HANBIN'S MORNING ROUTINE WAS RATHER SIMPLE.
He woke up, got dressed, shared breakfast with his lovely mother, and then headed off to work- which thanks to Conjuration Magic, he's able to instantaneously travel from his home in Fir Village to the Hollow Bookshop in Acacia. He always did all of this before six in the morning, the time his bookshop opened.
And today, he so happened to have enough time to brew himself a delicious cup of chocolate rose tea that he read from a bizarre tea book. He couldn't wait to taste as he poured the liquid from the teapot into a mug he somehow had lying around in a storage closet.
Hanbin was about to press his lips onto his mug when the bell on the shop's door jingled as it opened.
Hanbin lets out a small dejected sigh as he sets down the warm mug on the counter. He looks up, ready to greet his first customer of the day into his shop with a smile. "Welcome to-" But he promptly halts upon seeing the familiar dark locks that spilled past their shoulders.
Jihye strode in, cloak and hood on. Hanging over her shoulder by a strap was a satchel and she quickly pulled out the same journal he had let her take a week prior. There was an unyielding look in her eyes, one which made him wonder what had happened in the week they were apart.
"Princess?" Hanbin said carefully, furrowing his brow as she approached the counter and plopped the journal on it, causing his mug to rattle. "It's half past six. What are you doing here so early in the morning?" He switches from looking at her and the journal in confusion.
"Did you mother ever tell you where or who she got this journal from?" Jihye questions rather demandingly, her voice still groggy as she had stayed up all night. Hanbin could tell that much from the slight redness within the white of her eyes, which made her look like some sort of crazed conspiracist.
Hanbin's composure falters. He was expecting a 'Good Morning. How are you?' Or a simple 'Hello.' would have sufficed. Not a straightforward and quite imprudent question.
"N-no." He stutters, trying to regain himself again as he wiped away some droplets of tea that had spilled. As he recalled the only conversation he's ever had with his mother about the journal, he felt Jihye's eyes seeping into his soul. "She told me she didn't even know how it got into our library in the first place. It just appeared on our shelves one day."
It wasn't the answer Jihye wanted to hear, and it was evident by the way her left eye twitched. A silence had settled between him and the Princess, and in Hanbin's eyes Jihye looked as if she were on the verge of telling him off. If Hanbin didn't know of Jihye's passive and nonviolent nature, he would have expected her to reach over and grab him by the collar.
When Hanbin pushed that thought away as Jihye leaned over the counter as she opened the journal. "It's a spell book, Hanbin." Jihye informs calmly, her fingers flip through the pages until she landed on a specific one that had illustrations of what Hanbin assumed to be clouds and water.
Although Hanbin had a hunch it would be, it was one of the last possibilities he had in mind. He parts his lips. "Oh? Of what exactly-"
"You remember it raining all day yesterday, correct?" She asks, completely twisting the conversation to a whole different direction so briskly that it almost gave Hanbin whiplash.
Nodding once, Hanbin acknowledged Jihye's question, but struggled to respond to her. "Yes, it was practically pouring."
The rainstorm was completely unexpected in Acacia, many street merchants and buyers had scurried off back into their homes as soon as the first rain drop hit the stoned streets. It was a smart decision as a few minutes passed, the small droplets grew into heavy and loud splashes that had made Hanbin first believe it was hail.
Jihye straightens her back. "Did you get to see when it completely stopped?"
"Once again yes..." Hanbin says, pursing his lips in thought. One second the rain felt as if it wouldn't go away until the next day, but then the dark clouds dispersed completely. As if Magic. "I don't see where you're going with this." He truly didn't.
"I stopped it, Hanbin." Her tone hardly matched her words, she had said so flatly that Hanbin wondered if he had misheard her.
Though when Hanbin realized he in fact didn't, he couldn't stop the chortles in disbelief that spilled past his lips. "Are you feeling well? Did you perhaps catch a cold? You're probably just hungry... Have some tea to help you orient yourself again." Hanbin begins pushing the mug towards her but she pushes it back to him.
"No, I am as best as I can be after finding out there are spells that can vanish the darkest of rain clouds!" Jihye says in one breath, huffing for good measure. "I skimmed through the rest of this- spellbook journal thing, and there's types of Magic we never knew existed!"
Hanbin is blinking rapidly at all this, seemingly trying to take it all in. Finally, he manages, his voice weary. "But there are already so many spells known to man, there couldn't possibly be more."
"Oh but there is..." Jihye turns the journal so that it wasn't upside down for Hanbin. He looked down to the ink covered pages, listening to every word she said. "There are four sections in this journal. All of which contain spells even Magians have only dreamed of casting. You can't possibly fathom how powerful a Magian can be if they even learned one of these spells." She explained, but Hanbin was filled with too many questions that he wanted her to answer.
Hanbin thumbs through the journal and notices for the first time that it was in fact sectioned in different parts, although he had no clue what the scribbles meant. "How did you even get to understand what it says? Even if you are extremely bright, I highly doubt you can learn a new language under a week."
"It wasn't some foreign language, it was a code." She stated and crossed her arms over her chest.
