ok so i did some research and apparently there are eletric lights back in the 18th century
Hannuri sat on her bed in the mansions dorm, picking at her own fingers. Being engaged to Jaemin as Hana was a lot harder than it looks. She currently has Jaemins father obsessing over her marriage, a man acting as her fake finance and another man trying to win her love. It was all a bit too much for her.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door causing Hannuri to flash her eyes up.
"Who is it at this time of day" She opened the door, greeting a familiar pale face. His eyes were sullen and tired, smile crooked but still trying to hold up his careless persona.
"Duties for tomorrow" Renjun slid a piece of paper into her hand. She furrowed her eyebrow; she could've sworn tomorrow is a rest day.
"But tomorrows a rest day" Hannuri complained, trying to shove the paper back.
"You have no rest days as a personal maid" Renjun rolled his eyes, crossing his arms "I pay you more so you need to work more"
"Wait that's-"
Renjun, in the corner of his eyes, saw his father and mother coming from the side. His irises expanded, cursing as he grabbed Hannuri's shoulders, jerking both of their bodies into the room and slamming the door shut.
"What is wrong-"
"Shut up" Renjun pressed his finger to her lips, their bodies closely pressed together against the wooden door. He listened cautiously, waiting for the footsteps to diminish. As soon as he shifted his eyes back, he noticed two round eyes staring back at him. His breath hitched, his finger falling off her lips as he could not tear his gaze off her features. It reminded him so much of a princess in a fairy tale—innocent and beautiful.
Snapping himself out of it, he ripped his body away. At the sudden movement, a bottle slipped out of his pocket, crashing to the ground into fractures. In horror, he watched as the little glass pieces bathed in a pale bronze liquid, the smell of daisies filling the room.
"What the fuck" Renjun crouched down, attempting to savour whatever was left of the mess. Indeed, the bottle Renjun had treasured had cracked open with one careless movement
"OK now you cannot blame me for that" Hannuri pointed her finger at Renjun, stepping away. Just as Renjun was about to yell at her, the lights switched off in an instant. The prince and the peasant both drowned in complete and utter darkness.
She heard a hard clatter as her eyes dashed around in the darkness. Renjun had fallen, his body curled up into a ball and his hands clasping his ears. His breaths were becoming tremendously shallow and anyone could tell he was shaking with fear.
"Renjun" Hannuri crashed to the floor along with him, feeling her hands navigate the darkness to touch someone's cheek. She didn't know what to do; after all, she never expected the narcissistic egotistic prince was afraid of the dark. She remembered when her sister first became deaf, she acted just like Renjun is. She shook and she cried, little beads of tears oozing out from her eyes. Hannuri remembered just how terrified she was as her sister.
Then, it occurred to her that warmth was the best pill for this. When her sister used to have attacks, she would hold her sister in her chest. Hannuri looked around, her hands fumbling against the ground until something sharp struck her finger. It was the glass from the essence bottle, she was sure of it.
"Found it" She muttered, feeling a wet sticky liquid under her finger. Coating her finger with this liquid, which was the previously spilt essence, she wiped it on her neck, lathering a thin layer over her pale skin. When Hannuri was alone and felt like the world was caving in on her, she often smelt this essence to calm her down.
She reached her hand out to Renjun, gently running her fingers through his silky hair as she embraced him. His head was dug into her neck, his finger clutching onto the fabric of her shirt.
"It's alright" She cooed, like she used to do with her sister. She felt Renjun's clasp tighten but his body didn't stop trembling. Hannuri threaded her fingers through his hair, her nails created a sense of pleasure in him.
"Didn't know you were scared of the dark" Hannuri chuckled softly, reciprocating his tight grasp on her. Renjun slowly fluttered his eyes open, still greeting the darkness yet this darkness...seemed quite, warm. Ever since he was young, he slept with a candle on. Whenever the candle suffocated would be when he fell into a deep slumber. The candle was often scented as well, filling his room with the gentle smell of roses. That's why he's always been so sensitive to nice smells; it made him feel at ease.
