you are doing right now is-"

"Yes. I'm breaking the great Avisian law."

Seokjin didn't know how to reply.

"What will happen.. if you get caught? They will not harm you. Right?" He asked after a minute, concerned about her wellbeing.

"I don't know." Isabella replied honestly. "But things between Avisians and humans will change soon."

"How so?"

"New king of Ava is different. He wants to change this."

"I think that's good. Your people should live among us, like you did in the past." Seokjin smiled at the thought of his childhood wish becoming true.

"No it's not." Isabella snapped with an angry tone, totally contrasted to her usual behaviour, making Seokjin look at her, amused by her response.

"King Namjoon doesn't want us to live among humans nor wants to end this hide and seek game, but do it the other way around."

"What do mean by the other way around?" Seokjin asked, confused.

"He thinks we are not the people who should hide but you."

Seokjin felt his throat drying up. "Humans..?"

Isabella sighed. "I'm afraid he is already midway through his plan to take down the human kingdom."

"But human king will never let that happen."

"Human king is a fool. He already thinks he is in good terms with Avisians. He'll never see the attack coming." Isabella could sense her own voice lacing with hatred with thoughts of her future husband.

"Human king knows about Avisians?"

"They have been secretly dealing with each other ever since king Namjoon took the throne. Ava is rich with all kinds of treasures humans can ever imagine; gold, gems, women.. anything. I'm afraid human king thinks that we are offering him all these good deals just because we want to live peacefully with humans just like you thought. But Namjoon has another plan going behind his friendly invitation. He will stab the human king's back once everything is settled."

Seokjin blinked, not knowing how to respond. "This is surely a lot to process."

Isabella emitted a dry chuckle, "never imagined us like that. Right?" He nodded. "Don't worry. There are still good Avisians like me who is against the young king."

"So you are against the king's plan?"

"Of course I am. I'd never want our two races to fight against each other."

"What's going to happen if Avisian king succeeds?"

"I honestly don't want to think about it. There are very large number of humans and less Avisians. On the other hand, we are pretty stronger than humans.. You saw me healing. Right? Both of us are equal, the only advantage Avisians have is that humans are not aware of us attacking." Isabella sighed and turned to Seokjin.

"Seokjin, I fear I can sense this eerie feeling of war coming."