"A code? And how did you manage to decode it?" Hanbin asks and Jihye immediately reaches into her satchel to slap the code's key on top of the journal. The shopkeeper picks it up and begins to examine it.
"Heeseung, one of two who I brought into your bookshop last month- he was the one to figure it out. Just took one look at it and knew it was a code." Jihye explained. Hanbin didn't know the real reason why Heeseung and the others were staying at the castle as their arrival was kept secret from the people of the East Kingdom for their safety. To Hanbin, they were probably just children of noblemen that were visiting from their expensive estates further into the Kingdom. And Jihye preferred to have Hanbin believe that.
Hanbin tried his best to keep up with all the information Jihye was dropping on him, but it was a difficult task when he himself was still stuck on what she had said about controlling the weather. He cleared his throat as he set the paper down. "Well, you were saying something about stopping the rain. Were you being serious about that or.."
"I am being dead serious." A frown marred Jihye's brows at his dubiety but understood where it came from. "Do I really need to prove it to you?"
"If you didn't mind..." Hanbin trailed off, bracing himself. "I would like to understand why you're entirely convinced that it was you who did that and it wasn't just a phenomenal coincidence."
"Fine." Jihye said curtly, taking off her satchel and placing it on the floor. She takes a few stationary steps to prepare. "Just try not to be too astonished."
She outstretched a hand in front of them, her palm facing upwards as she began uttering words Hanbin had no way of understanding. Once she finished reciting her spell, something began to swirl and form on top of her palm. It settled down into a small, miniature cloud before the faint sound thunder came from it, and finally came tiny droplets or water that mimicked rain.
Hanbin stood there, underwhelmed as he's already seen those types of spells before. "Princess... I hate to break it to you but that's just an illusion spell." He informs her.
Many Magians from the West Kingdom were able to create illusions that looked like real rainstorms or large blazes of fire. But that was the thing- they were only illusions that anyone could simply touch and feel nothing, as if it were air.
"It's not just an illusion, Hanbin." Jihye said curtly, her impatience as clear in her voice as it was on her face. "Put your hand under it." She pushed the rainstorm closer.
Obeying with hesitance, Hanbin shifted towards Jihye and reached his hand underneath the small cloud. His eyes immediately widened as he took a sharp intake of breath. He could feel the coldness of the water as it pattered on his calloused fingers and palm. Soon, his hand was filled with a puddle of rain. That's when it finally settled in Hanbin's mind.
It was real water. That came from a cloud Jihye created using a spell. A spell that came from a mysterious journal that somehow ended up in his family's bookshop.
Hanbin pulled his hand away as if he'd been burned. "I-it's not an illusion..." He staggered away and shook his hand dry. "You- you actually created rain!"
Jihye smiled proudly, happy she was able to convince Hanbin she was telling the truth. After proving herself, Jihye dispersed the cloud with a flick of a wrist. "This Magic is called Elementalism. Different spells allow you to bend different elements." She began to explain now that Hanbin was more than willing to listen and learn. "Fire, earth, wind-"
"Water." Hanbin finished for her. His skin crawled, goosebumps pimpling all across.
Jihye nodded at him. "And other elements like lightning." Her grin widened, almost cynically. "But that's just the first section."
"Just in the first section?" Hanbin mumbled, his voice was shocked and incredulous. "What's in the others?"
Jihye was overwhelmed with information herself. Over the course of only a few hours, Jihye had learned multiple things about the seemingly obscure spells and Magic classifications. The journal itself was divided into four sections; the very first being Elemntalism- which she was barely able to make it past the first pages of spells before the sun began to rise. Then there were the other three she had yet to fully understand its full capabilities: Abjuration, Necromancy, and Divination.
"It's hard to explain it all in just one rambling. Especially since it's Magic no one from any of the Four Kingdoms were to believe was plausible." Jihye threw him a side eye and raised brow. "You didn't even believe me when I first explained it to you."
At that, Hanbin grimaced. "I-I'm sorry but it was just mind boggling that this book that I liked to look at because of the pictures was actually a spell book filled with undiscovered Magic!" Hanbin's hands flew towards his chest in defense. "And I just don't get why would the person who knew of it would want to write it down in a journal in a code?"
Jihye pursed her lips at that and raised her arms to cross them over her chest. "That's what I don't get either. Why would the author go through the trouble to write everything down in a code?" She kept her eyes focused steadily on the journal, her fingers hovering over her lip in thought.
"Did it have the author's name in it somewhere?" Hanbin asked, and Jihye had a feeling that was only the first of many.
Jihye's gaze flickers upwards before nodding. "It did..." She closed the journal and flipped it onto its side, with the spine of the journal facing the ceiling. Jihye dragged her fingers across the symbols that were burned into the leather. "It was written by some person named De-ah."
Hanbin tapped his chin. "What an odd name."
"I've never heard a name like that either." Jihye let the journal fall onto its back. "The entries were dated before I was even born so I don't know whether this person is still alive or not."
Hanbin suddenly recalls Jihye mentioning a book with the same language- or which was now newly acknowledged as a code. "What about the other one you said you saw in the castle? Is it also a spell book?"