Hannuri, still with Renjun within her embrace, leant over to what she thought was her cupboard, sliding it open. She soon found a candle within her draw and a box of matches. Placing the candle in front of her, she struck the match. The wick birthed a flock of phoenix birds, it's wings dancing along the wind.
Renjun lifted his head up, staring into the small yet bright fire. His heart immediately felt safe, the fear subsiding in an instant.
His eyes trailed towards the girl. The yellow hue from the burning fire highlighted the features on her face, like fireflies were dancing along her nose. Her eyes glowed, like a cave that lived glistening gold. He could have sworn he almost fell in.
"Sorry" Renjun murmured, his eyes shooting down. Then, his gaze locked on the crimson liquid that rolled off her finger. It must have been the glass from the bottle of essence that cut her skin.
"Your finger" Renjun pointed out, grabbing her attention.
"What, this?" Hannuri raised it up, now the blood looked more ruby against the flames "I can tell you've never hurt yourself before, sir"
Renjun said nothing, silently examining how she grabbed a tissue and wrapped it around her finger carelessly.
"I do all the rough work at home. This is nothing." Hannuri laughed.
"Whatever" Renjun scoffed, avoiding her gaze. With Renjun's personality, he would never admit to even caring about Hannuri. The people around him had manipulated Renjun into thinking that the only people on his level was the rich, hence no matter what, he was to never truly 'love' a woman like Hannuri. Despite knowing full well that his own heart skipped a beat when he laid eyes on her just seconds ago, he knew who he had to like. Hana, the rich girl at the masquerade. Like his father would say, that's the right kind of love.
"The electricity probably won't be back for a while" Renjun uttered, walking towards the door and attempting to open it. Hannuri quickly stopped him by pulling his shoulder back.
"The head maids are outside right now. They usually patrol these areas around this time since many maids used to sneak out without consent. I don't think it would end very well if the head maid saw the prince come out of my room" Hannuri exclaimed. Renjun sighed, nodding as he sat back on her bed.
"Why are you scared of the dark" Hannuri asked straight-forwardly, catching Renjun off guard.
"I'm going to sleep" Renjun slipped under the blanket of her bed, having little to no care about her.
"Yah that's my-" Hannuri grabbed the blanket as Renjun rolled over to pierce his eyes through hers.
"Did you just say 'yah' at your boss?"
Hannuri scoffed, pulling the blanket off Renjun "Sir Prince Huang, please kindly get off my bed please thank you"
"I own this building. I should have the right to sleep in this bed" Renjun rolled over and snatched the blanket back into his possession "I'm still pissed at you for breaking my essence"
"I made the essence excuse me?!" Hannuri gave up, slumping down on the floor. She leant her head against the cupboard, wrapping her arms around her body like a blanket.
"Make it again then god damnit" Renjun sneered. It was silent for a bit. Just the sounds of their breathing floating in the air. Ambient sounds of branches scraping against the window pane and the whistling of winds became music to their ears.
Suddenly, Renjun's soft voice interrupted the ocean of silence "When I was younger, my father used to punish me when I did something wrong. Whether it be having bad hand writing or not bowing to the elderly, in his eyes, everything I did was a mistake. So he often locked me inside a tiny pitch black room for hours on end. I guess I grew some sort of trauma from that." Renjun's eyes stared into the red flames, and how it flickers spontaneously like the falling of autumn leaves "Now my father is forcing me to get married quick to compete with the Na family. He said we were going to be alliances with them yet...he wants nothing but to beat the Na family at everything, especially marriage"
Hannuri flashed her eyes up, joining him in staring at the beautiful flame.
"I've found someone I like. She beautiful...and genuine and innocent. Like a newly born lamb" Renjun chuckled, thinking back to the girl at the masquerade. Though, this time, there was an itch in his heart.
He thought,
Do you really like her Renjun?
Yes, I do, I have to. There is no one else but her.
Another successful round of brainwashing of himself ended. Hannuri fidgeted with her own fingers, sucking in her bottom lip. She knew all too well who this girl was. Renjun would be crushed to find out the beautiful girl behind the mask was simply his servant scrambling for money.
"Goodnight" He whispered.
"Goodnight" Her voice dripping of honey.
Renjun's heart, yet again, skipped a beat.