"I haven't read it yet. But I am one hundred percent sure it's by the same person." Jihye said tentatively, clasping her hands together. "And if it's filled with more spells, I'm glad it didn't end up in the hands of someone else."
Hanbin's stomach twisted uncomfortably and he felt a sour taste in the back of his mouth at the thought of the journal reaching someone else with darker intentions. They could easily use their newly learned spells for selfish and harmful reasons, going as far as forcing the King to step down from the throne. It would be absolutely anarchy.
Just then the bell that hung from the shop's entrance jiggled, announcing the arrival of his second customers of the day. "Someone came in." Hanbin informs, his voice alarmed. Other townsfolk shouldn't know that the East Princess was inside his shop, without any sort of guards or security. For all Hanbin knew, if word were to get that Jihye was there, a mob was certain to form outside.
Hanbin begins pushing journal towards Jihye for her to put it away. "You need to hide your face or they'll see you're the-" He stops once he turns back to face Jihye, only for it not to be her. Instead of there being the young and dollish looking Princess he knew, there was now a bit older aged maiden with curly blond hair and a prominent beauty mark under her left eye.
"There's no need for that." Jihye said in an altered voice that wasn't her own. Hanbin had almost forgotten how much of a talented Magian Jihye was, she could quickly cast a transmutation spell with no difficulty.
She looked down at her hands and saw they also looked different, bigger than her own. Jihye wondered how the person she borrowed their appearance from was doing. She had no way of knowing as they had only been a random commoner Jihye saw once in Acacia.
With her unfamiliar hands, Jihye grabs the journal and tucks it back into her satchel. Relieved that Jihye wouldn't be recognized, Hanbin doesn't stop his customers as they wander closer to the two of them. "Welcome to the Hollow Bookshop! I'll be right with you in a moment." Hanbin greets as he briefly looks the newcomers over. Jihye can see them open their mouths to acknowledge him in return, but he's already looking away again and leaning against the counter. "I wish we could continue chatting but it looks like I have some other customers I need to take care of."
"Make sure to keep that spellbook safe and hidden. You can't have anyone know of those spells until we find out who, what, and why." Hanbin whispers low enough for only them to hear. "I now fear there are things we have yet to discover. And finding out the unknown always comes with a price."
"I'll make sure to keep it safe." Jihye said and gestured vaguely towards her satchel. Her voice felt strange on her tongue, but grew to like the deeper tone of the person she mimicked. "And find out the truth of its origin."
Hanbin wanted to tell her to not obtrude further in things that could possibly be perilous for both her and others. Who knew whether the author was out there still searching to recover their lost journal. Or worse- they could possibly be willing to take lives just to get them back into their hands. But would she even listen if he said something? From the few years he's known her, Hanbin could tell she was the type to live by her own beliefs and rules. Jihye was incredibly hardheaded and couldn't be bothered to do as someone suggested.
True enough, Hanbin only nodded, but his mannerisms showed he wanted to object. "Will you be visiting soon?" He opted out asking instead as they still had much to discuss.
"I wouldn't be able to tell you an exact date." Jihye told the truth. "But if not, then I'll see you at the Hunter's Festival at the latest."
Hanbin expected the answer. "I understand. You're a very busy person after all."
Hanbin heaves a deep sigh and casts a sympathetic look at Jihye, before bringing back his million dollar smile and leaving the counter. "Say hello to Sunoo and your other friends for me!" He says. Jihye stiffened, but Hanbin didn't seem to notice.
Jihye had yet to speak a word with Sunoo since their quarrel from yesterday because in the midst of reading the journal, she had told Sojung she hadn't felt well and wanted to have dinner in her room. Without a doubt, she'd have to face him later that morning during breakfast. But Jihye wasn't all too ready to do that.
She had to swallow the lump in her throat before speaking. "I will." Nodding one last time, Hanbin went off to ask the potential customers if they were searching for a certain type of genre to buy. With no reason to stay any longer, Jihye walks out of Hanbin's bookshop.
"I will." Jihye repeated the same phrase once she closed the door behind her. As soon as she was leaning against the shop's storefront to stare out onto the street, Jihye's posture slumped.
She watched as the very few people that filled the street walked past her until they were far enough for small details to become blurred. Jihye closed her eyes and sighed, taking in breaths of the bitter air. It hit Jihye like a slap to the face as another gust of wind forced its way, though that was normal for a September morning in the East. Standing still, Jihye remained in place for quite some time, refusing to open her eyes again. But she knew time stopped for no one- no matter how powerful.
The Princess exhaled quickly one last time through her nose, making a sound that was almost like a laugh before blinking her eyes open.
Jihye began stepping onto the street to find an alleyway so she would be able to teleport back into her room without being seen, that is until she hears the sound of glass breaking from inside a shop. Snapping her head towards it in concern, Jihye searched for any type of trouble or crooks trying to break in somewhere and steal but found none. Upon better inspection, she realized it came from inside a shop. Jihye could see through the windows that it was filled with shelves of candles in jars.
She had forgotten that a new candle shop had opened right across from Hanbin's bookstore a few months ago. Then an idea came to her mind. Maybe she could buy Sunoo a candle as he absolutely loved to light one up every day, that way she would have an excuse to come to his room and apologize about yesterday before breakfast.
Checking both ways before crossing the street, Jihye steadily walks forward. She entered the shop and greeted the elderly woman who was going up and down a step-stool, placing one candle from the large box on the ground at a time onto the shelves. Jihye looked down by the legs of the stool, where a broken jar and candle lay in pieces. That must have been what caused the such loud shattering noise Jihye had heard earlier.
"Welcome in!" The aging merchant steps down from the step-stool slowly before straightening her back as best she could, a big smile on her face. "Feel free to sniff any candles that ya interested in purchasin'." She says with her heavy village accent.
Jihye approached the merchant as she pointed at the box of candles. "Do you need help putting those candles on display?"
"Well aren't ya such a sweetheart? I would love that but it's too much to ask of ya." The merchant begins stepping up onto the stool again, it wobbling with her weight.
Jihye held out her hands in case the woman lost her balance. "There's no need to worry. It would only take a second for me."
"A second?" Her already aging eyes wrinkled even more in skepticism before lighting up in recognition. "Ah! I see. You're a Magian aren't ya?"
Jihye nods. "Yes, I can cast a quick spell for you if you would like."
"Well- go on right ahead." She mused, her smile evolving into a toothy grin when Jihye snapped her fingers and every single candle began to arrange themselves onto the selves perfectly.
"Would ya look at that... It did only take ya a second!" The merchant beams, clapping her hands together proudly. She would have fell from the stool if it weren't for Jihye also magically moving her to the ground. "I should hire Magian to work in ma shop. It would save me so much time and energy."
"Are ya lookin' for a job perhaps?" The woman tilts her head with her hands on her hips.
Jihye shakes her head with a small apologetic smile. "I'm sorry but I don't think my father would allow me."
"It was worth a shot." The woman shook her head with a snort, waving her hand as if to prompt Jihye away. "I'll let you browse ma shop now. Just let me know if ya wanna buy anthin'."
Jihye did just that, wandering off to look through the hundreds of candles the merchant had. With each step she took, her nose was attacked with a new and distinct scent. When she arrived at a section filled with only purple tinted candles, Jihye stopped. She picked one from the shelf directly at eye level and saw that it was not only purple like lavender, but it also had little pieces of it mixed within.
She unscrewed the top and brought the opened jar up to her nose to sniff. Instantly, her airway was filled with an intense smell of lavender, causing her to stifle a coughing fit into her sleeve. Jihye covered the jar again and knew she didn't need to look further.
It was perfect. Sunoo loved potent candles that overwhelmed an entire room a few minutes after being lit. And that candle would easily be able to do it within seconds.
Jihye looks for the merchant and sees she's migrated towards her counter, sitting behind it while reading a book. She walks over and clears her throat to get the merchant's attention.
"I'll just buy this candle please." She placed the purple candle onto the counter.
"What a lovely choice." The merchant says as Jihye searches for some coins inside her satchel. "Is it for yur lover?"
Jihye halts altogether before looking at her. "Pardon?"
"That candle yur buyin'." The elderly woman mused, laughing when Jihye squirmed a bit. "Lavender is often gifted to show yur undyin' love and devotion to anotha."
"Yes, that is true..." Jihye bit the insides of her cheeks and twiddled with her thumbs while trying to come up with a response. "B-but lavender also signifies elegance and refinement. In fact, lavender has many meanings even outside the East Kingdom. All which can vary depending on what you wish to convey." She mentally gives herself a pat in the back for not stuttering too much.
But when the merchant only blinks once and doesn't respond, Jihye felt herself waver in her spot. "The language of flowers is a very intricate thing, can't it?" She laughed awkwardly, noticing how clammy her hands had gotten.
Her words made the merchant grin, her teeth on full display as she reached out and patted her head. "Ah, ya know yur floriculture." She hummed, chuckling at how her tight blond curls bounced from the contact. "If yur not gifting it to a lover, then who are ya planning on giving this to?"
"It's for a friend." Jihye persisted, she almost wanted to believe her words, but she almost couldn't. "He absolutely adores lavender as it's his favorite scent." When she looked up again, she found the merchant inclining her head at her, quirking a brow in curiosity
"Only a friend I see..." The merchant considered for a moment with a teasing lilt, but takes Jihye's money and tosses it in her small coin chest and closes it. "Any who, he'll greatly love yur gift."
"I sure hope so." Jihye takes her purchase off the counter and places it carefully inside her satchel. "Thank you for the candle."
The merchant smiled. "Thank ya for savin' me three hours of ma day." She says, referring to her help placing the candles up on the shelves.
Jihye curtsied out of habit, earning an odd look from the merchant. "You're very welcome. Hopefully I'll be able to purchase more candles from you in the future."
"I'm open from six to five everyday." The merchant informs as Jihye begins walking out.
"Alright take care." Jihye tossed over her shoulder before entering the street once again. With her hands holding onto the strap of her satchel, passed through the town looking for a vacant alleyway to finally teleport back into the castle. She thought about how she would apologize to Sunoo- if he even gave her the time to apologize. Jihye acknowledged she said quite some sarky things that more than likely hurt her best friend.
Jihye slowed into a leisurely walk, and dug into her satchel to pull out the candle again. Would he even like the gift? Jihye hoped he would.
From the corner of her eye, she sees another person walking by at a gradual pace at first towards her direction, then slowed progressively as their paths crossed.
"Excuse me?" The person began to ask as she put away the candle. "Do you know the way to the castle from here?"
With her illusion spell still actived, Jihye looks up from the lavender candle in her hands, ready to tell whoever had asked for directions to the castle but her jaw slacks open. The first thing she noticed was abnormal colored strands of hair that loomed a bit over his brows. She wasn't even sure how to describe the shade of color, other than that it greatly resembled the sky. Not light like azure or dark like navy- but right in between.
She's known of Magians who have changed the appearance of their hair from dark brown to blonde or the other way around, but never another color of the rainbow spectrum. It was quite unseen for anyone to alter themselves in such a deviant manner. Though she had the admit, his hair suited him nicely. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight, and Jihye found herself wanting to reach over and touch it.
It wasn't until he took a step back that she was jarred out of her state of awe. "Are you okay?" The older boy asks and tilts his head a little in curiosity. The action makes Jihye realize she's been staring for more than what was socially acceptable.
Jihye snaps his mouth shut before opening it again as she had yet to respond back. "Y-yes." She manages to answer. "To both questions..."
"Then could I get the directions to the castle if it's not too much to ask?" There was something soothing about his presence and his voice.
Jihye nodded, before taking a quick breath in, "To get to where you want, you'll need to travel further down this street and there should be the public square, you'll need to continue straight through the street that faces East until you reach the woods entrance. From there all you need to do is follow the path and in a couple of minutes, you'll reach the castle's gates." She said, her voice crystal clear and sharp for him to better understand her briefing.
Jihye noticed his disoriented stare, as if trying his best to imprint what she had said into his brain. She couldn't blame him. The multitude of buildings made Acacia seem as complex as a labyrinth. People who weren't native to the town could easily get lost without some sort of guide.
She smiled to reassure him. "If the directions are too complicated, then you could easily take a carriage ride to the castle gates." Jihye stopped to point at a public carriage with two horses that was parked on the street, waiting for someone to ask for a ride. "They charge rather cheaply if it's only to the castle."
He follows her field of vision and hums a long thoughtful sigh. "That's the thing, I have no money on me. That's why I'm supposed to be at the castle. A friend of mine told me there's been a new opening for a job there. Things have been a little rough since I arrived in Acacia so I hope that this job will keep me solvent for some time." The blue haired boy who stood across from Jihye shifted his weight to one leg and turned back to face her. "But that is if I even find my way there."
Jihye could write the directions down on a piece of paper and hand it to him but it would be easier for him to just take a carriage as he's still only an expatriate. So she dug into her satchel to give him the much more facile solution.
"Here, take this." Jihye places him some coins she had left into his hand. "It should be enough to pay for a carriage ride to the castle."
The boy stares at the money, a bit surprised at how quick she was to help him without a single shred of hesitation. "Thank you, I'm already running a bit later than I anticipated but hopefully I make it there before breakfast."
"I also need to be somewhere soon so I'll be on my way now." Jihye grasps the strap of her satchel. "Hope you get there safely." She farewells.
"You too. Wherever that may be." He sticks his hands in his pockets, turning his gaze towards the direction of the parked carriage. The blue haired boy regarded her for a moment before nodding in farewell and turning away to walk towards his ride to the castle.
A cool breeze passed through the town just then, and in deep thought, Jihye held on tighter to the strap. Then she realized that she didn't even ask his name.
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There wasn't much time left for Jihye to squeeze in any sleep. Ten minutes at the most she would guess, before Sojung came in like she always did each morning. So as soon as Jihye was back in her room and had her usual appearance again, she got to work.
Jihye pads through the bedroom, taking calculated steps to avoid running into anything. The only light aiding her shines from the small slit between her curtains. One by one, Jihye took out the things inside her satchel, setting Sunoo's gift onto her nightstand.
She made sure to throw the journal under her bed to make it somewhat hidden from anyone else who entered her room before hastily began peeling off her cloak and clothes. Jihye had left some clothes to change into once she returned, and judging from the ever moving minute hand on the clock, she didn't have much time to change into them.
She should have chosen a shorter nightgown because as she tries to quickly make her way to the bed while shimmying it on, her foot slips on the nightgown and she tumbles hard onto the ground.
"Ouch..." Jihye groans as she gets back up and drags herself into her sheets. She rubbed her most likely bruising knee before throwing her duvet over herself. A soft sigh gusted past Jihye's lips as she rested her head against her fluffed and untouched pillows, her eyes automatically sliding shut as she allowed her body to relax for the few moments it could.
Then Jihye hears the clack of loafers against the floor from the other side of her door, and she quickly realizes she wouldn't be getting any sleep as a loud knock cuts through the room. Jihye had to hold back a groan when Sojung came in humming a joyful tune.
"Good morning, Princess." She shrilled as she pulled apart the curtains, letting the morning sun flood through the windows. This time, Jihye let a groan escape her throat.
"Mornin'..." Jihye replied, lifting her head and pretending to slur through a loud yawn, although it quickly turned into a real one.
"I hope you're feeling much better this morning." Sojung says as she took a seat at the end of her bed. "Especially because the rain has cleared out and shows no sign in returning."
Jihye pulled herself up a tad to get a better look outside the uncovered windows. "I am. I was just very tired from yesterday's dress fitting." The Princess reassured Sojung with a lie. "Whenever I thought I was trying on the last dress, another one was thrown my way." That part was actually true. Jihye must have tried on at least fifty gowns yesterday.
Sojung hummed in comprehension. "I know how overbearing tailors can be." The maid gets up making her way to the closest as she realized she needed to focus on doing her job rather than only chatting. "They must have made you try on enough gowns and corsets for an entire year."
A slight grimace mars her face, Jihye exhales sharply before plopping back into her sheets. She cranes her neck, staring up at the maid. "I don't want to talk about the corsets, Sojung."
"Corsets are a horrible thing, aren't they?" Sojung disappeared into Jihye's closet, making it a bit hard for the Princess to perceive what she was saying. "I can barely even last ten minutes with one on. But you're so easily able to last hours- days even." There was almost a hint of envy in her voice.
Sojung finds a gown, comes out of the closet, offering it to Jihye. The Princess nods her head in approval before lifting herself off her bed. When Jihye starts slipping off her nightgown, Sojung turns away, pulling out a corset from her cabinetry and turning back towards her. From how tired she was, Jihye barely registered how Sojung began placing the corset over her waist.
It wasn't until Jihye felt Sojung straighten her back that she snapped her head back at Sojung. And then, the corset went from loose to a python's grip with a single pull of its laces.
"Not too tight-"Jihye wheezed as she reached her hands out, aimlessly trying to swat Sojung's own away from her waist. But the maid wouldn't reign mercy on her lungs.
Sojung snorts, throwing the gown over Jihye's head once she tied the corset's laces into a bow. Leading her towards the vanity, Sojung plops the Princess down onto the chair and begins to part her hair. As Sojung continued, she spotted within the mirror a purple object on her nightstand that grabbed her attention.
"Is that a candle?" Sojung's question seemed to have snapped the Princess out of her tired reverie, as she turned to follow her gaze. "Since when have you started liking candles? You hate the way the scent suffocates the room. That's why you use very little perfume every morning."
Looking away slowly, Jihye faced the mirror once again. "It's a lavender candle. I asked for it to soothe the stress I've been suffering from lately."
"Oh! How stressful it is to be a Princess loved by all!" Sojung exaggeratedly sighed, leaning her body onto Jihye. "One who has everything she could ever want or need at her disposal!"
Jihye squinted her eyes, knowing what Sojung was attempting to do. "I'm not even going to attempt to try and counter that."
Sojung gets off of her. "Clever girl. At least you know which battles you cannot win." She winks.
The maid gets back to the task at hand, finishing up the Princess' hair do before speaking up again. "Though- How are things coming along with your ever so stressful swains?"
Jihye hums as she thinks. "Well... I say we're getting along. It's hard not to when I see them everyday now." She told her honestly.
"It even felt weird, missing a meal for the first time since they arrived. I've gotten so used to Niki and Jongseong bickering at the dining table and listening to the others tell stories from their homes that it felt too quiet when I ate my food in my room alone." It had been rather lonely for her eating without them constantly saying something remotely hilarious.
"It's funny to think that I used to dread those meals but now it's something I look forward to everyday." Jihye chuckles to herself as she mindlessly fiddles with her jewelry box. "I wonder what they'll make me laugh about this morning."
"Oh, you won't be having breakfast with your friends today." Sojung informed Jihye.
The Princess pursed her lips into a frown. "Why not?"
Sojung brushes a stray strand from Jihye's forehead. "Because your Father has asked to eat with you privately in the garden."
"Privately? One on one?" Asked Jihye to which Sojung nodded. "He's never asked that before..."
"And why now all of a sudden?" Jihye said quietly, resentment hiding deep within her voice. "Did he say anything else?"
"The King didn't say much. Just ordered us to tell you." Sojung informs before she steps towards Jihye's side and squats to meet her eyes. "You don't seem excited about it. You've complained in the past that you hardly spend time with him. Isn't breakfast with your Father something you wanted?"
Jihye managed a feeble shrug and continued on fiddling with the jewelry box she's had since she was a child. No matter how much her Father has spent trying to keep her safe and alive, she wished he would have spent more time with her when she was younger. He was the only blood family she had left and yet he hardly ever stood in the same room with her if she wasn't the one searching after him.
And after years of chasing, Jihye had given up because she realized it was all vain effort. But now her Father was trying to reach out to her first- or at least sent someone to tell her such. She would have been more eager if he'd been the one to personally invite her.
Someone suddenly knocks on Jihye's bedroom door before opening it, another maid coming into view. "Excuse my intrusion, Your Highness." The maid bowed.
Jihye gestured for her to enter. "Come in. Is there something wrong?"
The maid shook her head, she stood inside the room but kept her distance between Jihye and Sojung. "Nothing that should worry you."
She then turned to the head of the maids as she got up from her crouching position. "Sojung, there's a young lad- quite handsome might I add, outside by the castle's gates saying that you've told him of a position that needed to be filled in after Chaewon was fired. He had the most peculiar hair color, a very bright blue. Do you know him or should I tell the guards to shoo him away?"
The smile Sojung wore fell off her lips and turned into an unsettling grim, the shift happening in the blink of an eye.
"Ah, it must be Soobin." Sojung took several seconds before continuing, running the boy's name through her head over and over again. "Tell him I'll be there in a moment." She says, her voice too forcefully stable. Sojung shook her head, not as if to contradict herself, but as though she was trying to shake off the words.
She turned towards the Princess once more, and a shudder made its way down Jihye's spine from the off look in her eyes. "Are you alright finishing on your own?" Sojung asks, her hands formed into tight fists at her sides.
"Yes, you've done pretty much everything already." Jihye shifted slightly, shuffling since she couldn't quite shake the odd feeling away. "All I have to do is put on some jewelry." She points at her jewelry box before letting her hand drop back down to her lap.
Sojung drew a deep breath, hiding the faintest trace of a quiver. "I'll have someone escort you to the dining room. They'll probably be here in a few minutes so just sit tight."
"Sojung, I can escort myself. I know where the garden is." Jihye assured her and straightened up again. "You don't need to go through the trouble."
"If only you could learn how to tie up your corsets too..." Just like that, Sojung's expression smoothened back out into a smile. "I'll be heading off then! Enjoy your breakfast, Princess."
Sojung reached out and patted the Princess on the shoulder before making her way over to the door. Swiftly, Sojung left the room with the other maid. Whatever was left of Jihye's smile faded after their departure.
Standing up from her vanity, Jihye glanced at the candle that sat grandly on her nightstand and went to pick it up. For a moment, Jihye only stared into the jar, her thoughts drifting while her eyes connected the full pieces of lavender mixed within the purple wax.
Jihye was tired, so very tired. Apart from the three seconds she'd laid her head down on her pillow after her return, she hadn't gotten a single hour of rest. She still needed to speak with Sunoo but if she was being completely honest, she didn't think she was ready to face the possibility of not receiving forgiveness.
Biting her lip, Jihye reasoned with herself that she'll speak with Sunoo after breakfast. She sets down the candle on top of a sideboard near the door before rolling her shoulders back into her usual posture. Hesitating for only a second, she reached her hand out and twisted her doorknob. When she threw the door completely open, she already had a visitor there waiting for her.
"Sunoo..." She manages, wondering if this is really the case.
As for Sunoo, his heart does a little lurch in his chest and he lowers his left hand to his side. "Jihye." He gulps.
Sunoo had surmised she'd be irritated with his unannounced visitation, perhaps even fuming, but while her expression wasn't quite joyful, there was not a single shred of hostility in her eyes. Contrary to what he'd expected, Jihye pulls the door open wider.
She catches notice of some white powder on his face but didn't want to point it out as he began to break the silence first.
"You didn't come to dinner last night." Says Sunoo. Jihye's eyes saddened and Sunoo avoided looking into them- he avoided looking at Jihye altogether. "The servants kept saying it was because you were tired, but I knew it was a lie. When I tried to try and talk to you, they wouldn't even let me near your room since you ordered them to not let anyone disturb you."
Sunoo breathed in deeply, frustrated with himself at the gradual increase of tremor in his speech, but continued on. "I kept wondering why you didn't show. I was starting to think you were so displeased with me that you couldn't even bear eating at the same table."
Jihye's heart was beating painfully in her chest as she watched her friend crumble piece by piece before her, and she wanted to tell him to stop, because she didn't want to hear him say any more assumptions.
She stared at Sunoo with her lips parted before she spoke. "You could stab me in the back with a dagger and yet I would never be able to hate you."
"Like I would ever as much point a dagger in your direction." There was not a single shred of hesitation in his voice when he spoke as it was nothing but the truth. Sunoo would rather die than bring her any pain.
Jihye had a thousand things to say, but she couldn't find a way to say it all. So instead she decides to brush off the white powder on his face to fill in the silence between them.
"Don't move." Her voice a mere murmur, Jihye moved closer to Sunoo, then raised her hand and set it gently on his cheek. She began swiping her thumb which made Sunoo instantly widen his eyes.
Sunoo's hand reaches out and covers her own. "W-what are you doing?" He stammers uselessly, not sure how to make this humiliation go away.
"You have something on your cheek." Jihye murmured the words. "What is this? Flour?"
Even with how close she is, he can barely comprehend what she had said as all he can focus on was the way her hand continued to stroke his face while he still held hers. Though, she had no reason to continue as she had already managed to wipe all of the flour off by then.
Sunoo flounders for a moment, lips parting and closing again, until he finally settles on just mumbling out bashfully, "Anyone could walk past and create another-"
Already understanding where Sunoo was planning to ramble off to, Jihye quickly shushed him quiet. "Who cares what they think, remember?" Jihye spoke in a calm, slow voice. Her free hand took Sunoo's other by his side, and she held it gently. "You should know by now that I could care less of what they say about me. The only opinion that really matters to me is yours..."
"I'm sorry I lashed out on you yesterday. I hope you know I didn't mean any of it." She instinctively bites her bottom lip before continuing. "I just don't want to pull you into my plights anymore. I can deal with the consequences but it would be better for me if you weren't involved in case I were to be caught."
"My final point is that I'm extremely sorry." Jihye suddenly steps back into the room, away from him, and his stomach drops. She leans over and reaches for something to her right before standing in front of him again. "And as a truce offering I bought you this."
Sunoo takes the candle from her grasp and examines it. "That's quite comical actually." Jihye furrows her brows about to ask what part of it was comical but Sunoo continued as he pulled something from inside his coat. "Because I also had baked these as a truce offering. Which explains the flour." Sunoo looked away bashfully and covered it up by pretending to cough.
Jihye slowly took the sack Sunoo held out for her. She removed the string that kept it closed before peeking inside. Her stomach growled immediately at the sight of multiple berry thumbprint cookies. "You went into a kitchen, when you greatly hate baking and cooking, for me?"
Mustering a small nod, Sunoo's lips curled at the sides just a bit more. "Maybe I did."
"Wow..." Jihye looked up at Sunoo, the makings of a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. Her face glowed the quietest shade of red, and she tried to hide it from Sunoo. He would have noticed it if he wasn't equally as embarrassed. "Compared to yours, my gift seems quite bland and boring."
"I love it. I really do." Sunoo stated without a shred of uncertainty in his voice. "I don't even want to burn it- I don't think I ever plan to." Jihye laughs weakly at this.
"But please don't keep things from me." Chestnut eyes searched Jihye's own for an honest answer. "Even if I don't verbally say it, I'll always be there for you in whatever you need."
Jihye really wants to reach upwards and hug him, and so she does, which takes Sunoo by surprise. He nearly drops the candle from the sudden attack. "I'm sorry..." Jihye apologizes again into his chest.
Keeping his eyes closed, Sunoo took in the feeling of her embrace. The soft touch of Jihye's hair against his chin comforted Sunoo greatly, and pulled him into a relaxed state.
Digging her head into Sunoo's chest, Jihye leaned against his taller frame and listened to the quickened rate of his beating heart.
"I'll tell you everything after breakfast." She says, shifting slightly so she wouldn't speak directly into Sunoo's chest.
Sunoo couldn't help but find Jihye's smile endearing, no matter how many times she wore one. "Alright. Let's head off together, then." He pulls away first, ready to enjoy breakfast without the previous guilt he felt that morning.
The Princess sighs. "I would but my Father wants to have breakfast with me privately."
Jihye sees Sunoo finch as he assumed the worst. "Do you think he realized that we were in his study yesterday?"
The question made her nearly snort and roll her eyes almost as if she thought it was so stupid for worrying in the first place. "I highly doubt it." She says. "He prides himself in being the wisest man of all the Kingdoms but he's too thick-skulled and oblivious to piece everything together."
Jihye pauses to take a cookie from the sack and tosses it in her mouth. She chews, humming at the taste with a delighted smile. After swallowing, she continues. "If he knew, he would have ordered me to the throne room and given me the scolding of a lifetime before banishing me to my room for eternity."
The Princess greedily eats another cookie. "Forget about becoming my Royal Advisor, you should become a baker. These cookies are divine!"
Sunoo quickly shook his head. "I'm glad you like them but I am never going near an oven again. It took me multiple batches to get them right." He groaned as he remembered how he had woken up extra early to spend three hours baking only a dozen of presentable cookies.
"What a shame. You'd be the best baker in Acacia." Jihye snickered as she patted his cheek and closed her bedroom door. "Then, I'll meet up with you in the library later to tell you everything."
Sunoo wishes he could talk to Jihye for longer, but time never seemed to be on their side. "Later." He says thinly and gives an awkward wave. Jihye only chuckled at him before stepping away and taking another bite of a cookie. He still doesn't want to leave her, but with the King most likely waiting for her, he doesn't have much of a choice. But it's okay for now. At the very least he'd get to speak with her soon.
Sunoo didn't breathe again until Jihye was out of the corridor. As soon as she does, Sunoo looks at the candle in his hands with a blissful smile.
Lavender.
Symbolizing devotion and undying love.
No wonder it happened to be his favorite.
••✦♥✦••
WORD COUNT: 8.6k
NOT EDITED
[a/n]
alright so this chapter is almost a week late but that is because i suddenly had the idea to change the ending I had planned originally and had to go back and make sure the past chapters were cohesive with my new ending.
my first ending was too sappy and cliche for my liking so I made it more tragic- just how I like it lol :)